USA > Oklahoma > Oklahoma County > Oklahoma City > The story of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma : "the biggest little city in the world" > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
At the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, Mr. Colcord secured large land holdings in the district and entered busi- ness at Perry. In 1898 he returned to Oklahoma City, which has since continued to be his place of residence.
The first grand jury that sat in the United States side of the Territorial Court in January, 1891, brought in seventy- five indictments for perjury. The foreman of the grand jury was a "sooner," but belonged to the class that believed that
129
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
he was violating no law as long as he did not go upon the tract of land he sought, before the hour of opening, and spurned the thought of committing the crime of perjury. His name was John A. Blackburn.
These indictments were followed rapidly by other indiet- ments and the most vigorous prosecutions ever known in a western court. After being indicted, the accused persons defied prosecution, and boldly told the officers that they could never get convictions, no matter what the Government proved. Threats of assassination were frequent and ofttimes above board, but those charged with the duty of breaking up the hotbed of perjury relentlessly pursued the prosecutions.
John G. Clark, formerly of Lancaster, Wis., was the pre- siding judge, with Will H. Clark as clerk of court, while Hon. Horace Speed, of Guthrie, United States attorney for Okla- homa, and W. F. Harn, special agent, of Oklahoma City, acted for the United States Government. Assistant United States Attorney John F. Stone and Special Agent John W. -Scothorn rendered material assistance, although the work of the two latter was confined mostly to prosecutions in the vicinity of Guthrie, where similar "sooner" and perjury com- binations, but on a much smaller scale, had been formed and maintained.
The first few trials consumed as much as four weeks each, day and night, and were fought desperately by the several defendants and their attorneys. A conspiracy was unearthed, in which it was planned to dynamite the courthouse for the purpose of killing JJudge Clark, United States Attorney Speed and Special Agent Harn, but the plans of the assassins were thwarted by the early discovery of the details through a con- fession of one of the aceused, who subsequently served time in prison for murder. A bomb was thrown under the house of Special Agent Harn, but the fuse was put out by the bomb striking some bushes. At another time Deputy United States Marshal Frank Cochran stayed the hand of a de- fondant perjurer's son-in-law. as the latter was about to plunge a dirk into the back of Special Agent Harn, as the latter was leaving the court room. Other instances of this kind, never publicly made known, were mimerons and fre- quent.
Vol. 1-9
130
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
These acts of intimidation, however, failed to stop the monotonous and incessant grind of the court. Conviction fol- lowed conviction as rapidly as the cases were submitted to the juries. Many defendants left the country as soon as they heard that their cases were under investigation by a grand jury, which they could pretty well figure out by the names of the witnesses before that body, while many of those in- dieted jumped their bonds, and never again appeared in the territory. The officers were deluged with offers from defend- ants to turn state's evidence, and many detailed confessions were had that were never used. Although the guilt of the de- fendants was established by untainted testimony, in all cases, yet usually the prosecution was able and did use the evidence of several accomplices for the main purpose of showing the secret methods of the organizations.
After the backbone of perjury had been broken, it was no unusual sight for defendants to appear in court and enter pleas of guilty with a request for immediate sentence. On one morning, in single file, no less than eleven defendants appeared before Judge Clark and asked that they be per- mitted to change their former pleas of not guilty to pleas of guilty as charged in the indictments.
There was little else than perjury tried at Oklahoma City in the year 1891, yet the docket was far from cleared of cases charging that crime as the end of the last term of court drew near. The Bohemians were notified that in a few days their indictments at Guthrie would be tried. But a trial was not what they were looking for, and some sixteen or more hurried to Wichita, where they were under bond and asked the United States marshal to lock them up, in order that their bondsmen might be exonerated. This was done, and when it was dis- covered that their voluntary return to prison was merely a ruse to get the defendants out of the jurisdiction of the Guthrie court, the Kansas officers volunteered to return the accused to Guthrie for trial. Inasmuch as the defendants and their attorneys seemed to prefer the Kansas jurisdiction. all of the cases were set down for immediate trial in that court before United States Judge Williams.
A desperate effort was made by the defendants' attorneys to avoid trial. Messrs. Speed and Harn were charged with
! 1.
131 - 132.
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
having Oklahoma terrorized by their prosecutions, and it was claimed that the defendants could not get a fair trial, because of the fear of their witnesses to testify. After being forced into trial, however, the same old gang of witnesses was on hand for the defense with the same old brazen stories. The prosecution examined nearly one hundred witnesses on be- half of the Government, hammering to pieces every material statement made by a perjury witness. A jury returned ver- diets of guilty against fifteen defendants in three days. Since the convicting jury came from every part of the State of Kansas and had little or no acquaintance with conditions in Oklahoma, the verdicts were a complete vindication of the Oklahoma officers. When prominent defendants went upon the stand and made a full confession of perjury and suborna- tion, the hitherto almost impregnable defense wasted away like a mist before the rising sun. One defendant escaped. His indictment was dismissed on the motion of the United States attorney for a defeet in the copying.
Joseph W. Ady, United States attorney of Kansas; Hon. Pliny Soper, assistant United States attorney, and W. F. Harn prosecuted, while Stanley, of Wichita, later governor of the state, defended. Judge Williams was so greatly im- pressed with the completeness of the Government's prosecu- tion to the minutest detail, that he voluntarily remarked that it was the most remarkable series of prosecutions that ever came to his attention on account of the preparedness of the prosecution to meet every point in law or evidence that might possibly have been raised by the defense.
These fifteen defendants were sentenced to the peniten- tiary for terms of from a year and a day to four years at Leavenworth.
There were other trials of perjury cases, but the crime had been stamped out, and the later prosecutions were of a desultory character. Numerous cases, also, were tried that involved perjury on matters other than the "sooner" ques- tion, but they were few when compared to the whole number tried.
.
.
1892-BOOMERS ACTIVE AGAIN
The city again this year was a mecca for boomers. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian reservations were opened to settlement on April 19, and because of the fact that the Department of the Interior had designated the Oklahoma City land office as one of the offices of entry, thousands of homeseekers and speculators assembled here prior to the open- ing. They began coming early in the year and their numbers increased with the passing of the weeks. Disorders were so frequent and law violations so flagrant along the eastern bor- der of the reservation that Governor Seay was compelled to call for military assistance in preserving order. In Okla- homa City disorders were no less frequent. These were caused in many instances by the traffic in soldiers' declaratories. Such traffic had its inception the previous year and had been developed profitably by scores of men. Some small riots took place here. In none of them was serious personal injury done, and the town-builders had their first organized experience in denying exaggerated reports. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Carter allaved feeling against the traffickers to an extent and virtually put an end to their activities by issuing an order prohibiting an agent from representing more than two soldiers. The order was issued after the Commissioner had received resolutions of protest from organizations at Ok- lahoma City and Kingfisher. The opening of the Cheyeme and Arapahoe reservations further increased the population of the city and was the last official act necessary to guaran- tee construction of the Choctaw Railroad across the Territory from East to West. A branch of the Choctaw had been com- pleted from Oklahoma City to El Reno, and over this were transported thousands who came into the city over the Santa Fe. A newspaper account of the preopening activities said that special trains bore 300 filled coaches into the city in one day.
133
..-
.
134
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
The early part of the year was notable for the activities of the boomers. Not only had they overrun the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservations but they continued more or less law- less activities in what was known as the Cherokee Strip, the demand for the opening of which was even stronger than that for the opening of the other reservation. The boomer move- ments had their origin principally in adjoining states and in other parts of the Territory but Oklahoma City was the head- quarters of a few. Indirectly the boomer movement in its bulk contributed to the growth of business here.
On January 25 of this year Delegate David A. Harvey in- troduced a bill in Congress providing for the creation of a State out of the two Territories. The Committee on Terri- tories on February 11 began a series of hearings on the bill and the chief advocates of it were Sidney Clarke of Oklahoma City and W. P. Hackney and Horace Speed of Guthrie, all representing the single statehood executive committee. Other members of the committee were: Samuel H. Harris of Cleve- land County, William J. Grant of Canadian County, J. P. Cummins of Kingfisher County, Frank J. Wikoff of Paine County, George F. Payne of Beaver County, William A. Allison of "A" County, J. H. Woods of "B" County, and H. C. Potterf of Chickasaw County.
Dennis T. Flynn, who had been postmaster at Guthrie, this vear defeated Mr. Harvey for the republican nomination for Delegate to Congress and in the November election defeated O. H. Travers of Oklahoma City, the democratic nominee.
Canadian River floods in the early summer of this year inflicted much damage to property in what had been South Oklahoma. This was the first experience the settlers had had with high waters of the river and they initiated plans for straightening the channel. These plans developed more or less half-heartedly and more or less loosely during the next few years and culminated in the digging of a canal for a river cut-off. The canal project ended in failure but to this day sections of a red-clay scar are visible on undeveloped parcels of town lots.
A census of the Territory taken under direction of the Interior Department this year showed it to have a population of 133,000. Oklahoma County's population was 21,000 and
,35-134
● برج
مقدمـ
W. J. GAULT
137
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
the town boosters claimed that 8,000 of these lived in Okla- homa City. A traveling correspondent of a Texas newspaper called it 8,000 and complimented the city of having "a brick jail, a grist mill, an ice factory and several churches."
County officials elected this year were S. A. Stewart, judge; Will L. Bradford, clerk; J. H. Woods, attorney; J. O. Williams, register of deeds; J. M. Brogan, assessor; J. M. Fightmaster, sheriff; R. B. Potts, surveyor, and H. A. Bo- linger, superintendent of public instruction.
O. A. Mitscher defeated L. F. Kramer for mayor in the spring election. J. T. Martin was reelected clerk and J. B. Boyle, treasurer. R. G. Hays defeated R. J. Edwards for attorney and G. W. McClelland defeated Bent Miller for po- lice judge. C. A. Compton was elected assessor and J. H. Wheeler, treasurer of the board of education. Members of the city council elected were Dr. C. E. Dunn, L. Mendlick, C. G. Jones and George Ross. New justices of the peace were J. W. Davis and G. W. Stephenson.
The council granted a gas franchise to T. A. Bailey and received an application for a street railway franchise from Augustus N. Spencer. It accepted a water system installed by D. H. Scott & Company. It adopted a resolution that asked President Cleveland to proclaim the military reser- vation subject to sale for townsite purposes. A bill containing such a provision had failed of passage in Congress and the council was advised by lawyers that the President had au- thority to act without an act of Congress. The resolution recited that the city was becoming congested, that it was in need of more territory, and that limitation on tracts forbade spreading in all other directions.
William II. Ebey, who had been the first secretary of the Oklahoma City Commercial Club and a few years later of the Chamber of Commerce, this year was appointed by President Cleveland clerk of the United States Court of the Third Judicial District of Oklahoma Territory, with head- quarters at Oklahoma City. Prior to coming to Oklahoma Mr. Ebey had been for a time engaged in the newspaper busi- ness, and he was one of the carly representatives of the Asso- ciated Press in Oklahoma, being succeeded in this position by Frank MeMaster, a - pioneer newspaper man of Oklahoma
138
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
City. After maintaining his residence in Oklahoma City for a period of seven years Mr. Ebey passed a few years at Ter- rell, Texas. He then returned to Oklahoma and established his residence at Lawton, the present judicial center of Co- manche County, being virtually one of the founders of the town, shortly after the opening to settlement of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian country. He afterward spent a year in California and upon his return to Oklahoma he established his permanent home at Ada.
He was once owner of the Oklahoman, which is now the leading daily newspaper of that state. It was not a paying proposition and the business was not to his liking, and he finally traded the plant and business to R. Q. Blakeney for a town lot and other consideration. His interest in political affairs made Mr. Ebey one of the democratic leaders during the entire period of his residence in Oklahoma City. He was a delegate to many county and state conventions and fre- quently was chairman or secretary of the same. He was a member of the notable state convention, at Enid, that nomi- nated William Cross for Congress. In this convention Thomas P. Gore, of Lawton, now United States senator, was a conspicuous figure, and his name was once placed before the convention as that of a candidate for Congress. Later it was withdrawn and Mr. Ebey changed the vote of the Co- manche County delegation from Gore to Cross. This change marked the beginning of a new wave of sentiment in the convention and resulted in the nomination of Cross.
139- 140
دية
*
0. A. MITSCHER
2
1893-DREAM OF A COMMONWEALTH
Oklahoma City never settled into the unpretentious rou- tine of a Main Street town, but that level of a million of her peers might have been approximated this year had not her far-seeing captains of industry found politics, immigration and Statehood topics to engage them. But for these Main Street would have been prosaic indeed, for it was the year of the panie. Trade was slack and there were some business failures. There were long dull days of summer when ham- mers were hushed and Gulf winds spread clouds of dust over the scenery and along the beaten and bare thoroughfares, and dust was an unbidden and unwelcome visitor in the home of every woman. There were tempestuous gray days of spring. days of heavy precipitation, soil soakers, and capitalists and laborers alike sank their boots into the gummy slush of Main Street and transported innumerable portions of it to their divers destinations. In spite of this, homesteaders pursued the business of house building and crop making, which re- quired much teaming of materials and provisions, and their thoughts touching highways were of bridges and the slanting of precipitons banks of creeks and ravines. The art of sei- entifie road building had not been introduced : the motor age was a decade away. The flowered prairies were gorgeous and growing crops were convincing of the fertility of the soil, and homeseekers came, saw and were conquered in spite of the panic. The inhabitants boasted to them of the completion of a water system, the city's very first and undoubtedly its most truly appreciated.
It was the year of the World's Fair in Chicago and Okla- homa City put its bundle of products into baskets and shipped them away to the Oklahoma building at the exposition. The Territory is said to have made a creditable display. Among those who took a conspicuous part in the city's showing of exhibits were Dr. A. C. Scott and Mrs. Gilbert.
141
.
142
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
Democrats came into control of the Territorial Govern- ment this year by virtue of the election of Grover Cleveland as President, and Oklahoma City, which had a majority of votes inclined to the democratic party, found itself more fav- ored by the new administration than towns of a republican bent. Leslie P. Ross, one of the first officials and most influ- ential residents of South Oklahoma City, was credited with having more influence in Washington than any other man in the Territory. The "sawbuck leader" he was called by the republicans of Guthrie. A coworker in the party with Ross was Edward L. Dunn, then secretary of the Democratie con- tral committee of the Territory, and these two party stal- warts exercised a great influence in the distribution of party patronage. William C. Renfrow was appointed governor and C. A. Galbraith, a young lawyer of Oklahoma City, attorney general, and later in the year Ross was appointed receiver of the land office at Oklahoma City. It is said that he could have been governor had he expressed a desire for it. B. M. Dilley was named register of the land office, and E. G. Spilman, who later became a resident of the city, was named register of the land office at Kingfisher. Frank Dale of Guthrie was ap- pointed chief justice of the Territorial Supreme Court and Henry W. Scott, a young Oklahoma City barrister, whom some politicians called the "kid of the Canadian," was ap- pointed associate justice. Ross succeeded Capt. J. C. Delaney, who was accounted a useful citizen of the early years, and who returned immediately to his former home in Pennsyl- vania. United States Marshal Nix of Kingfisher named as his deputies in Oklahoma City, J. W. Jones, John Quinby, Charles F. Coleord, Samuel Bartel and John Hubatka. The Department of Justice delayed for several months the ap- pointment of a United States attorney and in that time J. W. Johnson of Oklahoma City and Matthew J. Kane of King- fisher, who many years later was a justice of the State Su- preme Court and a resident of the city. applicants for the place, waged a battle of wits in Washington.
Rivalry between Oklahoma City and Guthrie, which had been largely commercial, took a decided political turn this year, and Frank HI. Greer, editor of the State Capital at Guthrie, delighted in administering various shades and
143
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
degrees of serious and facetious political chastisement. Demo- cratie leadership, of course, was divided. Captains of democ- racy lived in Guthrie and El Reno and Kingfisher, and in Perry and Enid after the opening of the Cherokee Strip, which took place in September of this year. Well founded rumors were narrated to the effect that the land office might be moved from Oklahoma City to El Reno. It was the most disquieting piece of political news of the year. Guthrie demo- erats were accused of being in league with El Reno democrats to bring about the removal, a punishment in part, the tale- bearers said, of Oklahoma City's reputed efforts in earlier years to rob Guthrie of land office honors by having the office established at some place farther removed from Oklahoma City. The scheme was visionary; indeed, it may never have been whipped into concrete form; but it furnished ammu- nition for caucus and stump rifle practice wherever a vestige of it protruded into daylight.
With the democrats in control of the long-range Wash- ington Government, the demand for Statehood, which had been increasing for a couple of years, was not lessened. A Statehood convention was held in El Reno on August 8, attended by about one hundred delegates, and Sidney Clarke was elected permanent chairman of the executive committee. He appointed a committee consisting of Frank MeMaster of Oklahoma City (who that year founded the Oklahoma Mag- azine), Frank H. Greer of Guthrie, L. N. Hornbeck of Minco, J. W. Admire of Kingfisher and R. W. McAdams of Ardmore to collect statistics relating to population, industries, etc., of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory and prepare a me- morial to Congress asking for the creation of a single State. The executive committee was called to meet in Oklahoma City on Angust 26 to receive a report of the special committee. On the latter date a call was issued for another convention, to be held in Purcell on September 30, and to consist of dele- gates from both Territories. The Oklahoma County delegates to this convention were Frank MeMaster, J. H. Woods, C. G. Jones, W. J. Donovan, John II. Beatty, O. H. Violet, D. C. Lewis, Charles Reddick, J. S. Lindsay, B. F. Williams, Sam- uel Crocker, J. M. Fightmaster, J. W. Johnson, Leslie P.
-.
144
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
Ross, J. W. McCartney, Dr. A. G. Gunn, Maj. D. D. Leach and J. J. Burke.
Frank MeMaster was named chairman of the resolutions committee of the Purcell convention and Samuel Crocker chairman of the organization committee. It had a gratifying attendance of enthusiastic men and the resolutions adopted apprised members of Congress of the serions intentions of these pioneers and their brethren of the lands of the Five Tribes. James E. Humphreys of Purcell was president of the convention, W. A. Ledbetter of Ardmore was vice presi- dent, M. L. Bixler of Oklahoma City, secretary, and L. N. Hornbeck of Minco, assistant secretary. The resolutions fav- ored what was known as the Carey bill then pending in Con- gress, providing for the creation of one State, and they approved of the efforts of Delegate Dennis Flynn to secure the making of treaties with Indian tribes of Oklahoma Terri- tory as a preliminary step toward the opening to settlement of other reservations. Before adjournment the executive committee, which was determined to hammer the iron while it was hot, fixed a meeting date for October 10, in Okla- homa City, and called upon the Five Civilized Tribes of In- dian Territory to send representatives to sit in this meeting.
The October 10 meeting was held in the Grand Avenue Hotel and it was presided over by Sidney Clarke. Mr. Hum- phreys represented the Five Tribes as a secretary and Henry Asp, a Guthrie lawyer, Oklahoma Territory. Plans for creat- ing a larger organization and for securing additional repre- sentation in Washington were discussed principally. The committee upon adjournment announced that its next meeting would be held here on November 3. On this date the commit- tee was gratified to report that the Purcell convention had accomplished the result of impressing Delegate Flynn with the growing earnestness of the people, and that he had intro- duced a bill embodying the ideas expressed in that convention. That Mr. Flynn should have all support the organization could muster was a unanimous sentiment, and to that end the committee put out a call for still another convention, the date of which was November 28, and the place Kingfisher. . This convention was more largely attended than that at Pur- cell and manifested a more heightened degree of enthusiasm.
245-146
.
"
Vol. 1-10
LESLIE P. ROSS
.
147
THE STORY OF OKLAHOMA CITY
It elected Mr. Clarke to the station of committeeman at large and A. J. Seay of Kingfisher, secretary. Frank MeMaster was elected as Oklahoma County's representative on the com- inittec.
On November 15 of this year a court-martial was convened at Fort Reno to try Capt. D. F. Stiles, then retired, on the charge of having committed a fraud in the sale of buildings on the Government reservation at Oklahoma City to a fair association, the charge specifying that there were eight build- ings sold and only five reported sold by Captain Stiles. Capt. E. H. Crowder, acting judge advocate of the United States Army, was judge advocate at the trial, and Captain Stiles was represented by Lieut. Charles J. T. Clark of the Tenth In- fantry. The charge proved unfounded and Captain Stiles returned to Oklahoma City and remained, a useful citizen, until his death in 1900. Part of the court-martial proceedings were witnessed by Gen. Nelson A. Miles who, at the conclu- sion of a western hunting expedition with Col. William F. Cody, had come to Fort Reno for an inspection of the post, Colonel Cody accompanying him.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.