Every now and then, while tracing the branches of the family tree, I stumble across a story that’s just too colorful to leave buried and untold. This one belongs to Ruth Blanche Blackburn—a distant McCall cousin whose life led her through marriages, bootlegging charges, and brushes with the law in Depression-era Oklahoma.
Ruth was the daughter of William Henry Blackburn and Catherine Virginia Meadows. Through her father, she descended from Mary E. McCall, daughter of Robert Henry McCall, who was the son of Mildred Holland and William S. McCall. This post explores Ruth’s life, including her turbulent marriage to Ollie Jack Madding and the troubles both found with the law.
Early Life and First Marriage
Ruth Blanche Blackburn was born on 11 November 1897 in Readsville, Callaway County, Missouri, the third of nine children born to William Henry Blackburn and Catherine Virginia Meadows. Our direct ancestor Thomas Leland Estes, was born in 1896, he spent some of his childhood in the same vicinity in Callaway County, so may have crossed paths with Ruth who was just a year younger than him. Ruth and Tom were third cousins.
Ruth was raised in a farming family in Callaway County, Ruth married at age 17 to Andrew Jackson Hoover. She gave birth to her only child, John Henry Hoover, on 07 May 1916 in Missouri. The marriage did not last. By the time of the 1920 census, Ruth was living in St. Charles, Missouri, supporting herself and her son as a shoe factory laborer.
Marriage to Ollie Jack Madding
In 1923, Ruth married Ollie Jack Madding—a decision that would usher in one of the most turbulent chapters in her life. Ollie had a troubled past. Born 03 June 1897 in Bryant, Oklahoma, he was raised in the Choctaw Nation and spent time working as a farm laborer.
The 1915 Bank Robbery
By 1915, at just 18 years old, Ollie had committed a bold and violent robbery. On the morning of 16 September 1915, Ollie and an accomplice, Arthur McKinney, entered the Bank of Grant, Oklahoma. Armed and masked, the two men forced bank staff to open the vault. They seized about $1,200 in currency and coin—equal to over $35,000 today—and fled the scene. The same day, they also robbed a nearby grocery store at Goodland Academy, just a few miles away.
Rather than disappearing into hiding, the young men were soon spotted in the vicinity and captured. Lawmen recovered much of the stolen money. Reports in the Durant Weekly News described Ollie’s behavior after the robbery as strangely generous: he handed out stolen money to friends and acquaintances. “He said he had plenty more,” one article noted, suggesting he may have viewed the crime as a means of fast prosperity rather than its dangerous reality (Durant Weekly News, 01 Oct 1915).
Ollie was apprehended without incident and tried in early 1916. He was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to seven years at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He served nearly five years before being paroled in 1920. The exact reason for his parole is unknown, but Governor James B. A. Robertson, who held office at the time, was known for granting pardons and paroles relatively freely, often in response to petitions from families or on recommendations of good behavior. Robertson, a Democrat and former judge, believed in rehabilitation and had a relatively lenient approach to clemency during an era of harsh prison conditions.
The 1921 Bootlegging Arrest and Assault Charge
Unfortunately, Ollie’s criminal career was not behind him. In early 1921, just months after his release from prison, Ollie was arrested again, this time for violating prohibition laws and assault with intent to kill. According to news reports, he and two other men were operating a still near Albion, Oklahoma. When Sheriff J.A. Moyers and his deputies attempted to raid the site, Ollie fired eight times at them with a revolver. One of the bullets struck the sheriff’s horse. After declaring that he was surrendering, Ollie suddenly dropped to the ground, rolled under a fence, and escaped into the woods. He was eventually captured and brought to trial.
Though no lawmen were seriously injured, the attack underscored the dangers of enforcing prohibition laws in rural Oklahoma. The severity of the charges, manufacturing liquor and attempted murder, resulted in a conviction and a sentence of seven years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester.
A front-page article from the Saturday Morning Advertiser (Durant, Oklahoma), dated 29 January 1921 and titled “Bold, Bad Boy Behind Bryan Bastile’s Bars,” is what first drew my attention to the story of Ollie and Ruth. The article was a reprint from a day earlier in the Durant Weekly News. I wish I knew who wrote it. It’s a colorful piece of creative reporting, but, like many articles of the time, it ran without a byline.
BOLD, BAD BOY BEHIND BRYAN BASTILE’S BARS
Ollie Madding, Man With a Record,
Is Given Accomodations at
Taylor’s Big Boarding
HouseA real wild an dwooly <sic> bad man from the Forks of the Bitter Creek is making his home with Sheriff Taylor and sharing the hospitality afforded by the genial Sheriff’s roof-garden annex. He is taking the rest cure after a rather strenuous career covering a period of several years. His name is Ollie Madding and he first broke into the lime-light at the same time that he broke into the bank in Grant, Choctaw county several years ago. The last episode in his career was taking a few fancy shots at Deputy Sheriff Ben Risner. Between times he has led a varied life full of thrills that would make a movie writer sit up and take notice.
His downfall and incarceration in the Bryan County Bastile occurred in this wise.
Last week Friday Deputy Sheriff Risner went to make an official call on Madding. The officer had from sundry and various sources that Madding was treating the Eighteenth Amendment in a reckless and carefree manner which was endangering the peace and dignity of the State of Oklahoma. The officer met Madding in the road south of Bennington and the latter proceeded to bring his artillery into action, the only damage inflicted being to the horse that Risner was riding. After eight of the said projectiles Risner got his machine gun into action and Madding called to him that he surrendered. Risner started to dismount and Madding ducked through a barb wire fence and vanished away in the friendly woods.
After his meeting with the officer Madding went to the home of Arthur Vinson and remained hidden there in a barn until Sunday when Risner made a second official call on him. This time he gave up without a fight and admitted the whole thing and accompanied Risner to Durant where room was made for him in the country hoosegow.
Arthur Vinson and Arch Mason were also arrested in connection with the making and selling of the joy-juice; Vinson gave bond but Mason was still in jail when this was written.
Madding’s career has been a checkered one. Several years ago he was given ten years in the penitentiary for robbing the bank at Grant in Choctaw County but was pardoned last year by Governor Robertson. At the time of his last arrest he was out on parole after a conviction in Pushmataha County, in between times he had stole a hog and paid a $2.50 fine for indulging his fondness for pork.
– Saturday Morning Advertiser (Durant, Oklahoma), dated 29 January 1921
Escape and Marriage
Ollie Jack Madding was serving a seven-year sentence for assault with intent to kill when he escaped from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on 05 May 1923. He had been incarcerated since April 1921 following the conviction in Bryan County, Oklahoma. Within five months of his escape, he was in Missouri marrying Ruth Blackburn.
They married on 01 October 1923 in Troy, Lincoln, Missouri. Whether Ruth knew about his fugitive status is unclear. Their marriage license was issued under, “O. Jack Madding” but the couple sometimes used the surname Davis instead of Madding.
The Oklahoma Bulletin published a wanted notice that December offering a reward for his capture. The bulletin described him as a white man, with black, brown eyes, and a medium-dark complexion. He was 5 feet 9 1/2 inches tall, weighed 144 pounds, and had irregular teeth. Several tattoos and scars were noted. On his left arm, he had a blue tattoo of a nude girl (side view) at 5 inches above the elbow, and a girl in a bathing suit at 5 inches below the elbow. On his right arm, he had a blue tattoo of a girl in a bathing suit at 4 inches below the elbow, along with numerous additional tattoos covering the lower right arm. He also had a 2½-inch curved scar on his face, starting below the nose and ending in the center of his left eyebrow..
But Ollie had already been returned to prison by the time the article was published. Records indicate that he was arrested in St. Louis and delivered to McAlester Prison on 30 November 1923. Ruth and Ollie did not have much time together as a married couple.
Less than two years after their marriage, Ruth asked for a divorce. On 02 April 1925, the St. Charles Weekly Banner News reported that Ruth B. Davis (as she called herself) had filed for divorce from Ollie Davis, alias Ollie Madding. Her petition stated that he had been a fugitive from justice at the time of their marriage and had been convicted of felony in Oklahoma. She requested a divorce and to resume her former name, Ruth Blackburn. However, it is not known if the divorce was granted at that time.
Ollie was discharged from prison later that year, on 09 September 1925.
Life in Oklahoma City
In 1930, the couple were living together on West 6th Street in Oklahoma City, where he worked as a laborer in the yards and gardens at the State House and she worked as a waitress. On 16 March 1931 he was arrested for being drunk and fined $19.
A Crash, a Shooting, and an Arrest
By 1933, Ollie Jack Madding was once again entangled in a serious crime. On the night of 22 January 1933, Kansas City police pursued a blue Chevrolet sedan that had raised suspicion near Twenty-eighth and Holmes. Officers C. L. Gardner and G. M. McMeehan noticed a man slumped in the rear seat and attempted to investigate. As they approached the vehicle, two other men suddenly appeared in the back window and the car sped away. The police gave chase and opened fire as the car fled.
The Chevrolet, it turned out, was stolen from a law enforcement officer in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and its license plates had also been stolen—taken from a Whippet sedan owned by Louis F. State of Kansas City, Missouri. The police pursued the speeding car through city streets. At Forty-seventh and Harrison, they ran a red light and struck another car driven by Sam Barben, who was traveling with his wife and two sons. Fortunately, no one in the Barben car was seriously injured, but the stolen Chevrolet smashed into a light pole and came to a halt.
Inside the wrecked car, police found a man who identified himself as Jack Madding, age 26, of Muskogee, Oklahoma—an alias for Ollie Jack Madding. He was dazed and bleeding from head wounds. The three other men who had been with him had already fled the scene on foot.
According to statements Madding gave police after being treated at the General Hospital, he had come to Kansas City, Missouri, to meet with his estranged wife, Ruth, though he claimed not to know where she was living. He said he had been approached by three men who suggested they “have a party.” Madding bought a pint of whisky and showed the men he had $34 in cash. He claimed the last thing he remembered was someone saying, “Let’s get the money.”
However, subsequent reports revealed the situation was far more serious. Police investigators uncovered that the group had, in fact, been planning to rob a bank in Belton, Missouri, the following day. The stolen car, the stolen license plates, and the .38-caliber revolver found on the car floor all supported that conclusion. A bullet hole discovered in the trunk suggested that additional gunfire may have occurred during the pursuit.
Madding was charged under the Dyer Act, a federal law making it a felony to transport a stolen vehicle across state lines. He was sentenced to time at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. It would be his final known conviction.
Ruth’s Disorderly House
While Ollie was away at prison, Ruth faced her own legal troubles. Newspaper reports from The Daily Law Journal-Record and The Oklahoma News show that in 1933 and 1934, Ruth faced multiple charges including operating a “disorderly house,” illegal possession of liquor, public nuisance, and possession. These charges suggest Ruth was at least adjacent to the world of bootlegging and illegal clubs—a dangerous and unstable lifestyle in Depression-era Oklahoma, where prohibition laws remained in effect until 1959. In the span of just over a year, she would be arrested multiple times, questioned in connection with a high-profile murder case, and eventually sentenced to jail time.
In August 1933, The Daily Law Journal-Record reported a criminal case against “Ruth Madding” for operating a disorderly house (Case No. 234, 29 August 1933). At the time, this charge was often applied to women suspected of running an establishment that allowed illegal activities, such as prostitution, bootlegging, or gambling.
Just a week later, on 06 September 1933 (The Daily Law Journal-Record, Case No. 151), Ruth was charged with illegal possession of intoxicating liquor. Then on 15 September 1933, a third charge was filed—maintaining a public nuisance (Case No. 284)—with the legal firm Mathers & Mathers listed as her defense counsel.
On 03 October 1933, The Daily Oklahoman reported that Ruth Madding pleaded guilty to the charge of operating a disorderly house. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine. The sentencing confirms that the charge, while not a felony, was taken seriously enough by the court to warrant jail time.
Then, on 31 July 1934, Ruth made the news again—not as a defendant, but as a potential witness. Authorities were investigating the shooting death of insurance salesman A.N. Ledger, who had been found shot three times in a clump of woods near the Katy railroad tracks in northeast Oklahoma City. Ledger had reportedly gone on a picnic with a woman named Marie Walker.
Mrs. Walker told police that a light-skinned Black man emerged from the woods, demanded money, and shot Ledger—mistaking him for someone else due to a personal grudge. However, several details of her story raised questions. Deputy Sheriff George Kerr stated that Ledger and Walker had been at a party the night before at the home of Mrs. Ruth Madding, located at 325 NW Fifth Street (The Oklahoma News, 31 July 1934, pages 1–2).
Ruth and another guest, J.D. Stevens, were taken in for questioning, as was Mrs. Walker. Another article noted that Peggy Chancellor, along with Ruth, was also brought to the county attorney’s office. Meanwhile, Walker’s sister Julia McFadden testified that she had found her sister sitting on the side of a road after the incident and returned her home.
Though Ruth was never charged in connection with the murder, the fact that her home had served as the location for the evening’s party put her once again in the spotlight of law enforcement and public scrutiny.
Divorce
Ollie Jack Madding was released from the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth on 21 February 1936, having served less than three years of his sentence. He did not return to Ruth. She filed for divorce. According to court filings, Ruth Madding cited abandonment as the cause for divorce, stating that Ollie had been gone for more than a year. Their troubled marriage—marked by shared legal woes, long separations, and a final prison term—came to an official end on 10 December 1937, when Ruth was granted a divorce in Oklahoma County.
Later Years and Deaths
By the 1940s, Ruth and Ollie had gone separate ways. Ruth worked cleaning offices in an office building and lived in a small apartment in Oklahoma City.
Ruth’s strife did not end.
Ruth did not spend much time raising her only child, John. He spent most of his life with his relatives near Readsville, Callaway, Missouri. In 1940, he lived there with Ruth’s brother Elmo and his wife. John was inducted in the Army in late 1942 and sent overseas to France in early 1944. He fought in World War II with the 12th Infantry, 4th Division. In late June 1944 he was declared Missing in Action. In August he was declared Killed in Action. He was killed in the battle at the beachhead at Normandy on 11 Jun 1944. Ruth attended his funeral and burial in Missouri in July 1948.
She lived the remainder of her life in Oklahoma City, but did go home to Missouri to visit family on occasion. Despite her early divorce request to go back to using her maiden name, she remained Ruth Manning in the records.
After prison, Ollie moved to Los Angeles.
In the summer of 1941, Ollie Jack Madding married again. On 27 July, he wed Rillietta Rowland Stailey at Emanuel Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California. The official marriage certificate listed both parties as divorced and entering their second marriage. Ollie, age 34, reported working as a cook and living at 3961 E. 5th Street in Los Angeles. His bride, Rillietta, was 52 years old, eighteen years his senior, and employed as a seamstress.
A year later, in 1942, Ollie was still in Los Angeles when he was required to register for the draft. He was still married but listed as unemployed. His registration card described him as 5 feet 11 inches tall, 135 pounds, with black hair, blue eyes, a ruddy complexion, and tattoos on both arms.
Ollie Jack Madding died on 24 February 1946 in Los Angeles County at the age of 48. He was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.
Ruth lived another decade, passing away at age 59 on 22 April 1957. She was buried at Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Readsville, Missouri, where her life began.
Ruth’s story, like so many “twigs and nuts” in the family tree, reminds us how complicated life can become and how history hides some of its most interesting characters just a generation or two away.
Ruth was just one of several Blackburn children to find trouble. Learn about several of her brothers by reading More Stories from the Blackburn family.
Sources:
National Archives at Kansas City, Record Group: 129, Creator: Department of Justice. Bureau of Prisons. U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth. Series: Inmate Case Files, 07/03/1895 to 11/05/1957 National Archives Identifier: 571125, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/571125; Inmate Case File #43320 for Ollie Jack Madding.
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Ancestry.com, 1900 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), www.ancestry.com, Year: 1900; Census Place: Nine Mile Prairie, Callaway, Missouri; Roll: 844; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0031.
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Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), www.ancestry.com, Year: 1910; Census Place: Antlers, Pushmataha, Oklahoma; Roll: T624_1271; Page: 1b; Enumeration District: 0265; FHL microfilm: 1375284.
Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Year: 1920; Census Place: Granite, Greer, Oklahoma; Roll: T625_1465; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 69.
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Ancestry.com, 1940 United States Federal Census (Name: Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.Original data – United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, Year: 1940; Census Place: Auxvasse, Callaway, Missouri; Roll: m-t0627-02092; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 14-1.
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Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111615503/john_h-hoover : accessed June 23, 2025), memorial page for John H Hoover (7 May 1916–11 Jun 1944), Find a Grave Memorial ID 111615503, citing Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Readsville, Callaway County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Arlee (contributor 47610259).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185407796/ollie_jack-madding : accessed June 22, 2025), memorial page for Ollie Jack Madding (3 Jun 1897-24 Feb 1946), Find a Grave Memorial ID 185407796, citing Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, Los Angeles County, California, USA; Maintained by Grothmann (contributor 47542543).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27752925/ruth_blanche-madding : accessed June 21, 2025), memorial page for Ruth Blanche Blackburn Madding (11 Nov 1897-22 Apr 1957), Find a Grave Memorial ID 27752925, citing Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Readsville, Callaway County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Ed Bartolacci (contributor 46942485).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27218533/william_henry-blackburn : accessed January 17, 2025), memorial page for William Henry Blackburn (3 Jul 1865-4 Oct 1948), Find a Grave Memorial ID 27218533, citing Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Readsville, Callaway County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by Ed Bartolacci (contributor 46942485).
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Inmate Case File #43320 for Ollie Jack Madding, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/571125. Purchased file June 2025; National Archives at Kansas City, Inmate Case Files, 07/03/1895 to 11/05/1957; Creator: Department of Justice. Bureau of Prisons. U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth; National Archives Identifier: 571125, Record Group 129; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
Kenneth E. Weant, Callaway County, Missouri, U.S., Marriages, 1870-1922 (Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004).
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