To Hell on a Fast Horse LP: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West

To Hell on a Fast Horse - A Recreation of the Lives and Times of Two of the Wild West's Most Fancifu

To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West In the late 1870's, New Mexico Territory represented some of the only frontier left in the United States, and men like Lew Wallace, the territorial governor, and others were determined to tame it. In a land where might makes right, law and order was not necessarily a tool to help Good defeat Evil, as much as it was an implement of those who held power to club their adversaries with. Mark Lee Gardner in To Hell on a Fast Horse examines these various issues as they created the legend of Billy the Kid and the man who killed him, Pat Garrett. His meticulous research shows the human side of Billy - how it was his strengths of character that led him into the life of a murderer and fugitive, and that it was weakness of character of those who held the reins of power that forced him on and on. Rather than the ruthless character that the dimestore novels created, Mr. Gardner's work shows Billy's better half - his loyalty, his ability to love his fellow man, and his passions on which the stage of the Wild West forced him to make decisions that he did. In Billy's mind, had the authorities simply left him alone, then he would have lived a simple and virtuous life. There is even a chance, from the depths of Mr. Gardner's research, that this may have held at least a nugget of truth. Into the foray between those who wished to banish the outlaws of New Mexico Territory and those who felt their existence imperiled by the law came Pat Garrett. We learn from Mr. Gardner all about Pat's formative years, and the ambiguity in his relationship to Billy and others in his gang. One story in particular illustrates this. Although Pat doggedly pursued Billy until he was able to capture him, he promised safe passage to justice for Billy and his gang. In order to keep that promise, Pat and his posse had to stand off a sheriff and his deputies as well as the entire town who were determined to lync...