DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friend, this one does not have a happy ending. In 1873, a rancher by the name of Bill Hayes put together a group to drive cattle up to the Indian Territory. Seemed straightforward enough.
But when they gathered the herd, some of those cattle belonged to a man named John Larn — rancher, and outlaw, in that order or maybe the other way around. Hayes believed Larn had rustled his cattle earlier. So Hayes folded those cattle right into the drive.
Now, whether that was justice or provocation depends on who you ask. Larn, it turns out, was not a man who let things go. Larn and a deputy went and secured a warrant for Hayes' arrest, then requested assistance from Fort Griffin.
Buffalo soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Edward P. Turner, came out and joined a posse that Larn himself had assembled. You sit with that for a second.
The posse reached the herders. They killed Hayes and others. The cowboys who survived that first encounter were arrested.
And then — on the way back to Clear Fork — those remaining cowboys were killed too. Official reports indicated otherwise. But tradition, and a hard-eyed reading of events, points to one conclusion: all of the cowboys were murdered.
The marker doesn't mince words about it, and neither should I. Tradition holds that the victims were buried at Bush Knob Cemetery — a quiet patch of ground carrying the weight of a story that the official record spent a long time trying not to tell.
What the marker says
In 1873, rancher Bill Hayes organized a group to drive cattle to the Indian Territory. They gathered cattle, including some belonging to rancher and outlaw John Larn, who Hayes believed had earlier rustled his cattle. Larn and a deputy secured a warrant for Hayes' arrest and requested assistance from Ft. Griffin. Buffalo soldiers, under the command of Lt. Edward P. Turner, joined a posse assembled by Larn. They reached the herders and killed Hayes and others. The remaining cowboys were arrested and later killed on the way back to Clear Fork. While official reports indicated otherwise, it is believed that all of the cowboys were murdered. Tradition indicates that the victims were buried at Bush Knob Cemetery. (2008)