HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF LARAMIE CITY, WYOMING TERRITORY, COMPRISING A BRIEF HISTORY OF LARAMIE CITY FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME . . .
Laramie City: Daily Sentinel Print. 1875. 91, [1 blank] pp. Bound without wrappers in modern pebbled cloth, with gilt-stamped title on front cover. Except for the absence of wrappers, Very Good.
"This exceedingly rare imprint gives a frank history of Laramie in its turbulent days and reign of violence" [Adams]. The comments and interesting local advertisements also render it an early directory of its business establishments. The book was "printed within seven years of the founding of the city. It gives an absorbing account of the wild beginning of Laramie, together with the rise and fall of the Vigilantes, and its first ordered government" [Decker]..
"A history of the region from the day of first settlement in April of 1868. It has long been recognized by students of western history as probably the most honest, outspoken, and vivid account of the early and turbulent days. Laramie was famous for its disorder, crime, and rapid growth. Triggs describes the horde that first came in, as made up of one-fifth honest and daring men, the balance 'were gamblers, thieves, highwaymen, robbers, cut-throats, garroters, prostitutes, and their necessary companions.' The narrative describes the ensuing mass-meeting to form a government; its organization and collapse; the reign of violence; the formation of the Vigilance Committee and the hangings; its degeneration into a Reign of Vengeance; the final creation of legal government; the battles between the Vigilantes and the new police, and succeeding events, until finally the Territorial legislature in desperation, took away the city's charter, and put the community under the jurisdiction of the Federal courts" [Eberstadt].
Howes T351 "b." IV Streeter Sale 2245. Adams Six Guns 2239. Adams Herd 2232. 29 Decker 278. 136 Eberstadt 667h. Graff 4191. HRS Wyoming 23. Item #40172
Price: $2,500.00