19世纪90年代，怀俄明州南部发生了一场牛群沙沙作响的瘟疫，以及牧民们绝望的困境，为汤姆·霍恩的传奇故事奠定了基础。霍恩是一名前平克顿侦探、一名猎手和死枪手，也是旧西部历史上最神秘、最具争议的人物之一。强大的怀俄明州股票种植者协会中的一些激进分子转向了一位曾经吹嘘“杀戮我专长的人；我把它视为一个商业主张，我认为我在市场上占有一席之地”的人偷牛贼被及时警告，流血，汤姆·霍恩也受到牵连，但从未受到指控。1901年7月18日上午，怀俄明州一名牧羊人的14岁儿子威利·尼克尔被枪杀。霍恩的职业生涯结束了。
汤姆·霍恩的被捕、审判和处决点燃了迪恩·克拉克尔书中的烟火，五颜六色的养牛大亨和执法人员更是火上浇油。陪审团判定汤姆·霍恩有罪，但他的绞刑并没有消除有罪的幽灵。
The Saga of Tom Horn: The Story of a Cattlemen’s War
An epidemic of cattle rustling in southern Wyoming in the 1890s and the desperate straits of stockmen set the stage for this saga of Tom Horn, a former Pinkerton detective, an expert hunter and dead shot, and one of the most mysterious and controversial figures in the history of the Old West. Some radicals in the powerful Wyoming Stock Growers Association turned to the man who once boasted, “Killing men in my specialty; I look to it as a business proposition, and I think I have a corner on the market.” Cattle thieves were duly warned, blood was shed, and Tom Horn was implicated but never charged. Then on the morning of July 18, 1901, Willie Nickell, the fourteen-year-old son of a Wyoming sheepman, was shot. Horn’s career was ended.
The arrest, trial, and execution of Tom Horn ignite fireworks in Dean Krakel’s book, and a colorful cast of cattle barons and lawmen adds to the sizzle. A jury convicted Tom Horn, but his hanging did not settle the specter of guilt.
OR
