by J. T. Edson
ii Information about the period and, as no other market was yet available, extremely low prices paid for cattle by hide and tallow factories in the Lone Star State is given in: SET TEXAS BACK ON HER FEET and THE HIDE AND TALLOW MEN.
iii One wrangler who was able to make good the claim of never having lost a horse appears in: TRAIL BOSS.
iv The connection between Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog and Sandy McGraw is explained in various volumes of the Civil War series and McGRAW’S INHERITANCE.
v Why Waco was serving as a temporary deputy sheriff in Clinton County, Texas, is told in: Part Five, ‘The Hired Butcher’, THE HARD RIDERS and Part Four, ‘A Tolerable Straight Shooting Gun’, THE FLOATING OUTFIT. We would like to point out that the various episodes in this book do not run in chronological sequence.
vi Martin Jethro ‘Stone’ Hart and his Wedge trail crew make ‘guest’ appearances in: QUIET TOWN, TRIGGER FAST and GUN WIZARD.
vii The unusual nature of the assignment being handled by the Wedge trail crew is described in: BUFFALO ARE COMING!
viii Some information regarding the career of Sergeant Major Seamus Patrick ‘Paddy’ Magoon, United States Cavalry, can be found in: THE RUSHERS and APACHE RAMPAGE. However, when describing a meeting he had with Miss Martha ‘Calamity Jane’ Canary—due to an error in the source of reference from which we were producing the manuscript—we inadvertently referred to him as ‘Paddy Muldoon’, see: TROUBLE TRAIL.
ix Told in: HELL IN THE PALO DURO and GO BACK TO HELL.
x Told in SIDEWINDER.
xi Having been appointed as a Deputy United States Marshal for the Abilene Federal Judicial District, Thomas James ‘Tom’ Smith was killed whilst attempting to make an arrest on November the 2nd, 1870. This was one of the few recorded occasions when he was carrying arms in the execution of his duty, but he was shot with a rifle as he was announcing his intentions and then beheaded by an accomplice of the man he was after as he fell wounded.
xii Told in: THE SMALL TEXAN and THE TOWN TAMERS.
xiii“Cave adsum’, roughly translated from Latin, ‘Beware, I am here!’ The researches of the world’s foremost fictionist-genealogist, Philip Jose Farmer, q.v., have established that Trudeau Front de Boeuf was a lineal descendant from Sir Reginald of the same name who was lord of Torquilstone Castle during the reign of King Richard the First of England, 1189-99: see; IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott.
xiv The reticence where the disreputable activities of Trudeau Front de Boeuf and his even more unscrupulous mother, Jessica, are concerned was continued until recently by the present day members of the Counter family. This led us to attribute an attempt to cause the death of Mark Counter to a ‘Cousin Cyrus’ when producing the manuscript for: Part Two, ‘We Hang Horse Thieves High’, J.T.’S HUNDREDTH. However, we were allowed to clarify the situation in: CUT ONE, THEY ALL BLEED.
xv A description of how the ‘Proof of Trust’ confidence trick is carried out can be found in: Part Three, ‘Birds Of A Feather’, WANTED! BELLE STARR.
xvi When not using an alias in some illegal scheme, seeking to annoy and embarrass her family for having cast her out, Jessica Front de Boeuf employed her maiden name and not that of the husband she had deserted soon after their marriage.
xvii How Charles Henry ‘Red’ Blaze came into possession of the distinctive multi-coloured silk bandanna is told in: Part Two, ‘Cousin Red’s Big Chance’, THE HARD RIDERS.