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Cromwell
Cromwell
has been a somewhat famous Oklahoma town since the oil boom
days, which included many not-so-positive aspects relative
to a peaceful, safe, small-town atmosphere. With the oil boom
came money, transient worker, bootleg whiskey, home-brew beer,
gambling, prostitution, and crime, both petty misdemeanors
and violent felonies. The famous retired U. S. Marshal, Bill
Tilghman, was summoned back to active service and assigned
to Cromwell to "clean up" the crime problem. He
was quite successful in that mission until his untimely murder
while making an arrest on Cromwell's Main Street at the height
of the oil boom. A movie was released in 1999 which centered
around Bill Tilghman's latter years and his role in Cromwell"s
law enforcement efforts. The original oil boom in the Cromwell
area generally lasted from around 1927-1940, with other peaks
in oil search, drilling, and production occurring as late
as the 1980's. As a sidenote, Ed Bethel, who for years ran
a small candy and soda store out of his home directly across
the road from the old, red brick Butner School, was in earlier
years the Justice of the Peace in Cromwell During Bill Tilghman's
time there as Marshal.
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