Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846-1912

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This carefully researched study shows that although few southwestern sheriffs were genuine gunmen they were expected to wield firearms with nerve and determination in the line of duty.

Elected for two-year terms, frontier sheriffs were the principal peace-keepers in counties that were often larger than New England states. As officers of the court, they defended settlers and protected their property from the ever- present violence of the frontier. Their duties ranged from tracking down stagecoach robbers and serving court warrants to locking up drunks and quelling domestic disputes. Sheriffs were also jail keepers, tax collectors, quarantine inspectors, court-appointed executioners, and dogcatchers.

The breadth and detail of Ball� �s study, which includes informative lists of sheriffs, legal hangings, and lynchings, makes this volume the definitive work on frontier law enforcement.


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Larry D. Ball is professor emeritus of history at Arkansas State University. He is the author of a number of books on the American West.

ACCLAIM

"A major contribution . . . to social, economic, and political history." -- New Mexico Historical Review

"Exhaustively researched and throughly illuminating." -- Western Historical Quarterly

Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846-1912 Review

It was a dangerous job taming the Southwestern frontier. And as "Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona 1846-1912" points out, it was often thankless. Working in a wild and unsettled territory, facing the possibility of violent death, and staring down vigilantes bent on their own brand of justice, the County Sheriff's had their hands full. They also collected tax, managed the local jails, and faced bitter political rivals while trying to control deputies and the delicate network of the western legal system. And at the end of the day they often faced a less than enthusiastic community and lousy pay. The author has given these men, and the role of local law enforcement in the American west its first serious study, tearing down the misconceptions of dime novels and Hollywood, and presenting the western lawman as he really was. Here you will see some familiar names, among them the Earps of Tombstone fame and Pat Garrett. But you will also meet many others, equally tough hombres, who have faded from the annals of popular history. This book is a must have for any serious student of the "violent west" or anyone even casually interested in what it was like to wear the badge in the waning days of the Old West.

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