Ride the Man Down

"Will Ballard had ramrodded the great Hatchet spread to wealth and power. Now, with the owner dead, Ballard faced a dozen land-hungry ranchers and a army of gunslingers moving in to plunder Hatchet. Will Ballard was a cattleman, not a gunfighter. But, single-handed, he swore he'd cut them down. " - Rear Cover. Luke Short a.k.a. Frederick Dilley Glidden (1908¿1975) was a popular Western writer. Born in Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two and a half years and then transferred to the University of Missouri at Columbia to study journalism. Following graduation in 1930, he worked for a number of newspapers before becoming a trapper in Canada. He later moved to New Mexico to be an archeologist's assistant. After reading Western pulp magazines and trying to escape unemployment, he began to write Western fiction. He sold his first short story and novel in 1935 under the pen name of Luke Short (which was also the name of a famous gunslinger in the Old West, although it's unclear if he was aware of that when he assumed the pen name.) After publishing over a dozen novels in the 1930s, he started writing for movies in the 1940s. In 1948 alone, four Luke Short novels appeared as movies. Among his notable film credits are Ramrod (1947) and Blood on the Moon (1948). MM Paperback has complete cover, but with reading creases in front cover and handling creases/indents in covers. Marketing insert in middle of text is intact. Remainder mark on top page-edge. Interior is tight with unmarked text. Markings inside front cover & on ffep. Front half of book has been wet, dried w/o damage. Copyright 1942, renewed 1969. This copy is from the new (2nd) Bantam edition of January, 1961. This copy is from 6th printing of April, 1985. Cover printed in U.S.A., text printed in Canada. ISBN: 0-553-24812-X. No LCCN. MSR = $2.50.