From "The Angry Retribution of Hawthorne: being a True Account of the West's Most Enigmatic Pistoleer", by Charles Forrest Grainger, Missouri Press, 1912

  It is not uncommon for legends and tall tales to spring up around the personages of gunmen in the second half of America’s 19^th century. But the stories told about the mysterious Hawthorne have been of a decidedly fantastical bent. Chapbooks and boy’s adventure periodicals have portrayed Hawthorne as an almost supernatural force, driven to battle such absurd mythological figures as were-creatures, vampires and demons. All patently ridiculous, but in recent years these childish notions have taken hold of the imaginations of an otherwise reasonable public, and many readers believe the fanciful legends to be true…

...the object of this volume is edification. Your humble author seeks only to illuminate the true facts regarding Mr. Hawthorne, as scanty as they may be, and reveal him to be that which he can only be, that is to say, a mere man...