Ned Christie and Power

Over the last year or so I’ve been writing about lawman Sam Sixkiller. Sixkiller was a U.S. Marshal in the Oklahoma territory. While researching that part of the country I’ve come across some other interesting events that happened around there. One of them involved a bootlegger by the name of Ned Christie. On this day in 1885, during an attempt to arrest Christie, U.S. Marshal Dan Maples was killed. Later that same month Ned shot, at different times, two other deputies who tried to arrest him for killing Maples. Ned built himself a strong fortress and survived many bloody encounters with lawmen over the next eight years. There’s no question Ned was a bad guy – not only was he a bootlegger, but he robbed trains and was a horse thief. I don’t know what drove him to a life of crime, but there are times I feel we all just one step away from doing the wrong thing. Righteous anger could prompt me to stand up for my brothers in a matter contradictory to the law. I don’t think I could stop with just overturning the money changers tables. But I don’t have it in me to ever kill someone like Christie did. The fact that my brother is as sick as he is and I’m not allowed to get him the teeth he so desperately needs infuriates me. That’s righteous anger and there’s nothing I can do with this mad I’ve got. I lack the power to do anymore for him than is already begin done. I believe power is the most sought-after, addictive seductive, abused drug there is. I believe it’s the Bible that says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” No, wait, that was Stan Lee in “Spiderman.” I crave power the most in those times when I’m watching my brother slip further and further away from me. I don’t think the desire for power is a bad thing. I’d say it’s encoded into our DNA for a darn good reason. After all, back in the prehistoric days when we humans dwelt in caves and the neighbor’s raptor got off its leash and destroyed your yard and then ate your cave son, you sure as heck needed a big stick. The guns Ned Christie had seem to give him some power. But it was only temporary. The outlaw was eventually gunned down by Deputy Wess Bowman. Bowman shot him in the head and Sam Maples, whose father had been killed by Christie in 1885, emptied his revolver into Christie’s lifeless body. I’d say that’s a powerful way to handle a bad guy. There’s only one with any real power…and that’s God. I pray he uses that power to save Rick.