The memoirs of a long-serving American lawyer who began his practice in 1896 when Oklahoma was still an outlaw's paradise. Some of the dramatic and hilarious events from Mathers' career in which he handled over 1,000 cases involving the death penalty for the accused and often danger for the attorney, judge and jury. Chapters cover many notorious characters of the day including "Machine Gun" Kelly.

The most lawless land in the American West was the 70,000 square miles of frontier Western Arkansas and the Indian Territory of the Five Civilized Tribes; what later would become Oklahoma. Rape, robbery, murder, horse theft, gun and whiskey running were the everyday crimes that often went unpunished. It took both the gavel and the gun --- and hangman¿s knot to tame this land. The Territory was a magnet to outlaws and spoilers of every brand. Law, order, and justice didn¿t come until almost ten years after the Civil War. Law and order finally came in the form of ¿the Hanging Judge,¿ Isaac Parker, a new U.S. Marshal, Mace Truax, and a Choctaw Indian Territorial Policeman named John Browneagle.

Blackmailed into working for Isaac Parker, the notorious hanging judge, J.D. Preacher finds himself with a tin star on his chest and a lot of trouble on his hands: he must capture some of the scum terrorizing the terrority before the judge will clear his name.

From a Spur Award–winning author of the Five Star Western Series comes a thrilling tale of James clan. Outlaws Frank and Jesse James eluded capture for 16 years and became folk heroes. In 1882, after Jesse was killed by Bob, Frank surrendered and faced trial for murder. How could Missouri convict a man so popular that the governor almost needed an appointment to visit him in jail? William Wallace had already imprisoned one member of the untouchable James Gang. Now his case rested on the word of a scoundrel and defied those who would kill to protect Frank James. The defense would paint the Shakespeare-quoting robber as an honorable family man and victim of mistaken identity, endlessly persecuted by the hated railroads. Inside an opera house, the circus like trial would decide if James senselessly murdered a young stonemason during the 1881 Winston train robbery. Perhaps the larger question was if Missouri was ruled by the arm of the law—or the arm of the bandit.