Horse thieves, cattle rustlers, bank robbers, train and
stagecoach robbers, highwaymen, murderers, these were but some of the criminals
who infested (遍布于) the American frontier during the 19th century. In English
legend Robin Hood can be considered a bandit, but the outlaws of the Old West
were far more violent men and women without any scruples when it came to taking
property or life. The careers of many outlaws have been
glamorized through fictional accounts of their deeds and their exploits have
been the basis for many movie scripts. The era of the American
outlaw lasted about 100 years roughly from 1800 until 1900. There had been
lawlessness during the colonial era. Frontiers have always attracted misfits,
failures, and renegades (背教者) who hope to profit by being beyond the reach of
government. In the years just before the Revolutionary War, gangs of horse
thieves in the back country of South Carolina were broken up by organized bands
of farmers called Regulators. As frontier settlement expanded
rapidly after the Revolution, more opportunities for criminals opened. Two
common types of bandits were highwaymen and river pirates. Highwaymen accosted
(搭讪) people who traveled on foot or horseback, while river pirates preyed upon
the boat traffic on the Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers. Some bandits
engaged in both. Criminality in the West gathered momentum (势头)
with the gold rushes to California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and other states.
Stagecoaches and trains carrying gold and money became prime targets for bands
of outlaws. Bank robberies emerged after the California Gold Rush of 1849 and as
prosperity found its way to frontier towns. The first stage robbery was recorded
in 1851, and the first train robbery happened in 1866. After
the Civil War there was the growth of the cattle kingdom in Texas and
neighboring states. Cattle rustling and horse theft turned into significant
operations. Range wars bred a great amount of violence. Cattlemen fought over
land and water rights, and they fought with great bitterness against sheep
farmers. In Texas, range wars were fought over the use of barbed wire to fence
grazing land. By the end of the 19th century, the frontier era
was past. Major crime shifted to the cities. Ethnic gangs had existed in the
slums for decades, preying mostly on their fellow immigrants. With the arrival
of Prohibition in the 1920s, an impetus was given to the formation of organized
crime as it exists today. At the beginning of the passage the author indicates that
A. Robin Hood was as creel as a bandit.
B. the story of Robin Hood has never been documented.
C. the criminals in America’s Old West were extremely cruel.
D. the Western countries used to be infested with bandits.