Fred Waite
Frederick Tecumseh Waite was born to Thomas and Catherine Waite on September 23, 1853 at Fort Arbuckel, Indian Territory, and was part Chickasaw Indian himself. Fred was educated at Illinois Industrial University in Champaign and Bentonville, Arkansas and he graduated in 1874 from Mound City Commercial College at St. Louis. After he graduated, he worked for his father in Indian Territory and then went to Colorado, and from there to Lincoln County, New Mexico. In 1877, John Tunstall hired Fred as a ranchhand. There, he became good friends with Billy the Kid, the two allegedly planning to start their own ranch together once they raised enough money. When the Lincoln County War erupted, Fred joined the Regulators and fogut in almost every battle of the conflict. He was probably the one that fired the second and fatal bullet into Deputy George Hindman during the Brady/Hindman assassination. After the war ended, Fred went with Billy and other Regulators to Tascosa, Texas to sell stolen cattle. At Tascosa, Fred decided to leave the Regulators and later returned to Indian Territory. Forever giving up outlaw life, he soon married one Patsy Hawkins in an Indian ceremony. A son, William, was soon born, but the marriage apparently didn't last long as William was raised by another man. Shortly thereafter, Waite remarried, this time to a fourth cousin, with a daughter soon resulting from the union, and in 1886, he moved to the Choctaw Nation. As before, though, the marriage would be a short one. At some point around this time, Waite was involved in another gunfight when he helped his uncle, Sam Paul, a U.S. Indian Police constable, run-down some rustlers. Near the rustlers' camp, the fight ensued, with one of the outlaws being killed. While it wasn't clear who the killer was between Waite and Paul, both stood trial for murder, with charges soon dropped due to the fact that Paul was acting within his duty, with Waite serving as a part of a legalized posse. In 1888, he became a delegate to the international convention at Fort Gibson. The following year, he was elected representative of Pickens County and also joined the police force there, serving for about four years, during which he repeatedly proved himself a more than capable lawman. In 1890, he was elected attorney general of Chickasaw legislature and also served as national security. In the midst of all this, he started a ranch of his own, which grew to be one of the largest in the area. A third marriage also occured for Waite around this time. He had made himself so popular, it was said he had a chance at being elected governor of Indian Territory. Any chance of this was cut short, however, when he unexpectedly died of rheumatism on September 24, 1895, one day after his forty-second birthday.
Fred Waite
This photo of Fred Waite was probably taken in 1880, after he returned to Indian Territory.
