Volume 17 , Issue 19

Walking With Sadie

NW Okie has been keeping me busy with my next assignment this week researching Oklahoma's pioneer days concerning "Rose of the Cimarron." Who was "Rose of the Cimarron?"

Wikipedia says Rose of the Cimarron may refer to Rose Dunn (born 5 September 1878, deceased 11 June 1955), an American outlaw of the Old West. But ... was she really an outlaw?

Rose of the Cimarron was best known for her good looks and her romantic involvement with outlaw George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb when she was a teenager during the closing years of the Old West.

We found where Rose Dunn may have been born in 1879 near Ingalls, Oklahoma to a poor family, but she received a formal education at a convent in Wichita, Kansas. Rose had two older brothers who became minor outlaws by the time she was 12 years of age. Rose learned to ride, rope and shoot from her brothers. It was through her brothers, Rose met and became involved romantically with George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb around 1893, when she was either 14 or 15 years of age.

Bitter creek's gang worshipped her due to her good looks and her calm and kind demeanor, and were fiercely defensive of her, spawning her loyalty to them.

Rose of Cimarron would venture into town for supplies for Bitter Creek Newcomb because he was a wanted man and could not. Newcomb by that time was riding with the Wild Bunch gang led by famous outlaw Bill Doolin. Rose's brothers left the outlaw life and became well known bounty hunters, calling themselves the Dunn Brothers.

It was on 1 September 1893, the gang was cornered in Ingalls by a posse of US Marshals, in what some referred to as the "Battle of Ingalls," resulting in an intense shootout. As the western legend reports it Newcomb was badly wounded, and while he lay int he street, Rose Dunn was alleged to have run from he Pierce Hotel to his location with two belts of ammunition a Winchester rifle. She fired the rifle at the Marshals while Newcomb reloaded his revolvers, and Newcomb was able to escape. But ... that account had never been verified, and was never mentioned by the US Marshal official report, which indicated that Newcomb at best fired two shots then fled.

Three deputy Marshals were killed during the shootout. Newcomb and Charley Pierce were wounded but escaped. Gang member "Arkansas Tom" Jones was slightly wounded and captured by deputy Marshal Jim Masterson. Rose Dunn hid out Newcomb and other members of the gang for a least two months nursing the remaining gang members back to health.

By 1895, Newcomb had a $5,00 bounty placed on him, dead or alive. Newcomb and Charley Pierce began hiding out near Norman, Oklahoma, both of them having been wounded in a gun battle with US Marshals. On 2 May 1895, the Dunn Brothers shot and killed both Newcomb and Pierce as they dismounted in front of the Dunn house to visit Rose. The brothers collected the bounty, believed to have been $5,000 each.

Rose Dunn was often accused of having set Newcomb up by revealing to her brothers where the outlaws were hiding. But ... Rose denied this, and her brothers later defended her, stating that she had no knowledge of their intentions, nor did she reveal the hideout to them. Rose Dunn was never prosecuted for her involvement with the gang. Rose Dunn's short outlaw life launched her to the level of western legend. Rose eventually married a locally known politician, Charles Albert Noble, and lived the remainder of her life as a respectable citizen. Rose Dunn died at the age of 76 in Salkum, Washington.

Good Night! Good Luck! Woof! Woof!
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