The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1912-08-13
WHEN TWO
OUTLAWS
FOUGHT
BUD" LEDBETTER TELLS
HOW HE AND AL JEN-
NINGS MET

Muskogee. Augg l2-The election
of ]. f. (Bud) Ledbetter as Demo
cratic candidate for sheriff of Mus
Sogee county and OF Al Jennings as
Democratic candidate for county at
torney of Oklahoma county. calls &c
the minds of the old timers of this
part of the country the day when
these two men stood facing each 9th
or with Winchesters at their hips
and fired score after score of bullets
into each others clothing and into
the rude barricades each had fallen
| ehind when the fight started before
sunrise.
At the time Bud Ledbetter was a
United states deputy marshal and
was on the trail Of All Jennings and
bis gang OF train robbers for hold
ing up passenger trains and safe and
bank robberes.
On the morning of December /
1897 Bud Ledbetter at the head of a
posse out OF the marshal's office of
this city, came upon AL Jennings and
Its gang in house on the Spikes
ranch not many miles north OF Mus
kogee.
It was not quits light when the
first shot was fired am, all through
Il c night the officers on thG outside
had moved from place to place seek
| ing a spot where they might do tie
most effective work with their guns
and at the same time be as much un-
der cover as possible
On the inside of the ranch house,
it was a different scene. All jennings
as leader of the gang had command
ed that all doors and other movable
material in the house which might
serve as a breastworks be placed on
the floor behind which his men We're
told to lay while firing from the win
dows, knot-hoes and cracks in the
walls.
AS the sun began to come up there
was movement on the part Of one
OF the pCssemen from behind near
by building. This was the signal for
the fast shot
At first the shots were few be-
cause of the darkness and the diff
Guilty in locating the mark, but as it
began to get lighter the firing in
creased and for twenty minutes four
men wanted for bank robbery, train
robbery and safe blowing, stood OFF
the posse of six.
The clothing was almost shot from
the back of Frank Jennings, broth
er OF the leader. and Pat O'Marley
another member of the gang had his
leg almost cut from his body by the
bullets from the guns of the posse
ut taoVft,,r ,.b in
the building.
When the fighting began OFFICER
Ledbetter had his men stationed inI
triangle formation in order that
there would be no cross fire and that
all sides might be watched but as
the fight grew warmer and more Of
the shooting was done on the east
side Of the building there was shift
ing Of the members Of the posse and
under this cover the members of the
gang succeeded in making their eS-
cape into the underbrush near the
house
In all more than three hundred
shots were fired while but one man
Lad been taken He had been cap.
tured before the fight as he came
across the country in Il wagon with
provisions for the gang
The warrant upon which Officer
Ledbetter and his men sought to ar
rest the members of the Jennings
crowd was for the robbery of the Foil
bank on the sixth Of June.
Five DAYS after the members OF
the posse had lost their mon when
capture seemed sure, they came upon
them in the road nine miles south |
east of ChecOtah Without a shot be
ing fired, they were captured and
brought to the old Muskogee Jail |
which at that time stood on North |
Third street whore the DornCloney |
laundry now stands
Mr.. Ledbetter in telling of the fight |
said 1t took place IN the middle Of the |
winter when the mercury stood near
zero ana that during the hottest part |
Of the night his gun got 50 warm that |
ne could hardly hold it, Mr. Ledbet |
ter was asked where he did most Of |
his firing from. why, ! stood behind /
a chimney a part of the time said /
the eX-chief of police, but then | /
moved around just like any other fel-
low would who wanted TO get the best /
shots he could And he talked just 4
like it was 4 small matter to come l
)ut from behind a brick chimney just Il
% get a better shot at the other fel-
CIV.
q have known Al long time and
am mighty glad he got the nomina
ion said Mr.. Ledbetter. He is a
GOOD fellow and one who deserves
: hateYer he can get"
Mr. Ledbetter said that after AL 4
vas arrested he was sentenced 10 life
Imprisonment in the United States
'r'son, but was later pardoned His II
'rcther. Frark with the other mem
'ers OF the gang. with the exception Il
# Dick West, all pleaded guilty and
we're given FIVE years in prison West
vho was not taken at the time the
apture out from Checotah. was later
.illed in fight with Officers Tiuman
md Thomas near Tulsa some weeks
lteT
A vast amount OF iii health is due
, impaired digestion When the
tomach fails to perform its functions 1
roperly the whole system becomes
eranged a few doses OF Chamber