𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱: 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲”

On the hot summer evening of Saturday, August 8, 1903, the quiet Osage Hills erupted in gunfire.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Wiley Haines, Osage Nation Chief of Police Warren Bennett, and Constable Henry Majors had tracked three of the most dangerous outlaws in the West — the Martin brothers and their accomplice, Simpson — to a lonely rise called Wooster Mound. Within minutes, two men would be dead, one lawman wounded, and a chapter of outlaw history would be written in blood.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗴 – 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿

Samuel and William Martin were not dime-novel bandits. They were hardened criminals, wanted for murder, robbery, and train holdups in five states.

Author Glenn Shirley once described them as “hell-raising farm boys” — a description earned in their reckless youth near Mulhall, Oklahoma Territory. By their twenties, they had graduated from petty theft to armed robbery, often working with a rotating cast of desperadoes.

In 1902, with the help of “Indian Bill” Smith, the gang robbed a store and post office in Carlton, Colorado, taking $60.12 in money orders, cash from the till, and $20 in change. During their escape, they shot and killed August “Gus” Cravatt, a 20-year-old black man who happened upon them while returning a borrowed lantern. That cold-blooded killing put the Martins squarely in the crosshairs of lawmen across the West. It is reported that the Martins robbed over a hundred people during this time.

They soon turned up in the Osage Nation, terrorizing ranch hands, robbing travelers, and — some suspected — plotting a bank robbery in Pawhuska.

𝗔 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸

On June 14, 1903, the Martin gang staged one of their most audacious crimes. Lying in wait along the road between Pawhuska and Bartlesville — near the banks of Eliza Creek, three miles west of Bartlesville in the Osage Nation — the outlaws stopped traveler after traveler at gunpoint, corralling them into a guarded holding area. They were after fresh mounts, as usual, but on this Sunday they seemed determined to have their pick from an entire parade of stock.

Shortly after noon, a man named Watson became their first victim, ordered off his horse at gunpoint. Moments later, Fred Keeler of Bartlesville joined him, his buggy and team seized as part of the growing collection. Before long, the scene swelled to the size of a county fair — wagons, buggies, and riders lined up in a strange, tense standoff while the Martins strolled among them, inspecting horses like buyers at auction.

By some accounts, more than a hundred people were detained over the course of the afternoon. After six or seven hours, the gang finally chose three prime mounts, mounted up, and rode away laughing — leaving behind a frustrated and humiliated crowd. The Bartlesville Examiner quipped that “the holdup part took more strongly of a whimsical caper of drunken cowboys than it did of a raid by frontier bandits.” That night, the Martins camped in a hollow near Pawhuska.

The weeks that followed saw the Osage Hills bristle with posses and bounty hunters, but the gang stayed one step ahead. That would change in August.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

Wooster Mound, a rounded sandstone hill between Wynona and Pawhuska, offered an ideal outlaw stronghold. Its summit provided sweeping views across miles of open prairie — the perfect place to see trouble coming. But on this day, it was the lawmen who held the advantage.

After the gang forced a cook at a nearby cow camp to feed them, the camp foreman quietly sent word to Pawhuska. Haines, Bennett, and Majors followed the trail to the Mound, where the outlaws had pitched camp. They found high-grade horses, repeating rifles, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and even a bottle of nitroglycerine — likely for blowing safes.

As the posse approached, gunfire erupted across the crest. One Martin brother fell dead in the first volley; the other fought on for several desperate minutes before collapsing, mortally wounded. In the exchange, Marshal Wiley Haines took a soft-nosed bullet to the shoulder, the impact tearing deep into muscle and bone. Still, the lawmen held their ground. The lookout — almost certainly Simpson — vanished into the hills, escaping the hangman’s noose. The Martins’ four-year reign of terror ended on that sandstone hill.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 – 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲

Wiley Haines’ path to that day began far from the Osage Hills. Born in Missouri, he was the son of Rev. John W. Haines, one of the founders of what is now Southwest Baptist University. The 1889 Land Run drew him to Oklahoma Territory, where he staked a claim in what would become downtown Oklahoma City and briefly went into real estate. But the business life was too tame. In 1890, he became a deputy sheriff in Oklahoma City, and by 1898, he had received a federal commission as a U.S. Deputy Marshal.

Relocating to the Osage Reservation, Haines would spend the next three decades dispensing frontier justice. As Chief of the Osage Indian Police, he learned the Osage language, earned the tribe’s trust, and even represented them before the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. When oil wealth transformed the Osage into the richest people per capita in the world, they presented Haines with a solid gold French pocket watch as a token of gratitude — a treasured family heirloom to this day.

He described his early years simply:

“The country was teeming with horse thieves, whisky peddlers, and every sort of fugitive. The officer’s job was often made difficult by the lack of help provided by the citizens who were cowed by the outlaws.”

Haines’ logbook from 1899–1900 reads like a blueprint of frontier law enforcement — arrests for drunkenness, chasing cattle thieves, serving quarantines during smallpox outbreaks, and deadly gunfights with armed horse thieves.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀

Haines’ reputation as the “Peacemaker of the Osage” endured long after the outlaw era faded into memory. Over the years, he served in a variety of law enforcement roles, becoming a federal special officer in 1913 to combat liquor trafficking and later lending his expertise to the Texas Rangers during the turbulent Prohibition years.

In 1914, he sought the office of Osage County Sheriff but was defeated by H. M. Freas. Undeterred, he returned to duty. Fourteen years later, he tried again, this time challenging Republican Ben P. McDonald, running under the blunt slogan:

“I think a snitch is a copperhead snake — he will bite you if he can.”

But the frontier spirit that had once served him so well on the prairie no longer held sway in the changing political climate. Born before the Civil War, Haines had outlived the rugged era he helped shape. He lost the nomination and continued serving as a deputy.

On September 24, 1928, while climbing the 66 steps from Kihekah Street to the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, the 68-year-old lawman collapsed from a heart attack at the top of the stairs, dying in the arms of Deputy Sheriff Ed Clewein. His funeral in Hominy drew one of the largest crowds in the town’s history.

The words carved into his tombstone — “An Honest Man’s the Noblest Work of God” — remain a fitting tribute to a man who stood his ground from the windswept heights of Wooster Mound to the very courthouse steps where his watch came to an end. … See MoreSee Less

𝗢𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗳’𝘀 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 – 𝗜𝗻𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺

Sheriff Perrier and the Osage County Sheriff’s Office are proud to continue supporting communities across the county through the Inmate Trustee Volunteer Work Program. This initiative not only provides meaningful assistance to cities and organizations but also gives inmate trustees the chance to contribute positively while gaining fresh air, exercise, and purpose.

𝗜𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟭𝟮𝟱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴:

• Assisting the City of Pawhuska with storm cleanup, tree removal, and clearing over 125 yards of right-of-way for remote sewage system access.

• Cleaning more than 20 miles of state highways by removing trash and litter.

• Supporting the Osage County Nutrition Program in Avant by loading and packing groceries for distribution.

• Cleaning the Skiatook Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Skiatook Lake.

• Clearing litter along State Highway 123 from Bartlesville to 44 Hill near the Osage Landfill.

• Providing labor in Hominy, including moving and relocating freezers for the county’s Nutrition Center.

• Continuing roadside cleanup along state highways and county roads to help keep Osage County beautiful.

Under the supervision of Deputy Tony Reeves, this volunteer crew continues to make a visible difference across Osage County. The Sheriff’s Office is grateful for their hard work and proud to see this program strengthening our communities while also creating opportunities for those serving within it. Several trustees have even been offered employment opportunities following their release, a testament to the value of their efforts and the impact of this program. … See MoreSee Less