It’s time to meet the hero of The Carpenter’s Schoolmarm (my current work in progress) and the first book in the Brides of Cooperton, Kansas series. You can check out the setting and meet the heroine and villain of this story by clicking on the links below.
Setting for The Carpenter’s Schoolmarm
Meet Michael Brooks, carpenter and ex-outlaw. All he wants is to find a good woman and build a house to call his own. It took me awhile to find the right image to portray the handsome but caring carpenter. I wanted someone who looked tough but deep down had a soft side and this model meets that criteria.
You can’t have the wild west without having outlaws. Feared by most, admired by some, the outlaw spent their days holding up stagecoaches and trains, robbing banks and people of their valuables. The reasons for the crimes ranged from getting rich, supporting a family, and just plain fame and glory. If caught by the law the results were usually shoot outs, prison, or even hanging. It wasn’t an easy occupation and required guts, smarts, and skill with a gun or other weapon.
Below are a few interesting facts about some of the American outlaws who roamed the wild west
*Black Bart (1829-unknown, real name was Charles E. Bolles) was known as the gentleman bandit and robbed from the Wells Fargo stagecoaches. He would often leave poems at his crime sites.
*Sam Bass (1851-1878) started out as a lawman but soon turned to a life of crime. He and his gang robbed a Union Pacific train and got away with $60,000. Bass was eventually caught by the Texas Rangers and died at the age of 27.
*Doc Holliday (1851-1887, real name John Henry) practiced dentistry before becoming a gambler. He developed pulmonary tuberculosis in 1873. Doc was a friend of then deputy marshal Wyatt Earp. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 36.
Though Michael did do some terrible things, unlike most outlaws, he realized he couldn’t go living this way and decided to make a change. And that decision changed his life for the better.
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