In 1893, Ada Curnutt (or Carnutt) as a deputy U.S. Marshall for a brief time in 1893 as she arrested a couple of forgers. Normally the District Court Clerk in Norman, when a wire came in calling for the arrest of two men no male officers were on duty, she did the job.
This daughter of Methodist minister had a high degree of ethics regarding the work of the law and the courts. She took the train to Oklahoma City, confronted the men in a local saloon and convinced the men and the people in the bar to recognize her authority.
Ron Owens writing about it in Oklahoma Justice indicates she seemed willing to enforce all she said and that, along with many willing would-be deputies among the spectators, caused the two bad men to give in and go with her peacefully.
Local newspapers could not resist the temptation to note she finished her task and then went back to her favorite hobby...china painting. It was only one of many eruptions of dynamic womanhood to emerge in Oklahoma - and around the country - as the new century loomed.
Soon would come Lucy Mulhall as one of the first professional 'cow girls', women in politics, and local female doctors.
See more on U.S. Marshalls at http://www.usmarshals.gov/history/loyal_community.htm
1 comment:
According to the US Marshal's office, she was the official first woman deputy marshal. So little is written about her, and so little information is available, it's a shame.
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