The Burning of Cromwell, Oklahoma (nonfiction)
The Burning of Cromwell, Oklahoma was an event in 1924, when much of the town of Cromwell was burned to the ground.
Cromwell was a wild and wooly town in the early 1920s. The town was said to be full of saloons, brothels and outlaws. About 150 businesses operate in Cromwell during the 1920s, selling moonshine alcohol and narcotics to residents of the surrounding area. However, about seventy of these were permanently closed during a enforcement drive. The illegal sales continued because a Federal revenue agent named Wiley Lynn was connected to mobster Arnold Killian.
On Halloween night, 1924, Cromwell Town Marshal and legendary Old West lawman Bill Tilghman was shot outside of a cafe called "Ma Murphy's", by a corrupt prohibition agent named Wiley Lynn. Tilghman died in the early morning hours of the first of November. Tilghman had been brought in to help bring the town under control.
One month later the town of Cromwell was torched, with every brothel, bar, flop house and pool hall having been burned to the ground allegedly by friends of Tilghman. There was no investigation into the massive fire, and Cromwell never recovered its former wild status.
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External links:
- Cromwell, Oklahoma @ Wikipedia
- Arson @ Wikipedia