Considering To Hell on a Fast Horse

On a previous vacation I read Shot All to Hell by Mark Lee Gardner which was about the final robbery of the James-Younger Gang. Having enjoyed it greatly, this year I decided to read his book To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett.

This is a slight misnomer since Billy the Kid is dead by page 175 of 260. The last 90 or so pages deal with the remainder of Garrett’s life with the positives and negatives of having been the one who killed Billy the Kid.

It is also appropriate in that Billy, a horse and cattle thief and murderer, was dispatched without notice and apparently unrepentant. To adapt a popular phrase, he who lives by the gun shall die by the gun. Garrent, an atheist, was ambushed and killed, also apparently unrepentant. I don’t think Gardner intends to make a theological statement, but does nonetheless.

It is a good read and I enjoyed it. Billy the Kid is largely a ghost prior to the Lincoln County War. We can’t even be positive of his given name. Gardner tracked it all down as best he could. He portrays Billy as an oddly charismatic person for whom ordinary life found no allure. He was content to steal from others, manipulate others, and if he couldn’t charm his way out, kill others. Like the book on the James-Younger Gang, I thought it would make the basis for a very interesting movie, as long as they don’t give it the Young Guns treatment.

Pat Garrett was another man who found no allure in the ordinary life. He ended up with a badge and developed the reputation of a man hunter. He was a gambler and adulterer who, while parlaying his fame into high positions including a tax collector on the border under Theodore Roosevelt (perhaps I’ll read Gardner’s book on the Rough Riders next year), died deeply in debt. He was a polarizing man who appeared to have a hard time maintaining friendships. Some, based on rumors, thought him cowardly for never giving Billy a “fair shot”. Would you give such a man a “fair shot”?

This the story of two men on different sides of the law, but the same side of sin & grace. If you have any interest in the old West, this would be a great read for you. Gardner is not trying to glamorize these men, but does acknowledge our nation’s propensity to do that. It has done it with Billy the Kid, and he mentions that one of the biographies of Billy was found in the back seat of Bonnie and Clyde’s car after they were shot to death.

These two books did make me wonder about the influence of the Civil War on this period in history. It was very clear in the book about the James-Younger Gang since they fought in the war as guerilla fighters. The connection is less explicit in the events surrounding Billy the Kid. There may be more of a “spirit” that affected the post-war generation. Some of the minor figures in this book served. But there was a brutality that could not help but affect the larger society, particularly those who moved west. It makes me wonder about our society today, and the effect the Post-9/11 conflicts have had on us. Is that part of why we see an increase in violence? I don’t know but it is worth considering as a part of the picture (there is also the reality of Romans 1:18ff that weighs heavily).

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Considering Shot All to Hell

I wish I had more time to read books on history and historical events. There are so many topics I want to learn about. But when the title of your book is Shot All to Hell, you go to the top of the queue. Mark Lee Gardner likes to use “hell” (or h-e-double hockey sticks as Radar used to say) in his book titles. I’ll have to get his To Hell on a Fast Horse which is about Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. Here Gardner tackles the attempted robbery that ended the James-Younger gang.

I saw this book last winter while wandering SkyHarbor airport while CavWife and kids ate breakfast before they went east for a vacation. It intrigued me, so it ended up putting it on my wish list and got it Christmas (thanks, CavWife!). As a result I read it while on my Christmas vacation. I’ve been a bit busy so I’m finally getting to this.

“They excelled at deception- they had to.”

Gardner notes that it presents a peculiar difficulty in writing about outlaws since lying is a way of life for them. Their own testimony in books, newspaper articles and to friends tends to be unreliable. He looked at other eyewitness testimony as well. This may be as close to the truth as we’ll get to the Northfield Raid.

He begins with the Rocky Cut train robbery which has been attributed to the James-Younger gang to introduce us to them. His point? They knew what they were doing, which makes the failed robbery in Northfield all the more interesting.

“Before September 7, 1876, the James-Younger gang had never been challenged, denied, or defeated.”

If they had high school yearbooks then, they would not have been voted “Most Likely to be Famous Criminals” or infamous criminals. They appear to have come for generally good homes. The Younger family was wealthy enough to have slaves prior to the Civil War, and they were “well-schooled, church-going Missourians.” The James brothers grew up as the sons of “a cultured, college-educated Baptist minister.” They too owned slaves.

That is important because both families supported the Confederate States in the conflict. This is what changed everything for both families. Both families suffered at the hands of Kansas jayhawkers. The sons would meet as part of the Quantrill Raiders where they became familiar with  bloodshed and utilizing guerrilla tactics. The war hardened them, and the South’s defeat set the stage for their life of crime which they seemed to view as vigilante justice.

“Circumstances sometimes make people what they are,” Bob once said. “If it had not been for the war, I might have been something, but as it is, I am what I am.”

The book is quite entertaining. I often pondered what it would be like to put together as a movie. As with the real story there are explosive bursts of excitement including the failed robbery and shootout, and then the gunfight that resulted in the capture of the Younger portion of the gang.

Woven into the story is the story of the man Jesse hoped to kill in Minnesota- attorney Sam Hardwicke. Hardwicke was instrumental in a Pinkerton raid that intended to apprehend the James’ boys but resulted in the death of young Archie. This is part of what drove the gang to MN in the first place.

The story brings in the advances in safes that made life difficult for the erstwhile robbers. Gardner also delves into the conflicts and arrogance of the men leading the search for the gang. He also notes the conflicts within the gang, particularly Jesse and Cole Younger’s struggle for power.

It is a story of violence, near misses, second chances and imprisonment. It is a fascinating story, and Gardner tells it, usually, in a very interesting manner. The details of their escape makes you wonder if they wished they’d just been captured in the first place. It was, at times, that unpleasant.

If you like history, and tales of the old west, this is the book for you. Circumstances shape and mold us, opening us up to particular temptations. Sometimes they help us make excuses for ourselves. You will see in them your own tendency to justify your own indiscretions. Lastly you see that sin has a bitter price, and you will pay it eventually.

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