Josiah Gregg & The Story of the ‘Magic’ Rifle

Text comparison between the real-life accounts of Josiah Gregg, who travelled the ‘Wild West’ as a trader, and some of Karl May’s fiction novels. Gregg’s accounts of his journeys had been translated into German and were among Karl May’s source and resource works. This research identifies a number of passages that originated in Josiah Gregg’s book. Gregg also had with him one of Colt’s revolving rifles, and in his accounts he described how he used it to prevent attacks — much like Old Shatterhand / Kara Ben Nemsi later uses the fictional ‘Henry Rifle’ to forestall hostilities. Included is also a modern take on how Karl May’s descriptions of the ‘Magic’ Rifle, (‘Zaubergewehr’) could look.