Two Page Handwritten Letter Dated Feb. 8, 1903, From Wm. Tilghman, Sheriff, Lincoln County, Oklahoma Territory To Zoe Agnes Stratton, Who Later In That Year Became His Wife

WM TILGHMAN

Publication: Holograph Letter, 1903, Lincoln County Chandler

First edition. 8 1/4" x 11" two page inked letter on the writer's personal stationery as "Sheriff, Lincoln County, O. T. , Chandler, Okla," and dated Feb. 8, 1903. A very newsy letter in which Tilghman tells Zoe he had recently received her letter, that he did not go to Texas but instead was in Oklahoma City, Guthrie, Perry, Kingfisher, and El Reno. He expresses his pleasure that she had received an "A" for her studies and says she should be proud of her accomplishments, "I don't know what A is for in your examination, I suppose it is a number-one or first in everything, and you should feel proud of such an examination." Tells of the weather and he couldn't make planned trips because of the snow. Says he is going to Oklahoma City to attend the "Cattlemen's Convention" and will be there 2 or 3 days. He also was going to be a judge while there for the Roping and Riding contests at the request of Col. Zach Mulhall, his friend and Rodeo/Wild West promoter. Tells her that "several car loads of thoroughbred cattle will be there from the best breeders in the East and I want to see them." Later in 1903, they were married. As Zoe A. Tilghman, she authored the book in 1949, "Marshal of the Last Frontier." A very good letter from one of the most famous lawmen in the West and along with Chris Madsen and Heck Thomas became known as the Three Guardsmen. In 1900, he was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, O. T. and served until 1904. In 1910, he was elected to the state legislature as senator and served one term. In 1924, at the age of 71 and against the advice of his wife and friends, he accepted the position of city marshal of Cromwell, Oklahoma. There on November 1, 1924, he was murdered by a drunken prohibition agent named Wiley Lynn. A few folds, else a very good copy of a letter written to his then lady friend and later wife, by a famous western lawman.