Oklahoma's Lawmen

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LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE TWIN TERRITORIES
U.S. MARSHALS, DEPUTIES, AND THE INDIAN POLICE

Contributed by Sharron Standifer Ashton, Norman, Oklahoma
Published in "The Key Finder" Fall 1991 Vol. 12, No. 4

"The reputation of Indian Territory spread far and wide as 'Robbers' Roost' and 'Land of the Six-gun' and was epitomized in the tag 'There is no Sunday west of St. Louis—no God west of Fort Smith."¹ This was the scene in 1875 when Isaac C. Parker was appointed federal judge of the Western Arkansas Federal District Court. The thirty-six year old Parker was no stranger to politics or the criminal atmosphere that pervaded the Indian country. Within weeks of his arrival he had appointed a small army to police the seventy thousand square miles which comprised the western district. During the next twenty years at least sixty-five of the men who rode for Parker lost their lives while trying to bring an end to the rampant lawlessness in the land west of Fort Smith.²

The following lists contain the names of men who were identified by pioneer residents as United States Marshals, Deputy Marshals, Indian Police or Light Horsemen, and posse members. All were active in the Twin Territories and many were men who rode for Judge Parker. The lists probably include some outlaws. The names were abstracted from the card index of the Indian-Pioneer History Collection. Only cards with the headings "MARSHALS, UNITED STATES, INDIAN TERRITORY, #1.55" and "MARSHALS, UNITED STATES, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY, #1-10" were used in compiling these lists. In addition to names, each entry cites the page and volume number, while some entries give a brief description of the subject or event, i.e., Vol. I, Ed Reed, deputy, killed Crittendens, 313, 314, 483, 484; death of, 313, 484. A name may appear on more than one card. Researchers should check the card index for other references using the individual's name. The Indian-Pioneer History Collection is located in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

¹ Ed Bearss and Arrelt M. Gibson, Fort Smith: Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas. (Norman: The
University of Oklahoma Press, 1969.), 314.
² Glenn Shirley, Law West of Fort Smith. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968.), ix.

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