Crawford -Goldsby "AKA Cherokee Bill.(February 8,1876-March 17,1896)

Was a 19th-century American outlaw.Responsible for the murders of eight men,he and his gang terrorized the Native American Territory for over two years.Cherokee was said to have a such a bad temper that when he and his brother-in-law Mose Brown,dispute about some hogs.
Cherokee shot and him.

He was born to Sgt.George & Ellen (Nee Beck) Goldsby at Fort Concho in
San Angelo,Texas.His daddy,was Biracial and from Perry County,Alabama,a sergeant of the Tenth United States Cavalry,and a Buffalo Soldier.Cherokee mama was a was a Cherokee Freedman,with mixed African,Native American and white ancestry.Cherokee had one sister,Georgia,and two brothers,Luther and Clarence.

In a signed deposition on January 29,1912,George Goldsby stated that he was born in Perry County,Alabama on February 22,1843.His Daddy was Thronton Goldsby of Selma,Alabama and his mama Hester King,
who was biracial,and lived on her own place west of Summerfield Road 
between Selma and Marion,Alabama.George also stated he had four brothers and two sisters by the same daddy & mama: Crawford .Abner,
Joseph,Blevens,Mary,and Susie.

George served as a hired servant with a Confederate infantry regiment 
during the American Civil War.While serving at Gettsburg,he fled and went to Harrisburg,Pennsylvanis,where he worked as a teamster in a 
Union quartermaster unit and subsequently enlisted as a white man in the 21st Pensylvania Cavalry Regiment under the name of George Goosby.(The spelling sometimes varied between Goosbey & Goosley).

After the Civil War ended,he returned to the Highland,Illinois.During his
last visit,the word was out that he would be captured and lynched for fighting with the Union Army,after which time he departed the area for 
the Native American territory.

In 1867,George  enlisted in the 10th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldier) under his proper name,and by 1872 was promoted to sergeant major.
After the expiration of his five-year term,he re-enlisted and became first sergeant of Company D,10th Cavalry.

During 1878 (When Crawford was two years old), serious trouble began
to occur in San Angela (San Angelo), Texas,between the African-American soldiers and cowboys and hunters.The incident that led to 
the largest confrontation took place in Morris' saloon.A group of cowboys and hunters ripped the chevrons from the sleeves of a company D sergeant and the stripes from his pants.The soldier returned to the post and enlisted the aid of fellow soldiers,who armed themselves with carbines and returned to the saloon.A blazing gunfight 
commenced,resulting in one hunter being killed and two others wounded. 

Texas Ranger Captain G.W. Arrington,along with a party of rangers,
went on-post (at Fort Concho) in an attempt to arrest George,charging 
that he was responsible for arming the soldiers.Colonel Benjamin Grierson,post commander,challenged the authority of the rangers in a federal fort.

George apparently knew that the Army could not,or would not,protect him from the post,so he went AWOL.He escaped from Texas into the 
Native America Territory.

Sometime after being abandoned at Fort Concho,Ellen Beck Goldsby moved with her family to Fort Gibson,Native America Territory.She left Crawford in the care of an elderly black lady known as "Aunty" Amanda 
Foster.She cared for him until he was seven,and then he was sent the Native America school at Cherokee,Kansas.Three years later,he was sent to the Native American school at Cherokee,Kansas.Three years later,he was sent to the Catholic Indian School at Carlisle,Pennsylvania.
At the age of 12,he returned home to Fort Gibson.

Upon returning home,Crawford learned that his mama had remarried.
After departing Fort Apache,on June 27,1889,Ellen married William Lynch in Kanasas City,Missouri,before proceeding to Fort Gibson.
William was born in Waynesville,Ohio,was a private in K Troop,
9th Cavalry.He had served during an earlier enlistment with H Troop,
10th Cavalry.She was the "authenticated" laundress of the 10th Cavalry,D Troop,and stayed with the unit which gave her rations,
transportion,and quarters.She transferred to Fort Fort Davis,Texas,and 
to Fort Grant,Arizona.She was also with the Unit at Fort Apache,Arizona.
Crawford and his stepdaddy,did not get along. Crawford began associate with unsavory characters,drink liquor,and rebel against authority.

By the time he was 15,Crawford had moved in with his sister and her husband,Mose Brown,near Nowata,Oklahoma.Mose and Crawford did 
not get along well,and Crawford did not stay for long.He went back to
Fort Gibson,moved in with a man named Bud Buffington,and began working odd jobs.

Crawford life as an outlaw began when he was 18.At a dance in Fort 
Gibson,Jake Lewis and he had a confrontation over a dispute that 
Jake had with one of of Crawford's brothers.A few days later,Crawford 
took a six-shooter and shot Jake.Thinking Jake was dead,Crawford 
went on the run,leaving Fort Gibson and heading for the Creek and 
Seminole nations,where he met up with outlaws Jim & Bill Cook,who were biracial Cherokees.

During the summer of 1894,the United States government purchased 
rights to a Strip of Cherokee land and agreed to pay $265.70 to each 
person who had a legal claim.Since Crawford and the Cook brothers 
were part Cherokee,they headed out to Tahlequah,Oklahoma,capitol 
of the Cherokee Nation,to get their money.

At the,Crawford was wanted for shooting Jake,while Jim Cook was wanted on larceny charges.The men did not want to be seen by the 
authorities,so they stopped at a hotel and a restaurant run by an acquaintance Effie Crittenden was asked if Crawford had been involved,
she stated that it was not Crawford,it was Cherokee Bill.After statement,Crawford got the nickname "Cherokee Bill" and became known as one of the most dangerous men of the Native American Territory.

After this,the Cooks and Crawford formed the Cook Gang and began to 
terrorize Oklaholma.The Gang quickly began robbing banks,stagecoaches,and stores,and were willing to shoot anyone who got in their way.Between August and October, Crawford and the cooks
went on a crime spree,robbing and mercilessly killing those who stood in their way.During this time,Crawford's hair started to fall out due to a 
disease inherited from his granddaddy.The disease left him with so 
little hair on his his head,he decided to shave the remainder off.

Crimes involving Cherokee Bill:

1.On May 26,1894,Robberly of T.H. Scales Store,Wetumka,Oklahoma.
35 cents was stolen.

2.On June 17,1894,Killing of Deputy Houston.

3.On July 4,1894,Kansas and Arkansas Railroad brakeman Samuel Collins was shot through the bowels after ejecting a drunk half breed for trying to steal a ride at Fort Gibson Oklaholma; a tramp who was 
was on the same car tried to run,was shot and died later;the assailant was Crawford Goldsby;according to an 1896 account Samuel apparently died as well.

4.On July 6,1894,Mississippi Railway Station Agent A.L. "Dick"Richards
of Nowata,Oklaholma was reportedly killed by Cherokee Bill of which 
he later boasted he later denied it.

5.On July 18,1994 Bill and his gang robbed Wells-Fargo Express Company and the St.Louis and San Francisco railroad train at Red Fork.

6.On July 30,they robbed the Lincoln County Bank in Chandler,Oklaholma,and made off with $500,Killing J.B. Mitchell in the 
process.

7.In September 1894,he shot and killed his brother-in-law,Joseph " Mose" Brown, either over an argument about some hogs-or because he through that Joseph'  ..got more of the parental estate than due him...

8.On 14,1894,Robbery of Parkinson's Store at Omulgee,Oklahoma.

9.On October 20,1894,train robbery at Correatta,Oklahoma.

10.On October 22,Crawford and three others robbed the post office and Donaldson's Store at Watova.

11.On November 8,1894,when the men robbed the Shufeldt and Son General Store,Crawford shot and killed Ernest Melton,who happened to enter the store during the robbery.

12.On December 23,1894,Crawford and an accomplice Jim French held up and robbed Nowata, Oklahoma station Agent Bristow of $ 190.00.


Because of the Ernest murder incident,the authorities stepped up their pursuit for Crawford and the Cook Gang. With the pressure on,the gang spilt up. Most of the men were captured or killed, Crawford managed to escape. When the authorities offered a $1300 reward for the capture of Crawford,some of his acquaintances came forward and agreed to help.

On January 31,1895,he was sentenced to death after being tried and convicted for the murder of Ernest Melton.His lawyer managed to postpone the execution date.

In June 1895 a pistol was discovered in a bucket at Fort Smith jail;Crawford claimed that a prison trustee named Bill Howell had brought the gun in and then had run away a few days later.

In the meantime,Crawford had made a friend,Sherman Vann,who was a trusty at the jail.Sherman managed to sneak a six-gun into Crawford's 
cell-a Colt revolver.

On July 26,1895,Crawford attempted a jail break with it.He jumped the night guards as they came to lock him up into his cell.A guard,
Lawrence Keating,was shot in the stomach.As Lawrence staggered back down the corridor,Crawford shot him in the back.Other guards arrived and prevented Crawford from escaping,they were not able to enter the 
jail either.Then another prisoner,Henry Starr,convinced the guards to 
let him go in and get Crawford out.Moments later he came back with 
Crawford,who was unarmed.

The second trial lasted three days,resulting in a guilty verdict and U.S.
District Judge Isaac Parker sentenced Crawford to be hanged on September 10,1895.A stay was granted,pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.On December 2,the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Fort Smith Court and Judge Parker again set the execution date as March 17,1896.

On the morning 17,Crawford awoke at six to have a smoke break.He ate a light breakfast sent from the hotel by his mama.At 9:20,his mama and
"Aunty" Amanda Foster were admitted to his cell and shortly afterwards Father Pius arrived.

The hanging was scheduled for 11:00 am,it was delayed until  2:00 P.M.
so that his sister Georgiacould see him before the hanging.She was 
scheduled to arrive at 1:00 P.M. on the eastbound train.

Shortly after 2:00  P.M. while on the gallows,it was reported Crawford was asked if he had anything to say and he replied, I came here to die,
not make a speech." About 12 minutes later,Crawford "Cherokee "Bill"
Goldsby,the most notorious outlaw in the Territory,was dead.

The body was placed in a coffin,which was placed in a box and taken to the Missouri Pacific depot.Placed aboard the train, Ellen & Georgia escorted the body to Fort Gibson,Oklahoma,for interment at the Cherokee National Cemetery.

On April 20,1897,Ike "Robinson" {Rogers}, who was reported to have been involved in the captured of Cherokee Bill,was shot and killed by Clarence Goldsby at Ft Gibson Oklaholma.