to-day, and though
blood be again the price, may it never permanently be replaced by that
of license and injustice in our America.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE DESPERADO 1

II THE IMITATION DESPERADO 14

III THE LAND OF THE DESPERADO 22

IV THE EARLY OUTLAW 35

V THE VIGILANTES OF CALIFORNIA 74

VI THE OUTLAW OF THE MOUNTAINS 98

VII HENRY PLUMMER 105

VIII BOONE HELM 127

IX DEATH SCENES OF DESPERADOES 137

X JOSEPH A. SLADE 145

XI THE DESPERADO OF THE PLAINS 154

XII WILD BILL HICKOK 167

XIII FRONTIER WARS 187

XIV THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR 196

XV THE STEVENS COUNTY WAR 227

XVI BIOGRAPHIES OF BAD MEN 256

XVII THE FIGHT OF BUCKSHOT ROBERTS 284

XVIII THE MAN HUNT 292

XIX BAD MEN OF TEXAS 313

XX MODERN BAD MEN 340

XXI BAD MEN OF THE INDIAN NATIONS 371

XXII DESPERADOES OF THE CITIES 393

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Plummer's Men Holding Up the Bannack Stage (_Frontispiece_)

The Scene of Many Little Wars 12

Types of Border Barricades 36

The Scene of Many Hangings 138

How the Rustler Worked 164

Wild Bill Hickok's Desperate Fight 172

John Simpson Chisum 198

Men Prominent in the Lincoln County War 218

The "Women in the Case" 222

The McSween Store and Bank 240

Billy the Kid