A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. III, Part 22

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 660

USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. III > Part 22

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Robert Wesley Diek was but five years of age when his parents removed to Texas, and in that state he was reared on the farm, coming from the domain of the Lone Star to Oklahoma as one of the many Texans who in a generous and substantial way have contributed to the development and progress of this commonwealth. Mr. Dick did not leave the farm until he was sixteen years of age. It was on his father's homestead that he learned the invaluable lessons of industry and perseverance in his early life, lessons that have so greatly entered into his carreer as elements of success. After attending schools at Whitesboro, Texas, he secured a first grade certificate to teach and commenced his work as an edu- cator at the age of nineteen years. His rapid rise in this profession may be seen when it is stated that when he was but twenty-one years of age he was president of the Centennial Literary and Commercial Academy, at Cannon, Texas, which was at that time the largest school in the northern part of the state, and where many young men and women who attained distinguished positions in after life were his students. While the exeentive and directing head of this institution, Mr. Dick also edited a journal published in connection with the academy. He remained at the head of this school for two years, and was then for one year president of the Pilgrim College, of Collin County, Texas. In 1888 he became president of Pottsboro College, and then, in 1889, came to the

Indian Territory and taught in the public schools of Ardmore, where he closed his activities as an educator. As an instructor it is but fair to say that Mr. Dick was one of the most popular, efficient and thorough members of his calling during his day. He possessed the happy faculty of being able to impart his knowledge to others, and as an executive transferred to others, his associates and teachers, his own boundless enthusiasm for his work. He had a warm place alike in the hearts of teachers, fellow-educators, pupils and parents.

Mr. Dick was one of the "eighty-niners" of Oklahoma City, to which small community he went with a former pupil of Centennial Academy, Bill Alexander, the two camping, on the night of April 22, 1889, under an old cottonwood tree which stood at what is now the juncture of California and Broadway streets. During the days of his school work, Mr. Dick had given his leisure hours to the study of law, and when a court was established at Ardmore he was admitted to the bar, in 1890. He successfully practiced his profession there until 1902, when he was elected mayor of the city. For five con- secutive times he was the winner of the mayoralty election, and served in that capacity until 1908, when he resigned to assume charge of the Oklahoma State Pen- itentiary, as warden, to which office he was appointed by Governor Haskell, and in which he has since served with great credit to himself and to the lasting benefit of the state. He is a successful student of human nature, and is thus ably fitted for the position he occupies.

When Mr. Dick resigned as mayor of Ardmore, the Ardmorite, leading newspaper of that city, said: "Mr. Dick has been mayor of Ardmore so long, has worked so faithfully for the city's interests, and has done so much to put her in the path of progress, that his going from ns causes hearts among us to be sorrowful. Dur- ing the time of his administration as mayor, he has been regarded as a man of progress and foresight. When he took the leadership of the town upon himself, there was not much of the present Ardmore. To his work, together with that of his coadjutors, we owe the fact that there was ever a park reservation; to him we owe it that 1,350 acres of ground was condemned for a water shed; the vast improvements of our streets show that things undreamed of before were planned out by him and came to perfection during his administration."

While he was mayor of Ardmore, many movements for the substantial progress of the city were inaugurated, among which might be emphasized above all others the public schools. With an enviable record as a mayor behind him, Mr. Dick became warden of the penitentiary, not only with experience in public service, but with a mind and heart well calculated to enable him to achieve success in a broader field of usefulness. As warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Robert W. Dick has not only won for himself a nation-wide reputation for efficiency as a prison official, but has placed the insti- tution over which he has had charge among the best in the United States. He was the first warden and has been the only one to hold the office in this state insti- tution. Under his administration its entire equipment, buildings, machinery, and all, has been inaugurated. Governor Cruce, in speaking of Warden Dick, said: “I believe that it would be hard to find in this or any other state a man who would make a more competent warden than he has proven himself to be. The work done by him at the penitentiary will stand as a monument to his genius in the building and handling' of large propo- sitions.'' We quote from an article which appeared in the Guthrie Leader: "He has done things that those versed in criminology have pronounced impossible; first, to bring him into prominence, was the transfer of over

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200 hardened convicts from the Kansas State Prison to McAlester, a distance of 450 miles, without a mishap. The precaution Warden Dick has taken to prevent escape shows that he is not only looking after the wel- fare of the convicts, but their safety as well.''

No one can investigate Warden Dick's physical man- agement of the institution and withhold expressions of admiration for his ability, and in addition thereto he has given evidence of exceptional capacity in the handling of men, thereby raising the moral standard of the convicts and preventing wholesale "jail deliveries." A splendid and thorough student of human nature, he has, by un- erring judgment, placed hundreds of convicts on the trusty list, not on a list of trusties who must be guarded, but who are trusted to themselves. This has given hope to many convicts, has developed in them a spirit of self- respect, and brought to the surface latent merit lying within. Punishment he makes subordinate to reform. No man holding the position he does can hope to escape unkind criticism, and fault has been frequently found of his methods, but all special committees of the Legis- lature, as well as special committees of other natures, have been ready to render the most favorable and com- plimentary reports of the man and his work. Warden Dick has proved himself thoroughly honest, and no objection has ever been urged against him on the grounds of dishonesty or the lack of economy in the adminis- tration of the affairs of the institution. If he has been criticised it has been because of the fact that he has too many trusties; it is because his critics have not had the same confidence in humanity that has always regulated the actions of Warden Bob Dick. He does not wish for the unfortunate a more bitter penalty than can be avoided; he would rather turn a man out of prison with an inspiration to be useful as a citizen, than with a desire to again commit crime. With the milk of human kindness pulsating in his veins, he has sought the uplift of those who are his wards, and to this end has inaug- urated ways and means for hygienically caring for the men, and has looked well to developing in them all latent qualities of worthiness. Summarized, it may be said that Warden Dick has well won his substantial reputation as a humane and capable prison official, and has made the Oklahoma State Penitentiary a model for other institutions of its kind in the country.

Warden Dick is a stanch and undeviating democrat, and, while he has not allowed politics to enter into the management of the institution of which he is the head, has long been active in the councils of his party. Fra- ternally he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and also holds mem- bership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1887 Robert W. Dick was happily united in marriage with a lady of many sterling qualities of mind and heart, Miss Minnie Blessingame, who has graced his home with dignity and culture and has been an inspir- ation to him in the carrying on of his work. They are the parents of two accomplished daughters: Irene, who is the wife of H. L. Berry, of McAlester, Oklahoma ; and Miss Jerline, who is attending college.

GEORGE B. NOBLE. As the incumbent of the important position of state fish and game warden of Oklahoma Mr. Noble maintains his official headquarters in Okla- homa City, but he continues to look upon the fine little City of Poteau, judicial center of LaFlore County, as his home. Mr. Noble came to Oklahoma in the year that marked the opening of the territory to settlement and has been closely and worthily identified with the development of the vigorous commonwealth, where he

has been concerned with business activities and where he has made specially admirable record as a public offi- cial, particularly during an administration of somewhat more than five years in the office of sheriff of LeFlore County.

Mr. Noble was born in Collin County, Texas, in the year 1866, and is a son of Rev. John S. and Lucy Taylor (Willock) Noble, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky, where their marriage was solem- nized. For more than forty-five years Rev. Jolin S. . Noble was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in 1848 he came to the Southwest as a pioneer missionary among the Choctaw Indians, his home having been established at Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. Here he continued his earnest and self-abnegating labors until 1853, when he removed with his family to Collin County, Texas, where he became concerned with agricultural op- erations upon an extensive scale, the while he continued his services as a minister in the pioneer community. In 1880 he removed to Denton County, Texas, and there he continued to be engaged in farming and stock- growing until his death, which occurred in 1894, his widow having been summoned to the life eternal in 1912, at a venerable age. They became the parents of six sons and six daughters, and of the number the sub- ject of this review was the ninth in order of birth. Rev. John S. Noble was a man of exalted ideals and much intellectual ability. In the early days of his residence in Indian Territory he learned the Choctaw language with much thoroughness and was thus able to be of great service in teaching and otherwise uplifting the Indians among whom he labored.

The early educational discipline of George B. Noble was carried forward until he had completed a course in Pilot Point Seminary, in Denton County, Texas, and thereafter he continued to be associated with the mer- cantile business in the Lone Star State until 1889, when he came to Oklahoma and settled at Hartshorne, one of the thriving cities of the present County of Pittsburg. There he was employed in a drug store until 1891, when he removed to Cameron, LeFlore County, and engaged in the same line of enterprise in an independent way. In 1899 he removed to Poteau, the present county seat of the same county, and there he continued to be suc- cessfully engaged in the drug business until 1907, when he sold his store, but he has since continued to main- tain his home at Poteau. While at Cameron Mr. Noble was appointed deputy United States marshal, of which position he continued the incumbent four years under Col. J. J. McAlester and about two years under Col. J. Porch Grady. In 1907, the year which marked the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, Mr. Noble had the distinction of being elected the first sheriff of LeFlore County under the state regime, and his 'prior experience as deputy United States marshal made him specially resourceful and efficient in his administration during his two terms as sheriff, his record in this office having given him a reputation that extended throughout the entire state and his entire period of service having cov- ered five years and three months. He served most of this time as president of the Oklahoma Sheriffs' Asso- ciation, and he retired from office in January, 1913. Thereafter he gave his attention principally to farm- ing, in LeFlore County, until January, 1915, when there came to him further official preferment, due largely to the admirable record which he had made as sheriff. At this time Governor Williams appointed him state fish and game warden, and upon his work he has entered with characteristic enthusiasm and zeal, with the result that he has already given indubitable assurance that

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

his administration will be one that shall adequately fos- ter and protect the fish and game of the state. He has worked earnestly to systematize and vitalize the affairs of his office, has obtained the co-operation of efficient assistants, and shows neither fear nor favor in enforcing the fish and game laws of the state. On August 1, 1915, Governor Williams appointed Mr. Noble state highway commissioner, which position he still holds.

In 1897 Mr. Noble wedded Miss Memora J. Stalcup, · daughter of Elias M. and Addie May Stalcup, of Cam- - eron, Oklahoma, and the three children of this union are Bird, Will Stalcup and Mary Lou. The family home is at Poteau, and the official headquarters of Mr. Noble are in the Mercantile Building in Oklahoma City.

ROSCOE D. LAHMAN. One of the important business establishments of the City of Tulsa is that of the Middle West Baking Company, the largest institution of its kind in Oklahoma. Ably conducted, with the latest of modern equipment, it is doing an extensive wholesale business not only in Tulsa, but in surrounding towns in Oklahoma and neighboring states. It is a valuable con- tribution to the business activities and civic standards of this thriving Oklahoma city. Its president, Roscoe D. Lahman, is recognized as a progressive, liberal, public spirited business man. To him is due consideration in this work as one of the representative men in the vigor- ous young commonwealth where he has identified him- self closely with both civic and business interests.

Mr. Lahman has lived in Oklahoma since 1902, in which year he came to Vinita, Indian Territory. While not a pioneer, he had a taste of that life. He came before the "intruder" was forgotten, before the feel- ing against the business man from the "States" was entirely obliterated, before the Cherokee lands were allotted and roads laid out. He drove much over the Cherokee country when all roads led to a gate and "Take the main traveled road" was the direction given at every turkey-foot intersection, when bridges were almost unknown and a ford often a risky venture even if one knew his horses could swim. He loved this life in the open, however. Its newness charmed him, and when in 1904 the oil excitement was on in Bartlesville he was soon there to stay. Though a novice in that business, he was ready to take chances with "lease" and "contest" and to familiarize himself with oil from the bit at the top of the hole to the gauger's "thief," where it passed from his possession. He has never lost his interest in oil and is still in the business as a pro- ducer. He and Mrs. Lahman came near having to tent this first spring in Bartlesville. The purchase of a lot on which was a small two-roomed house alone saved them that experience. They had hot and cold water-the hot on the cook stove, the cold three blocks away. Rubber boots were a necessity, for the mud was everywhere sticky and deep. A sturdy, growing village, clinging to old customs, hesitating to give way to the changes its prosperity must bring. Negroes had never been allowed to reside here. A few servants and porters were being brought in, though their employers knew there was a strong feeling against this innovation. Bartlesville, on the other hand, was already planning that with the allotting of the land it must become the county seat. This could not be while this prejudice existed and the negro could refuse to submit to trial in her courts. The climax came with the importation of negro laborers to help in ditching for sewers. A mob met them on their arrival. They were driven out, not even allowed to wait for transportation. Elated with success, the mob decided all negroes should leave, and moved to a prominent drug store, demanding its porter. He did not appear and when a move was made to enter the store and search

for him, its proprietor stepped into the open door, revolver in hand and determinedly announced he would shoot the first man. who tried to cross the threshold. Then the seriousness of the situation began to be felt. A false step, a careless word, and who could foretell the result? For an hour that druggist faced the jeering mob, but no man moved to enter the store. They next went to the Right Way Hotel, then the largest in town, where a like reception waited them from one of its pro- prietors. Somewhat discouraged, they disbanded to meet the next night, when a complete riddance of all negroes was to be made. Very early the next morning the United States marshal was in town, declaring enforce- ment of the law and protection to all. The leaders of the mob did not wait to explain to him, but departed even more suddenly and quietly than the frightened negroes who left by every train during that exciting night. But such conditions were not for long. Law and order prevailed. A pretentious business building soon wiped out the little home. Like magic a modern city arose and spread itself over the surrounding prairie. Mr. Lahman took part in the struggle for statehood, single or double, and while he worked for single state- hood it was with a feeling akin to loss that he found himself in Oklahoma and the Indian Territory gone forever. He will never forget the first evening of state- hood in Bartlesville. With Mrs. Lahman he attended the exercises held in honor of that event in the beautiful new opera house. They stepped from this room of light and rejoicing to a dimly lighted, quickly crowded street where men stood with bared heads and spoke only in whispers; the stillness broken only by a woman wail- ing over her dying husband. What had happened ? Who was hurt? A "joint"' in a barn across the road, whose keeper had boasted defiance to state law, had been vis- ited by two ex-officers. A bullet from the proprietor 's revolver greeted them, followed by a general exchange of shots. When all was over a loved young officer of the territorial days lay dead and one of the most notori- ous outlaws of the state had left his bar forever. A strange commingling of sorrow and satisfaction ended this first day of statehood, but the morrow's sun rose clear and bright on Oklahoma.

Roscoe D. Lahman was born in Franklin Grove, Illi- nois, July 17, 1862, the third son of Joseph C. and Lorenda (Diehl) Lahman, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, of German and Dutch lineage. While a boy Joseph C. Lahman with his parents made the long overland journey with team and wagon to Illinois, where a claim was taken, a home established, and the Lahman household became an influential center in the "Dunk- ard" settlement then forming. Joseph C. Lahman was a miller, a successful farmer and stock raiser, a man of lofty integrity and strong mentality, a zealous mem- her of the Brethren Church, which, like his father before him, he served as local preacher. His children were reared in the sturdy discipline of the home farm, given every advantage of the district school and later sent to Mount Morris College, of which institution Joseph C. Lahman was one of the trustees. Five boys and three girls went out from this busy Christian home to honor the father and mother, and each one to add to the intel- lectual and moral worth of the community in which he lived.

R. D. Lahman began his business career as a clerk in a grocery store in Dixon, Illinois. He soon had a general store of his own in Iowa, and a few years later found him in his home town in Illinois in the same busi- ness with his brother Frank as partner.

In 1899 they became interested in Oklahoma, and with their youngest brother Charles established an ice plant in Stillwater, where Frank E. Lahman has since

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1023

'esided. He has built the original business up to exten- ive proportions and established plants in other towns. Having secured a controlling interest in the Vinita Ice ind Light Plant, Charles E. Lahman took charge of ;his business and eventually built one of the best quipped plants of its kind in the state. On the sale of this plant the brothers became interested in the establishment of a modern sanitary bakery in Tulsa. Roscoe and Charles moved to this city, and the build- ng and equipment of the Middle West Baking Company, with its superior product, Middle West bread, are the result, a success of which they may be justly proud.

In politics Mr. Lahman is a republican, but men and measures are of more importance to him than party. He is a man of simple tastes, big hearted, sympathetic, possessing that peculiar love for children that the child instinctively recognizes and trusts, with an inexhaustible supply of good cheer that has helped him through many difficulties. By his first marriage he has one daughter, Jessie, now Mrs. John R. Elk of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. In February, 1902, Mr. Lahman was married to Miss Anna Warnick, who like him was born and reared in Lee County, Illinois. She is a woman of education and ability, a companion with whom Oklahoma has been to him not only the "beautiful land" of the Indian but the happy land of home.

W. JULIUS WHITE. The historic little Village of Harris, which acquired its name from its founder, Judge Henry Harris, had among its early white set- tlers in 1885 two energetic and progressive young men who had come over Red River from Texas to aid in the development of the Indian country and thereby make their own fortunes. They were J. R. White and W. A. Coleman, and a history of McCurtain County would be sadly incomplete without some account of their activi- ties during a period of about thirty years.

J. R. White was a native of Texas and grew to man- hood on the Indian Territory border. His first avoca- tion was that of farmer, but he departed from that to an extent when he moved to the Indian country and en- tered the live stock business with W. A. Coleman. This partnership, the activities of which covered a good part of the Choctaw region south of the mountains, continued for five years, when Mr. White entered the mercantile business at Harris. In later years he moved to the Village of Norwood and entered the merchandise busi- ness, and in 1902 became one of the first merchants of the Town of Idabel. Thereafter, until his death, which occurred August 25, 1914, his time and energies were devoted to the management of his accumulated interests which consisted of farms and ranches, a large stock of merchandise, business blocks and residences, and stock in the First National Bank of Idabel and the First Na- tional Bank of Haworth. His estate is one of the largest in McCurtain County, and in the accumulation of it he exhibited enterprise and ability that characterized him as one of the county's leading men. His fortune is an example of what a young man could accomplish by em- bracing the almost innumerable opportunities of the Indian country in the early days of its industrial and commercial history.

J. R. White married Miss Lena Simpson, who pos- sesses Choctaw blood, being descended from the notable Hampton family of the Choctaw Nation. Her father was a white man who married into the Hampton family, while her maternal grandfather was a fullblood Choctaw and a district chief under tribal government and her Hampton ancestors had much to do with the making of treaties and agreements between the United States Gov- ernment and the Choctaws. Under tribal government,

J. R. White served two terms as sheriff of Red River County and in that capacity frequently was called upon to inflict the lash punishment on men charged with law infraction. These punishments took place both at Kulli Tuklo, county seat of Red River County, and at Alikchi, seat of the District Court of this section of the Choctaw Nation. Practically his sole possession when he married was a horse. He built a little cabin in the woods, cleared a few acres of timber land, and began his career as a farmer before the live stock industry developed. There were no railroads then and after he began to deal in cattle his most convenient market for stock cattle was Clarksville, Texas, beef cattle being driven to Little Rock, Arkansas. Mrs. White still survives and makes her home with her children, Tuck, a son, and May and Ola, daughters, at Idabel.

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Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941 Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 660

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 660