Life History Of Roy Gardner. The Smiling Bandit. A Strangely Interesting And True Story

LOUIS S. SONNEY

Publication: Charles Williams & Son, 1924, Los Angeles

First edition. 7 3/4" x 5 1/4" original pictorial wrappers, 64 pp., introduction, illustrated from photographs, portraits. Roy Gardner was born in Trenton, Missouri in 1886, and lived in Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek, Colorado while in his teens. In 1908 he was working in the mines in Bisbee, Arizona where he was injured in an accident. Gardner tried smuggling arms across the border into Mexico, then he tried life as a boxer, and finally began a career as a robber. The author, a lawman who captured Gardner, states that "he was one of the greatest mail robbers and bandits of his time, and yet never guilty of firing a single shot at a man, or hurting a single person in the least." Six Guns 2063 lists a printing with no date or place and with only 32 pages. There is no mention of this printing. Faint evidence of a vertical fold with minor to light wear, else a very good copy. A rare item!

Inventory Number: 46563Sold -- Contact us