Thus spoke one lawman about John Wesley Hardin, easily the most feared and fearless of all the gunfighters in the West. Nobody knows the exact number of his victims-perhaps as few as twenty or as many as fifty. In his way of thinking, Hardin never shot a man who did not deserve it. Seeking to gain insight into Hardin's homicidal mind, Leon Metz describes how Hardin's bloody career began in post-Civil War Central Texas, when lawlessness and killings were commonplace, and traces his life of violence until his capture and imprisonment in 1878. After numerous unsuccessful escape attempts, Hardin settled down and received a pardon years later in 1895. He wrote an autobiography but did not live to see it published. Within a few months of his release, John Selman gunned him down in an El Paso saloon.

Before Dallas Stoudenmire accepted the position as marshal of El Paso, there existed no authority except that of the six-shooter, and very little precedent for a peace officer to follow. No one before had held the job for more than a couple of months. Yet, within two years, with the help of Jim Gillett, his young deputy, Stoudenmire had cleaned up the town, a task that earned him many enemies and, in the end, death. This is the story of Dallas Stoudenmire-auburn-haired, fiery-eyed, six-foot, two-inch gunfighter, container of laughter, liquor, and death-during the two tumultuous years in the early 1880's when he served as almost the only law north of the Rio Grande and west of Fort Worth. Leon C. Metz, Archivist in the University of Texas Library at EI Paso, has exhaustively researched this definitive biography of Garrett and has traveled far and wide to interview Garrett's family and friends-the people who knew him well. He has laid to rest many of the rumors and speculations surrounding Garrett's life and death, as well as those of his most famous victim. He has discovered many rare and previously unpublished photographs of Garrett and his associates, all included in this book

"Selman was a typical frontier character. He grew up on the edge of civilization; fought with (and deserted) the Confederacy, became the leader of a hard-case gang in New Mexico during Lincoln County War days, and ended his career as a more-or-less respectable policeman in El Paso. He secured for himself a place in frontier history by killing John Wesley Hardin in the Acme Saloon on August 19, 1895. Eight months later, on April 5, 1896, be himself was shot and killed in an El Paso alley. Metz gathers up the scattered pieces of the Selman saga with extraordinary skill and puts them together in a well-told narrative."-Journal of Arizona History "This book goes much further than a discussion of the Hardin affair. It shows both sides of John Selman in an unbiased, factual way and describes a good many other interesting anecdotes in the life of Selman from his Civil War service to his escapades in Texas and New Mexico. While he did serve at times in various capacities as an officer of the law, his life story leaves little doubt in the mind's eye that here was basically a cold-blooded, vicious sociopath. . . . John Selman, before he, too, was gunned down, bad outlived all of the other gunslingers of the Old West and his passing really noted the passing of an era."-Annals of Wyoming "This is quite a book about one of the West's most infamous gunmen, about whom very little bas been written. Mr. Metz has done a workmanlike job. His research was extensive and there are thirty-six pages of notes, a bibliography, and records of personal interviews."-Denver Westerners' Roundup Leon Claire Metz, a biographer and historian of the early Southwest, lives in El Paso, Texas. He is also the author of Pat Garrett: Story of a Western Lawman and Dallas Stoudenmire: El Paso Marshal, both published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

In the history of the Southwest, Pat Garrett stood tall, both physically and in legend. He was more than just a famous western sheriff, more than the slayer of the legendary Billy the Kid. While on occasion his gun was for hire, and while he was sometimes known to protect special interests-particularly those of the cattle barons-more often than not Pat Garrett combined in his six-foot five-inch frame the good, honest, and honorable qualities that went to make up the lawman of the Old West. Garrett is, of course, immortal for his successful efforts to end the career of the Kid, but, as the author amply demonstrates, Garrett's career by no means ended on that hot evening in July, 1881, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Within days Garrett had established a reputation as an implacable foe of western criminals, a reputation that was to follow (and sometimes haunt) him for the rest of his life. He was an important figure in the frontier politics of Texas and New Mexico, and he rubbed shoulders with the great and the near great of the region. Through the story of Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett the panorama of the Southwest unfolds: its dreams, its courage, its explorations, its mistakes, its violence, its conquests, and ultimately its emergence as a settled society. No other character in southwestern history is more closely identified with the land and the people of America's last frontier. Leon C. Metz, Archivist in the University of Texas Library at EI Paso, has exhaustively researched this definitive biography of Garrett and has traveled far and wide to interview Garrett's family and friends-the people who knew him well. He has laid to rest many of the rumors and speculations surrounding Garrett's life and death, as well as those of his most famous victim. He has discovered many rare and previously unpublished photographs of Garrett and his associates, all included in this book. Undoubtedly the definitive biography of the man who killed Billy the Kid, this thorough and well-written analysis deals effectively with almost every question that has been raised about the controversial life and death of Pat Garrett....The author presents much of the fascinating political, economic, and social history of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas that is necessary to a proper understanding of the man....An exciting biography and highly recommended to the 'gunfighter crowd' and general readers everywhere." - Library Journal. "Metz has been diligent in seeking and judging source material, and he describes and evaluates varying interpretations of controversial events such as the killing of Billy the Kid, the search for the killers of Albert Fountain, and the killing of Garrett himself in 1908....Well written, excellent illustrations...Recommended for all libraries and for general reading."- Choice. "Metz...reveals a talent for characterization worthy of a novelist. This well-documented biography is a valuable addition to the record of southwestern history. It catches the flesh-and-blood Garrett just in time; before he and the Kid recede forever into the mists of western legend." -The American West.