Marauders of the Indian Nations: The Bill Cook Gang and Cherokee Bill

In the mid-1890s, a band of murderers and thieves terrorized law-abiding citizens of Indian Territory. Defying the Indian lighthorse, Indian police, and Indian sheriffs, as well as United States marshals, they plundered at will the towns and trains of what is now northeastern Okklahoma. Vying for dominance of the gang were William Tuttle "Bill" Cook and Crawford "Cherokee Bill" Goldsby, two of the most vicious badmen ever to plague Judge Isaac Parker's Fort Smith judicial district. This is more than a ripping good story of adventure in the Old West. As Shirley details the Cook gang's bloody deeds it becomes increasingly apparent that the problems of youth crime and gang violence are not unique to twentieth-century America but have deep, historical roots.