Rufus Buck Gang facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rufus Buck Gang |
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Left to right: Maoma July; Sam Sampson; Rufus Buck; Lucky Davis; Lewis Davis.
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| Founded | July 28, 1895 |
| In | Indian Territory |
| Years active | 1895 to 1896 |
| Ethnicity | Creek |
| Membership | Rufus Buck, Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, Lucky Davis |
| Criminal activities | Armed robbery, murder |
The Rufus Buck Gang was an outlaw Native American gang whose members were Creek Indian and African American. Their crime spree took place in the Indian Territory of the Arkansas-Oklahoma area from July 30 through August 4 of 1895.
Formed by Rufus Buck, the gang consisted also of Lewis Davis, Sam Sampson, Maoma July, and Lucky Davis. The gang began building up a small stockpile of weapons while staying in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. After killing U.S. deputy marshal John Garrett on July 30, 1895, the gang began holding up various stores and ranches in the Fort Smith area during the next two weeks. In one incident, a salesman named Callahan – after being robbed – was offered a chance to escape if he could outrun the gang. When the elderly Callahan successfully escaped, the gang killed his assistant in frustration. At least two female victims who were assaulted by the gang died of their injuries.
Capture and hanging of the gang
Continuing attacks on both local settlers and Creek indiscriminately, the gang was captured outside Muskogee by a combined force of lawmen and Indian police of the Creek Light Horse, led by Marshal S. Morton Rutherford, on August 10. While the Creek wanted to hold the gang for trial, the men were brought before "Hanging" Judge Isaac Parker. He twice sentenced them to death, the first sentence not being carried out pending an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. They were executed on July 1, 1896 at 1 pm at Fort Smith.
Depiction in culture
A slightly modified account of the gang's crimes is the basis for the novel Winding Stair by Douglas C. Jones.
The Buck gang, "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker, half-black, half-Indian outlaw Cherokee Bill, and the socio-political environment at the death of Indian Territory are the subjects of the 2011 historical novel I Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang by Leonce Gaiter.
The story of the gang served as an inspiration for the 2021 Western film The Harder They Fall. Rufus Buck was portrayed by Idris Elba.
