Edward Capehart O'Kelley

1858 - 13 January 1904

Edward Capehart O’Kelley was born in Missouri in 1857, a man whose temper ran as hot as gunpowder. By the time he drifted west, he carried a lawman’s badge, serving as marshal in Bachelor City and deputy sheriff in Hinsdale County. But his rage often outpaced his duty. In Pueblo, 1891, a man stepped on his foot—O’Kelley’s answer was a bullet, and another life ended.
The defining moment came a year later, in Creede, Colorado. Robert Ford—the man who shot Jesse James in the back—was tending a tent saloon when O’Kelley strode in with a shotgun. “Hello, Bob,” he said. As Ford turned, the blast tore through his neck, killing him where he stood. In that instant, O’Kelley’s name was forever welded to the James legend, the man who killed the man who killed Jesse James.
Was it revenge for Jesse, or simply a grasp at infamy? No one knew. What was certain is that O’Kelley’s act made him infamous. Arrested and sentenced to life in Canon City Penitentiary, he disappeared behind iron bars, yet even there his deed followed him like a shadow. In 1902, after years of petitions, he walked free again. By then, his name no longer carried honor or office—only the memory of a shotgun blast that sealed his fate in Western history.

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http://marti.rootsweb.com/photogallery/pioneers/ecokelp.html

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http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Edward+Capehart+O'Kelley

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Photo courtesy of Marti Graham

Sources: The Oklahoman; Marti Graham (photos)

Contributed by Marti Graham, April 2007. Information posted as courtesy to viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.