What is "desperadoes"

Usage examples of "desperadoes".

The Vagabonds, criollos, the mountain-dwelling Indian peons, the desperadoes from the mining-country up north, these were only permitted to gather in the City on certain occasions, and an auto da fé was one of them.

Jack, Jimmy, Danny, and Tomba moved north to a frontier town in Zacatecas where no one cared if Jack failed to wear his sanbenito—or if they did, they were too scared to say anything, because this was a town of desperadoes, and every man went armed all the time.

Now with Sheriff Nailor and a posse forcing from behind, and another and fresher posse cutting in from the west, it would be the time, once and for all, to rid the country of the desperadoes before they could re-establish a foothold in the hills.

It was rumored that he had been a mere youth when first he had taken to the bloody trail of Colt, Winchester and running-iron, and had recruited around him a gang of desperadoes as brave and lawless as himself, though all of them years older.

He began a raid on the outlaws, and in a singularly short space of time he had completely stopped their depredations on the stage stock, recovered a large number of stolen horses, killed several of the worst desperadoes of the district, and gained such a dread ascendancy over the rest that they respected him, admired him, feared him, obeyed him!

Some of these spiders could straddle over a common saucer with their hairy, muscular legs, and when their feelings were hurt, or their dignity offended, they were the wickedest-looking desperadoes the animal world can furnish.

It was a jury composed of two desperadoes, two low beer-house politicians, three bar-keepers, two ranchmen who could not read, and three dull, stupid, human donkeys!

It was asserted by the desperadoes that one of their brethren (Joe McGee, a special policeman) was known to be the conspirator chosen by lot to assassinate Williams.

Yet the name Belle Starr remains linked with some of the most vicious killers and desperadoes of the day--men like Frank and Jesse James and the Younger brothers.

After several days John Shirley lost patience and ordered the desperadoes off his place, locking Belle in an upstairs bedroom.

She allied herself openly with a band of desperadoes ranging throughout Texas and the Indian Territory.

One storyteller relates that a particularly aggressive member of the posse suddenly found himself dangerously close to the desperadoes and might have come within firing range of the crack shots.

It was the policy of the officials of these wild frontier towns to elect as marshal some conspicuous killer, on the theory that desperadoes would respect his prowess or if they did not would get the worst of the encounter.

It felt that the best way to "settle the hash" of desperadoes was to pit against them fighting machines more efficient, bad men more deadly than themselves.

While he was deputy marshal word came that the Henry gang of desperadoes were terrorizing a dance hall.