These sketches provide a light and entertaining glimpse into the complex history of Fort Smith. But the intangible, Indian quality is as tenacious as cockleburs on socks. This sketch is part of a series, вЂњFort Smith Minutes,вЂќ originally developed by the park staff to provide one minute long public service announcements for local radio stations. References: Marauders of the Indian Nations by Glenn Shirley. It was this crime that Cherokee Bill would hang for in Fort Smith, but the road to the gallows had several more twists and turns for the law enforcement officials in Fort Smith. 'The ball struck Melton below one eye and came out the back of his head, killing him instantly.' Cherokee Bill shot and killed a painter named Ernest Melton who was watching the heist from a window of a restaurant across the street.

On November 9, Cherokee Bill and two other gang members held up a store and post office fifteen miles south of Coffeyville, Kansas.

Ten days later it was the wrecking and robbing of the Kansas City and Missouri Pacific express five miles south of Wagoner. Less than 2 hours later, they robbed the railroad agent at Chouteau. On October 10 'the record of bold and desperate deeds' was broken when the gang held up and robbed the depot of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Claremore. Parkinson & Company store in Okmulgee lost over $600 to them. On July 31, 1894, the gang stole $500 from the Lincoln County bank in Chandler, Oklahoma. Their crimes started off small with whiskey charges and stealing horses, but soon led to train robberies, stage holdups, and bank theft. Led by Bill Cook, this group of outlaws terrorized the Cherokee and Creek Nations during 18. In the Cherokee country the name 'Bill' meant 'wild hand,' not a person to run counter to.ДЄfter the assault on Jake Lewis, Cherokee Bill began riding with the Cook Gang. Apparently the name derived from his Cherokee heritage and his attendance at the Indian School at Cherokee, Kansas. Although Lewis suffered two gunshot wounds, he lived to file charges against Goldsby.Д«y this time, Goldsby had adopted the nickname of Cherokee Bill. The next morning, Goldsby appeared at Lewis' farm with the intention of killing him for the embarrassment in front of Maggie. While there, he got into a fight with Jake Lewis and was easily overpowered by the man. On September 29, Goldsby attended a harvest dance at Fort Gibson to see Maggie Glass, a pretty 15 year old girl with whom he was infatuated. When he returned, he worked odd jobs until his first run in with the law in the summer of 1893 at age 17. When George Goldsby abandoned his pregnant wife and son two years later, Ellen returned to Fort Gibson and sent Crawford to Indian Schools in Kansas and Pennsylvania. He was born on Februat Fort Concho, Texas, the son of George Goldsby, a buffalo soldier of Mexican, white and Sioux descent, and a woman named Ellen Beck, half black, one-fourth Cherokee and one-fourth white. Art Burton's newest book will help change that.Probably the most famous outlaw that was hanged on the Fort Smith gallows was Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill. Although both outlaws received national media attention for their crimes while they were living, Billy the Kid was remembered and immortalized in books and films in the twentieth century this did not occur for Cherokee Bill. He was also Native American, Bill was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, as a freedman, from his mother's lineage.Д¬ompare Cherokee Bill to Billy the Kid, (Billy Antrim), of New Mexico Territory fame. First and foremost, he was an African American living in the Indian Territory. There were a few things about him that made him truly unique for a famous desperado of the purple sage. This outlaw's name was Crawford Goldsby, better known as Cherokee Bill.Д¬herokee Bill was every bit as colorful and outrageous as any criminal of the western frontier, perhaps even more so.

Like both of these men, he garnered national press for his exploits the well-known New York Times had a running commentary on his actions and deeds. He can be compared to John Dillinger or Pretty Boy Floyd of the 1930s. Once upon a time in the late nineteenth century, there was an outlaw that captured the imagination of the American public like no other.

Cherokee bill