Lafayette "Lafe" Shadley.

Lafayette "Lafe" Shadley.

Birth: Jun. 6, 1844
Death: Sep. 3, 1893, Oklahoma.

Photo provided by Cherokee Rose

Lafayette Shadley was born on June 4th, 1844, near Zanesville, Licking county, Ohio, and would have been 49 years and three months of age had he lived another day. His parents removed while he was still young to Davis county, Iowa, where he lived until in July, 1862, at the age of eighteen he enlisted in Co. B, 30th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. With his regiment he participated in the siege of Vicksburg and the seven days battle at Jackson, Miss. He was in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge and Ringold and was with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea. During nine months of his service in the army he acted on a detail as cannonier of the 1st Iowa Battery. He was mustered out of the U. S. service on June 5th, 1865; and on February 4th, 1866, was united in marriage to Malinda Randolph. They continued to reside in Davis county, Iowa, until November, 1879, when they removed to Kansas, settling in Drum Creek township on a place which he still owned at the time of his death.

In November, 1879, he was elected sheriff of Montgomery county, and in 1881 he was re-elected. From 1884 until 1888 he served a deputy sheriff under Os. McCreary. In 1889 he was appointed chief of police of the Osage Nation, a difficult and dangerous position whose duties he discharged with zeal and fidelity, until relieved a few weeks ago upon the appointment of a democratic successor. When he retired from office he had just located the band of robbers who held up a Santa Fe train at Cimarron last spring, and had since been endeavoring to organize a posse to capture them. Last week he received a telegram from Deputy Marshal Hixon, of Oklahoma, asking his aid in the capture of the Dalton-Starr gang, which was making its headquarters at Ingalls, near the northeast corner of that territory. He responded promptly, hoping to be able to run down the men he was after at the same time, and went, as it proved, to his death.

Lafayette "Lafe" Shadley, Burial is at Mount Hope Cemetery, Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas.

Ingalls Oklahoma.

On September 1, 1893, the town of Ingalls Oklahoma, was the scene of the famous “Ingalls Raid,” a shootout between the Doolin bunch and federal officers. The outlaws were playing poker at Ransom’s Saloon when the officers arrived hidden in two covered wagons. A gang member noticed the wagon, and “Bitter Creek” Newcomb was sent to investigate. As Newcomb rode up, one of the lawmen, federal officer Dick Speed, was standing in the doorway of the Piece and Hostetter feed barn, questioning a young boy. When the officer saw Newcomb and asked the boy who he was, the youth said, “Why that’s Bitter Creek.” Seeing the boy pointing at him Newcomb reached for his Winchester.

Officer Speed was quicker, and his shot knocked the magazine off Newcomb’s rifle, the bullet ricocheting downward into the outlaw’s right leg. Newcomb managed one shot, then wheeled his horse to escape. Speed stepped from the doorway for another shot, just as gang member “Arkansas Tom” Jones leaned out of an upper window of the O. K. Hotel. Jones saw Speed and put a bullet into the lawman’s shoulder. Dazed, Speed ran for the wagon instead of taking shelter in the barn, and a second shot from Jones’s rifle killed him. In the meantime Newcomb was racing for the road south of town. Doolin and the rest of the gang were firing from the saloon, trying to cover Newcomb’s escape.

The officers now converged on the saloon firing as they advanced. Inside, the saloon owner, Ransom, was hit twice--in the rib and in the arm. The outlaws, however, seemed blessed with good luck: the lawmen over looked a side door, and all five desperados slipped out and made a dashed for the livery stable where they had left their horses. As Doolin and Clifton threw on the saddles, Dalton, Tulsa Jack, and Red Buck held off their attackers. Meanwhile, Arkansas Tom Jones had chopped a hole in the roof of the hotel and put two bullets into another deputy, Tom Hueston ( Sometimes spelled Huston ), who was firing from behind a pile of lumber.

When all the horses were saddles the outlaws broke in two directions: Doolin and Clifton raced out the rear door towards the southwest in the direction of a deep ravine a few hundred yards away and Dalton, Tulsa jack, and Red Buck burst through the front door, then turned and also headed for the ravine. All made it to safety except Dalton. A bullet hit his horse in the jaw and another broke its leg. He leaped from his saddle, scrambled over an embankment, and ran on foot until spotted by Tulsa Jack, who returned and took him aboard his horse.

The five outlaws had made their escape. The only casualty was Clifton, having taken a bullet in the fleshy part of his neck. Newcomb also escaped. Back in town, Arkansas Tom Jones was still firing from the O. K. Hotel. While his comrades were racing away from the livery stable, he picked off another officer, Lafe Shadley. But Jones was trapped and he knew it. On learning that all his comrades had left him, he threw out his weapon.