- Renegades, Rebels, & Rogues, the words to a popular Country & Western song, is just exactly what the twin territories of Oklahoma and the Indian Nations were full of in the later part of the 19th century. Known as the Robbers Roost, the territories became a safe haven for some of the old west's most desperate villains. With no law west of St. Louis and no God west of Fort Smith, Ark. the remnants of the Missouri Border Raiders and Texas Freebooters found the territories a safe place to conduct their illegal business from. Throw in the cowboys who were fast becoming extinct with the opening of the Oklahoma Territory to homesteaders and the invention of barb wire, and the homesteaders that sank every dime of their life's saving into the risky and often heartbreaking business of farming on the Oklahoma prairie, and you have an ample supply of desperate characters who were willing to attempt anything to acquire their fortunes.
To add fuel to the fire, there was only 1 federal court, at Fort Smith, AR., to administer justice in this lawless land. Supplied with over 200 marshal, and aided by the various Indian Tribal Police, they tried to keep order in the territories. Hampered by to few of marshals, lack of money, long distances, a sympathetic factor among the honest people for the gangs, and the rest of the honest people living in fear of reprisals from the gangs, the marshals were able to bring to justice most of these criminals.
Contained in the next few pages are some of the stories of some of the more interesting characters of these gangs. I've kept their stories short and brief, and all facts I've stated I believe to be the truth. However, as in all stories about the west, it is hard to separate the truth from the myth. Therefore, I present these pages to you as only pure entertainment and not history. I hope you will find them interesting and fun.
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Designed by Larry Frederick