The Story of Arkansas Tom Jones

The Story of "Arkansas Tom" Jones

We have previously discussed Bill Dalton and the Bill Doolin Gang and the shootout at Ingles, O.T. in 1893 where we briefly mentioned “Arkansas Tom” Jones and the part he played in the melee.

Tom Jones (Roy Dougherty) was from Arkansas and came to Oklahoma Territory in his youth like so many young men to work on the big ranches as a cowboy.

Tom was employed on ranches in the Cheyenne country in the western part of the territory. Here is where he met many of the men who would later become members of many outlaw gangs.

When the Cherokee Outlet was opened for white settlement with the land run, most of the cowboys were laid off their jobs because the big ranches no longer existed.

Many cowboys made the run themselves and staked claims and began farming or established small ranches for themselves. Other cowboys were not so inclined as to be tied down with farm and family. These men chose the outlaw lifestyle.

Tom worked with many of these cowboys who later joined the outlaw gangs. Tom was the young cowboy who cared for Bill Doolin’s wounds suffered in a raid in Kansas. Arkansas Tom concealed the outlaw chieftain until his wounded foot was well enough for him to travel again.

In the shootout at Ingles, Arkansas Tom took a prominent role covering the Doolin gang in the street from the second floor of Mrs. Pierce’s hotel. Although suffering from a severe fever, Tom laid down covering fire from the second floor while the rest of the gang made their way to their horses in the barn at the end of the street.

Tom had to abandon his room when the marshals began concentrating their fire on his room, which was being literally shot to pieces. Tom made his way into the attic of the hotel and knocked out the gable shingles where he could continue shooting at the marshals in the street.

Arkansas Tom was the only outlaw captured that day. Although sick but not wounded, Mrs. Pierce persuaded Tom to surrender because the posse was shooting her hotel all to pieces. Tom did not surrender however until his ammunition was completely spent.

Tom was tried for manslaughter and convicted whereupon he was sentenced to fifty years in Lansing Penitentiary. He served seventeen years, four months and twenty-two days and received a pardon for good behavior.

Upon release, Tom returned to Oklahoma and the scene of his outlaw days where he became a good and reputable citizen.

At the Ingles fight, Marshal Nix had directed the capture of Arkansas Tom. Time had brought many changes to Oklahoma in the preceding seventeen years. Marshal Nix was now a gentleman farmer and heard of the efforts of Arkansas Tom to go straight and arranged a for meeting with Tom.

When the two men met, they silently clasp hands and closely looked into the other man’s eyes remembering that day in 1893 when they were looking down the sight of a Winchester in an attempt to end the others life. It was here that the old marshal hired the old outlaw to work for him for the rest of his life.