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Streets of Laredo is a novel by Larry McMurtry. Although it was published second, it is chronologically last in the Lonesome Dove series. Image File history File links LarryMcMurtry_StreetsOfLaredo. ...
One of McMurtrys bookstores in Archer City, Texas Larry McMurtry (born June 3, 1936 in Wichita Falls, Texas) is an Academy Award winning screenwriter, American novelist and essayist. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
The Lonesome Dove Series is a series of four books written by Larry McMurtry. ...
The Western is an American genre in literature and film. ...
Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ...
A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ...
Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ...
Lonesome Dove, written by Larry McMurtry, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning western genre novel and the first book of the Lonesome Dove series. ...
Streets of Laredo, also known as the Cowboys Lament, is a famous cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy dispenses his advice to a living one. ...
One of McMurtrys bookstores in Archer City, Texas Larry McMurtry (born June 3, 1936 in Wichita Falls, Texas) is an Academy Award winning screenwriter, American novelist and essayist. ...
The Lonesome Dove Series is a series of four books written by Larry McMurtry. ...
Plot introduction
It follows the adventures of Captain Woodrow F. Call as he tracks a Mexican bandit who is preying on the railroad. It was later made into a miniseries starring James Garner as Captain Call. James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and television actor of partially Cherokee Indian descent. ...
Explanation of the novel's title Streets of Laredo takes its name from a famous cowboy ballad of the same name. Streets of Laredo, also known as the Cowboys Lament, is a famous cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy dispenses his advice to a living one. ...
Plot summary Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Between Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo Between the events of the two books, quite a bit has happened. Lorena, lover of Gus McCrae, has left Clara and married Pea Eye Parker, of the former Hat Creek Outfit. They have several children, and own a ranch in the texas panhandle. Pea Eye is thoroughly devoted to Lorena, and Lorena has learned to reciprocate and has become almost equally attached to Pea Eye. She teaches in a nearby schoolhouse. As for the Cattle ranch set up by the Hat Creek outfit in Montana, it has collapsed. Newt is dead, thrown by the Hell Bitch, though Call can finally admit to himself that Newt was his son. Clara lives alone. Call has gone back to being a Ranger and gun-for-hire. Trains have greatly expanded the reach of civilization and pushed back the frontier further. The American West draws to a close, and Captain Woodrow F. Call has become a relic, albeit a greatly respected one. But some aren't about to let law and order close the book on the Wild West just yet, like 19-year old Joey Garza and his deadly German rifle, capable of killing a man at a distance of half a mile...
Part I: A Salaried Man The book opens with Clara Allen and Woodrow F. Call (the captain). Brookshire is the "salaried man" of the title, having been sent to Texas from New York by his boss, railroad tycoon Colonel Terry. Terry has dispatched Brookshire to hire the Captain, known throughout the west as perhaps the toughest Ranger and Manhunter left, despite his advanced age. At the outset of this novel, Captain Call is approaching seventy. Brookshire has been told to contract the Captain to hunt down the young train robber and killer Joey Garza, who has cost Terry significant business and money through his deadly robberies. Brookshire is surprised that the old man he encounters has such a reputation, though he notes that Call does have a rather dangerous and respect-demanding aura about him. Brookshire himself does not strike a particularly imposing figure, and soon proves not to be cut out for train or horse travel, inexperienced in the ways of the west or violence, and very homesick for his bossy but loving wife, Katie. Call, on the other hand, is the very picture of experience. Though he is old and seems almost to have trouble lifting his foot into the stirrups, his reputation speaks for him. He has spent forty years on the border and the frontier, many of those with his more talkative but equally respected late partner, Gus McCrae. Protecting settlers in innumerable skirmishes with hostile indians, rustlers, and dangerous gangs has earned him a great deal of respect and a reputation that generally strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 268,581 sq. ...
Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area Ranked 27th - Total 141,205 km² (54,520 sq. ...
Part II: The Manburner Joey Garza, however, is not the only outlaw preying on the railroad. A string of strange murders soon leads Call in the pursuit of a ghost from the past - Mox Mox (or, as the Apache call him, "The Snake You Do Not See"). A former flunky of Blue Duck, of Lonesome Dove fame, Mox Mox is known for burning his captives... alive. Call's comrade Charles Goodnight believed he killed the outlaw years ago, but Mox Mox had just been in hiding, and has now returned at the head of a murderous gang. The news is especially traumatic for Lorie, who herself had nearly been killed by the villain while she was a captive of Blue Duck. Fearing for the lives of her children, Lorie sends them to Nebraska, to the protection of her friend Clara Allen. She then sets off to find Pea Eye to warn him. Pea Eye has fallen in with the Kickapoo master tracker, Famous Shoes, and together they go off in search of Captain Call. Call, meanwhile, has tracked Mox Mox down himself. He surprises and guns down the gang, right as they are about to burn two children alive, killing all but two out right - a Cherokee, who escapes unscathed, and Mox Mox himself, who limps off to die.
Part III: Maria's Children After rescuing Pea Eye and Famous Shoes from a corrupt bordertown sheriff, Call and his gang close in on their pursuit of Joey Garza. Ned Brookshire is killed in a scuffle; the anticipated confrontation between Call and Joey leaves Call seriously wounded; Lorie must amputate a leg and an arm to save him. The Mexican bandit is instead shot and mortally wounded by Pea Eye. The outlaw then attempts to kill his younger siblings, whom he has long reserved his greatest hatred for, but is prevented from doing so by his mother, Maria. Joey kills Maria; a local villager then kills Joey. Pea Eye and Lorie adopt Maria's two surviving children and return home with them. Call, crippled and no longer able to pursue bandits, goes to live with them.
Characters in "Streets of Laredo" - Captain Woodrow F. Call
- Pea Eye Parker
- Lorena Wood (Parker)
- Clara Allen
- Ned Brookshire
- Joey Garza
- Mox Mox
- Famous Shoes
- Charles Goodnight
Spoilers end here. Charles Goodnight Charles Goodnight (March 5, 1836 – December 12, 1929) was a cattle rancher in the American West. ...
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations It was later made into a US TV miniseries starring James Garner as Captain Call. James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and television actor of partially Cherokee Indian descent. ...
Trivia Order of publication is not the same as narative sequence |
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