The story of Oregon's legendary saga, it's first extensively reported homicide.  The story of Nimrod O'Kelly, a loner and former blacksmith  who at the age of 65 made the arduous trek over the Oregon Trail in 1845 to the lush Willamette Valley and became one of the first to stake a claim.  A story that provides an intimate and fascinating look at law on the frontier - a place without jails, courtrooms, or coroners, where judges arrived on horseback and trials were held under shady trees.

A shooting, a missing wife and an astonishing conclusion.

Ronald B. Lansing is a Professor of Law at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. Lansing is also the highly acclaimed author of Juggernaut: The Whitman Massacre Trial of 1850, which was released in 1993.