On the sweltering Fourth of July in 1907, a day of celebration turned tragic near the town of Porum, in what was then the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Special Deputy Marshal Samuel Elgin 'Sam' Roberts, a 49-year-old lawman, was attending a community picnic, not just for the festivities, but to uphold the law. He and another deputy were investigating reports of illegal liquor being sold at a soda stand at the gathering.
As the deputies approached the stand to conduct a search, the operato
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