4/20/15

For the Period of the War

Digging around in old newspapers, dusty records, and listening to random comments I learn a lot.  I find all types of wonderful treasures that others have forgotten about or simply did not think were important. 
 
In August of 1918 in Hughes County, Oklahoma a commissioned deputy sheriff enlisted in the army.  The local Sheriff Sam Turner offered the position to the man's wife.  She was duly commissioned as a deputy sheriff and securing the rare place of being the only active woman deputy at the time.  She had accepted the position with a simple: "for the period of the war."
 
Hughes County was a rough and tumble town and just ten years before a Deputy Sheriff, John Tabor, had been shot and killed in the line of duty.
 
She is listed only as "Mrs. Beaty Templeton" but she raises many questions.  Who was she? What happened to her? What were her experiences in that role?  A local paper had the teasing headline "Wife Wears Pistol."  I suspect she had some interesting stories. I wonder if anyone ever asked what they were?

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