Rhodes, Charles B. – D. U. S. Marshal—Vinita 1903-1907
Charles B. Rhodes, 87, Dies
November 23, 1949—Muskogee—Charles B. Rhodes, 87, deputy U. S. marshal in Indian Territorial days and one of the men “who rode for Parker,” the “hanging judge” of Fort Smith, died in a hospital here Tuesday, ending the career of one of the most colorful remaining figures of early day Oklahoma.
His activities had led him into nations “now departed” and into situations equaled today only in history books.
Born August 8, 1862, in Fayette County, Illinois, of Tennessee and Kentucky parents. Rhodes attended public schools and Irving academy in that state. He came from a family of pioneers and remembered close relatives who fought in both the Mexican and Civil wars.
Goes To Kansas
At the age of 20 he left Illinois for the plains of Kansas and the following year went to Dodge City, then one of the toughest towns in the United States.
That same year he drove an eight-mule team in a wagon train to Fort Elliott, Texas, taking 30 days for the round trip and later was prominent in organization of several Kansas counties and towns.
He once related that this work resulted in “very bloody contests” with many lives lost, especially in Stevens County which involved the “Hay Stack Massacre” in “No Man’s Land” and caused the Supreme Court to establish jurisdiction over that territory.
Organized Schools
After leaving there he went to Colorado and then to Indian Territory, arriving in the Coo-Wee-Coo-Wee district of the Cherokee nation, in what is now Washington County, near Bartlesville.
There he organized a community school and taught Delaware Indians for two years, until 1895. He married during this time and recently the couple celebrated their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary.
Rhodes then moved to Westville in the Cherokee Nation and built the first house erected by a non-citizen. Here he took a saloon and gambling house and established the first school in Westville, also organizing the first Sunday school class.
After incorporation of Westville he became first assessor and the next year mayor of Westville. He was the target of an assassin while mayor, but escaped and shortly was named deputy U. S. marshal and in 1902 he was transferred to Sallisaw to become head officer there.
Carried Bible, Gun
Sallisaw at that time was considered one of the largest, busiest and most dangerous offices in all Indian Territory.
He has related during his declining years here, many harrowing incidents of his law enforcement days and has prided himself in the fact that the “never had killed a man” in pursuance of his duties.
He also delighted in exhibiting the gun and an old Bible which he said he always carried with him, giving the Bible much of the credit for his safety during his dangerous days.
Rhodes was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
Arrangements are incomplete at the Petering funeral home.
His is survived by his wife, Mrs. Nora Sebring Rhodes; two sons Thomas M. Rhodes, Kansas City, Missouri, and Neil D. Rhodes, Sallisaw; two daughters, Mrs. Le. E. Goodwin, Kansas City, Kansas, and Mrs. Leo Kearney, Tulsa; a sister, Mrs. Emma Ross, Chicago, five grandchildren, including Charles Rhodes, Oklahoma City; five grand children and two great-grandchildren.
Rhodes, Mrs. Nell, Deputy U. S. Marshal 1937 temporary assignment.
Judge’s Secretary To Be Marshal
September 15, 1937—Daily Oklahoman—Mrs. Nell Rhodes is going to abandon her job as secretary to A. P. Murrah, federal district judge, the latter part of the week to become a United States deputy marshal—temporarily.
Joe Ballard, Marshall, said Tuesday he would deputize Mrs. Rhodes to take a woman prisoner, Essie May Miller, to the women’s reformatory at Alderson, W. Va., where she has been sentenced for two years on a narcotics charge.
A long list of prisoners, committed to a number of institutions has overtaxed the marshal’s staff, Bullard said.