Taking aim
William “Bill” Tilghman was a pioneering Oklahoma lawman — and filmmaker.
This weekend, Oklahoma City will celebrate films with the deadCenter Film Festival downtown.
The man often considered the first documented filmmaker in Oklahoma also was one of Oklahoma’s greatest lawmen, William A. “Bill” Tilghman, born in Iowa in 1854.
On Nov. 2, 1924, The Oklahoman chronicled the great man’s life:
William Tilghman, “the man who drove the outlaws from Oklahoma,” capturer of the Henry Starr gang, peace officer for fifty-one years, died with his boots on, died as he had lived — enforcing the law.
Tilghman, scout, plainsman, United States marshal, state senator, sheriff, peace officer, chief of police of Oklahoma City and gunman on the side of the law is the last of the old time officials to go.
He has been an Indian fighter, buffalo hunter and was always a frontiersman as long as there was a frontier. During the greater part of his lifetime he has been a peace officer and it was through his efforts as much as those of any other man that the outlaws of the west were wiped out.
William Tilghman was born at Fort Dodge, Iowa in 1854 and his parents moved to Kansas in 1866. When he was 16 years old he left home and went to southwest Kansas.
... Tilghman became a citizen of that country in 1870 and for several years hunted buffalo and fought the Indians. He was a government scout during the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian war in 1874 and fought through the campaign of 1878 when Dull Knife and his followers left the reservation at Fort Sill and plundered the frontiers of Kansas and Nebraska . ...
Tilghman was at Dodge City when the town was first surveyed and saw it grow into the wildest of all the western towns. He was marshal of Dodge City for three years in its wildest days and established there a reputation for fearlessness that has remained with him all his life . ...
When Oklahoma was opened in 1889, Tilghman came in with the other settlers and has since been a resident. He was the first city marshal of Perry, a town that tried to rival Dodge City for a short time in the number of bad men gathered in one place.
Still later, Tilghman became a deputy under United States Marshal E. D. Nix, the place being offered him because of the territory was at that time overrun with outlaws and Tilghman was looked upon as one man who could do much to drive them out . ...
The most daring act credited to Tilghman was the capture of Bill Doolin at Eureka Springs, after the outlaw had said he would never be taken alive. ...
By choice Tilghman was a farmer and horseman, so quiet and unassuming that he would not be given credit among those who do not know him for having such a distinguished career. Had he chose to exploit himself he might have been one of the most widely known men in the country, but his modesty kept him in the background.
He was made chief of police of Oklahoma City at a time when the services of an active man were needed . ... At the time this was written, Mr. Tilghman was a resident of Oklahoma City, where he is widely known. In fact he was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of the state . ...
Tilghman recounted his Oklahoma adventures in the form of a film in 1915, making him generally believed to be Oklahoma’s first documented filmmaker. He is the namesake of the Tilghman Award, given by the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle to an Oklahoma person, event or organization in recognition of achievements in advancing the cause of celebrating and supporting film in the state.
Tilghman was serving as marshal of Cromwell when he was shot and killed in the street by Wiley Lynn on Nov. 1, 1924.