Dirty Dave Rudabaugh
Dirty Dave got his start in a gang partnered up with Mysterious Dave holding up stages and rustling cattle. The gang broke up with the law on their trails. Dirty Dave moved his enterprise to Doge City in 1876 where he eventually attracted the law enforcement attention of Wyatt Earp. Dave headed to Texas with Wyatt, now a temporary Deputy U. S. Marshal on his trail. Wyatt trailed Rudabaugh four hundred miles to Griffin Texas, where Doc Holliday informed Wyatt the outlaw had doubled back to Dodge City. It was the beginning of a life-long friendship between Wyatt and the diseased dentist.
In January 1878 Dirty Dave and fellow gang members attempted to rob a train near Dodge. The attempt failed. Newly elected Ford County Sheriff, Bat Masterson, rode out with a posse, eventually capturing Rudabaugh and his gang seeking shelter from a snow storm. Once in jail, Dave turned state’s evidence on his accomplices in return for immunity. He walked on the charges against him.
The following year Dave headed for New Mexico where he reunited in a criminal enterprise known as the Dodge City Gang with Mysterious Dave Mather. When fellow gang member Josh Webb was arrested, Dirty Dave and another member attempted to spring him. The jailbreak attempt failed but Dirty Dave was implicated in killing the jailer.
Dave headed south to Fort Sumner where he signed on to the outlaw exploits of Billy the Kid. He was with the Kid and his gang at Jim Greathouse’s ranch when it was surrounded by White Oaks Deputy Sheriff Jim Carlyle’s posse. Carlyle was given up for Greathouse in a hostage exchange and later killed by his own posse. He may have been killed by the Kid or Dirty Dave. Either way the siege ended.
When Pat Garrett and his posse caught up with the Kid and his gang at Sinking Springs in December 1880, Dave was arrested, charged with the murder of the Las Vegas jailer and sentenced to hang in May 1881. Dave dodged the hangman’s noose when he and Josh Webb broke jail. This time he headed for Arizona where he is believed to have thrown in with the Clanton Cowboy faction in their feud with the Earp brothers. He is suspected of having participated in the assassination attempt on Virgil Earp and the killing of Morgan. He escaped vendetta ride retribution crossing the border into Mexico.
Mystery surrounds Dirty Dave’s death. In one account he was gunned down following a shootout over a card game gone bad. His body was then decapitated and the head paraded around town. By another account he escaped to Montana, took up ranching and dies an alcoholic in Oregon in 1928. There are pictures of a head on a post that looks a good bit like Dirty Dave. You decide.
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Ride easy,
Paul
In January 1878 Dirty Dave and fellow gang members attempted to rob a train near Dodge. The attempt failed. Newly elected Ford County Sheriff, Bat Masterson, rode out with a posse, eventually capturing Rudabaugh and his gang seeking shelter from a snow storm. Once in jail, Dave turned state’s evidence on his accomplices in return for immunity. He walked on the charges against him.
The following year Dave headed for New Mexico where he reunited in a criminal enterprise known as the Dodge City Gang with Mysterious Dave Mather. When fellow gang member Josh Webb was arrested, Dirty Dave and another member attempted to spring him. The jailbreak attempt failed but Dirty Dave was implicated in killing the jailer.
Dave headed south to Fort Sumner where he signed on to the outlaw exploits of Billy the Kid. He was with the Kid and his gang at Jim Greathouse’s ranch when it was surrounded by White Oaks Deputy Sheriff Jim Carlyle’s posse. Carlyle was given up for Greathouse in a hostage exchange and later killed by his own posse. He may have been killed by the Kid or Dirty Dave. Either way the siege ended.
When Pat Garrett and his posse caught up with the Kid and his gang at Sinking Springs in December 1880, Dave was arrested, charged with the murder of the Las Vegas jailer and sentenced to hang in May 1881. Dave dodged the hangman’s noose when he and Josh Webb broke jail. This time he headed for Arizona where he is believed to have thrown in with the Clanton Cowboy faction in their feud with the Earp brothers. He is suspected of having participated in the assassination attempt on Virgil Earp and the killing of Morgan. He escaped vendetta ride retribution crossing the border into Mexico.
Mystery surrounds Dirty Dave’s death. In one account he was gunned down following a shootout over a card game gone bad. His body was then decapitated and the head paraded around town. By another account he escaped to Montana, took up ranching and dies an alcoholic in Oregon in 1928. There are pictures of a head on a post that looks a good bit like Dirty Dave. You decide.
Next Week: No Show Showdown
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
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Mark
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May 16, 2018 05:16PM
Finally, proof that Dirty Dave did not die in Mexico, and in fact married and fathered three daughters as claimed by die-hards. It will be revealed in my July 2018 release HISTORICAL HEADSTONES
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