esxmarkc wrote:Has anyone but me here ever read "The Gun That Wasn't There" ?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gun-That-Wasn ... 1419628178" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I found the book (which chronicles a true story penned by a retired Texas Police Chief who turns out to be quite an excellent author) to be a really great, vividly-detailed story set in the rough West Texas ranch landscape. I guess promoting it on this thread is a bit of a spoiler alert (as well as the title).
The book will have you a packin 24/7 I promise ya.
Finished the book last night and I have to say you didnt overstate. On its own merits the book is a good read but as a bonus, Im familiar with the the location of the crimes.
A few years ago I spent a few days at a ranch 5-8 miles north of Dryden. My friends had leased it for a couple of years and it's very probable that Hernandez frequented the place. (I just may have slept in the same room as he did!)
Dryden is now a depressing, dilapidated ghost town populated by mounds of overgrown ruble & windblown plastic bags. Reading about the families who once lived and loved there gives me a feeling of loss.
From Langtry to Sanderson this 50 mile stretch has a rich history & many ghosts:
On March 12, 1912 at 8:02 p.m. GH&SA RR (Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Rail Road) Train No. 9, engine No. 709 left Del Rio, Texas with engineer D. E. Grosh at the throttle. It was making a scheduled passenger, baggage, and mail run to its final destination of El Paso. Shortly before midnight, it stopped in Dryden, Texas to take on water for steam generation. As the train was preparing to pull out, the two robbers (*Ben Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek) climbed aboard the engine and ordered Grosh to proceed to the first iron bridge east of Baxter’s Curve. The official time of the robbery is listed at 12:05 a.m. on March 13, 1912 by the railroad.
http://www.sandersonchamberofcommerce.info/baxter/
*Was a member of the Butch Cassidy & Sundance "Kid Hole in the Wall Gang" & had served 15 years for participating in a “Wild Bunch” train robbery.