In this book Bryan has turned his talents to the story of one of the most extraordinary characters of the Southwest. Legend and folk hero Elfego Baca, who was born in 1865 and died in 1945, is best remembered for singlehandedly withstanding a siege by an estimated 80 Texas cowboys who fired a reported 4,000 shots without even wounding him. In this lively and well-researched account, Bryan explores the facts and legends surrounding Baca's long and varied career. A gunfighter and ruffian who was three times tried for and acquitted of murder charges, Baca could not seem to stay out of trouble. Yet he earned a respectable reputation as a lawyer, sheriff, mayor, district attorney, and a perennial candidate for state and federal office. His temperament—volatile, generous, loyal, devious, unscrupulous, and violent--earned him a host of friends, enemies, and reluctant admirers. This remarkable man was the subject of a Walt Disney television series titled "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca."