Those Wild and Lusty Gold Camps - Softcover

Pryor, Alton

9780966005349: Those Wild and Lusty Gold Camps

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0966005341 ISBN 13: 9780966005349

Publisher: Stagecoach Publishing, 2014

Mark Twain observed that to write of the gold rush period and ignore its carnage would be like writing of Mormonism without referring to polygamy. A good example is the story of a mob in one California gold camp that hanged a man for horse stealing. It was found after the handing that the man was innocent. The vigilante mob sent a messenger to break the news to the victim's widow. "We hanged him for stealing a horse," he told her, "but come to find out, he didn't do it, so I guess the joke's on us." All gold camps weren't' so callous, but most of them were exciting.

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From the Inside Flap:

Gold camps were crude by their very nature and many of the inhabitants were poorly educated. This mean't that justice was often mishandled.Consider the case of the vigilante mob that hanged the wrong man for stealing a horse. To correct their error, the mog dispatched a messenger to inform the widow."We hanged Jim for stealing a horse," he told her, "but come to find out, he didn't do it; so I guess the joke's on us."

About the Author:

Alton Pryor has been a writer for magazines, newspapers, and wire services for fifty years. He worked for United Press International in their Sacramento Bureau, handling both printed press as well as radio news. He then moved to Salinas, where he worked for the Salinas Californian daily newspaper for five years as editor of Western Ranch and Home, a weekend supplement.In 1963, he joined California Farmer magazine where he worked as a field editor for 27 years. When that magazine was sold, the new owners forced him into temporary retirement. He gained an intense interest in California and Western history after selling a number of short 500-word articles on Southern California history. In his research of these stories, he kept finding other stories that interested him but did not fit the particular publication for whom he was then writing. He collected both facts and ideas as he researched, and finally turned them into his first book, “Little Known Tales in California History.” Alton Pryor is now the author of fourteen books, “Little Known Tales in California History,” “Classic Tales in California History,” “Those Wild and Lusty Gold Camps,” “California’s Hidden Gold,” “Outlaws and Gunslingers,” “Historic California, It’s Colorful Names and How It Got Them,” “Jonathan’s Red Apple Tree,” “Publish It Yourself: Five Easy Steps to Getting Your Book into Print,” “Little Known Tales in Nevada History,” “Little Known Tales in Hawaii History,” “The Lawmen,” “Those Wild and Lusty Gold Camps,” and “The Bawdy House Girls of the Old West.” He is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism.

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