Date of Death: August 15, 1912
Thomas was born in 1850 in Athens, Georgia, the youngest of five children of Lovick Pierce Thomas, I and Martha Fulwood Bedell.He and his family migrated to Texas in 1875 and with the help of his cousin Jim Thomas obtained a job with the railroad as a guard. Heck eventually became a railroad detective. Heck Thomas left the Texas Express job in 1885 and went to work for the Fort Worth Detective Association. A year later, he was appointed U.S. Deputy Marshal out of Fort Smith, Arkansas working under Judge Isaac Parker.
By 1889, Thomas teamed with two other Deputy US Marshals, Chris Madsen and Bill Tilghman. They became known as the Three Guardsmen and were credited with bringing law and order a to the Indian Territory, in the state that would become Oklahoma (1906).
The Three Guardsmen were credited with the apprehension of in excess of some 300 outlaws over the next decade, killing several. They were credited with the ultimate demise of the Doolin Gang. Thomas was specifically mentioned by Emmett Dalton, years after his release from prison, as one of the main reasons the Dalton Gang chose to commit two simultaneous bank robberies in Coffeyville, Kansas, stating that Thomas was relentless in his pursuit, and the gang decided to make one big score, and leave the territory for a time. Instead, the gang was wiped out in the Coffeyville robberies, with Emmett being the only survivor.
In August, 1896, Thomas tracked down and killed outlaw Bill Doolin, who had previously been captured by Tilghman, only to escape from prison on July 5, 1896.[1] It was this killing for which Thomas became best known.
By 1902 much of Oklahoma was settled, but the town of Lawton, Oklahoma needed help settling in so that was where Thomas was sent. He was elected Lawton's first chief of police and served in that role for seven years until his health began to fail. He died August 15, 1912 of Bright's disease.