Zip Wyatt - Notorious Oklahoma Outlaw

Zip Wyatt - Notorious Oklahoma Hombre

<< Previous 1 2 Next >>

The following day, they had made their way to a farm about five miles west of Okeene, Oklahoma, where they stole some horses and a cart. Another posse was formed, led by Robert Callison, the constable of Forrest Township, and the men once again went after Black and Wyatt.

Tracking them to a canyon on July 28th, where the guns blazed once again and posse member, Frank Pope was shot in the right leg. However; the “lucky” outlaws once again were able to escape. By this time, the original posse was joined by another from Alva, Oklahoma, led by Deputy Sheriff Hildreth, who pursued the fugitives southeast.

Oklahoma frontier.

Black and Wyatt took refuge in a shack about four miles east of Cantonment (present-day Canton) and when the posse caught up with them on August 1st, Black was shot in the head and killed. Zip was also shot in the left side of his chest, but escaped the posse. He then headed to a doctor’s house a mile away and forced the doctor go give him a horse and tend to his wound. Riding off on the horse for about seven miles, the wounded Wyatt, soon let the horse go as the pain of his chest wound was two intense. He then waylaid a small wagon near Homestead, forcing the young driver to take him some 25 miles northeast. After crossing the Cimarron River, he let the boy go and continued in the cart.

On the afternoon of August 3rd, Zip was spied crossing the Rock Island railroad at Waukomis, just five miles south of Enid. When Garfield County Sheriff Elzie thralls got word of Zip’s location, he put together a posse and went after the desperate bandit. Zip deserted the horse and cart about miles east of the railroad at Skeleton Creek Valley and once again traveled afoot. That evening, Wyatt came across a small cabin owned by John Daily, and ordered the owner to provide him a horse and come with him. Later, Wyatt let Daily go and the freed man quickly raised the alarm as to Zip’s last known location.

The dawn the following morning on August 4th, a final posse from the Anti-Horse thief Association from Sheridan, Oklahoma, went after the elusive outlaw. By 10:00 a.m., they were joined by another posse from Enid. Tracking Wyatt to a site about five miles southeast of Marshal, the men split up and surrounded the outlaw. When the deputies ordered the outlaw bandit to throw up his hands, Wyatt went for his gun and Deputies Ad Polk and Tom Smith both fired on him, striking him once in the pelvis and once in his stomach. Finally, Zip Wyatt surrendered. The outlaw was then taken to a church in Sheridan where he was treated by two doctors. That same day, Zip was transferred to Enid and jailed. John Daily and the Sheridan posse would split the reward for his capture.

As various jurisdictions argued over where Wyatt would be tried, local doctors intervened telling authorities that Zip was a dying man. However, for the next three days, Wyatt would “hold court” in his jail cell, as numerous people came to see the now infamous outlaw. Enjoying the attention, Wyatt boasted of having killed eleven men and getting away with numerous crimes. When John T. Wyatt, Zip’s father, arrived to visit him on August 7th, he told reporters that his son was 24 or 25 years old, had not participated in the Doolin Gang robbery in Dover, Oklahoma and had never been a regular companion of either Bill Doolin or Bill Dalton. Zip Wyatt continued to linger in the jail, pumped up on morphine for his pain, until by the end of August, he had been reduced to little more than a skeleton. He finally died on September 7, 1895.

A wounded zip Wyatt

A shot and wounded lingered in jail for a month before dying.

The following day, his sister, Mrs. Pricket appeared to claim his effects, but not to claim the body. However, the sheriff refused to turn over his personal possessions. On September 9, 1895, Wyatt was buried in a cheap pine coffin, without a marker in a pauper’s field south of the city without a funeral nor any family members present. Years later, many of the bodies in the old cemetery were moved but Wyatt's was already lost and remained where it was, in what is today a residential development in Enid.

<< Previous 1 2 Next >>

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Vintage Photographs of the Old West - From our personal Photo Print Shop, you can now order prints that provide dramatic glimpses into the rich heritage of the American West. From notorious outlaws, to Indian Chiefs, buffalo roaming the range, and pioneers on the trail, this varied collection grows daily.