Adopting the name Cherokee Bill, Goldsby soon joined the Bill Cook outlaw gang. In July 1894, the Cook gang held up a Frisco passenger train at Red Fork, Indian Territory. Later the same month, the gang rode into Chandler and robbed the Lincoln County Bank in broad daylight. A barber across the street from the bank was shot and killed by one of the gang members.
On September 17, four members of the Cook gang robbed the J. A. Parkinson store in Okmulgee at gunpoint. On October 9, three members of the Cook gang held up the Valley Depot at Claremore.
Two hours after the Claremore stickup, the same gang reportedly robbed the depot at Chouteau over twenty miles away.
In the fall of 1894, a newspaper article described Cherokee Bill as the “first lieutenant” of the Cook gang and also its "best shot and the most dangerous member.”
On November 9, 1894, Cherokee Bill and another man rode into the small village of Lenapah about ten miles north of Nowata and held up the Shufeldt store. During the robbery, Bill shot and killed a young man standing at a window in nearby restaurant.
On Saturday evening, December 22, Cherokee Bill and several partners held up the train depot in Nowata. A week later, Cherokee Bill killed his brother-in-law over the man's alleged mistreatment of Bill's sister. Two days after that, Bill paid a return visit to the Nowata train depot and single-handedly robbed it again.
Lawmen captured Bill Cook in New Mexico on January 12, 1895, and just a couple of weeks later, Cherokee Bill was captured near Nowata. Both outlaws were brought to the federal jail at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Cook was found guilty on several robbery charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Cherokee Bill was convicted of murdering the young man at Lenapah and sentenced by Isaac Parker, the so-called hanging judge, to die on the gallows. While awaiting the outcome of an appeal, Cherokee Bill killed a guard during an escape attempt. He was tried for that murder, too, and again sentenced to death. The fateful day finally came on March 17, 1896. According to one report, Bill seemed as indifferent to his impending death as he had been to life, and he remarked just before the lever was pulled dropping him into eternity that it was "a fine day to die."
Two hours after the Claremore stickup, the same gang reportedly robbed the depot at Chouteau over twenty miles away.
In the fall of 1894, a newspaper article described Cherokee Bill as the “first lieutenant” of the Cook gang and also its "best shot and the most dangerous member.”
On November 9, 1894, Cherokee Bill and another man rode into the small village of Lenapah about ten miles north of Nowata and held up the Shufeldt store. During the robbery, Bill shot and killed a young man standing at a window in nearby restaurant.
On Saturday evening, December 22, Cherokee Bill and several partners held up the train depot in Nowata. A week later, Cherokee Bill killed his brother-in-law over the man's alleged mistreatment of Bill's sister. Two days after that, Bill paid a return visit to the Nowata train depot and single-handedly robbed it again.
Lawmen captured Bill Cook in New Mexico on January 12, 1895, and just a couple of weeks later, Cherokee Bill was captured near Nowata. Both outlaws were brought to the federal jail at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Cook was found guilty on several robbery charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Cherokee Bill was convicted of murdering the young man at Lenapah and sentenced by Isaac Parker, the so-called hanging judge, to die on the gallows. While awaiting the outcome of an appeal, Cherokee Bill killed a guard during an escape attempt. He was tried for that murder, too, and again sentenced to death. The fateful day finally came on March 17, 1896. According to one report, Bill seemed as indifferent to his impending death as he had been to life, and he remarked just before the lever was pulled dropping him into eternity that it was "a fine day to die."
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