The Indian Side #2

Sorry folks. For two reasons, this is a rewrite. First, a major mistake needs correcting and second, the word has filtered down as to some confusion. Some readers thought it difficult to keep the various players straight. Apologies -- especially to my Indian cousins. Now, let's see if we can make this right.

Turn about is fair play -- particularly when you can find a balance. Remember I told you about the murder of my Uncle on the White side of the family? As the history of misfortune would have it, there was one on the Indian side, too --my great-grandfather, Sheriff Jesse Sunday.

The information below, I am taking from several pages in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Spring, 1955. This is a Quarterly, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society. This particular story is found in a couple of other books I have in some safe-keeping place in the house. Every time I come across one of these books, I always put them back in a place easily remembered. Of course, it takes months to find them again. Heaven only knows their location now. But, relying on the Quarterly and a phone conversation with Cousin Rose, this is the way the story goes. And, it even has a name. It was called, The Saline Courthouse Massacre. 

The year was 1897; the month, September; the place, an active community hubbed around one of the nine courthouses built by the Cherokee Nation to serve these nine Districts comprising the Cherokee Nation. The center of activity included a general store, blacksmith shop, church, doctor, and school.

This story happened in the Saline District, which was located near rural Rose, Oklahoma, in the eastern part of the state. Google Rose, Oklahoma. You can find it. But, the Saline District, along with the other eight Districts, were destroyed when the Federal Government ended the Cherokee Judicial System a year later, 1898.

There were major and minor roles played by several individuals that fateful day. But, to de-complicate matters, only seven names are going to be mentioned here:  First, there was Thomas Baggett, a lawyer, who owned the general store; Sheriff Jesse Sunday (my great-grandfather), who was completing his elected term as Sheriff; Dave Ridge, Jesse Sunday's half brother, and soon-to-be, the next Sheriff. Andy Sunday (my grandfather), the eldest son of the Sheriff; Sampson Rogers (the man with the temper), Martin Rowe (supposed friend to Sheriff Andy Sunday) and, Sallie Sunday (my grandmother and wife of Andy Sunday).

As the initial scene begins, only Thomas Baggett and Dave Ridge are on stage. Events were set in motion when Dave's wife sent him to the general store to pick up a couple of items. Being a popular guy, he was easily persuaded to postpone his shopping in favor of joining the other men sitting around in friendly conversation while enjoying the sunshine. Cherokees do love to talk and gossip. And, along this perpetual grapevine passes important family and community news. This was the social networking of the day.

But, mixed in with the sunshine on that September afternoon was a bit of moonshine, something that Thomas Baggett, the owner of the general store, would not tolerate. Playing to the max his role as an up-standing Christian man, Baggett closed the store. When Ridge realized he was not going to be able to buy the items as instructed by his wife, he started banging on the front door to be let in. Baggett finally opened a second story window and told Ridge the store was closed and to go away/get lost. A ruckus ensued, a shot rang out. Baggett was struck and instantly killed. Everyone scattered, including Dave Ridge.

The sounds of that shot reverberated, reaching the ears of twenty-year-old Andy Sunday, son of Sheriff Jesse Sunday, some 200 yards away. Though well educated, fluent in both Cherokee and English, and a married man, Andy and his friend were on the trail engaged in some mischief. In this case, they were delivering liquor to a bootlegger. Should they have known better? Did they need money? Was this accepted practice of the times? Were they doing someone a favor? I don't know. The reasons are lost to history.

In any event, their mission paled in comparison to the deed they were about to witness. As they quickly stepped into the bushes to hide. Dave Ridge came down the trail in one direction. From the other direction came two other men, one being Sampson Rogers. The three met and Ridge and Rogers started accusing each other of having killed Thomas Baggett. During the argument, Sampson Rogers struck Dave Ridge on the head with some object. Whether a rock or a gun, the deed was done, and the blow killed Ridge.

Andy Sunday knew Sampson Rogers had a dreadful temper, so he stepped out of the bushes to try and calm Rogers down, which caused Rogers to get into Andy's face and threaten his life if he told anyone what he'd just witnessed.

Now, Sheriff Jesse Sunday was some ten miles away from the killings of Thomas Baggett and Dave Ridge. He was going about the business of guarding prisoners. But, when the news of the dual killings arrived by messenger, the Sheriff left the prisoners in the hands of a deputy and turned his horse toward the Saline Courthouse. What I'm guessing is, when he arrived, he found a mess. Lots of confusion, finger pointing, stories running around trying to get straight, and heads shaking trying to get clear.

From here on, different versions of the story are told. It's known that Sheriff Jesse Sunday questioned various men, one being his supposed friend, Martin Rowe. It's fairly clear that Martin Rowe shot, and mortally wounded, Jesse Sunday. What is not clear is the reason, other than, Rowe did shoot Baggett, and he knew that the Sheriff suspected he was the guilty man.

The Sheriff's riderless horse appeared at the Sunday house. Alarmed, a search for the Sheriff began. Supposedly, Andy found his father, sitting on the ground, propped up against a tree. He took him to the house of a friend, where his father died. But, the story that the Sheriff was shot and the Sheriff was dead, couldn't be told any which way other than one. It was a fact. Along with the White side, the Indian side of the family had a murder.

The trials: Martin Rowe was convicted of murdering Sheriff Jesse Sunday. For the crime, a noose was to be dropped over his head, ending around his neck. But, later, the case was reviewed and a decision reached that not enough evidence was presented for a hanging. Instead, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. He escaped and wound up in Texas and eventually evaded capture by Oklahoma lawmen by joining the United States Army and fighting in the Spanish American War. After being discharged, Rowe made his way back to Oklahoma, a free man.

Sampson Rogers was responsible for the murder of Dave Ridge. No one would testify against him though, and he came away from the trial a free man.

When hearing this story, you have to keep in mind that some accounts were told in Cherokee, some straight English, some with a mix of Cherokee/English. Important details, lost in translation, can shade the scenes different colors, depending on the telling. Nevertheless, the stories remain important to tell. Here you find balance -- a murder on the White side of a family; a murder on the Indian side. As of now, we are equal.

Although not recorded in the history books, the story has always circulated in the family that Andy Sunday ran home and told his young wife, Sallie Sunday (my grandmother) of the threat made by Sampson Rogers. She immediately took to her bed and refused to talk with anyone, claiming illness, as she was afraid for Andy's life. In a recent telephone conversation with Cousin Rose, she related that she was told, a group of men came to Sallie Sunday's home and threatened her by saying that if Andy told anyone what he saw, the whole family would be killed. Rose also mentioned that to her knowledge, our grandmother never spoke of these events. If my family records are correct, at the time of The Saline Courthouse Massacre, Sallie Sunday was eighteen years of age, Andy was twenty.