Colorado Outlaws and Lawmen: Frontier Foes and Heroes

Taming a Tumultuous Territory

Hollywood westerns of the 20th century brought a history of raucous frontier justice to life, but 1800s Colorado was anything but fiction. Bandits held up the Denver and Rio Grande train at Unaweep Switch, while another gang stole $50,000 from the express car at Cotopaxi. "Bloody Espinosas", who left mutilated bodies along lonely mountain trails, terrorized Southern Colorado. The Reynolds Gang held up South Park stagecoaches, while Tom McCarty and Matt Warner robbed banks. These unruly times demanded a society where the law prevailed. Dave Cook started the Rocky Mountain Detective Association and improved crime fighting methods. Tom Tobin tracked down two serial killers using his wilderness skills. Doc Shores, who always got his man, earned his nickname "the Bloodhound". Author Nancy K Williams hunts down the good, the bad and the ugly characters that color Colorado's past.