The Reluctant Lawman

Book excerpt: Jake Harn had served in the Civil War as an officer and upon being discharged he came back to his home near Savannah, Georgia. What he found was that his family, along with others, were living with destruction and devastation caused by the war. On his family's advice he decided to travel west. Early influences helped Jake develop a strong sense of right and wrong. During his adult years he became an individualist who not only took care of himself, but tried to provide comfort to those less fortunate than himself. As an army officer, Jake became an expert with a rifle and while traveling west he began to hone his skills with a hand gun, not to be used as a vocation but as a necessity against the lawless breed that inhabited the Wild West. When he arrived in Burkeville he found himself embroiled in a bloody range war. He became a full-time cowboy by choice and a reluctant part-time lawman when the local sheriff was ambushed by a gang of outlaws.