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ZIP WYATT
Go south of Marshall, OK on MacArthur Blvd about five miles until you cross a bridge. Right on the other side of the trees in the photo is a small steep sided creek. There is cropland on the other side of the creek. Zip was found sleeping in a cornfield about 200 yards east of the bridge. DAY SIX: APRIL 27, 2013
I got the Jeep serviced this morning in El Reno, Oklahoma and finally got the damn tire light cancelled. They did the work for free because of being a disabled veteran. There are a handful of eating places for breakfast in that little town but I didn’t find one open. Finally found a Mexican joint that was open and had tacos for breakfast. This weekend they are enjoying their annual Burger Festival. Folks in El Reno take their onion burgers seriously. The festival is like a chili cook off, except it is onion burgers; not chili. The winner will get bragging rights for a whole year. I rolled to a stop this evening at the Will Rogers Inn in Claremore, OK after a drive of 253.5 miles. Place has seen better days. Most of the rooms are so bad they can’t be rented. Will Rogers would be embarrassed. I had a burger for supper at the diner next door. It was not an onion burger. The back roads were sodden today because of heavy rainfall last night. The Jeep is filthy dirty with mud.
ZIP WYATT INGALLS SIGN
One of the deputies was killed right beside where this sign was put up. Zip came from Cowboy Flat across the river from Lamont. He was a fair hand, but he didn’t care much for hard work. Like Billy the Kid, that little rat, he turned to a life of criminal activity. Zip would steal lice. He murdered a guy one day and before long he could scarcely step outside without being chased by a posse of irate neighbors. His luck went bad one summer. Every time he tried to rob somebody he got himself shot. It happened four times. Combined with his bullet wounds, his blood loss, his lack of rest and decent food, and the loss of his horse he was finally caught. A posse found him sound asleep in a corn field beside a creek about five miles south of Marshall. They shot him twice more and arrested him. He died from infection a month or so later.
INGALLS Bill Doolin and his merry band of outlaws were hiding out in the little town of Ingalls about 15 miles east of Stillwater. The town folks tolerated the outlaws, vicious as they were, because the outlaws spent money freely. A posse
INGALLS
I don't know if these are the original buildings that existed when the Battle of Ingalls took place or just something that was put up to amuse the tourists. If the large building really was the original hotel, then Arkansas Tom was captured there. of marshals from Guthrie and Enid learned that the Doolin Gang was in Ingalls and went to arrest them on September 1, 1893. Three deputy marshals and a bystander were killed and the gang boldly escaped. It was the bloodiest gunfight in Oklahoma’s wild history.
JIM THORPE America’s most gifted athlete ever was an Indian fellow from Oklahoma. He attended the Carlisle Indian School where he excelled in every sport. In the 1912 Olympics in Sweden Jim won gold medals in both the pentathlon and the decathlon. Those were such grueling events that after the 1912 games the Olympic Committee changed the rules and forbid the same guy from participating in both events. Since the rules were changed Jim was stripped of his medals. His family finally got them back in 1983. At Carlisle Jim came under the tutelage of Pop Warner. After the Olympics Pop signed Jim as quarterback for the Canton Bears in the NFL. He ultimately became the first inductee to the NFL Hall of Fame. The Hall is located in Canton because that is where professional football took root. It took root there because of Jim Thorpe. Jim
JIM THORPE
The Jim Thorpe Home is on the first road south of Hwy 64 in Yale, OK. It is just east of F Street. ended his professional football career with the New York Giants sometime after their world tour. In 1917 he bought this house in Yale because his wife was tired of living in hotels and her sister lived next door. The house has been wonderfully restored and is well worth a visit to anyone travelling through Yale.
QUAY A rancher named Dunn had a spread on the Cimarron River. He had plenty of tough bark on him which he needed because he had a lively sister named Rosa. The brash outlaw, Bitter Creek George Newcomb, took a lively interest in her and she soon became revered as The Rose of Cimarron. Her beauty was legendary. Dunn did not particular care for George or any of his friends. One day George rode up to the ranch with another outlaw to visit Rose. Dunn killed both outlaws with a shotgun for the rewards out on them. A few months later Dunn was in the posse that cornered Bill Doolin at a ranch near what became known as Quay. The shotgun blast that killed Doolin was fired by Dunn.
PAWNEE ROUND MOUNTAIN MONUMENT
From Jim Thorpe's Home go west on Hwy 64 until you come to the traffic stop. Round Mountain is plainly visible to the northwest. White settlement was not allowed on the Pawnee Reservation until 1893. The community needed a butcher shop and Dunn took it upon himself to fill that need. He eventually came under suspicion of butchering stolen cattle. When Marshal Frank Canton came along to investigate the allegation Dunn hotly denied it. The confrontation lead to gunplay and Dunn was killed. Canton was a gallant officer in the Spanish American War, but he was deeply involved in the Johnson County War up in Wyoming. Pawnee Bill was a partner in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. Pawnee Bill’s ranch, oddly enough, is just outside Pawnee.
I find myself getting pretty loose with the facts in these stories. When the trip is over with I will have time to do more thorough research.
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