Changes

===Death===

===Death===

While working in a penitentiary in mid-January 1914, a violent prison escape broke out and Thomas was among those killed by the convicts.<ref name=historicalsocietybio/> An obituary asserted that he was:<ref>January 19, 1914. [https://www.thomas-foremanhistorichome.com/obituary-of-judge-thomas.html Obituary of Judge John R. Thomas]. ''Thomas-Foreman Historic Home''. Retrieved November 10, 2021.</ref>

While working in a penitentiary in mid-January 1914, a violent prison escape broke out and Thomas was among seven people killed<ref name=prisonuprising/> by the convicts.<ref name=historicalsocietybio/> Following the possession of a gun by three prisoners, they took keys to unlock themselves from their confinement spaces and barged into offices to use stenographer Mary Foster as a human shield.<ref name=prisonuprising/> When the convicts barged into the warden's room, they demanded everyone else to surrender with their hands in the air. Thomas, a described as physically stout, did not respond quickly and was fatally shot in the heart.<ref name=prisonuprising/>

 

An obituary asserted that Thomas was:<ref>January 19, 1914. [https://www.thomas-foremanhistorichome.com/obituary-of-judge-thomas.html Obituary of Judge John R. Thomas]. ''Thomas-Foreman Historic Home''. Retrieved November 10, 2021.</ref>

{{cquote|...perhaps one of the best known and best loved men who ever lived in Oklahoma.|||Obituary by his daughter, Carolyn T. Foreman, January 19, 1914}}

{{cquote|...perhaps one of the best known and best loved men who ever lived in Oklahoma.|||Obituary by his daughter, Carolyn T. Foreman, January 19, 1914}}