The Marlow Brothers, Cabin #4

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The Marlow Brothers incident occurred in the years from 1888 to 1892 and is recognized as one of the more famous yet controversial events in 19th century Young County history.
Five books, several magazine articles and a movie, Sons of Katie Elder starring John Wayne, are each based on this story. A town in Oklahoma is named after the brothers’ father and the Marlow Brothers’ museum is located there. So sit back and we will attempt to condense one of the most intricate and colorful stories of the Old West.

In 1879, Congress passed a bill creating three federal courts in Texas — located in Dallas, Waco and Graham. Graham’s jurisdiction included Oklahoma and thus the story begins.

In August 1888, Federal Deputy Sheriff Ed Johnson received notification from Sheriff Doc Burns in Colorado that the Marlows had stolen 40 horses from a Caddo Indian named Bar Sin De Bar. Johnson organized a posse and headed to the area of Fort Sill Oklahoma where the brothers were living. Before leaving for Oklahoma, Johnson supposedly received a second notification from Burns that the Indian had found the horses.

Historical controversy No. 1 — why didn’t Johnson call off the warrant?

Johnson arrested four of the five brothers — Charlie, Alf, Boone and Llewellyn. The remaining brother, George, took the family and headed to Graham where he hired out to Oscar Denson on the Long Bend of the Brazos River (one mile from Wildcatter Ranch). He arrived in Graham to help his brothers and was also arrested.

By December 1888, all were bonded out of jail, awaiting trial and working for Denson. On Dec. 17, 1888, another indictment arrived in Graham accusing one of the brothers, Boone, of killing a man in Vernon, Texas, in 1886.

Historical controversy No. 2 — Boone allegedly had been cleared of murdering a man in self-defense. County Sheriff Marion D. Wallace and Deputy Tom Collier proceeded to Long Bend to arrest Boone, where a gunfight ensued. Sheriff Wallace was killed at this point.

Historical controversy No. 3 — some accounts have Collier firing first, Boone returning fire and hitting Wallace. Other versions say Boone Marlow fired first.

As Boone left to hide out in the area, Wallace was taken back to Graham by Collier. He lingered there for several days before dying on Christmas Eve 1888. It was said the entire community of Graham turned out for the popular sheriff’s funeral on Christmas Day.

Boone continued to hide out in a haystack and then a barn (still standing) before making his escape on Jan. 7, 1889, to Hell’s Creek near present-day Marlow. The other four brothers were arrested and put back in jail.

Many of the citizens of Graham were now in a dangerous lynching mood and the Marlows, knowing this, successfully broke out of the second floor of the Young County Jail on Jan. 14, 1889, using a pocket knife to scrape through the sandstone walls.

The next day they were caught on Conner Creek, hiding in a cave (on what is now the Wildcatter Ranch). They were returned to Graham, where Charlie was leg shackled to Alf and George was leg shackled to Llewellyn (Ely). On Jan. 16, the mob tried to take the brothers out of the jail for lynching but was repelled by the tough group. One mobster, Robert Hill, was hit by Charlie and died two days later.

Due to the volatile situation, the decision was made to move the prisoners to Dallas via Weatherford. At 9 o’clock on that cold clear January night, the four brothers plus two other prisoners, Cliff and Burkhart, were loaded into wagons along with Sheriff Johnson and several guards.

Although the prisoners were leg shackled, Sheriff Johnson at the last minute decided not to handcuff or tie the prisoners to the buckboard. As the prisoners’ lead wagon crossed Dry Creek and ascended up the east bank, mobster Bruce Wheeler emerged from the tree line yelling, “Halt!”

The firing began with Wheeler dying first. Sam Creswell, a guard, died next. The Marlows had armed themselves and began firing back. Both Alf and Ely were killed on the spot. Charlie was seriously wounded and George received minor wounds. The last to die was Frank Harmonson, who came back firing after most of the mob had fled.

Now alone, George freed himself and Charlie by amputating Alf’s and Ely’s ankles. Burkhart was freed from Cliff and took off never to be heard from again.

George, Charlie and Cliff headed to Long Bend and barricaded themselves in the cabin. After a long standoff, federal authorities arrived and took the three to Dallas to await trial.

The bodies of Alf and Ely were returned to the Marlows and were buried in Finis Cemetery on Jan. 20, 1889. Boone, with a huge $1,500 bounty on his head, was poisoned by the brothers of his girlfriend. After being poisoned, two holes were shot in his head to make it look legitimate.

When the body was brought into Graham for the reward, a doctor, ironically named W.W. James Marlow (no kin), discovered the poisoning. The three were later arrested, although nothing was ever done to this conniving group.

The three Marlow brothers, Alf, Ely, and Boone, were buried in Finis Cemetery, 10 minutes from the gates of Wildcatter Ranch.

The trial process would last from March 1889 until February 1892. The Marlows and the conspiring mobsters were each tried. None of the remaining Marlows were ever found guilty. Three of the mobsters were found guilty in federal court in April 1891 and were fined $5,000 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In a state trial, seven mobsters were acquitted in November 1891.

In April 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Graham Court that a year earlier had found the three mobsters guilty. The court granted a new trial, which effectively acquitted the three. One of the three hung himself in 1893. Earlier, two of the mobsters had died in jail of tuberculosis and typhoid fever while awaiting trial.

The Marlows did win damages in a civil case in the spring of 1891.

One final sad note: Oscar Denson, the farmer who befriended and had employed the Marlows, was killed in 1892 by William Smith on the basis of self-defense.

The summation of those who died directly or indirectly from this incident included Sheriff Wallace, the vigilante in the attempted hanging of Hill, the three Marlows (Boone, Alf, and Ely), the three Graham citizens at the ambush (Wheeler, Creswell and Harmonson), the suicide hanging by Waggoner, the two deaths in jail (Williams and Collier) and finally Oscar Denson.

So not only did this ugly part of Young County history result in 12 deaths, it gave Graham and its court a very big black eye. The government finally moved the federal court from Graham in 1896.

The two surviving Marlows, Charlie and George, moved to Colorado to live out useful lives, actually helping put down the Crested Butte Colorado Mine strike as deputies of Sheriff Doc Shores.

So take some time while you are here to visit some of these sites and relive the Marlow story.