In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

vii acknowledgments So many people to thank, so few words in which to do it! There’s a rule of thumb in history: the bigger the book and the more footnotes, the more people there are to thank. That includes colleagues, collectors, librarians, archivists, proofreaders, et al. And when a book like this one has two authors, that doubles the number of folks to thank. We’ll start with the library staff in the Genealogy, History, and Archives Unit of the Fort Worth Public Library: Betty Shankle, Shirley Apley, and Tom Kellam. They dug up obscure documents and photographs, checked our facts on request, and let us into the inner sanctum where the “good stuff” is stored. Dalton Hoffman and Quentin McGown graciously provided pictures from their vast collections of old Fort Worth images. Ditto for Jon Frembling at the Amon Carter Museum. Susie Pritchett at the Tarrant County Historical Commission is one of those people every Fort Worth historian should know. Not only is she a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on our favorite city, but she knows the collections of the Commission better than anyone. Robert Smith, who I suspect loves history as much as he loves architecture (his profession), produced the excellent graphics so that, for instance, you can follow Ike Knight’s path of murder and mayhem and understand the “dead line” at the Texas and Pacific passenger station. Bob has an amazing talent for taking my crude drawings and transforming them into clear, sharp maps, and floor plans. And he takes pity when it comes to billing starving authors for his time. Kevin was in contact with several families of fallen officers who were kind enough to share their family stories and documents. And in some cases they also managed to dig up photos of officers whose visages were previously unknown. These include, in particular, descendants of Andy Grimes, Ad Campbell, C. E. Parsley, and John Ogletree. Thanks for trusting us with the memories of your brave ancestors. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The merry gang at UNT Press deserves a Great Big Thanks for accepting the manuscript and working with us, even when I drove them nuts with last-second changes. Director Ron Chrisman had the excellent idea of cutting an over-long manuscript into two parts, thus opening the door for a second volume of Written in Blood. Editor Karen DeVinney has now shepherded two of my books through the publishing process. Paula Oates puts on a signing party that puts professional wedding planners to shame. Working with Bonnie Lovell, the assistant editor we dealt with personally, was a marriage made in authors’ heaven; she is meticulous and detail oriented but is also a patient, kindly soul. More kudos to Betty Shankle, without whom this thing would never have gotten indexed. The Fort Worth Police Historical Association and Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) were all on board every step of the way, even though some of the things about Fort Worth officers that we dug up were not flattering. Special thanks to Terry Baker, retired Assistant Chief of the Dallas County Sheriff ’s Office, and Ron DeLord, Special Counsel for CLEAT. Both took time out from their real jobs to provide early research help and guidance. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office also pitched in, in the person of retired Chief Deputy Hank Pope, unofficial historian of the Office for many years. Thanks to Hank, we were able to fill in some of the gaps in the stories of our fallen sheriffs’ officers. And an all-inclusive gracias to all of our friends in Fort Worth history—Donna Donnell, Max Hill, Scott Barker, Hollace Weiner, Clara Ruddell, Art Weinman, and anybody we left out—thanks for your input and support year in and year out. You are a big part of what makes writing Fort Worth history fun. Personal note: And finally, to my co-author Kevin, thanks for reaching out to me on this project nine years ago and for being patient while your writing partner took forever trying to get everything just right. And now, on to Volume 2! ...

Share