Black Bart, Buffalo Robes and Outlaw Hideouts

Ask The Marshall

- MARSHALL TRIMBLE

Marshall Trimble is Arizona's official historian and vice president of the Wild West History Association. His latest book is Arizona Oddities: Land of Anomalies and Tamales, History Press, 2018. If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at [e-mail]. Please always include your name, city and state.

What were buffalo hides used for?

Pat McManus Cave Junction, Oregon

Often, they were used for coats or blankets-both by Indians and Whites. In the early 1870s, a cheap commercial process for tanning bison hides was developed in England and Germany. Hides from which the hair had been removed (called flint hides) were superb for making the soles of boots and industrial belts.

Does anyone know what happened to the gun Billy the Kid carried when he died?

Neil Winget Lima, Ohio

Pat Garrett picked up BTK's selfcocker, .41-caliber Colt Model 1877. Unfortunately, no one bothered to record the serial number. If they had, that gun would be the BTK gun, but no one knows where it is now.