Rufus Buck Gang

The Rufus Buck Gang was an outlaw multi-racial gang whose members were part African American and part Creek Indian.^[1] They operated in the Indian Territory of the Arkansas-Oklahoma area from 1895 to 1896.

Formed by Rufus Buck, the gang consisted also of Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, and Lucky Davis. The gang began building up a small stockpile of weapons while staying in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. After killing U.S. deputy marshal John Garrett on July 30, 1895 the gang began holding up various stores and ranches in the Fort Smith area during the next two weeks. In one incident a salesman named Callahan – after being robbed – was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang. When the elderly Callahan successfully escaped, the gang killed his assistant in frustration. At least two women victims who were raped by the gang died of their injuries.^[2]

List of Crimes by the gang

• July 30, 1895: Killing of US Deputy Marshal John Garrett^[3]
• July 31, 1895: coming across a white man and his daughter in a wagon; the man was held at gunpoint and the girl taken by the gang^[4]
• Killing of a negro boy and beating Ben Callahan; gang taking Callahan's boots, money, and saddle. ^[5]
• Robbing of Country Stores of West and J. Norrberg at Orket, Oklahoma^[6]
• Reported Murder of two white women and a 14-year-old girl^[7]
• August 4: rape of a Mrs Hassan near Sapulpa, Oklahoma^[8] Hassan and two of three other female victims of the gang—a Miss Ayres and a Indian girl near Sapulpa—also died; a fourth victim, Mrs Wilson, was reported to have recovered; it is reported that after their capture the gang was almost lynched^[9]
• August 8, 1895: capture of the gang by an Indian-White posse^[10]

Capture of Gang

Continuing attacks on both local settlers and Creek indiscriminately, the gang was captured outside Muskogee by a combined force of lawman and Indian police of the Creek Light Horse, led by Marshal S. Morton Rutherford, on August 10. While the Creek wanted to hold the gang for trial the men were brought before "Hanging" Judge Isaac Parker. He twice sentenced them to death, the first sentence not being carried out due to an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. They were hanged on July 1, 1896 at 1 pm at Fort Smith.^[11]

A slightly modified account of the Buck gang's crimes is the basis for the novel, Winding Stair, by Douglas C. Jones.

See also

• Brooks-McFarland Feud

References

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Buck Gang
• Annual report of the Department of the Interior, Volume 2 1896 .p.158
• http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/outlaws/rufus.html