Ned Buntline

Edward Zane Carroll Judson, Sr. (March 20, 1821/1823 – July 16, 1886), known as E. Z. C. Judson and by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, writer, and publicist. In his largely fictionalized biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, author Stuart Lake credits Buntline with having commissioned from Colt's Manufacturing Company a Colt Buntline Special that he gave to Wyatt Earp and four other famous Western lawmen in thanks for their help with contributing "local color" to his many dozens of western yarns. But modern researchers have not found any supporting evidence of the gun's existence prior to the publication of Lake's book from secondary sources or in available primary documentation.