Most people, caught in a situation where the boss of their bank robbing gang was shot dead on the first job you were involved in, would learn a lesson.
Unfortunately for one Sequoyah County bandit, all he learned from the failed attempt in February of 1921 in Harrison was it if he was going to rob banks, he didn't want to invoke tactics that would get him shot or killed.
The infamous killing of Henry Starr, who in the pre-automobile bank robbing days of the Arkansas and Oklahoma frontier had been a member of the Cole-Younger gang of horseback mounted desperados, organized a gang of three other men to help him take down the bank in Harrison.
Two of those men, Charlie Brackett and Rufus Rollen, went into the bank with Starr that fateful morning.
One other man, David Edward "Ed" Lockhart of Marble City in Sequoyah County, was behind the wheel of the getaway car. Starr, who was trying to pull off his first bank robbery in the nation with the use of an automobile, met resistance inside the facility when a 60-year-old ex-director of the bank pull a concealed gun and fired off a shot that severed Starr's spine.
The other two bank robbers jumped into the Nash out front and Lockhart sped away from the scene. Starr died later in the day, but instead of taking the gang leaders death as an omen, Lockhart decided to form a gang of his own.
A scant three years before the failed attempt at Harrison, Ed Lockhart was a decorated soldier in World War I fighting out the final year of the Great War with his Oklahoma National Guard unit in Germany. Decorated for bravery for his efforts during the Battle of Mont Blanc, Ed returned home in late 1918 to his 24-year-old wife and three children.
But he wasn't the same happy-go-lucky , sharecropping individual he had been before. After seeing the horrors of the front line of the battlefield, he started to drink and gamble, both high-priced hobbies for a young man trying to eke out an existence in the hardscrabble ground of Sequoyah County. Following the example set by so many of his contemporaries caught in the Dust Bowl existence of "The Grapes of Wrath" throughout the region, young Ed Lockhart turned to a life of crime.
The failed experience at Harrison didn't teach him much other than the fact that the best method to get away, even in the early part of the 1900s, was still on horseback. Ed was superstitious, and the fact that Starr met his demise during the first bank robbery attempted with the use of an automobile was enough to provide his gang with stellar horses that could beat a trek back into the nooks and crannies of the Cookson Hills.
On December 20, 1921 Lockhart and his gang robbed the Farmers Bank of Illinois at Gore of just over $2,000. Less than a month later they took down the First Nation bank at Hulbert, Oklahoma.
In February of 1922, Lockhart and associate Jack Bordie were apprehended in Huntsville, Arkansas where they were found in possession of stolen horses.
Lockhart was extradited to Boone County Arkansas to answer for the Harrison robbery and as a suspect in an additional robbery at Eureka Springs. On March 13 he drew a smuggled pistol on the Boone County jailer and escaped.
In February, 1923 bank officials back in Sallisaw were on high alert as bank robbery had become commonplace throughout the region. Sallisaw Bank and Trust had gone bankrupt and the first National Bank of Sallisaw had acquired more than $100,000 to handle the anticipated increase in business. Around 3:00 a.m. on February 20 a Sallisaw policeman arrested two men who were trying to steal a car.
One of those two's was immediately identified as being Lockhart, who was casing the Bank and Trust having somehow learned of the six-figure infusion of capital.
Lockhart was wanted for bank robberies in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Oklahoma governor John Calloway Walton announced that Lockhart would be extradited back to Arkansas to stand trial for the Harrison bank robbery. Knowing being sent back to Arkansas would probably result in him being sentenced to a long-term in the notorious Tucker Prison Farm, Lockhart chose instead to enter a guilty plea to the December 1921 Gore bank robbery.
Sentenced to 20 years in the big house at McAlester, Lockhart Drew his intake at the state prison on August 22, 1923. Governor Walton, a touchy-feely type, had started a prison reform program and prisoners were periodically granted releases to take care of family business back home under the program.
Within five months after being processed into the Big House, Lockhart was granted a release to deal with "family emergencies".
Turns out Lockhart's wife had long since divorced him and the family land he claimed needed to be "cared for after his father died" was actually owned by a holding company and a land trust. Ironically, no one seemed to check into his story and on August 22, 1923 Governor Walton signed a release granting the serial bank robber a six-month leave of absence.
Lockhart had initially only asked for a 90-day reprieve.
The day after his release, Lockhart was identified as one of the three man who robbed a bank in Maize, Oklahoma. The governor was harshly criticized and immediately withdrew the furlough for Lockhart. (That was one of a series of missteps by the Democratic governor which eventually led to his impeachment. He was later removed from office by a 41-0 vote of the State Senate.)
In late September, Delaware County Sheriff Ben Smith was investigating reports of suspicious activities at a farm near the community of Kansas. In the first week of September lawmen arrived at the Kansas farm to find Lockhart and an associate named Barry Dodson asleep in the hayloft of the barn. Both were armed with 45 caliber automatic pistols and also had a 12-gauge shotgun at their disposal. There were three cars parked outside the barn.
Had the two bandits not been caught while asleep, it's very likely they would have shot it out with law enforcement.
Dotson drew a federal jail term at Vinita and Lockhart was held in the Delaware County jail. Three days later, five armed, masked men stormed into the jail brandishing weapons and warning jailers they would be killed if they tried to stop the jailbreak.
On January 2 1924 Lockhart and his cohorts robbed the First National Bank at Shidler Oklahoma of approximately $8,000.
A newly hired special officer at the McAlester prison, Horace Montriville “Mont” Grady, formed a task team to try and track down Lockhart in late February and received a tip in mid-March that his prey might be held up in a farmhouse near Sperry, Oklahoma.
At daybreak on March 26, Grady, along with Tulsa County Sheriff Bob Sanford and five of his deputies, crept up on the house in the remote location. After experiencing a breakdown on the way to the farmhouse, the vehicle actually got stuck in the front yard of the dwelling and buried up to the wheels.
The lawman decided they had no other option but surround the residence,
Grady strolled up to the door and knocked. A woman answered and the two spoke briefly before Lockhart stepped to the threshold with a rifle and press the barrel into the Special Officer's ribs. He ordered him into the house and now the sheriff and his men had a hostage situation on their hands.
Lockhart obtained Grady's .38 caliber revolver and put it in the left pocket of his overcoat. Deputy Jack quest burst into the back door, risking his life, but Lockhart shielding himself behind Grady. There were also two women and two children in the house, and the deputy was forced to retreat in order to avoid any potential danger to them.
Lockhart grabbed Grady by his left wrist and stood behind him before walking out onto the porch. His intended plan seemed to be to walk behind his human shield into the surrounding woods where he could make his escape. As the men slowly progressed toward the tree line, Lockhart got spooked and fired a wild shot. Throwing the outlaw off balance for just a millisecond, Grady was able to spin around and with his right-hand grab for his confiscated revolver.
Without even removing the gun from Lockhart's coat pocket Grady was able to pull the trigger fatally wounding the Marble City outlaw in his right side.
As Lockhart fell to the ground he told Grady "you've killed me" with his last breath.
Lockhart's body was returned to Sallisaw on March 31 where, amazingly, it was put on display at the American Legion headquarters. The following day, Ed Lockhart was buried next to his father with full military honors presented by the town's American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War posts. Those organizations also helped his widow with funeral expenses and beyond.
Over three-hundred people attended the funeral services.
Lockhart is buried at the McCoy Cemetery in Sallisaw under a simple tombstone emblazoned with the epitath "David Edward Lockhart 1890 -1924".
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