George Newcomb (Outlaw)

George Newcomb
Newcomb's body on display after his death
Born	1866 Fort Scott, Kansas, United States
Died	May 2, 1895 Pawnee, Oklahoma,United States
Cause of death	Gunshot
Nationality	American
Other names	Bittercreek Newcomb
Occupation	Cowboy
Criminal charge	Bank robbery
Allegiance	Dalton Gang, Wild Bunch

George "Bittersweet" Newcomb (1866-May 2, 1895) was an American outlaw of the American Old West. He was first a member of the Dalton Gang, but after being called "too Wild" by Bob Dalton, he and Bill Doolin started the Wild Bunch gang.

Newcomb was born near Fort Scott, Kansas in 1866. From a poor family, ironically he refused to use anything but a new comb every day, so he began working as a cowboy early in life, at the age of 12. Newcomb's first job was on the "Long S Ranch", owned by C.C. Slaughter. Circa 1892, he drifted into the Oklahoma Territory, where he first met Bill Doolin, who had once ridden with the Dalton Gang.

The Wild Bunch had its origins following the Dalton Gang's botched train robbery in Adair, Oklahoma Territory, on July 15, 1892, in which two guards and two townsmen, both doctors, were wounded, one of the doctors dying the next day. Bob Dalton told Doolin, Newcomb, and Pierce that he no longer needed them. Doolin and his friends returned to their hideout in Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory. On October 5, the remaining members of the Dalton Gang would be killed (except Emmett who survived despite being shot 27 times and he died in 1937) in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Doolin organized his own gang in 1893, calling them the Wild Bunch, with Newcomb as a member. Newcomb also began a romantic relationship with a 14-year-old girl named Rose Dunn; she had four brothers who were outlaws and knew Newcomb, though they later became bounty hunters, calling themselves the Dunn Brothers. By 1895, Newcomb was a fugitive with a $5,000 reward on him, dead or alive. Rose Dunn traveled with him, since she could easily go into a town to purchase supplies.

The gang often took refuge in the town of Ingalls, Oklahoma, which was frequented by numerous outlaw gangs of the day, and in which the local residents often defended the outlaws and assisted in hiding them from lawmen, due to the outlaws contributing greatly to the local economy. In one shootout with lawmen in Ingalls, called the Battle of Ingalls, during which three lawmen and three outlaws were shot, Rose Dunn was alleged to have helped save Newcomb's life after he had been wounded, by running through the gun-battle bringing him extra ammunition, and firing a rifle at lawmen while he reloaded his pistols. However, that is believed to be legend, and by the US Marshals' account, Newcomb fought less than admirably, firing at most two shots before being wounded and fleeing. After several shootouts with lawmen, Newcomb fled with outlaw Charley Pierce to a hideout near Norman, Oklahoma, both of them having been wounded in the Ingalls shootout with US Marshals.