Below are some newspaper articles I found in the Daily Oklahoman relating to Indian Police. As I find more I will post additional articles so please check back for more.

On the Trail
Diron L. Ahlquist
Secretary/Editor Oklahombres Journal


Daily Oklahoman, January 16, 1903, pg. 4
To Move Cattle
The Indian Police Will Push Chickasaw Cattle Across The Line
How About Quarantine
Indian Police Ejecting All Cattle On Which Tribal Tax Has Not Been Paid
Chickasha, I.T., Jan. 15 - Twenty-six members of the Indian police department this morning began work rounding up cattle belonging to Maxwell, Norris, and Norton, principal non-citizen cattle owners of the Chickasaw Nation.
This is by reason of their persistent refusal to pay the tribal tax of 25 cents a head. The police were recalled from Rush Springs and Marlow yesterday by telegraph, mobilizing them. The cattle will be driven across the South Canadian River into Oklahoma.
The herd is the largest in the country. It probably will occupy the entire efforts of the police for several days.

Daily Oklahoman, August 20, 1903, pg. 2
Did Not Pay Tax
And Now Their Cattle Are Being Driven Off Of Chickasaw Range Lands
Indian Police At Work
There Will Be Lively Doings Around Chickasha, as Several Large Herds Must Be Moved Out of the Country
Chickasha, I.T., Aug. 19 - Several weeks ago a statement was made in the territorial press under a Chickasha date line, that the Indian police department, which was engaged in moving a large herd of cattle in the Creek nation, had been ordered to mobilize at Chickasha immediately after their work in the northeast part of the territory was completed.
The police were engaged in the Creek country much longer than it had been anticipated, and only last week did they finish. The request for the presence of the department here was made by Mr. Kelsey, Internal revenue inspector for the district, and the purpose for which they are required is to put an emphatic stop to some of the practices indulged in my non-citizen owners of large herds of cattle grazing on Chickasha lands, in an endeavor to dodge the payment of the tribal tax of 25 cents on each head of cattle.
The interior department has had endless trouble in attempting to collect this tax, and even now a test case involving something like 100,000 head is before the supreme court of the United States at Washington for decision. The cattlemen have fought it stubbornly even going so far as to replevin the cattle while the police were attempting to drive them out of the country. Every decision rendered so far has been against the cattlemen and in favor of the interior department, by whom the tax is collected and paid over to the tribal government.
The department of justice and the federal officers have several times clashed over the collection of the tax. Until the decision of the supreme court, however, the cattlemen have been forced to pay the tax, but they do it under protest and with exceeding ill grace, and if they can find any loophole under the shining sun to crawl out of, or lessen the expense, they do not fail to take advantage of it quickly.
It is some of these “loopholes” of escape that Mr. Kelsey has called the Indian police to investigate and to assist him in stopping them up. The method of collecting the cattle tax is much the same as that of collecting any other. The cattle owner first gives in his assessment, or the number of cattle included in his herd. When the time for collection arrives, the owner is served with ten days’ notice to liquidate. Until recently the widest latitude was granted the cattlemen in which to pay up; but of late, since they have resisted the payment so strongly, the Indian agent and his assistants, the revenue collectors, have stuck strictly to the letter of the law, and if the money was not forthcoming within ten days, the herd was immediately driven out.
One of the “loopholes” of the non-citizen owners is to give in a far less number of cattle than they actually possess.
Recent orders of the interior department even as far back as a year previous to Guy P. Cobb’s resignation, have been very strict and rigid, and the collectors are now required to satisfy themselves as to the truth of the owner’s statements.
Recently Mr. Kelsey has found several glaring instances of deception in the enumeration of certain large herds in this section of the Chickasaw country, and before the Indian police have completed their labors here there will probably be some lively rounding up and counting. Several herds which in reality number 500 and 600 have been…[rest missing]

Daily Oklahoman, December 17, 1903, pg. 2
Indian Police Seize Property
More Trouble Arises From Refusal of Owners to Pay Tribal Tax
Appeal To Courts
Coalgate, I.T., Dec. 16 - The Indian police have been very active recently in the collection of the tribal tax on lumber, cattle, and hay, and have seized a large amount of property on which the owners had failed to pay the royalty.
This week they levied on and took possession of two hundred tons of hay which had been cut by one Bill Hatchey and sold to the Ada National bank, and also fifty tons cut by William Smith a few miles from this city.
quite a large amount of lumber has also been seized, and as a consequence the larger number of saw mills operating in the district have been closed down until the question of the legality of the actions of the tribal authorities is settled.

Daily Oklahoman, January 28, 1904, pg. 1
Indian Threats
Keetowahs Said To Be Claiming To Clean Out The Half-Breeds
Police Going To Scene
Party of Hunters From Fort Gibson Have Not Been Heard From And The Police Are Uneasy
Ft. Gibson, I.T., Jan. 27 - Tonight John West, captain of Indian police, with a squad of ten picketed[sic] men, passed through on his way to Greenleaf mountains, where the Keetowahs are concentrating.
Parties in on[sic] the train from Braggs report a big bunch of Indians gathering there. They refuse to explain their presence.
A party of seven hunters from this place are in the Greenleaf mountains. The last time they were heard from they were in the section that is now surrounded by the Indians. During the past three days it has been impossible to hear from them, and the police here are growing uneasy. So far no murders have been reported, but the Indians state that they are gathering to clean out the half-breeds, who, they claim, have been aiding the government in allotment of lands. If Capt. West does not locate the party of hunters by morning a posse of men will be sent out to reinforce him.

Daily Oklahoman, August 7, 1904, pg. 1
Indian Police To Watch Polls
In Order To Prevent A Recurrence of Trouble As A Result of Tribal Election
Muskogee, I.T., Aug. 6 - The United States Indian agent has issued a bulletin in which he states that Indian police will patrol all voting precincts in the Chickasaw nation at the election of a chief to be held August 10. The candidates are ex-Governor Johnston and Richard McLish. The campaign has been a heated one and the officials fear trouble at the polls. At the last election and events following so grave was the danger that not only the Indian police but a troop from Fort Reno was called out. This is the last election of the Chickasaws.

Daily Oklahoman, July 9, 1905, pg. 2
Doors Closed By Indian Police
Tulsa Title & Trust Company Declines to Pay Tribal Tax and is Closed Up
Tulsa, I.T., July 8 - The Indian police, acting under special instructions from J. George Wright, Indian inspector, closed the doors of the Tulsa Title & Trust Company, because of non-payment of taxes. The trust company declines to pay the tax on the grounds that the law does not include businesses of that class, while the Indian officials held that it comes under the head of real estate dealers. An Indian policeman has been stationed at the door of the trust company’s office all day and has refused entrance to all who have applied.

Daily Oklahoman, July 1, 1908, pg. 14
Move Squatters From Lo’s Land
Department Orders Indian Police To Clear Coal Reserve
Muskogee, Okla., June 30 - Snatched from their homes, away from their crops and with their household goods piled across the section line, a dozen families have been forcibly ejected from the segregated coal lands of the Choctaw nation by the Indian police, acting under instructions from the department of interior.
These families are regarded as squatters by the government. They went on the coal lands and refused to pay rent. Notice after notice was served upon them, and finally a detail of Indian police was sent down to put them off. No resistance was made. There are many other “squatters” scattered over the half a million acres of segregated lands.

Daily Oklahoman, October 23, 1908, pg. 9
Running Over Water Murderer’s Victim
Ponca Police Dead
Two Indians Are Placed In Jail
Ponca City, Okla., Oct. 22 - Testimony introduced before a coroner’s jury and bullet wounds in the body bore out the theory that Running Over Water, a prominent member of the Ponca tribe of Indians and a member of their police force, whose dead body was found on Salt Fork by some children, confirmed the theory of murder and John and Sophia Bull have been placed under arrest.
Running Over Water’s body was discovered a mile and a half west of the White Eagle depot Sunday night. There were two bullet wounds in his body. He was 45 years old and popular as a citizen and officer.

Thought I'd help out, here is one of my favorites:
Open letter to Constables of the Indian Police from D. M. Wisdom, U. S. Indian Agent, Chickasaw Enterprise: Novemember 1, 1894.
"I hereby direct you, with or without warrant, to arrest all outlaws, theives, and murderers in your section and if they resist you will shoot them on the spot. And, you will aid and assist all U. S. Deputy Marshals in the enforcement of the laws and make yourselves a terror to evil doers. If afraid, turn in your resignation and I'll appoint better men in your place. This is no time for cravens and cowards to hold official positions and wear the badges of office."

From the Chickasaw Enterprise, May 2, 1895:

Both Were Killed.
Durant I. T. April 25--Indian Policeman Ed Bohanon and Jim Jackson shot and killed each other at the home of a man named Taylor, four miles west of town this evening. The Taylors were accused of stealing a yoke of steers from a mover and holding them for a reward to be offered for their recovery. Bohanon received instructions from Agent Wisdom to take the steers in charge and he, in company with Jack Turner, went to Taylor's house for that purpose. They met at the gate, Jim Jackson, armed with a gun. Bohanon and Jackson drew their guns simultaneously. Bohanon fell dead with a bullet through his head, and Jackson walked into the house and fell, where he died from a bullet through the breast.

Purcell Register, May 25, 1891
Ardmore Notes
HARRISON MCLEAN, permit collector for Pickens County, cane in today from Pauls Valley where he has been conferring with Governor BYRD., Agent BENNETT and other officials. He reports that the Indian militia have been camped at Pauls Valley for several days, waiting for the river to do down so they could cross and go to Parr there to join the U. S. troops. Before McLean left, he said a dispatch was received via Muskogee saying the U. S. troops could not move before the 26th, hence no developments can be expected for several days. From Parr the united force will moved southward until Healdton is reached then eastward to Ardmore, from which point trips will be made in all directions. The Indian militia is made up of men well up in years. We are informed by one who saw with his own eyes they have some 40 wire nippers to cut barbed wire and it is certain they intend to cut many a wire around the great pastures fenced in plain violation of the law. They are instructed to cut the posts as well as the wire.

Parties in from the vicinity of Parr on Tuesday report that U.S. troops from Fort Sill have been encamped in that neighborhood for several days awaiting the arrival of the territorial authorities and the Indian Agent to begin the ejection of intruders. These gentlemen tell us that there are in that vicinity a few parties who have come in and squatted on lands, fencing in large tracts without any authority and in open defiance of law. These fences are to be cut down and the parties squatting on the lands removed, as they should be.

Daily Ardmorite: February 8, 1900:
Davis, the War Center
Indian agent SHOENFELT, CAPT. JACK ELLIS and his Indian police squadron sailed down on the business town of Davis last night. Their mission is to collect the 1% tax imposed by the Chickasaw government on all business men. Many of our people are opposed to the payment of the tax, deeming in an unjust taxation. The first direct opposition encountered by the collectors was reached at the dry goods store of D. WOLF, and this they very promptly closed up. The Farmers Bank it seems has been called upon, also, and the collecting officials say they will certainly close down the bank, this afternoon unless the tax, which is unpaid for 2 years, is forthcoming. This will amount to something over $200. It is reported that the bank has offered to compromise in the matter, but it is not known how the matter will terminate.

Same paper: Elmore City Aug. 6, 1906: A member of the Indian police was here Wednesday serving notice on crop owners to prepare for the opening of the section line road from here to Wynnewood.

The Caldwell Journal, June 21, 1883: Last Saturday the stage coach brought in from the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency eight Indian Police, dressed in their uniforms, but having on at the same time various ornaments suited to the red man's peculiar notions of personal adornment. Their mission here was to act as escort to Wm. Malaley, who left Saturday night with the money to be paid to the Cheyennes and Arapahoes for the lease of the western portion of thier reserve. The names of the Indians were given us by J. A. Covington, and are as follows: Black Wolf, Bear's Lariat, Coming Horseback, and Medicine Pipe, Arapahoes; Prairie Chief, Bird Chief, Brass Hat, and Red Bird, Cheyenne; Black Wolf is a lieutenant and Prairie Chief a sergeant. They were rather a fine looking lot of Indians, and seemed to feel the importance of their mission.

William Malaley also held a deputy U.S. marshal commission during the mid-1870s and was at the head of several documented expeditions against horse thieves, whiskey peddlers, and trespassing buffalo hunters in the C&A Reservation and Cherokee Outlet.

Hey,
Do you by any chance know where the documents on those various expeditions are located?
Any information would be appreciate.
Wasn't Wm. Malaley in the party that found Hennessey?
Thanks.

I've got several accounts of the expeditions in my archive. They have just been collected through various sources and research facilities including the Fort Sill Museum, National Archives, Western History Collection at OU, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. I wrote a fairly comprehensive article on the Hennessey killing in a previous issue of the Oklahombres Journal which covers all aspects of the possibilities that Indians or Outlaws did the deed. Malaley was in the party along with J.A. Covington, Agent John D. Miles, and others who came across the massacre sight shortly after the killing while they were enroute to Kansas in pursuit of safety.

From the Chickasaw Enterprise, June 30, 1904: datelined Guthrie, June 26th, The Osage Indian sare holding daily councils protesting against the payment by the government out of the Osage annunity funds the sum of $152,700 claimed to be due licensed Indian Traders by the Osage tribe. So violent are becoming the meetings that Warren Bennett, Chief of the Indian Police, has named 25 special deputies to aid in keeping the peace. St. Louis and Kansas City traders are interested in the payment.

From the Chickasaw Enterprise, Nov. 28, 1901
Dorset Carter Case: The habeas corpus case from Purcell, wherein it is sought to liberate Dorsett Carter, a prominent attorney of Purcell, now under arrest by order of the Interior Department by Jack Ellis, captain of the Indian Police, and ordered to be excluded with all his cattle and effects from the Nation, came befor Judge Hosea Townsend Wennesday forenoon....
Townsend decided that the case was not reviewable by him and that the Secretary had absolute power and authority to order Carter put out of the Territory for cause deemed sufficient by himself and that he should be remanded to the tender care of Jack Ellis (unless good cause could be shown why he should be excepted.)
As Carter was later instrumental in bringing the Oklahoma Central Railroad through in 1905 while still an attorney at Purcell and was later involved in a 1911 construction of a 15 span, double intersection bridge over the Canadian River between Lexington and Purcell, it is assumed good cause was found.

Came across this, in, of all places the Lowell, Mass. Daily and the Decatur, Illinois Daily. Both were datelined Guthrie, Oct. 17, 1893:
"Near Tecumseh: Charles Bruner, an Indian Policeman, attempted to arrest his brother, Abe, for drunk and disorderly. When Abe drew a revolver and began shooting, his brother was obliged to kill him in self defense. The fight took place in a country store. Richmond Carolina, a bystander, was killed by a flying bullet."

If you'll recall, Richmond was wounded and captured when Dick Glass was killed in June, 1885.

Almost forgot, there is a story that John Tecumseh Bruner shot and killed his brother, name unknown, because the brother refused to go when Tecumseh arrested him. John Tecumseh had a farm in the same area as the above reports and was a Seminole Light Horseman. Does anyone know if the two shootings are one in the same?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tower,

Tower, I do believe this is most likely the same story concerning Bruner having to kill his brother. The newspapers properly got the first name wrong. I don't think you would have the same incident brother killing brother in the same locale at approximately the same time in history. John Tecumseh Bruner was quite a lawman in his day, an asset to the Seminole Lighthorse Police.

From the Atoka Independent reprinted in the Purcell Register, April 7, 1888: The Indian Police. We wonder how the Indian Police can be possibly expected to attend strictly to the preservation of the peace, take frequent and often terrible chances in arresting criminals—hold prisoners at their own personal risk, and travel from place to place at the call of duty, all—all for the pitiful salary of $8 per month. Nothing less than a thirst for excitement and adventure would induce any sane man to become a member of this ill-used body. The ten year old chore boy in a village restaurant is infinitely better endowed in the goods of this world than the Indian Policeman, without half the labor and responsibility incurrent on the latter’s office.
If there are those who are given to grumbling because there are not better men on the force, let them remember that it takes money in the minority of cases to purchase valuable service, and that low salary will scarcely in any case produce the best results.
The Indian Police, as a body, have done much towards promoting the peace and welfare of every community in the Territory, and it is only justice to commend them to the consideration of the five tribes, that some small appropriation may be made to sustain them in a respectable and creditable manner.

The Indian police often ran into problems when they attempted to make an arrest outside of the Territory. Charles Stewart, who ran a hotel in Cherokee Town, as well as a small ranch, was, according to the Gainesville, Texas Hesperian, arrested by Lum Johnson and Vince Anglin, for assault to murder and rudely displaying a pistol. Stewart was jailed and forced to make bond. The Purcell Register, for December 24, 1887, commented “By reading the above, it will be seen that Charlie Stewart has been having trouble at Gainesville. Not being able to learn anything further in the matter we await Charlie’s return to hear his version of the affair.” Shortly after this incident, Stewart quit because he was tired of the hassle of doing his civic duty. He was followed by Fred Tecumseh Waite, who once rode with the infamous Billy the Kid in Lincoln County, New Mexico. After filling out Charlie’s term, Waite was re-appointed for a second and full term and given the additional commission as Deputy United States Marshal. And, he didn’t have to worry about being arrested in Texas for carrying a gun and arresting/shooting people resisting arrest.
Another one reported by the Gainesville Register and reprinted in the Purcell Register for April 14, 1888 was that Indian Policeman Walker came down from Tishimingo with a prisoner who called himself McCarty but who was arrested under the name Barker. The man was charged with complicity in a train robbery in Williamson County, Texas as he exactly fit the description and photograph of the alleged train robber.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tower,

From the Purcell Territorial Topics, April 20, 1890

Notice to Indian Police
United States Indian Force, Union Agency
Muskogee, I. T. April 8, 1890

For a better understanding of some of your duties, rights and privileges which have heretofore, in times, been abused, I call your attention to the following regulations which must be complied with:
1st Indian Police have no authority to deputize any person as their proxy or assistant.
2nd Indian Police are forbidden to engage in any business wherein their obliged attendance is to be...., except as provided in the rules and regulations, general and special, issued from this Agency.
3rd Indian Officers will assist in the enforcement of the Indian Nations’ laws against the carrying of dangerous weapons by arresting all non-citizens violating the same. Then...report must be made to the agency detailing circumstances with names of parties arrested, names of witnesses, and description of weapon which must be held for instruction as to its disposition.
4th Indian Police are to keep vigilant watch against the introduction of intoxicating liquor. At express and freight offices, you, on having reasonable grounds of suspicion that certain packages contain intoxicating liquors, open and examine such suspicious package and if intoxicants are found you must return the same to the package and ask the agent to seal the same. When sealed, you will take charge of the package and make immediate report thereof to this agency giving name, marks, description and nature of contents and all other facts obtainable and hold the package until advised in writing of its disposition. In making these seizures of intoxicating liquors you:
Must make every search in the presence of the railroad or express agent;
Must not permit outside persons to be present under any pretext;
Must examine or search only such packages as there are reasonable grounds for suspecting to contain intoxicants;
Must handle all packages with proper care, remembering that Indian Police are responsible for damage committed;
Must have agent seal every package taken by you and immediately write full particulars, holding the package for special instructions.
U. S. Indian Police are furnished with commissions which must be exhibited when authority is requested.
A monthly report of your work is demanded and will be required. If you fail to furnish yours, you will be suspended therefor.
While it is not expected nor desirable that Indian Police should ask permission to absent themselves from their usual post office addresses, it is expected and you will be required to report such absence to this agency for its information.
Absence from your post without notice to this agency will be followed by suspension and if continued by dismission from the force.
Leo E. Bennett,
United States Indian Agent

Mike,
I never researched it, but given the date of this article, Leo E. Bennett, was also U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Indian Territory. I knew he was an Indian Agent but didn't realize he held both positions concurrently. Unless this was a report on an earlier edict by the then U.S. Indian Agent. Quite interesting.

Mike,
I stand corrected. I jumped the gun on the dates. He didn't become a marshal until 1897. So the 1890 date holds up fine.