The Notorious Texas Pistoleers - Ben Thompson & King Fisher (Second Edition) Known as two of the best pistol fighters of their day, Ben Thompson and John King Fisher have remained an enigma in the chronicles of the Western Frontier. While other gun fighters have achieved notoriety through the stories told in the pulp magazines and newspapers of the day, these two men have been largely ignored. Both were credited with killing a string of men during their lifetime and the mere mention of their names was usually enough to sober up a drunken opponent or cause a sober man to contemplate his own epitaph. These men were not cold-blooded murders, but rather stand-up gun fighters that faced their adversaries in the winner-take-all shootout. The Notorious Texas Pistoleers tells their story in vivid detail and relates the true account of their deaths in a mystery shrouded ambush in a San Antonio saloon on a chilly March night in 1884 "They called King Fisher and Ben Thompson bad men, but they wasn't bad men; they just wouldn't stand for no foolishness, and they never killed anyone unless they bothered them." Tom Sullivan, deputy sheriff in Medina County, Texas

The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher--a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent--have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.

The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher--a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent--have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.

Known as two of the best pistol fighters of their day, Ben Thompson and King Fisher have remained an enigma in the chronicles of the American West. While other gunfighters have achieved infamy through the stories told in pulp magazines and newspapers of the day these two men were largely ignored. Both were credited with killing a string of men during their lifetime and the mere mention of their names was usually enough to sober up a drunken opponent or cause a sober man to contemplate his own epitaph. The Texas Pistoleers tells their story in vivid detail and relates the historically accurate account of their deaths in a mystery shrouded ambush in a San Antonio saloon on a chilly March night in 1884.

Hell Bound, is a story of redemption. It’s 1883 and when the notorious faro dealer, Peyton Bonner, wins a Fort Worth hotel in a Denver poker game, he returns to Texas to claim his ownership. After being shot at the train station, he is forced to face the demons of his past. Peyton Bonner has become a mythological legend that was manufactured by the pulp writers and newspapers when he refused interviews or photographs. With each man he killed defending himself at his faro tables, they continued to replay their made-up conjectures to the point that it was deemed the "absolute truth." Now, tired of the rat-hole hotels, near starvation in the Dakotas, and having faced death from a ravaging fever in Leadville, Peyton wants out of the perilous life as a frontier gambler. But, can he?

Frontier Gambling: The Games, The Gamblers, and the Great Gambling Halls of the Old West is an entertaining look at one of the integral facets of the American West - gambling. Rich in detail and jargon, yet written in an easy to understand style, the book tells how the games were played, legitimately and otherwise; it provides sketches of some of the infamous gamblers and con men of the era; and it covers the notorious saloons and gambling houses where fortunes were wagered night and day in the untamed West.

A New York Times bestseller, The Midnight Assassin is a sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer--America's first--who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885. In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch. Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city. With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life.