Historical Marker

William Matthew Tilghman

Lincoln County · Oklahoma

Tilghman also put his trade on film. On January 18, 1915, he formed the Eagle Film Company with fellow lawmen Evett Dumas Nix and Chris Madsen, and he produced, co-directed and co-wrote The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws, playing himself. It premiered in Chandler on May 25, 1915. The picture ran about 96 minutes, of which roughly 13 survive at the Library of Congress, and historian Frank Richard Prassel called it a major source of popular disinformation for passing off staged scenes as real. After his death his body lay in state in the Capitol rotunda.

What the plaque says

William Matthew Tilghman July 4, 1854 Nov. 1, 1924 Bill Tilghman was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, but soon moved to Atchison, Kansas. As a young man he was a buffalo hunter and scout for the U.S. Army. His skill as a marksman brought him into law enforcement as marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. He was appointed Deputy United States Marshal in 1891. His service continued for 35 years. Tilghman made the Oklahoma Territory Land Run for former Sac and Fox Indian lands September 22, 1891, staking a claim near what would become Chandler. Tilghman also served as sheriff of Lincoln County, police chief of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma state senator. Historian William Raines said of Marshal Tilghman, "He took a thousand chances, made more arrests of dangerous men, broke up more outlaw gangs, sent more criminals to prison than any individual officer on the frontier." None of the fabled lawmen of Western myth, including Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, or Bill Hickok, came close to matching his record. Called out of retirement at age 70 to return to duty, Tilghman was killed in Cromwell, OK in 1924. Bat Masterson said of him, "He was the greatest of us all."

Where it stands

35.70018, -96.90371 · Directions

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