Just who was Oklahoma’s baddest outlaw? According to Temple Houston and Evitte Dumas Nix, there was only one. But what gave Temple Houston and Evitte Dumas Nix the right to choose?
Evitte Dumas Dix was appointed US Marshall to Indian Territory, Oklahoma in 1893. Upon his appointment he promptly went about ridding the territory of its notorious outlaw gangs. Five years later they were either dead or serving time in a Federal Prison.
The Doolin gang was at the top of the list and running rough shod over the Territory robbing banks and railroads. Their gang consisted of the famous outlaws “Bittercreek” Newcomb, Charley Pierce, “Dynamite Dan” Clifton, “Arkansas Tom” Jones and Red Buck. Marshall Dix pursued this gang from the “Shoot out at Ingalls” in 1893 to their bitter end in in 1898.
According to Marshall Dix the meanest and baddest of the bunch was a man by the name of George Weightman, aka: Tom Waitman, Charles Evans, George Waightman, Billy Weightman, George Waitman, Buck Gant, Bert Collins, White Horse Doolin and Doolin No. 2. George was his given name, his outlaw friends and lawmen knew him as “Red Buck”, so named because of his fiery red hair.
He appears in the annals of Oklahoma Outlaw history in 1890 when Deputy U.S. Marshal Henry “Heck” Thomas operating out of Isaac Parker’s Federal Court in Fort Smith, Arkansas arrested him. The charge was for stealing mules in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. The name on the charges was for one George Waightman. Judge Parker sentenced him nine years, and when he was being transported to a federal prison via train, he managed to escape.
He next appears in the famous Ingles, Oklahoma Territory shoot out of 1893 involving the Doolin Gang. This was the first action of Marshal Dix in his newly appointed position as US Marshal for Oklahoma Territory. It is apparent from the accounts that Red Buck was known even before the incident at Ingles. It is clear his history of crime goes even further back than his first arrest for stealing mules. He is sometimes reported to have come from Tennessee. While he may have been born there, his mother is reported to have come from Jones County, Texas before moving to Childress County Texas.
There is also mention of him being an assassin for hire. One such report took place in Greer County Texas. it was reported he was hired to kill a prominent rancher by the name of Perry Parish for the sum of $50.00. At least one account reports Perry was shot and killed near the North Fork of the Red River just South of present day Carter, Oklahoma. Others say Perry was able to avoid that date with death. While this story cannot be confirmed, Perry Parish was a rancher with a shady background who was charged with cattle theft in 1888 in Greer County Texas.
Law officers from Oklahoma Territory have reported Red Buck had a standing offer to kill anyone for $50.00 with the payment required in advance. In Oklahoma Territory he is reported to have been hired to kill four people. There is only one documented report of a killing for hire.
In 1895 Fred Hoffman was investigating the Wells Fargo Depot robbery that occurred in Woodward, Oklahoma Territory on March 4, 1894 by the Doolin Gang. Fred was ambushed and killed by two men outside Taloga, Oklahoma Territory on January 22, 1895. Alfred Shon was charged with the murder and defended by Attorney Temple Houston, son of Sam Houston. Part of the evidence against Shon was his association with Bert Collins and an eye witness who observed them at the site of Fred Hoffman’s murder.
In the book, “Getting Away With Murder” by Bill Neal it is stated that Temple Houston was defending Alfred Shon against the charges of killing Fred Hoffman. The account in the book states that Temple Houston met with “Bert Collins” and identified him as the notorious outlaw, “Red Buck”. Temple Houston stated that Collins (Red Buck) told him he had killed Hoffman for the sum of $1,400. He further added, if Temple brought up his name in the defense of Shon he would kill him.
In reporting the encounter with Bert Collins (Red Buck) Temple Houston called him, “the baddest and most cruel outlaw to infect the area”. It was in March 1896 that Red Buck met his end in a fiery shootout in a dugout North of what is today, Canute, Oklahoma.
What about the money he obtained in his robbing and stealing? Did it really end up in Childress County, Texas?
To be continued: