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You Are Respectfully Invited to Attend My Execution: Untold Stories of Men Legally Executed in Wyoming Territory
Badmen on the Wyoming frontier? Many were lynched, but seven were legally hanged. You are respectfully invited to attend the executions. Badmen thrived in Wyoming Territory, but law and legal processes also existed. The frontier was so civilized that those men sentenced to hang were allowed to issue formal invitations to their executions. Read of the true stories of the crimes, lawmen, capture, investigations, escapes, trials, and deaths of the seven men legally hanged in Wyoming Territory, in this the second of Brown s trilogy on frontier crime.
188 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
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5 people want to read
About the author
Larry K. Brown
7 books1 followerBrown’s writing credits include six books, plus articles in such non-fiction periodicals as Wild West, True West, Old West, American Cowboy, Cowboy, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’’s Persimmon Hill, The Roundup of Western Writers of America, Wyoming Magazine, Annals of Wyoming, Wyoming History Journal, Comptons Encyclopedia Yearbook as well as the journals of the National and Western Outlaw and Lawman associations. His short stories also have been published in the prestigious High Plains Register literary-arts magazine.
Wyoming Writers, Inc. honored his Hog Ranches of Wyoming: Liquor, Lust, and Lies Under Sagebrush Skies [Glendo, WY: High Plains Press, 1995] with a "Western Horizon Award." The following year, Cambridge University Press, England, the oldest press in the world, selected the book’s text for inclusion in its computerized lexicon. The electronic database is designed for use as a tool for language researchers in creating dictionaries and other reference books for students learning English as a second language.
The Old Pen Joint Powers Board in Rawlins, WY, published his Petticoat Prisoners of the Wyoming Frontier Prison in 1995 while his third, fourth and fifth books, You are Respectfully Invited to Attend My Execution (1997), Petticoat Prisoners of Old Wyoming (2001) –– a recipient of a coveted Wyoming State Historical Society "Publications Award", and Coyotes and Canaries: Characters Who Made the West Wild . . . and Wonderful! (2002) –– were published by High Plains Press, respectively, in 1997 and 2001. Brown currently is working with the State of Wyoming’s Department of State Parks & Cultural Resources (Division of Cultural Resources), officials in developing a series of “Coyotes and Canaries” videos featuring characters, base on his book.
His writings appear as well in such books as Buckskin, Bullets, and Beans: Good Eats and Good Reads from the Western Writers of America (Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1997), The Wyoming Almanac (Laramie, WY: Skyline West Press, annually since 1994), and Outlaws and Lawmen of the Old West: The Best of the NOLA Quarterly (Cave Creek, AZ: Barbed Wire Press, 2001). Brown’’s "Shoot Out the Old Year" article, which originally appeared in the July-September 1997 issue of NOLA Quarterly, was but one of only twenty-five stories selected of the many written by members since the National Outlaw and Lawman Association was founded in 1974.
His latest book for High Plains Press, Bad in the Good Old Days, contains thirteen little know stories about some of the most unusually notorious men and women criminal, who ever rode the a western range.
Larry, was the Membership Chairman for Western Writers of America from 1999 through 2008. He and his wife, Florence make their home in Cheyenne. They have four grown children.
Wyoming Writers, Inc. honored his Hog Ranches of Wyoming: Liquor, Lust, and Lies Under Sagebrush Skies [Glendo, WY: High Plains Press, 1995] with a "Western Horizon Award." The following year, Cambridge University Press, England, the oldest press in the world, selected the book’s text for inclusion in its computerized lexicon. The electronic database is designed for use as a tool for language researchers in creating dictionaries and other reference books for students learning English as a second language.
The Old Pen Joint Powers Board in Rawlins, WY, published his Petticoat Prisoners of the Wyoming Frontier Prison in 1995 while his third, fourth and fifth books, You are Respectfully Invited to Attend My Execution (1997), Petticoat Prisoners of Old Wyoming (2001) –– a recipient of a coveted Wyoming State Historical Society "Publications Award", and Coyotes and Canaries: Characters Who Made the West Wild . . . and Wonderful! (2002) –– were published by High Plains Press, respectively, in 1997 and 2001. Brown currently is working with the State of Wyoming’s Department of State Parks & Cultural Resources (Division of Cultural Resources), officials in developing a series of “Coyotes and Canaries” videos featuring characters, base on his book.
His writings appear as well in such books as Buckskin, Bullets, and Beans: Good Eats and Good Reads from the Western Writers of America (Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1997), The Wyoming Almanac (Laramie, WY: Skyline West Press, annually since 1994), and Outlaws and Lawmen of the Old West: The Best of the NOLA Quarterly (Cave Creek, AZ: Barbed Wire Press, 2001). Brown’’s "Shoot Out the Old Year" article, which originally appeared in the July-September 1997 issue of NOLA Quarterly, was but one of only twenty-five stories selected of the many written by members since the National Outlaw and Lawman Association was founded in 1974.
His latest book for High Plains Press, Bad in the Good Old Days, contains thirteen little know stories about some of the most unusually notorious men and women criminal, who ever rode the a western range.
Larry, was the Membership Chairman for Western Writers of America from 1999 through 2008. He and his wife, Florence make their home in Cheyenne. They have four grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 31, 2018
A slender book with modest goals: tell the reader as much as can be gleaned from sparse records, about Wyoming's legal executions of the 19th century.
Hangings were still public entertainment in the late 19th century west, and the title of the book apparently comes for an authentic "invitation."
The first tale is about a mixed race man who commits a revenge murder of a man who likely raped his Indian mother and sister. The author says nothing about whether this initial alleged crime is investigated by authorities. Given the era, there may have no concern about the sexual assault of nonwhite women. But surely the author knew that modern readers would blanch at this callousness. He should have at least addressed the issue. The fact that he does not is disappointing.
Hangings were still public entertainment in the late 19th century west, and the title of the book apparently comes for an authentic "invitation."
The first tale is about a mixed race man who commits a revenge murder of a man who likely raped his Indian mother and sister. The author says nothing about whether this initial alleged crime is investigated by authorities. Given the era, there may have no concern about the sexual assault of nonwhite women. But surely the author knew that modern readers would blanch at this callousness. He should have at least addressed the issue. The fact that he does not is disappointing.
June 10, 2025
Neat account of some legal executions. 👍
October 16, 2012
What a fun and easy book to read...I couldn't stop reading it. As a professional corrections officer in the Wyoming prison system, I applaud Brown's portrayal of the inmates' minds while incarcerated. He vividly shows how different prisoners react in different ways in different stages of their times behind bars awaiting execution. I don't know how Brown is able to do this with such precision.
The stories of Wyoming also accurately reflect the different cultures of the 19th century that still resonate today. Having lived in Fort Laramie, Laramie, and Rawlins, as well as having spent time in Buffalo, Ferris Mountain, and Pole Mountain, I can better appreciate not only this book, but also see these places in a clearer light.
Finally, Brown is an excellent writer. His research is phenomenal, and his writing style is neither technically boring, not insultingly simple. This is a book I will remember reading!
The stories of Wyoming also accurately reflect the different cultures of the 19th century that still resonate today. Having lived in Fort Laramie, Laramie, and Rawlins, as well as having spent time in Buffalo, Ferris Mountain, and Pole Mountain, I can better appreciate not only this book, but also see these places in a clearer light.
Finally, Brown is an excellent writer. His research is phenomenal, and his writing style is neither technically boring, not insultingly simple. This is a book I will remember reading!
July 31, 2015
I picked this up in a gift shop in Wyoming because I wanted to buy something to support a nice free museum and it looked like the most likely thing there to at least tangentially support my interest in dime novels and popular literature. For the most part, it consists of straightforward accounts of crimes and punishments in Wyoming pre-statehood. Engaging enough, though without huge surprises. I did get what I was looking for when one prisoner's reading habits were mentioned, so I really can't complain! And, of course, I learned a few other things along the way.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews