Cañon City record., 1898-05-19
A GUN WITH A HISTORY,
It Belonged to a Desperate Win
Held Up Trains.
sixteen Notches In the Grip show the
Outlaws Deadly WOrk1rhe
Property of wichita
Citizen.

Some time ago an Oklahoma man who
has had wide frontier experience and
is well acquainted with the records OF
western bad man promised Hal S. Ray,
of Wichita, Kan, gun with history.
The gun has 16 notches carved on the
handle and every western man knows
that each of these notches represents
the victim of a shot from the gun. With
il his friend sent Mr.. Ray an interesting
outline OF its history and of the des-
perado who once carried it. The let
ter reads in part:
The gun send you is a As, which, by
some, is considered the best cailber,
owing to the accuracy with which they
shoot. This particular gun was car
ried by George Newcomi, alias Bitter
Creek alias Slaughter Kid He was
given this last alias on account of the
many men he shot while yet kid.
Il used to work with this fellow on
Ihe range along in 10 or 80. He was
in those days what was called horse
rustler' for the COW outfit. After he
drifted into Oklahoma he made the run
during the opening, settled on a claim
in portion Of Oklahoma known as the
notorious cowboy flats. say notorious
for the reason that of the seven COW
punchers who settled in the flats all of
them turned out to be train robbers
and all were eventually killed.
THE first affair of note in which this
gun figured in the hands of Bitter
Creek was at Cimsrfon, on the line of
the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe rail-
road, where he, with Bill Dalton, 'Tul-
"a Jack Dynamite Dick Bob and En-
met Dalton. held up passenger. They
shot the conductor and some two or
three Of the passengers, but procured
hut little money.
"The next affair was the Coffeyville
bank robbery. where he was working
under the direction of Bob Dalton. All
the robbers in this case were killed
with the exception of Bitter Creek
he being the only man out of seven who
escaped after having killed the city
marshal, barber and one other.
after being SCI adrift by having his
companions killed he disappeared for
awhile. afterward joining a gang led by
Bill Dalton. This gang robbed the
Santa Fe train at Wharton. the Mis-
souri,, Kansas a. Texas at Prior Creek
and the bank at Southwest City. No.;
the bank at Mound Valley. Kan. and
the Longview bank in Texas etc. After
one or two other robberies they re-
turned to Oklahoma. finally drifting to
ingalls,. in the eastern portion OF tha.
territory. al which place they had \
fight with six United States deputy
marshals- In this fight there were nine
people killed and wounded. including
the deputy marshals, who were all
killed. Bitter Creek was very badly
wounded. but managed TO get away.
This fight took place on the LIST day OF
September. 1903.
-In April Of the following year the
Dalton gang Seing practically broken
up Bitter Creek Joined a new outfit.
which was headed by Bill Doolln. and
er the evening Of April 4. 1894. they
robbed the Rock Island train AT Dover.
q. T.. snd had fghi the following even
inT- In whicb 'Triza Jack was killed.
.ni'irr crrelg' nva'a escaping. with his
e,pthirg sh7r full OF holes.
ION Nav 8. 1894. Bitter Creek. hav-
ing separated from the rest of the gang,
ran on 10 SONG of the deputies on the
rrsirrr iipc Of the territory and In the
f-hi which icnk rlace was killed. The
iiirone ard exas=ss eenapanies and the
governrscr; raid an aggregate reward
~ $1,000 on this noted outlaw
~Nnu vii note that there are several
r1urh places or noiches on the handle
u ibis sa which I seri you. II Is
isrrEume4 th1t bitter Greek intended
to eunncrsic the people he had killed
hi makir- notch for everyone. ms ii
j. known that he had personally killed
gtiic number Of men during the fights
N which he was engaged. Chicago
a-h-nr.Il.in