Give a Boy a Gun: A True Story of Law and Disorder in the American West

by Jack Olsen

Investigates the true story of Claude Dallas, who killed two game wardens in Idaho in front of a witness, and how a jury found him guilty only of voluntary manslaughter

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Westerns, Outdoors, American, Biography

333 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Olsen did an amazing job with this book. Claude Dallas vs Idaho fish and game. A guy trying to live out the old west dream in a world that's changing and not always for the better. The book mostly follows Claude and his adventures. Most true crime books are awesome for the first two-thirds then the trial starts and the first two-thirds are rehashed in such excruciating detail that the book just drags tell the end. Jack Olsen did such an exquisite job of keeping the reader's attention to the end which, makes you want to scream by the way. Amazing book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes true crime.

[Koren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The crime takes place in the late 70's, early 80's. There were some elements to this crime that were different. The setting is in the wilderness and involves two game wardens. The murderer is a likeable guy, which probably plays a part in the sentencing. Strangely, the hardest part for me to read was the killing of the animals. Read this one for yourself to form your own opinion whether this is murder or a justifiable killing.

[Cody VC · Rating 3 out of 5]

as a rule i try to stay away from "true crime" books because there's usually an icky titillating element to them, but i picked this up as a free book from the library years ago (most likely because of the cover design) and was in search of something to read before bed. it's clear pretty early on that this is more fairly classed as journalism rather than tabloid (non-)fiction, due to an emphasis on documentary research and interviews, and that helped keep me reading. there is a discernible bias in the narrative voice, but because it was easily identified i could discount if i chose. when reconstructing events the prose has a tendency to aim for "hardboiled", which may or may not work for you (i found it unintentionally amusing). wrt reconstruction, i would have liked to see olsen be more explicit about his sources: we don't find out until later, for instance, that the account of the murders is based solely on one eyewitness. i have other reasons to believe that the judge's conclusion was an accurate reading of dallas&the facts, but this still bothered me; it's a dangerous blend of journalism and "pop history" tactics. (and how did he get all of that information about the jury proceedings, including that one disqualification? just interviews? more transparency about reporting methods would have been appreciated.)

three stars because i honestly could not put it down (so much for bedtime reading, oops) but with the aforementioned caveats.

p.s. a couple of entertaining editorial failures, both on the same page: "pogue had taken away one of pogue's guns" and "indeed, faithfully, this would come to pass" (instead of fatefully). there were a couple more, but these were the most egregious.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that takes place in my neck of the woods, more or less. This is an engaging account of Claude Dallas's murder of two Idaho Fish and Game officers in the early 1980s, his time on the run, and his trial. As an attorney, the trial and sentencing is particularly interesting. Assuming that Olsen's account is more or less accurate, the Dallas trial is a sobering example of the flaws in our legal system, including the risks associated with a trial by one's "peers." Moreover, the debate over whether Dallas's actions were justified (a debate that continues today) is a reminder that this country--and the West in particular--is strangely diverse, particularly from ethical and intellectual perspectives. Here, on essentially undisputed facts, some folks see an instance of justifiable homicide while others see the premeditated murder of two law enforcement officers.

Jack Olsen is a solid writer, but the book could have used more aggressive editing. There are sections where he flogs the characters' backgrounds too heavily. But, overall, a good read.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting to read. Granted, the information about the murders was based on the account of Jim Stevens who eye-witnessed the account. With this in mind, one must remember that all accounts mentioned are from actual people and the information provided may not be wholly reliable. Regardless, I felt drawn into the story and felt it believable. As someone who has lived and/or visited almost all the places mentioned in the book where Dallas either hid or lived himself, I felt a connection to the story as I could picture it all. I was also extremely discontented with the outcome of the trial and felt completely mystified by the juror's viewpoints. It clearly set a precendent that peace officer's lives are not worth very much if you're a guy with a pleasing character who has a gun.

All in all, a good read. Too bad Dallas has been released from prison.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down, the story was interesting and the writing was excellent. I read it because I was looking for a book that was hard to put down and my husband suggested it, I didn’t think I’d like it that much but I did. The book is about the killings of two Idaho fish and game wardens by Claude Dallas in 1981. Not usually what interests me in books, but this book was very interesting. It was hard to settle on an opinion at times because of how well he shows both sides. Every part of the book was interesting, the character buildup at the beginning, setting the stage for the incident, the killing, the investigation and chase, the trail, and the glimpses into the parents of Claude.

[Ter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I begin? My parents read this book quite a few years ago and recommended it to me. I’ve been looking everywhere for it since it’s out of print. They actually new some people at the time that they read it who actually thought this Claude Dallas was some kind of hero or something. I personally think he was a cold blooded, calculated murderer. He should have been sentenced to death, and at the very least sentenced to life in prison. It’s worth the read. I definitely recommend it.

[Stella Fouts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Olsen does a top-notch job of putting together the pieces of a story. However, I could have done without the conversations of Dallas' despicable parents (it made me want to gag) and his many misguided supporters in AND out of the court room. I would imagine that their tune would have changed if it had been THEIR friends or relatives that were shot down in cold blood just for doing their job.

[Jeremy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buy the print version!!!

Well written book but the Kindle version is full of typos. An interesting read about how the myths and legends shape perceptions about, and within, the modern American West.

[lisa h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the book. Once the trial started, I was hurrying to know what would happen and also so nervous about the the jury and judge. Some language and crude quotes to show the character of some of people.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

First one of Olsen's book that I've read. Nice easy read. Will likely read another by this author. Of course he was guilty. Even so, some believed his punishment was too severe. Decide for yourself.

[Bob Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, written by Jack Olsen great crime writer The culprit, should have got a more serious sentence, . The media made him a folk hero, when he was poacher who trapped and hunted with out remorse and murdered two game agents. When confronted. And Desecrated the bodies and went on the run.

[Rachel Peasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is incredible, and the author was amazing. I'm not sure if I got a weird copy or what, but the editing left some to be desired, so if you can get by random page numbers in the middle of paragraphs and odd hyphens, etc, then you'll enjoy the true crime!

[Amanda Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well laid out telling of the events leading up to and after the murders of Pogue and Elms. I felt like it tried to keep it as unbias as possible and you really got a sense of who Claude Dallas was.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more interesting than I expected. Pleasantly surprised

[Natascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in owyhee county idaho and I wish I had read this book sooner. The writer did a good job of telling the story from all angles. To my knowledge. I would recommend this book!

[Martin F Eck Jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best seller worthy

Followed this story for most of my Life And hunted some of The same Ground. A great depiction of The land and The man.

[Paul Xanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survivalist Rashomon. Though not Olsen's best, the character study of Claude Dallas from competing angles is interesting as hell and the central crime is affecting.

[Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superbly written book by this author. I was worried that the story of a trapper would not be that interesting as far as true crime goes, but I should never doubt Jack Olsen.

[Nick Rossi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s like if the guy from “into the wild” actually had outdoors knowledge, and was also a criminal. Solid page turner

[Mark Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became interested in this book after listening to the Generation Why podcast about Claude Dallas. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast... The podcast does a good job of presenting an overview of this story, whereas Jack Olsen's book dives into the details that give depth to the killer, the victims and the men and women, who became involved in the life of Claude Dallas.

This story involves a young man whom after earning a hardscrabble living as a ranch hand in the northwest area of Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. This is a gorgeous area, but quite remote, low density populated, where ranching on private land and leased government owned properties has been the major way of making a living. Small communities are common and the major city in the area is Boise, a few hours drive northeast. Claude Dallas arrives in the area and works for various ranches and establishes himself as an honest, polite, intelligent, hardworking and capable ranch hand. He comes off to some as a bit of a loaner and at times, makes comments that make him seem unpredictable. However, he comes off as loyal to friends and family, but is not a friend of authority figures. He romanticizes the old west and fancies himself a self-sufficient mountain man.... living off of the wildlife and game that he can trap or shoot. He earns a well earned reputation for being able to thrive in the harsh conditions of the high desert and mountains in the area. Unfortunately, he also is reportedly a poacher of wild game, out of season hunting, and illegal trapping practices. He supports himself by selling hides through friends in the area. The local game wardens of the area, tasked with enforcing the laws governing hunting, fishing and general outdoor recreation, are aware of Dallas, who is one of many trappers and hunters in the area. More frequent reports of Dallas breaking laws finally lead to two Idaho game wardens visiting the remote camp. In 1981, an arrest is imminent, when Dallas shoots the game wardens. With the help of some friends, he hides the bodies and then goes on the run for 1.5 years, calling on support of various friends and using his wits to avoid location and capture. He vexes law enforcement and FBI for months before being caught in a shootout with authorities. Much of the book then is focused on the families, law enforcement, legal teams and jurors involved in his trial. This part of the story I found extremely fascinating. Living in Oregon myself, I have made frequent visits to this part of the old west. The trial of Claude Dallas exposes the varied attitudes of the area. He attracted many supporters of his mountain-man lifestyle, who thought of him as a man only defending his lifestyle, honor and safety. But Olsen also presents the many who thought of him as a modern day outlaw and murderer of dedicated law enforcement. Olsen is to be commended for presenting this dichotomy of attitudes. It is clear that he spent many hours interviewing people greatly affected by Claude Dallas.

The book is well written and reads like a combination of true crime and biography. I could feel the pain of the spouses of the victims, the sense of panic by the friends of Dallas immediately after the crime. And, Olsen also interviews the family of Claude Dallas, presenting the history of this young man and how he arrived at circumstances that seemed inevitable.

I would have given this book a 5 star rating, but unfortunately, the copy I received was poorly printed. There are a number of errors scattered throughout the book. I detect that the publisher, Crime Rant Books, is reponsible for this. The writing is crisp and well done and it appears that Olsen had a good editor. The printer may be responsible for the errors, but it is obvious that the book was not proofread and errors were random, but frequent.

A great read of this complex area of the country where old meets new, and the laws of the land clash with the independent spirits of those who find the rules of other men, too restrictive. This was my first Jack Olsen book, and I will definitely try some of his other works.

Give a Boy a Gun: The True Story of Law and Disorder in the American West[

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually review true crime books on Goodreads, but this one was exceptional. It shows that in the West, around the nexus of eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern Nevada there still is a wild west. A complete sociopath wantonly murders two Fish and Game officers who are going to cite him for poaching and illegal trapping. But, as sociopaths often are, he's so demure and charming on the stand that he develops a coterie of groupies and is able to charm most of the courtroom and most of the jury that he's a law-abiding, sweet guy. (His last name is Dallas, so his groupies are called "The Dallas Cheerleaders.")

It sounds as if he committed two assassinations, but defense witnesses abound who say the officers were jerks and probably deserved it. The narrative of the killings gets horribly confused, even including the testimony of a friend of Dallas's who was there on the scene when it happened. An audience of hard-bitten, law-hating trappers and their wives try to get Dallas released on justifiable homicide, even though one of the F&G men only drew his sidearm as he was falling back after getting hit by Dallas.

The jury goes crazy, deliberating for a record number of days in that county. Only one woman holds out for first-degree homicide, and the jurors get her dismissed from the jury on some pretext. The ultimate verdict is manslaughter, but the judge essentially sets that aside and gives Dallas a lecture on what a criminal he is and gives him 30 years.

The most fascinating part of the book is the insight it gives into the frontier mentality even in this modern day, as well as the insight it gives into a slick sociopath almost getting off for two assassinations ("I had to shoot them in the head because that's what I always do to animals that I have leg-trapped.").

My only complaint about this book was how it was formatted on my Nook. It had random numbers popping up in the middle of words; it had letters pushed together so that you couldn't figure out the word. It was one of the sloppiest copy-edited books I've ever read. But it provides a lot of insight into the Western frontier mentality and the wiliness of sociopaths.

[Carrie]

This was a highly readable book about the story of Claude Dallas, the culture of guns, hunting, and trapping in the rural American west, and the failings of our criminal justice system.

The author is a compelling storyteller, so the actual storyline about Claude Dallas's life, the murders, and the trial is easy to read and engaging. Additionally, the author interviewed so many people and painted such a vivid picture of the actors involved in the case that I felt as if I had a real glimpse of the culture in northern Nevada and southern Idaho.

This book was written awhile ago, but it is nonetheless relevant today, given the current situation with Cliven Bundy and his free-roaming cattle in Nevada. Claude Dallas held similar views about the government's role in land management, hunting, and trapping, and styled himself a live-off-the-land mountain man (who clung to this self-image despite the fact that he needed people to bring him provisions, including pudding, while he "wintered" "alone" in the wilderness). The most fascinating part of the book is the description of the juror deliberations and the "Dallas cheerleaders" who showed up in court to support a guy who gave less than compelling evidence of self defense. So many people rallied around Dallas, jurors included, because they believed that a guy with such a charming and folksy disposition had to be justified. I'd be curious to see if these same people, who liberally used racist language, would feel similarly if a non-white person had committed the same act. The book definitely exposes some of the enormous problems with juror bias.

One final note. I am giving the book four stars because the content is great, but I'd give it zero stars if I were judging it based on the Kindle formatting. I've read other older books that have clearly been converted into e-reader format, but this one is far and away the worst conversion I've ever seen. The formatting errors and typos make the book almost unreadable at some points, and one read-through by a semi-literate editor would've caught 99% of the errors.

[Russell Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remarkable book tells an astounding true story in riveting prose. Claude Dallas was a poacher and trapper in the I-O-N (Idaho, Oregon, Nevada) area who shot and killed two game wardens. He then fled and was a fugitive for years. The book describes how it happened, according to an eyewitness, according to Dallas, according to various people in the legal system, according to press reports, and according to many rumor-mongers and gossips. It is a prime example of how everyone believes whatever they want to believe. The outcome of the pursuit and what happened thereafter are artfully concealed until the very end. There are more twists and turns than in any John Grisham novel. I can tell you I was totally surprised twice in the final pages.

I'm surprised this book doesn't have more reviews and ratings. It's top-notch and told skillfully. I recommend that you do NOT look through the photographs in the middle until you've finished the book, because there is a spoiler there. The book spends quite a bit of time setting the stage and introducing the characters, so it's not exciting right off the bat, although there are some heart-stopping moments. Stick with it and you won't be able to put it down by the last third.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like true Crime? Read Jack Olsen. Olsen takes actual criminal cases, and develops them so that they read like an intense novel rather than a dry biography or court report. "Give a Boy A Gun" is the true case of Claude Dallas, Jr., the trapper who murdered two Idaho Fish and Game officers in 1982. I find particular interest in this story because 1) This happened in the corner of the world where I now live, and 2) I remember seeing this on the news when I was an adolescent. The most interesting, and amusing, aspect of this story for me was the revelation that while the federal authorities were out in the cold, snowy, high desert country where Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada come together, searching high and low for the self-sufficient, wilderness-surviving Mountain Man, Dallas himself was hunkered down in a friend's single-wide trailer somewhere in north Nevada.

[Patrica Rickaby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hero or Killer

The book was in need of much better proof reading( numbers in the middle of words, words split in parts and at times words were misplaced completely ). It was hard to believe this was written by Jack Olsen whose other books I have read and enjoyed. Other books by him I read quickly,learned from,enjoyed, and looked forward to reading more. This one took forever to read due to the many mistakes.
The friends of this "hero" should have had legal charges against them for aiding and abetting him in his crimes. He was no hero or Wild West throwback. He used people.

[patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting non-fiction read. Reminiscent of a Zane Grey novel. This was an event in the 1970's that took place in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada. The story is incredible and leaves the reader with an OMG reaction. Recommend it for off the beaten path reading. Mr. Olsen has written other books that whet my interest.

[Dave O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible true story, well-written

One of the best true crime books I have ever read. Superbly researched and written to keep the tension up and the ending a surprise. A must-read for anyone interested in true crime and the modern American West.

[Anthony Ambruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frighteningly good story

But reading about this stuff leaves me sad for the victims and those who commit these crimes. Having served on jury myself, these stories leave me uneasy about a jury trial. They are a mess.

[Sharon Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book three times now and still find it fascinating. I know a person who was involved in the shootout with Claude Dallas, so that makes it very real first person thing to me.