Fifty Years on the Owl Hoot Trail

by Harry E. Chrisman

Jim Herron led a fantastic life as a cowboy, sheriff, fugitive from the law, hotel and saloon owner, and international cattleman. In 1890, Herron was elected the first sheriff of Oklahoma Territory, but he soon found himself on the other end of handcuffs... charged with cattle rustling.

He was tried in Meade, Kansas, where even the sheriff was convinced of his innocence... so much so he wasn't even required to stay in the county jail, but resided at the Osgood Hotel during the trial. Everyone was shocked when the Cattlemen's Association got a conviction. To avoid imprisonment, Herron escaped before he was sentenced and hit the "Owl Hoot Trail"... he ran from the law and kept running for fifty years.

After fleeing Oklahoma Territory, Herron lived in Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico often at the center of excitement, such as the 1899 "Naco War" which he unwittingly perpetrated... and international incident complete with troop movements and several deaths on both sides of the U.S. -Mexican Border.

This book s is more than just his personal story... it is also a social and political history of the times told vividly and with keen perception by Herron in his later years.

He tried several times to exonerate himself of the charges in Kansas, but to no avail. He died a wanted man in 1949, at the age of eight-three.

About the author:

Harry E. Chrisman  1906 -1993

Harry Chrisman was born in a sod house on his father's ranch in Custer County, Nebraska. In his lifetime he worked as a horse wrangler, telephone lineman, salesman, editor and advertising man. For fifteen years he worked for Southwest Daily Times in Liberal, KS, after which he started writing full time in Lakewood, Co. He wrote eleven books before his death in 1993. Chrisman had a special place in his heart for the West and worked tirelessly to keep the sotries of the American cowboy alive.