Eli Hickman Bruner (1859 - 1899)

Born 13 Feb 1859 in Somerset Township, Mercer, Missouri, United States

Husband of Sarah Ann Laura (Bradley) Marvin — married 23 Jun 1881 (to 21 Jun 1899) in Benton, Arkansas, United States

Died 21 Jun 1899 at age 40 in Muscogee Creek Nation, Indian Territory, United States

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History of the Western District Court

Biography

Eli Bruner was born in Missouri.

Eli Bruner was an Arkansan.

Eli Bruner was an early settler in Oklahoma.

Eli "Hick or Heck" Hickman Bruner was born on February 13, 1859^[1] in Somerset, Mercer County, Missouri.^[2] He spent most of his early childhood growing up in Mercer County, Missouri, but at some point the family moved to Siloam Springs, Benton County, Arkansas. It is here, where he began his career as a lawman, first riding with posses, and in 1880 he was commissioned as a United States Deputy Marshal for the Western District Court of Arkansas in Fort Smith.^[3] Around this same time, he married Sarah Ann Laura Bradley on June 23, 1881 in Benton County, Arkansas.^[4] He lived in the Thlopthlocco Trible Town in Muskogee Creek Nation, Indian Territory.^[5]

His career as deputy marshal brought him into contact with some of the most notorious criminal outlaws in the western frontier. In March 1892, he arrested James Craig, a member of the Wahco Hampton Gang, who killed Deputy Marshal Thomas Whitehead and Special Deputy Marshal Josiah Poorboy. A woman hired the daughter of a Cherokee Nation judge hired the gang. The woman's lover was arrested for adultery, but escaped custody. The deputies were at his home, waiting for him to return, when the gang showed up at the house and called the lawmen to come out. When they exited the home, they were shot.^[6][7] On November 2, 1892, Eli was one of sixteen marshal posse that stormed Ned Christie's cabin in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory where the outlaw was killed. Later, he rode with a posse to arrest two members of the Rogers Brothers Gange, Sam Rogers and Ralph Hedrick. Both were charged with robbing a bank in Mound City, Kansas. When the posse met with the gang, they exchanged gunfire, and Ralph was killed and Sam injured, shot in the hip.^[8]

Bruner was also one of the foremost lawmen pursuing the famous Dalton Gang. After the outlaws received their death blow while trying to rob the two banks at Coffeyville, Kansas, on October 5, 1892. Bruner headed a posse that ran down and disposed of the Rogers gang, formed out of the remaining Dalton gang. He shot Bob Rogers with his unerring aim, and he fell off his horse, but did not die and was captured. He captured Dynamite Jack and killed his brother Kiowa. The remaining member, Willis Brown, who was shot and injured later, died of his wounds.^[9][10][11]

He was in the fight at Ingalls, Indian Territory, where Deputy Marshal Lafayette “Lafe” Augustus Shadley was killed while they attempted to apprehend a gang of desperadoes who had robbed a train. They trailed the gang for three days in a cover wagon to disguise themselves as emigrants. They caught sight of the outlaws just as they entered the town of Ingalls. The gang consisted of 5 members, and as they entered town, they hitched their horse in front of the saloon and went inside for drinks. The town was not a friendly place for the deputies. The outlaw had many friends in town, and they knew the outlaws had to be captured in town before they could flee to the hills and woods, where they had more friends willing to help them. They pulled up in front of the saloon, expecting to surprise the gang, but they opened fire as soon as the deputies revealed themselves. Shadley fell dead almost immediately, but not before killing one of the gang members. About two dozen shots were exchanged in the front window of the saloon. Three of the gang members were killed, and another deputy was shot in the arm, which required his arm to be amputated.^[9]

It was in the service of the marshal service that his life came to an end. The brave marshal was drowned while trying to swim the Grand River. The court had sent him to deliver some subpoenas for witnesses who needed to appear that same day. The river was swollen from heavy rains, and the barge had broken loose and not available to cross. So without hesitation, he jumped in the river to swim across. About halfway across, he became tired. He observed a small boy on the barge as he tried to cross, and heard his frantic call for help before he sank and never resurfaced. His body was found the next day.^[8]

The death of Bruner closes a bloody chapter in the history of the wild Indian country. He was a figure in every "round up" of desperadoes in the Indian country. Bruner was the marshal you didn't want on your trail when you were on the run. When he set out for Desperadoes, they came in dead or alive, how they did it was up to them.^[10] The thirteen distinct notches on the pearl handle of his revolver indicated, with a significance which the Desperado is quick to appreciate, the exact number of miscreants who fell by the deputy's own hand. Some of his superstitious friends pointed to that unfortunate "13" as the cause of his death. For it was plain that Bruner was an extraordinary luck man until he scored the thirteenth notch. Bruner was an extraordinarily luck man.^[9]

Most of the dead were buried in Vinita, where he settled after active service, and they were brought for identification. There is one corner of the cemetery known as a "Heck Bruner's graveyard."^[10]

Heck Bruner's funeral was held at Pryor Creek, where he lived for ten years and ran a hotel business on the side. Heck was a quiet man with fierce eyes. With a cheroot stub habitually clamped in his square jaw, he was as formidable as he looked. Most knew him by his nickname names, and Oscar Blackard asked him once why some folks called him "Hick" and others "Heck"? Bruner said, "Well, my family calls me "Hick" from my name Hickman, but so many folks got me mixed up with Heck Thomas that they called me "Heck", I just gave up trying to explain the difference." There is only one thing for sure: the work Bruner did as an officer of the law to tame the Indian country has left a legacy familiar to all the people who chose to settle there.^[12]

TimeLine

Birth 1859

Eli Hickman Bruner was born on February 13, 1859^[1] in Somerset, Mercer County, Missouri.^[2]

Residence 1860

Eli Hickman Bruner lived in Somerset, Mercer County, Missouri.^[2]

Residence 1870

Eli Hickman Bruner lived in Somerset, Mercer County, Missouri near the Princeton post office.^[13]

Marriage 1881

Eli Hickman Bruner married Sarah Ann Laura Bradley on June 23, 1881 in Benton County, Arkansas.^[4]

Residence 1882

Eli Hickman Bruner lived in Thlopthlocco Tribal Town in Muskogee Creek Nation, Indian Territory.^[5]

Residence 1895

Eli Hickman Bruner lived in Tuskegee, Creek Nation, Indian TerPritory.^[14]

Residence 1896

Eli Hickman Bruner lived in Tuskegee, Creek Nation, Indian Territory.^[15]

Death 1899

Eli Hickman Bruner died on June 21, 1899 in Muscogee Creek Nation, Indian Territory.^[3]

Burial

Eli Hickman Bruner was buried at Bruner's Graveyard in Pryor, Mayes County, Oklahoma.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97348016/eli-hickman-bruner: accessed 10 September 2022), memorial page for Eli Hickman -Heck- Bruner (13 Feb 1859–21 Jun 1899), Find A Grave: Memorial #97348016, citing Bruner's Graveyard, Pryor, Mayes County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by Judy Lynn (contributor 47402250) .
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} 1860 United States Federal Census: Year: 1860; Census Place: Somerset, Mercer, Missouri; Roll: M653_633; Page: 212; Family History Library Film: 803633 Ancestry Record 7667 #40474009
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} The Daily Indian Chieftan, Vinita, Oklahoma, 22 June 1899, Page 1. "Obituaries of Eli Hickman "Heck" Bruner." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957: Ancestry.com. Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: "Arkansas County Marriages, 1838–1957." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2011. "Arkansas County Marriages, 1838–1957," database, FamilySearch; from Arkansas Courts of Common Pleas and County Clerks. Digital images of originals housed at various county courthouses in the State of Arkansas. Marriage records. Ancestry Record 2548 #47093
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Indian Censuses and Rolls, 1851-1959: The National Archives at Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Record Group Number: 75; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999; NARA Series Number: 7RA-43; NARA Series Title: Creek Census, 1882 Ancestry Record 8810 #431168
6. ↑ Legends of America, 2003. "Eli Hickman "Heck" Bruner Fearless U.S. Deputy Marshal." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
7. ↑ United States Department of Justice - United States Marshals Service. "Officer Down Memorial Page." 10 Sep 2022
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Newspaper Clipping, Fort Smith Elevator, Fort Smith, Arkansas, August 4, 1893.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Newspaper Clipping, Portage Daily Register, Portage, Wisconsin, 25 Aug 1899, Friday, Page 3. "Brave Heck Bruner - Indian Territory Officer who Feared No Man." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} Newspaper Clipping, Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, Arkansas, 29 June 1899, Thursday, Page 6. "Old Guard Passing - Heck Bruner, Drowned in Grand River, Was Practically Last of the Old Officers." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
11. ↑ Newspaper Clipping, The Weekly Chieftain, Vinta, Oklahoma, 25 Jan 1894, Thursday, Page 2. "A Great Capture Bob Rogers and his Train Robbers all in Limbo now." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
12. ↑ Iron Men; A Saga of the Deputy United States Marshals Who Rode the Indian Territory, C. H. Mckennon, 1967. "https://archive.org/details/ironmensagaofd00mcke/page/n15/mode/2up Iron Men]." Accessed 10 Sep 2022
13. ↑ 1870 United States Federal Census: Year: 1870; Census Place: Somerset, Mercer, Missouri; Roll: M593_792; Page: 195A Ancestry Record 7163 #5862232
14. ↑ Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Indian Censuses and Rolls, 1851-1959: The National Archives at Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Record Group Number: 75; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999; NARA Series Number: 7RA-12; NARA Series Title: Creek Rolls, 1890-1896 Ancestry Record 8810 #169523
15. ↑ Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Indian Censuses and Rolls, 1851-1959: The National Archives at Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Record Group Number: 75; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999; NARA Series Number: 7RA-69; NARA Series Title: Creek Roll (Colbert Roll), 1896 Ancestry Record 8810 #307132