Thu September 27, 2007

Outlaw spirit lives on in Marlow's mascot

By Bryan Painter

MARLOW — All at once, or continuing education?

Each has a place.

But I can think of examples where having a story unfold throughout life — a continuing education about a subject — keeps it fresh.

One, for instance, is the story behind the Marlow school system's mascot, the Outlaws. A compact disc titled "Outlaw Ride” is the latest piece of one of those puzzles assembled across many years of my life.

Growing up, Outlaws was just that to me, a nickname like others.

But since my mother grew up about 20 miles east of Marlow and since our family traveled through Marlow many times on U.S. 81, I became more and more curious about why Outlaws got the nod as the school mascot. It had nothing to do with sports for me — it was more of a history lesson, and I just wanted to know about more about this nickname's tie to this community.

And thus I've learned a little more from time to time.

An Oklahoma history book told me of a family named the Marlows who were considered outlaws. Interesting. Tell me more.

I was told the 1960s movie "The Sons of Katie Elder,” which starred John Wayne and Dean Martin, was based in part on the story of the Marlow brothers.

Perfect, a story with a little Hollywood color to it.

Then in 2004, as workers in Marlow were readying for the annual Fourth of July celebration in Redbud Park, they discovered something.

The back wheel of a heavy lawn mower fell through a hole and that rekindled talk of a hidden cave near Wildhorse Creek used by the brothers as a hideout. I was in town a few days later and stopped by to see the site. The mystery was a nice touch to the story, which continued to interest me.

What's next?

Not that I was on a quest, this was a casual interest. But where would I find the next piece or when would it find me?

The answer came recently when Mark Melton, a childhood friend, told me about a compact disc his father-in-law Mickey Hoy had been working on. So while in Marlow recently, I pulled up a chair and listened to his reasoning for this CD.

"When people come to town and hear the name Outlaws, well, it has a sort of dark context to it,” he said. "Most don't understand the story behind it.

"Maybe if we give this CD to new teachers at the school and people who come to serve as pastors at our churches, they will have a better understanding of the unique history of the community.”

In this story, we start out with five brothers and then narrow our focus to two.

The CD cover shows all five Marlow brothers sitting horseback — George, Boone, Alfred, Lewellyn and Charley. But on the back are only two — Charley and George.

Also on the back is a quote from Judge A.P. McCormick from 1891 — "This is the first time in the annals of history where unarmed prisoners, shackled together, ever repelled a mob.

Such cool courage that preferred to fight against such great odds and die in glorious battle rather than die ignominiously by a frenzied mob, deserves to be commemorated in story and in song.”

When I thought about outlaws, I thought of those with last names like James or Dalton. What we're told in this CD and in text and so on about the Marlows isn't that type of story.

The Marlows

"Part of this story is about facing challenges,” Hoy said.

And that's what Martha Jane Marlow was left to do when her husband, Dr. Williamson Marlow, died in 1885, leaving behind a 65-year-old widow and five sons in a timber break on the Chisholm Trail.

They moved into a dugout home along the banks of Wildhorse Creek as they waited for an "opening of new land in Indian Territory.”

The CD tells the story of the five brothers and their fight against a lynch mob.

After one Marlow brother was accused of horse theft and another of killing a lawman, the four brothers were being transferred from a Graham, Texas, jail when the group was attacked by a lynch mob.

Two brothers were killed, and the others freed themselves from the corpses. The two brothers who escaped later were exonerated.

Following my visit with Hoy, I drove over to Redbud Park to walk through it for the first time since that stop in 2004. Hoy told me they'd added something.

What they had added was a metal building over the top of the cave. Signs on the end read "Outlaw Cave” and on the side facing the main portion of the park is a sign which reads "Legendary Marlow Outlaw Cave” with a photo of the brothers on it. The day I stopped by it was locked, but that didn't matter. I still thought it was cool.

Later when I was back in the car, I listened to the CD. What I came away with was that although these brothers possibly weren't model citizens, they also weren't outlaws in a stereotypical sense.

And that was pretty much the goal of Hoy, an Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame member, whose 28 seasons as a high school football coaching career included Davis, Tuttle, El Reno and yes, Marlow.

He also served as principal at Marlow.

"Our mascot is unique because it's named after real people,” Hoy said. "And when you do that you're going to get them warts and all.

"But how they handled adversity is what we'd like to pass on to our kids.”