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Introduction: I was surprised when I learned some time back that for the first three years as a cowtown Abilene had no official law.
As the cattle trade grew, however, so did the town, and so did the number of young drovers looking for a good time after several dusty months on the trail. As historian Wayne Lee put it, there was no law in Texas Abilene (not to be confused with Abilene, Texas), which was no problem so long as the cowboys stayed in the rowdy district. But when they invaded Kansas Abilene with their whooping and hollering and shooting up street signs, the city fathers decided to hire a marshal.
Abilene, Kansas, cowtown, marshal, law and order, Thomas James Smith