The Posse After Cattle Annie and Little Breeches

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The Principles of Posse Management: Lessons from the Old West for Today’s Leaders

Deputy Marshal Bill Tilghman nudged his galloping horse in the side with his spurs to encourage the animal to run faster. The lawman was after a fugitive who had gotten a bit of a head start and whose ride was swift and agile. The horse’s ability to keep up with the outlaw’s mount had a great deal to do with the rider in the saddle. Tilghman was a solid, broad-shouldered man in his early forties and the desperado he was pursuing was a petite, seventeen-year-old woman. Jennie Metcalf, known in the Oklahoma Territory as Little Breeches, led her horse across the prairie around the town of Pawnee with ease. The ride was so fluid she managed to remove her Colt six-shooter from the waistband of the oversized trousers she was wearing, turn around in her seat, and fire a volley of shots at Tilghman.

The marshal grimaced as he spurred his horse on and lifted his Winchester out of the saddle holster. It was August 18, 1895, and the sun was a ball of fire. The wind at his face was like the breath of a furnace. He was hot and tired and in no mood to take part in a gun battle with a teenager. Tilghman hadn’t anticipated the young woman would make a run for it when he set out to arrest her and her cohort, Annie McDoulet alias Cattle Annie, for stealing horses.

The pair’s misdeeds extended far beyond horse thievery. For several months, the women had been working with the Doolin Gang. In 1895, William “Bill” Doolin organized the group comprised of some of the most ruthless criminals in the region. They robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains. Marshal Tilghman and two other deputy marshals, Heck Thomas, and Chris Madsen had been on their trail for years, but the gang was always one step ahead of them. It was clear someone was helping them to navigate around law enforcement’s efforts to apprehend the felons. After the Doolin Gang robbed the United States Army payroll near Woodward, Oklahoma, in March 1894, the three officers discussed what they knew about each crime and what dubious characters seemed to always be in the general vicinity.

Little Breeches and Cattle Annie were the prime suspects. The three men believed the women had been scouting for the gang, acting as their lookout, and keeping them in supplies. Tilghman was convinced the key to the Doolin Gang’s demise was to capture the misguided youth who were aiding and abetting them.

Acting on a tip Tilghman received in the summer of 1895, he and Deputy Steve Burke traveled to a farm outside of Pawnee where Cattle Annie and Little Breeches were rumored to be staying. The lawmen were less than three hundred yards from a crude cabin on the property when Little Breeches raced out of the structure, vaulted onto a nearby horse, and headed into the prairie. Tilghman gave chase after instructing his deputy to grab Cattle Annie who was watching the action from a busted window next to the front door.

Little Breeches’ gun roared spitefully, but her aim was wild. It was difficult to hit a moving target on a horse at full gallop – a fact for which Tilghman was sincerely grateful. The marshal fired his shotgun over the young woman’s head in hopes her ride would spook and lose its footing. The animal reared and Little Breeches almost dropped her pistol. She swayed in her saddle like a drunken man, regained her composure, then spurred the horse back into a gallop. The distance between the marshal and the desperado widened.

To learn more about the posse after Cattle Annie and Little Breeches read

The Principles of Posse Management: Lessons From the Old West for Today’s Leaders