VINTAGE PICTURES

The Story of the Outlaw

The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western Desperado by Emerson Hough, writer of western stories and historical novels, should ideally be my entry for Friday's Forgotten Books over at Patti Abbott's blog. It isn't because I can't wait to feature it now, in slide-show format which tells its own story. It would take me at least a week, or more, to read the 232-page ebook from Project Gutenberg and probably as much time to write about it. A review of a western historical work requires some understanding of the period and the events around it as opposed to a review of a western novel. In spite of its historical backdrop, I'd be more comfortable writing about a novel I read.

The book offers "historical narratives of famous outlaws, the stories of noted border wars, vigilante movements and armed conflicts on the frontier." The copyright to this fascinating chroncile of the western outlaw, in his various avatars, is held by two entities, the Curtis Publishing Company, 1905, and Emerson Hough and the Outing Publishing Company, New York, 1907. I'm not sure what that means.

"The stories of modern train-robbing bandits and outlaw gangs are taken partly from personal narratives, partly from judicial records, and partly from works frequently more sensational than accurate, and requiring much sifting and verifying in detail. Naturally, very many volumes of Western history and adventure have been consulted," Emerson Hough writes in his preface to The Story of the Outlaw. 

"Much of this labor has been one of love for the days and places concerned, which exist no longer as they once did. The total result, it is hoped, will aid in telling at least a portion of the story of the vivid and significant life of the West, and of that frontier whose van, if ever marked by human lawlessness, has, none the less, ever been led by the banner of human liberty," he adds. 

The book is divided into following twenty-two chapters:

01. The Desperado
02. The Imitation Desperado
03. The Land of The Desperado
04. The Early Outlaw
05. The Vigilantes Of California
06. The Outlaw of the Mountains
07. Henry Plummer
08. Boone Helm
09. Death Scenes of Desperadoes
10. Joseph A. Slade
11. The Desperado of the Plains
12. Wild Bill Hickok
13. Frontier Wars
14. The Lincoln County War
15. The Stevens County War
16. Biographies of Bad Men
17. The Fight of Buckshot Roberts
18. The Man Hunt
19. Bad Men of Texas
20. Modern Bad Men
21. Bad Men of the Indian Nations
22. Desperadoes of the Cities

From the dust jacket of The Man Next Door, 1917.
© University of Iowa Libraries

If you're an expert on Western history and frontier life, as Ron Scheer of California is, then you'll know what each of these chapters is about. Ron has covered Emerson Hough's work quite extensively at his blog Buddies in the Saddle. Here are the links to his posts on the American historian and his books, in order of publication:

1. Emerson Hough, The Story of the Cowboy (1897), October 11, 2010
2. Emerson Hough, again, October 14, 2010
3. Emerson Hough, Heart’s Desire (1905), October 19, 2010

Now then, the slide-show I promised earlier...

Plummer's Men

The Scene of Many Little Wars

Types of Border Barricades

The Scene of Many Hangings

Sheriff Pat F. Garrett who killed
Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid shoots Deputy Sheriff
Bob Ollinger

How the rustler worked

Texas rancher John Chisum

Billy the Kid

The Old Chisum Ranch

Border Fortress

Western Man Hunt

If you enjoyed the images, then you might also want to read the ebook at Project Gutenberg or ManyBooks. Click on the links.