Book Description

John Wesley Hardin is the most famous gunfighter of the American Wild West. The subject of conversations from the Mexican border to the rowdy saloons of Kansas, he was the greatest celebrity of the age. He wrote an autobiography, but he only told what he wanted known, and few have researched beyond that. Today, Hardin is an enigma. Part of the mystery is his disastrous relationship with Helen Beulah Mrose, yet she has not been researched at all. Until now. Helen Beulah's story is the final piece of the vast jigsaw of Hardin's life and legend. Author Dennis McCown has delved into the mystery of Helen Beulah. Researching from Florida to California and north to faraway Alaska, McCown has uncovered one of the great tragedies of the Wild West. He developed this into the story of those around John Wesley Hardin. In the end, this is a woman's story, not a gunfighter's, and it's also four biographies. Hardin's story is told, but so is Helen Mrose's. Martin Mrose and Laura Jennings are little known today, but their lives are integral to the mystery. Written for a general audience, the story includes footnotes for those interested in knowing more, footnotes historian Leon Metz called "the best I've ever seen." DENNIS McCOWN was born and raised in Wyoming and is proud of his "cowboy" heritage. Though he has traveled widely, he always comes back to his roots. After hearing references to Helen Beulah Mrose, McCown spent sixteen years researching her story. A member of the Wild West History Association (WWHA), McCown is a former member of the National Outlaw-Lawman Association (NOLA) and the Western Outlaw-Lawman Association (WOLA), which merged to form the WWHA. McCown is also a member of SASS, the Single-Action Shooting Society. Today McCown is a college instructor in Texas.