Re: Eliza Scribner/Oklahoma

Ted,

Talking about the motive for killing Zeke Putnam.The man killed by Zeke Putnam was the brother of Mack Lee, a very wealthy and influential citizen of Pontotoc County.He owned a lot of land and was a Director of the Bank (in either Ada or Stonewall?)He promised Dan Scribner that he would give him 120 acres of land plus some cash to kill Putnam.Dan and Ed Johnson made several trips on horseback to Allen but were initially unsuccesful in finding the right moment for the ambush.Ed Johnson, in his testimony, told how he and Dan met at Mack Lee's house and talked about the plan the night of the killing.Ed said that Mack gave them a bottle of whiskey and they were on their way back to Stonewall and stopped in a fork in the road and debated which way to go: Stonewall or Allen.The more whiskey they drank, the more in favor of going to Allen they became.After the killing, they passed Mack Lee's place on the way back to Stonewall and stopped nearby and Dan fired off three shots from his Winchester as a signal that the job was done.At one point, your grandfather John and Mack Lee were also indited but somehow never tried...I guess for lack of evidence.The DA was shot gunning and getting inditements against everyone that knew or had seen Dan about the time of the killing.Apparently Zeke Putnam was a shoot first and ask questions later type of lawman and made a lot of enemies because of his roughshod tactics.Hee are three links to interesting sites.The last one contains a detailed transcript of Dan's trial.

http://www.odmp.org/officer/16480-city-marshal-e-m-zeke-putnamhttp://www.odmp.org/officer/16480-city-marshal-e-m-zeke-putnam

http://theadanews.com/archive/x1449135845http://theadanews.com/archive/x1449135845

http://www.lhaasdav.com/law_order/adanews12.htmlhttp://www.lhaasdav.com/law_order/adanews12.html