Marshal Chris Madsen
Some lawmen were effective because they knew both sides of the law. Chris Madsen was this type of lawman. Chris was born Chris Madsen Rormose in Denmark in 1851 and immigrated to the United States in 1876. He claimed to have served in both the Danish army and in the French Foreign Legion, but it is believed that during this time, he was a criminal serving time in Denmark for begging, vagrancy, fraud and forgery. Danish records suggest that the government paid for Chris Madsen’s ship passage to the United States, as a way to rid the country of a criminal element.
With no job opportunities in sight, Chris enlisted in the U.S. army and was assigned to the Fifth Cavalry. He served for 15 years and was involved in a number of the Indian Wars during that time. Although Chris mostly stayed on the straight and narrow during this time, he did serve five months in the Wyoming Territorial Prison for larceny. After leaving the army, Chris moved to Oklahoma Territory, where he served two years as a deputy U.S. marshal. Chris served with Bill Tilghman and Heck Thomas, where the three of them were called “The Three Guardsmen”. Over 300 outlaws were either captured or killed by the three lawmen. Two of the Doolin-Dalton Gang, Dan “Dynamite Dick” Clifton and “Little Dick” West were killed by Madsen. Madsen worked as a lawman in Missouri before moving back to Oklahoma as a special deputy for the Southern District.
When the Spanish-American War broke out, Chris joined the 1st Volunteer Cavalry under Theodore Roosevelt. This unit was known as the Rough Riders and Madsen served as the quartermaster sergeant. After the War, Chris worked under John “Jack” Abernathy as his chief deputy. After leaving law enforcement, Chris Madsen worked as a guard, a court bailiff, and as a superintendent at the Union Soldier’s Home. Chris Madsen died in 1944 at the age of ninety-two.