Pontotoc County, Oklahoma Genealogy Trails
Lawmen of
Pontotoc
| John R. Abernathy, aka: Wolf Catcher, Catch 'Em Alive Jack (1876–1941) - Born to Scottish ancestors in Texas, Abernathy was raised in the burgeoning railroad town of Sweetwater. During his lifetime he worked as a U.S. Secret Service agent, a wildcat oil driller, and was the last U.S. Deputy Marshal in Oklahoma Territory, serving from 1906 to 1910. But he was best known for capturing hundreds of wolves single handedly without ever having to kill one. By forcing his hand deep enough into a wolf's mouth, he could stun the creature long enough to capture it, a service for which he was paid fifty dollars by eager ranchers. Earning him his nicknames and a small amount of fame for this "skill," he even drew the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt |
| H. E. Bowling - U.S. Deputy Marshall commissioned in the Southern District of Indian Territory at Paris, Texas under Marshal Sheb Williams. Living just north of Allen, Oklahoma, Bowling came to Indian Territory in 1894, where he was headquartered at Stonewall, Chickasaw Nation and later moved to Center, also in the Chickasaw Nation. Bowling was working with Deputy Marshal Bill McCall in the mid 1890s when the pair came across a mean hombre by the name of Bruner. Of Native American and African-American descent, Bruner denied his black heritage and was one of the toughest and meanest men in the territory. When Marshal McCall gave chase to the man into the woods, Bruner shot him in the back. Though McCall initially appeared to be only slightly wounded, he ended up dying of the gunshot. |
| Allen A. “Gus” Bobbitt (1862-1909) - US Deputy Marshal commissioned in 1888, under Marshal John Hammer. Prior to pinning on the badge, Bobbit owned a saloon in Corner, Oklahoma , but when he became a deputy marshal, was living in Center in the Chickasaw Nation. During his career, Bobbitt brought in a number of criminals including Jim Harbolt, who was wanted for train robbery and killing a sheriff. Sometime after the turn of the century, Bobbitt retired as a deputy marshal, but was causing trouble for two men by the names of Jesse West and Joe Allen, who were conning area Indians by getting them drunk and buying their land the nearly nothing. When Bobbitt tried to get the their unethical practices stopped, West and Allen hired gunman “Deacon” Jim Miller to kill him. After Miller had been paid a fee of $1,700, he shot Bobbitt, when the ex lawman was riding home on February 27, 1909. Bobbitt survived long enough to make his way home and identified his killer to his wife. Miller was arrested in Texas by a Texas Ranger and extradited to Oklahoma to stand trial alongside Jesse West, Joe Allen and Berry Burrell, who had acted as a middleman in the killing. While the four men were awaiting trial in Ardmore, Oklahoma , the jail was stormed by a vigilante mob who removed the four men and hanged them. |
| Ben Collins (18??-1906) - Collins served as an Indian policeman in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, and in 1898 he received an appointment as deputy U.S. Deputy Marshal in the Southern District of Indian Territory under Marshal John S. Hammer. Collins made a number of sensational arrests, including an incident in which he was forced to shoot Port Pruitt, an influential resident of Emet, Oklahoma. Collins was charged with assault with intent to kill, but was cleared by the court and the case was dismissed. Partially paralyzed, Pruitt and his brother Clint, a prominent citizen from Orr, swore revenge against Collins. In 1905 a gunman acquaintance of Collins told the officer that he had been hired to kill him. The gunman, who had already received $200 for the killing, and was to receive $300 more when it was complete, then skipped town. However, Collins’ enemies were determined and the next year he would not be so lucky. On the evening of August 1, 1906, Collins was ambushed while traveling to his home. Allegedly killed by Jim “Killer” Miller, and other assassins, he was buried at Colbert, Oklahoma. Miller would later meet justice after ambushing U.S. Deputy Marshal Gus Bobbitt in an assassination similar to Collins. In 1909, Miller and three other men were dragged from a jail in Ada, Oklahoma and hanged. |
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The Chickasaw Nation Police |
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Pontotoc County, Old Chickasaw Nation |
| 1877: ? McClain, Sheriff 1886: John Walner, Chickasaw, of Wynnewood, was constable in the U. S. Indian Police; in the 1890’s Walner was commissioned a Dep. U. S. Marshal. 1887-1893: James Frazier, Chickasaw, Sheriff Frazier’s Constables: Charles Stuart and Charles Strickland (In 1893, Stuart was appointed Federal Judge of the Commissioner’s Court at Ardmore while Strickland in 1893-94 became Sheriff of Pontotoc County.) |