Duane Shillinger

Wyoming: Attitudes. . . Short Ropes and Long Falls. . .prison Walls Duane Shillinger

The author has scoured many Wyoming Territorial newspapers and governmental records in order to find elusive versions of Wyoming Territorial and early state history. With a focus on territorial crime and punishment, the author has ventured into areas of wanton waste and destruction of territorial resources, occurring at the very time that early laws were written. While laws were enacted to establish order and safety within the territory, the American Indian, the Blacks, and the Chinese in Wyoming Territory were inhumanely and criminally disenfranchised from the rights the early settlers heaped upon themselves. Those pre-territorial, territorial, and early state political perceptions of who should  and how they should enjoy the good life were soon to be reflected within the laws that governed the sale of alcohol, gambling, the numerous houses of pleasure, the use of natural resources, and the ways the average citizen was to be safeguarded. The selective enforcement of territorial and early state laws enabled the elite and well-heeled to amuse themselves unfettered. Law breakers with political connections often received tailored prison sentences, pardons, and commutations, while the criminal who lacked family status and influence was not on the receiving end of such benevolence. These selections of particularly well documented early Wyoming history have not been written so as to make history more pleasant.