Does anyone have any information on L.P. "Bones" Isbell who was a member of the posse which captured Ned Christie? Any information is appreciated.
On the Trail
Diron L. Ahlquist
Secretary/Editor Oklahombres Journal

Hi Diron

I recall reading somewhere that Isbell was crippled in a gunfight with Christe, and thereafter was limited in his duties primarily to serving papers and writs. I'll check on this for the source.

Isbell figures in the trial of Alexander Lewis, accused of robbing a Katy train at the Verdi Gris water tank in 1888. Lewis's attorney J Warren Reed presented an alibi defense, with numerous witnesses testifying that Lewis could not have robbed the train as they remembered his presence in Tulsa on July 15, 1888. (Also the date of the robbery, IIRC). And how could they some three years later--when the trial occurred--be so positive? It seems that Isbell, so they claimed, arrested a prominent Tulsa resident by the name of Thomas Claywell on that date, Lewis's presence in Tulsa linked in their minds with Claywell's arrest. The trial turned on the fact that my great grandfather combed through the paperwork and found a writ of arrest clearly dated not July 15 but July 17. The alibi witnesses were obviously lying. Lewis was convicted but Reed won an appeal and at a later trial Lewis was acquitted.

--meursault

Fort Smith Elevator, Oct. 14, 1887: “Deputy Marshall Isbell in on the 20th from Vinita with John Speons, an Indian charged with rape and Jay Wade, a white man charged with larceny.

Fort Smith Elevator, August 1888?: Jess Cochran, Dan Maxwell and Joe Mobley, members of a gang of horse thieves who have been operating in the Cherokee country, were captured near Adair, Cherokee Nation on Monday last by Deputy Marshal L. P. Isbell, just after they had returned from Arkansas, where they disposed of about twenty head of stolen horses. Mobley is from Jack County, Texas, while his three companions are Cherokee. George Cochran is an escaped convict from the Cherokee National prison where he was serving to ten years for killing a man.”

Except where noted, the following passages are from Glenn Shirley’s “Heck Thomas”
p. 57: In 1887, Heck Thomas took Red Lucas, Deputy George Williams and L. P. Isbell, a half dozen good riding horses, a chuck wagon loaded with provisions and extra ammunition, and two wagons with drivers for prisoners. (They went through the Cherokee Nation, parts of the Creek, and into the Choctaw country.)

P. 60: On above trip, Isbell took five prisoners: a bigamist, two thieves, a man wanted for manslaughter, and John Stephens who had murdered widow Annie Kerr and her 16 year old son for testifying against him in a larceny case.

p.77: “Two more of Heck’s comrades, Isbell and Williams, also enjoyed profitable hunting in the spring of 1887. Both had been assigned the Cherokee Nation. In a three month period, they were responsible for lodging more than a score of criminals within the walls of the Federal jail.”

p. 87-88: Shirley: The Christie story; tells of Isbell’s left shoulder being shattered and remained a cripple for life.
p.33-34, of “Black, Red, and Deadly” by Art Burton, gives the same story and names the man as L. P. “Bones” Isbel (sic) and states Isbel lost the use of his right arm.
p.59 and 314: On these pages “The Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters,” by Bill O’Neal gives a brief account of the Christie fight and mentions Isbel’s shoulder wound, but does not specify side.

p.141: Heck assigned under Marshal Needles to the Northern Division of the Territory, headquartered at Vinita, where... “Heck spent the next few weeks with his old comrades, L. P. Isbell and Barney Connelly, and rode several expeditions with them.”

p. 147-148: Isbell tells Thomas that Emmett and Bob Dalton stole seventeen head of ponies and a team of mules from the Osage Country and their disposition. A warrant was sworn out in September, 1890, and citizens arrested Grat Dalton and turned him over to Isbell and Connelly.