In the small town of Allen, Oklahoma, a respected lawman met a violent and untimely end. City Marshal E. M. 'Zeke' Putnam, a 45-year-old male, was inside a local store when the tranquility of the day was shattered by the blast of a shotgun. A shot, fired from outside the building, tore through a window and struck Marshal Putnam in the neck, killing him instantly.
The brazen murder of the city marshal sent shockwaves through the community and prompted a swift investigation.
Before long, two suspects were apprehended and taken into custody in connection with the killing. As they sat in the local jail, a volatile situation escalated when a lynch mob descended upon the facility. In a strange and tragic turn of events, the mob broke into the jail and lynched four other prisoners, but the two men arrested for Marshal Putnam's murder were spared from the vigilante justice.
Following the chaotic events at the jail, the legal process moved forward for the two accused men. One of the suspects was ultimately tried, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death for his role in the assassination of Marshal Putnam. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison and then further reduced to 22 years. The second suspect who had been arrested was tried and subsequently acquitted of the crime, leaving the full story of the conspiracy behind the marshal's death partially shrouded in the annals of Allen's history.
