Oklahoma Journeys

Week of July 5, 2008

Pat Henessy is Murdered, July 4, 1874

This week on Oklahoma Journeys, Hennessey makes the news, Pat Hennessey, that is. Most people know Hennessey as a town in western Oklahoma but there’s an interesting story and a person behind the name, and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

When you say Hennessey most Oklahomans immediately think about the small, energetic community in the western part of the state. Not many people know, however, where the name came from or why it was chosen. In 1874 there wasn’t a town of Hennessey, but there was a Patrick Hennessey who made his living hauling supplies between Wichita and Anadarko. Pat Hennessey was one of the original long haul truckers bringing supplies between railroad stops, army outposts, and Indian agencies. These men would load up huge wagons in trains of two or three, hitch four to six mules to each, and set out for weeks at a time. While Hennessey was doing his work in the summer of 1874 trouble was brewing on the nearby Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Indian Territory at this time was rife with violence and lawlessness as well as a large number of extremely irritated and discontented American Indians. While American Indians did cause trouble at times, lawless whites often committed crimes and atrocities disguising the actions as that of American Indians. Adding gasoline to this already volatile mix was the discovery in this week of 1874 of the grisly murder of Pat Hennessey and his wagon crew. Government officials stumbled upon the scene where three helpers were found shot to death, and Pat Hennessey was found tied between the wheels of his wagon, his body burned almost beyond recognition. While some were eager to blame the Cheyennes who had been threatening trouble, others pointed out the fact that a band of marauding whites had been in the area committing robberies and that all over the scene of the murder were tracks of cowboy boots, nothing close to what the Cheyennes would have worn at the time. Those that found Hennessey buried his body and set out to find the perpetrators. Shortly after the discovery of Hennessey’s body there was a vigilante-style lynching nearby of a white outlaw but nobody involved revealed any details. Those in the know claimed that this was the execution of Hennessey’s killers, but others disputed that statement.

This week we mark the 134th anniversary of the murder of Pat Hennessey and his crew and the mystery as to who exactly was the guilty party remains unsolved. The area around the tragic death was named Hennessey Bluffs in honor of the victim, and after 1889 the infant town of Hennessey was born. You can learn more about law and order in the twin territories before statehood by visiting the Oklahoma History Center, NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City.Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center dedicated to the collection, preservation and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.