Excerpt: The History Press
When prospectors set
up camp on Cherry Creek in 1858, Denver emerged as a lightning rod for the
extraordinary. Time has washed away so many unusual stories from the nineteenth
century Law and Order League, lynches, suffragettes and the touching plight of
the gypsies…Elizabeth Wallace knocks the dust off these details and introduces
readers to characters like world heavyweight boxing Champion Charles L. “Sonny”
Liston, hit man turned rodeo promoter Leland Varain, aka “Diamond Jack,” and
the city’s daring wall dogs, whose hand-painted building advertisements are
facing reminders of a bygone Denver.
