Customer Reviews

Wiley G. Haines: Frontier U.S. Deputy Marshal

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Living in this area brought it all to life, not only local history, but even details of life in Civil War Missouri.
While the book is mainly about Wiley G. Haines,who was a decent and brave lawman, it also contains events like the Oklahoma Land Run and the Abernathy boys. We were fascinated with the interesting stories and facts. It makes you appreciate the hardship these lawmen and settlers went through.
This is a great book for anyone, and you don't have to be a western history buff to enjoy it.
However, after finishing it, you'll want to learn more.

This book provides primary source material, never before published, of the day-to-day life of a real U.S. Deputy Marshal who served for nearly thirty years on one of America's last frontiers. Written by Deputy Marshal Haines's great-grandson, the book provides new insight into one of the truly remarkable lawmen who never recieved the credit that he deserved. Historians who have focused on the Three Guardsmen (Thomas, Tilghman and Madsen) have largely ignored lawmen like Haines whose contributions have been overlooked. Unlike lawmen like Bill Tilghman, who made a movie and had a roadshow promoting his career, Haines was a true professional who never sought the limelight and performed his duties with deadly efficiency. Those who suffer from hero-worship of the Three Guardsmen will not like this book, since it raises a few uncomfortable questions. Haines's sterling character and career will seem unbelievable to some in our cynical age, but there were many outstanding lawmen like Haines that have not recieved the notoriety of a select few. This book is an important contribution to the annals of Oklahoma and western history and is recommended for those with an open mind.

Strongly disagree with Yankee reviewer from Detroit. This is not a book for those who want their preconceptions about Oklahoma Territorial history confirmed. As someone who is a native Oklahoman and lives in Oklahoma, I can say that this biography of U.S. Deputy Marshal Wiley G. Haines is a factual and unbiased account. The log book entries of Wiley Haines provide a first-hand account of what a frontier marshal's life was like. The book does not portray Wiley Haines as a saint and the other marshals as corrupt, as the uninformed reviewer from Detroit suggests. It does raise questions that some folks would rather avoid. Read the book and decide for yourself. Happiness is a north-bound Yankee.

This book was a very disappointing read. The author is writing about his great grandfather. The book does not give a very good detail of the life of a Frontier Marshal. What the book is mainly about is the author telling how great Wiley G. Haines was. The worst part is that J. D. Haines goes out of his way to try an tarnish the great names of other Marshals. It is implied on many occassions that Heck Thomas was a corrupt Marshal. Basically every famous Marshal that J. D. Haines writes about he has to put in negative information that he states may or may not be true. The author even states at one point that he found no negative information at all on Wiley G. Haines. I guess he was a saint and all the rest of the Marshal Service of the time were corrupt. My question is if Wiley G. Haines was so great, then why was he never promoted. Actually Wiley G. Haines could not even win an election for sheriff of his own county. The only good part about this book was it was only 80 pages long, and many of the final pages are filled with pictures.