The Outlaw's Violin

Many a Western outlaw was destined for a violent life and an early grave. Kid Fraser was an exception, thanks to an odd pairing of La Violetta, a beguiling wire dancer, and a poet-prospector recently sprung (or escaped?) from a Utah insane asylum. But what really set the Kid on a better path was “the strumming of string” of his homemade violin. Decorated with doggerel and inked images, it mirrored his shift from would-be desperado to kindly frontier musician. Author Nicholas Clapp’s previous books have chronicled the desert West from the time of Indian shamans through the excitement of gold and silver rushes, cause for Death Valley historian Richard Lingenfelter to praise his “delightfully and visually captivating journey through the lively boom camps of the past.” Here now is the real-life story of Kid Fraser – the Montana Outlaw – who over a century ago made that same journey, roaming from Nevada’s Virginia City to Montana’s Bannack, and then on to Arizona’s Oatman and California’s Death Valley – to finally settle in Eureka, Nevada, where he was to bring grand opera to a desert town in the middle of nowhere.