Robbers Rogues and Ruffians: True Tales of the Wild West

by Howard Bryan

"Bryan brings us bad men who were, alas, merely human, and sometimes barely that... my nominee as the fellow hardest to beat at swapping anecdotes". (Tony Hillerman)"Bryan's book gives a good account of about twenty-one lawless brigands ... fascinating history for the general reader". (New Mexico Historical Review)

"Robbers, Rogues, and Ruffians supplies a fresh bumper crop of good badmen". (Wild West)

"Bryan spins a great yarn, and this book is a must for people who enjoy reading about the West and the way it really was". (Scripps Howard News Service)

Genres: History

332 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1991

Reviews

[Wayne Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good reading but, like all sequels, not as good as the original.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Consider this a guilty pleasure—more apocryphal than historical and more comic book than anything approaching serious writing. I pull this off the shelf whenever I need to spend fifteen minutes with a despicable character (other than my friend Daniel). The little vignettes cover the famous and infamous. Most are very funny (I guess, if you have a Sarah Vowell sense of humor, and I do). This contained my first exposure to Black Jack Ketchum and prompted me to make a pilgrimage to the spot where his head got lopped off and hit the ground. The hotel from the famous picture is still there, a crumbling ruin, but proud of its heritage (in a creepy sort of way). Most of the ‘bunglers’ may have been notorious in their day but come across as characters from homogenized 1950’s Westerns. Great stories to read out loud to your cat. Beast really enjoys them!

[Fred Fisher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of a slog to get through. These are stories of criminals in the Southwest, mainly the New Mexico territory in the late 19th century. The author was a newspaper columnist who wrote in a factual, newspaper style with little embellishment. These criminals certainly were not romantic in any way and were particularly vicious. There is a graphic account of a hanging at the end of the book that shows the barbarism of capital punishment. What I did find interesting is how little difference there is in the American system of justice and the public's reaction to it between then and now. Sentences were harsh and didn't reduce crime in any way that can can be proved or demonstrated and people had a strong opposition to the imposition of these harsh sentences.

[Phil Goerner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of authentic accounts of some "colorful outlaws and desperadoes of teh western frontier" from the mixed reviews, some of the writing dry...but includes quotes from early newspapers describing the "dramatic and violent" events of the day. #shelfchallenge 2014! 978 ROCKS!