Sheriff Harvey Whitehill: Silver City Stalwart, author Bob Alexander demonstrates not only that Harvey Whitehill was a major figure in the annals of the Old West, he shows as well that the Sheriff’s home ground of Silver City, in Grant County, New Mexico, rivals Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood as a hotbed of outlaw–lawman history. A bull of a man, Whitehill literally pulled his own wagon on occasion. He also jailed Billy the Kid, knew the infamous rustler John Kinney, lived through the Apache Wars, and beat Pat Garrett at the polls. More detective than gunman, he solved the Gage train robbery. Built at the edge of the Gila Wilderness, mining and cattle town Silver City needed a steady hand to guide it through its most violent years. Harvey Whitehill was that central figure in the community through six terms as elected sheriff. Thanks to Alexander’s research, digging for details on his life and career, Whitehill becomes a genuine Old West hero. --Chuck Parsons, editor, NOLA Quarterly