The Story of the Outlaw
discusses the career of John A. Murrell, a cunning criminal who masterminded a gang of hundreds of killers and thieves that ranged across the South before the Civil War; the life of sometimes lawman Wild Bill Hickock, including the story behind his nickname; a firsthand account of the killing of Billy the Kid; the history and methods of rustling cattle; the criminal tutelage of Jesse and Frank James and Cole Younger, all of whom rode with Confederate guerrillas and participated in the bloodiest massacres in Midwestern history; and many other lesser known but equally sensational murders and robbers of the American borderlands.