Carol Buchanan

The Devil in the Bottle Carol Buchanan

After Vigilantes ended a criminal conspiracy in Alder Gulch during the winter of 1863-1864, they founded a "People's Court" to administer justice. At the same time, the notorious Joseph (aka 'Jack') Slade, who once ruled 600 hostile miles of the Overland Stage Line, has settled near Virginia City with his wife and adopted son. Although he controlled his district with a reputation for violence and intimidation, Overland passengers and the mail traveled on time, in safety. But Slade's binge drinking wrecked his career when he and his men destroyed Army supplies at Fort Halleck. In Virginia City, he and his friends continue their drunken rampages, despite his more sober friends' attempts to persuade him to stop. Dan Stark, the Vigilante prosecutor, is one of his friends. Dan thinks there's a devil in the bottle for Slade, a devil who wants him to die. He worries that someone could be killed when Slade, the man who also destroyed Denver, Colorado, "takes the town."In March 1864, on a binge, despite his friends' pleading for days, Slade will not go home. The Vigilantes swear out a warrant for his arrest, but instead of respecting his good friend, the judge of the People's Court, Slade holds a gun to His Honor's head and tells the Vigilantes they are "all played out." By that one act, Slade rules. The Vigilantes must give up control of the region, or do the unthinkable, for the town has no jail. Without it, they have only one sure way of ending Slade's sprees. Hanging him. Yet he has committed no capital crime to justify it. Will the devil in the bottle get Jack Slade?