A little confession.
I am a fan of the actor, Sam Elliott. So when I saw a movie of his on TV in the
last couple of months, I flipped to the channel and began to watch.
(Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the whole thing as I kept getting called
away from the TV for other obligations). The movie was called “You Know My
Name,” and was a retelling of the last weeks of historic lawman Bill Tilghman’s
life. I’d never heard of Tilghman, so I thought I’d research him and see if he
was as interesting a character as the movie portrayed him to be.
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Bill Tilghman
circa 1912 |
William Matthew Tilghman, Jr., was born on July 4, 1854 in
Iowa, the third child of six. In 1871, his family moved to Kansas, and soon
afterward, Tilghman took a job as a buffalo hunter, supplying meat to the crews
building the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. In 1872, he left his camp
to go hunting, and while he was away, the Cheyenne raided it, stealing and/or
burning everything he owned. While most rational people would count themselves
lucky and move on, Tilghman sought justice. He resupplied his camp, hid out,
and waited. Not long afterward, a Cheyenne raiding party returned to steal from
him again. Only this time, Tilghman turned his Sharps rifle on them. Of the
seven raiders, he killed four and scared off the remaining three.
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Bat Masterson (left)
and Wyatt Earp--
Dodge City |
After his stint as a buffalo hunter, Tilghman—a lifelong
teetotaler—opened a saloon in Dodge City, Kansas. Known as the Crystal Palace
Saloon, the establishment did fairly well for Tilghman and his business
partner, but an old friend from his buffalo hunting days encouraged Tilghman to
sell out and seek another line of work. The friend’s name was Bat Masterson,
and the new line of work was to become a deputy sheriff of Ford County, Kansas.
Alongside the likes of Masterson and his brother Ed, Wyatt Earp, Lary Deger,
and Ned Brown, Tilghman helped clean up the streets of Dodge City. Deputy
Tilghman was known to avoid gunplay whenever possible, though he was equally known
for his deadly accuracy when gunplay became necessary. He gained popularity
during his time as a Deputy Sheriff, and in 1884 was elected the Marshall of
Dodge City. He spent two years in that job before resigning to tend to his
growing ranch. Unfortunately, in the great blizzard of 1888, Tilghman and many
in that area lost everything.
With nothing to tie him to Dodge City any longer, the wind
blew Tilghman to Guthrie, Oklahoma, where the Oklahoma Land Rush was set to
take place in April of 1889. While he didn’t participate in the first land
rush, he did set up a business in town and used the proceeds to help him
reestablish himself as a rancher in the new area. Another land rush occurred in
September of 1891, and Tilghman did participate the second time around. The
ranch he set up became quite profitable thanks to crops of alfalfa and corn, as
well as plentiful herds of cattle and hogs.
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| Chris Madsen |
However, the idyllic life of a rancher wasn’t without its
issues. Numerous outlaws set up shop in and around Guthrie, and it wasn’t long
before the U.S. Marshal Service came calling for Tilghman to become a deputy.
He accepted the appointment, and with deputies Chris Madsen and Heck Thomas,
the three (who became affectionately known as “The Three Guardsmen”) began to
clean up the Oklahoma Territory. Among the most notable outlaw gangs were the
Wild Bunch and the Doolin Gang. One of the most wanted between the two gangs
was Bill Doolin, so Tilghman made it his priority to hunt and capture the bank
robber. He pursued the man all the way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1894,
then waited for the most opportune moment to apprehend the villain. The arrest
occurred when Doolin went into a bathhouse and climbed into a tub for a nice
soak. Tilghman showed great patience in waiting until he was separated from his
clothes and weapons before he moved in. As the story goes, somewhere around
five thousand people gathered to watch the arrest of Bill Doolin. Whether that
is the truth, I am unsure, though it sure makes a great story.
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| Bill Doolin Wanted Poster |
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The Wild Bunch
(front row, L to R): The Sundance Kid,
The Tall Texan, Butch Cassidy
(back row, L to R): News Carver, Kid Curry |
Once the outlaw issues were cleaned up in the Oklahoma
Territory, Tilghman was elected Sheriff of Lincoln County around the turn of
the century. He served there for a few years, got involved in politics for a
time, serving as a senator for a single term starting in 1910, and returned to
Oklahoma in order to serve as chief of the Oklahoma City Police for a brief
stint. Rather than writing his memoirs as many of his Old West counterparts
did, Tilghman teamed up with Chris Madsen and another man in 1915 to form a film
company and produce and act in the stories of their exploits. For several years
after they produced the film, The Passing
of the Oklahoma Outlaws, Tilghman traveled to different movie showings,
where he would give lectures and answer questions afterward.
Even after such a long and illustrious career as a lawman,
it was hard for Tilghman to let the career fade away. In 1924, during the
height of the Prohibition Era, the folks of Cromwell, Oklahoma, asked him if he
would become their chief of police in order to help clean up their town. His
old friend Chris Madsen recommended he not take the job, citing that at age 70,
his reactions were slower than they once were. Tilghman took the job anyway.
Just a few weeks after he started, he heard gunshots in the street and went to
investigate. He found Federal Prohibition Agent Wiley Lynn waving a gun. The
man was obviously drunk, so Bill Tilghman arrested him. However, Lynn had
another gun hidden on his person, and when he attempted to draw it, the two
struggled. Tilghman was fatally wounded in the struggle, and died within twenty
minutes of the incident. In a travesty of justice, his killer got off on a
technicality and served no time for the lawman’s murder.
All told, Bill Tilghman served a total of fifty-four years
as a peace-keeper in one form or another.
It’s your turn. Had you heard of Bill Tilghman before
reading this article? What did you find most interesting about him?
Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she
swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new
love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns
and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she
began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she
has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In
addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a
schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker.
Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of
the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her
husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.
The Oregon Trail Romance Collection:
Nine romantic adventures take
readers along for a ride on the Oregon Trail where daily challenges force
travelers to evaluate the things that are most precious to them—including love.
Enjoy the trip through a fascinating part of history through the eyes of
remarkably strong characters who stop at famous landmarks along the way. Watch
as their faith is strengthened and as love is born despite unique
circumstances. Discover where the journey ends for each of nine couples.
