Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, and Elfego Baca earned their fame as Southwestern lawmen and have had numerous books written about them. None, however, comes close to Deputy Dan Tucker in meeting the violent life of the frontier head-on. Serving in southwest New Mexico in the 1870s and 80s, Tucker killed, at the least, eight outlaws, wounded several others, and was shot several times himself. Virtually lost to history until now, Bob Alexander has brought Dangerous Dan Tucker back to life, with rigorous historical research that includes newspaper accounts, first person accounts, and court records.
Synopsis
Deputy Sheriff, Town Marshall, Deputy U.S. Marshall, Train Agent, Livestock Inspector, Dan Tucker was the quintessential lawman during the violent frontier period of southwest New Mexico. By his own deadpan account, he was "obliged to kill eight men" in Grant County alone -- not counting four other outlaws he personally dropped from the scaffold. Disinclined by nature to back down from anyone, Tucker was involved in some one dozen shooting scrapes, was shot four times, and he arrested Russian Bill and Sandy King. Yet Dangerous Dan Tucker is more than a gunman's story. Author Bob Alexander skillfully weaves in Tucker's nervy confrontations with criminals, with the quirky, everyday details of an underpaid lawman living on the edge. Prodigiously researched and documented, Alexander presents a significant Western character heretofore lost to history. His Dan Tucker is no Hollywood hero, but he is extremely competent and supremely dangerous -- if you're an outlaw.