The Killing Season (69 page)

January 24, 1876, Mobeetie, Texas. A soldier stormed into a saloon, killing Molly Brennan, a girl with whom Bat Masterson was sitting. Wounded himself, Masterson shot and killed the soldier, the only killing of his long career.

August 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory. While playing poker in Saloon Number Ten, Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall. Acquitted by a miner's court, McCall was later arrested in Laramie City by a Deputy U.S. Marshal who heard McCall bragging about killing Wild Bill. McCall was taken to Yankton, Dakota Territory, where he was found guilty and sentenced to hang.

September 7, 1876, Northfield, Minnesota. The James and Younger gangs, seeking to rob the bank, were met with a hail of lead. While Frank and Jesse escaped, the Youngers weren't so fortunate. James, Robert, and Cole were captured.

December 21, 1876, Las Animas, Colorado. Clay Allison and his brother John were on a drunken spree in the Olympic Saloon. Charles Faber, a deputy sheriff, went after them. After Faber had wounded John with a shotgun, Clay Allison gunned down Faber.

December 25, 1876, Zavala County, Texas. An enraged King Fisher gunned down a cowboy, William Dunovan.

December 25, 1876, Austin, Texas. Ben Thompson shot and killed Mark Wilson in a variety theater, following an argument.

June through July, 1877, Lampasas, Texas. There were numerous clashes between the Horrell-Higgins clans. While nobody was killed, many were wounded.

August 17, 1877, Fort Grant Arizona. In George Adkins's saloon, seventeen-year-old Henry McCarty (aka William Bonney and Billy the Kid) had a quarrel with F.P. Cahill. Cahill slapped the kid's face and threw him to the floor. Billy pulled a revolver and shot Cahill, who died the next day. A coroner's jury indicted Billy for criminal and unjustifiable murder.

August 23, 1877, Pensacola, Florida. Texas Ranger John Armstrong arrested John Wesley Hardin aboard a train. When Hardin drew his gun from his waistband, it caught on his suspenders. By then, Armstrong had his own weapon out, and clubbed Hardin senseless. He was returned to Texas. Convicted, he did time in Huntsville prison.

September 25, 1877, Dodge City, Kansas. Sheriff Bat Masterson and Deputy Ed Masterson exchanged fire with a drunken cowboy. The fray ended when the cowboy ran for his horse and galloped away.

November 5,1877, Dodge City, Kansas. In the afternoon, a quarrel broke out in the Lone Star Dance Hall, owned by Texas Dick Moore and Bob Shaw. Shaw was firing at Moore, when Deputy Marshal Ed Masterson arrived. He clubbed Shaw on the head with the butt of his gun, but Shaw whirled and began firing at the marshal. Masterson was hit in the chest, paralyzing his arm, causing him to drop his pistol. Masterson fell to the floor, and seizing his revolver, shot Shaw twice.

April through July 1878, Lincoln County, New Mexico. Gunfights involving Charlie Bowdre, Richard Brewer, Henry Brown, Frank and George Coe, and Billy the Kid. These events led up to the Lincoln County War.

April 9, 1878, Dodge City, Kansas. Marshal Ed Masterson was shot and killed by a drunken cowboy.

July 26, 1878, Dodge City, Kansas. At three o'clock in the morning, lawmen Wyatt Earp and Jim Masterson engaged in a gunfight with drunken Texas cowboys. George Hoy, a Texan, was hit in the arm, and died from infection.

June 9, 1879, Dodge City, Kansas. Sheriff Jim Masterson, attempting to enforce a gun ordinance, engaged in a gunfight with drunken Texas cowboys, one of whom was shot in the leg.

July 19, 1879, Las Vegas, New Mexico. Doc Holliday and Mike Gordon engaged in a shootout, after Gordon began shooting up a saloon partly owned by Holliday. After Gordon had fired two shots, Holliday felled him with one shot.

November 20, 1879, Las Vegas, New Mexico. Constable Dave Mather was taking some drunken soldiers to jail, when one of them attempted to escape. One of the soldiers was wounded.

“A writer in the tradition of Louis L'Amour
and Zane Grey!”

—
Huntsville Times

 

 

National Bestselling Author

 

 

 

GRITTY HISTORICAL ACTION FROM

 

 

 

 

No other series packs this much
heat!

#301: HIGH PLAINS GRIFTERS
#302: BLACK ROCK PASS
#303: TERROR TRACKDOWN
#304: DEATH VALLEY DEMONS
#305: WYOMING WIPEOUT
#306: NEBRASKA NIGHT RIDERS
#307: MONTANA MARAUDERS
#308: BORDER BRAVADOS
#309: CALIFORNIA CARNAGE
#310: ALASKAN VENGEANCE
#311: IDAHO IMPACT
#312: SHANGHAIED SIX-GUNS
#313: TEXAS TIMBER WAR
#314: NORTH COUNTRY CUTTTHROATS
#315: MISSOURI MANHUNT
#316: BEYOND SQUAW CREEK
#317: MOUNTAIN MYSTERY
#318: NEVADA NEMESIS
#319: LOUISIANA LAYDOWN

 

TRAILSMAN GIANT: DESERT DUEL

 

 

 

 

 

SIGNET

 

 

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MAX McCOY

 

 

 

 

History remembers him as Wild Bill,
but he was born James Butler Hickok,
a young man who forged his future
as a scout on the plains, and as a
Union Spy during the Civil War. But it
was on one afternoon in Springfield,
Missouri, that Hickok found his true
calling—with a revolver in his hand.

 

 

 

Available wherever books are sold or at
penguin.com

SIGNET

 

 

 

 

Tanner Bland returns home from the Civil War to find that everyone thought him dead, and that his younger brother married Tanner's fiancée. So Tanner heads west to join an old army buddy, Jeb Hawkins, and hit the gold mines of Montana.

 

But the wagon train they join is not what they hoped for. Because in the train with them are the four good-for-nothing Leach brothers—and before they hit Montana, there'll be more than enough blood for all...

 

 

Available wherever books are sold or at
penguin.com

 

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