Captain Jack Helm: A Victim of Texas Reconstruction Violence

by Chuck Parsons, Kenneth W. Howell (Foreword)

In Captain Jack Helm, Chuck Parsons explores the life of John Jackson “Jack” Helm, whose main claim to fame has been that he was a victim of man-killer John Wesley Hardin. That he was, but he was much more in his violence-filled lifetime during Reconstruction Texas. First as a deputy sheriff, then county sheriff, and finally captain of the notorious Texas State Police, he developed a reputation as a violent and ruthless man-hunter. He arrested many suspected lawbreakers, but often his prisoner was killed before reaching a jail for “attempting to escape.” This horrific tendency ultimately brought about his downfall. Helm’s aggressive enforcement of his version of “law and order” resulted in a deadly confrontation with two of his enemies in the midst of the Sutton-Taylor Feud. “Captain Jack Helm is more than a fine gunfighter biography: it is a vivid statement about the murderous violence of Reconstruction in Texas.”—Bill O’Neal, State Historian of Texas

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2018

About the author

Chuck Parsons loves the Old West in general and Texas history in particular. His main focus of writing and research deals with the outlaws and the lawmen of Texas, especially the Texas Rangers. This has been his first love since sometime in the Junior High School years, in the 1950s. Although Chuck appreciates good novels, such as those written by Elmer Kelton, he concentrates on researching and writing the facts of the Old West.