I am researching for a motion picture. I need any and all information on ALL deputy United States Marshals working the Indian Territory in the year 1888 including:
1. A short bio on each Marshal
2. Which Marshals died that year and how,
3. Which criminals were brought in and what the charges were.
4. Any information about a Marshal or case which may not be common knowledge in 1888.
Please reply here or send information via email to: matozi1@yahoo.com
Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Hi!

There are several members of Oklahombres who are experts in this area of research. I am sure they would be willing to assist you in exchange for appropriate compensation. What you are seeking is information which many people have spent many years and a substantial amount of money to obtain.

You might consider beginning your own research by reading some of the books on the subject, including "West of Hell's Fringe" and "The Law West of Fort Smith" by author Glenn Shirley. Other books about Judge Issac Parker would also be helpful.

Good luck!

While I'd love to see a film on this subject, I'm afraid you're trying to take in too much ground. In 1888, Indian Territory was not simply policed by Parker's Court. In 1883, Parker's responsibilities were trimmed by giving the Unassigned Lands, areas not given over to the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole, north of the Canadian River and East of the hundredth meridian to the judicial districts of Kansas at Wichita and Fort Scott. This was followed by an act in 1885 transferring jurisdiction of a major class of felonies to courts at Wichita, Kansas; Paris, Texas; and Fort Smith, Arkansas. In short, there were Marshals active in the area defined as Indian Territory from all of these places. That's a whole bunch of people and cases and some of the cases have been lost because of a fire wiping out the Paris Court records. I think you need someone to help you narrow your focus.

To my knowledge there is no available list of Deputy U.S. Marshals for the Indian Territory just for the year of 1888. There is no comprehensive listing of criminals arrested for 1888. There are criminal case files at the Fort Worth, Texas branch of the National Archives for 1888, but it is not comprehensive. For a review of major crimes for the year, you would have to do a comprehensive newspaper search of available Indian Territory newspapers for 1888, which can be found at the Oklahoma History Society in Oklahoma City. Good Luck.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone for the tremendous response to my requests for information. To Tower I'd like to say that the focus of the film is narrow and that I am only searching for facts which will better present the story and that I'm not trying to write about everything as that would be impossible.
Again, thank you all so much!

Good luck on your project film maker. Once you explained your focus, it was easy to see the value and I'm looking forward to it's release. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to post some information I got from member David Rennie. The author of the message is D. Aaron Holt, Archives Technician of the Ft. Worth National Archives. It may be "old hat" to many, but the beginner can save a lot of time and tire tread by reading it.

Quote Mr. Holt: "There is one United States marshal appointed to serve in each federal judicial district. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789, each state is to have at least one federal judicial district. Some states have more than one district. The U.S. marshal is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. To determine whether a person served as a U.S. marshal, please consult National Archives microfilm publication T577, Index to Names of U.S. Marshals, 1789-1960. Names of U.S. marshals appointed since 1960 can be located in the U.S. Government Manual, a government publication that is available in government depository libraries and may be purchased from the Government Printing Office. Limited biographical information about U.S. marshals is located in records relating to appointments and other actions for positions in federal courts and judicial districts, Record Group 60, General Records of the Department of Justice, and in National Archives microfilm for Record Group 59, Letters of Application and Recommendation (arranged by presidential administration), and Record Group 60, various series of letters sent. The National Archives Microfilm Resources for Research: A Comprehensive Catalog is available on our home page at http://www.archives.gov. Non-microfilmed Justice Department records on personnel are located at the National Archives (NNR2), 8601 Adelphi Rd., College Park, MD 20740.

Deputy marshals are chosen by the U.S. marshal and may serve varying terms of office. Biographical information about U.S. deputy marshals is often difficult to locate. There is not a published or archival list of persons who served as deputy marshals in the 19th century. Many deputy marshals served as "special fee" deputies, which meant that they were appointed to meet short term objectives (to serve in a posse, to protect voters during Reconstruction, etc.). A good book about the roles played by U.S. marshals and deputy marshals is Frederick S. Calhoun's The Lawmen: United States Marshals and Their Deputies, 1789-1989 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989).

The National Archives-Southwest Region has an incomplete series of oaths sworn by deputy marshals who served in the Western District of Arkansas from 1868 to 1945, but no other series of records relating to deputy marshals. The Fort Smith federal court had exclusive jurisdiction over the Indian Territory from 1845 to 1883. The deputy marshals oaths have been reproduced on three rolls of microfilm, 7RA310. We do not have any series of records relating to U.S. deputy marshals, who served in the Northern, Southern, or Central Districts of the Indian Territory or any other state. To confuse matters, many states, including Oklahoma, had city marshals."

Hi Mike,

Thanks for posting this. I, for one, had not seen it before.

--meursault

Dear Mike. Thanks for the post on Marshal procedures! I have 18 scenes already written. In one of the scenes, I have a conflict between a deputy from Arkansas with a deputy from the Eastern district of Texas over the two dollar writ service payment, a prisoner, and a small reward. In the scene, the prisoner escapes while the two are arguing over him. I'm having lots of fun with this project and still trying to make it all something which COULD have happened. Veteran actor SALAZAR wants to play the part of Bass Reeves and the thing is, that if SALAZAR grows a mustache, he'd LOOK exactly LIKE the real Bass Reeves. Thanks again for helping this novice along the road of discovery in a very exciting period of American History.

My name is Art T. Burton, I have done extensive research on Bass Reeves. There will be a book released in the spring by the University of Nebraska Press, written by me, that will cover Reeves law enforcement career. I would like to know who is this actor you call SALAZAR. If you need further assistance in regards to Reeves you can contact me at: aburton@southsuburbancollege.edu

Dear Art,
I am sorry to just be getting back to you. The actor SALAZAR has appeared on the Golden Globe award winning WARM SPRINGS. He most recently starred in my motion picture MORNING SONG WAY with Jennifer Red Bird, Elvus Kishketon, Jr., Jeff Anderson and Glenda Bean which hasn't been released yet and will screen at the NYIIFVF in L.A. March 4-11th and again in New York in May.