Bill Shuey

The Lawman Bill Shuey

Isaiah "Ike" Branson left Potosi, Missouri, at age seventeen to find his fortune in the West and brought the Ozarks' culture of honesty, loyalty, and courage with him. Ike works as a cowhand, a teamster, and finally as a Deputy U. S. Marshal. The book chronicles Ike's adventures and misadventures as he attempts to bring outlaws to justice. The southwest of the mid-19th century was filled with Indians who were being pushed off their tribal hunting areas, outlaws who stole because they figured it was easier than working. Ike captured or killed several outlaws during his long and illustrious career as a deputy marshal. His job was to protect the weak and bring the lawless to the court if they would surrender or kill them if they decided to fight and left him no other choice. Ike finds love in the form of a woman who was married to the man he is chasing. He discovers Sarah had been raped and left with a baby boy. Her father had forced her to marry a man she didn't love so she would have a father for her son. Ike forms an attachment to Sarah and her young son, Kenny, but has his duty to perform. After killing her husband in a gunfight, Ike is torn between his love for Sarah and the possible effects of having killed the step-father of her young son. The Lawman is the story of one man's love for the law, his family, and the bond between him and his adopted son.