Cattle Annie and Little Britches have been mostly forgotten in the annals of western history, but not in Oklahoma and Indian Territories. There, they were two of the most famous female outlaws ever to strap on a six gun.

They were a cattle thieving couple from the Indian Nation of Oklahoma who only flourished for a couple of years before being caught. Maybe it is because little is known about what happened to them later in life. But during their heyday they were known to be closely associated with the infamous Wild Bunch.

The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin-Dalton Gang was a gang of outlaws based in the Indian and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s. They robbed banks and stores, held up trains and killed lawmen. They were also known as The Oklahoma Long Riders from the long dusters they wore. No outlaw gang of the Old West ever met a more violent end than the Wild Bunch. All eleven would die in violent gun battles with lawmen.

In those days lawmen were often foiled in their attempts to corral the gang because people such as our two female outlaws would warn the gang members when they were in the area.

Crack Shots

Around Pawnee and Perry, Oklahoma, Cattle Annie and Little Britches were also wanted for selling liquor to the Indians and horse theft. The two attractive teens were both excellent shots with a pistol or rifle. Cattle Annie was born Anna McDoulet in 1879 to James C. and Rebekah McDoulet of Lawrence County, Kansas.

She had an older brother, Calvin and an older sister, Martha. And at the time she was imprisoned her siblings also included Claude, Maud, Everett, George, James, and John.

The following night, the girls were tracked down near Pawnee by Marshals Bill Tilghman and Steve Burke. Both girls gave fight, and several shots rang out as the girls made their way to a back window to escape. Cattle Annie was caught by Burke, as she climbed out the window but Little Britches escaped, temporarily. The lawmen gave chase amidst several shots fired over her shoulder at them, but her shots missed. Finally Tilghman shot her horse, which ended the chase. Although fighting like a wild cat Jennie was finally subdued and both girls were jailed.

Annie and Jennie were charged with stealing horses and selling whiskey to the Indians. Annie received a one year sentence in the Framingham reformatory for women in Massachusetts, but was paroled a few months later, due to poor health. She remained in Framingham until she found work as a domestic for Mrs. Mary Daniels in Sherborn, just south of Framingham.

A few months later, she went to New York, where some stories claim she died of consumption in Bellevue Hospital. But what actually became of her is not certain. Other stories claim Annie returned to Oklahoma and married Earl Frost of Perry in 1901, had two children, and divorced Frost in 1909. The museum in Guthrie, Oklahoma claims she married again to a J. W. Roach of Oklahoma City and died in 1978. Another popular legend has her returning to Oklahoma, marrying twice before marrying Jack Dalton and living in Purcell as Anna Ohme Burke Dalton.

Jennie was held for two months in the Guthrie jail as a material witness for a murder trial. She had witnessed a shooting while working as a domestic. Her two-year penal sentence began in Framingham reformatory in Massachusetts on 11 November 1895.

However, she was released on 7 October 1896 for good behavior and returned to her parents in Sinnett.

There were rumors she married, settled down, and raised a family in Tulsa. But what really became of her may forever remain a mystery.