Alaska - State & Local History, Wyoming - State & Local History, Frontier & Pioneer Life - Western United States, Oklahoma - State & Local History, Northwestern States - Regional Biography, Rocky Mountain States - Regional Biography, Historical Biography
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Overview
Here for the first time is the complete life story of the controversial lawman Frank Canton, born Joe Horner, who, after conviction and imprisonment for armed robbery, escaped to change his name and transform himself into an ambitious, hard-working peace officer pursuing felons all over the western frontier for almost half a century. Canton was active in widely separate sections of the country - Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Alaska - during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth. Western historian Robert K. DeArment has tracked down the facts of the mysterious Canton's early life and misdeeds in Texas; his participation in the Johnson County War as an agent of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association; his pursuit of the Daltons, Bill Doolin, and other outlaws in Oklahoma Territory; his experiences as a peace officer and gold prospector in Alaska; his career as a bounty hunter; and his ultimate success as adjutant general of the new state of Oklahoma. Based on exhaustive study of primary materials - court records, contemporary periodicals, and Canton's own writings and memorabilia collected during his lifetime - this fast-paced, objective biography will give readers unique insights into the legendary Canton's eventful life and a better understanding of how the rule of law was brought to the West by six-guns.Editorials
Fred Egloff
DeArment has written the first in-depth appraisal of one of the true mystery men of the Old West. Frank Canton's 1930 autobiography, "Frontier Trails", in which he related his experiences as a lawman in Wyoming and Oklahoma, has long been a classic work. Decades after the book's publication, it was revealed that his name was actually Joe Horner and that he had started out as a Texas badman. Having fled Texas ahead of the law, he assumed the Canton name, becoming a respectable Wyoming rancher and the sheriff of Johnson County. As an agent of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, he led the "invasion" of that county by the cattlemen. The Johnson County War of 1892 ended in chaos, requiring intervention by the U.S. president. Canton became a deputy U.S. marshal in the Oklahoma Territory, a peace officer and gold prospector in Alaska, a bounty hunter, and eventually the well-respected adjutant general of the new state of Oklahoma. A fast-paced, objective biography that will be a significant addition to western history collections.Book Details
Published
September 1, 1996
Publisher
University of Oklahoma Press
Pages
402
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780806128283