OKGenWeb Project

The Indian Pioneer Papers Collection

About | Interviews | Cemeteries | Microfiche Reference

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: July 2, 1937
Name: G. W. Lucas
Post Office: Ochelata, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: 
Father: 
Place of Birth:
Information on father: 
Mother: 
Place of Birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: James H. Fleming
Interview #: 6556
104 Vol. 56 79-2-2

About 1891, Mr. Lucas said he was working on the John Mackey Ranch south of Bartlesville.

Mr.. Mackey had three good race horses named Pete, Jerry, and Jack Dempsey. One night Mr. Lucas discovered that the corral gate was closed but the three horses were gone. He summoned Mr. Mackey and they found the fence had been taken down on the opposite side, out of sight of the house.

They got together a bunch of men and trailed the horses south. They later discovered it was the Daltons who stole the horses.

Two horses were stolen at  the same time from the Pete Perrier Ranch north of Skiatook. Men from the Perrier Ranch joined the chase which went southwest to where Keystone now is, where the Cimarron empties into the Arkansas. From there the chase went west out around Kingfisher, where the men turned around and returned.

The following year Mr. Mackey and Mr. Lucas were amazed to find two of the horses in the lot, returned at night.

Mr. Lucas took a homestead in the Cherokee Opening in '93. He became acquainted with a United States Marshal, Tom Jorden. To whom he was telling about the stealing and returning of two of the three horses. The brand on the horses was an open A.

Mr. Jorden immediately recalled a skirmish he and some more United States Marshals had had with the Dalton Gang near the mouth of the Cimarron on the identical date or near the same time the horses were stolen from Mackey and Perrier.

He said he knew exactly where the third horse was. He had shot a horse from under one of the Dalton Gang during the fight. It had an open A brand and was of the right description.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Rochelle Wright  <pike@oro.net> March 2002.