Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-02
GRAVEYARD OF GREAT HOPES
Oklahoma Proves Mammoth Fake
Worked by Land Sharks.
LAMBS coRRALLED BY WOLVES.
A Vast Congregation OF Gamblers,
Peddiers and Reckless Advcntur-
ers Fleccing the Deiuded-A
Desert of Sand.
Life i'm Guthrie.

were paved with gold and in the air were
flying diamonds instead of dust and sand,
there could not be n greater rush here or
moro eagerness manifested for the posses
sion of town lots and homesteads in this To-
cality
People are here from all parts OF the
United States and some from Canada. Many
have abandoned happy homes and prosper
Gus business to seek their fortunes in this
newly opened territory. Within the past
four days fully fifty thousand people have
entered Oklahoma for the purpose of taking
up land and about half as many more for the
purpose of speculation. Among the specula-
tors many have made money off the multi
tudes assembled here, and every butcher
shop, chop house, lodging tent and peanut
stand is doing an immense business
All kinds of goods, wares and merchandise
are very high, as is always the case where
the demands are greater than the supply,
consequently business is profitable and liv-
ing comes high ALI luXuries of life have to
be dispensed with and people here are CON
tent If the bare necessities can be obtained.
Bread meat and black coffee, with eggs and
onions for the more fortunate, constitute the
principal articles of diet
Everything here is in a state of confusion,
and il is almost impossible to get place to
sleep. Thousands of people are
SLEEPING ON THE GROUND,
some in tents and others with no shelter save
the canopy of heaven. The nights are chilly
and many persons suffer from the cold.
From 200 to 500 men are always in line in
front of the postoffice tent awaiting their
turn to ask for mail, and the postmaster and
his clerk are so busy waiting on the thou
sands who daily inquire for mail that they
cannot properly make up the mails to go out
or distribute those coming in.
AT the depot people are constantly com
planning of bad management and facilities
for obtaining freight and express, and
on two days soldiers had o to be
preserve order end keep back the impa-
tient crowds who had express matter in the
office which they were in great need of but
could not get. Absence of competition makes
the express company and railroad company
very arbitrary, and the people have to en-
dure it for there is no use to complain
The postottice facilities for the 10000 peo-
pie are no better than for a village of
200, and the United States postal authorities
have been very direlect in their duty to the
people who have assembled here. There is
but one delivery and one clerk for all the
people, and at no time can mail be obtained
without going with the line, which takes
from two to four hours.
THE SCARCITY OF WATER
makes the sunburned, dusty boomers look
like native Indians. No one tries to keep
clean here but all have an excellent oppor-
tunity of wearing out their old clothes and
was there a better natured and more suDmis
sive people. They put up with every hard
ship and all sorts of trials and inconvenience
without murmer. Occasionally, however,
some poor unfortunate who sacrificed his all
and left a good home to come to the land he
expected to find flowing with milk and honey
gives vent to his feelings in bitter lmpreca-
tions upon the newspapers, which, by axag-
gerated accounts of the advantages of Okla
homa, induced people to come to this place.
Guthrie is well supplied with gambling de-
vices of all kinds. There is faro and stud
poker for the "bloods,n roulette, wheel of
fortune and chuck luck for the granger ele
ment and various skin games Tor the tender
feet. The streets are crowded with gambling
layouts and fakirs of all kinds. and all seem
to be well patronized. People here are bent
on making money one way if not another,
and many men are working as carpenters
who never drove a nail before; others are
peddling water, lemonade sandwiches
through the camp. Some are anxious
TO leave, but are unable to buy railroad
ticket on which to get home; others are des-
tltute and needy, and having neither tents
nor bedclothes, suffer very much from the
cold al night
Creek water is being hauled here and sold
on the streets by the wagon load, and several
wells are being dug.
THE SURVEYS OF GUTHRIE
now beng made show that many of the set
tiers are in the streets, and this place will
either DC one of the most irregularly laid out
ClJleS In utle WOrlu, OF else tNe scene OF
less litigation, unless the bottom drops out
of the boom sooner than is expected, and
everybody moves away.
Most people are holding their claims with
-Winchesters and six-shooters-not only here
but all over OklahOma-and squatters'
rights are only recognized during the actual
squat.
number of wild turkeys and deer have
been brought into the camp. Turkeys sell AZ
"a each, and YenisOn brings from 25 to 80
81 DOllnl These lnxurieS that only
n few can afford, the common rabble having
to put up with bread and bacon or ham, and
black coffee. Everybody here has to eat
more than his share of dirt, for fine dust and
sand fills the air and gets into all kinds of
food. 1t is a bad place for dainty or fasti.
dious person, for the rough fare and general
inconveniences try even the hardest and
rougnest pioneer In windy weather, and
it is always windy here, there is
perfect storm of dust, cleanness Is entirely
out Of the question, ana not only does q man
have to eat his peck of dirt, but he has to
carry about large stock OF 1t in his clothes,
hair and eyes, and on his face But many
who have anXiously longed for Oklahoma
real estate will get IL in no other way, and
get no more OF it than that which the wind
lodges on his person and food.
MONEY is BEING MADE HERE,
but it is made by the land sharks, the black
legs, the gamblers and those VINO stand in
with the United States marshal and his dep
uties, and the land officers located here
Every lnulVldual whose liVellnOOd is RalneQ
through advantage taken of the misfortunes
or weaknesses and needs of others, is
among the money makers of Guthrie. Peo-
pie have to eat, drink and sleep. and those
who can provide for the necessaries of life
are enabled to charge their own prices-peo-
pie must 1--we, and here they must pay daily
for that privilege
Many persons who have come here are 10
be pitied. They have sacrificed valuable
property and, perhaps their homesrto come
to Oklahoma, The expense OF coming was
great, and the expense of remaining Is
greater. They have found only disappolnt-
ment here, and the bright future and happy
homes so glaringly painted by the Press and
depicted by hope, have vanished in fancy
like many another vision 10 which distance
lent enchantment. The Oklahoma then
fancy painted was paradise; the Oklahoma
they found in reality is land OF hot sun
shine, winds and sand, with fair sprink-
ling of land 'grabbers, fakrs and bunco-
steercrs. And the thousands of honest set
tiers who are here TO earn their living by
fair and upright means will meet with many
bitter disappointments.
II was reported to-day that Captain Couch,
one of the old Oklahoma boomers, Is leading
colony of 600 homeseekers TO the Cherokee
strip, and from present indications 1t seems
the stampede from Oklahoma TO tins
strip will be as great as the rush 10 Okla
homa from other points There is q great
deal of
CLAIM JUMPING