Captain Frank Jones, a famed Texas Ranger, said of his company’s top sergeant, Baz Outlaw (1854-1894), “A man of unusual courage and coolness and in a close place is worth two or three ordinary men.” Another old time Texas Ranger declared that Baz Outlaw “was one of the worst and most dangerous” because “he never knew what fear was.” But not all thought so highly of him. In "Whiskey River Ranger", Bob Alexander tells for the first time the full story of this troubled Texas Ranger and his losing battle with alcoholism.

In his career Baz Outlaw wore a badge as a Texas Ranger and also as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He could be a fearless and crackerjack lawman, as well as an unmanageable manic. Although Baz Outlaw’s badge wearing career was sometimes heroically creditable, and at other times his self-induced nightmarish imbroglios teased and tested Texas Ranger management’s resoluteness.

Baz Outlaw’s true-life story is jam-packed with fellows owning well-known names, including Texas Rangers, city marshals, sheriffs, and steely-eyed miscreants. Baz Outlaw’s tale is complete with horseback chases, explosive train robberies, vigilante justice (or injustice), nighttime ambushes and bushwhacking as well as episodes of scorching six-shooter finality. Baz met his end in a brothel brawl at the hands of John Selman, the same gunfighter who killed John Wesley Hardin”.

Author Bob Alexander is a retired lawman himself. He began his policing career in 1965 and retired as a special agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. He is author of “Rawhide Ranger, Ira Aten” (winner of WWHA Best Book Award); “Six-Shooters and Shifting Sands”, “Bad Company and Burnt Powder”, “Riding Lucifer’s Line”, and “Winchester Warriors” all published by UNT Press. He lives in Maypearl, Texas.

---

Comments

Comments are not available for this entry.

---