Oklahoma Renegades: Their Deeds and Misdeeds (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781565542310)

Ken Butler had been a resident of Shawnee, Oklahoma, since his family moved there in 1929, when Butler was three years old. His grandfather participated in the land run of 1892, and Kenís interest in Oklahoma Indian Territory's outlaws and lawmen developed out of stories he heard about the land run. The result was a lifelong passion for researching and recording such history. Butler was researching the young, violent Oklahoma outlaw Bert Casey for the quarterly journal of the Oklahoma-based Oklahombres organization. His research took him through old court records, newspaper articles of the day, Texas Ranger records, and personal papers handed down through families. In his findings, Butler came across other outlaws and lawmen who shared a common time frame in making headlines before and after statehood in both Oklahoma and Indian Territory. His fascination with these historic figures and their intertwined histories brought Ken Butler through five years of research and work, resulting in his first book, Oklahoma Renegades: Their Deeds and Misdeeds. In the book, Butler tracks the lives of Oklahomaís lesser-known desperadoes, rather than following historyís well-beaten paths of more popular outlaws and lawmen. Butler continues this focus with More Oklahoma Renegades. Ken Butler was a lifetime member of the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History and a charter member of the Association for the Preservation of Lawman and Outlaw History of Oklahoma (Oklahombres). He was also a member of the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association and the Oklahoma Outlaw-Lawman History Association.