The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-02-22
HENRYPRU|TT
LOSES FIGHT
At TER 8 YEARS
WAS ORIGINALLY INDICTED WITH
OTHERS FOR KILLING OF BEN
COLLINS, A UNITED STATES
DEPUTY MARSHAL.

Oklahoma City. Feb. 21.-lIenry
Pruitt, originally indicted with others
for killing Ben Collins, a United
States deputy marshal. in Johnston
county in 1906 lost a nineyear fight
to evade trial when the criminal court
OF appeals, in per curiam opinion
written by Presiding Judge Thomas
II. Doyle, Saturday quashed a writ
of habeas corpus granted by the
district court of Johnston county and
ordered that the case be tried Pruitt,
who has been out on a bond of $15,-
600, was ordered remanded to the
custody of the sheriff to await trial
Application for writ of habeas
corpus in the Pruitt case was based
on the contention that the Johnston
county district court did not have
jurisdiction to hear the matter for the
reason that territory nov comprising
Johnston county was a portion of
the Indian Territory at the time Of
the killing. The opinion held that
as the supreme court of the United
States had never passed upon the
question, the rule established by the
appellate court of this state should
be followed.
While Pruitt has been waging his
long battle for freedom by habeas
corpus, all five of his defendants
have been released from the charges
against them-two by death. A.
Washmood Clint Pruitt and e. p,
Afford have been tried and acquitted,
and J. b. Miller and b. b. Burwell,
the two remaining of the five. were
lynched by a mob at Ada in 1907 for
assassinating L. T. Bobbitt, another
United States marshal while the
Collins charge was still pending
against them.
May Not Be Tried.
Although the criminal court of ap-
peals orders Pruitt to be tried, attor-
neys familiar with the records in
the noted old case doubt whether it
will ever be brought to hearing. In
the nine years since Collins was shot
and killed many of the witnesses
have died. Others who would have
to be relied on by the state long ago
have left Oklahoma and cannot be
located.
The killing of Ben Collins, a deputy
United States marshal who was wide
ly known for his great activity in
enforcing the law in the rough coun-
try of his district, is recorded as one
of the most noted of the many trag
edies enacted in this section in the
territorial days. Collins was shot
from his horse and instantly killed
just as he was preparing to alight
in front of his home. This killing
vast just few months after Collins
had killed brother of Henry Pruitt
at a ranchers' picnic.
Henry Pruitt, Clint Pruitt, and
four others were indicted by a grand
jury shortly following the killing
Later in 1911, a similar indictment
was returned for the purpose Of
comforting authority to try the case
in the district court of Johnston
county.
Before the furore attending the
death of Deputy Marshal Collins had
blown over J. r. Miller reputed to
be professional killer with a price
of $500. and h. h. Burwell, two of
the defendants. together with two
other men. fell upon Deputy Bobbitt
and took his life Men of the sur
rounding country were so enraged.
they tore the quartet from the hands
OF the officers at dawn the next day
and hanged them to rafters in liv-
cry stable. No arrests followed the
lynching.