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1:12

September 26th, 1889, Deputy

1:15

US Marshal Hecht Thomas and four

1:17

other men rode into Indian territory

1:19

on a daring mission. Thomas

1:22

was holding a federal arrest warrant

1:24

for a man who was suspected

1:26

of ambushing and murdering Deputy US

1:28

Marshal Dan Maples. For

1:31

more than two years, the alleged killer

1:33

had eluded arrest. The

1:35

suspect was Ned Christie, who was 36

1:38

years old and a highly respected member

1:40

of the Cherokee National Council. But

1:43

among the broader white population, Ned

1:46

was known as a cold-blooded,

1:48

unrepentant killer. The suspicion,

1:50

as usual, was fueled by

1:52

a combination of unsubstantiated rumors,

1:55

wildly inaccurate newspaper stories

1:57

and bald-faced lies. Since

2:00

he was first suspected of the murder, Ned

2:02

had maintained his innocence. But

2:05

he refused to turn himself in because he

2:07

believed there was no chance he would receive

2:09

a fair trial in the courtroom of Judge

2:11

Isaac Parker, who was nicknamed the

2:14

hanging judge and in front of an

2:16

all-white jury. So, at

2:18

the behest of Judge Parker, Deputy

2:20

Marshal Heck Thomas took a small

2:22

posse into Indian territory. Just

2:26

before dawn on that September morning, Thomas

2:28

and his men crept quietly up to

2:31

Ned Christie's house, about 20 miles outside

2:33

the capital city of the Cherokee Nation.

2:36

As the lawmen moved closer, Ned's

2:39

dogs started barking and blew

2:41

the lawmen's cover. The

2:43

lawmen took up positions around Ned's house,

2:45

and Heck Thomas yelled at Ned to

2:48

surrender. In response, Ned

2:50

climbed up into the attic, popped

2:52

out a plank in the roof, and pointed

2:54

his rifle at the marshals. Judge

2:57

Parker's arrest warrants stipulated that women and

2:59

children in the house should be allowed

3:02

to flee unharmed. So, Thomas

3:04

ordered his men to hold their fire

3:06

until Christie's wife and a young boy ran

3:08

out of the house. Blatantly

3:11

ignoring the judge's order, one

3:13

of Thomas' men shot the boy, piercing

3:15

one of his lungs. After

3:18

the first shot was fired, all attempts

3:20

at civility were gone. Ned

3:22

opened fire from the roof. The

3:24

lawmen returned fire while they scurried for

3:26

cover in the nearby trees. One

3:29

of Ned's shots hit a lawman in the shoulder,

3:32

and the injury was serious. Ned

3:34

kept firing and held the posse at

3:37

bay until Heck Thomas decided to change

3:39

his tactics. He

3:41

ordered one of his men to approach the house

3:43

from the rear and set it on fire. The

3:46

man successfully started the blaze without

3:49

attracting Ned's attention. Soon,

3:51

flames roared through the house, and

3:54

Ned Christie's gun fell silent. As

3:57

the house started to collapse, Heck Thomas

3:59

believed his work was done. There

4:01

was no more gunfire and they didn't see Ned

4:04

run out of the house. Thomas

4:06

had an injured man who needed a doctor,

4:08

so the posse packed up and rode away.

4:12

When the lawmen reported to Judge Parker

4:14

that the notorious killer and robber Ned

4:16

Christie was dead, the lawmen were

4:18

hailed as heroes. Newspapers

4:20

ran big headlines about the death of

4:23

the heinous villain who had caused so

4:25

much horror in Indian territory. From

4:36

Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the

4:38

Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and

4:41

this season we're telling the stories of two

4:43

outlaws, stage coach and train

4:45

robber Sam Bass and controversial

4:47

fugitive Ned Christie. This

4:49

is episode four, Ned Christie,

4:51

part one of three, Making

4:54

a Murderer. Over

5:02

the course of 300 years, the

5:05

landscape and makeup of North America

5:07

changed dramatically, more than it

5:09

had in the previous 6,000 years combined. Estimates

5:13

vary wildly for the number of

5:15

indigenous people in North America before

5:18

European colonization, but one of

5:20

the newest estimates puts the number at roughly 60

5:23

million people. There are

5:25

roughly 5 billion combined acres

5:27

of land between the US and

5:29

Canada. That meant each

5:31

person in North America could have about 83

5:34

acres of land to himself or herself.

5:37

Then in 1492, Christopher

5:40

Columbus landed in the Bahamas, just

5:42

a few miles short of the modern day coast

5:44

of Florida. Thirty years

5:47

later, Spanish conquistadors began

5:49

exploring the future American states

5:51

of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,

5:53

and California. Beginning

5:56

in 1587, European settlers continuous land

6:00

on the east coast of North America. Within

6:03

60 years, the best

6:05

estimates say the indigenous population dropped from

6:07

60 million to around

6:09

6 million people. Over

6:12

the next 200 years, the United

6:14

States was founded, settlers pushed

6:16

steadily westward, and clashes

6:19

with Native American societies were more

6:21

or less continual. In

6:23

1830, President Andrew Jackson

6:26

signed the Indian Removal Act,

6:29

and the story of the American West began

6:31

in earnest. Native

6:36

American tribes in the southeastern U.S.

6:38

were forced to leave their ancestral

6:40

homes and move west of

6:42

the Mississippi River to land that was granted

6:44

to them by the federal government. The

6:48

land was formerly designated Indian

6:50

Territory. Most of

6:52

the people who were forcibly marched to

6:54

Indian Territory were members of what were

6:56

called the Five Civilized Tribes. The

6:59

Seminole, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the

7:01

Cherokee, and the Muscogee, who were

7:03

also known as the Creek. The

7:06

forced removal of at least 60,000 people

7:09

became known as the Trail of Tears. The

7:12

Cherokee resisted until 1838, making

7:15

them the last tribe to be removed. And

7:18

when they all reached Indian Territory, it wasn't

7:20

like the land was uninhabited. It

7:23

was already home to a revolving

7:26

door of Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa,

7:28

Osage, and many more. And

7:31

the Indian Removal Act didn't just affect

7:33

the tribes in the southeast. They

7:35

received the most attention, but the same thing

7:37

happened to tribes from the Midwest and the

7:40

Great Lakes region. The Kickapoo,

7:42

Pawnee, Shawnee, and many others were

7:44

moved to the future state of

7:46

Kansas. For those

7:48

who were fans of the TV show Gunsmoke,

7:50

you often hear about the Pawnee on the

7:52

show, and you might think Kansas was their

7:55

ancestral home. It wasn't. They

7:57

were moved to Kansas 40 years before Dodge

7:59

City. city was founded, and that

8:01

was why they were there to clash with white

8:03

settlers and the army. In

8:06

Indian territory south of Kansas, the

8:08

Cherokee adapted fairly well to their new

8:11

homeland. In the eastern

8:13

part of present-day Oklahoma, they

8:15

built an advanced, self-governing society

8:17

and declared themselves a sovereign

8:19

nation. The Cherokee

8:21

nation modeled itself to some degree after

8:23

the U.S. system of governance. They

8:26

wrote a constitution and formed a

8:28

centralized government with three branches. But

8:31

as with any government, there were different

8:33

ideas about how to advance as a nation.

8:37

There were those who wanted to

8:39

assimilate with white culture, learn English,

8:41

and adhere to white society's norms

8:43

and laws. They were

8:45

called the Progressive Party. They

8:47

converted to Christianity, supported interracial

8:50

marriage, and were proponents of

8:52

Oklahoma statehood. On

8:54

the opposite side of the political spectrum

8:56

was the Nationalist Party. They

8:58

were committed to retaining Cherokee culture

9:01

and traditions and remaining separate from

9:03

white society. Ned

9:07

Christie was born into a large

9:09

family of nationalists who were prominent

9:11

and well-liked. They spoke

9:14

mostly Cherokee, rejected Christianity, did

9:16

not believe in interracial marriage,

9:18

and did not endorse Oklahoma

9:21

statehood. Ned

9:23

Christie's grandmother had died during the Trail

9:25

of Tears, and the family

9:27

was fully committed to preserving and protecting

9:29

the way of life their ancestors had

9:32

enjoyed. After

9:34

relocation, the Christie family were among the

9:36

lucky ones. They settled

9:38

in a region called Going Snake,

9:40

where timber and streams were plentiful.

9:43

The land was ideal for farmers like the

9:45

Christie's, and wildlife was abundant

9:48

for hunting. Ned

9:50

was born on that land in December 1852, a

9:53

year and a half after Sam Bass was

9:55

born in Indiana. Ned

9:58

had a happy childhood surrounding the by

10:00

his immediate family and a large

10:02

extended family. He did

10:04

well in school and could read and

10:06

write and speak both Cherokee and English

10:08

by the eighth grade when he left

10:10

school to work full-time on the family

10:12

farm. He also apprenticed

10:14

with his father who was a gunsmith

10:16

and a blocksmith. Among

10:18

his other talents, Ned was also

10:20

a self-taught fiddle player and a good one.

10:23

For 35 years, Ned made

10:26

the best life that he could in Indian territory,

10:28

but when he was 36, a

10:30

trio of deputy U.S. marshals rode into

10:33

the capital of the Cherokee Nation to

10:35

look for illegal whiskey sellers. Only

10:38

two rode out again, and

10:40

that was when Ned's former life

10:42

became unrecognizable. Here

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12:21

the Cherokee Nation's claim of sovereignty,

12:24

they were still living on land that was owned

12:26

by the federal government. So they

12:29

were not immune from federal laws. The

12:32

U.S. District Court for the Western

12:34

District of Arkansas, with Judge Parker

12:36

at the helm, had jurisdiction over

12:39

the entire Indian territory. And

12:41

here's how it worked. If a

12:43

Native American person committed a crime against a

12:45

white person, the crime went to

12:47

Judge Parker's court. If

12:50

a white person committed a crime against a

12:52

Native American person, the crime went to

12:54

Judge Parker's court. If

12:56

a Native American person committed a crime

12:58

against another Native American person, the

13:01

crime went to a tribal court. Very

13:04

quickly, a pattern emerged. Hardly

13:06

any crimes of white people hurting Native

13:09

American people went to court. And

13:11

the ones that did, very rarely went

13:13

in favor of the Native American person.

13:17

That pattern was at the forefront of Ned

13:19

Christie's mind when the chaos started in May

13:21

of 1887. And

13:23

it began with bootleg liquor. It

13:26

was illegal to sell liquor in Indian territory,

13:29

which made bootlegging an extremely

13:31

profitable enterprise. The

13:34

U.S. Marshals who patrolled the territory

13:36

spent much of their time stopping

13:38

bootleggers. And that was what

13:40

took Deputy Dan Maples, Deputy George

13:43

Jefferson, and Deputy E.F. Stokes

13:45

to the Cherokee Capital. The

13:49

Cherokee Capital is the city of Caliqua.

13:52

And The word had reached Parker's Court in

13:54

Fort Smith, Arkansas, that the whiskey trade in

13:56

the Cherokee Nation had gotten out of hand.

14:00

On evening of May fourth,

14:02

Maples, Jefferson and Stokes set

14:04

up camp outside town. It

14:06

was near dark when Maples and Jefferson

14:08

walk to a nearby store to buy

14:10

some eggs for breakfast the next morning.

14:13

On. Their way back to camp as they began

14:16

to cross a creek near their camp site.

14:18

Three or four gunshots rang out.

14:21

The men don't for cover. But. It

14:23

was too late for deputy Maples. He

14:26

had been hit in the chest and he collapsed

14:28

into the creek. Deputy Jefferson

14:30

who had been unable to see

14:32

the shooter or shooters immediately tended

14:34

towards injured partner. Sadly,

14:37

deputy Day Maples died the next

14:39

day. And. In short order,

14:41

the embellishments began in the press. Newspapers

14:44

like The Dallas Daily News reported

14:46

that the two deputies had been

14:48

shot at eleven times. Maples,

14:51

Had fired three shots in return

14:53

before collapsing and Jefferson had fired

14:55

six shots. The killers and

14:57

ran up the creek. Whooped like

14:59

Indians and disappeared. According.

15:02

To Deputy Jefferson. None of that

15:04

happened. Neither. Deputy had the

15:06

chance to draw his pistol, let alone

15:08

shoot back. And. With maple

15:11

severely wounded. Jefferson. Focused

15:13

on pulling his partner to safety,

15:15

not returning fire. And. There

15:17

was no whooping like indians. But

15:20

now a white deputy Us Marshal

15:22

had been ambushed and murdered in

15:24

Indian Territory. And. A trial

15:26

for the crime would happen in the

15:29

Us. District Court of Western Arkansas under

15:31

the supervision of Judge Isaac Parker. The

15:35

Us Marshal in Fort Smith dispatched

15:37

a posse of heavily armed lawman

15:39

to find the killer or killers.

15:42

The. Day after the murder. The. Cherokee chief

15:44

to whom Ned Christie served as

15:46

a one of three trusted advisors

15:49

immediately moved into damage control mode.

15:52

The. Chief offered a three hundred dollar reward

15:54

to anyone with information leading to the

15:56

identity of the killer. Residents.

15:58

of tower club pool money to add

16:00

to the reward. The first

16:03

suspects were a group of six men who were

16:05

seen in Tahlequah the night of the shooting. Five

16:08

of the six were known criminals who

16:10

had been convicted of crimes that ranged

16:12

from theft to assault to attempted murder.

16:15

They were all arrested and taken to Fort

16:17

Smith, which was not their first time

16:19

in front of Judge Parker. Although

16:22

the men admitted to being in the area on the

16:24

night of the shooting, they pointed to

16:26

another man who they claimed had been with

16:28

them earlier that evening. They

16:30

said that man was the one who

16:33

planned and executed the ambush and

16:35

his name was Ned Christie. On

16:42

May 3rd, the day before the murder, Ned

16:45

Christie was in Tahlequah to attend what

16:47

would turn out to be his last

16:49

meeting of the Cherokee National Council. The

16:52

next morning, he returned to his home

16:54

about 20 miles outside town. His

16:57

travels were later corroborated by his wife,

16:59

his family members and his neighbors. But

17:03

it didn't take long for news to reach

17:05

Ned that he was suspected of being the

17:07

killer and his arrest was imminent.

17:10

Ned was stunned by the news. Understanding

17:12

the gravity of the accusation, he was

17:15

left with two choices. He could

17:17

turn himself in, stand trial and try

17:19

to prove his innocence in a courtroom

17:22

or go into hiding. Unfortunately

17:25

for Ned, the choice was an easy

17:27

one. He believed an all

17:30

white jury would find him guilty regardless of

17:32

the evidence he presented. And

17:34

then Judge Parker would live up to

17:36

his reputation and sentence Ned to hang.

17:40

It had been reported in several publications of

17:42

the time, including the Cherokee

17:44

Nation's own newspaper, that Judge

17:46

Parker had sentenced 46 men to hang in

17:49

the 18 months before Deputy Maples was

17:52

killed. The judge

17:54

was averaging two and a half hangings per

17:56

month and a high number were

17:58

Native Americans, many of whom were killed. whom

18:00

were Cherokee. So while

18:02

Ned hunkered down at his home, Judge

18:05

Parker started the ball rolling. One

18:10

week after the murder, a grand

18:12

jury was seated in Fort Smith with

18:14

Judge Parker presiding. Jurors

18:17

heard testimony from the six suspects,

18:19

from deputies Jefferson and Stokes, and

18:22

from several people who shared second-hand stories

18:24

that amounted to little more than rumor.

18:27

A good deal of the testimony from

18:30

the six suspects came from a man

18:32

named Charlie Bobtail. He asserted

18:34

that the six men were aware of the

18:36

murder plot, but it was Ned

18:38

Christie who planned the ambush and fired the

18:40

shot that killed Maples. Bobtail

18:43

went on to claim that the day

18:45

before the murder, he and another one

18:47

of the six, John Paris, were

18:50

at a store in the town of

18:52

Oaks, 25 miles from Tahlequah. Deputy

18:54

Maples and the two other deputies entered

18:57

the store to purchase supplies. Bobtail

19:00

said he and Paris heard the deputies

19:02

telling the store clerk they were on

19:04

their way to Tahlequah to investigate the

19:06

unlawful sale of whiskey. Bobtail

19:09

told the grand jury that he and

19:11

Paris went directly to Ned Christie and

19:13

told him that deputy marshals were on

19:15

their way to Tahlequah. Lastly,

19:18

Charlie Bobtail said that Ned Christie

19:20

vowed to murder them all. After

19:23

all the testimony, the grand jury

19:26

came back with four indictments. Three

19:28

of the six primary suspects were free to

19:31

go, and three were indicted

19:33

for being tied to the murder plot. Those

19:36

three were Charlie Bobtail, John

19:38

Paris, and Bub Craner. The

19:41

fourth indictment was for Ned Christie.

19:44

To the grand jury, the press, and Judge

19:46

Parker, Christie's absence was

19:48

damning. It made him look guilty.

19:51

But on the flip side, there was no

19:53

physical evidence against Ned and no eyewitnesses to

19:55

the crime. All the government had was hearsay,

19:57

conjecture, and and

20:00

the word of Charlie Bobtail, an

20:02

ex-convict with a lengthy criminal record.

20:06

For the moment, that was enough, and

20:08

Judge Parker issued an arrest warrant for Ned

20:10

Christie. Meanwhile, Ned

20:12

remained hunkered down near his

20:14

home outside Tahlequah, about 45

20:17

miles northwest of Fort Smith.

20:20

When the Cherokee National Council met in

20:22

Tahlequah on June 27th, seven weeks after

20:24

the murder of Deputy Maples, Ned

20:27

did not appear for fear he would be

20:29

arrested. Ned had been

20:31

counseled by family, friends, and many others

20:33

that his only hope to stay alive

20:35

was to go into hiding. Because

20:38

it was summer, Ned was able to spend

20:40

much of his time deep in the wilderness.

20:43

He was an outdoorsman at heart and

20:45

well-equipped to survive in the wilds. Hunting

20:48

and foraging were second nature. On

20:51

occasion, he went home to resupply. When

20:54

he did, friends and family were

20:56

posted everywhere to serve as lookouts. And

21:00

it was during that period of hiding

21:02

that the media circus really took hold.

21:08

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22:42

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22:44

with every bit of rumor and speculation.

22:47

Several papers reported that Ned Christie had

22:49

been seen in the area on the

22:51

day Deputy Maples was murdered, implying Ned

22:54

must be the killer. But

22:56

they failed to mention that Ned had been

22:58

in the area because he attended the Cherokee

23:00

National Council meeting like he always did. Newspapers

23:03

and magazines all over the country picked

23:06

up the story. Readers

23:08

were fascinated by the menacing outlaw

23:10

Indian who was being hunted by

23:12

deputies. The more

23:14

fantastic the stories became, the more

23:16

newspapers were sold. In

23:18

order to keep selling more papers, the press

23:20

had to keep adding to the story and

23:23

thus unfolded the narrative that followed Ned

23:25

Christie for the next 100 years.

23:31

The legend of Ned Christie became more

23:33

and more brutal and terrifying. Soon

23:36

the story was that he had killed

23:38

a deputy US Marshal in a cowardly

23:40

ambush and then embarked on a murderous

23:42

rampage. Suddenly he was accused

23:44

of killing 14 men, women

23:47

and children in a bank robbery

23:49

where he stole $22,000. He had

23:52

committed countless rapes and he had

23:54

robbed countless stores. In

23:57

one alleged robbery he rode his horse into

23:59

the store. then tarred and

24:01

feathered a white clerk before inexplicably

24:03

pouring whiskey down the man's throat.

24:06

He was accused of robbing Wells

24:08

Fargo stagecoaches, and then he became

24:10

the leader of a gang of train robbers. It

24:13

went on and on, and eventually

24:16

Ned Christie became a supervillain of

24:18

mythic proportions. And

24:21

while his supposed reign of terror was

24:23

happening, Ned was home with

24:25

his family and carrying on with business

24:27

as usual. Although he

24:29

and his family remained vigilant, Ned

24:32

returned to his quiet life on the

24:34

farm and working in his blacksmith's shop.

24:37

He knew he was still a wanted man, but

24:39

he refused to keep hiding in the woods. For

24:42

the next two years, Judge Parker

24:45

continued sending deputies from Fort Smith

24:47

who made several attempts to arrest

24:49

Ned at his home, but all

24:51

were unsuccessful. And during

24:53

that time, Judge Parker's court

24:56

effectively ended its investigation. Charlie

24:59

Bobtail, John Parris and Bub Treanor

25:01

were released but ordered to return

25:03

to stand trial at a later

25:05

date, which was basically

25:07

legal double talk that meant they were

25:10

no longer serious suspects, which

25:12

made Ned Christie the sole suspect

25:14

in the murder of Deputy Dan

25:16

Maples. On

25:18

its own merit, the case was probably going

25:21

to continue no matter what. A

25:23

deputy U.S. Marshal had been killed in

25:25

cowardly fashion, and the Marshals

25:27

and Parker wanted justice. But

25:30

after Parker's death, speculation arose

25:32

that there might have been a deeper

25:35

reason why law enforcement became so focused

25:37

on Ned Christie. As

25:39

a staunch member of the Nationalist Party, Ned

25:42

wanted to keep the Cherokees separate from white

25:44

society as much as possible. Recently,

25:47

Congress wanted to revisit, to put

25:50

it generously, the original agreement it

25:52

made with the five tribes prior

25:54

to relocation, and Ned

25:56

was not shy about speaking out against

25:58

Washington's new agenda. After

26:05

relocation, each of the five

26:07

tribes created their own insulated

26:10

societies in Indian territory. The

26:13

original agreement with the US government

26:15

included laws to prevent white settlers

26:17

from encroaching on native land. But

26:20

settlers did it anyway, in droves, and

26:22

the government did nothing to stop it.

26:25

After the Civil War ended, the problem

26:27

grew exponentially as people poured into the

26:30

land west of the Mississippi River. For

26:33

almost 60 years, the five

26:35

tribes used their land communally. But

26:37

then, in February 1887, three months before Deputy

26:42

Maples was killed, Congress

26:44

passed the Dawes Severalty Act,

26:46

also known as the General Allotment Act.

26:50

It was named for Henry Dawes, the

26:52

senator from Massachusetts who authored it. And

26:55

the most well-known provision was that

26:57

the law required communal land to

26:59

be divided into individual parcels. The

27:03

government presented the act as a

27:05

way to promote agriculture and self-sufficiency.

27:07

But Christie and other tribal leaders

27:10

believed the true purpose was to

27:12

dissolve tribal sovereignty and destroy native

27:14

cultures to speed up their assimilation

27:17

into white society. In

27:21

the case of the land, if it

27:23

was all owned by individuals or families

27:25

instead of the tribe as a whole,

27:28

it made it easier for settlers to buy

27:30

the land or take it by a variety

27:32

of means. And if an

27:34

allotment system was going to be forced onto the tribes,

27:37

someone had to decide who received an

27:39

allotment. The question became,

27:42

who was an official member of a tribe? How

27:45

much Cherokee blood, for instance, was in

27:47

your veins? Suddenly, a

27:49

government commission would decide if you were

27:51

Cherokee enough to receive an allotment or

27:53

keep the land you'd already been living

27:56

on. Everyone had to

27:58

be registered and determinations had to be

28:00

made. At

28:02

first, the law didn't apply to the

28:05

five tribes in Indian territory, but

28:07

it didn't take a crystal ball to see that it

28:09

would happen at some point in the near future. It

28:12

did happen to the five tribes about ten years

28:14

after the law was passed. But

28:17

in 1887, when the process was just

28:19

getting started, Ned and other

28:22

tribal leaders rightly feared that allotment would

28:24

make their land vulnerable to those from

28:26

outside the territory who wanted to exploit

28:28

it. Ned Christie

28:30

spoke freely about standing up to

28:32

the US government and making it honor

28:35

its past promises. Christie

28:37

understood federal laws governing the Indian

28:39

territory, and as a member of

28:42

the Cherokee National Council, he understood

28:44

Cherokee law and tribal politics. Ned

28:47

was intelligent, unintimidated, charismatic, and

28:50

had command of the English

28:52

language. He

28:54

was exactly the sort of person the

28:56

government might perceive as a danger. Now,

28:59

no one is accusing the US government

29:01

of organizing the murder of a deputy

29:03

marshal simply to frame Ned Christie. But

29:06

once Ned became a suspect, rightly

29:08

or wrongly, the later speculation

29:10

said that it was in Judge

29:13

Parker's interest to focus solely on

29:15

Ned. And the US government

29:17

wasn't the only entity that may have had

29:19

a motive to silence Ned Christie. There

29:24

were members of the Cherokee Nation's Progressive

29:27

Party who supported the Allotment Act. Ned

29:30

was respected by most of his people, but

29:32

not all. He had enemies, and

29:34

they didn't want him or his Nationalist Party

29:37

to decide the future of the Cherokee Nation.

29:40

If Ned were removed from the equation because

29:42

of murder charges, it would solve

29:44

the problem. And so,

29:46

after two years of hiding or

29:49

dodging posses, Ned found himself

29:51

cornered at his home in September of

29:53

1889 by Deputy US

29:55

Marshal Heck Thomas and his team. The

29:58

posse allowed Ned's wife and a

30:00

young boy who was a cousin to leave the

30:02

house. But one of the law

30:05

men shot the boy and that prompted Ned to

30:07

open fire on the posse from the roof of

30:09

his house. The posse

30:11

burned the house down and they

30:13

presumed Ned Christie with it. After

30:16

they rode away, Ned's wife Nancy

30:18

returned to the smoldering structure and

30:20

found Ned lying in a nearby

30:22

thicket of trees, injured and

30:24

bleeding, but alive. He

30:27

had escaped the house before it collapsed and

30:29

crawled into the woods. During

30:31

the shootout, a bullet had grazed the

30:33

bridge of his nose and hit his

30:35

right eye socket. Luckily he

30:38

didn't lose the eye, but his vision

30:40

was permanently impaired. And the

30:42

young boy survived as well. It

30:44

was an incredibly close call, but all three

30:46

people in the house made it through the

30:48

night. Back in

30:51

Fort Smith, Judge Parker, U.S.

30:53

Marshal Jacob Yost, Deputy Heck Thomas

30:55

and the other deputies were feeling

30:58

pretty good about finally

31:00

taking down the elusive Ned Christie. The

31:03

press ate it up. Thanks to

31:05

the nonstop spread of misinformation that

31:07

had transformed Ned into a super

31:09

villain, his death was front

31:11

page news from New York to San

31:13

Francisco. And true to

31:16

form, most newspapers wrote exaggerated stories

31:18

about the gunfight and the fire

31:20

and how Ned's death happened. And

31:23

they were all surprised about a week later

31:25

when they learned that Ned was not dead.

31:28

He wasn't dead and he wasn't gonna surrender, but

31:31

he also wasn't gonna pick a fight. Instead,

31:34

he was gonna rebuild his home as

31:36

a fort. If the law wanted

31:38

to take him, they were gonna

31:40

need some serious firepower. Next

31:49

time on Legends of the Old West, while

31:52

Ned rebuilds his home, the press ramps

31:54

up the wild stories about him. They

31:57

find more fuel for their fire when a

31:59

deputy U.S. Marshall and a detective

32:01

are found murdered on Cherokee land.

32:04

Then there's more insight into the possible

32:06

truth of Deputy Maple's murder and

32:09

the Marshals make their first attempt to capture

32:11

Ned at his fort. That's

32:13

next week on Legends of the Old

32:15

West. Members

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32:40

series was researched and written by Michael

32:42

Byrne. Original music by

32:44

Rob Valier. I'm your host and

32:46

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32:48

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