Almost everything written about David "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh is wrong.
For more than a century, historians and popular writers have repeated stories about one of the Old West's most famous outlaws - stories that are unsupported by contemporary evidence and, in many cases, completely false.
This book separates legend from documented history.
Was Rudabaugh really the brutal killer, cattle-rustling gang leader, and vicious bully described in countless books? Did he teach Doc Holliday to use a gun? Was he a close companion of Wyatt Earp? Did he murder a jailer in cold blood? Where did the nickname "Dirty Dave" originate? Even something as basic as the spelling of his surname has been misunderstood.
Drawing upon contemporary newspapers, court records, census records, military records, unpublished trial transcripts, and numerous other never-before-found primary sources, this book reconstructs the remarkable life of Dave Rudabaugh as it actually happened - not as later legend imagined it.
Readers will discover:
- The documented origin of the many myths surrounding Rudabaugh.
- Why the nickname "Dirty Dave" was never used by his contemporaries.
- The surprising truth about his family, early life, and criminal career.
- His first meeting with Billy the Kid and their eight-month association during the closing months of the Lincoln County War.
- The true story behind the killing of jailer Antonio Lino Valdez, based on the never-before-published trial transcript proving Rudabaugh was not the shooter.
- His arrest with Billy the Kid at Stinking Springs by Pat Garrett's posse.
- His conviction, death sentence, daring jailbreak, flight to Mexico, and violent death in Parral.
- The remarkable history of Albert W. Lohn's forgotten photographs of Rudabaugh's decapitated head-images that remained hidden for fifty-seven years.
Far from the caricature created by later writers, David Rudabaugh emerges as a complex historical figure whose life intersected with many of the defining events of the American frontier. During his extraordinary career, he was both outlaw and lawman, survived failed train robberies and successful stage holdups, escaped from jail while under sentence of death, and rode alongside Billy the Kid during the final months of the Kid's life.
Illustrated with 45 photographs and historical images, many published here for the first time, this book presents the most thoroughly researched and historically accurate biography ever written of David Rudabaugh. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, the Lincoln County War, frontier crime, and the real history of the American West.
Author, historian, filmmaker, producer, actor, screenwriter and travel writer. Associate Producer of the 2019 documentary film "The Wonder of the Century," based on the author's book on Giovanni Maria de Agostini, an Eighteenth Century world traveler. Co-founder of the Pat Garrett Western Heritage Festival and the Friends of Pat Garrett.
2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Excellence in Western Media, Western Maverick, Finalist.
2021 Pasajero Del Camino Real Award Winner
2020 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Excellence in Western Media, Western Biography, Third Place
2020 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite Winner, Historical Biography.
2020 Pasajero Del Camino Real Award Winner
2019 National Indie Excellence Finalist, Historical Biography
2019 Best Book Awards Finalist, United States History.
2019 Best Indie Book Notable 100 Award Winner.
2019 Royal Dragonfly Book Award Winner, Second Place, Historical Non-Fiction
