![HERO OF HORSEPOWER](https://cdn.magzter.com/1442267826/1717525484/articles/lWmYBlKzF1720076777256/HERO-OF-HORSEPOWER.jpg)
Los Angeles, California.
Not everyone's picture of a wild-and-woolly Western town-even though Wyatt Earp, who spent his last years there, claimed Tombstone in its heyday "wasn't half as bad as Los Angeles." Policing the City of Angels, and the 4,000-square-mile county of coastline, desert and mountains encompassing it, took a special breed of lawmen. Men like Billy Hammel.
Native Angeleno William Augustus Hammel was born March 13, 1865. The son of a doctor and educated at Santa Clara University, young Billy-likely to his parents' chagrin-took a brief stab at cowboying in Arizona. He soon returned to California and might have settled in the grocery business but for his brother-in-law, L.A. County Sheriff George Gard.
In mid-April 1885 Melcado Garcia, a notorious "horse-thief and desperado," had traded gunfire with a deputy sheriff near the San Gabriel Mission. Gard swore in Hammel as a special deputy and sent him and boyhood friend Martin Aguirre, a county constable, on Garcia's trail. They followed it northwest through the Arroyo Seco and, finding Garcia "wounded in bed" the deputy's bullet in his chest-30 miles away at San Fernando, captured him without further gunplay. Thus in true Old West fashion, Hammel embarked on a career spanning four decades, taking L.A. law enforcement from its horseback days to the mechanized 20th century.
A Badge Well Worn
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July - August 2024-Ausgabe von True West.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July - August 2024-Ausgabe von True West.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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![From the Basin to the Plains](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/5dfn8eJi11720079052924/FROM-THE-BASIN-TO-THE-PLAINS.jpg)
From the Basin to the Plains
Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
![COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/fsqS_fxNC1720078905439/COLLECTING-AMERICAN-OUTLAWS.jpg)
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
![Spencer's West](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/_gsbUH-vM1720078662546/SPENCERS-WEST.jpg)
Spencer's West
After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.
![Firearms With a Storied Past](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/WTZwGkPPG1720078507684/FIREARMS-WITH-A-STORIED-PAST.jpg)
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
![She Means Business!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/Md3C3ghar1720078441300/SHE-MEANS-BUSINESS.jpg)
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
![Where Did the Loot Go?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/JFYkwruoA1720078318806/WHERE-DID-THE-LOOT-GO.jpg)
Where Did the Loot Go?
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist?
![Ride that Train!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/fSwXIHk2j1720077702685/RIDE-THAT-TRAIN.jpg)
Ride that Train!
HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
![Saddle Up with a Western](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/CuHNSIebs1720077108988/SADDLE-UP-WITH-A-WESTERN.jpg)
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
![HERO OF HORSEPOWER](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/lWmYBlKzF1720076777256/HERO-OF-HORSEPOWER.jpg)
HERO OF HORSEPOWER
LOS ANGELES LAWMAN WILLIAM HAMMEL TAMED ONE OF THE WEST'S WILDEST TOWNS WITH HARD WORK AND HORSELESS CARRIAGES.
![RENEGADES OF THE RAILS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/11398/1722035/ml5ITwFz71720076503732/RENEGADES-OF-THE-RAILS.jpg)
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.