Lynched at Ada, Oklahoma, April 19, 1909 Postcard

Item Details

Lynched at Ada, Oklahoma, April 19, 1909, Postcard

Printed postcard measures 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Light wear and soiling. Faint pencil markings on faint. Good Condition.

A photographic copy of four men hanged in a stable in Ada, Oklahoma, April 19, 1909. As stated on the card, the deceased are left to right, Jim Miller, Joe Allen, B. B. Burrell, and Jesse West. These men were lynched in retaliation for the murder of U.S. marshal and rancher A.A. "Gus" Bobbitt

The lynching made national news and was splashed across the front pages of major newspapers throughout America. Several reports included this photo of the lynch mob's work. This came at a time when Oklahoma, barely a state for two years, was trying to shed its reputation as a sanctuary for the lawless.

The verso of the card reads in manuscript, "A friend of ours from Ada, Okla gave us this I think he knew some of these poor fellers---an eye for an eye."

From the web page (edmondlifeandleisure.com) we find a good synopsis of the case: "Two of the four men murdered on that early morning were Joe Allen and Jesse West, who had been in a feud with an Ada resident and former deputy U.S. marshal, Gus Bobbit. Barry Burrell, who was also lynched, had arranged to have Bobbit murdered, which leads to the final member of the executed quartet and, perhaps, the reason for the mob justice. Jim Miller from Fort Worth, Texas, was charged in the murder, with the other three defendants, as the man who pulled the triggers of the double-barrel shotgun that took Bobbit's life. He was also known as "Killer Miller,” due to his reputation as a hired assassin. While there was still slack in Miller's rope, he boasted to the mob, "Let the record show that I've killed 51 men.”"

Jim Miller is one of several suspects in the never solved murder of Pat Garrett, the former sheriff of Lincoln County best known for having killed outlaw Billy the Kid on July 14, 1881.