The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 414

414 Southwestern Histoncal Quarterly January
word of the book by an anonymous bandido was quoted in the Oakland Daily
News, January 5, 1874. This quote, "A man had better have the devil after him
than Harry Morse," somewhat sets the pace as the life and times of Harry Morse
unfold from his teenage argonaut days throughout his adventures in law
enforcement. As a sheriff chasing bandidos who robbed the ranchers to his
sleuthing as a detective to protect the innocent make tales of Morse's life inter-
esting and exciting.
An extensive and useful bibliography, plus endnotes and an index indicate
that a significant body of work was done by Boessenecker, who meticulously
researched and filled with deep insight his biography of Harry Morse.
Historians and law enforcement scholars will enjoy adding Lawman to their
libraries.
Hereford, Texas CAROLYN WATERS
Comanches and Mennonites on the Oklahoma Plains: A. J. and Magdalena Becker and
the Post Oak Mission. By Marvin E. Kroeker, foreword by William T. Hagan.
(Winnipeg, Manitoba and Hillsboro, Kansas: Kindred Productions, 1997.
Pp. x+177. Illustrations, foreword, preface, prologue, epilogue, endnotes,
bibliography, index. ISBN 0-921788-42-8. $18.95, paper).
Marvin Kroeker's study of Abraham and Magdalena Becker, Mennonite mis-
sionaries to the Quahada Comanches, brings to light an often overlooked chap-
ter in the efforts to Christianize and Americanize Plains Indians following the
Indian Wars of the 186os and 1870s. While Kroeker's story ostensibly focuses
on the missionaries' efforts, he effectively places the Beckers within the context
of the struggle Comanches faced in adapting to reservation life, and the
changes that developed within the federal government and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
Quanah Parker, who had surrendered to troops at Fort Sill twenty years earli-
er, agreed in 1895 to permit the Mennonite Brethren Church of North America
to establish a mission, a privilege he had previously denied others. Thus, the
Post Oak mission became the first "foreign mission" for the Mennonite
Brethren. The Beckers arrived in 1902 and continued as the driving force not
only in the mission, but also in the Comanches' lives until Abraham's death in
mid-January 1953. In addition to helping her husband with the missionary work,
Magdalena Becker also served as a field matron in the Indian Service for twenty-
eight years, from 1904-1932.
Quanah Parker encouraged his people to attend the Beckers' services. While
the chief attended services on an irregular basis, Quanah Parker selected the
Post Oak Cemetery as the reburial site for his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, in
December 1910o. Two months later, after Quanah's death, Becker officiated at
the chief's funeral. The mission's work also included services for white and
Mexican American settlers near Lawton.
While Kroeker defends and sometimes glosses over the blatant disregard for
traditional Comanche customs and culture, he places the missionaries' actions

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