Rose Dunn, known as “The Rose of Cimarron”, was a famous outlaw who learned to rope, ride, and shoot thanks to her two older brothers. They also inadvertently introduced their formally educated sister into a life of crime.
As the years went by, Rose’s older brothers turned to bounty hunting. Meanwhile, Rose became romantically involved with and a loyal accomplice of George Newcomb’s Wild Bunch gang when she was just 14 or 15 years of age, and regularly ran errands for the group.
In September of 1893, the gang was cornered by a posse of U.S. Marshals. It is said that after Newcomb was shot in the street, Rose ran to the rescue with ammunition and a Winchester rifle in hand. Thanks to her cover fire, both Rose and Newcomb managed to escape.
The bloody battle wounded three members of the gang and killed three deputy marshals. As a result, Rose remained in a hideout with Newcomb for two months, who also had a $5,000 bounty on his head, dead or alive. On May 2, 1895, the Dunn Brothers shot and killed both Newcomb and an accomplice as they dismounted in front of the Dunn house to visit Rose. Her brothers collected the bounty, believed to have been $5,000 each.
After the killing of Newcomb, Dunn was often accused of having set him up, revealing to her brothers where the outlaws were hiding. She 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.
Dunn was never prosecuted for her involvement with the gang. Her short outlaw life launched her to the level of Western legend.
Women of the Wild West: 10 Famous Cowgirls, Outlaws, and Gunslingers
by Maxine Carter-Lome
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