Harte, Bret

A Lonely Ride is a short story by Bret Harte. Here's the story.

"Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, to a family of little financial means. His father, Henry Hart, was the son of an immigrant, Bernard Hart, who moved to America and became rich."

"Surely the dominant figure of this emerging literary movement was young Francis Bret Harte. In the local color decade of 1865 to 1875, he would rise from local fame (and sometimes infamy) as a satirist, poet, editor, and short story writer to become the most celebrated figure of current American literature, before slipping away into a sad obscurity."

"Francis Bret Harte, born in Albany, came out to California as Secretary of the U.S. Branch Mint, and in 1866 published a volume entitled 'Outcroppings of California Verse,' which gave much offense, especially to those whose effusions were not included within its covers."