Devices of Shame - B. W. Isely - Bog

Oscar Reynolds rides into Cheyenne from Texas on a cattle drive. Only in town for a few days, he meets Mary and doesn't want to leave her behind. Deciding to stay, he finds himself working for the Black Hills Stage and Express Company. The gold rush is on, and Oscar is tasked with protecting the people and gold flowing in and out of the Black Hills.

With the gold in the roots of plants, all walks of life are flocking to the area to become rich or die trying. Oscar becomes the law in a land where everyone is trying to make their fortune through any means necessary. Bandits continuously rob stagecoaches, and the law attempts to protect the lives and valuables they transport. Before he knows it, Oscar is thrust into a battle of good versus evil.

Newly married and beginning his life in the Black Hills, Oscar wants to be good in a land of sin. New mining towns are developing throughout the mountain range, and he and his new wife decide to move to the middle of it all. While all the new citizens bring shame to the land, Oscar is dealing with his own shame and a proclivity for drinking. The lines become blurred between right and wrong for him.

After personal tragedies along the trail, he feels the weight of avenging the death of a friend and suffers the shame of being unsuccessful. As Oscar begins to slip into a downward spiral of addiction, the ones he loves are pushed away by his selfish behavior. Hopeless and defeated, Oscar finds himself on the wrong side of the law, making choices that threaten to cost him everything.