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The Law of the Gun
Wild West Arizona Highways "The Law of the Gun" by Marshall Trimble (1997). True tales of the wild west from the lawmen like Wyatt Earp & his brothers to the Clanton gang to Doc Holiday to Commodore Perry Owens and his brushes with the Navajos to Pancho Villa to Wild Bill Smith and the saga of a cowboy gone bad. Great stories portraying a colorful past.
- GenresHistory
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
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March 4, 2025
This is the fourth volume of the Wild West series of books from the Arizona Department of Transportation. If there was ever an American state that could write about the Old West, it is Arizona. This is the place where the Earps and the Clantons fought it out at the infamous O.K. Corral. It’s where Easterners came to dry out their diseased lungs full of tuberculosis. It’s where Mexico’s Pancho Villa teased the Arizona ranchers with raids and skirmishes. The law of the gun, indeed.
The focus of the book is the gun or at least America’s obsession with it. Outlaws and lawmen could not survive without the deadly instrument, as walking up to someone and trying to punch them out would not have worked very well in the wild, wild West. As such, the stories and biographies revolve around the bad guys and the good guys. Some of the bad guys (outlaws) became good guys (lawmen)…only to become bad guys again. Henry Plummer, for example, was an outlaw who converted to a city marshal mainly to disguise his illicit activities. He had already murdered several men before his job interview (they didn’t have background checks back then). While he was a lawman, he continued to lead a notorious group of bad dudes. But the vigilantes caught up with him and the local citizens hung their own marshal. That was the Old West!
A large section of the book is devoted to Wyatt Earp and his vendetta with the Clanton gang. Few people realize that Earp lived into the 1920s and became an adviser on silent films. He was a good dude with a bad dude’s attitude. One of the great shooting sheriffs of Arizona was Commodore Perry Owens (named after the naval hero of 1812). He patrolled the deadly Apache County which was bigger than Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Known for his honesty, Owens was hired to stop all the rustling that was taking place and he took the job seriously. After successfully fulfilling his task, the citizenry turned against him because they didn’t want to pay him. Owens had an answer for that affront. He simply walked into a meeting with them and drew his gun. Pay or die. They paid.
I certainly enjoy this series because it’s easy to read and the real-life tales are quite absorbing. Plus, one can see how an incredibly violent world was able to be tamed by average people who wanted average lives. The legends still live in Arizona lore.
Book Season = Year Round (begging for water)
The focus of the book is the gun or at least America’s obsession with it. Outlaws and lawmen could not survive without the deadly instrument, as walking up to someone and trying to punch them out would not have worked very well in the wild, wild West. As such, the stories and biographies revolve around the bad guys and the good guys. Some of the bad guys (outlaws) became good guys (lawmen)…only to become bad guys again. Henry Plummer, for example, was an outlaw who converted to a city marshal mainly to disguise his illicit activities. He had already murdered several men before his job interview (they didn’t have background checks back then). While he was a lawman, he continued to lead a notorious group of bad dudes. But the vigilantes caught up with him and the local citizens hung their own marshal. That was the Old West!
A large section of the book is devoted to Wyatt Earp and his vendetta with the Clanton gang. Few people realize that Earp lived into the 1920s and became an adviser on silent films. He was a good dude with a bad dude’s attitude. One of the great shooting sheriffs of Arizona was Commodore Perry Owens (named after the naval hero of 1812). He patrolled the deadly Apache County which was bigger than Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Known for his honesty, Owens was hired to stop all the rustling that was taking place and he took the job seriously. After successfully fulfilling his task, the citizenry turned against him because they didn’t want to pay him. Owens had an answer for that affront. He simply walked into a meeting with them and drew his gun. Pay or die. They paid.
I certainly enjoy this series because it’s easy to read and the real-life tales are quite absorbing. Plus, one can see how an incredibly violent world was able to be tamed by average people who wanted average lives. The legends still live in Arizona lore.
Book Season = Year Round (begging for water)
Displaying 1 of 1 review