Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona 1846-1912 [Hardcover]

Larry D. Ball (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

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 on the frontier. Their duties ranged from tracking down stagecoach robbers and serving court warrants to locking up drunks and quelling domestic disputes.The reality of their job embraced such mandane duties as being jail keepers, tax collectors, quarantine inspectors, court-appointed executioners, and dogcatchers.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In this carefully researched study, Ball shows that few southwestern sheriffs were genuine gunmen. Wielding firearms with nerve and determination in the line of duty, however, was expected of them by their constituents. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Larry D. Ball, professor at Arkansas State University, has published extensively on frontier law-and-order --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr; 1st edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826313469
• ISBN-13: 978-0826313461
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,750,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Story of the Men who Wore the Badge, November 4, 2011

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This review is from: Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona 1846-1912 (Paperback)

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.