Long-time criminal lawyer Bill Neal tells the progress of the criminal justice in the Southwestern border in the US anecdotally by the accounts of particular court cases. Such trials include the Texas hearings that involved murder and cattle thievery as well as the trials of the men from Wichita Falls who lynched a pair of bank robbers.

From Guns to Gavels traces the development of the frontier legal system, from the time of “Judge Lynch and Judge Winchester” to the days of Judge Blackstone and the contemporary approach to equal courtroom hearings. This is actually the second chapter of a trilogy of Bill Neal’s accounts of the first American West, which draws the development of justice in the days of yore when the justice system was yet to be perfected.

The book’s writer, who is a lawyer from Texas equipped with knowledge in prosecution and defense, discovers “how justice grew up in the Outlaw West” by going through several murder litigations and their resolutions in mob activity, trial, or private vengeance. Neal is cautious in narrating his stories firmly in the context of the frontier pop culture and class struggle among the ranchers and the colonizers settling in shortly after. He also has a comprehensive understanding of the stories’ the place and time.

From Guns to Gavels is thoroughly and broadly studied and is highly based on accurate newspaper reports and court records. Bill Neal delves deeply into one of the most significant points in the history of the United States; a period when the justice system had yet to fully mature and entrench itself firmly in society and grievances were oftentimes resolved outside the law.