William Carr - Heroic Deputy Marshal or Outlaw?


OLD WEST LEGENDS William Carr - Heroic Deputy or Outlaw?

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William H. “Bill” Carr (18??-19??) - U.S. Deputy Marshal commissioned in the Western District court at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1887. He was later commissioned in the Southern District of Indian Territory at Paris, Texas and in the Kansas District Court at Wichita. In April, 1889, he arrested Harris Austin, a Chickasaw Indian charged with murder. When Austin resisted arrest, gunplay erupted and the outlaw was wounded three times. He would be hanged at Fort Smith, Arkansas the following year. Later that year, in August, Carr confronted a gang of whiskey runners crossing the Red River Bridge into Indian Territory. The outlaws quickly turned around escaping back into Texas. However, one of them who was left behind, a man named Lewis Jackson, was shot and killed by Carr. In 1892, Carr, along three other previously commissioned deputy marshals were arrested and charged with arson and murder for a fire in Lexington, Indian Territory where a man had lost his life. However, Carr was evidently cleared of the charges, as he was back in action in April, 1894, when he and Marshal Evitt Nix confronted the Doolin-Dalton Gang near the Sacred Heart Mission in the Pottawatomie Reservation. When a gun battle erupted, Bill Dalton, and George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb were badly wounded, but able to escape. Carr was also shot three times and left for dead by the outlaws, but he survived. By this time, Carr had become so well known, he was called “King of the Chicksaws” by the New York Times, who ran a feature article on his deeds of daring in April, 1895 (see article HERE.) Though Carr had a solid reputation as a U.S. Deputy Marshal, he was also allegedly friends with outlaws, Will and Bob Christian. When the Christians, along with several other outlaws, broke out of jail in Oklahoma City in June, 1895, killing Chief of Police, Milt Jones and wounding the jailer and two innocent bystanders, Carr would soon be implicated in assisting the outlaws with their escape. Though the vast majority of lawmen who were acquainted with Carr felt Oklahoma County Sheriff C. H. Deford made the charges against Carr in an attempt to clear his office of any negligence, Carr would later be arrested anyway.
In the meantime, he continued to serve as a U.S. Deputy Marshal as on October 17, 1895, he arrested four murderers, who were wanted for the murder of John Swilling near Tecumseh, Indian Territory. As the investigation into the escape of the Christian brothers continued, some of Carr’s friends attempted to get him out of the country. However, Carr was eventually indicted by a Grand Jury for assisting the outlaws. The lawman then raised the $14,000 bond by selling his property and personal possessions. Then, for reasons unknown, he skipped his bond and was “officially” never heard from again. Some speculated that he went to Texas while others thought he remained in Indian Territory. The newspapers of the day then tried to link Carr with a number of wanted fugitives. In 1896, the Beaver County, Oklahoma Territory newspaper reported that Carr was with Bill Doolin when Doolin attempted to make terms with lawmen and give himself up. Later that year, the Guthrie Daily Leader reported: “while playing with an old revolver, the 5 year old son of Bill Carr, the noted outlaw, shot himself through the stomach, dying in a short time.” In the meantime, another man named John Reeves, with the help of a woman, was charged with secreting the guns to the Christian Gang which allowed them to escape and was sentenced to the Kansas penitentiary on December 21, 1896. However, William Carr was still a wanted man. The last report of his existence was on June 1, 1900 when the Tecumseh Republican reported that a man who was called Dad Feagin had visited Bill Carr, who was using an alias of “Bill Evans,” about 65 miles east of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Feagin also said that Carr was in the presence of a former deputy marshal named George Elkins. He further added that Carr had been hiding out with the Christian brothers in southwest Texas prior to returning to Oklahoma. After this unsubstantiated statement, nothing more was ever heard about William Carr. © Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, July, 2008 See New York Times article Next Page

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