Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER FIVE RANCH AND CITY LIFE IN TEXAS IF O. HENRY could have chosen the ranch and the ranch manager that he was to visit in Texas he could not have done better than to choose the ranch in La Salle County that had Lee Hall at its head. He was to see much more of Dick Hall than of Lee, but it was Lee's personality and Lee's achievement that opened the doors of romance to him in Texas and contributed atmosphere and flavour to the nineteen stories that make up his "Heart of the West." Red Hall, as we prefer to call him, was now at the height of his fame. The monument erected to him in the National Cemetery, in San Antonio, contains only the brief inscription: Jesse Lee Hall 1849-1911 Captain Co. M., 1st U. S. Vol. Inf. War with Spain But had there been no war with Spain Red Hall's claim on the gratitude of the citizens of the Lone Star State would have been almost equally well founded. "He was the bravest man I ever knew," said the old Comanche chief against whose warriors Red Hall had led the Texans in the last battle with the tribe in northeast Texas. "He did more to rid Texas of desperadoes," wrote Mr. John E. Elgin, * "to establish law and order, than any officer that Texas ever had. He has made more bad men lay down their guns and delivered more desperadoes and outlaws into the custody of the courts, and used his own gun less, than any other officer in Texas." "I have known him intimately for twentyfive years," wrote Major-General Jesse M. Leef, United States Army Retired, "in peace and in war. No braver spirit, no more devoted friend ever passed from earth. He was 'the bravest of the brave, ' and his heart was as tender as that of the most lovable woman. His heroic deeds would fill a volume." Ten years before O. Henry went to Texas...