Outlaw Days (ePub)

"The bravery of the early United States marshals in Oklahoma will be remembered by...Mrs. Zoe Tilghman, wife of Bill Tilghman, former U.S. marshal who was killed several years ago in a gun battle...Mrs. Tilghman is the author of...Outlaw Days." -The Oklahoma Daily, March 15, 1939

"Outlaw Days by Zoe Tilghman, Bill's widow...the Bill Tilghman legend was kept alive...by Zoe Tilghman, his early days in Dodge City...capturing Bill Doolin." -Tulsa World, Jan. 10, 1999

"Her husband William M. Tilghman, famous peace officer...Zoe A. Tilghman...moved to Osage county, Indian Territory in 1887, where she lived on a ranch...is the author of...Outlaw Days in Oklahoma." -Sooner State Press, April 4, 1931

"Zoe Tilghman...married William M. Tilghman...a prominent figure of the law...is one of the outstanding writers of our time." -The Walters Herald, July 4, 1935

What insights does Zoe Tilghman, the widow of famous Oklahoma lawman Bill Tilghman, have on the early outlaws that infested the area towards the end of the 19^th century?

In 1926 Zoe Tilghman (1880-1964) published "Outlaw Days: A True History of Early-day Oklahoma Characters," based on her husband Bill Tilghman's encounters and knowledge of famous Old West outlaws he battled in the lawless region around Indian Territory. It is this book that has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.

In introducing her book, Zoe writes:

"This is a faithful and historic narrative of the events that took place in Oklahoma when the Southwest was terrorized by outlaws. It tells of desperate criminals and the officers who hunted them down....Oklahoma and Indian Territories were the last of the frontier and it was here that the bad men of the nation congregated before the country was opened to settlement. They were reckless and desperate, apostles of criminal liberty, ready at all times to commit any crime on the calendar. They were horse thieves, cattle rustler, and train robbers, and their operations made the Southwest notorious throughout the country."

Zoe's husband Bill Tilghman Jr. (1854 -1924) was a career lawman, gunfighter, and politician in Kansas and Oklahoma during the late 19th century. Tilghman was a Dodge City city marshal in the early 1880s and played a role in the Kansas County Seat Wars. In 1889 he moved to Oklahoma where he acquired several properties during a series of land rushes. While serving as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma, he gained recognition for capturing the notorious outlaw Bill Doolin and helping to track and kill the other members of Doolin's gang, which made him famous as one of Oklahoma's "Three Guardsmen".

Tilghman never achieved the household-word status of his close friends Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson but nevertheless remains a well-known figure of the American Old West. His memoirs were made into a 1915 film that he directed and starred in as himself.