By Rope and Lead

This volume contains Stage to Lordsburg, the inspiration for the movie Stagecoach which made John Wayne a star. But the eight other stories are no less good, all but one having appeared in the Saturday Evening Post or Colliers Magazine. Whether this book was rushed to production in March 1951 because Ernest Haycox had died in the fall of 1950, or whether it was already in process on Little, Brown's schedule, I have no way of knowing; but I suspect the latter is the case, as a book of short stories called Rough Justice had been published in March of 1950, so I believe this was just a follow up already planned. And what a follow up it is: The stories are diverse, touching upon nearly every "western" subject possible--the settler alone; or the army colonel who must decide who lives or who dies; or the lovely land. Great Book.