Cyrus Brown Was Hung in Muskogee

The Courts Act of 1889 changed how the United States District Courts handled criminal cases arising in Indian Territory. As a result of this legislation, the first district courts were established in the territory. This was the first effort for removing jurisdiction over criminal cases occurring in Indian Territory from the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

The Fort Smith court had jurisdiction over Indian Territory starting in 1817. However, many capital cases were being overturned upon appeal to the US Supreme Court. New federal legislation passed Congress in 1895 removing the last control over territorial cases exerted by the Fort Smith court.

The transfer of authority occurred on September 1, 1896. This date marked the beginning when it first became possible to hang someone in Indian Territory for a sentence levied by a local federal court.

It took less than a year for the first death sentence that likely would lead to a Muskogee hanging. Cyrus A. Brown was accused of murdering a fisherman named Daniel Cuthbert about October 10th, 1896. Brown was sick and without shelter when he stumbled into Cuthbert's camp. Cuthbert lived on a houseboat tied up to the Arkansas River embankment near Webbers Falls.

Cuthbert, an elderly man, gave Brown shelter from the elements. Brown repaid the kindness by killing Cuthbert in order to obtain the boat and fishing tackle. After murdering his benefactor, Brown weighed Cuthbert down with rocks and tossed him into the Arkansas River.

US Deputy Marshal Rutherford arrested Brown and Johnson (or Johnston) Morgan within weeks of the murder. Morgan's role in the episode is unknown. He was released from custody a month after his arrest.

The trial occurred in Muskogee on July 16th and 17^th, 1897. Even the Dallas Morning News predicted the death sentence. The Dallas reporter said "This is the first conviction for murder since full jurisdiction was given to the territory court."

Three days later Judge John R. Thomas, sitting in the US District Court in Muskogee for the Northern District of Indian Territory, sentenced Cyrus Brown to death by hanging. Brown was destined to be the first man hung by the federal court in the territory. Judge Thomas set the date as February 25th, 1897 between sunrise and sunset.

But Brown was not going to the gallows willingly. He appealed his case. Just weeks before his date with the hangman's noose, Justice Brewer of the US Supreme Court overturned Brown's conviction. Brown remained in the Muskogee jail awaiting a retrial.

The US Supreme Court reversed itself in October, 1898 by dismissing its previous decision overturning Brown's conviction. However, there was another trial in Muskogee since the previous sentence date had passed. Judge John R. Thomas again sentenced Cyrus A. Brown to hang following the new trial.

The felon smoked a cigar and shunned last rites. On August 25th, 1899, Cyrus Brown walked up the gallows stairs. His last words were "I see one ____ ____ fellow out among the spectators I would like to get even with before I leave here."

The gallows door dropped from under his feet at 8:45. An examiner pronounced him dead shortly before the nine o'clock hour began. He missed being the first man hung in Muskogee by over a year.