Robert DeArment, the dean of outlaw-lawman historians, is still producing remarkable books at the age of 92. His latest, Man-Hunters of the Old West (University of Oklahoma Press, $29.95), is a fascinating look at eight men who helped to bring law and order to the West. A few are very well known—like detectives James Hume, Charlie Siringo and Jack Duncan. Several are not, including store clerk M.F. Leech, who chased the Joel Collins Gang (with Sam Bass) after it netted $50,000 in a Nebraska train holdup. Great stories, well told, this is a must-have for any Old West library.
—Mark Boardman, Features Editor of True West
In Man-Hunters of the Old West, Robert K. DeArment recounts the life of railroad detective Millard F. “M.F.” Leech in the rise and fall of the Joel Collins Gang (left), with Collins (right, front) and Sam Bass (left, back). – Courtesy R.G. McCubbin Collection –
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Mark Boardman is the features editor for True West Magazine as well as the editor of The Tombstone Epitaph. He also serves as pastor for Poplar Grove United Methodist Church in Indiana.