A time of transition among outlaws & lawmen & a bit of Tyler T grip lore

[lawandorder]

In the early part of the 1900s there were many advances in technology and a lot of them impacted Outlaws and Lawmen of the time.

Gunmen on both sides of the law quickly embraced semi automatic hand guns and rifles as tools of their respective trade. A good many of them soon became more comfortable in the front seat of a Ford than they were on the Hurricane deck of a cow pony.

Henry Starr & Roy "Arkansas Tom" Daugherty were two transitional outlaws who went from Single Actions & horses to autos & "autermatics". Both had very interesting careers and are worth reading about if you have an interest in this time period and subject.

A lawman who fit this bill was Luther Bishop. He was born in North Carolina and moved to Oklahoma in 1908 after he got out of the navy. Bishop served as City Marshal of Britton, an Oklahoma County Deputy Sheriff, an Oklahoma City Police Officer, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, and one of the first three Special Agents of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

In short Bishop was a professional LEO who wore many different hats in his career which was cut short at 2:00AM on December 5th 1926 when he was shot and killed in the bedroom of his home in OKC by person or persons unknown. Theories abounded including his wife and many of the outlaw element in Oklahoma but the crime remains unsolved.

Bishop and his partner had been involved in many deadly shootouts and successfully put several of Oklahoma's most notorious criminals out of business. Bishop is credited with firing the fatal shot that killed Al Spencer, the last Train Robber in Oklahoma. By the way Spencer's Lieutenant was Frank "Jelly" Nash who was later killed in the KC Massacre in 1933. A lot of interesting ties among these old law breakers.

An early image of Bishop shows that he was gun savy in a time when most Officers carried a .38 Special and often times not extra ammo.

Note in this image Bishop is carrying a Colt 1911, cocked and locked, in a frontier style, mexican loop holster. On the off side the distinctive butt of a Colt SAA can be seen thrust into the loaded cartridge belt and just in front of that is a mag pouch with a reload for the 1911. Bishop's partner developed the practice of carrying a sack of extra ammo of varying calibers as they traveled around the state and sought help from local Officers who did not carry extra rounds.

Later both Bishop and his partner both carried Smith & Wesson .44 Special Triple Locks with 4 inch barrels. In fact Bishop was murdered with his own revolvers.

Bishop's partner Claude Tyler,

a gunman also, later had a son Melvin, an Oklahoma City Police Officer who invented a much sought after revolver accessory, the Tyler T grip. Wonder if Pop had any input? Quien Sabe?

For more reading on this story try the excellent book " Alive if Possible,Dead if Necessary" by Retired Oklahoma Crime Bureau Special Agent Dee Cordry. Images from the Cordry Collection.

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

Looks like a really interesting book. Thanks for posting the info.

Cheers;
Lefty

 

[jbull380]

Good stuff!

 

[keith44spl]

Tony,

Them Boys had the look...Didn't they.

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[lawandorder]

Yep Dave I knew you would notice that. It makes the leap across the years, even in photographic images. Once you have seen it you never forget it.

Sometime you are passing through the rock hollar and the cheeseburgers are on me.

 

[Sebago Son]

All Business Rural Lawman...

Rough and tumble... I'd hate to be on the wrong side when them old boys decided to dust it up.

One of my Grand Uncles was the High Sheriff of Saratoga County, New York during prohibition. A lot of hooch ran down the Northway from Canada through his jurisdiction to the hotels and speakeasies of the Capitol District and further south to New York City. I never met him, but he was by all accounts an "interesting" fellow. I have seen his photos and as a child, sat in his office in my Aunt's house. I remember that there was still a bullet hole in the wall above his desk that nobody wanted to talk about.

Unvarnished, deliberate, rough as a cob, but wore a suit and tie everyday on the job and settled matters as needed, often on his front porch with a Justice of the Peace handy. One of whom was my mother's father. Also close at hand was what looks to be a 5" Nickeled .44 HE2 seen sitting on the corner of his desk. I also remember as a small boy discovering my Grandfather's top coat that hung in the front hall armoire and the pair of long barreled, nickle plated Colt's .32's in holsters sewn into the pockets.

Things were sure different in the 20's and 30's out in the country or up in the mountains where my people came from.

Thanks for putting this up Tony...

Drew

 

[semperfi71]

Interesting post. I'm not a Lawman but in the first picture I thought, "He looks like he is about to shoot someone.", which echoes keith44spl's comment.

He doesn't look too big or broad shouldered but I bet he was tougher than an NFL lineman.

 

[jkc]

From the photo, I inferred that Bishop isn't worried that he's about to be shot by the photographer, but not so sure about somebody to his right...

 

[handejector]

It makes the leap across the years, even in photographic images. Once you have seen it you never forget it.

Yep.
Thanks for this. Interesting stuff. I have to think Bishop knew his killer. In his bedroom, with his own gun?? Hmmmm.

 

[tops]

Thanks for the stories. I enjoy stories of old gunfighters (on both sides of the law). In the real world a lot of them worked both sides. Larry