Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Prologue -- Dedication -- Preface -- Chapter 1: The Precipice -- Chapter 2: El Llano Estacado -- Chapter 3: Stepping Over the Threshold -- Chapter 4: J.W. and Mollie Jarrott -- Chapter 5: Isolation, Loneliness ... and Danger -- Chapter 6: Cowmen vs. Plowmen: Tensions Escalate -- Chapter 7: Death on the Lonely Llano Estacado -- Chapter 8: Trail of the Assassin -- Chapter 9: The Man Who Hired the Assassin -- Epilogue -- Appendix -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Index

About the Book In this haunting account, Marlowe J. Churchill investigates the secrets of a family tragedy from nearly 100 years ago. This mystery has haunted Churchill’s mother and was rarely discussed. Almost 100 years ago, the Hassell family suffered a major loss after the brutal murder of Susan Hassell and eight of her children, murdered by her new husband, George. The tragedy became a focus of people nationwide, outraging the people of Farwell where the violent crime was committed. This heartbreak caused serious emotional damage and is a fascinating story about the Texas justice system of 100 years ago. About the Author Marlowe J. Churchill is a retired newspaper journalist residing in Southern California with his wife. Being a father and grandfather, he is the author of many other works. During his writing career, Churchill has covered thousands of news events and has traveled worldwide on assignments.

In the winter of 1901, James W. Jarrott led a band of twenty-five homesteader families toward the Llano Estacado in far West Texas, newly opened for settlement by a populist Texas legislature. But frontier cattlemen who had been pasturing their herds on the unfenced prairie land were enraged by the encroachment of these “nesters.” In August 1902 a famous hired assassin, Jim Miller, ambushed and murdered J. W. Jarrott. Who hired Miller? This crime has never been solved, until now. Award-winning author Bill Neal investigates this cold case and successfully pieces together all the threads of circumstantial evidence to fit the noose snugly around the neck of Jim Miller’s employer. What emerges from these pages is the strength of intriguing characters in an engrossing narrative: Jim Jarrott, the diminutive advocate who fearlessly champions the cause of the little guy. The ruthless and slippery assassin, Deacon Jim Miller. And finally Jarrott’s young widow Mollie, who perseveres and prospers against great odds and tells the settlers to “Stay put!”

The distinctive high mesa straddling West Texas and Eastern New Mexico creates a vista that is equal parts sprawling lore and big blue sky. From Lubbock, the area's informal capital, to the farthest reaches of the staked plains known as the Llano Estacado, the land and its inhabitants trace a tradition of tenacity through numberless cycles of dust storms and drought. In 1887, a bison hunter observed antelope, sand crane and coyote alike crowding together to drink from the same wet-weather lake. A similarly odd assortment of characters shared and shaped the region's heritage, although neighborliness has occasionally been strained by incidents like the 1903 Fence Cutting War. David Murrah and Paul Carlson have collected some three dozen vignettes that stretch across the uncharted terrain of the tableland's past.

James Brockman rose from shady character to preeminent defense attorney in Houston, Texas representing clients including gang leaders, jilted spouses, wealthy storekeepers and drunken on-duty policemen. These high-profile true crime and murder accounts take place between 1895 and 1910. They cross racial lines, revealing instances of separate and unequal justice in segregated Texas that had a lasting effect on the city and the state. His career gained national recognition, including his involvement in the most famous American murder case of the young twentieth century, when he himself was murdered leaving a dubious legacy.

Spanning a thirty-year period, from the late 1800s until the 1920s, Hell Paso is the true story of the desperate men and notorious women that made El Paso, Texas the Old West’s most dangerous town. Supported by official court documents, government records, oral histories and period newspaper accounts, this book offers a bird’s eye view of the one-time “murder metropolis” of the Southwest.

In Now You Are Told: A Collection of True Tales from My Yesteryears, Bill Neal tells both serious and often funny and memorable true stories from his life. He begins with a history of the area, including the Comanche Indians, and how they influenced the naming of his hometown of Medicine Mound, Texas. These stories give us a glimpse of frontier life during the thirties and forties while growing up on a large West Texas ranch. One vivid childhood memory includes December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and forever changed life in America. After becoming friends with A. C. Greene, his college journalism teacher, Bill started an interesting career as a news reporter in several West Texas towns. Later, a desire to be his own boss led him to a new career. After graduating number one from his University of Texas Law School class in 1964, Bill returned to his home turf to practice law. He tells us of the unbelievable cases he handled-some funny and some sad-during his forty-year law career, as well as other unbelievable incidences that happened along the way.