Western Outlaws in Death
A group of 11 silver gelatin photographs of deceased outlaws Elmer McCurdy, Isaac Black, and Charlie Pitts, with credit for the N.H. Rose Collection.

11 vintage silver gelatin copy prints made from 19th century photographs, approx. 8 x 5 in. Each print with caption on recto and N.H. Rose's San Antonio, TX, ink stamp on verso, noting that it was made from the "Famous Rose Collection of Old Time Photographs."

Subjects include: Charley Pitts (1844-1876) was killed - shot five times - in the James Brother's botched bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota.

Elmer McCurdy (1880-1911) was killed in a shoot-out with police after an October 4th train robbery near Okesa, Oklahoma. Dubbed "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up", McCurday gained further notoriety when his mummified body became a traveling sideshow attraction. The split image offered here shows him shortly after his death and later at the Pawhuska, Oklahoma funeral home where is unclaimed body was embalmed by Joseph H. Johnson, and put on display. After years of abuse as a side-show attraction, McCurdy was finally laid to rest in Guthrie, Oklahoma in 1977.

Isaac "Ike" Black (1866-1895) was an outlaw in Kansas and Oklahoma whose career was cut short after a series of robberies in Fairview, and Oxley, Oklahoma. He was buried in an unmarked grave near Alvah, until 2019 when the Cherokee Strip Museum, along a generous donation from a local monument company finally marked his final resting place.

Additional subjects include: Dalton gang members taken in the aftermath of their disastrous 5 October 1892 raid on two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas. Of the five who rode into town four were shot dead by townsmen and are pictured in ghastly repose. -- 3 prints providing post-mortem views of members of the Doolin gang, including Bill Doolin, Jack Blake (alias Tulsa Jack), and Oliver Yantis (alias Crescent Sam). -- William Clements, one of the Clements boys of Texas. -- Harry Tracy, as he appeared in Oregon Penitentiary in 1899. -- Mug shot of William Walters (alias Broncho Bill), 1899. -- Indiana horse-thieves John and Marvin Kuhns.

Over the course of his lifetime, Noah H. Rose (1874-1952) of San Antonio, Texas assembled a collection of photographs of more than 2000 western and other outlaws. After an accident in 1921 which left him with large debts, he began issuing a catalog in which he offered prints from his famous collection.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.

Western Outlaws in DeathA group of 11 silver gelatin photographs of deceased outlaws Elmer McCurdy, Isaac Black, and Charlie Pitts, with credit for the N.H. Rose Collection.

Western Outlaws in DeathA group of 11 silver gelatin photographs of deceased outlaws Elmer McCurdy, Isaac Black, and Charlie Pitts, with credit for the N.H. Rose Collection.

Western Outlaws in Death
A group of 11 silver gelatin photographs of deceased outlaws Elmer McCurdy, Isaac Black, and Charlie Pitts, with credit for the N.H. Rose Collection.

Western Outlaws in Death
A group of 11 silver gelatin photographs of deceased outlaws Elmer McCurdy, Isaac Black, and Charlie Pitts, with credit for the N.H. Rose Collection.