From chilibilly@juno.com Thu Sep  3 08:34:22 1998
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 10:24:31 -0500
From: "William E. Lehmann" 
To: dmorgan@efn.org
Subject: Bill Posey

David:
	If Glenn Shirley can't help you on Hardy Barber I don't know of
anyone else who could. When I first discovered the Bill Posey connection
with the Matthew Wallace  lynching I immediately called Glenn to see what
his files might reveal. He did not have anything on Posey except a copy
of a news article telling of Posey's escape from prison and the
possibility that he had headed for I.T.
	Without going to my files I can tell you there were several
references to Posey lynching Matt Wallace in the newspapers. I never
found any official charges of the incident by researching ALL available
court documents at Waco between 1870-1880....only the theft charges were
lodged against Posey and this is what he was sentenced to prison for.
	The Waco Daily Examiner of Friday, June 29, 1877: "Bill Posey,
desperado, reported killed while resisting arrest. From McLennan County.
Hung his brother-in-law three years ago. Died Friday last near Okmulgee,
I.T."
	The Denison Herald of November 14, 1873, reported that "Deputy
Sheriff  Hall had returned from Muskogee, in the Nation, where he had put
the cuffs on W.A.J. Posey, mule thief and fratricide." This must have
been after the county jail break. Deputy Sheriff Hall was then a deputy
with the Grayson County, Texas sheriff's office. He was the later-fabled
Leigh Hall of the Texas Rangers.
	A newspaper article  in the Waco Examiner of February 22, 1877
told of the arrest of William Crabtree for "complicity in the murder of
Matthew Wallace, who was hung by Bill Posey's gang in the suburbs of the
city in 1873." Court records reveal that Crabtree was actually charged
with a knife attack on another person, a charge of which he was later
acquitted. 
	Ora Posey Nielsen said her father, Albert Washington Posey, told
her that Bill Posey always disavowed that he lynched Wallace. While only
circumstantial, there are too many references to the incident to be
disregarded. The trouble is nobody talked about the incident in later
life, and they all scattered from McLennan County like a covey of flushed
quail after all their troubles.
	Happily, I was able to furnish Ora Posey Nielsen information on
her Wallace genealogy of which she had no knowledge. She only knew her
grandmother was Elizabeth Wallace. And I am so pleased that I was able to
contact her while there was still time to record some of the information
she related to me.
	As for my belief that Susan Posey's maiden name was Riggs, the
following account of Posey's death and subsequent documents filed in the
Creek Nation will point to this possibility. A man named Henry Riggs,
claiming to be Bill Posey's brother-in-law, filed a claim with Judge
Parker's Court in Ft. Smith wanting the return of Posey's arms, claiming
the deputies had kept them. Posey did not have any sisters who married a
man named Riggs so that left only Susan as having a brother that would
make him Posey's brother-in-law, if it was indeed a fact. Posey and
Susan's son was named Henry, a common custom at the time to name children
after siblings. It is not etched in stone, but has the best explanation I
have seen so far.
	Below is an account of the killing and events that followed. Many
documents exist at OHS in the Creek Indian section. I hope to be able to
locate Judge Parker's court records before I quit. 
	Incidentially, I have some good stuff on Henderson "Hense" Posey
in my files. Honolulu is too far away. You need to get back here where
the wind comes sweeping down the plain.  Regards, Bill Lehmann


BILL POSEY'S DRAMATIC END 

	As the time neared for Susan to give birth to Posey's fourth
child, he moved the family to their second home near Concharte Town in
the northern Creek country. It was a severe winter, and Susan could be
near relatives who could help her with the new baby's delivery and
aftercare. The new arrival was another son, whom they named Henry. The
harsh winter finally loosened its icy grip, and the family began making
preparations to relocate to their main home on Cane Creek, midway between
Muskogee and Okmulgee.

	Posey was making some repairs to the wagon that would move the
family, and had it placed on wagon jacks. His two oldest sons, Matthew
and Albert, were helping with the repairs, when suddenly the wagon
slipped from a jack, trapping Posey's hand in between. The accident
nearly severed his right index finger at the first joint. Susan wrapped
the damaged hand and finger in a soft cloth and soaked it in kerosene to
ward off infection. He would leave the next morning for Okmulgee, where
he would have the wound attended by a doctor.

	Arriving by horseback the next morning, Posey sought out a doctor
in the tiny capital town of the Creek Nation. The mangled finger could
not be saved, the doctor told him, and it would necessary to amputate the
tip of the finger to the first joint, which he did. The doctor gave Posey
a hard block of ivory to bite down on while the surgery and treatment
were completed. There was no medication to ease the throbbing pain. With
his hand swollen and heavily bandaged, Posey set out for the return
journey home.

	While in Okmulgee, Posey stopped to buy some groceries and other
family supply needs. It did not take long for word to reach Chief Ward
Coachman that Posey was in town. Coachman summoned a Creek Lighthorse
Captain, Suntharlpee, with orders to capture Posey for the Texas
authorities. The captain contacted two of his fellow officers, and they
began to follow the trail  of the fugitive. Posey had a good head start
before Suntharlpee was able to get his chosen assistants and set out in
pursuit.

	The Lighthorsemen finally tracked Posey through a thickly wooded
area of rolling hills, emerging in a brushy bottom where the Pole Cat
Creek entered the Arkansas River. Posey was driving six head of stolen
horses ahead of him. The area is near the present town of Jenks, just
west of present Tulsa. Confronting Posey, Suntharlpee told the fugitive
that Chief Coachman had ordered his arrest to be held for Texas
authorities.

                        Posey, remembering the harsh and cruel conditions
of the Texas penitentiary, vowed he would not be taken alive. He reached
for his Henry repeating rifle, but was unable to get off one shot because
of his swollen and bandaged hand. When Posey made the move for his gun,
one of the Lighthorsemen leveled a  double barrel shotgun down on him and
pulled the trigger. The gun, a 10-gauge, loaded with .00 buckshot,
exploded with a thunderous roar, the slugs striking Posey in the right
arm, breaking it instantly.

	With his right arm dangling uselessly by his side, Posey reached
for a revolver with his left hand, getting off two errant shots before
another charge of buckshot tore into his left shoulder, almost blowing it
away. Both arms were now broken, and taken out of the fight. The outlaw
then dug his spurs into the flanks of his horse, sending the animal into
a full charge against the captain's mount. The impact caused
Suntharlpee's horse to fall, dumping the captain into a nearby stream
bed.

	Posey then spun his horse around upon the posse, who did not have
time to reload the shotgun, but stood their ground, firing at him with
revolvers. One slug tore off the end of Posey's nose, but still he kept
coming and charging the officers with his horse. Other bullets from the
revolvers found their mark, but the onslaught by Posey continued. He was
riddled with bullets, and badly wounded, but seemed unstoppable. The
Lighthorsemen feared he would again escape the clutches of the law.  

	All the bullets in the officers' revolvers had been spent before
Suntharlpee was finally able to emerge from the creek bed, shaken and
wet, to rejoin the fight. The captain, standing on the ground, pulled the
trigger on his last shot at the charging horse and rider. The bullet
struck Posey under the chin, breaking his jaw, and exploded through his
brain. Mangled beyond belief, Posey then fell dead from his horse, at the
feet of the Lighthorse Captain.

	The body lay where it fell overnight. Friends and relatives came
the next day to view the battle site and bury the body of the slain
outlaw. Posey's remains were too mangled to even be washed by water from
the nearby creek. A coffin was hastily nailed together from wooden planks
that had been brought in.

	 Posey was wrapped in a hand made blanket sent him by his mother
when the boys had come to live with him in the Territory. His body was
placed into the coffin, and buried near a large boulder, where he had
fallen during the battle. There was no minister to deliver last words, or
a  prayer for  comfort in the afterlife.

	The killing of Posey by the Lighthorse commanded attention far
and wide. Newspaper accounts of the events were wired across the United
States and several foreign countries. Many visitors came to view the site
where the battle occurred and to see the freshly-dug grave in the creek
bottom.

	Following Posey's death, Susan took the infant, Henry, and went
to live with a family named Grayson near Uchee Town. The three Posey sons
by Elizabeth--Matthew, Albert and Robert--were taken in by Posey's
cousin, Lucinda Ann (Hopwood) Smith. Lucinda was a one-quarter Creek
through the Berryhill bloodline, and lived in the Concharte area, near
the place where Posey had been killed.

	The U.S.Indian Agent, S.W. Marston, sent a communique from his
Muskogee office to Chief Coachman regarding Posey's fate. The message,
dated June 20, 1877, was short and simple. It read:
	"Sir: I have learned through what I believe to be a reliable
source that the Light Horsemen of Muskokee (sic) District in attempting
the arrest of Wm. A. Posey who was demanded some time ago by the Governor
of the State of Texas was forced to kill him. You will please report all
the facts in this case to this office at as early a day as they can be
obtained from your officers."

	Another letter from Marston to the Chief, dated July 2, 1877,
contained this message:

	"Dear Sir: I have received from his Excellency the Governor of
Texas in regard to the killing of William A. Posey in an attempt to
secure his capture upon the Governor's requisition & all is satisfactory.
I have therefore concluded it would be best for you to retain the
Governor's requisition papers in  the files of your office & so I return
it to you for this purpose."

	A white man named Henry Riggs, claiming he was Posey's
brother-in-law, charged Suntharlpee and his men had kept Posey's weapons,
and he wanted them turned over to him. This affair caught the attention
of Jacob Barnett, a Judge of the Deep Fork District of the Creek Nation,
who wrote a letter to Chief Coachman, dated June 22, 1877:

	"Dear Sir: This man Riggs, a white man living near Col.
Robinson's in the Deep Fork District, and a brother-in-law to Bill Posey
is meddling himself I think too much for a man in his position and status
in this country. I have  learned  that  he has written a letter to some
of the            
U.S. Marshals concerning the killing of Posey and also about Captain
Suntharlpee taking Posey's arms. I have no idea that he can do anything
but it goes to show that he wants to meddle where he has no business--and
cause trouble so I must advise you to revoke his permit immediately and
report him as an intruder and let the Nation get rid of him for I think
he is a bad man."
	It is believed Riggs was a brother of Posey's second wife, Susan.
His name was Henry Riggs, and the new Posey son had been named Henry. All
Posey's sisters had married except Piety Jane Posey, who still resided
with her parents in Limestone County. She never married. None of Posey's
sisters were married to a man by the name of Riggs. 

	A letter signed by Judge Micco of the Deep Fork District, dated
September 25, 1877, told Chief Coachman that the prosecuting attorney for
the district had informed him that Henry Riggs was, indeed, an intruder
in the Muskokee (sic) Nation and his permit to reside in the Territory
had expired some time before.

	Thus ended the life of William Andrew Jackson Posey, in a violent
and bloody shoot-out in the wilderness of Indian Territory. He had spent
the last five of his thirty one years as a fugitive from the law. He had
lost his land, his wife, his herds of livestock, and his dreams with
them. At the end he did have his sons, perhaps his most prized
possession.   

	Strangely, it was never known what caused the rift between Bill
Posey and his brother-in-law, Matt Wallace. The two men were very close
at one time. They were the same age, were childhood friends, had served
in the Confederate army together, and Posey had married Wallace's sister.
His first born son was named Matthew Andrew, a combination of their two
names. They even lived as neighbors.

	There is no question about a falling out between the two men.
Could it have been the loss of land inherited by Sarah Ann Miller-Wallace
they would never be paid for? Posey had signed a promissary note, but a
deed had been executed that conveyed ownership to Posey. The land was
then lost to satisfy judgment in civil lawsuits. Posey was very upset at
the loss of property and his sentence to the penitentiary. He went to the
homes of the lawyers and the doctor threatening their lives.

	Was there a blood-letting oath among family members to never
discuss the events? Even first generation descendants were not even aware
that Posey was implicated in the lynching of Matt Wallace.
                       
	Posey descendants say, according to family legend,  Matt Wallace
had stolen a horse and the sheriff was close behind. Wallace supposedly
came to the home of Posey where he corralled the animal, which had been
ridden hard and was all lathered up. The Posey family was not at home, so
he selected a fresh horse from Posey's corral, leaving the tell-tale
stolen horse behind. The sheriff, finding the stolen animal, arrested
Posey, charging him with theft of the animal.

	McLennan County Court records do not reveal any single charges of
horse theft against Posey. He faced some fifteen charges, but all were
multiple thefts. Additionally, Matt Wallace was no more than a mile from
home when he would have come to Posey's house since the Wallace and Posey
families all lived on the Garza survey land.

	Wallace descendants were told that Matt Wallace was out looking
for strays and came upon rustlers stealing his animals, whereupon he was
lynched by the thieves to avoid testimony and identification by him. It
was also said the lynching occurred to keep Wallace from testifying
against Posey on some theft charges. Matt Wallace, however, was not
listed as a witness on any of the charges against Posey in the McLennan
County Court records. Posey was faced with so many  charges against him,
with so many different witnesses that another charge and witness would
have made little difference. 

	Washington Wallace, Matt Wallace, William Wallace and Robert
Wallace were all charged initially with Bill Posey in the theft of
livestock, altering cattle brands, violation of the estray law, etc.
Charges then began to be filed against Posey individually. Court action
was eventually dropped against all the Wallace men, and they were never
in trouble with the law again.   
  
	The events of the forced removal of the Eastern Indian tribes,
the battle for Texas Independence, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction
period were some of the most turbulent times in U.S. and Texas history.
The fate of the people living during this period shows a strength and
determination for survival, yet a confidence in the future. They accepted
the challenges of this unsettled existence on a day-to-day basis. Above
all, they were a brave people. 

	For whatever path they trod, be it saint or sinner, the families
of Miller, Lott, Lynch, Cohron, Aikman, Wallace, Posey and Lehmann  were
a part of this history. Their blood was shed on the Texas Bluebonnets.
	
	May they rest in peace.
	
                        








_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]




  
  

    
    

      Search billions of records on Ancestry.com