About This Quiz
Historical and notorious outlaws have a sense of romanticism and mystique that criminals today lack. Many of these outlaws such as Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid are considered American heroes with movies, television shows, and books devoted to their lives. While many of these notorious criminals hail from the Wild West era of American history, the word outlaw actually dates back to Rome and was used throughout the Middle Ages. Consequently, a few of these iconic outlaws were criminals in Europe during the late 1700s to early 1900s.
 In America, during the period immediately after the Civil War, cowboys, gunslingers and outlaws roamed the Wild West, robbing, stealing, and getting into deadly fights with civilians, police and opposing gangs. In fact, many of the outlaws on this quiz knew each other and at one time or another worked together. Perhaps the strangest thing about this period is the fact that many of these outlaws were once lawmen or became lawmen when they tired of the criminal lifestyle.Â
Many of outlaws on this quiz have been immortalized as American folk heroes. Because of our fascination with outlaws, most of the outlaws on this quiz should be recognizable. However, many people are unable to identify these 40 gunslinging outlaws by looking at a single image. Can you? Prove it by taking this quiz!Â
Billy the Kid is one of the most famous western outlaws and gunslingers! Billy killed eight men (that we know of). Despite the fact that he was a murderer, Billy the Kid was often described as personable and was known for wearing a sombrero.
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Doc Holiday earned his DDS degree before becoming a gunslinger. At just 15, he moved to the Southwest and began engaging in gambling and gun fighting. Doc Holliday is a good friend of another outlaw on this list, Wyatt Earp.
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John Wesley Hardin became a criminal at a young age. At 25 years, he was sent to prison for murder. Hardin claimed to have killed 42 men but the newspapers of the time say the number was closer to 27.
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Otherwise known as Black Jack, Thomas Edward Ketchum was cowboy turned criminal. Ketchum was a train a robber and murderer who in 1901 was captured and executed.
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Unlike many of the other outlaws on this list, Vincenzo Peruggia was not a gunslinging robber; he was an Italian thief. Perruggia stole many works of art, but the most famous one of all was the Mona Lisa!
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Like many on this list, Clyde Barrow was a murder and thief. Most significantly, he was 1/2 of the most notorious husband and wife duo of all time, Bonnie & Clyde.
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Cherokee Bill, birthname Crawford Goldsby, was the son of a Mexican, white, and Sioux buffalo soldier and a one-fourth Cherokee woman. Goldsby took on his nickname rather young and went off to join the Cook Gang of outlaws, terrorizing the Cherokee and Creek Nations.
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Train robber, bank robber and leader of the "Wild Bunch," Butch Cassidy is one of the most famous American outlaws. Hollywood has produced countless films and television shows about him.
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Issac "Ike" BlackTom Horn was present at the infamous O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, where his brother Billy was supposedly killed in the clash against the opposing group of lawmen that included lawmen, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Issac "Ike" BlackTom Horn pressed charges for the death of his brother but lost.
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Many of these outlaws on this list were often, at times, lawmen themselves. Henry Newton Brown was one of this lawmen turned outlaw. Brown flip-flopped between outlaw and lawmen throughout his life but spent his last few years as an upstanding gentlemen of a town called Caldwell, Kansas, where he helped to clean up the town of criminals.
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One of the first crimes. Big Nose George committed occurred in 1878 when he and his gang murdered two law officers during a train robbery. One of the most table things about this outlaw was what happened to him after his death. Shortly after his lynching, his skin was used to make a pair of shoes, and part of his skull became an ashtray.
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Felipe Espinosa may have been responsible for the murder of over 32 people in just one summer alone. Espinosa isn't just considered an outlaw, but also one of America's first serial killers.
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James Copeland was the co-leader of the gang, Wages and Copeland Clan. Copeland's gang had 60 members that terrorized southern Mississippi and Alabama.
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William "Curly Bill" Brocius spent most of his criminal life in Arizona and is sometimes known as "Arizona's most famous outlaw." U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp killed Curly Bill on March 24, 1882.
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Roy Daugherty's cowboy name is Arkansas Tom Jones. Roy was a member of the Wild Bunch gang, where he participated in a number of robberies and shootouts.
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Sam Bass was a notorious train robber. Bass found success working with a gang, but left to start his own. Bass was shot and killed by the Texas Rangers during a bank robbery on July 19, 1878.
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Perhaps her name on her own isn't instantly recognizable, but Bonnie is 1/2 of the infamous duo Bonnie & Clyde. Bonnie, her husband, and their gang were bank robbers and later, murderers as well.
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James Averell may be one of the only men on this list whose criminal activity is often disputed. Averell was charged as cattle robber by his neighbor, Albert J. Bothwell, but the true criminal was Bothwell, not Averell. Bothwell lynched Averell and his girlfriend, but Averell was later acquitted of any crime.
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Antonio Correa Cotto was a notorious outlaw in Puerto Rico. Born in 1926, Antonio began his life as criminal as a mere child. Cotto was sentenced to two life sentences for murder but instigated a prison riot and broke out. The police eventually found him, and he was subsequently shot and killed.
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Thomas Coleman Younger got his start as a Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War. He later became an outlaw when he joined the James-Younger Gang.
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Just like Thomas Cole Younger, Belle Starr was a member of the James-Younger gang. Among her crimes were house theft and harboring criminals. Belle was shot to death in 1889, but no one knows for certain who did it or why.
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Zip Wyatt went by a couple of names including Dick Yeager and Wild Charlie. His first known crime included shooting up the town of Mulhall. He later formed a gang with Ike Black. Together they tormented all of Oklahoma, robbing and murdering as they roamed.
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James Miller was a murderer who regularly attended the Methodist church. He did not drink or smoke, but he may hold the title of most kills during a single gunfight in the Wild West.
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Fred Waite was a member of the infamous Billy the Kid Gang. Oddly enough, in 1880, Waite left the gang and became involved in politics. He was even appointed Attorney General of the Chickasaw Nation.
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The Apache Kid was like many on this quiz, a 19th-century American outlaw. The Apache Kid was originally a scout for the U.S. government until he tracked down and killed the man who killed his father.
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The Sundance Kid is one of the most famous outlaws of the Wild Wild West. The Sundance Kid, whose real name was Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, was a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Tired of being pursued by the Pinkertons, he and his girlfriend fled America for Argentina and later, Bolivia.
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Clay Allison was a gunfighter, cattle rancher, and cattle broker. One famous story about Allison alleges that while intoxicated, he rode through the town of Mobeetie, Texas completing naked, except for his gun and holster.
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There weren't many female outlaws in the American Old West, but Pearl Hart one of them! Hart is known for committing the last recorded stagecoach robbery.
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Herny Berry Lowry and his Lowry Gang helped to hide those who were conscripted to fight for the Confederate army. Later, they began committing robberies but left their victims unharmed and returned goods when they no longer needed them. The Lowry Gang also shared their stolen wealth with the poor.
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Crawford Goldsby was more famously known as Cherokee Bull. Goldsby became an outlaw at 18 years old. Later, he joined up with the Cook Brokers and started the Cook Gang. The gang robbed banks, stagecoaches and stores. Goldsby is said to have killed eight men, including his brother-in-law.
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Dick Turpin is one is one of the first outlaws on this list. Turpin was an English highwayman and thief. On March 22, 1739, he was found guilty of horse theft and subsequently executed.
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Jesse James is one of the most famous Wild West outlaws. He was a bank robber, a train robber and leader of the James-Younger Gang. James has been portrayed in countless, books, film, and television show and remains a symbol of the Wild, Wild, West today.
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Claude Du Val was born in France in 1643. Despite coming from a noble family, he became a highwayman in England, robbing stagecoaches on the way to London. He is most well known for his gentleman-like behavior and for never using violence in crimes.
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Salvatore Giuliano is one of the only outlaws on this list who did not practice crime in America and was not an outlaw during the Old American West era. Salvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian bandit during WWII who attacked the police regularly. Giuliano was killed in 1950 and was considered an embarrassment to the Italian government.
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