A Dynasty of Western Outlaws

Wars breed crime and criminals; and the American Civil War did not differ from others in this respect. Out of the dislocations of that conflict grew a wave of lawlessness that transcended all expectations in the length of time it lasted, and in the number of successive generations in which it perpetuated itself as a noteworthy dynasty of outlawry. From the first essays into crime by William Clarke Quantrill to the death of Pretty Boy Floyd before the guns of the FBI, three quarters of a century was spanned. In all that time there never was an hour when some connection, evident or latent, did not exist between one set of outlaws and the next, which would succeed it in the Quantrill legacy of crime.—Introduction. Wellman goes into great detail discussing the gangs of: Quantrill, Jesse James, Younger brothers, Doolin, Belle Starr, and Pretty Boy Floyd and includes discussions on the lawmen like “the Hanging Judge”, the Pinkerton Detective Agency and Hoover’s G Men.