The Luckiest Outlaw: The Life and Legends of Doc Middleton

Hutton, Harold

ISBN 10: 080327257X / ISBN 13: 9780803272576

Published by University of Nebraska Press, 1992

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Luckiest Outlaw: The Life and Legends of Doc Middleton
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080327257X
• ISBN 13: 9780803272576
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

James Riley, alias Doc Middleton (ca. 1851–1913), was a notorious horse thief and murderer, a respectable businessman, a winner with the women, and an open-handed benefactor of the unfortunate. As a wanted man, Middleton concealed his past at every turn, burned incriminating letters, threw out red-herring tales, and lived under a dozen names. Because he was so hard to pin down and round up, a Cheyenne newspaper called him "the luckiest outlaw who ever infested the western frontier." Harold Hutton, a rancher on the Niobrara River, deep in "Doc Middleton country," has written the definitive biography of this Great Plains Robin Hood.

Review

"The first complete work done on this notorious outlaw. The author traces Middleton’s ancestry from the early years and follows his career through Texas, Nebraska, and Wyoming until his death. [He} has done a splendid job of research."—Ramon F. Adams, The Adams One-Fifty: A Check-list of the 150 Most Important Books on Western Outlaws and Lawmen (Ramon F. Adams )

"[An] honest and thorough piece of research. . . . Hutton has an excellent understanding and feel for the era about which he writes."— American West (American West )

"If Nebraska has one legendary figure, it is Doc Middleton, noted horse thief of the Central Plains. This reviewer was amazed at the amount of material that Hutton gathered and skillfully wove together into a fascinating narrative. . . . I heartily recommend it."—Montana (Montana )