Here in Oklahoma we are celebrating our centennial. (Well, white Oklahoma is, but that's a different story.) As part of the festivities many towns are writing local histories, some even performing plays and pageants based on their stories. One such community is Ada, in south-central Oklahoma. Here is an excerpt from the Ada Evening News.

In 1909, Ada was a thriving little town of 5,000 that had the reputation of being one of the toughest places in the whole Southwest. The west end of Ada’s Main Street was lined with bootlegging dives, and the town had 36 murders during 1908. Crime went unpunished, for the most part. Moman Pruiett was a brilliant criminal lawyer in Pauls Valley who had defended 343 persons charged with murder and, with his flamboyant way of charming juries, had succeeded in gaining acquittals for 303 of them.

The town was full of gunfighters employed by one of two factions that had long been feuding. On one side was Gus Bobbitt and on the other side were Joe Allen and Jesse West. Constant warfare went on between the two sides. Ada was a frontier town trying to resolve itself into some semblance of law and order, and though there were some who were determined to have respectability prevail, they were in a tough spot.

Gus Bobbitt began to curry favor with the law-abiding element and was successful in gaining a better reputation. He had served as a U.S. Marshall during the Cleveland administration, and he was a Mason, a strong organization in Ada. Bobbitt’s wife, three sons and a daughter had the approval of the social set, which was a big point in Bobbitt’s favor.

. . . When Bobbitt was assassinated
Further investigation indicated that Bobbitt’s old enemies, Joe Allen and Jesse West, had hired Miller to kill Bobbitt. Miller was caught near Fort Worth and brought to Ada by George Culver, Ada’s police chief. Allen and West were arrested shortly thereafter along with a man named B.B. Burrell who had acted as an intermediary between Miller and his employers. They were all in the Pontotoc county jail.

Miller laughed at the nervousness of Allen and West who, knowing Ada, were concerned about their fate. Miller continued to dress well and to eat well, having food sent over from the Elite Café. He wanted all to know that they had hired the Pauls Valley lawyer, Moman Pruiett, and that they would be exonerated of charges.

On a Sunday night in April, Ada’s electricity and telephone service were cut off and a group of between 40 and 50 men came into the jail, overpowered and tied up the guards and took out the four men being held for the Bobbitt murder. They took these prisoners to the old Frisco barn about 30 feet from the jail and hanged them with ropes from the rafters in the barn. Then the group of nameless citizens who had their bellies full of lawlessness in Ada dispersed down an alley to their homes. No news ever leaked about their identity.


Vigilante Justice was common on the frontier, as ordinary means of law enforcement proved inadequate to the challenge. And this during the days before "criminal rights", when bounties sometimes were placed on the heads of wanted men, dead or alive. Perhaps the most famous example of the rewards put on outlaws was the $10,000 offered for Jesse James by Missouri governor Crittenden, which prompted a member of James' own gang to shoot him for the reward. After the Civil War violence plagued my home state of Missouri until bounties were placed on wanted men, dead or alive.(more below)

Both Vigilante Justice and Wanted Dead or Alive have deep roots in the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition. "Wanted Dead or Alive" reflects the older meaning of the word "outlaw." Originally "outlaw" referred to someone whose actions had placed him outside the protection of the law: his property was forfeit and his life could be taken with impunity. He had made himself an enemy of Crown and Community and was treated accordingly. Vigilante Justice also is built on this understanding of "outlaw," and on the ancient tradition that the community as a whole, not simply professionals, is responsible for maintaining law and order.

The earliest policing system in England, which predates the Norman Conquest in 1066, was community-based and implied collective responsibility. The Saxon frankpledge required all adult males to be responsible for the good conduct of each other and to band together for their community's protection. To formalize that obligation, they were grouped into tithings headed by a tithingman. Each tithing, in turn, was grouped into a hundred, which was headed by a hundredman who served as both administrator and judge. Each hundred was grouped into a shire, which was supervised by a shire-reeve. The role of shire-reeve eventually developed into the modern office of county sheriff in England and in the United States. Encylopaedia Britannica

For example, "Hue and Cry" refers to the shout given against the thief, which obligated all able males within earshot to join the chase and capture the thief. This responsibility for maintaining public order forms the background of the posse, the shortened form of posse comitatus.)

The Statute of Winchester of 1285 codified the system of social obligation. It provided that: (1) it was everyone's duty to maintain the king's peace, and any citizen could arrest an offender; (2) unpaid, part-time constables operating at various levels of governance had a special duty to do so, and in towns they would be assisted by their inferior officers, the watchmen; (3) if the offender was not caught “red-handed,” a hue and cry would have to be raised; (4) everyone was obliged to keep arms and to follow the cry when required; and (5) constables had among their varying responsibilities a duty to present the offender at court tests. Encylopaedea Britannica

Vigilantes, in addition to roots in the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition, also rest upon a British tradition of extra-legal justice, sometimes called "rough justice" or "justice out-of-doors." Communities, or parts of communities, acted outside the magistrates or justices-of-the-peace to enforce standards. Think, for example, of the Sons of Liberty enforcing the boycott against English goods. In chaotic situations, such as on the American frontier, extra-legal justice seemed the only solution, even though it also has led to injustice (e.g. KKK).

I wish to offer three reflections based upon these facts.

First, in chaotic situations around the world, such as in Iraq or the former Soviet Union, I think we do those people a disservice when we hold them to the standards of contemporary police procedure, which basically means post 1960s American criminal procedures. It seems to me that the old concept of "outlaw" may be appropriate as these new governments try to fight violence and corruption: Shoot On Sight, and Wanted Dead Or Alive. Many of the famous American gangsters of the 1930s were shot on site, sometimes in ambushes conducted by law enforcement professionals, including the FBI. And, I cannot criticize citizens during lawless chaos, as for example in contemporary South Africa, for forming Vigilance Committees and dispensing justice.

Second, in our war against Islamic radicals. Is it in our best interests to give the enemy modern criminal rights, by which I mean some sort of post 1960s proceedural guarantees? I don't see why enemy combantants, including Osama bin Laden, would have any more rights than Jesse James. Bring us the head of Osama.

Third, many of you will remember the vigilante movies of the 1970s and early 80s such as The Star Chamber, Dirty Harry, and the Charles Bronson flicks. These movies tapped into the frustration of ordinary Americans that judicial decisions had tilted the court system in favor of criminals, as they were guaranteed technically perfect investigations and trials. I recall talk in my home area, very rural Missouri, of the need to go back to vigilante justice. This anger on the part of law-abiding citizens began to abate during the Reagan years as conservative judges were appointed to the Federal Bench. Today, with the GW Bush nominees on the Supreme Court, I have not heard much anxiety expressed for years. But, I fear that 4 or 8 years of Hillary nominees may kindle talk of vigilantees and extra-legal groups again.