He was steely eyed, hard riding and straight shooting; a
soft-spoken, tee-totaling lawman who never drew his gun...unless he
meant to use it. Â Among other things he was also a buffalo
hunter, Indian fighter, rancher horse breeder, saloon keeper,
politician…even a movie maker. His name was Bill Tilghman and of
all the heroes of the Old West he was one of the last, one of the
most heroic, and a legend in his own time. Tilghman is about his
life and the woman who memorialized his adventures. Â
Tilghman began his career in Dodge City in 1878 when his friend Bat
Masterson, newly elected sheriff, made him under sheriff.
 Still going strong in 1924, the 70-year-old Tilghman was
called out of retirement to help rid Cromwell, Oklahoma, of
bootlegging gangsters. Â In 1878 the bad guys rode horses; in
1924 they drove Piece-Arrows and Fords and flew airplanes.
 Frontier outlaw or prohibition hoodlum, Tilghman fought them
all. Â In his lifetime he saw the vast herds of buffalo
disappear from the great plains and Oklahoma transformed from
Indian territory and outlaw haven into homesteading land and
booming oil country. Â Oklahoma City evolved from a collection
of muddy tents and shacks into a thriving metropolis. It was a
dramatic transformation and Bill Tilghman helped make it happen.
 Beside him through most of that transformation was his wife,
author Zoe Agnes Stratton. Â Zoe not only had an up close view
of the various outlaws her husband pursued, but was instrumental in
preserving those daring exploits on paper. Â The short stories
and books she wrote about Tilghman’s life as a law enforcement
agent helped make him a celebrated figure throughout the West.
 Zoe recorded Marshal Tilghman’s capture of such criminals
as the Doolin Gang, Cattle Annie and Little Britches, and the
Jennings brothers. She also wrote of his friendship with such
well-known figures as Marshal Heck Thomas, Marshal Bass Reeves, and
Judge Isaac Parker. Â When Bill Tilghman was gunned down in
1924 by a corrupt federal agent, Zoe had to find a way to continue
on and financially support the two sons she’d had with the
lawman. Â She earned a living writing about each case her
husband had taken on during his career. Â Zoe hoped her sons,
Richard and Woodie, would do better than their father had when he
was young as the old frontier days were past, but Bill Tilghman’s
brace of pistols remained symbolic of the family’s fate. In
October 1929, nineteen-year-old Richard was killed in a crooked
gambling game, along with his friend James Chitwood, a farmer.
 Seventeen-year-old Woodie was arrested soon after for
killing the man who shot his brother. Â Woodie was arrested
for manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. Â Zoe
wrote about those heartbreaking events as well. Â Her body of
work is recognized as some of the state’s finest historical
writing. Â The book Tilghman is not only the story of a man -
it’s a colorful, exciting history of the last days of the Western
frontier. It’s also the story of a woman, desperate to hold onto
her family and honor the life of the man she loved so dearly.
Â
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