The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Lincoln County War(1878-1881)

Later, French was moved to a cabin behind Frank Coe's place where he convalesced for several days. After recovering, French confined his activities to protecting the McSweens, a role he took seriously. In mid-July the so-called Five-Day Battle took place. The McSween house was under siege, and there was sporadic shooting. French remained inside the home, shouting profanities at the forces of James J. Dolan, who had replaced the seriously ill Murphy as head of the opposing faction. After five days of siege, Dolan's men set fire to the house and the gunfire increased. On the night of the 19th, five of the defenders--Billy the Kid, José Chávez y Chávez, Harvey Morris, Tom O'Folliard and French--broke out of the house, trying to create a distraction that would allow McSween and the others to escape. Morris and McSween were among the casualties that night. French, who, like the Kid, got away, later returned to Lincoln to protect McSween's widow, Susan.

Lincoln County Courthouse

Few folks have offered any hints as to what happened to French after the Lincoln County War. U.S. Army Captain G.A. Purington included in an 1879 field report a rumor that French had been killed during a quarrel over the distribution of stolen cattle. Nearly 60 years later, Herbert Cody Blake related that he understood French left for South America after the fighting. Some researchers have taken Blake's statement literally; however, it seems unlikely that a man without means or language skills would go to a foreign country for an extended period. What is more plausible is that Blake was using a colloquialism meaning that the man went beyond the reach of the law. Fellow Regulator Frank Coe insisted that French had returned to what would become Oklahoma and was shot there around 1924. Most researchers nowadays accept Coe's statement as being closer to the truth because of one letter written from Keota, Indian Territory. That letter, written in pencil on ruled paper, is reproduced here with spelling and punctuation unchanged:

Friend Sam,
I did not get my last pay before I left Lincoln, $5. please get it from Mrs. McSween and send it to me the old Biddy hates to part with money but she ought to pay up after all we done for her.

Do you remember the night we was garding outside her house and the Pole cat walked across your chest and wakened you up and you let out a yell you could hear a mile away and wakened Mrs Mac in the house and scared her so she thought Jim Dolans boys had come to Kill her sure enough.

When you write to me you can send the letter to Mr. Cochran, Gen. Del. Keota I.T.

Your friend,
Jim French

J.J. Dolan's House

Even though most questions about the letter have not been answered, it has been accepted as a genuine relic. But is it? French specifically asked that a response be addressed to Mr. Cochran rather than to himself, which suggests he was using an alias because he was still the subject of several arrest warrants or perhaps French was illiterate. Historians claim the "Friend Sam" of the opening was Sam Corbet, because the two were known to have mounted a guard at the widow McSween's house in the closing months of the Lincoln conflict. On the basis of the return address, Keota, Indian Territory, has been proclaimed to be the home of the mysterious Big Jim. The same historians arbitrarily assigned the undated note an origin of 1878-79.

There's one big problem. While a Keota exists in present-day Haskell County, no village of that name--based on a review of period maps and histories--was in Indian Territory in 1879. In fact, it was not until 1887, eight years after the purported date of the letter to Corbet, that folks started calling the location Ke-Otter, a corruption originating from a combination of the names Otter Creek and Jim Keese, who built a ranch on the spot. A town did not physically exist until the Midland Valley Railroad pushed its rails through in 1903-04 and a tent city was created, and the town did not officially exist until establishment of a post office in 1905. Thus the assumption that the letter to Corbet was written in 1879 simply isn't true; to carry a return address of Keota, I.T., the letter had to have been written 26 years later than originally thought.

Site of the McSween house marked with an "X"

Researchers have largely accepted at face value the allegation made by Frank Coe that French was a Cherokee Indian. In 1870s Lincoln, however, most men thought to have Indian blood were apparently labeled "Cherokee," including a Navajo herder. Outright acceptance of statements regarding Indian heritage is therefore questionable. Furthermore, the community of Keota is smack in the middle of the old Choctaw Nation.

Murphy Dolan Store which later became the Lincoln County Courthouse

Researching Oklahoma Indian heritage is relatively simple. When the federal government decided to end tribal governments, the Dawes Commission was created in 1893 to identify by blood all Indians, so that lands and resources could be distributed among tribal members. The records created by the commission were preserved and are easily accessible. Motivated by the thought of free land, practically every person residing in the Choctaw Nation at the time filed a claim. In 1896 the eldest female member of a French clan, Lucinda French, did attempt to enroll for Choctaw tribal membership on the basis of "always having lived in the Choctaw Nation." The document gave a postal address of Cowlington, a community near present-day Keota that existed 20 years before Keota. Additionally, her declaration included a son, James French, with a birth year of 1851, some 25 years before things heated up in Lincoln County. The document also included names and ages of siblings, the name of Jim's first spouse, and the names and ages of four children and one grandchild. One of the children is much older than the others, with a birth year of 1873. The others were born in 1887, 1892 and 1894. This discrepancy suggests that French was remarried in 1886, or returned home after a long absence. (A direct descendant of the older daughter has said that French's first wife died about the time he appeared in Lincoln County and that their child was placed for adoption by a family in Denton County, Texas.) Supportive affidavits from relatives and friends suggest that the family was thought to be a mixture of white, Choctaw and Cherokee.

However, the family could not have "always" been in the Choctaw Nation. The 1870 census of Big Creek Township, Sebastian County, Ark., shows French, his wife and a month-old son were in dwelling 178, while his parents and siblings were in dwelling 176. The child, named Fredrick L., was not found in later information. By 1873, the French clan, according to a description given in a Federal Court case, was living in the Poteau River bottom of the Choctaw Nation. Other information shows that his siblings, except Alfred, list their birthplaces as Texas. Furthermore, Choctaw records prepared in 1884, a decade before the Dawes Commission, list members of the family as white intruders. This persona non grata status was quite likely a reaction caused by the family's predatory acts on prominent Choctaws. What is certain is that the intruder label led to the rejection of the clan's claim of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation. The ruling was not appealed; thus the truth about French's Indian blood is uncertain.

Lincoln As It Appeared Around The Time The Kid Was There

Just why Chisum selected French to go to the aid of McSween in Lincoln has never been explained, other than an oft-quoted theory that Big Jim was a crime-toughened outlaw--a statement no one seems to have followed up on with facts. Part of the problem in doing so is the fragmentary records preserved from the old Federal District Court of Western Arkansas, the court of the famed hanging judge, Isaac C. Parker, which had jurisdiction over the area purported to be French's stamping grounds. Those records are organized by crime rather than by individuals, making research of the criminal activity of a specific individual an exceptionally difficult process. But if one has names of family members, one can cross-reference the various criminals within the records. In this manner, some 20 cases of members of the Lucinda French family were identified, demonstrating that Big Jim was but a single member of a family of Indian Territory outlaws. Two cases associated with this family provide a specific location for their home from 1887 to 1896, at a site within four miles of present-day Keota--thus establishing for the first time a supportive link with a specific Jim French and the community of Keota.

Another court case establishes a possible reason for French's presence in New Mexico Territory during the Lincoln County War. In 1875 a warrant for horse theft was assigned to Oliver French, a brother, and it also includes an alias warrant for "one" French, which may have been Big Jim. The warrant was never served, but simply being the subject of a Federal warrant has certainly been sufficient cause for men to head for parts unknown.

Tunstall Store

In addition, another case supports the tradition that French returned to Indian Territory in the fall of 1878. French appeared before U.S. Commissioner James Brizzolara on July 5, 1879, to answer a larceny charge of selling the hide of a cow belonging to a man named Mitchell who rented from Edmund Burgevin, a wealthy intermarried citizen farming in the Cache Creek bottom west of Skullyville (sometimes spelled Scullyville), Indian Territory. During the trial, Mitchell testified he had last seen his cow in the fall of 1878 and had discovered the hide near the J.L. Tibbetts Store in Skullyville in March 1879. Tibbetts recalled his clerk had bought a "green hide," meaning one that was not tanned, from French during the spring. In response to a question from the court, Burgevin declared French was "a white man, not a citizen of the Indian Country by nationality or adoption." The significance of this announcement is that a recognized tribal leader clearly established the court's right to hear the case. This case was the first of many involving Burgevin and the French family, and is probably the source of the loathing Burgevin felt; it also explains why Burgevin was probably the tribal authority who listed them as intruders. Commissioner Brizzolara discharged French, dismissing the charge as unfounded after a reliable witness testified that it was the custom of the country for anyone discovering a dead cow to have the privilege of skinning the animal and selling the hide, regardless of actual ownership, and no testimony had been presented that Jim had actually killed the cow. But Jim was not quite done with court, for later in the day he and his parents testified on behalf of brothers Patrick J. and William Oliver French, who were being examined for stealing a team of horses from a widow.

Governor Lew Wallace.

Nor was Commissioner Brizzolara finished hearing cases involving the French clan. In July 1886, brothers Pat, Oliver and Jim French were the subject of a criminal warrant for assault following threats against the life of their brother-in-law Charles Glenn, a man who had been the backbone of their defense in two earlier trials. Glenn's affidavit declared, "I do believe and fear that they will attempt to carry out this [murder] threat...." From this allegation forward, Jim does not appear in territorial court records as a defendant, probably because he remarried and settled down. But French may not have been as inoffensive as the lack of records seem to indicate; it's possible that Jim was no longer in Indian Territory. There is a cryptic notation in Big Jim's biographical information that observes, though there was no known connection, a man known as Jim French was wanted on felony charges in Grayson County, Texas, in 1886. Neighboring Denton County is where Jim French placed his infant daughter with an adoptive family, and didn't French disappear from the Oklahoma scene about the same time as this other fellow was charged in Texas? The rest of the family certainly did not become model citizens. Brothers Oliver, Pat, Al, Steve and Tom French continued to make frequent appearances in court, defending against such crimes as assault, kidnapping, whiskey peddling and theft. Eventually, Steve and Tom French were sent to Federal prisons. Although it has been established that one-time Regulator Jim French lived until at least 1905, a search of area resources failed to confirm the claim that French was killed in Oklahoma circa 1924. No verified photo of Big Jim French has surfaced. Much about his life will have to remain shadowy, and what became of him in the 20th century is simply unknown. Anyone for a Jim French posthumous pardon?

Additional Sources:

www.angelfire.com/ mi2/billythekid
www.wcc.at
www.aozos.com
www.aboutbillythekid.com
The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History Courtesy of Fred Nolan
www.frontiertimes.com
www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/9560
www.chez.com

'Hero' of the Lincoln County War
Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley

Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley on Aug. 20, 1825 in Lexington, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U. S. Army at an early age was a first lieutenant of the Tenth Infantry by Mar. 1855.

This photo of a more youthful Dudley was taken approximately in 1861.

In the late 1850s, he fought the Sioux Indians in Minnesota and also fought in the "Mormon War." Stationed in Kansas in May of 1861, Dudley was promoted to the rank of captain, but was soon after court-martialed for "conduct unbecoming an officer." Stationed in the gulf states during the Civil War, he fought in the battles of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson in 1862 and '63, respectively. In Sept. 1864, he was promoted to the rank of major in command of the Fifteenth Infantry and was transferred to a fort in Texas. He was brevetted brigadier general of U. S. Volunteers in early 1865 for "gallant and meritorious service" during the Civil War. He later transferred to the Twenty-forth Infantry, then to the Third Cavalry.

In 1870, he was stationed at Camp McDowell in Arizona Territory and got into an argument with Capt. Anson Mills. Each officer filed charges against the other, with Mills claiming Dudley had on several occasions been too drunk to properly perform his duties. Once again, Dudley was court-martialed, and was suspended for sixty days. Dudley transferred to, and was given command of, Fort Union, New Mexico Territory in the winter of 1876. In July of the same year, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Ninth Cavalry. In Nov., though, Col. Edward Hatch, an old enemy of Dudley's who was in command of the military in New Mexico, brought several charges against Dudley, including drunkenness on duty, disrespect, disobedience, and false accusation of theft. For the third time, Dudley was court-martialed, with Santa Fe Ring head Thomas Catron and his partner William Thorton acting as Dudley's defense counsel. Catron and Thorton got Dudley off light when he was only suspended for three months.

This photo of Dudley was taken in 1881. It depicts him much as he would have appeared during the Lincoln County War. It perfectly captures the pompous superiority he felt over the adherents of the McSween cause.

After resuming his duties, he was given command of Fort Stanton on Apr. 5, 1878, by which time the Lincoln County War was already in full-swing. Stanton figured pominently as a place of refuge for civilians and fighters during the war, and Dudley himself was known to be friendly with L. G. Murphy and James Dolan, while looking at the men on the side of Alex McSween with utter contempt. On July 19, 1878, during the climactic Five-Day Battle, Dudley led a troop of soldiers into Lincoln for the purpose of "protecting women and children." However, it was made obvious that Dudley's true goal was to help the Dolan cause. Within an hour of his arrival, he managed to drive away more then two-thirds of the McSween fighters. Later, when Susan McSween pleaded with him to give her husband and his men protection, he refused, insulting her as he did so. When the Dolan men set fire to the McSween house, Dudley simply stood by.

Fort Sumner, N.-M., 1880

After the war, Mrs. McSween hired lawyer Huston Chapman for the purpose of prosecuting Dudley for the burning of her house and murder of her husband. However, Chapman himself was murdered by gunman William Campbell, who had some mysterious history with Dudley, in Feb. 1879. Nevertheless, Dudley was suspended of his command in March of the same year and faced a court of inquiry later that spring. The COI ruled in his favor and he was transferred to Fort Union, although he was indicted on a criminal charge of arson for the burning of the McSween house. When he went to trial in the fall of 1879, he was acquitted. Thereafter, he commanded Fort Cummings and led an expedition into Old Mexico. Upon his return to the States, he was made a full colonel of the First Cavalry at Fort Custer.

He eventually retired from the U. S. Army on Aug. 20, 1889, at the rank of brigadier general. He returned to the east and died of natural causes on Apr. 29, 1910. His body was buried with full military honors in the Arlington National Cemetery.

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The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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March 10, 2005

Rabbit-Hole Christians

Read:
Luke 19:1-10

Jesus . . . said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." -Luke 19:5

Bible In One Year: Deuteronomy 32-34

cover Rabbits are timid creatures that pop out of their holes every morning, try to avoid everything (except other rabbits), eat their food, and jump back into their holes in the evening. "Whew! We made it through another day," they'd say if they could talk.

Rabbit-hole Christians are a lot like that. They eat lunch with other Christians at work and relate almost exclusively with fellow-believers in their church. They avoid socializing with unbelievers and wouldn't think of accepting an invitation to one of their parties. No wonder unbelievers equate being a Christian with a kind of aloof self-righteousness.

No one could say that about Jesus. He actually invited Himself to the home of Zacchaeus, a notorious tax collector. His congeniality among disreputable people earned Him the title of "a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Matthew 11:19). He reached out to such people because He knew He couldn't help them without becoming their friend. Jesus never said anything He shouldn't have said, nor did He laugh at off-color stories. He won people's respect by caring for them.

Jesus has equipped us with the Holy Spirit and assured us that He'll be with us so we can follow His example. Let's guard against being rabbit-hole Christians. -Herb Vander Lugt

Help us, O Lord, to live our lives
So people clearly see
Reflections of Your caring heart,
Your love and purity. -Sper

Jesus leaves us in the world to be a witness to the world.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The Compassion Of Jesus

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Rabbit-Hole Christians

Read:Luke 19:1-10

Jesus . . . said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." -Luke 19:5

Bible In One Year: Deuteronomy 32-34

Read:
Luke 19:1-10