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JAMES F. DILLON
Vol. 3, p. 999-1000
Book has photo

But for the initiative and courage displayed by the Federal officers
of former Indian Territory, that region of Oklahoma would undoubtedly
have developed into a hotbed of crime, for the most desperate of men
have made it their field of operation as violators of the law against
the importation and sale of liquor. With a reputation already
established as an enforcer of law in the capacity of deputy sheriff
of Grady County, and patrolman on the police force of Chickasha,
James F. DILLON entered the service of the United States Government
well equipped for the duties of marchal. During the first few months
of his administration, which began in 1913, he assisted in the
breaking up of one of the boldest gangs of counterfeiters that has
operated in Oklahoma in many years and in the confiscation of their
plant and the arrest of the offenders. He assisted also in the
capture of violators of the prohibition law and in the confiscation
of the property of "bootleggers," and on a raid incident to this work
assisted the sheriff of Grady County in unearthing a liquor plant
buried underground in a smokehouse, where six 63-gallon barrels of
whisky were found, and in arresting the men accused of the crime of
"bootlegging."

Mr. Dillon was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1875, and is a
son of W. A. and Matilda (HASH) Dillon. His father, who died in 1902,
was one of the first settlers of the mountainous district of McDowell
County, West Virginia, while his mother's people were early settlers
of the State of North Carolina. The families of the parents were
related to the WITTENS, PEERYS and WHITMANS, who were among the
earliest families of Virginia and among the very best people of the
Old Dominion State. Mr. Dillon has nine brothers and four sisters
living in McDowell County, West Virginia, the brothers being George,
Samuel, Lazarus, William, John, Frank, Thomas, Charles and Robert,
and the sisters, Mrs. Nannie PRESSLEY, Mrs. Margaret Hash, Mrs.
Louise BREWSTER and Mrs. Rissie BREWSTER.

After attending the public schools of Virginia, James F. Dillon, at
the age of twenty years was married the first time, and began his
career as a coal miner in West Virginia, remaining there until 1900,
when he located at Lehigh, Indian Territory, and continued to be
engaged in the same vocation. A few years later, tiring of the life
of a miner, he purchased a farm near Alex, Grady County, Oklahoma, an
unsettled country largely occupied by ranchmen. While Mr. Dillon was
building his house 5,000 cattle grazed in the open on the wide range,
and he soon followed the example of his neighbors and began
stockraising, in which he was engaged successfully as farmer and
stockman until the range was broken up as the country became more
settled. Mr. Dillon then moved to Chickasha, which place has since
been his home. He had served as special deputy sheriff of Grady
County under Mort LOUTHEN, now chief of the capitol police at
Washington, D. C., and at Chickasha soon became a member of the
police force, on which he acted for three years in the capacity of
patrolman. Following the change in the national administration, in
1912, Mr. Dillon was appointed deputy under United States Marshal B.
A. ENLOE, Jr., of the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and assigned to
territory covered from the Chickasha office. Active from the start in
this new work, he proceeded to play havoc with the operations of the
violators of Federal laws, and from that time to this his reputation
as a cool, brave and intelligent officer, energetic, shrewd and
absolutely conscientious, has continued to grow, so that his
territory is practically free from the operations of counterfeiters,
"bootleggers," hopkeepers and burglars. One of Mr. Dillon's best
achievements was his participation in a raid at the town of Krebs,
where one of the largest confiscations in recent years was made, the
raiders taking 1,781 gallons of "Choctaw Beer," 1,325 bottles of
liquor and 14 gallons of wine.

Mr. Dillon was married a second time in November, 1905, to Etta R.
DAVIS, who is of Choctaw Indian ancestry and a grand-daughter of
"Uncle Jimmie" Davis, a leader among the Mississippi Choctaws many
years ago, who opened and operated the first coal mines at Lehigh,
gave the Town of Atoka its name (after an old Indian by that name),
and helped to organize at Atoka the first Masonic lodge in Indian
Territory. Mr. And Mrs. Dillon are the parents of two children:
Louise, aged seven years; and Rose, who is four years old.

Marshal Dillon is a member of Blackfoot Tribe No. 52, of the
Improved Order of Red Men, at Keystone, West Virginia; of Washita
Valley Lodge No. 143, Knights of Pythias, and of Lodge No. 618,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Chickasha. He was secretary-
treasurer of the City Democratic Campaign Committee in the municipal
election of 1915 and has always been an ardent supporter of the
policies of the democratic party. Marshal Dillon is a liberal
contributor of both time and money in public uplift undertakings, and
all in all may be considered one of the most representative and
helpful men of his community.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, December 12, 1998.