The Lawmen

Lawmen of the old west played a juggling act as far as the law was concerned. The lawman had be both tougher and smarter than his outlaw counterpart or the outlaw would win. Most the sheriffs and marshals wearing abdages played at gambling, often owning the gambling concessions in the saloons and barooms of the very towns they were required to police. As it was gambling that caused much of the trouble in any western town, the lawmen found themselves supporting gambling while trying to curb the unlawful activities of angry gamblers. The lawman was invariably good with a gun, and was often forced to bring it into play. Western Author Alton Pryor brings about thirty of the West's most notorious together in his book, The Lawmen.