Taming the Sooner State: The War Between Lawmen & Outlaws in Oklahoma & Indian Territory 1875-1941 | 
 enlarge | Author: R. D. Morgan
Publisher: New Forums Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $25.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 891685
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 214
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 8.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 1581071396
EAN: 9781581071399
ASIN: 1581071396
Publication Date: November 15, 2007
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Product Description
Oklahoma is a state rich in lawmen and outlaw history, truly the last bastion of the Old West. The state has a tradition of banditry dating back to the time of the Indian Territory. The following account presents a collection of rare photographs, biographical sketches, and true stories offered in chronological order dealing with the epic battle between the forces of law and order and wrongdoers taking place in a geographic area encompassing the modern state of Oklahoma. This narrative, which represents nearly ten years of research, is presented in two-part form within a single volume. Part I covers the period of 1875-1919, chronicling events taken from the Indian and Oklahoma Territories to statehood and beyond, while Part II covers the period 1920-1941. This work does not represent an attempt to tell a complete history of lawmen and outlaws in Oklahoma. It is merely offered as a series of prime examples of the genre.
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| Customer Reviews:
A Crime History Classic February 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
R.D. Morgan has become one of my favorite authors. If you enjoy reading about outlaws, both the well-known and obscure (but nontheless just as deadly), and appreciate careful, meticulous attention to detail, you will enjoy this book as I have. It is destined to become the new bible of Oklahoma crime history, complete with the stories of the brave law officers who helped tame it.
Delving into Oklahoma's Criminal Past January 15, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
No state produced more outlaws, bank and train robberies and shootouts than Oklahoma. Or such an abundance of deadly encounters between the bandits and the forces of law and order. From the horseback era of Belle Starr. the Daltons, Bill Doolin, Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas and Judge Parker down through the machine-gunning exploits of the Barkers, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Wilbur Underhill, they're all here. The infamous, the famous, and the obscure. This is not, nor is it meant to be, a comprehensive examination of the criminal history of the state which once led the nation in bank robberies. The Territorial period seems to get the short shrift, occupying a mere twenty-five pages of this 208-page book. But appearances can be deceiving as much of this overlaps with other sections of the book and in any event the concentration on the post-1907 period seems wholly appropriate in a volume celebrating the Centennial of Oklahoma's Statehood, if one stops to think about it. Just attempting to tackle the early days as R.D. Morgan has done here would be a daunting project indeed and he succeeds admirably. Part 1: 1875-1919 provides a wonderful background introduction to the remainder of this exemplary volume. The Statehood era covers not only Henry Starr, Al Spencer, Floyd, Kelly, the Barker Gang, and Bonnie and Clyde, but the whole grisly entourage of Osage and Cookson Hills and other Oklahoma renegades, both homegrown and passing through. The Jarrett brothers, Elmer McCurdy (the famous mummified train robber), Ed Lockhart, Ray Terrill, Blackie Thompson, Dude Overstreet, the Kimes Gang, the Lawrence boys, Dick Gregg, Ford Bradshaw and others all get their due here. So do such great law officers as Alva McDonald, Luther Bishop, Joe Anderson, Jim Kiersey, and Clarence Hurt, the Oklahoma City police officer turned G-man who brought down both Underhill and John Dillinger and who made the actual arrest of Alvin Karpis. We get the best early years study of the Barkers in their Missouri/Oklahoma period than I've seen anywhere else to date. Of course, Morgan, author of the fine biography of Wilbur Underhill and a pioneer in researching "auto-bandits" of the Sooner State, is on firmer ground than most here, and we also get a wonderful glimpse of his next book, a history of the "Irish" O'Malley Gang, one of the last, and today least known, of the Depression outlaw bands but whose record of criminality rivaled that of the Barkers and far outstripped that of Dillinger. For me the most absorbing sections, however, are the advances in law enforcement technology, the history of "Big Mac" (the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, for non-Okies) and its bloody insurrection and most especially the thoroughly engrossing and complete listings of Oklahoma executions. There's also an entertaining chronology of 1924-34 bank robberies (handily cross-referenced to other pertinent chapters), a section of "Oklahomans on the Rock," and the whole thing is profusely illustrated with photos, many I've never seen before. The book closes, appropriately, with a wondrous photo-tour of lawman and outlaw graves, from both the old days and the modern period. For anyone interested in Oklahoma, crime, or just plain history, this book is an absolute gotta-have!
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