By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
The stout, frontier lawman who wore a thick mustache, is remembered as one of the original guardsmen of territorial law before Oklahoma became a state.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Chris Madsen is buried at Frisco Cemetery in rural farmland northwest of Yukon.
Madsen has been buried at the cemetery, located along Britton Road between Frisco and
Richland roads, since 1944.
Today, the local cemetery association is working to build a monument to Madsen.
Jean Kyle, cemetery association member, said she recently became interested in honoring Madsen. Madsen is buried next to his wife Maggie.
Madsen lived from 1851 to 1944.
“I’ve got a notebook this thick on him,” Kyle said. She stood at Madsen’s grave on Memorial Day weekend where American flags were placed on graves.
Recently, Kyle saw the monument to frontier lawmen Bill Tilghman in Chandler and she had the idea for a monument for Madsen.
Madsen was stationed at Fort Reno before statehood.
“A monument will come up back here,” she said, walking on the mowed grass of the cemetery.
“I’m talking with a monument company in El Reno. We’re trying,” Kyle said.
Madsen was born in Denmark, in 1851 and died in Guthrie in 1944.
As a lawmen before statehood, he was one of The Three Guardsmen, with other lawmen of the Old West, Heck Thomas and Bill Tilghman, who rounded up the outlaws of the era.
After he left Denmark, Madsen arrived in New York City, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1876. He served in the Army’s Fifth Cavalry. He became a Deputy U.S. Mashal under Marshal William Grimes in Oklahoma Territory.
Kyle said the monument is a project she will continue to work on for the cemetery.
Kyle grew up a mile west of the cemetery and her family knew Madsen, who settled in the area.
Madsen was known for riding around in his buggy pulled by horses and visiting the cemetery.
He also lived in Guthrie and owned land about 5 miles west of the Frisco Cemetery.
“Madsen lived nearby and was good to our family,” Kyle said.
