Mark R. Ellis is an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

"Well worth perusing by anyone interested in how those in the frontier west dealt with issues of crime and justice."—Peter J. Hill, Journal of American History "Ellis offers a fresh interpretation of the legal culture of the Wild West. Written to dispel the myth of the lawless western culture, this book on Nebraska and the larger Great Plains demonstrates that most communities on the plains contained clearly defined legal systems, and that only on a few occasions did lawlessness appear. . . . This work will provide historians with a better understanding of the West as a tamer place than previously thought."—M. A. Byron, CHOICE "Ellis makes no allusions to today's debates on criminal justice, but readers can make their own comparisons and will probably want to do so in the light of this thorough and serious monograph."—Nebraska History  "This is an important book because it emphasizes the rule of law as a core value of Western settlement. It is a point often lost in stories of gunfighters and lawlessness and a reminder that the violent West was a passing phase, not the whole story."—Wild West History Association Journal

• List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Prologue: State of Nebraska v. John Burley   1. Buffalo Bill's Country: Lincoln County, Nebraska, and Its Crime 2. Conservators of the Peace: Sheriffs, Deputies, and Railroad Detectives 3. Receptacles of Crime: Jails, Reformatories, and the State Penitentiary  4. Regulating a Great Plains Railroad Town: Police Courts, Municipal Ordinances, and the North Platte Police Force  5. Temples of Justice: Criminal Courts and Their Officers  6. Hanging Out the Shingle: Lawyers and Legal Communities on the Great Plains Conclusion: Law and Order in Buffalo Bill's Country  Notes Bibliography  Index

Mark R. Ellis is an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

"Well worth perusing by anyone interested in how those in the frontier west dealt with issues of crime and justice."—Peter J. Hill, Journal of American History "Ellis offers a fresh interpretation of the legal culture of the Wild West. Written to dispel the myth of the lawless western culture, this book on Nebraska and the larger Great Plains demonstrates that most communities on the plains contained clearly defined legal systems, and that only on a few occasions did lawlessness appear. . . . This work will provide historians with a better understanding of the West as a tamer place than previously thought."—M. A. Byron, CHOICE "Ellis makes no allusions to today's debates on criminal justice, but readers can make their own comparisons and will probably want to do so in the light of this thorough and serious monograph."—Nebraska History  "This is an important book because it emphasizes the rule of law as a core value of Western settlement. It is a point often lost in stories of gunfighters and lawlessness and a reminder that the violent West was a passing phase, not the whole story."—Wild West History Association Journal

• List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Prologue: State of Nebraska v. John Burley   1. Buffalo Bill's Country: Lincoln County, Nebraska, and Its Crime 2. Conservators of the Peace: Sheriffs, Deputies, and Railroad Detectives 3. Receptacles of Crime: Jails, Reformatories, and the State Penitentiary  4. Regulating a Great Plains Railroad Town: Police Courts, Municipal Ordinances, and the North Platte Police Force  5. Temples of Justice: Criminal Courts and Their Officers  6. Hanging Out the Shingle: Lawyers and Legal Communities on the Great Plains Conclusion: Law and Order in Buffalo Bill's Country  Notes Bibliography  Index