History
Hook Creech was one of the two men who posed as the costumed criminal known as the Mad Monk active during the days of the American Frontier, together with Frank Jepson.
Creech was an outlaw who earned his nickname because he lost his left hand and had it replaced with a hook. He worked with Killer Farnam and his outlaw gang where he first encountered heroic outlaw Kid Colt, although this encounter remains unrecorded. Eventually, Creech apparently reformed and moved to the town of Hatter's Gap.
Creech and Jepson began working together, inventing the Mad Monk identity that each took turns posing as in order to create alibis for each other and put question into the true identity of the Mad Monk. The pair then began robbing Wells Fargo gold shipments. During these string of robberies, they murdered the sheriff of Hatter's Gap, and Hook took over the position without an official election. In order to further distance themselves from the Mad Monk, Jepson pretended to have issue with Hook taking up the role of sheriff, while Hook became "pledged" to capturing the Monk. However, Jepson plotted to betray Hook and expose him as the Monk so that he could claim the entire fortune.
The opportunity presented itself during one of their fake arguments at the local saloon. There their argument was interrupted by an old drunk named Jake. Hook threatened to beat Jake's skull in and Jepson convinced Jake to leave. When Jake camped out for the night, Jepson confronted him and bashed his head in, killing the old drunk. Jepson then hide nearby and waited for someone to discover the body. As coincidence would have it, that person turned out to be Kid Colt who was riding through the area. Jepson tried to convince the Kid to come to town and act as witness against Hook Creech. Kid Colt wanted nothing to do with the situation and rode into town, with Jepson shooting at him, injuring the Kid's horse Steel. In town, Kid Colt was confronted by Hook Creech who asked for the Kid's help in capturing the Mad Monk. Kid Colt agreed, convinced that Hook had gone clean.
Jepson, then posing as the Monk robbed the local bank and fled the scene. While Hook began formulating a posse to capture the Monk, Kid Colt retired for the night. Later, Kid Colt deduced that Jepson must be the Mad Monk since he was the only one who was at the scene where Jake was killed. When Hook returned unsuccessfully, he told him so and prepared to follow Jepson's back trail. One of the men then tried to silence Kid Colt, dressed as the Mad Monk by shooting at him from the hotel room window, but failed. Kid Colt then rushed out of his room and was shocked to see Jepson in the local saloon claiming to have found the hood belonging to the Mad Monk in Hook's possession.
Unsure who the Mad Monk was now, Kid Colt had Hook accompany him in tracking Jepson's backtrail. This led them to the cabin hideout of the Mad Monk. There, Hook pulled a gun on Kid Colt and revealed their entire plot, intending to kill him. However he stopped short when Kid Colt explained how he saw Jepson accusing Hook of being the Monk to the locals. Before Hook could do anything, Jepson appeared on the scene and held them at gun point. Before he could shoot Kid Colt, the Kid whistled for his horse Steel who distracted Jepson long enough for the Kid to shoot him dead. Hook managed to grab Kid Colt and ordered him to drop his guns. Kid Colt complied, but then thrust Hook into a suspended rock and sent him tumbling to his death as the land slide smashed their base.[1]