Hangtree Range by William HopsonLion Books LB156, Copyright 1952
During the 40s/50s, William Hopson wrote short stories for all the leading Western pulps. Many were dark with an edge to them, which made them stand out from the other "average" fare Western short stories. "Hangtree Range" is the first novel of his that I've read, It's about the struggles of iron-hard men caught in the human soul destruction of a feuding range war.
He had been a hard, callous, brutal man, spawned in the backwash of a generation that killed for four years and then come home to kill again. He had picked up where they had let off, hiring his guns for a price in a ruthless war where many men would be doomed to die.
With the Civil War long over and the Apaches defeated, life in the Arizona Territory was expected to be safe and prosperous. But powerful organized sheep herders have moved in, threatening the free gazing land that the cattle barons have thought of as their own. The blood feud has spread throughout the territory and it becomes difficult to define where on the fence some individuals sit. The western code is "an eye for an eye" vengeance, and each side settles the score by hanging the opposition. When Ed Allen's younger brother is mistaken as a killer for the sheep barons and strung up, Ed reins his mount loaded with his Winchester and .44 Smith & Wesson. You see, Ed Allen is one of those western men with a past. He was an ex-cavalry scout during the Apache wars and going after men like those who killed his brother, is bored in his marrow.
But this turns a bit different, when the reader expects Allen to settle up with bloody revenge, he uses his learned talent to bring law abiding justice to the men responsible . He plans to corner them and bring the cattle gunmen to the town of Wilcox for trial. On his way a posse of sheep baron gunmen force a change in his plans, which results in one of the most efficacious endings I've read in a western story in a while.
I was so impressed with this William Hopson novel, that I will definitely read another. No fooling the reader here, an atmosphere rich in abode cantinas, haunting cottonwood trees, desert arroyos, and a taste of "Ox-Bow" in your throat. This is no "good guy vs. bad guy, good guy gets girl" western. Hopson carefully plots out the chain of events, including the backgrounds of the characters (which is important to the story) to create a dark western noir novel. You're left thinking there are no good guys in the story, just a few with a small puddle of humanity left in their gut. Even that seems not to be enough.
"Hangtree Range" is a Western winner....
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