Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-08-15
The Boomers Bounced.


day General Hatch, in company will
Adjutant General Finley and Inspector
Green, of the Interior department, Wis
tied Payne's camp at Rock Falls, and
after reading the presidents procIarna-
tiOn to him and his assembled followers
directed them to leave the Territor,
before this morning or they would be
elected. This took place in a small
board shantyoccupied by. the Oklahoma
Chief newspaper, the forms of which
were being made up at the time:
Payne attempted to disctiss the legal
aspects of the case, but Soon became
angry and very abusive in his language
calling all the officers of the govern
ment, from the highest to the lowest
pack of damned thieves. Cooper, the
editor, chimed in with vituperation
and threats. Failing to provoke the Of
ficers into a quarrel, Payne said he had
valise full of money and that he
would give 81 600 to be tried by a United
States court, and, in order to assure the
officers OF case against him, he would
then and there sell them liquor or cigars
without license or permit. He urged
the officers to dine with him and offer
ed them plenty of liquor II they would
do SO. BY this time large crowd had
assembled from the tents and shanties
along the river, and the officers again
admonished them to leave and not re-
turn. The only reply was torrent of
abusive epithets that cannot be pub
lished. The officers then returned to
camp ten miles distant.
Early this morning two squadrons Of
the Ninth United State cavalry, COM
manded by Captain Moore, appeared in
the boomers camp and under direction
of Indian Agent Rogers, arrested the
whole community, and took charge of
tie printing office. All the women, chill
dren and men who were first offenders,
were escorted to the Kansas line, Co.
gether with their personal property.
Six old offenders, named as follows: d.
L. Payne, j. B. Cooper, d. G. Great
house, L. w. Eclebarger, John Nc
Grew and S. l.. Mosley, were loaded
into a siX-mule wagon and started
under escort of Lieutenant Jackson
and fifteen men for Fort Smith, Arkan-
sas, three hundred miles distant. The
paper was ready to go to press and upon
inquiry a number of printers were
found i'll the command, who soon print
ed an edition of one hundred copies,
The press was then carefully packed
and loaded into wagon and started
under an escort for Muskogee, Indian
Territory, it being confscated property
and, under the law. unreplevinable
The printing Office and other buildings,
including five boarding houses, a drug
store, cigar store and restaurant and
some cheap dwellings, were then burn
ed to the gronnd, and the last yestage
of Rock Falls had disappeared.
Payne threatened to cut the throat of
the first man who attempted to arrest
him; but one colored soldier marched
him around camp for an hour. Payne
has lost whatever prestige he may have
had heretofore with the thinking class
of the community. He has been OH a
drunken debauch for week, and was
too drunk last night to attend con-
ference of the squatters after General
Hatch left Rock Falls. The poor de-
luded squatters realize that they have
paid him nnc2ahythousand dollars with
out any equivalent.
The number elected from this camp
was about two hundred and fifty peo-
pie. a large crowd of people were
present from Ifunnewell as spectators,
and heartily approved the course
adopted to rid the Territory of the in
truders. 1t is believed this will cure
the boomers of trying to force a settle
ment on the Indian lands. Other de-
tachments have been sent to the re-
manning settlements, who will in like
manner arrest the ringleaders and take
them to Ft. Smith.