Desert Lawmen

by Ball, Larry D.

• ISBN13: 9780826317001
• ISBN10: 0826317006
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

Elected for two-year terms, frontier sheriffs were the principal peace-keepers in counties that were often larger than New England states. As officers of the court, they defended settlers and protected their property from the ever-present violence on the frontier. Their duties ranged from tracking down stagecoach robbers and serving court warrants to locking up drunks and quelling domestic disputes.The reality of their job embraced such mandane duties as being jail keepers, tax collectors, quarantine inspectors, court-appointed executioners, and dogcatchers.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
The Origins of the Sheriff's Office in New Mexico and Arizona Territories	p. 1
Organization of the Sheriff's Office	p. 19
The Sheriff and the Law Enforcement System	p. 38
Getting in Office Seeking preferment to the Shrievalty	p. 55
Servant of the Court	p. 89
The Sheriff and Extralegal Justice	p. 128
Deathwatch	p. 147
Conservator pacis	p. 179
Fugitives from Justice	p. 202
Sheriffs in Times of Crisis	p. 225
Ex-Officio Collector	p. 246
Handyman	p. 265
The Shrievalty Enters the Twentieth Century	p. 279
Conclusion	p. 301
Notes	p. 309
List of Sheriffs	p. 345
Legal Hangings	p. 373
Lynchings	p. 378
Bibliography	p. 383
Index	p. 399
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.