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Paden Tolbert, D. U. Marshal

A Marshal Desperado

Paden Tolbert, Noted Desperado Catcher, Died at Weleetka

Officer With A Record

Led in Capture of Jennings Gang and Assisted in the Wiping

Out of Numerous Bands of Outlaws

April 28, 1904-- Muskogee, Indian Territory—Paden Tolbert one of the most noted of the Indian Territory deputy marshals, died at Weleetka yesterday of congestion of the lungs, at the age of 34 years.

            Tolbert had been in the service for 12 years, until a few months sense when he resigned and became a special Officer for the Fort Smith and Western Railroad.  He went on the marshal' s force when he was 22 years old, and was a partner of Bud Ledbetter, but to having passed through some of the hottest fights that occurred during the stirring days from 1892 until the present.  Marshal Bennett states that he considered him one of the bravest men that he ever had on the force.

            It was Tolbert and Ledbetter that surrounded the Jennings gang at the "Spike S." ranch and after shooting a house all to pieces drove the bandits out and captured them after a chase of 60 mi., arresting Alan Frank Jennings and Pat and Morris O'Malley.  This occurred in 1897 and the Jennings gang was one of the most noted in the Indian Territory history.

              Tolbert and Ledbetter were together when named Christie was killed in his forte it "Rabbit Trap" in the Cherokee nation, Christie was wanted for murder.  He went into the mountains near cap welling and they're built a forte.  It was a stout doghouse filled with port holes on every side, and in from this he stood of every posse of officers that tried to capture him for a year.  Finally a small cannon was taken out and placed on the mountainside in an attempt was made to destroy the house, but it was unsuccessful.  Tolbert and Ledbetter went out with a posse and surrounded the cabin.  Christie thought them off until finally a wagon was loaded with rails and pushed up towards the house.  The rest of the posse protected the man pushing the wagon by raining a storm of bullets into the port holes on that side of the house and when the men were close enough big dynamited the house.  When the house was blown up Christie ran out and was shot down.

            This same pair of officers were on the M. K. & T. train when it was held up at Wybark in 1894 and Texas Jack and Charley Belstead were killed.  At that time the railroads had to keep U. s. men on all the trains running through the territory on account of train robberies.  This time Tolbert and Ledbetter were in the express car. The train was running at full speed when the robbers through a switch in front of it and ran it lawn a siding on which were some boxcars, intending to wreck it.  The engineer stopped the train before it came to a standstill robbers opened fire.  The fight that followed was one of the most desperate in the history of railroading.  It lasted for an hour and 40 minutes.  Texas Jack and Charlie Balstead were killed, the other robbers escaping.  The hold-up men riddled the passenger coaches with bullets and some of the passengers were injured.  Failing to dislodge the officers from this express car, they crawled under the cars and through sticks of dynamite into the door.  Holes were blown the floor of both express and baggage cars, but the officers were not injured and continue to shoot.  When Balstead and Texas Jack were killed the others ran..