Goodbye, Judge Lynch: The End of a Lawless Era in WyomingÆs Big Horn Basin. By John W. Davis. Davis examines murders, assaults, and thefts in the region over the course of three decades, when the problems of prosecution were overwhelming. He highlights the infamous 1902 case of State v. Jim Gorman, in which Gorman, infatuated with his sister-in-law, killed his brother. Although Gorman was finally convicted of first-degree murder, a shocking breakdown of order ensued, when a mob attacked the Big Horn County jail, killing Gorman, another prisoner, and a deputy sheriff. Six years later, in another infamous case, raiders murdered three sheepherders. Impunity was the immediate result, and the defeat of law and order in the region seemed complete. But authorities fought the odds and finally gained guilty verdicts, the first convictions of sheep raiders in Wyoming. This legal victory marked the end of a brief but powerful vigilante tradition. John W. Davis, who resides in Worland, Wyoming, has practiced law in the Big Horn Basin for more than thirty years. He is the author of A Vast Amount of Trouble: A History of the Spring Creek Raid. Soft cover, 280 pages, 8.5" x 5.5", 17 b&w illus., 3 maps. To Order By Phone Call Toll Free: 866-596-9982