Oklahoma Law Bio -    William Jasper Simpson

Submitted by:  Paula Byerly <byerly@centurytel.net>
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William Jasper Simpson

On July 17, 1989, William Jasper Simpson was involved in a fight 
in Jenson, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, under a brush arbor at 
a church meeting. Two lawmen had come to arrest Simpson's son, Floyd, for 
supposedly "egging" a young man and accidentally soiling the dresses of several 
ladies' sitting nearby.  A fight broke out, and Deputy Marshal J. Boley Grady 
began pistol whipping Floyd. Simpson came to Floyd's aid, shots were fired in the 
confusion, and somehow both Grady and U.S. Deputy Marshal L. S. (Bud) Hill 
were killed. 

Different newspapers and sources published different accounts of the fight. The 
Fort Smith Elevator admitted that the facts were only "about near as correct as 
they could get them, " but reported that Simpson shot Grady as Grady was pistol 
whipping the 16-year old boy on the ground. It said Simpson  then turned and shot 
Hill, who had been standing some distance away but who was becoming involved. 
The Daily Capital on December 7, 1904 claimed that Simpson shot 
Grady to keep him from killing the boy and then turned, removed Hill's weapon, 
and shot him with his own weapon.  The defense, also in the Daily Capital, 
reported that although Simpson did shoot Grady, when he turned toward Hill, 
another boy ran up and took the gun, and another shot was fired.  Simpson's own 
weapon hadn't been fired as many times as the defense claimed, and Simpson 
never touched Hill's weapon. Other reports said that Hill, trying to stop Simpson, 
accidentally shot Grady as Simpson was running toward Grady.  Mr. Simpson 
always claimed that he shot only Grady, in defending his son.  Simpson, by the 
way, was armed at the time in his capacity as a minor lawman, a constable.   
Simpson said that he would be acquitted when all the facts were made know in 
court. 

Simpson fled for several years and reportedly hid out in Omaha, Wyoming, and 
Montana.  He returned to Jenson, where he was arrested for the two murders in 
1904.

The Evening News reported that during the trial of December 1904, the jury 
could find no positive proof as to who shot Hill, so they acquitted Simpson of that 
murder, and if he stood trial for the shooting of Boley Grady, no records can be 
found of this second trial.  Mrs. Simpson said she attended only one trial.

Later Floyd told his stepmother, Tillie Dora Handley Simpson, that he had 
nothing to do with the eggings, but that someone had a grudge against him and 
blamed him for the incident. 

After Simpson's acquittal in December of 1904, he became the "law" in the 
town of Marlow, OK. 

The full account of Simpson's experience is recorded by Dr. David Allen Doss 
in a paper entitled "Always Classed a Gambler," written on April 21, 1969.  The
original paper is 19 pages long, with 4 pages of footnotes, sources, 
and references.