Book excerpt: As a seventh-generation Wacoan, Bradley T. Turner wrote and collected historical essays of early Waco, Texas. The authors uncovered a history so colorful, it's only fitting to put the stories together in one volume. The book's title points the way to Waco's past, full of tragic and sometimes violent tales. All served to make Waco in McLennan County, Texas, what it is today. Take a ride with an early circuit rider or find out about the duel fought over Baylor University or how the world's oldest profession thrived in early Waco. This isn't a book for just those in Waco. It's for those who ever passed through its corridors or those who love to read of the Texas spirit that honed this land to the thriving area it is today.