History: Sheriff Frank Canton

Main Street Buffalo 1884, diorama at Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, Buffalo

Frank M. Canton was born as Josiah Horner, in 1849, in either Indiana or Virginia, the places differ. He left his boyhood home and drifted into Texas, where he worked as a cowboy, but began robbing banks and rustling cattle. After being arrested in Texas, he escaped and came north, and changed his name to Canton. He eventually settled in Johnson county, Wyoming,  where he decided to give up crime and work for the law. He was elected sheriff in 1885.

During the Johnson Country Range War, Canton was accused of the murder of  John A. Tisdale, one of the small operators, who was dry-gulched in a gully as he was returning home from Buffalo. Canton was hired as a range detective who worked for the large stockmen in the area, who felt every homesteader was a cattle thief.

This from The Enterprise, December 12, 1891 – Frank Canton Arrested for the Murder of Tisdale. Special dispatch to the Leader. Buffalo, Wvo. Dec. 5 —No new developments have come to light come to light with reference to the Tisdale and Jones murders and there was less excitement in Buffalo tonight than yesterday over the bloody affair. Few citizens retired last night expecting to hear their rest unbroken by demonstrations of violence on the part of friends of the murdered me.

Only threats were made during the day and mischief would have followed had the counsel of older heads been ignored. Fully fifty rangers from Powder River patrolled the streets, talking excitedly over the tragedies. The threats were directed chiefly against Deputy United States Marshal Frank M. Canton and Fred G.S. Hesse, active members of the stork association upon whom was laid the blame for the assassinations.

An unfortunate circumstance led to this. Bash, the man who saw Tisdale’s slayer leading his team from the fatal gulch, reported that the horse upon which the mysterious person was mounted resembled one owned by Canton. The remark was passed around and quickly grew into a positive statement that the murderer had been identified in the person of Canton himself. The deputy marshal is well known as a man of courage and iron nerve and when he received warning that his life was in danger he coolly informed his accusers that he was ready to go into court and have the matter settled at once. This morning the leaders of the Powder River contingent requested an interview with Canton and Hesse which was granted and the former went away satisfied that the charges had been wrongly made. The mystery of the murders is still unsolved.

The friends of the victims still insist that the cattle men are in some way connected in it. No clue to the perpetrators has yet been reported but the matter will be probed to the bottom. The men reported as missing last night have been accounted for but more trouble is expected to occur at any moment.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, April 23, 1892 – The Northern Expedition: Following is part of a special dispatch sent from Cheyenne and published in the Denver Sun yesterday. It will be found quite interesting: Some of the leaders speak quietly of another expedition. Other suggestions are for martial law, and for a-court receiver for each outfit. The amount involved is $1,000,000. and, as has been told, there was a hundred thousand behind this filibustering enterprise. On the day the party left Casper there were fifty fighting men. Thirty of these were Wyoming electors and twenty Texans engaged for the work at $5 day. This contingent was organized at the town of Paris. Frank Canton, ex-sheriff of Johnson County, and a deputy United States marshal, commanded the volunteers. Capt. Tom Smith, a deputy United States marshal in Indian territory, led the paid men and was a fine captain with a great gang. His right hand men were Tucker and Booker, deputy sheriffs. Of the Texans, at least a dozen have records as killers, and all were supposed to be on the fight. Two were kids, one of them 19. the other 22, All were splendid horsemen and sure shots with rifles and six shooter. It has been said all along that Major Wolcott was chief of the expedition. He was ostensibly the leader, but every movement was conceived and directed by a council including Irvine Hesse. Ford and a couple, of others. This correspondent was with the expedition till the evening before the affair at Nolan’s. Not the least trouble in accomplishing the purpose of the leaders was apprehended. There was no thought of danger it was firmly believed that the rustlers would fly tor the mountains. The only fear was that several marked for severe treatment would escape.

Siege at the TA Ranch, Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum

The Sheridan Post, April 21, 1892 – Invading Forces Captured – Since the beginning of the stock troubles in Johnson County we have been extremely careful about publishing re- ports which were not authenticated, for that reason that excitement was running high and at times a little more fuel added to the flames that would have brought about more serious results. We have been taken to task by some nervous individuals for this course, but we shall thinly adhere to it in the interest of all parties concerned, and for the good of the country in general – Now that the crisis has passed we are beginning to receive words of commendation from all sides for our part in refusing to help increase the difficulties of the situation, In our last issue we noted the fact that United States troops from Fort McKinney had gone to the scene of the contending forces to capture the invading army and prevent any further bloodshed. The purpose of the expedition was easily accomplished, the invaders being only too glad of the opportunity to surrender and save their lives. Following is a list of forty-five men who surrendered and were taken to Fort McKinney, As near as we can learn the first named twenty-two are citizens of Wyoming, and the others were gathered up in other states: Maj. Wolcott, Frank Canton. (there was an extensive list of those arrested)

Not a member of the besieging force was hurt many manner, although the cattlemen claim that they could have killed a hundred of them if they had wished to. The surrender occurred on the 13th.

Now that peace and comparative quiet has been restored in Johnson county, the honest and law abiding people owe it to the themselves and to the state to see that the real cattle thieves, both large and small, are duly prosecuted and punished.

After the Johnson County War, Canton moved to Guthrie Oklahoma.

This from the Thermopolis Independent, December 20, 1907 which gives a description of the man himself – Guthrie, Okla., Okla. — Frank Canton, who will be adjutant general of Oklahoma, is about six feet tall, slender and made mostly of sand. He is about fifty years old. He has i searching grayish blue eyes, strong, resolute jaws, and a thin, angular face. His small mustache, streaked with gray, usually is closely trimmed. He is a silent man and this adds to the grip his appearance makes upon the observer. Probably a better shot with revolver or rifle cannot be found in Oklahoma. In the ’80s Canton was a sheriff in Wyoming.

Practically all his life he has been, employed in the enforcement of the law, and in the capture and punishment of men who have broken the law. He came to Oklahoma in the early days of the settlement and was soon employed as a deputy United States marshal. The country was infested with outlaws, and Canton was constantly on their trail. He made a long ride, in storm and night, silently and stealthily, to surprise his quarry if possible and make a man “put up” his hands, rather than to pump a load from a rifle into him.

From T. Jeff Carr, former United States marshal, The Tribune learns the following additional facts in regard to Canton’s career in this state.

Canton also ran down and captured notorious outlaw “Dynamite Dick” (Dick Clifton) of the Dalton gang, and also was at the killing of Bill Doolan of the same gang, near Pawnee, Oklahoma.

Frank M. Canton and family lived in Wyoming many years at Buffalo, Johnson county, in territorial days. He was elected sheriff of Johnson county three or more terms from 1876 to 1888 and as a terror to thieves and desperadoes, arresting many fugitives from Texas and Indian Territory for high crimes, and in February, 1886, as sheriff, he hung “Bill” Booth at Buffalo, notorious bad man, convicted of murder. He was known as a most fearless, efficient officer. He was also deputy United States Marshall under U.S. Marshall T. Jeff Carr from 1885 to 1891 and as such office did good and fearless service.

Canton later went to Alaska, where he was made deputy U.S. Marshall.

Wyoming Derrick, August 12, 1897

This from The Semi-Weekly Boomerang, August 9, 1897 – Frank Canton, – Washington Aug. 4. — Frank Canton was appointed deputy United States Marshall for the district of Alaska today. Mr. Canton was one of the defendants in the case growing out of the cattle war In Johnson County in 1892 and was obliged to leave the state because of the part he played in the raid.

Frank Canton, outlaw turned enforcer of the law, was one of the noted lawmen in Johnson County’s early days, an a major player in the Johnson County War.