Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-05-10
SHOT MARSHAlS FULL
OF BULLET HOLES
Desperate Outlaws AmbuShed
Indiscreet Officials Who
Were on Their Trail.

! Special to The World.
TAHLEQUAH. Okla. May .
! Among the various murders COM
mitted in the Cherokee nation some
25 years ago. none were more cold
blooded than the killing OF Thomas
Whitehead and Josiah Poorboy dep
uty marshals. The killing occurred
near the banks OF Barren Fork, about
l2 miles northeast of Tahlcquah, and
near where now is the town of Eldon.
As II afterward transpircd. ,he men
who were implicated in the killing
supposed they were shooting to death
a then noted officer named Heck
Bruncr and a well known Cherokee
citizen named Y. B. Hitchcock, who
! had served as "A member of the Cher
okee board of education.
More Ambitious Than Wise.
For some time there had been 4
great deal Of lawlcssness In the
wooded district along Barren Fork.
Three men iR particular had gained
notoriety, two OF them being John
Brown and one Craig, white men, and
Waco Hampton. Cherokee. Know
ing that Deputy Heck Bruuer. a roso-
| lutte and fearless officer would soon
seek to arrest them. they planned to
/ kill him, also y. B. Hitchcock with
whom they were on bad terms. }ut,
| before the arrival Of Bruner. there
came to Tahlequah n recently APP
/ pointed officer II young man named
| Thomas Whitehead. Probably he
wished to gain the reputation OF ar
resting the outlaws. Anyway he did
/ not wait for the arrival of the cX
/ perienced Marshal Bruncr but, calf
| Ing upon Josiah PoOrboy to accom-
pany him. left Tahlequah on a warm
| February afternoon and made their
way toward the locality where the
men had been scouting. James Naked
! head. a member of the United States
Indian police force. had agreed to 60
with them and started, but turned
back He is said to have "smcllcd a
mouse" but If so he failed to men
! ton the fact to the two deputies.
They rode thru the forest until at
nightfa' they arrived at the home Of
| Judge w. l.. Shirley. an old and hos
| pitable man who lived near the place
where the outlaws had been accus-
| toned to stay. They decided to re-
main overnight at the Shirley home
/ but. unknown to them. someone con-
veyed TO the outlaws the intelligence
that two officers were staying at the
judges house
Fillcd Full of Lead.
It was past 10 o'clock at night whom
the outlaws arrived in the public
road lust in front of the Shirley home.
They hallocd and Whitehead and
Poorbcy, showing no caution, stepped
out in front of the house. AS they did
50 they were fired upon and literally
filled with bullets. falling dead before
they had time to more than draw
their weapons. Both were shot thru
the head and their bodies We're rid
died. The outlaws fled and carly next
morning news reached Tahlequah
that the officers were dead. A heavily
armed force OF men went out and
brought their bloody and stiffened
bodies to town, where they were pre-
pared for burial.
Other marshals were soon on their
way to the scene Of the murder and
the trail of the outlaws was taken up.
| Brown and Craig were soon captured
| but Hampton eluded arrest for some
time. He was a desperate criminal
| and had killed his own stepfather
| an aged white man, as well as a
| Cherokee named Christie. But he was
| shortly to meet his end AS he rode
| down mountain trall one day Dep
| uty Marshal Charles Copeland lay In
wait AS Hampton neared his place
he rose and called upon the outlaw
| to surrender. Hampton refused anJ
started to draw his weapon. Cope
land promptly emptied both barrels
of n heavily-loaded shotgun into
Hampton's body and the bad man
of the Cherokee hills fell dead in hi:
trail.
| One Man Reformed.
II John Brown was sentenced to hang
| but the sentence was commuted e
life Imprisonment, and, after servinl
about twelve years in prison, he wa
| pardoned and settled down to a quie
and law-abiding career. Craig like
wise served term of years in th'
penitontiary and after gaining his lib
erty soon got into trouble again anC
was shot and killed by n man will
whom he had had a misunderstanding
II Deputy Marshal Heck Bruner me
a tragic end after all. While travel
ing thru the country with some com
panions they came to swollei
stream and, having failed to rouse tn
ferryman on the other side, Brune
volunteered to swim across and re
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