The Rufus Buck Gang was an outlaw multi-racial gang whose members were part African American and part Creek Indian. They operated in the Indian Territory of the Arkansas-Oklahoma area from 1895 to 1896. Formed by Rufus Buck, the gang consisted also of Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, and Lucky Davis. The gang began building up a small stockpile of weapons while staying in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. After killing U.S. deputy marshal John Garrett on July 30, 1895, the gang began holding up various stores and ranches in the Fort Smith area during the next two weeks. In one incident, a salesman named Callahan - after being robbed - was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang. When the elderly Callahan successfully escaped, the gang killed his assistant in frustration. At least two women victims who were raped by the gang died of their injuries.
August 4: Rape of a Mrs Hassan near Sapulpa, Oklahoma Hassan and two of three other female victims of the gang—a Miss Ayres and an Indian girl near Sapulpa—also died; a fourth victim, Mrs Wilson, was reported to have recovered; it is reported that, after their capture, the gang was almost lynched
Capture and hanging of the gang
Continuing attacks on both local settlers and Creek indiscriminately, the gang was captured outside Muskogee by a combined force of lawmen and Indian police of the Creek Light Horse, led by Marshal S. Morton Rutherford, on August 10. While the Creek wanted to hold the gang for trial the men were brought before "Hanging" Judge Isaac Parker. He twice sentenced them to death, the first sentence not being carried out due to an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. They were hanged on July 1, 1896 at 1 pm at Fort Smith.
Depiction in novels
A slightly modified account of the gang's crimes is the basis for the novelWinding Stair by Douglas C. Jones. The Buck gang, "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker, half-black, half-Indian outlaw Cherokee Bill, and the socio-political environment at the death of Indian Territory are the subjects of the 2011 historical novelI Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang by Leonce Gaiter.
