Written in Blood Vol. 1

In 2009 Fort Worth unveiled an elaborate, million-dollar memorial to its fallen police and firefighters going all the way back to the citys beginnings in 1873. Fifty-eight of the ninety-five names on the memorial were policemen. Written in Blood is a more inclusive version of that idea because it covers more than just members of the Fort Worth Police Department; it includes men from all branches of local law enforcement who died defending law and order in the early years: policemen, sheriffs, constables, special officers, and even a police commissioner. Richard F. Selcer and Kevin S. Foster tell the stories of thirteen of those early lawmenan unlucky number to be sure. They range from Tarrant County Sheriff John B. York through Fort Worth Police Officer William Ad Campbell covering the years from 1861 to 1909. York was the first local lawman to diein a street fight. Campbell was last in this erashot-gunned in the back while walking his beat in Hells Half-Acre. Co-authors Selcer and Foster bring academic credentials and street cred to the story, explaining how policemen got (and kept) their jobs, what special officers were, and the working relationship between the city marshals boys and the sheriffs boys.