[dropcap]D[/dropcap]allas Stoudenmire resigned under pressure as city marshal of El Paso on May 27, 1882 and promised to get help for his drinking problem.

After his recovery from four near-fatal Civil War wounds, the Alabaman emigrated to Texas and gave farming a half-hearted try.  Deciding sod-busting was not for him, he rode with the Rangers for several months before moving onto the Panhandle.  But wherever he went, gunplay was not far behind.

In April 1881, Stoudenmire followed Doc Cummings,...