Author: Bill Lofquist

K.B. Brooks had been hired by Samuel Combs, a Big Creek, Indian Territory businessman, to do some work for him while he was out of town. On October 28, 1897, Brooks entered Combs’ home and raped his sixteen-year old daughter, Lulu. The attack alerted Combs’ two younger daughters, who fled.

Lulu Combs survived the attack.

Authorities pursued Brooks for a week, capturing him on November 4. Sentiment for lynching Brooks, a Black man who had raped a white girl, was strong.

With the passage of the 1898 Curtis Act, federal jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Indian Territories was now located in Indian Territory.

K.B. Brooks was tried in federal court in Muskogee. On April 28, 1892, he was convicted of rape and sentenced to death.

Along with Charles Perkins, K.B. Brooks was hanged at Muskogee on July 1, 1898. They were the first people executed under federal authority in Oklahoma.

While stationed at Fort Niobrara, Nebraska, Private Clinton E. Dixon was involved with Lillie Lewis, who appears to have made her living in affairs with local soldiers.

When Lewis was removed from the base and told not to return on September 30, 1891, Dixon took offense and shot the soldier who had removed her, Corporal Thomas Carter.

Dixon was promptly arrested. Because the killing occurred among soldiers on base, the case was subject to federal jurisdiction.

On trial in the United States Circuit Court in Omaha, Dixon was convicted of murder in November 1891 and sentenced to death in January 1892.

Clinton E. Dixon was hanged on June 24, 1892.

Fred Kibbe and Alfred Hillpot were merchants from Globe hunting on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in September 1910, not long before Arizona statehood.

They camped at a location maintained by two former soldiers who had served in the area, John Goodwin and William Stewart. There, on September 15, Kibbe and Hillpot were robbed and killed.

Goodwin and Stewart were tried in territorial court in Globe in December 1910. In separate trials, both men were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Those convictions were set aside after it was determined that the men were subject to federal jurisdiction.

Because the killings involved white victims and occurred on federal property, Goodwin and Stewart were subject to federal as opposed to state (had the killings occurred on state land) or tribal (had the killings involved Native victims) jurisdiction.

Tried in federal court in 1911 for Hillpot’s murder, Goodwin was convicted and sentenced to death and Stewart was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Because his original federal conviction was for killing Hillpot, Stewart was still subject to prosecution for killing Kibbe. That trial came in May 1913; Stewart was convicted and sentenced to death on May 8.

Only five days later, on May 13, 1913, John B. Goodwin was hanged at Globe, Arizona. William Stewart hanged more than a year later, on May 30, 1914.

M.P. Cushing hired Jack Chewie to assist him in peddling wares In August 1894. Soon after, Chewie and Webber Isaacs robbed and killed Cushing. They then attempted to destroy the evidence by burning his body.

Isaacs confided in a number of others what he had done.

When Cushing’s body was discovered, Isaacs was arrested. Chewie initially escaped, but was killed while being apprehended on March 27, 1896.

Webber Isaacs was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death on April 13, 1895. After numerous delays, he was hanged at Fort Smith on April 30, 1896.

Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill, led the notorious Cook gang as it terrorized the Cherokee Nation and surrounding areas in 1894 and 1895.

Their crimes included train robbery in Red Fork, robberies in Okmulgee and Wetumpka, and the murder of storekeeper Ernest E. Melton in Lenapah on November 9, 1894.

Goldsby was arrested on January 25, 1895, and taken to Fort Smith to be held for trial. Bill Cook was arrested separately and held for trial.

At trial, the men were convicted on multiple robbery charges before Goldsby was tried for Melton’s murder. He was convicted of that murder on February 26, 1892, and sentenced to death on April 13.

While awaiting execution, Goldsby killed jail guard, Lawrence Keating on July 26, 1895. He was convicted of that murder on August 8, 1895, and sentenced to death on August 10.

With appeals in the Keating case still pending, Crawford Goldsby was hanged at Fort Smith on March 17, 1896, for the murder of Ernest Melton.

Ed and William Vandevere, William Bolding, and John Pointer traveled together from Arkansas to Wise County, Texas to pick cotton in August 1891. Having completed their work, Ed Vandevere and Bolding returned to Arkansas in December. They never arrived.

Though Pointer left the group during the summer and ended up in unspecified legal trouble elsewhere, he returned to Wise County just hours after Vandevere and Bolding departed. Pointer quickly left to join them.

Vandevere and Bolding were discovered dead in Indian Territory on December 26, 1891. Investigation led to Pointer, who was trying to sell the men’s horses and property.

Once arrested, Pointer was taken to Fort Smith to stand trial. At trial, Pointer’s claim of self-defense was rejected and he was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to death on March 26, 1894.

John Pointer was hanged on September 20, 1894.

George Bickford was last seen alive hunting with Lewis Holder near Wilburton, Indian Territory in December 1891.

When a body found on January 29, 1892, was identified as Bickford, Holder was arrested. Bickford’s property was found in his possession, which Holder explained he had purchased from him. Under questioning, Holder acknowledged killing Bickford, though he claimed to have acted in self-defense.

At trial in August 1892, Holder’s claim of self-defense failed and he was convicted of murder. On September 23, he was sentenced to death.

Lewis Holder was hanged at Fort Smith on July 25, 1894.

Samson Monroe Morgan, a white man from Georgia, and Boudinot Crumpton, a Cherokee, spent November 3, 1889, playing cards, drinking, and chasing women. After being seen traveling together late that afternoon, Crumpton returned alone, explaining that Morgan had received a job offer and had left Crumpton in charge of his effects and affairs.

The two men were long-time friends, which lent credibility to Crumpton’s story. Until Morgan’s body was found on Christmas Eve. Suspicion focused on Crumpton, who was arrested on December 27.

Taken to Fort Smith to stand trial, Crumpton was found guilty of murder on June 30, 1890, and sentenced to death on August 2.

Boudinot Crumpton was hanged at Fort Smith on June 30, 1892.

On October 13, 1889, John Stansbury (or Stansberry) killed his wife, Mollie, with an axe. He then staged a robbery and told associates that he was out of town when the killing occurred. The couple lived in the Creek Nation.

When an investigation failed to find evidence to support Stansbury’s story, he was arrested. Further investigation suggested that Stansbury had previously killed the couple’s daughter.

Authorities determined that Stansbury had killed his wife so that he could marry a Creek woman and thereby gain rights in the Territory.

At trial in Fort Smith, Stansbury was found guilty on February 27, 1890, and sentenced to death.

John Stansbury, who professed his innocence until the end, was hanged on July 9, 1890.

Laura Thornton married Simon Moynier on November 5, 1891, near Krebs, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Subsequent reports indicated that 20-year old Laura was being abused by her father, John Thornton.

Six days later, John Thornton killed Laura. He attempted suicide after the killing.

Thornton was quickly arrested. In custody, he confessed.

At trial in Fort Smith, Thornton’s defense of alcohol-related insanity failed and he was convicted of murder on March 15, 1892.

John Thornton was hanged on June 28, 1892. At 65 years old, he was the oldest man executed at Fort Smith.