B O O K S

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03/2001. xxiii, 327 pages.
0896724506
978-0-89672-450-1

Cowboy Justice: Tale of a Texas Lawman

By Jim Gober
Edited by James R. Gober and B. Byron Price
Foreword by Doris Meredith

Jim Gober was not simply a witness to early Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Oklahoma history; he was involved in it up to his neck.—Elmer Kelton

Cowboy Justice is a bonanza for all readers and historians who love the real West. The book is authentic as a Porter saddle . . . as down to earth as the birth of a longhorn calf, and gives you the uncanny feeling of being there. An honest Cracker Jack read. Rare indeed!—Max Evans

Jim Gober['s] memoirs provide more wisdom and insight into Texas lawmen and law enforcement than anything I've read. . . . This is a narrative of cattle empires, of goodness and harshness, loyalty, family and politics. It defines the wages of life. —Leon C. Metz

A valuable contribution to the literature of the West. It brings a too often forgotten time vividly to life in a narrative which belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in and a love for the people and places that constitute our western heritage. —Norman Zollinger

A rare treasure . . . Cowboy Justice relates the common man's struggle while brushing against the lives of frontier legends such as Sam Bass, Pat Garret, Charlie Siringo, and Temple Houston. An ordinary citizen swept through extraordinary times . . . —Mike Blakely

From the badlands of Texas in the late nineteenth century, Jim Gober—cowboy, lawman, gambler, saloon keeper, homesteader, horse-race promoter, private detective—both hunter and hunted . . . a real-life hero.

Jim Gober had a code of ethics that he adhered to throughout his life. His code made him the man he was, and it cost him dearly. It was an ethic based in loyalty, and it was the central force in his life story. It compelled him to leave home at fifteen. It drove him to cowboying on the ranges of West Texas. It catapulted him into politics as the youngest elected sheriff in the US. It made him the target of hired assassins.