Western Lawman Bill Tilghman

 

Bill Tighman

Bill Tilghman got his start as a buffalo hunter in the early 1870s. Along with his partner, George Rust, Tilghman signed on with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1872—promising to bring in 50 buffalo a week to feed their construction crews. By the time Tilghman left the line in 1875, the two men had taken down close to 12,000 buffalo.

After that, Tilghman tried his luck at a string of jobs—ranching, running a saloon in Dodge City, Kansas, and serving as a deputy for Bat Masterson in Ford County, Kansas. Not too long after that, there was some talk that Bill took part in a train robbery and stole some horses—but none of it stuck. From 1883 to 1886, Tilghman served as a deputy for Pat Sughrue in Dodge City.

In 1889, at the start of the Oklahoma land boom, he staked a claim near Guthrie, Oklahoma, and took up ranching. A few years later, in 1893, Tilghman was appointed city marshal of Perry, Oklahoma. Heck Thomas was his assistant marshal. Together, they cleaned up the town.

The Wichita Daily Eagle ran a story about Tilghman that year, describing him as “tall and slim, straight as an arrow, and is not afraid of anything living. He never gets excited, talks but little, and in the performance of his duties does not seem to know the meaning of the word failure.” The implication was, once he started a case, Tilghman would not give up until he got his man.

His wife, Zoe Tilghman, published an article in Life Magazine on May 18, 1959. She said the movie gave a false impression of western lawmen. They “hated to kill and never boasted about it.” It was just something they needed to do to clean up the frontier to make it safe for families to move in.

In 1894 and 1895, two teenage girls caused a stir in Indian Territory—peddling whisky and stealing horses. Jennie “Little Britches” Stevens and “Cattle Annie” McDougal were just sixteen and thirteen when they were accused of running messages for the Doolin-Dalton gang.

Bill Tilghman capturing Little Britches

Tilghman and another lawman, Steve Burke, chased the girls down to a farmhouse outside Pawnee, Oklahoma. When they moved in on them, the girls took off on horseback. Steve Burke rode off after “Cattle Annie.” Tilghman chased after “Little Britches.”

Even though she was only sixteen, “Little Britches” challenged Bill’s man-hunting skills. While he was chasing after her, “Little Britches” turned and let loose with her Winchester, sending a bevy of hot lead swirling around the marshal’s head. Tilghman pulled back for a moment to regroup, then charged the girl, shot down her horse, tackled her, and brought her to the ground. Tilghman took some scratches and bites when it was all said and done.

On July 6, 1895, “Cattle Annie” was sentenced to one year in Federal prison for peddling whisky to the Osage Indians. “Little Britches” was sentenced to two years for horse theft and whisky peddling.

In September 1895, Bill Tilghman found himself hot on the trail of Bill Raidler, a member of the Doolin-Dalton gang. The Wichita Daily Eagle wrote, “The officer and the outlaw came together in the brush, in the Triangle country. They opened on each other at the same time but a shot from Tilghman’s gun clipped the middle finger of the outlaw’s right, or pistol hand, and he turned his horse around, first biting off the mangled finger and spitting it at his opponent, and rode away.”

Tilghman was confident he knew where Raidler was hiding out. He waited all night outside a log cabin, armed with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buckshot. Raidler came out about sunrise. Tilghman hollered for him to “throw up his hands.” Instead, Raidler went for his gun. Tilghman let loose with both barrels of his shotgun. Raidler fell after taking several buckshot to his head and arm.

Later at his trial, the San Francisco Call reported, “The defense practically admitted that Raidler had taken part in the [Dover] train robbery.” But his defense said he shouldn’t be found guilty because the mailbags weren’t touched. Raidler received a ten-year sentence and was later released in 1903. He was one of only two members of the Doolin-Dalton gang to survive into the new century. The other was Roy Dougherty. In 1915, he did a short stint as an actor, then returned to the outlaw life, robbing a bank in Neosho, Missouri, in 1917. He died seven years later, in 1924, at 54.

Barbershop capture of Bill Doolin. Doolin made a move for his gun, 
thought the better of it, and threw his hands up.

Tilghman arrested Bill Doolin single-handedly on January 18, 1896. The lawman had been on Doolin’s trail for a year, on and off, when he tracked him to a farm near Burden, Kansas. Doolin had been living there for some four months, going under the alias of Thomas Wilson. After a brief investigation, Tilghman discovered Doolin drove an old lumber wagon into town every two weeks to get supplies. Six weeks into his stakeout, there was no sign of Doolin, and it appeared as if he had made a clean getaway.

Tilghman wasn’t sure why, but he had an idea he’d find Doolin in Eureka Springs. He went there purely on a hunch. As soon as he arrived in town, Tilghman saw Bill Doolin walk into the Davy House hotel.

Tilghman got a haircut before pursuing his man. “To his surprise, Doolin was sitting there reading a paper, but he didn’t recognize him. The marshal slipped into the bathroom and, reappearing, quickly covered the outlaw with his revolver.” Doolin made a move for his gun, thought the better of it, and threw his hands up. Tilghman had the barbershop owner disarm Doolin while he kept him undercover.

Bill Doolin later told the Wichita Daily Eagle, “When he [Tilghman] came into the barbershop, I thought I had seen him somewhere, but he brushed by me so fast and called for a bath in such an unconcerned way, that I just went on reading my paper. The next I knew, he was standing four feet from me, and I was looking straight into his gun.” Doolin knew Tilghman had the “nerve” and would kill him if necessary. “If it had been anybody else, I would not have hesitated to pull my gun.”

Because his captor was Bill Tilghman, Doolin surrendered without a fight and allowed Tilghman to take him in. When they arrived at the Santa Fe Depot in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a crowd of nearly 2,000 people gathered around waiting to glimpse the sandy-haired outlaw.

Tilghman became the sheriff of Lincoln County, Oklahoma, in 1899. Five years later, he was a member of the Oklahoma delegation of the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. Tilghman became an Oklahoma State Senator in 1910 and chief of police in Oklahoma City in 1911.

On November 21, 1924, Bill Tilghman was shot to death by an
off-duty U.S. Prohibitions agent named Wiley Lynn

In 1915, Tilghman’s career took a 360-degree turn. He produced and acted in a silent movie called Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws. It was set in the Indian Territory, on the actual locations where many of the scenes originally took place. Where possible, he also had many of the original characters re-enact their life stories.

Tilghman made the movie because he was concerned about how Hollywood portrayed outlaws as heroes and lawmen as a bunch of bumbling boobs. During its day, the movie was wildly successful and played all over the country.

That would have been the end to a highly successful career in law enforcement, politics, and film for most people. But for Bill Tilghman, it launched his re-entry into police work. In 1924, at 72, he became marshal of the boomtown of Cromwell, Oklahoma. On November 21 of that year, he was shot dead by an off-duty U. S. Prohibitions agent named Wiley Lynn.

There are two stories about how he died.

The most likely story says that Wiley Lynn pulled up in front of Pop Murphy’s dance hall and began shooting his gun off. Tilghman went to arrest him, and Wiley shot him three times.

The other version of the story says Tilghman was protecting the saloon keepers. When Wiley Lynn tried to raid Pop Murphy’s dance hall to shut them down for selling liquor, Tilghman told him he’d kill him if he tried. Wiley was the first to grab his gun and shoot Tilghman dead.

Knowing Tilghman’s reputation, the first version seems more likely.

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