The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 308

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

analysis of the motives, philosophy, technique, or chivalry of all
bad men. The weakness of his logic is discernible; for example,
an appendix describes only fifty-eight bad men as to height,
color of eyes, etc., and arrives at a conclusion: "the Composite
Bad Man." The birth dates of thirty-nine are used to show that
the median year of their birth is 1851; eighteen of a certain
thirty-two were born in the South, and the inference is made
that bad men "were mostly sons of the South." In fact, the
author, on page 189, says two-thirds were. Not only is the
reasoning faulty, but certain errors glare. Keelboaters is mis-
spelled on page 28. Many sentences are loosely constructed, not
to say artless and clumsy. These callow constructions tend to
confuse the reader, along with inaccuracies arising from the
fluent style, and the straining for emphasis and dramatic pres-
entation, manifested in the use of such words as "Wow !", and
"So What ?". The prize slip is the rifle, mentioned in a sentence
on page 195, which the author has shooting twenty-one buck-
shot. Mark Twain was twenty-six in 1861, and not fifteen as
Mr. Hendricks states on page 135.
In his preface the author proposes to "winnow facts from
legend ;" and to correct "distorted and deliberately exaggerated"
tales of Western bad men. It does not seem that his book ac-
complishes his purpose, but rather that he has repeated many
"tall tales," although he does at times draw attention to the
fact that they are likely exaggerated. "The lore of the Wild
West is a fascinating subject, and its atmosphere does per-
meate . . ." his book. As folklore the book is interesting.
The end-covers, as well as the photographs and drawings, are
valuable as showing some of the more dramatic incidents and
notable characters mentioned in the text.
CHARLES F. WARD.
New Mexico Military Institute.
Justice in Grey: A History of the Judicial System of the Con-
federate States of America. By William M. Robinson, Jr.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1941. Pp.
xxi, 713. $7.50.
This volume is the most important contribution to the history
of the Confederate States of America in many years. For many
reasons, but chiefly because its records were scattered and lost

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