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. IV > Part 52
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GEORGE A. TRICE. In Texas, where he lived until mov- ing to Oklahoma, George A. Trice had a record as a suc- cessful teacher, legislator and lawyer. These experiences have come to maturity and fruition since he came across Red River into Oklahoma in 1908, and since that year has been one of the leading lawyers of Coalgate. It is said that in the past seven years Mr. Trice has partici- pated in the trial of twelve hundred criminal cases in the courts of that section, and in one year was counsel in thirteen murder cases.
Mr. Trice was a member of the Texas Legislature which enacted the law permitting the adoption of a com- mission-form charter by the City of Galveston, from which the "Galveston Idea" has spread and permeated the municipal organic laws of cities in every part of the country. Oklahoma has a number of model charters based
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on the commission idea, and some share of credit for this must also be assigned to the Coalgate lawyer.
George A. Trice was born in DeSoto County, Missis- sippi, July 24, 1876, a son of William F. and Katherine (Broadway) Trice. His father, a native of Alabama and a Confederate veteran of the Civil war, settled in Ellis County, Texas, in 1878, and with Mrs. Trice is still a resi- dent of that county. There were six children in the fam- ily as follows: George A .; Dr. Joseph, a physician and surgeon in charge of a hospital at Wonsan, Chosen (Korea) ; Edward, bookkeeper for a wholesale grocery company at Tyler, Texas; Mrs. Reb Parmelly, wife of a farmer and stockman at Abilene, Texas; Miss Bernice, an employe of the firm of Trice & Field at Terrell, Texas; and Raymond, still pursuing his education and living with his parents in Texas.
George A. Trice was reared on the home farm and attended the public schools up to the age of eighteen, at which time he began teaching and was a teacher in Texas until 1901. In the meantime he studied law at home and in the office of Watson & Robbins at Clarks- ville, Texas. After being admitted to the bar in the fall of 1901 he became a partner of David Watson, who had been senior member of Watson & Robbins, a firm which dissolved when Mr. Robbins was elected district attorney. With seven years of experience with that firm, Mr. Trice removed to Oklahoma in 1908 and located at Coalgate, where he became associated with the firm of Cutler, Trice & McInnis. This was later dissolved and Euel Moore, who had been a student of Mr. Trice in Red River County, became junior partner in the firm of Trice & Moore.
Mr. Trice was elected a member of the Texas Legis- lature in 1901, serving one term during the administra- tion of Governor Lanham. He was a member of the joint committee of that session that wrote the present game law of that state, after which some other states have patterned. At Clarksville, Texas, he served as a member of the city council. He is an active democrat and has taken a conspicuous part in the campaigns of his party in Oklahoma. In 1915 Mr. Trice was appointed by Governor R. L. Williams a member of the Oklahoma Commission on uniform state laws, and, with Judge D. H. MeDougal and Robert Adams, the other members of the commission, assisted in furthering the cause of uni- form laws at Salt Lake that year, during the session of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Trice was married in 1904, at Vernon, Texas, to Miss Mamie Peck, who died in 1914, leaving two daugh- ters, Katherine, aged six years, and Josephine, who is four years old. Mr. Trice is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Knights Templar of the Masonic Order, of the local lodge of the Woodmen of the World, and of the county, state and national organizations of his profession. He occupies his own comfortable, mod- ern home at Coalgate.
WILLIAM D. WILKINSON. Though reared to adult age in the State of Kansas Mr. Wilkinson is one of the well known citizens of Oklahoma who can revert to the historic Old Dominion as the place of his nativity, and he may well take pride in his genealogical record, which marks long identification of the family name with the annals of American history. He himself has secure prestige as one of the representative newspaper men of Oklahoma, and is a progressive, loyal and influential citizen of Woods County, where he is editor and publisher of the Woods County Pioneer, the first paper established in the county and now issued in both daily and weekly editions. He succeeded the founder of the paper in the ownership and editorial direction of the Pioneer and he has made it a potent force in the furtherance of com-
munity interests and as a leader in public sentiment and action. The paper is published at Alva, the county seat, and of the same Mr. Wilkinson has maintained control since 1912, though he has been a resident of Woods County since 1897 and may well be termed one of the pioncers of this section of the state, as he here established his home about four years after the opening of the Cherokee Strip or Outlet to settlement.
William Dunn Wilkinson was born at Bland Court House, the judicial center of Bland County, Virginia, and the date of his nativity was August 30, 1868. In Bland County were born not only his father and mother but also their parents, and the respective families were prominently concerned with civic and industrial affairs in that section of Virginia for three or more generations. A son of William and Eve Victoria (Dunn) Wilkinson, both of whom were likewise born at Bland Court House, a town now known simply by the name of Bland in the official postoffice directory or guide issued by the United States Postoffice Department, he whose name initiates this review was reared to the age of eleven years in his native state, where he received his rudimentary education,
William Wilkinson was born in the year 1839 and his wife on the 23d of February, 1840, their marriage having been solemnized in 1857. The father devoted his entire active life to the great basic industry of agriculture and honored his native state by his loyal and gallant service as a soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. William Wilkinson continued his residence in the Old Dominion State until 1879, when he removed with his family to Barton County, Kansas, where he purchased a tract of land and developed a valuable farm, besides which he there served several years as postmaster of the Village of Albert, in which place he conducted a general store after retiring from the active work of the farm. He was one of the honored pioneers of Barton County and was there a prominent and influential representative of the demo- cratie party, from allegiance to which he never deviated. In 1897 he removed to Woods County, Oklahoma Terri- tory, where he purchased a tract of 620 acres of land, seven miles distant from Alva. There he continued as a successful farmer and stock grower until the time of his death, which occurred on the 28th of November, 1909. He took deep interest in all that concerned the territory of his adoption and lived to witness its admission as one of the sovereign states of the Union. He was a man of earnest sincerity and steadfast rectitude, commanded the high regard of all who knew him, and was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as is also his widow, who now resides at Cottage Grove, Oregon. They became the parents of six sons and four daughters, the youngest of whom, a son, died in infancy. The surviving children are Agnes, John F., Effie, Warren, William D., Thomas and Charles. Intse and Ossie are deceased.
As previously stated William D. Wilkinson was a lad of eleven years at the time of the family removal to Kansas, where he was reared to maturity in Barton County and profited duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools. In 1891 he completed a special course in pharmacy in the University of Kansas, and for four ycars thereafter he was engaged in the drug business in the Village of Ellinwood, Barton County. In 1891 Mr. Wilkinson likewise made his initial venture in the domain of journalism, by purchasing the plant and busi- ness of the Ellinwood Advocate, of which he continued editor and publisher seven years. besides which he served four years as postmaster at Ellinwood, under the last administration of President Cleveland.
In 1897 Mr. Wilkinson disposed of his interests in the
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Sunflower State and came to Woods County, Oklahoma Territory, where he likewise purchased 620 acres of land, the same being situated seven miles distaut from the county seat. He improved this into one of the fine farms of Woods County and continued his residence on the homestead until 1909, when, shortly after the death of his honored father, he removed to Alva. In 1912 he purchased the plant and business of the Pioneer, of which he has since continued the editor and publisher, both the daily and weekly editions being models in letter- press, in covering the local news field, in editorial policies, and in furthering the interests of the democratic party. The newspaper plant is essentially modern in all its facilities and the same is true of the job department of the office of the Pioneer. The paper was established in 1893, the year that marked the opening to settlemeut of the Cherokee Strip, and concerning the founder of the paper, William F. Hatfield, individual mention is made on other pages of this work.
Mr. Wilkinson has been a zealous and effective advocate of the principles and policies for which the democratic party stands sponsor and within the period of his residence in Oklahoma he has served as delegate to its county, state and cougressional conventions, besides having been its nominee for representative of his district in the State Senate in the campaigns of 1910 and 1912, his defeat having beeu the result of normal political exigencies. Mr. Wilkinson is a Knights Templars Mason, is affiliated also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
At Ellinwood, Kansas, on the 2d of May, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wilkinson to Miss Rosa L. Rohlfing, who was born in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 12th of October, 1868, and who is a daughter of Henry and Louisa (Summers) Rohlfing. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have two children,-Neva Ione, who was born June 2, 1894, and Greta Naoma, who was born January 29, 1903. Neva Ione is a graduate of the Northwestern State Normal of Alva, class of 1915, and is now a teacher in the Alva city schools.
ED J. LEEMAN. Proprietor and editor of the Duncan Banner, Ed J. Leeman, is one of the successful news- paper men of Southern Oklahoma. To journalism he has brought the ability which would have enabled him to suc- ceed in lines of business much more remunerative, and since boyhood has been through all the grades of service in the Fourth Estate, from printer to editor, aud from a salaried position to independent publisher.
The Duncan Banner which he is now so successfully upholding to the breeze of public patronage has the dis- tinction of being the oldest paper of Stephens County. It was established in 1892. The equipment was purchased in Texas, shipped by railroad to Pauls Valley, and from there hauled by wagon to Duncan. Its politics is demo- cratic, and the Banner enjoys a large circulation and influence both in Stephens and surrounding counties. The offices and plant are located in the rear of the City National Bank Building, near the corner of Main and Eighth streets.
Ed J. Leeman was born at Blackjack Grove, Texas, September 23, 1874. The Leeman family is of Scotch- Irish ancestry, and were settled many years ago in the State of Kentucky. J. A. Leeman, father of the Dun- can editor, was born in Kentucky in 1847, and after fully half a century of useful service in the medical pro- fession is now living at Pecos, Texas. He came to Lamar County, Texas, just prior to the Civil war, and in 1862 enlisted in a Texas regiment and was with the Confederate army until the close of hostilities. He was
once taken prisoner. After the war he graduated from the Louisville Medical College, first located in Hunt County, and began the practice of medicine in Hopkins County, Texas. He practiced there and in West Texas for at least half a century, retiring from his work in 1914 when elected county treasurer of Winkler County, Texas, the office to which he now gives all his time. He is a democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the Masouic frateruity. Doctor Leeman married Miss Mattie Armor, a native of Mis- sissippi. Their children are: Sam M., who is connected with the Waurika News-Democrat at Waurika, Okla- homa; Flora, who married J. L. Mann, a merchant at Clyde, Texas; Ed J .; William B., who is in the news- paper business at Clyde, Texas; and Lucy, wife of a rail- road man at Toyah, Texas.
Ed J. Leeman was educated in country schools and in a high school in West Texas, but at the age of sixteen began his practical career in learning the printing busi- ness in Stonewall County, Texas, being connected with the Rayner News for three years. The next three years were spent in the Merkel Mail in Taylor County and at the end of that time he bought the plant and edited the Mail until 1904. He then removed to Fort Worth
and was in the drug business one year. Mr. Leeman came to Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1905 and bought a half interest in the Banner, his business associate and partner being F. E. Sampson. On February 1, 1915, Mr. Leeman bought Mr. Sampson's interest and is now enjoying the entire responsibilities of management and is the owner of one of the best newspaper enterprises in the southern part of the state.
Mr. Leeman is a democrat, served three years on the Duncan Town Council, and has been secretary of the Democratic Central Committee since the date of state- hood. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and affiliates with Mistletoe Lodge No, 17 Knights of Pythias and is secretary of the Duncan Chamber of Commerce.
While living in Texas at Abilene on December 4, 1898, he married Miss Alice Herring, whose father, now de- ceased, was an educator well known at Waco and other places in Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Leeman have five chil- dren: Wi, a junior in the Duncan High School; Edwin, Terry and George, all in school; and Judson.
JOHN A. FAIN. United States attorney for the West- ern District of Oklahoma, John A. Fain's work as a lawyer had already brought him many distinctions in Northern Texas and Oklahoma before he entered upon the duties of his present office at the beginning of 1914. Mr. Fain was one of the first members of the bar at Lawton, where for a short time his office was in a tent after the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche country. A particularly noteworthy phase of his career was his prominent connection with the Swanson County dissolu- tion case, which he conducted through practically all the courts of record in Oklahoma to a successful con- clusion. Mr. Fain is now living in Oklahoma City, with offices in the Federal Building.
He was born at Weatherford, Texas, August 20, 1870, a son of John A. and Elizabeth Peyton (Hart) Fain. His father, who was born in Georgia, came to Texas as an early settler in 1856, and for many years was in the gen- eral merchandise business until his death in 1906. The mother was a native of Kentucky and died in 1904.
Mr. Fain prefaced his professional career with a lib- eral education. He is a graduate with the class of 1892 and the degree A. B. from Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas. His chief preceptor in the study of law was his brother-in-law, Judge G. A. Brown, now
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an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Judge Brown's office at that time was at Vernon, Texas, where Mr. Fain was admitted to the bar in 1893. His active practice began as member of the firm of Stephens, Huff & Fain at Vernon, where he lived until 1896, and then became a member of the firm of Alexander & Fain at Weatherford, Texas, and was one of the able members of the Parker County bar until 1901.
At the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche country to settlement, Mr. Fain moved to Lawton, and as already stated his first office was a tent. He practiced alone until 1906, and then took John M. Young as associate under the name Fain & Young. This firm was maintained until January 4, 1914, at which date Mr. Fain received his appointment as United States attorney for the West- ern District of Oklahoma, with offices in the state capital.
At the beginning of statehood in 1907 Mr. Fain was elected county attorney of Comanche County, and held that office from November 16, 1907, to January 6, 1913. During his administration as governor Mr. Haskell caused the creation of the new County of Swanson out of parts of Kiowa and Comanche counties. Mr. Fain, as county attorney of Comanche County, brought suit for the dissolution of this county. The case was long con- tested and attracted much attention. It passed through all the state courts and was finally adjudicated in the Supreme Court of the United States. The final decision directed the dissolution of Swanson County. The deci- sion was not only notable locally to those directly inter- ested in Swanson County, but established permanent precedent for the creation of new counties. The princi- pal rule evolved from this litigation was that where a county is created from portions of two or more counties already existing, at least sixty per cent of the legal voters in the territory affected must favor the incor- poration of such territory within the limits of the pro- posed new county. Following the final decision in the Swanson County case, considerable confusion was caused by reason of the Swanson County officials refusing to abide by the decision and failing to recognize the proper officials of Kiowa and Comanche counties. It ยท was only by the energetic measures taken by Mr. Fain that matters were finally brought to a peaceful solution.
Coincident with the adoption of the constitution the people of Oklahoma voted for statewide prohibition. Be- fore statehood open saloons had been permitted in Okla- homa Territory. Hence men charged with law enforce- ment at the outset of statehood were confronted with many violations of the prohibition law. Mr. Fain was among the first county attorneys who had, more than any other officials, to wrestle with the bootlegging problem. Few encountered a more determined set of violators. Comanche County once had had more than a hundred saloons. Public sentiment was divided, which encouraged law violations. . Mr. Fain, remembering his oath of office, undertook to rid Lawton, the county seat of Comanche County, and other towns of bootleggers. The records show that he was more successful than any other county attorney during the period of time in which he served.
In its earlier years Lawton had a reputation of being the home of an unusually large element of undesirable citizens. Some of them remained at statehood. They organized an opposition to his enforcement activities to the extent of placing a bomb inside his office door, which luckily did not explode when he opened the door next morning. Divers threats were made against him, some of them demanding his life, and for months dur- ing the heated part of his campaign for "cleaning up" the county it was not safe for him to travel alone at night.
These facts constitute an important phase of history
in what originally was the Kiowa and Comanche Indian country that was opened to settlement in 1901. The country had been ranged over by cowmen, blanketed Indians and adventurers, and when it was opened for homestead purposes one of the largest contingents of riffraff ever assembled in the West settled there. To get rid of their kind when the people of the territories were granted statehood was an undertaking that required unusual courage, although the element had dwindled to small proportions. The free, easy and untrammeled life of the prairies had to be trinimed and expurgated so that it would fit agreeably into the new life that men and women of good character from all over the nation had established there. Hence the activities of Mr. Fain as county attorney make a really vital chapter in the history of that section of the state.
Mr. Fain is a democrat, is past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias at Lawton, affiliates with Lawton Lodge No. 1046, B. P. O. E., with the Woodmen of the World at Lawton, and is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South.
In 1896 he married Miss Maud Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Johnson, of Vernon, Texas. Mrs. Fain and both her parents were natives of Tennessee, and the family moved to Texas about 1893. To their marriage have been born two sons: John Clark Fain, born in 1899, and Charles Lesley Fain, born in 1907.
JUDGE WILLIAM T. HUNT, of Wagoner, possesses a very large circle of friends in professional and public life. Just as the names of various business men and public officials who have passed into the history of Wagoner suggest the fulfillment of important enterprises, so also the name of Judge Hunt will be identified with the early legislation and founding of education here for many years to come.
William T. Hunt was born in Dickson County, Ten- nessee, July 23, 1859, and is a son of James C. and Serena P. (Slayden) . Hunt. His father, a native of Tennessee, but of South Carolina parentage and of Eng- lish lineage, is still living in Dickson County, at the age of seventy-six years. The mother of Judge Hunt was also born in the Big Bend State. William T. Hunt was reared amid agricultural surroundings and acquired his early education in the local schools in the vicinity of the family homestead, this being supplemented by a course of study at Cloverdale (Tennessee) Seminary. At the age of eighteen years he began teaching school, and after two years in his native state removed, in 1880, to Clarksville, Arkansas, where he entered upon the study of his chosen profession, the law. In 1884 he was licensed to practice in Arkansas, and entered upon his professional career at Clarksville, where he resided until March, 1895, at that time taking up his residence at Wagoner, Indian Territory. From early manhood he had been active in politics as a democrat, and while living at Clarksville had served as a member of the school board, as mayor of the city, and, in 1893, as a member of the Arkansas Legislature. Upon locating at Wagoner, he at once be- gan active service in the upbuilding of his adopted com- munity. He was instrumental in securing the incorpora- tion of the town of Wagoner, the first to be incorporated in what is now the State of Oklahoma, and as the at- torney who drafted the petition praying for articles of incorporation before the federal judge, has the dis- tinction of being one of the real "fathers of the city." Always a friend of education, his former services as a member of the school board of Clarksville, Arkansas; gave him experience which was valuable to him when he exerted his influence and abilities in founding, in May, 1896, what was the first public school not only at Wagoner, but in what is now the state, and for several
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years thereafter he continued to serve as a member of the board. As county judge of Wagoner County, in 1913 and 1914, he made friends and admirers throughout this part of the state, and at all times upheld the dignity and best traditions of the Oklahoma bench. As a thorough and learned lawyer in all branches of juris- prudence, he has a large and important practice, and is justly accounted one of the foremost men of his profes- sion in Wagoner County. He keeps in close touch with the professional brotherhood, belongs to various fraternal and social organizations, and is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
In 1884, while still a resident of Arkansas, Judge Hunt was married to Miss Mattie Rose, and to this union there have been born ten children, namely: Rose, who is the wife of H. H. Townsend, of Wagoner; Albert C .; Percy S., who was first an attorney and later a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and died in 1914, at La Veta, Colorado, where he was serving as pastor; John F., who is a law student at Georgetown University ; a daughter who died in infancy; William T., Jr., a graduate of Wagoner High School; and James C., Cecil, Elizabeth and Francis Russell, who reside at home.
ALBERT. C. HUNT, son of Judge William T. and Mattie (Rose) Hunt, is a comparatively recent addition to the legal fraternity of Oklahoma but has already gained a well-established position for himself in legal circles. He was born at Clarksville, Arkansas, July 30, 1888, and was granted good educational advantages, in 1906 grad- uating from the Missouri Military Academy with honors. He next became a law student at Vanderbilt University, and was graduated therefrom in June, 1909, with his degree, and since that time has been engaged in active practice at Wagoner, in association with his father. He was the first incumbent of the office of city attorney of . Wagoner, under the commission form of government, and established an excellent record in that capacity, a service which marked him indelibly as a young man of great promise. Mr. Hunt is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and is very popular in fraternal, social and professional circles. He was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has remained true to its teachings.
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