Evett Dumas “E.D.” Nix.
Evett Nix took the oath of office as U.S. Marshal for the Oklahoma Territory on July 1, 1893, and served until 1896. He led the posse that fought in the Ingalls, Oklahoma, Shoot-out and was primarily responsible for capturing and killing the members of the Doolin-Dalton Gang.
Evett Dumas “E.D.” Nix was born in Kentucky on September 19, 1861; he would come by his lawman experience honestly, as his father served as a deputy sheriff and his uncle a county sheriff. As a young man, he worked in his father’s factory and later operated a grocery, hardware, and furniture business in Coldwater, Kentucky. He became a traveling sales representative, moved to Paducah, Kentucky, and in 1885 married Ellen Felts.
He and his wife moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma, in October 1889, where he became a prosperous businessman and formed several influential friendships.
At 32, he was appointed U.S. Marshal of the Oklahoma Territory on July 1, 1893, the youngest man to hold the position. At the time of his appointment, the Guthrie Daily News said of him:
Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1889
“He has, right now, all the sturdy characteristics of a veteran. A forceful independence, a clear, cool head, a quiet, unostentatious confidence in himself that is the best equipment a man can have who would fill successfully the high office to which his merits, and his merits alone, were the signal cause of his call.”
During the last years of Judge Isaac Parker’s tenure, the territory remained a lawless frontier, filled with desperadoes. Recognizing the tough job ahead, he quickly appointed a formidable force of deputies, including Henry Andrew “Heck” Thomas, William Matthew “Bill” Tilghman, Chris Madsen, Frank M. Canton, Charles Colcord, John Hixon, and others, most of whom were already veteran peace officers.
When he took office, the Doolin-Dalton Gang was terrorizing the territory, and Nix made taking them down one of his first responsibilities. A few months later, on September 1, 1893, he led a posse of 27 deputy marshals and Indian Police and headed towards Ingalls, Oklahoma, a known gang hideout. In what would become known as the Battle of Ingalls, three of his deputy marshals — Thomas Hueston, Richard Speed, and Lafeyette Shadley were killed, and Doolin-Dalton Gang members, “Bittercreek” Newcomb, Charley Pierce, and “Dynamite Dan” Clifton were wounded but escaped. Only gang member “Arkansas Tom” Jones was captured. Though the outlaws won the battle, the “war” was not yet over. Nix then organized an elite group of about 100 U.S. Deputy Marshals to bring down the infamous Doolin-Dalton Gang. By 1898, the entire gang had either been captured or killed.
Ingalls, Oklahoma.
He was dismissed from his position on January 24, 1896, when an audit alleged that he had misused funds. However, it later turned out that the “misuse” was probably due to an inadequate fee system used to pay U.S. Marshals Service officers at the time.
Nix returned to life as a Guthrie businessman and, in 1929, co-authored a book titled “Oklahombres: Particularly the Wilder Ones” with Gordon Hines, which detailed the demise of the Doolin-Dalton Gang.
On February 4, 1946, Nix died in Riverside, California, and was buried in Paducah, Kentucky.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2025.
Also See:
Ingalls Gunfight With the Doolin Gang
See Sources.