Deputy Marshal Sam Sixkiller
United States Department of Justice - Marshals Service
U.S. Government
End of Watch: Friday, December 24, 1886

Biographical Info
Age: Not available
Tour of Duty: 6 years
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Friday, December 24, 1886
Incident Location: Oklahoma
Weapon Used: Shotgun
Suspect Info: Shot and killed

Deputy Marshal Sixkiller was shot and killed when he was ambushed while off-duty and unarmed. Deputy Marshal Sixkiller was under the weather and was picking up medicine in Muskogee when two criminals ambushed him. He was stepping up on the platform on the north side of the Patterson Mercantile Store when the two fired on him with a shotgun and pistol, without notice; supposedly they held a grudge for a previous run-in they had with the lawman. Deputy Marshal Sixkiller fell to the ground mortally wounded, and the criminals made good their escape on fast ponies.

One of the suspects was later shot and killed.

On February 12, 1880, Deputy Marshal Sixkiller became the first captain of the United States Indian Police headquartered at Muskogee, Indian Territory. As Captain, Sixkiller had forty men under his command. Besides this position, Deputy Marshal Sixkiller also held a commission as a deputy U.S. marshal and a special agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Deputy Marshal Sixkiller's duties included policing the streets of Muskogee, one of the most dangerous towns in the "Wild West." There were more lawmen killed in a fifty mile radius of Muskogee than anywhere west of the Mississippi River during the frontier era.