Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws

1915 Western Directed by William Tilghman

About Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws

Lawman Bill Tilghman stages the last years of the outlaw gangs in Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, mixing events he had worked with fictional scenes. Arkansas Tom Jones, the surviving member of the Doolin-Dalton Gang, plays himself in the battle at Ingalls. Deputy U.S. Marshals Bud Ledbetter and Chris Madsen also appear, and the story includes the fictional Rose Dunn, called the Rose of the Cimarron.

Cast & crew

More about Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws

Tilghman organized the Eagle Film Company and directed. Benny Kent, a neighbor in Lincoln County, photographed it on former outlaw hideouts. Cowboys from the 101 Ranch and local people filled out the company. Tilghman later toured with the print.

Themes

  • lawmen reenacting their own cases
  • outlaws played by the survivors
  • a Western told against the glamour version
  • Bill Tilghman
  • Ingalls
  • Doolin-Dalton Gang
  • Oklahoma Territory
  • Rose of the Cimarron
  • U.S. marshals

Background

The Doolin-Dalton Gang's fight at Ingalls was still within living memory in 1915, and one of the participants, Arkansas Tom Jones, acted in the scene.

Making

Kent shot on the ground where the gangs had hidden, in Lincoln and Payne counties and on the old Creek and Osage reserves, instead of on a Western backlot.

Reviews

The Chicago Board of Censors would not license the film, citing the train-robber and outlaw material.

Audiences

Tilghman took the picture on the road himself. People turned out for the lawman and the relics he brought with the show.

Look

Benny Kent, a local photographer, filmed the reenactments on the old hideouts rather than in a studio.

Preservation

Most of the film is at the National Archives. Some of it is damaged, and a couple of reels are missing.

Notes

  • The subtitle is Picturization of Early Days in Oklahoma.
  • Tilghman said he made it because other films had made outlaws glamorous and lawmen fools.
  • Rose Dunn, the Rose of the Cimarron, is a fictional figure placed among the reenacted events.
  • The Chicago Board of Censors refused a permit because the film showed train robbers and outlaws.
  • Tilghman found that audiences came to see him and his collection as much as the picture.
  • A companion book by Richard S. Graves, Oklahoma Outlaws, covers the same marshals and bandits.

Scenes

  • Arkansas Tom Jones restages the battle at Ingalls as himself.
  • Tilghman appears as the marshal in the same film he directed.

Also available

  • National Archives