Ralph Compton Blood on the Gallows

by Joseph A. West

  McBride watched the Reverend Saul Remorse leave until man and horse were swallowed by distance.

  He took off his plug hat, wiped the sweatband, then settled it on his head again.

  ‘‘Reverend,’’ he said, looking into the empty land, ‘‘you are one mighty strange feller.’’

  Historical Note

  The Wortley Hotel in Lincoln, New Mexico, hasn’t changed much since it was owned by Pat Garrett, and it is still open for business. Billy the Kid would feel right at home in rooms that are furnished in the style of the 1880s and were occupied by gunmen of both factions during the Lincoln County War.

  Texas Ranger Pat Dooling had a reputation among his contemporaries as a tough town tamer who had no backup in him. It’s a pity we don’t know more about the exploits of this brave and resourceful peace officer.

  Pap boats are now highly collectable antiques. The boats poured a mix of flour, milk and water down the throats of babies who could not be breast-fed by their mothers. Perhaps this diet might explain the high infant mortality rate among orphaned babies in Victorian times.

  Despite his effete mannerisms and cutting wit, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde was much admired by gold miners during his visit to the United States. Wilde in turn stated that the only well-dressed men he saw in America were the miners.

  Inspector Thomas Byrnes of the New York Police Department’s bureau of detectives was a popular dime novel hero in his own lifetime. Like the fictitious Sherlock Holmes, who came after, he solved crimes by his amazing powers of observation and deduction.