1902 Gunfight at Spokogee

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By the spring of 1902, the Fort Smith & Western Railroad was slowly pushing its way westward, into the heart of the Creek Nation in Indian Territory. A new town named Spokogee had sprung up in the path of the coming railroad. The Creek name meant ‘the exalted,’ or ‘near to God.’ It lay in the middle of the Dogtown Settlement, a lush, lawless country between the North Canadian and South Canadian rivers in what is now Oklahoma. Dogtown Settlement extended eastward from about where Wetumka and Calvin are today almost to Eufaula. The area attracted men who stole cattle and horses. It was where the Creek, Cherokee and Choctaw nations met, and stock was driven there to be rebranded and then taken on to Eufaula to be sold without a hitch.

The area around Spokogee was home to two feuding families, the Brookses and McFarlands. Willis B. Brooks, 48, was a well-known inhabitant of the Dogwood Settlement and one of the toughest men to be found in Indian Territory. He was a gunfighter from Alabama, by way of Texas. Jim McFarland, his chief adversary, had the reputation of being an outlaw and a killer. While the ribbon of steel inched its way toward Spokogee, the long-simmering feud between the warring families heated up and then erupted into a classic Western gunfight, settled with gun smoke, blood and lead.

Brooks, who had several gunfights to his credit, always appeared in public with a Winchester and a revolver in plain view. His younger brother Henry, known as ‘Peg Leg’ Brooks because he had lost his right leg after being wounded, was also in the Dogwood Settlement. They had the support of Sam Baker, deputy marshal of Checotah, who had grown up near the Brooks family in Lawrence County, Ala., and had married the Brooks brothers’ youngest sister, Francis.

Willis and Henry were the sons of Elisabeth Jane and Willis Brooks, Sr. During the Civil War, their father and oldest brother, John, had been tortured and killed in Alabama by eight renegade Confederate Home Guardsmen. Elisabeth Jane, known as Jenny, had gathered her young brood around her and made them swear a blood oath to avenge the deaths of their father and brother. As her boys grew up, they fulfilled that oath with deadly precision. Willis Brooks and his brothers had left a trail of blood that stretched from Alabama all the way to Texas. In later years, Jenny Brooks would proudly claim that of the eight men implicated in the death of her husband and oldest son, ‘Seven ov’um have been got!’ But along the way, she also lost two other sons. Gainum was killed during a bloody feud with a Creek Indian­black family in the mountains of Alabama, and Mack disappeared on a cattle drive up the Chisholm Trail from Texas and was never heard from again.

Willis Brooks had left Texas for Indian Territory in 1890. After living near Grady in the Chickasaw Nation, he had moved his family to the Dogtown Settlement in 1894, eventually settling less than a mile south of what would become Spokogee. He had brought with him 500 head of cattle. At that time, Indian land was restricted. It could be leased or rented for agricultural purposes for five years and for grazing purposes for one year, but it could not be sold. Willis bought his land from the Indians, paying them in advance with the understanding that when the restrictions were removed, the land would be his, free and clear.

Willis Brooks had a good-sized ranch. Next to the split-log house was a large log kitchen and a low frame bunkhouse that held a dozen bunks. Not only hired hands stayed there; many an outlaw found refuge at the Brooks ranch. Willis’ wife, Maggie, was a friend to all, good or bad.

For many years, the nearest store was at Big Prairie, about six miles away. On June 27, 1902, the post office was moved from Old Watsonville, which was located about two miles north in southeastern Okfuskee County, to Spokogee. Old Watsonville was the home of Jim, Joe and Sam McFarland, bitter enemies of the Brooks family.

Jim McFarland had earned his reputation as an outlaw and a killer in Kentucky, his native state. Some of his neighbors there believed he had been responsible for the disappearance of some of their cattle, though no one dared to openly accuse him. After making his way to Indian Territory, he married a Creek woman named Sarah Watson, but was known to abuse her. When one of Sarah’s brothers was found floating in a pond, shot to death, everyone supposed that McFarland had done it because the man had objected to the way Jim was treating Sarah. No official charges were made.

Joe and Sam McFarland joined Jim in Old Watsonville, as did Sarah’s half-brother Santa A. ‘Sandy’ Watson and another Indian named Bill Franklin. The McFarlands found an ally in old man George Riddle and his son, Lon (Alonzo), who lived on the prairie to the northwest. The Riddles threw in with the McFarlands because Willis Brooks had apparently tried to drive George and Lon out of the area.

When 19-year-old Thomas Brooks, Willis and Maggie’s oldest son, was shot and killed on August 24, 1896, Willis held the McFarlands responsible. It seems there was a Texas Ranger living in the area who kept a hoard of money hidden in his cabin. The old man had appeared to be an easy target to rob. The McFarlands insisted that Tom Brooks, on his own, had gotten the idea to rob the old man and had gotten himself killed. The Brookses, on the other hand, claimed that Jim McFarland had conned the boy into trying to rob the old Ranger and then had tipped off the old man, who had waited for Brooks and killed him. In any event, Tom Brooks’ death was the beginning of a blood feud that would last six years. The Brookses threatened to kill McFarlands on sight and vice versa.

During the last week of January 1899, Jim McFarland had an argument over a bill with a man named John Johnson, alias Long, at Butler’s store in Spokogee. Tempers flared, but cooler heads prevailed before any blood was spilled–or perhaps Jim McFarland realized too many witnesses were present. Johnson thought the matter was satisfactorily settled, but McFarland would not let it rest. Later that day, he and brother-in-law Sandy Watson ran into Johnson at the house of Joe McFarland, Jim’s brother. Johnson had crossed the wrong man. Shots were fired and Johnson was hit twice in the head, once through the hip and bowels, and through both thighs. Jim McFarland escaped without a scratch. It is not known if Johnson ever got off a shot before he fell dead.

In January of the following year, Jim McFarland was tried for Johnson’s murder in the U.S. District Court at Muskogee. The only witnesses were McFarland’s brother and brother-in-law, and Jim was acquitted. Later, McFarland accumulated a number of other charges against him in the Muskogee court, including assault with intent to kill. Because these charges were pending against him and because he owed large sums of money, Jim decided it was time to pull a disappearing act. Sometime in 1901, while out on bail, he left home on horseback with $3,000 belonging to a cattle commission in Okemah. He was not heard from for two days. The evening of the second day, his horse came home riderless. There were bullet marks and evidence of blood on his saddle. Search parties immediately scoured that part of the Creek Nation, fully expecting to find the body of Jim McFarland riddled with bullets. But his body could not be found.

McFarland had slipped across the border to hide out in Juarez, Mexico. His ruse might have worked had he not tried to contact his family almost a year later. In August 1902, he gave himself up to authorities in Muskogee and posted $1,000 bond. Somehow, Jim was forgiven for absconding with the cattle commission’s money, and in September 1902 the charge of assault with intent to kill was thrown out of court. With his troubles apparently over, McFarland was soon back in his old haunts and up to his old habits.

The Fort Smith & Western Railroad was being built from Fort Smith, Ark., to Guthrie, the future capital of Oklahoma. Spokogee was chosen as the site of a township along the line mainly because it was situated halfway between the two cities. Neither the Brookses nor the McFarlands took too kindly to the intrusion of the railroad or the new town springing up practically on their doorsteps.

George Sparks, the president of the First National Bank of Fort Smith, and Cliff Speer, the owner of a hardware store in Fort Smith, controlled townsite privileges along the proposed railroad. Because they could not gain clear title to the restricted land needed for the townsites, however, the two men had been unable to capitalize on their concession. A prominent Muskogee lawyer, S. Morton Rutherford, and his young real estate partner, Jesse H. Hill, thought they knew how to circumvent the restrictions on the Indian land. They were given a contract to handle the townsites in the Creek Nation.

Rutherford and Hill secured agricultural leases on 320 acres of land on which the railroad station of Spokogee was to be located. The two promoters saw the warring factions of the Brookses and McFarlands as a potential problem and thought it wise to visit the adversaries. ‘Not to be partial, Rutherford and I stayed a night each at Brooks’ and McFarland’s,’ recalled Hill. ‘The nights were uneventful except for our constant battle with bedbugs, which were especially objectionable to my companion.’

Town lots were offered for sale on July 1, 1902, at $25 each, with location determined by drawing. The sale was to take place at noon in front of the promoters’ new office, an uncompleted wood-frame building without front or back walls. It was to be a festive occasion, with free drinks and barbecue for everyone.

At about 10 o’clock that morning at the sale site an argument broke out between Lon Riddle, son of old man George Riddle, and John Brooks, one of Willis Brooks’ sons. Both young men were about 20 years old. Lon Riddle had been drinking and was sporting a six-shooter. Captain G.G. Tyson, an old Confederate whom Hill called ‘camp manager,’ disarmed Riddle. A ring of men formed behind the row of new buildings to let the young men fight it out. Young Brooks came out slugging with a pair of brass knuckles and pummeled Riddle to the ground. This was contrary to Jesse Hill’s sense of fair play, so he stepped in front of Brooks and said, ‘You can’t hit him [with those].’ Captain Tyson quickly stripped the brass knuckles off Brooks’ hand. Before Riddle could get up off the ground, though, Sam Baker, John Brooks’ uncle by marriage, threw down on Riddle with his Winchester. Hill pushed Baker’s Winchester barrel to the ground and said, ‘Don’t act a fool.’ Baker released his hold on the stock of the Winchester with his right hand, but then drew his six-shooter and stuck it in Hill’s face. ‘It was the first and only time I ever looked down a gun barrel,’ Hill later recalled.

At the threat of gunplay, the crowd immediately took to the brush and a nearby cornfield, making it mighty hard to sell lots. Rutherford, who did not lack nerve, was not about to let his business be interrupted by Sam Baker or anyone else. He also thought Baker was about to kill his partner, so he emerged from the back of the office with rifle in hand and got the drop on Sam. He backed Baker up against a wall and proceeded to tell him what he thought of him. Rutherford had no way of knowing that Sam’s 16-year-old son, Bill Mite Baker, who had been standing to the rear, had leveled a Winchester on him. Coolheaded Cliff Speer averted any bloodshed by gently pushing Rutherford’s gun barrel down, allowing Baker a chance to retreat. Seeing that his father was out of immediate danger, young Bill Baker lowered his rifle, too.

Word of the disturbance reached Willis Brooks, and he entered the fracas. Jesse Hill recalled the scene: ‘Willis Brooks and his cohorts, each mounted and armed, rode up to do battle….Unless something was done to stay the upcoming disaster, potential buyers would not become lot-owners. To my surprise, Rutherford entered the scene. Rutherford addressed the leader of each side in turn, at times bombastically belligerent, at times profanely pacific, but at all times profusely perspiring. He talked the two sides out of battle, but all of this had a bad effect on the crowd.’

Hill went into the cornfield to round up the customers, assuring them that peace had been restored. The sale resumed, and despite the disturbance, Rutherford and Hill managed to take in $14,000 that day. Thus were the tumultuous beginnings of Spokogee.

Soon after the sale of lots, people began moving into the new town and building houses and stores. Although the population quickly grew to about 150, Jesse Hill would often find the town practically deserted. The Brooks­McFarland feud had everyone on edge. Both factions continued to make threats. Although there were still plenty of lots left for sale, under these conditions, Rutherford and Hill could find no more buyers.

Rutherford was no stranger to the Brooks family. Willis’ brother Henry ‘Peg Leg’ Brooks had been working the logging camps in the Choctaw Nation near Clayton when he struck up a horse trade with a man named Dickey. Unknown to Henry, the pair of horses he had acquired were stolen. Henry Brooks was arrested a few days later in possession of the horses, and on May 12, 1898, at South McAlester, he was convicted of horse theft and was sentenced to 10 years in the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth.

Willis Brooks retained the services of the Muskogee law firm of Cravens, Rutherford and English to obtain the release of his brother. After locating a witness to the trade, Rutherford and associates were able to present ample proof that a charge of receiving stolen property was the most Henry should have been properly charged with. Henry had served four years of his sentence by the time he received a presidential pardon by Theodore Roosevelt. Just 10 days after the July 1, 1902, lot sale and fracas Henry was released from prison. He immediately rejoined his brother Willis at Spokogee.

Jim McFarland had also missed the July 1 action, as he didn’t make it back to the Spokogee area from his self-imposed exile in Juarez, Mexico, until August. When the most formidable McFarland returned, everyone knew the simmering cauldron would soon explode. About once a week the Brooks brothers would ride into town, and the citizens would close up shop and head for cover, fearing the McFarlands would show up in a fighting mood. A few days later, the McFarlands would ride in to Spokogee, and the scene would repeat itself.

The nervous town refused to boom. Jesse Hill, for one, grew tired of the situation. ‘Old Willis Brooks would get into some kind of altercation with most anyone and throw a gun in his face and abuse him,’ Hill recalled. ‘I made up my mind that if he ever pulled [a gun] again on me and abused me, that I would take it but that I would assassinate him just as soon as I could make a chance.’ When he had had all he could stand, Hill returned to Muskogee and told his partner, Rutherford, he was not going back to Spokogee until the trains were running into town.

In late September 1902, Rutherford and Hill went deer hunting about 10 or 15 miles east of Spokogee. After three or four days with no luck, thunderstorms and a hard rain set in. The partners decided to head for their office in Spokogee. They arrived about dark and bedded down. It rained all night. About 9 o’clock on Monday morning, the sky began to clear and Rutherford and Hill went down the street to get some breakfast.

At Willis Brooks’ ranch, the thunderstorm had scattered some of the livestock. Henry Brooks and Willis’ son Earl went about rounding up the strays. Willis and his sons Clifton and John saddled up to ride into town for the mail. The date was September 22, 1902.

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