The Guns of Ellsworth

by D.B. Newton

Book by Newton, D. B.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok. I read this on a lark. How often does a girl born in Ellsworth, KS come upon a book set in her old hometown in an antique shop in Huntsville, AL? At least once. Right? Turns out that The Guns of Ellsworth is a novel based on some pretty hard facts. Ellsworth WAS a cattle town in 1873, and Sherriff Whitney was gunned down there. This book reads a lot like an episode of Death Valley Days, Wagon Train, or Bonanza for you baby-boomer toddlers. And it should: Author Dwight Bennett, one of the founders of the Western Writers of America evidently consulted on several TV series (only one that I mentioned). But that's not a criticism. I loved Death Valley Days, and the other westerns of my youth. However, I never thought of Kansas as part of the Old West. And I never heard the story of Sherriff Whitney when I was growing up there. Perhaps Kansas was trying to live down its history as the state everyone passed through (quickly as they could) to get to somewhere else. These days Ellsworth holds Cowtown Days - http://www.ellsworthcowtowndays.com/ coming up in August. I've never had the good fortune to be in Kansas (in August) for Cowtown Days - never quite syncs up with my schedule - but if they happened to have a temperate August, that is, an August when the temperatures do NOT soar into the triple digits, I'd dearly love to go. Honestly, I enjoyed the book. It was kind of a kick to see familiar street names come up and try to match up locations and buildings with what I did know about Ellsworth's history (a red light district, really? Guess they didn't want us kids to know about that!). And Bennett writes well. For you western fans, The Guns of Ellsworth is part of a series called Double D Westerns. I'll be watching for other Dwight Bennett Double D's as I browse antique shops, flea markets, and thrift shops between here and whereever I'm traveling. P.S. The Ellsworth, KS I grew up with was much more like Rascal Flatts' song of the same name.

[Partridge Public]

Newton, D.B.