Alva Review-Courier -

Issac Black, famous Oklahoma outlaw buried in the Alva cemetery, now has a tombstone, after being buried 123 years in an unmarked grave. After his apprehension and death, Black was buried without any service or grave marker because his robberies and killings had been a menace to society.

The Cherokee Strip Museum board felt after 123 years it was time to mark his grave. The late Joy Sherman had expressed her interest in getting Black's grave marked and was in the process of doing it at the time of her death. Alva Monument Works offered to donate and set the stone. It is in the very southwest corner of the cemetery.

Black first got in trouble for stealing cattle in Kansas. He did time in a Kansas penitentiary and after release he made Oklahoma his home territory, to resume his activities and join other outlaws. He joined up with another outlaw named Zip Wyatt. Wyatt was wanted for murdering a Deputy Sheriff in Kansas. He was actually Dick Yeager but chose to go by Zip Wyatt. They joined up with the Doolin-Dalton Gang and were responsible for Rock Island train robbery in Dover, Oklahoma.

A month later Black and Wyatt robbed the store and post office at Fairview, Oklahoma. Deputy Gus Hadwiger and Woods County Sheriff Clay McGrath were in quick pursuit. They caught up with the robbers the following day and surprised them where they were hiding in a cave. A gunfight broke out and Ike Black was hit in the foot and Zip received a flesh wound to the head. The outlaws escaped, but now they were more that 200 lawmen looking for them.

The next robbery the pair attempted was the Oxley, Oklahoma, post office and store, but they just got a few supplies and only $35. They were recognized and the next day a posse went after them and found them about six miles from Oxley. More gunfight occurred and Black received a flesh wound to the head, however both men escaped once again but their horses ran away and now they were afoot.

They stole some horses from a farm about five miles west of Okeene, Oklahoma. In the meantime another posse began tracking them with a large number of men who were out to get Black and Wyatt.

The outlaws were penned in a canyon by the lawman and once again gunfire erupted. Again the outlaws were able to get away. At this point the Woods County Deputy Sheriff and his men joined the other posses and they pursued the fugitives.

Black and Wyatt holed up in an old building four miles east of Canton and when the posse caught up with them Black was shot in the head and killed. Wyatt was also shot in the left side of his chest, but escaped. He rode to a doctor's house a mile away and forced the doctor to take care of him give him another horse, only to be caught a few days later.

Black's body contained a picture of his wife Belle, $1.50 in silver and copies of two ballads. His body was carried by wagon to Alva, where he was buried without services nor was his grave marked. Wyatt was buried in pauper's field south of Enid, also without a marker and no funeral. Years later the cemetery was moved and many of the bodies were relocated. Wyatt's location was lost and remained where it was. It is thought to be somewhere in Enid in a residential development.