ay and far into the night, with ready Winchesters,
awaiting Allison. But he never came.

Shortly after taking his seat on top of the high load in the broiling
sun, plodding slowly along in the dust and heat, Allison was nodding
drowsily, when suddenly a protruding mesquite root gave the wagon a
sharp jolt that plunged Clay headlong into the road, where, before he
could rise, the great wheels crunched across his neck.

CHAPTER IV

TRIGGERFINGERITIS[1]

On the Plains thirty years ago there were two types of man-killers; and
these two types were subdivided into classes.

The first type numbered all who took life in contravention of law.
This type was divided into three classes: A, Outlaws to whom
blood-letting had become a mania; B, Outlaws who killed in defence of
their spoils or liberty; C, Otherwise good men who had slain in the
heat of private quarrel, and either "gone on the scout" or "jumped the
country" rather than submit to arrest.

The second type included all who slew in support of law and order.
This type included six classes: A, United States marshals; B, Sheriffs
and their deputies; C, Stage or railway express guards, called
"messengers"; D, Private citizens organized as Vigilance
Committees--these often none too discriminating, and not infrequently
the blind or willing instruments of individual grudge or greed; E,
Unorganized bands of ranchmen who took the trail of marauders on life
or property and never quit it; F, "Inspectors" (detectives) for Stock
Growers' Associations.

Throughout the seventies and well into the eighties, in Wyoming,
Dakota, western Kansas and Nebraska, New Mexico, and west Texas, courts
were idle most of the time, and lawyers lived from hand to mouth. The
then state of local society was so rudimentary that it had not acquired
the habit of appeal to the law for settlement of its differences. And
while it may sound an anachronism, it is nevertheless the simple truth
that while life was far less secure through that period, average
personal honesty then ranked higher and depredations against property
were fewer than at any time since.

As soon as society had advanced to a point where the victim could be
relied on to carry his wrongs to court, judges began working overtime
and lawyers fattening. But of the actual pioneers who took their lives
in their hands and recklessly staked them in their everyday goings and
comings (as, for instance, did all who ventured into the Sio