Nov 21, 2024 - Sale 2687

Sale 2687 - Lot 252

Unsold
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(WEST--OKLAHOMA.) Harriet E. Turnbull. Letter from a minister's wife in Choctaw Nation, concerning her brother's crimes. Autograph Letter Signed to Dr. J.S. Lankford of Atoka, OK. 3 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minor wear. With original stamped envelope with manuscript straight line cancel, "Good Land, C.N. 8-18-86." Good Land, Choctaw Nation, 31 May 1886
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Additional Details

Harriet E. Willard Turnbull (1844-1918) was the wife of the Rev. John P. Turnbull, who ran the Presbyterian Church and the Goodland Academy in Goodland, OK. She was white, and her husband was Choctaw. This letter relates to crimes committed by her brother William F. Willard (1840-1917):

"I would the task were other than mine to write of a brother's (an only brother) disgrace. . . . I regret that the charges against him were not investigated sooner, then perhaps he would not now be fleeing with the brand of Cain upon his brow. . . . Two years ago this summer he came down here on a visit, but previous to his coming he wrote me that he had lost his wife. We infered from that that she was dead, and he did not undeceive us." She soon learned that the wife was "living in Chickasaw Nation. . . . A few weeks ago he came here with a woman that he said was his wife, but which we knew could not be. . . . His wife was a short time ago at Erin Springs, Chickasaw Nation. I suppose she is there yet. I do not know where poor Will is. . . . Are there any extenuating circumstances connected with the last crime? We have seen some accounts of it in the papers."

We have been unable to trace the exact nature of the dastardly crimes for which Will Willard was accused.