11/02/2024
☞Today in Old-West History -- On today’s date 140 years ago during the Victorian Era on Wednesday, November 29, 1882, notorious Old-West female outlaw Anna Emmaline McDoulet (1882-1978), better-known as “Cattle Annie,” was born at the city of Lawrence in Douglas County, Kansas. McDoulet, is best-known as the partner-in-crime of Jennie “Little Britches” Stevens (1879 - unknown). Together, they became the famous female outlaw duo known throughout the Indian Nations & Oklahoma Territory as “Cattle Annie & Little Britches.”
☞According to Wikipedia: Their exploits are known in part through the fictional film “Cattle Annie & Little Britches” (1981), directed by Lamont Johnson & starring Amanda Plummer in her film debut as Cattle Annie, with Diane Lane as Little Britches.
Cattle Annie & Little Britches were crack shots with both pistol & rifle, but today they are mostly unknown outside of the film. Yet they were once among the most recognized names among outlaws in the Oklahoma & Indian territories, where they carried out their short-lived criminal ventures.
☞According to the Oklahom Historical Society: Legend tells that outlaw “Cattle Annie” (Anna Emmaline McDoulet) & her sidekick, “Little Britches” (Jennie Stevenson Midkiff), were spies for or part of the Doolin Gang. Born in Kansas on November 29, 1882, Emma McDoulet was the daughter of Judge J. C. & Rebecca McDoulet. Judge McDoulet had studied law in Kentucky & served as a justice of the peace in Red Rock, Indian Territory, as well as an attorney for Indians living nearby.
In her youth Emma McDoulet worked in restaurants & as a domestic until she turned to crime. She bought a pony & saddle & with Jennie Midkiff roamed the territory. She was living on the Otoe Reservation when she & Midkiff were arrested for selling liquor to Indians. In September 1895 McDoulet was remanded to a reformatory at Framingham, Massachusetts. Prison records describe her as single, age sixteen (she was actually thirteen), five feet, three & one-half inches tall, & weighing 122 pounds.
Over the years various legends developed about Oklahoma's most famous girl outlaws. Numerous reports attributed the girls’ capture to Deputy U.S. Marshal Bill Tilghman. Tilghman probably never had anything to do with the event, as newspapers credit the arrests to Sheriff Frank Lake & deputy U.S. marshals Steve Burke & Frank Canton. Records do not indicate that either girl had been involved with the Doolins or any other gang.
Reformatory records do indicate that Anna did not wish to return home, for fear that she would relapse into crime. After her release on April 18, 1898, she obtained a job, probably as a domestic, with a Mrs. Mary Daniels, in Sherborn, Massachusetts. However, McDoulet did return to Oklahoma.
She married Earl Frost in Perry, Oklahoma Territory, on March 13, 1901, & they had two children. In October 1909 in Noble County the couple divorced, probably because Emma had joined a Wild West show. Later she married Whitmore R. Roach, a general contractor, & they lived in Oklahoma City.
“Cattle Annie” lived out her life as a quiet, respectable bookkeeper. She was an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary & the Olivet Baptist Church. Emma McDoulet died on November 7, 1978, & was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
☞The undated photograph depicts (left-to-right) the notorious Old-West outlaw duo known as Cattle Annie & Little Britches.
