Walter Noble Burns (1866–1932) was a writer of Western history and a Western fiction author. He was notable for his book, ''The Saga of Billy the Kid'' (1926).

Family

Born on October 24, 1866 in

Lebanon, Kentucky Lebanon is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Marion County, Kentucky, Marion County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,539 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Lebanon is located in ...

, he was the son of Thomas E. Burns (1837–1908), a colonel in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Walter's mother, Mary Crisella Noble (1847–1871) had died when he was four years old. Then, he and his father, Thomas E. Burns had resided with his mother's parents: Lorenzo H. Noble (1819-1899) and Alice Ann Noble (1823-1899) during the 1870 & 1880 Federal Census in Marion Co., Kentucky. Noble was an attorney from Maine, who had migrated to Kentucky, and became a prominent attorney & judge. Walter married Rose Marie Hoke on 10 November 1902.

Career

Walter Noble Burns served with the 1st Kentucky Infantry during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

in 1898. In 1900, he moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and began a career as a journalist, literary critic and crime reporter. After World War I, Burns retired as a reporter, then concentrated his writing about Western American legends.

Publications

*
Year With a Whaler
', 1913 *
The Saga of Billy the Kid
' 1926 * ''Tombstone: an Iliad of the Southwest'' 1927 * ''The One-way Ride: The red trail of Chicago gangland from prohibition to

Jake Lingle Alfred "Jake" Lingle (July 2, 1891 – June 9, 1930) was an American reporter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was shot dead gangland-style in the underpass leading to the Illinois Central Randolph Street station on the afternoon on June 9, 1930, ...

'' 1931 * ''The Robin Hood of El Dorado: The Saga of

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...

, Famous Outlaw of California's Age of Gold'' 1932

Biography

Mark J. Dworkin Mark J. Dworkin (January 21, 1946 – August 31, 2012) was a Canadian writer of American Western history and an author, notable for his publication, ''American Mythmaker: Walter Noble Burns and the Legends of Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Joaqu� ...

(1946–2012) compiled a biography about Walter Noble Burns, entitled ''American Mythmaker: Walter Noble Burns and the Legends of Billy the Kid,

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...

, and Joaquín Murrieta''. Dworkin died in 2012, prior to the completion of this book, which was published in 2015 by the University of Oklahoma Press.

References

External links

*
Walter Noble Burns Papers, Special Collections, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Walter Noble Burns Papers, 1908-1964 at Arizona Archives Online
*

* ttp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1590632.The_Saga_of_Billy_the_Kid Goodreads, The Saga of Billy the Kid
American Mythmaker: Walter Noble Burns and the Legends of Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Joaquín Murrieta: By Mark J. Dworkin, University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.

Preston Lewis Author: Words of the West - Billy the Who?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Walter N. 1866 births 1932 deaths 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers People from Lebanon, Kentucky Western (genre) writers