COMMENTARY: Tragic Day In Indian Territory Recalled

1872 MASSACRE NEAR WESTVILLE, OKLA., RESULTED IN DEATHS OF EIGHT MARSHALS, THREE CHEROKEE

April 15, 1872, was the worst day in the history of the U.S. Marshals Service. Eight were killed in the line of duty in the Goingsnake district of the Cherokee Nation, near what is today Westville, Okla., just five miles beyond the Arkansas line. A total of 11 people died that day.

Robert Ernst, an Oklahoma historian, spoke about the event Friday at the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex for the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Okla. The program was part of the celebration of the cornerstone dedication at the U.S. Marshals Museum site in Fort Smith.

The shootout occurred at the Whitmore schoolhouse, where Ezekial “Zeke” Proctor, a Cherokee, stood trial for shooting and killing Polly Beck Hilderbrand, also Cherokee, and wounding Jim Kesterson, a white man.

In February 1872, Proctor, who lived in Goingsnake, went to visit his sister, Susan Kesterson, in the Sequoyah district of the nation, only to find her husband had left her and her children destitute. Proctor set off to fi nd his brother-in-law.

He found Jim Kesterson back in Goingsnake, living with Polly Beck Hilderbrand and working at her family’s mill on Flint Creek, near Siloam Springs.

“They started arguing, and soon both were going for their guns,” Ernst said. Hilderbrand was shot and killed, Kesterson was injured, and Proctor was charged with murder.

“As with so many deaths over the years, it started with two guys fi ghting over a woman,” Ernst said. “It started with domestic violence. It started with three people, and ended with 11 people dead — 12, if you count Polly. Instead of the Goingsnake Massacre, they should call it the Goingsnake Tragedy. It didn’t have to happen.”

Proctor’s case came before tribal court, but Kesterson and the Becks reported Proctor to U.S. authorities in Van Buren — the federal Western District of Arkansas — afraid he wouldn’t face justice in the tribal court.

As a result, the U.S. commissioner issued an arrest warrant to the marshals’ oft ce. Deputy marshals Jacob Owens and Joseph Peavy organized a posse of 10 men. “They were told to arrest Proctor only if he was found not guilty,” Ernst said.

Interest in the trial was intense, and the trial was moved to the Whitmore schoolhouse, which had fewer doors and windows and was believed to be easier to defend, Ernst explained. Judge Blackhawk Sixkiller apparently expected trouble.

The posse arrived, and “their intention was to take seats in the rear of the makeshift courtroom and await a verdict,” the Marshals website reads.

“Who fi red fi rst?” Ernst asked. “I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

Some reports say the marshals attacked the school; some say the marshals rode into an ambush; others say the shooting started inside. Judge Sixkiller later said Archibald Scraper, foreman of the jury and close friend of Proctor, fired the fi rst shot, Ernst said.

The smoke cleared, and eight marshal posse members — including Owens and two members of the Beck family — were dead. Three Cherokees were killed — Johnson Proctor, the defendant’s brother; William Alberty, the defense attorney; and Andrew Palone. Peavy, Proctor, Sixkiller and others were wounded.

Ernst gave several theories behind the violence.

“There were always questions of jurisdiction,” Ernst said. “And you have to remember, it was six or seven years after the Civil War and some of the bitterness remained. The Indians were equally divided between those who fought for the Union and those who fought for the Confederacy.”

Proctor and his clan sided with the Union, while the Becks — relatives of Polly — were allied with the Confederacy, he said, “And there always had been a war between the families.”

So, the fact that members of the Beck family were members of the posse also bears some weight, he said. “They never should have been on the posse,” Ernst said. “No marshal today would chose members of the victim’s family for a posse.”

“And some Indians just plain didn’t like white people,” Ernst concluded his possible explanations.

Proctor was acquitted the next day, and federal court charges against him and others involved in the massacre were later dropped. Kesterson disappeared from the region.

“I don’t think Proctor would have been convicted of murder,” Ernst said. “You have to prove intent to kill — unless he was trying to kill Polly.”

LAURINDA JOENKS IS A FEATURES REPORTER AT THE MORNING NEWS AND HAS LIVED IN SPRINGDALE SINCE 1990.

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