The Time Capsule: George Hallock vs. The Crooked Creek Gang

Although the Crooked Creek gang terrorized Southwest Iowa, they didn’t do well when it came to shootouts.      

The story of these post-Civil War outlaws was first told to me by J. Frank Berry, a local historian who wrote extensively about them. The basic facts of his account came from newspapers and county histories and have since been more or less verified — or at least reprinted.  

The leader of the outlaw group was Carl Strall. Although there were fringe players who came and went, the primary gang members were his sons, Roll and Dode (probably nicknames), plus Frank and Grant Brown, the VanWinkle brothers, and John Millhollen. Like other rustlers and thieves, they moved around, although their primary base of operation was a large and heavily wooded tract near the point where Adair, Audubon and Cass Counties adjoin. Law enforcement was scarce in the 1870s and what there was had limitations. Sheriffs were less than aggressive, with authority that ended at the county line. The Crooked Creek gang robbed, rustled, bullied, terrorized women and if pursued simply went to another county for a while.  They spent very little time in jail.  

One news account tells us the numerous buckles and rings on harness and saddle horse gear were often brass, occasionally silver and sometimes taken as souvenirs of horses stolen. Roll Strall is said to have driven a rig into Exira one day, a rig adorned with 400 such mementos.    

Gang members were always heavily armed, rarely alone, and most people gave them a wide berth. An exception was a young man named George Hallock. He took offense at Roll Strall’s behavior, a fist fight followed and, according to a county history, Strall was “badly battered.” From that point on Hallock was a marked man, although the final altercation didn’t take place for a while.  

The gang took a hit on a snowy day in February.  They spent hours drinking and exhibiting bad behavior in Exira. Roll Strall and John Millhollen left town on a horse-drawn sleigh. As they were departing, Strall fired his shotgun in the general direction of a drug store. Buckshot shattered a window.  From within the store, someone returned fire.  Strall fell dead; Milhollen was injured.  The drugstore fracas may have convinced area residents the best prescription was lead. 

Two other gang members, Frank Brown and John Anderson, went on a tear and paid the price. During a drinking spree in Atlantic, they encountered the wife of a local doctor and confronted her in a manner she found offensive.  She told her husband, who reportedly went to a hardware store and purchased a few heavy buckshot loads. Brown and Anderson went to Wiota that evening, where someone was waiting.  From inside a building, shots were fired and both gang members, hit with heavy buckshot, fell dead. The doctor may have been responsible, or Hallock or someone else. No arrests were made.  

When Dode Strall decided the atmosphere was unhospitable, he left for Colorado to become a gambler. A poker game went badly, and he was shipped back to Atlantic in a wooden casket.  

The grand finale took place when Carl Strall and John Millhollen learned George Hallock would be in Brayton to get a load of corn. They spotted him and gave chase.  Hallock, with a team and loaded wagon, was easily overtaken. He took cover and drew his six-shooter. Carl Strall, holding a double-barrel shotgun, stood in his rig and shouted to Hallock, saying “We got you, you @#%&**!” With that, Hallock opened fire. When the shooting stopped, Strall was dead with a bullet in the forehead.  Millhollen was wounded even worse than before, a couple of well-placed shots having removed one eye and part of his nose.  

Hallock slept on it, then turned himself in.  News accounts have the sheriff hearing his story, then asking Hallock if he was out of ammunition. When Hallock said he was not, the sheriff reckoned that was a good thing and told him to go on about his business.  

With five of their members dead and at least one badly wounded, there wasn’t enough left of the Crooked Creek gang to do business. An era was ending, with their kind giving way to the Anti-Saloon League and farmers who worked for a living.  

Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.