INGALLS

NAME: Ingalls
COUNTY: Payne
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 3
CLIMATE: Snow in winter, Hot in summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Any time
COMMENTS: Located justoff Highway 51 West of Cleveland.Watch for "Famous Land Mark" signon the highway. UPDATE: I just visited the Ingalls, Ok area, there are a few corrections.  It is on Hwy 51, west of Yale, Ok.  (About 10 miles),  South onto Ingalls Rd, follow it all the way into town, the buildings would be at the first intersection on the right.  While there, a resident of the town stopped by to talk to us and told us that the buildings are not original to the town, they were brought there later.  GPS - 35°46'20" N, 95°22'23" W Mary Robinson
REMAINS: Cemetery, large wooden map of old town, monument
Settled after the 1889 land rush into the Unassigned Lands between the Chickasaw Nation and the Cherokee Outlet, Ingalls was a busy town of 150 in the 1890s. Several small-time outlaw gangs plagued the Oklahoma territory during the late 1800's. U.S. Marshall E.D. Nix was charged with bringing the criminals to justice. Nix received word that a gang, known as the Wild Bunch, were making frequent visits to Ingalls. Their leader, Bill Doolin, rode with the Dalton gang until the Coffeyville, Kansas bank robbery. Doolin's gang stayed at a hotel when in Ingalls and were said to be quiet and well-mannered. The gang also may have camped along the Cimarron River for most of the summer of 1893. Two deputy marshalls were sent, in disguise, to Ingalls to look for the Doolin gang. According to the story of Dr. Pickering, a local physician, the two deputies played cards and drank with the Doolin gang at a saloon. The deputies returned and confirmed that the Doolin gang were in Ingalls. Nix sent a dozen deputies led by John Hixson to capture the Wild Bunch. The deputies rode in two covered wagons to disguise their approach. They entered Ingalls from the north at 10 a.m. on September 1, 1893. Doolin and gang members "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, "Tulsa Jack" Blake, "Bitter Creek" Newcomb and Bill Dalton were in the saloon. "Arkansas Tom" Jones was in a second-floor hotel room. During the shootout, three deputies and two townspeople were killed. Every one of the Wild Bunch escaped except "Arkansas Tom", who was captured and sentenced to 50 years in prison. By 1907 the Post Office in Ingalls was closed and the small town passed into history.

Submitted by: Bill Doubledee


Ingalls Hotel
Courtesy Norma Barton


Outlaw Battle
Courtesy Norma Barton


U.S. Marshalls Marker
Courtesy Norma Barton


Ingalls Battle Outlined
Courtesy Norma Barton

 


Ingalls
Courtesy Mary Robinson

 BACK