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Once A Sheriff
A Little Peace
....was what he hoped for when he rode into the small Montana town. Yakima was young, restless, and broke. When he strapped on the six gun in the mercantile he never dreamed that it marked the beginning of a new life.
A chance fight, some luck and a lot of guts made him a hero and the town’s new sheriff. The job looked easy until the reality of the lawless Montana territory struck home. Yakima’s education was quick. It was learn, or die...
....was what he hoped for when he rode into the small Montana town. Yakima was young, restless, and broke. When he strapped on the six gun in the mercantile he never dreamed that it marked the beginning of a new life.
A chance fight, some luck and a lot of guts made him a hero and the town’s new sheriff. The job looked easy until the reality of the lawless Montana territory struck home. Yakima’s education was quick. It was learn, or die...
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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June 14, 2025
"Being in the right place at the right - or even the wrong - time can have a lot to do with how one ends up. Most of all, there's luck. Good or bad, there's luck . . . Take the case of Yakima, our sheriff." -- on page 9
Al Cody (1899-1986) is an author who appears to be all but forgotten these days, but during the 1950's and 60's he was apparently a contemporary of Louis L'Amour in dependably churning out some lean paperback westerns with succinct, attention-grabbing titles like Trouble at Sudden Creek and Guns Blaze at Sundown. My introduction to his oeuvre was the spry Once a Sheriff, a comedic story - or at least a 'dramedy' - that could've easily been an entertaining B-movie straight from the early 1940's starring a young Jimmy Stewart. A sincere young man named Yakima arrives in a small Montana frontier town with the ungainly appellation of Whangdoodle in the late 1800's after experiencing little success as a cowboy / ranch-hand. Immediately he inadvertently stops a bank robbery in progress AND manages to apprehend the bandit gang's leader - the region's feared and wanted 'Blanco Kid' - with a combination of pure karma and his guileless nature. The impressed townsfolk promptly pin a sheriff's star on Yakima's shirt - their last three men holding that title died in the line of duty (!) - and the story then follows his eventful days 'on the job.' It was amusing how Yakima successfully deals with issues such as a menacing town bully, recovering the stolen loot from a local crime, a squabble over mining rights, and even the recruitment of two men (possibly some of the most unlikely policing candidates EVER) to be his new deputies. This was an unusual - perhaps unlikely - yet welcome story in which all characters receive a feasible 'happily ever after' conclusion.
Al Cody (1899-1986) is an author who appears to be all but forgotten these days, but during the 1950's and 60's he was apparently a contemporary of Louis L'Amour in dependably churning out some lean paperback westerns with succinct, attention-grabbing titles like Trouble at Sudden Creek and Guns Blaze at Sundown. My introduction to his oeuvre was the spry Once a Sheriff, a comedic story - or at least a 'dramedy' - that could've easily been an entertaining B-movie straight from the early 1940's starring a young Jimmy Stewart. A sincere young man named Yakima arrives in a small Montana frontier town with the ungainly appellation of Whangdoodle in the late 1800's after experiencing little success as a cowboy / ranch-hand. Immediately he inadvertently stops a bank robbery in progress AND manages to apprehend the bandit gang's leader - the region's feared and wanted 'Blanco Kid' - with a combination of pure karma and his guileless nature. The impressed townsfolk promptly pin a sheriff's star on Yakima's shirt - their last three men holding that title died in the line of duty (!) - and the story then follows his eventful days 'on the job.' It was amusing how Yakima successfully deals with issues such as a menacing town bully, recovering the stolen loot from a local crime, a squabble over mining rights, and even the recruitment of two men (possibly some of the most unlikely policing candidates EVER) to be his new deputies. This was an unusual - perhaps unlikely - yet welcome story in which all characters receive a feasible 'happily ever after' conclusion.
Displaying 1 of 1 review