"One of the few remaining colorful characters of the Old West...Fred E. Sutton, ... former U.S. Marshal...was a cowboy in Dodge City when the town was the center of the wild west...was acquainted with most of the good and bad men of that period...had a unique collection of guns once carried by these characters...was an authority on the old west and was the author of 'Hands Up,'...used for historical data in the filming of the picture 'Cimmaron.'" -St. Louis Star, Oct. 5, 1937.
"Fred E. Sutton, a deputy marshal who once roamed Oklahoma...gained fame by collecting guns of infamous outlaws and famous lawmen. His collection was donated to the Museum of the Great Plains in Lawton, Okla....Among the guns in his collection are those of the Dalton gang, Jesse James, Heck Thomas, Bat Masterson, Pat Garret." -Greeley Daily Tribune, May 28, 1976
"Fred E. Sutton, gun fighter, former U.S. marshal...a man who lived in the days when the Colt automatic was the law in the wild regions...the stories that appear in 'Hands Up!' are true." -Indianapolis Star, Oct. 2, 1927
In 1927, former Dodge City cowboy and U.S. marshal, Fred Ellsworth Sutton (1860-1937) would publish "Hands Up!" a book of true stories of the old west characters that he knew personally such as Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson, Jesse James, the Dalton boys and the Jennings gang. He includes details of how he collected the various guns used by these old west characters for his collection. It is this book that has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.
Fred Sutton (1860-Oct. 3, 1937), known as the "Crooked S Kid" had among acquaintances and friends were such men as Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid, the Dalton gang, the James boys, Wild Bill Hickock, Bill Tilghman, Henry Starr, Belle Star, Judge Parker, and the Rose of the Cimarron. He spent his early days as a cowboy on the Crooked S Ranch near Dodge City, having moved to Kansas at age 4.
Later he moved to Oklahoma at a time when it was overrun by bandits who depended on their guns for their livelihood. Sutton became a deputy U.S. marshal under Tilghman. His wild west experiences with outlaws were described in his book "Hands Up!"
