Pawhuska, July 7, - Two deaths is recorded of the Fourth of July Celebration held at George Bigheart's on Bird Creek about 15 miles east of Pawhuska. Marshal John Jones was shot and instantly killed by a mix blood negro who went by the name of Ed Kile. A crowd in waiting for the murderer mistook John Silver, a mexican for their man and riddled him with bullets.
A few days before the fourth, Bigheart decided to have a celebration and asked the agent for several officers. Only one could be spared and Marshal Jones was detailed. The first day celebration passed off quietly until 10 o'clock Friday night, when Ed Kile offered a bystander a drink from a bottle. Jones, who was standing near, grabbed the bottle and threw it on the ground. The man (Kile) without a word started for the house on the run, where he frequently boasted of having a Winchester ready and had offered it's use several times to other parties.
Jones with any intention of arresting the man, followed him to the house in order to secure the gun. As Jones started up the stairs the negro appeared at the top and told him to stop, firing at the same time. The bullet struck Jones near the neck, passed through his body and out the other side, killing him instantly. The negro then jumped out of a window and escaped. A crowd soon surrounded the house, thinking that the murderer was still inside.
Previous to this John Silver, who had been drinking, had gone to the house to sleep off the effects of liquor. Being aroused by the nosie he got up and started to leave the building. Thinking he was the murderer, the crowd outside fired on him. One bullet, or possibly a load of buckshot, tore the right side of his head away. Another one passed through his hand, a third entered the intestines, while a fourth lodged in the right leg below the hip.
John Jones has served as an officer of the law in Oklahoma and Indian Territory for a long time and for the last few years has been located on the Osage Reservation. His record as an officer and a man are highly creditable. He leaves a wife who is blind, but no children. His kindness of heart and gentle disposition were displayed in his case of his blind wife. Every wish of her's was a command to him, and when off duty his time was spent in making her happy and helping her forget her affiction. His life was insured for $5,000.
His body was taken to Bartlesville where it will be interred. His home has been Bartlesville for some months as he had been assigned to work in the eastern part of the reservation. The man, John Silver was a mexican and had been employed in and about Pawhuska for several years past. He was an honest, trustworthy man and well liked by those who had employed him.
The negro has been working on the railroad most of the winter, when he worked at all, but had been recently employed by Bigheart. He is a thick set man, about 5 feet 8 inches tall. Has a yellow complexion and carries his head a little to one side.
At 10 o'clock the next day the murderer surrended to the officers in Pawhuska.

What was the year of this incident?

Sorry Art. 1903

Do you suppose this is the same George Bigheart who died in the 1920's during the Osage Murders?

Could be. I know where to find his death notice. Check back later and I will post it

John B. Jones was born on August 14, 1856, and came to the Pawhuska area in 1898 from Oklahoma City. He was first appointed as Court Clerk and then became the Chief of Police for about one year.

Following his service in those positions, he was appointed a Constable and was also commissioned as a Deputy U.S. Marshal stationed in Pawhuska.

On the Independence Day weekend in 1903, the Osage tribe was holding a two-day celebration on the grounds of the home of tribal Governor Bigheart on Bird Creek about 12 miles southeast of Pawhuska. The governor asked John Jones to be present during the festivities to maintain order. This gathering was to result in a double tragedy.

The first day of the celebration was Friday, July 3, 1903. All seemed to go well until about 11 P.M. About that time, Constable Jones came upon two men drunk on wine. One of the men was Ed Lile, a drifter of mixed black and Mexican blood in his early 20s. Jones tried to take the wine bottle away from the two drunks but Lile ran away from him, running up some stairs and threatening to get a gun and shoot the officer. Jones was standing in a lit area at the bottom of the stairs when Lile came back out of the upstairs room with a rifle. The landing at the top of the stairs was dark and Jones could not see Lile was armed. As Jones tried to talk the drunk man into coming down, Lile shot him and ran back into the upstairs room. Jones died almost instantly in the arms of a bystander.

A group of men drawn to the scene of the shooting searched the upstairs room without locating Lile; but, feeling that he was hiding in the attic, they surrounded the building, intending to keep the suspect inside until a posse of officers could arrive from Pawhuska. Unknown to them, Lile had already made his escape out of a back window.

It had started to rain and one of the celebration's guests, a local Mexican named John Slivers, had slipped up to the upstairs room after it had been searched. Slivers, having drunk too much and trying to escape the rain, laid down to sleep it off. The group of men dispersed, leaving James Burns to guard the stairs up to the room where they thought the suspect was still hiding.

About 5 A.M. Slivers awoke and started walking down the stairs. Burns, thinking Slivers was the suspect, who had killed the officer, shot him fatally in the head with his rifle. When the error was discovered, Burns was charged with murder but was later acquitted since it was a case of mistaken identity.

Ed Lile surrendered to a constable in Pawhuska the next day and was charged with Jones' murder. The reports of the officer's murder stated that he was "about 50 years old", very highly thought of and his death was the culmination of a series of tragedies he had been beset with recently.

In the recent past, his home had been struck by lightning and had burned to the ground. He was so highly regarded that his neighbors had taken up a large collection to offset his losses. One report of the murder noted that Jones, described as "a physical giant", rarely carried a firearm, relied on his prowess with his fists to make most arrests and may have been unarmed at the time of his death.

It was noted that Jones had married a blind woman in Oklahoma City, Miss Grace Stutsman, and he was utterly devoted to her and her care. The widow, who was 17 years younger than her husband, had refused to believe her husband was dead until she was taken to the funeral parlor and allowed to run her hands over his body and face. Jones was buried on July 9 in Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City. He is also listed on the list of Deputy U.S. Marshals killed in the line of duty maintained by the U.S. Marshals Service. Mrs. (Stutsman) Jones died in 1916 at the age of 43 and was buried next to her husband.

(SOURCE: "OKLAHOMA HEROES - A Tribute to Fallen Law Enforcement Officers" by Ron Owens (2000 pp. 122-123. Reprinted with permission of Ron Owens.)