Charles LaFlore (1841-1920) was one of the great lawmen of the period, and was involved in a number of significant events, including the pursuit and capture of Gus Bogles (later hanged by Judge Parker), the killing of Jeff Nicolson (who was wanted for the murder of Captain Sixkiller), and the gunfight at Adair (14 July 1892) with the Dalton Gang. A number of contemporary sources say that in 1886 he became the Chief of the Cherokee Indian Police. However, a biographical essay about him published in 1891 says that he was a Choctaw Indian. This raises a number of questions: did each tribe have its own police? Would the Cherokees allow a Choctaw to head their force?

Any information about how the tribes organized their police, or more details about LaFlore, would be appreciated.

--meursault

I wrote quite a bit about Capt. LeFlore in my essay "Frontier Indian Police of the Indian Territory" for the Oklahoma State Trooper magazine. You can find the article on my webpage titled Art T. Burton's Western Frontier. LeFlore was a Choctaw and a member of the Choctaw Lighthorse Police he held the rank of captain. He also was a deputy U.S. marshal, commissioned by the Fort Smith Court. Later he received a badge from the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad as a policeman. In the late 1880s he became Captain of the Union Agency Indian Police force which had jurisdiction over all the Five Civilized Tribes. Captain LeFlore was one of the most outstanding police officers in Indian Territory history.

I'm relatively new here, and had not known that "Oklahoma Kid" = Art Burton. It is an honor to correspond with you. Your pieces on the Indian Frontier Police were among the first web sources I consulted when I became interested in this topic some years ago, and I had forgotten how comprehensive and informative they were and are.

Incidently, in the piece on LaFlore you relate the battle between him and train robber "Christe" that resulted in numerous killed and wounded. Is this the infamous "Ned" Christe or another outlaw with the same name?

Another incident in LaFlore's life that is not widely known is that he was involved in a case resulting in a landmark legal decision by the Supreme Court overturning a decision by Judge Parker's court (146 US 370, Lewis vs. United States). In 1888, a Katy train was robbed at the Verdigris water station, during which a cattleman from Texas (Ben Tarver) was killed by the outlaws. Three years later, a member of the outlaw gang (William Holleman) confessed the crime to Katy Chief RR Detective J. J. Kinney (my great grandfather) who, accompanied by LaFlore, arrested Alexander Lewis of Tulsa, as Holleman claimed Lewis was resposible for the killing. At his first trial in 1891, Lewis was found guilty and sentences to hang. But by this time Parker's court was subject to review by the Supreme Court and Lewis' lawyer, J. Warren Reed, appealed on the grounds that Parker had allowed, or ordered, portions of the jury selection, the voir dire, to be conducted separately by the defense and prosecution. The Court decided such constituted irreversible error, that the defendant had an irrevocable right to be present, not just during the trial, but to all the legal phases leading up to the actual trial. At a second trial Lewis was found not guilty.

Incidently, LaFlore, Kinney, and Sixkiller all worked for Tom Furlong, Chief Detective of the Missouri Pacific during the middle 1880s.

--meursault

I guess my cover is blown now. I am the Oklahoma Kid. The train robbing gang led by the outlaw named Christie in the Choctaw Nation was not related or have anything to do with Ned Christie. I would love to read something on J.J. Kinney or be able to write something concerning his exploits in Indian Territory. Train robberies have always been a major interest of mine. What was the outlaw named Lewis ethnicity? We really don't know enough about railroad policemen in frontier Oklahoma and what they did. If you would like you can also contact me at: atb60426@aol.com
From reading your post you are quite knowledgeable about Indian Territory history. The captain's name is spelled LeFlore. He is related to one of the most famous families in Choctaw history.

Part of your question was whether the separate Indian Nations had their own police force. I don’t know about the rest of the Territory but the Chickasaw did have a rudimentary police to go along with their underdeveloped system of government. Part of the problem with lawlessness in the Chickasaw Nation came from the fact that their infrastructure below the national government was weak. The central government was composed of an Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch with absolute authority over tribal members. But, the system continued to function much as the old tribal council when deciding on the broader issues of the tribe. The Nation had four districts termed counties: Tishomingo, Panola, Pickens, and Pontotoc with only the roughest sort of district government. Each had an administrator and each had a Sheriff and generally two constables. If more men were needed for any particular activity, a posse called the light horse could be called out. And, that was about as far as organized law enforcement went because for most of the pre-statehood history, Chickasaw laws did not allow incorporated cities. Most pre-1890s towns were actually under the control of the individual controlling the land where the community existed. Meaning there was no sub-structure of local law enforcement. When the cities began along the railroad, according to the law the dwellers owned only the building they lived in or worked in, the land belonged to the tribe. And, the new towns had no local government, including police, sanitation, fire, or other services unless the local folk volunteered or paid for such. Most of the railroad towns had a United States Indian Policeman who sometimes held a Deputy U. S. Marshal commission as well; other times not.
Known Indian Law Enforcement Officers for the Middle Washita, some were tribal and others were federal and some were both:
Pickens County, Old Chickasaw Nation
1882-1885: Capt. Richard C. Wiggs, intermarried Chickasaw, Sheriff.
1880-1884: Sam Paul, Chickasaw. Paul advanced to Sergeant in the United States Indian Police at Pauls Valley, Pickens County.
1885-1890: Newton G. Frazier, Chickasaw, Sheriff.
1886-1890: Fred Waite, Chickasaw, one time friend to Billy the Kid, was a U. S. Indian Police Constable and Dep. U. S. Marshal at Pauls Valley
1887, Grove Chase, Sheriff; Constables: Charles Brown, Dave Sealy, and Charles Mule.
1893: Joe Gaines, Constable, and Dep. U. S. Marshal, was shot and killed on the streets of Pauls Valley by John Stevenson, who was married to Fred Waite’s cousin.
1893: Ed Carter was selected to replace Joe Gaines as Constable for Pauls Valley.
1893: A. M. Burch, Constable at Wynnewood, quit in a wage dispute after Judge Stewart cut the fee schedule for Constables to one quarter of that received by the Federal Marshals. Burch then gained an appointment as a Federal Marshal. A. N. Hill replaced Burch at Wynnewood.
1894: Hemp Willis, Sheriff; as Constables Frazier McLish, and Isaah Ucknumba
Pontotoc County, Old Chickasaw Nation
1877: H. H.? McClain, Sheriff
1887-1893: James Frazier, Chickasaw, Sheriff; Frazier’s Constables: Charles Strickland and Charles Stuart. (By 1890, Stuart was also a Deputy U. S. Marshal) 1886: John Walner, Chickasaw, of Wynnewood, was constable in the U. S. Indian Police and in the 1890’s Walner was commissioned a Dep. U. S. Marshal.
1893-94: Charles Strickland, Chickasaw, Sheriff.

Great information, Mr. Tower. Thank you for a most informative response.

One matter in particular has always fascinated me about the Indian system of justice in the Territories. I've read a number of accounts where the tribal court would sentence a guilty defendant to be executed by firing squad. Then, astonishingly, the court would let the condemned prisoner go, often for as much as a year, in order to settle his affairs, instructing him to report back on a certain date for his own execution. And he would do it! To me this indicates something profound about Indian culture, but I've never been quite sure what it is.

--meursault

You have to remember where the Indians came from. Even today ostracism by the group is the most severe punishment members can endure and I know of many who grow physically ill if cut off from their people. Dieing is considered part of living and not to be feared. And, then remember, the world in which their culture formed was very hostile. In order to survive, what was good for the tribe had to come first and for the tribe to function as a unit, all members had to submerge their own desires, well fare, and ambitions. While a wide range of individual behaviors was expected and accepted, deliberately harming another without cause was not accepted. If a man did something shocking enough for the elders to condemn him to execution, then it was understood that he was an evil which was harmful to the tribe. Early training kicked in and the condemned submitted to the execution rather than face expulsion, which in the early days was the same as execution. Another value part of the warrior training, is that boys were taught that their word was everything. It was blended into their duties as a man, and to lie, or not live up to one's agreements was unmanly. But, historically, not all submitted; in a minority of instances, some men would run. Those that did were hunted down and then executed, shamed as cowards. A few got completely away and returned years later and were then executed. It was very rare the tribe forgave and forgot. What I find amazing is that the acceptance of the blind fold at execution was considered an act of cowardice.

. "What I find amazing is that the acceptance of the blind fold at execution was considered an act of cowardice"

I've never understood this ritual of the blindfold. Since you can't see the bullets coming, what difference does it make? It would be just as logical to issue the condemned earplugs, so he didn't have to hear the gunshots Perhaps the blindfold is really for the benefit of the firing squad. Is it easier to kill a man if you don't have to look in his eyes?

In any event, these tribal executions could be gruesome affairs. At the Fort Smith official visitors center (Miss Laura's whorehouse--the "hello bordello") there's a blowup of an old newspaper photo depicting the aftermath of an execution. The firing squad is standing around, Winchesters in their arms, while one of their members is astride the prone victim who evidently isn't dying fast enough--so he is smothering him with what appears to be an old horse blanket. What's up with that? Why not just shoot the guy again through the head? Is there some cultural thing going on here? I'm reminded of the scene in Ford's The Searchers, where John Wayne finds the freshly buried body of his bitter Indian enemy Scar, which he uncovers and shoots in the eyes, supposing that to be (if I may put it this way) a particularly "grave" insult. Was there some taboo against disfiguring the head in death?

--meursault

This discussion is getting far afield from Capt. LaFlore--- Re:smothering the victim rather than a coup de whatever, beats me, but it would make for some interesting research if you know a grad student you want to drive crazy. I have read accounts where the condemned could and often did demand to be shot by a certain individual because that individual was a good shot and would make a clean kill. I also know that if the executioner botched the job, that was a shameful act and left the man open to ridicule. Nor do I know about the disfigurement after death issue amongst the Muskogeans.In many of the plains tribes mutilation of the corpse was practiced because of a belief that the next world was not much different than this world and if the corpse were harmed the individual would go to the afterlife less able to enjoy it and less able to do harm should the slayer meet the victim.