EDWARD Z.C. "NED BUNTLINE" JUDSON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 04/05/1881 - HFSID 300029

NED BUNTLINE
Signing with his legal name of E. Z. C. Judson, he hires a lawyer for a defense against a "black mailing woman".
Autograph Letter signed "E. Z. C. Judson", 2 pages (front and verso), 5¾x9. Eagles Nest, Stamford, N.Y., 1881 April 5. On his personal letterhead - "Headquarters Ned Buntline" - to Hon. F. R. Gilbert, in full: "As I have before stated, I desire to retain you in all law cases of mine & if an advance fee is required a check is ready for you at once. I hold a receipt in full for a settlement of the black mail claim that woman makes & will push her to the extremity if she continues to annoy me with her merecenary & fictitious claims. Yours respectively". American writer and adventurer Edgar Zane Carroll Judson (1823-1886), who wrote under the pen name NED BUNTLINE, is credited with helping to create the "dime novel" genre of fiction. In 1845, he had founded "Ned Buntline's Own", a magazine as sensational as his own life, which included being lynched for murder (1846; he was secretly cut down and released), leading a mob in the Astor Place riot (1849) against English actor Macready and helping to organize the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party. Beginning in 1846, Judson began writing the first of his more than 400 action novels, which include The Mysteries and Miseries of New York (1848), Stella Delorme; or, The Comanche's Dream (1860), The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main; or, The Fiend of Blood and Buffalo Bill. In 1872, he persuaded William F. Cody, whom he had first dubbed "Buffalo Bill", to act in his play, The Scouts of the Plains. Scorned by the critics but loved by the public, the played launched Cody's entertainment career. Legend has it that Buntline ordered a special 45-caliber revolver, a Buntline Special, from Colt, and made gifts of this custom-made weapon to several lawmen in 1876. Wyatt Earp is said to have used this weapon during the Gunfight at the OK Corral (1881). Skeptical modern historians argue that there was no such weapon, but Earp is equipped with one in all modern Westerns featuring him. This letter is from the collection of Edward Robert Goodman (1868-1949), the son of "Buffalo Bill" Cody's older sister Julia Cody Goodman. Goodman worked on Cody's Wild West Show for two years (1886-1888), leaving with a glowing letter of recommendation. Maintaining a lifelong friendship with Buffalo Bill and other members of the Show, including Annie Oakley, Goodman became a major collector of Western memorabilia. Goodman's meticulously preserved and documented collection remained in his family, and is only now being offered for sale. Lightly creased. Lightly worn. Light nicks and tears at edges. Otherwise, fine condition.