I agree, Frank. McCarty/Antrim/Bonney was a thug, Holliday was a very dangerous murderer, the Earps played both sides of the law, and all the rest in my list were, at one time or another, "outlawed" for various things (which is why I included Crazy Horse, whom I greatly respect).

Why we hold these people in high esteem, and yet rarely hear of others of that time and place -- Tom Smith, Elfego Baca, and others -- who upheld the law and not necessarily with bullets. I can only lay this at the door of a) hack dime writers like Ned Buntline, and b) the movies and TV, which have glorified violence and the violent.

So do you suppose the historical Arthur or Artos or whoever wasn't a thug, crown or now crown? Or Charlemagne the same?

How come other countries get to have a body of heroic myth, and we don't, just because we haven't been around so long? Not fair!

Peter.