28. The myth of the Buntline Special came from a writer of pulp fiction
The Buntline gained its alleged existence, and its name, from Ned Buntline, whose real name was Edward Zane Carroll Judson Jr. Using the name Buntline, he supposedly commissioned the famed pistol from Colt (which has no records of such an event) and traveled west to present them to several worthies, including Bill Cody, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp. He said he wanted to thank the westerners for the treasure trove of material they had provided for his stories, all of which were fiction. None of the dates and locations on which Buntline claimed to have presented the weapon line up with known facts, for instance at the time Buntline claimed to have delivered the weapon to Earp in Dodge City, Wyatt was in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
