Shoot from the Lip: The Lives, Legends & Lies of the Three Guardsmen of Oklahoma & U. S. Marshal Nix

By Nancy B. Samuelson

This book grew out of research for a previous book. The Dalton Gang Story. While doing the research for that book the author became increasingly fascinated with the lawmen involved in tracking down... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963336215
• ISBN13: 9780963336217
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Shooting Star Pr
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An notable book on frontier lawmen and outlaw history.

There are those who revere a past where western heroes ride tall. If so, they are forewarned as the author dismantles the celebrated frontier reputations of Chris Madsen, E. D. Nix, and Bill Tilghman. Heck Thomas is left unscathed. Some may feel the author's unyielding stance is a tacit admission that she is arguing rather than proving her premise but they would be wrong as this is a well documented book derived, in the main, from original sources. Samuelson offers the proposition that the early transgressions of Madsen and Tilghman in particular were harbingers of their misbehavior in Oklahoma Territory. A misspent youth isn't always a predictor of a misspent adulthood yet the author makes a good case to the contrary. The guardsmen's early deeds and misdeeds coupled with names, places, and dates does complicate Samuleson's narrative. Her task is eased somewhat when the subjects' lives converge in Oklahoma Territory where their primary focus settles on the Oklahoma outlaws. Samuleson illuminates various incidents from that time period and matches legend against fact and myth against truth. Nix was a venal U. S. Marshal who hired scores of incompetent relatives and associates. He also hired some lawmen including the guardsmen to help police Oklahoma Territory. Complaints soon surfaced about drunken officers and their illegal seizures of property. An audit of Nix's office disclosed, among other things, that he was forging and/or inflating expense vouchers and discounting fake vouchers to banks for cash. Nix later wrote a popular book extolling his Oklahoma experiences wherein he often claimed as his own the accomplishments of other enforcement agencies. Madsen's assertions that he fought in foreign wars with the Danish army and the French Foreign Legion were false. In contrast, he did spend considerable time in Danish jails because of forgeries and frauds. He was deported as an undesirable and came to the United States. Madsen joined the U. S. army, served six months in a Wyoming prison, lied about his Rough Rider experiences, and continued romanticizing and embellishing his phantom exploits, including those in Oklahoma, until his death at 92 years. Heck Thomas was a policeman, trail driver, express man, and bounty hunter before being appointed deputy U. S. Marshal for the Indian Territory. He was an excellent deputy and arrested scores of violators. If Thomas had one fault it was a fiery temper which led him into trouble at inappropriate times. He was quick to use a billy club or firearm and engaged in several shoot outs .Tilghman's claim to fame as the "outstanding lawman on the frontier" was promoted by Outlaw Days (1926) and Marshal of the Last Frontier (1949) written by his widow Zoe Tilghman. Frontier myths have a life of their own and Tilghman's were no exception as they were passed on by succeeding writers who based much of their narratives on Zoe's loving but somewhat mythic information. Tilghman led a checkered