DESPERATE MEN

by James D. Horan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1949

These ""Revelations from the Sealed Pinkerton Files"" are the stories of two colorful groups of outlaws, Jesse James and his gang, and Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. Here is the James' family background, guerilla activities during the Civil War, successful careers in bank robbery culminating in the Northfield robbery which resulted in the death of the Youngers, part of the gang, and forced the James' brothers into hiding. They are drawn in less colorful terms than customary- as cold-blooded, ruthless killers....The story of the less well known but more picturesque Wild Bunch that terrorized Wyoming, Colorado and Utah as cattle rustlers, bank and train robbers, shows them as a gang of several hundred men with almost impregnable hideouts invaded from time to time by the Army, by groups of outraged cattlemen, and finally singly by the Pinkerton detectives. Cassidy was their second leader, and by the beginning of the 20th century he realized that the west was not big enough for him and went off to South America. There for a time, along with some of his gang, he turned respectable. Then, when they resumed their careers as bank robbers they eventually met death. Well-written, factually sound, fascinating true western.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1949

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1949

Categories: NONFICTION