E. R. (Flip) Flippen

Marsh McAllister, a very poor trapper abandoned by a White father when his Indian mother dies, has sex for the first time with Elizabeth Bois d'Arc, daughter of a family who's wealth goes back to Napoleon's Louisiana. She can have anything a pretty girl wants but has sex in exchange for a golden retriever when she could easily buy a kennel full; risky, risky conduct for a young lady in 1940. She admits it is not her first time. A.J. Greenleaf, Bois d'Arc Estate Manager, separates Marsh and Elizabeth who are meeting secretly as World War II begins. Elizabeth marries a doctor and Marsh marries Dolly Ruth Henderson, daughter of Millicent Henderson who owns The Water Street House, an openly secret brothel. The life of Dan Patch, Indian friend of Marsh, is examined, but there are no blood curdling screams.

Ivy Vanderbilt is a landscape artist, beautiful and rich, and her wealth came from sponges that were not used for bathing. Her life has been compromised by Francisco Goya's painting, la Maja Desnuda, and she finds a haven in the quiet town of Foley, Texas. Young Bill Foley is attracted to her, and she to him. The shadow on the romance is Wyatt Winslow. Wyatt challenges Young Bill who fathered a child with his sister but refused to marry her. Young Bill has been trained by Lyle Sanford, the quick-draw artist in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, so they are fast enough to kill each other; if that happens, Wyatt wins. Old Bill Foley, Catholic Irishman and wealthy rancher, admits he is Molly Gibbs father. Molly is Molly, and her beautiful head of Foley hair is there for everyone to see even if she doesn't know where it came from. Seventy year old Sam Ordway is Town Marshall of Foley, Texas. Abbey Ordway Foley is Sam's daughter. She is married to Old Bill Foley. Westerns have lawmen and outlaws, saloons and whorehouses, cattle and ranchers, guns and gunfighters. Overlooked are newspapers and magazines, and artists who supplied images. Artists were plentiful before George Eastman invented rolled film in 1888.