Of the many colorful characters who walked the dusty streets of Fort Worth's Hell's Half Acre, few equal the enigmatic Jim Courtright. Movies would have us believe that the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys black. Courtright wore both. He was by turns city marshal, deputy sheriff, deputy U.S. Marshall, private detective, hired gun, and racketeer.



According to biographer DeArment there's not much known about Courtright's childhood or youth. It's believed he was a Union soldier during the Civil War, and law abiding. But things changed after the great battle when he moved to the West.



During the railroad strikes in 1886 he found himself in a shootout, and accusers in New Mexico said he was a murderer. Deputies were dispatched to Fort Worth to bring Courtright back to New Mexico to stand trial. How he eluded them is the stuff of legend.



Death came to Courtright during a shootout with gambler Luke Short. Some say that Courtright provoked Short but there is no verifiable data concerning their fight. What is known is that Courtright was evidently esteemed by the townspeople because he had the longest funeral procession Fort Worth had seen.



The life of Courtright, both myth and reality, may be found in two early biographies. Historian DeArment studied these as well as contemporary newspapers and other accounts in order to present his version of the lawman/outlaw's life. In large part he takes the myth apart and then presents a very human Courtright - warts and all.



Those with an interest in the early West and gunfighters in particular will find much to enjoy in this exhaustively researched portrait of a man like few others.



- Gail Cooke