Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite [Paperback]

William M. Breakenridge (Author), Richard Maxwell Brown (Editor, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

Helldorado offers cinematic images of wagon trains crossing the Great Plains, of Phoenix and Denver emerging from the dust and mud, of Tombstone blazing through a silver bonanza, and of the railroad joining East and West to change history. In his memoirs, originally published in 1928, William M. Breakenridge is shown doing about everything an enterprising and vigorous young man could do on the frontier. After leaving Wisconsin at the age of sixteen, he became a teamster, railroader; and lawman in Colorado, Arizona, and elsewhere. He took part in the Sand Creek Massacre, here described from his own point of view. Helldorado heats up in its evocation of early-day Tombstone, where, as deputy sheriff, Breakenridge encountered the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Luke Short, John Ringo, and Buckskin Frank Leslie.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In his introduction Richard Maxwell Brown asserts that Breakenridge "flourished in the pioneer era of the gunfight and survived its dangers to grow old and successful in the modern West." Beekman Professor of Northwest and Pacific History at the University of Oregon, Brown is the author of No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History and Society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803261004
• ISBN-13: 978-0803261006
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a greatly Revised edition of the orginal work., June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite (Paperback)

Having read the orginal version of Helldorado 20 years ago, anticipation of again reading this first hand account of Tombstone days quickly lead to disappoint due to the blatant revisions in this book. For example, the chapter about John Ringo has been completely omitted and substitutions based on author Jack Burrows's derogatory comments from the Gunfighter Who Never Was have been substituted. Orignal photographs have also been omitted. Since William Breakenridge was actually acquainted with the people and times he wrote about, why should a modern revisionist feel compelled to correct his original observations and opinions and thus distort history? If an author has a different viewpoint, then let him/her write their own version, not use the title of another's work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helldorado- Bringing the Law to the Mesquite, May 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite (American Biography Series) (Library Binding)

If you would like to read about how the non Wyatt Earp supporters felt about "Tombstone" back then read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book gone bad, September 21, 2010

By 

Marvin D. Pipher (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This is one of the better western biographies that I have read. And, except for the four chapters which dealt with the events in Tombstone, Arizona, in the early 1880s, it may very well have been the best.

I first ran across this book back in the 1950s but declined to read it because I was led to believe that it presented a one sided and biased view of the events in Tombstone. Knowing that Breakenridge was a deputy working under Cochise County's Sheriff Behan, I also assumed that he was an associate of outlaws and couldn't be trusted. In addition: since I seldom ran across his name in any of the books which I had read, I naturally assumed that he was, as Allie Earp described him, simply Behan's "Toady," or flunky. After reading this book, however, I'm not entirely sure that that was a fair judgment, but it would certainly seem to be during his time in Tombstone.

I say that because, based upon his writings, he was much more at home with the outlaw element in the territory surrounding Tombstone than he was with those in Tombstone itself who were much more interested in establishing law and order. As a matter of fact, it is clear from what he has written that he sided with the "cowboys," i.e. the outlaws, in almost every instance, and always viewed things from their perspective. This is especially reflected in his discussions of the gunfight near the OK Corral and other interactions between the cowboy element and what he terms the "Earp Gang." In every case, he states the cowboy's view of events without ever expanding on the specific circumstances or any other evidence to the contrary. He apparently only believed what the cowboys told him.

What struck me as particularly strange was that, although he was clearly aware that many, if not most, of the cowboys with whom he associated were cattle rustlers and horse thieves, or dealt in stolen livestock, and in some instances were outright killers, he never seemed to mind and constantly remarks on just how good natured and friendly they were and how welcome they made him in their company. (very strange for a supposed deputy sheriff)

And, in remarking on the gunfight near the OK Corral, Breakenridge obviously took great pains to present the cowboy's (outlaw's) point of view, rather than present the broader evidence and the broader perspective. As a case in point: on page 256 he presents what appears to be two consecutive paragraphs summing up Judge Wells Spicer's concluding remarks at the inquest. As presented, they strongly imply that Marshall Earp's party fired the first shots and that the Judge made a hasty decision in not holding them for trial. In reality, the first of these "paragraphs" was actually two sentences lifted from a paragraph eight paragraphs earlier and taken out of context to reinforce Breakenridge's (the outlaw's) argument. And to make matters worse, Breakenridge ignores all of the actual evidence upon which the judge based his decision. (Sad, very sad)

[See "The O.K. Corral Inquest" edited by Alford E. Turner pages 217-226 for Judge Spicer's complete summation.]

Based on Billy Breakenridge's life before coming to Tombstone and his life after leaving there, I would have to conclude that he was an honorable man who became a fairly good law officer. For the life of me, however, I can't account for his actions while in Tombstone. Perhaps he was simply naïve or enjoyed the prestige of hanging around with the outlaws. Whatever the case may be, if I was going to write a prescription for any future readers, it would be "take all twenty chapters, but take four or five of them with a grain of salt." For this is a good book gone bad.