The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-04-24


law-abiding, and those who are not will be sup
pressed BY the strong hand OF frontier justice,
aided by military authority under command OF
Gen. Merritt, who has established his head
quarters at Oklahoma City. There are now
about five hundred troops in the territory, and
they will be kept here until order is assured.
A TREMENDOUS DISAPPOINTMENT
Is What the New Territory Threatens To
Be-Scenes On the Border.
CHICAGO, April 22.-The Daily NewS special
from Guthrie, Oklahoma, says: "rhe object of
ten years of agitation is attained and Okla
homa is occupied Guthrie, which was name
on the msp, little red station-house by the
railroad track, is to-day booming city of $4,000
inhabitants. It's structures are canvas and It's
popula ion almost exclusively male, but there
is an interest and excitement here that Is want
ING in many more substantial city 1t can now
be seen that the opening OF Oklahoma was con-
Quoted under circumstances that made IT i'm
possible for the law-abiding settler to secure an
even chance with spectators and sharpers and
the investigation that must be granted TO the
home-seekers Will disgrace the federal method
employed and dIshonOr some officials.
The correspondent for the Daily Ae1cs fol-
lowed the march of the 10000 from the Arkan.
sas and Walnut valley camps, down the Ponca
trail and across the Cherokee strips. This was
by five times the largest throng that entered at
material that entered the territory. They
Obeyed the law in magnificent form, and
that obedience was given at the
cost of their lawful rights. While they halted
on the line until noon to-day hundreds of
Arkansas crackers, MiSsissippans, Texans and
negroes from the southern border had been for
hours on the march. That fact with the addi-
tional one that Guthrie was handed over to a
syndicate of government officers and railroad
men, is sufficient to start an inquiry. The next
few days will fully develop the situation and
bring in news from the scattered parts of the
territory.
To complete the grievance, the country
threatens TO be tremendous disappointment.
The only heavy check encountered in the de-
scent from the north was at the Salt Fork of
the Arkansas river. The stream was swollen
far beyond its normal volume. Two outfits
were lost in attempting TO make the ford. The
railway bridge was planked by the troops and
the schoOners and trains passed in this novel
manner. 1t was reported that wooded coun-
try lay before, but an hours march cleared the
riverside timber and We were on
plains again. The land although green
and treeless, became more rolling than the
splendid prairie north of the fork and the soil
not quite good. We were promised by
every government employe and Texas ranch
man, who alone share the strip with the In
dians, that the country would deteriorate south
ward. They viewed the passing tide of immi-
grafton with wonder and amusement. The
promise seemed TO be fully borne out this
morning when, with the boomers army, we
reached the line. The trail then ran at the side
OF the railroad track and the boundary was
marked by long picket line of cavalry.
II lacked but half hour of noon when the
daily NeWs man reached the border and passed
through the thousands of boomers held IN
check. red. white and blue guidon was
planted at point evenly away on either hand.
We advaced beyond this point to the quarters
of Lieut. Waite, commanding, and were In
Oklahoma at last. The prospect confronted
was most cherries one to have ridden so far
and hard to see. The landscape is dupli.
Gated on the great American desert
buttes, gullieS. and in the immediate
foreground by a railway embankment. The
surface thus scanned revealed a soil as red as
brick dust, and in spots almost vermillicn.
The whole region could be huge paint quarry,
and the sunlight upon this highly-colored
ground reflected upon the figures of men and
teams with strange effect There was no veg
citation the scant and scattered bunch
grass and with 1t all the heat tropical.
Such a shabby introduction to the promised
land weighed heavily upon the pilgrims.
but though many thought with regret
OF the glorious fairy fields of
the Cherokee strip through which they
had passed, all were firm to advance. Indeed
we have seen but one man turn back, and he
was going home to nurse a rifle shot wound
Those who had seen the plunge over the
Kansas border had regarded that as a lifelong
sight but had not anticipated the repetition OF
that scene on greater scale. Whereas on the
first occasion the boomers were crowded in
single column down a muddy roadway,
they now spread out along a line a half
mile long. The ground rose gently before
them for about five hundred yards, then dipped
and rose again higher. 1t was evident that
there was going to be rush and a race. The
I I'll HI
drivers Of strong teams gathered their reins
| snugy in hand, while those with jaded stock
of which there was, also, too much-loOked
sadly on or moved hopelessly back to avoid the
| impending rush. There was tense strain OF
excitement upon all, and upon none more, il is
| certain, than those who were observers. All
had previously set watches with the lieuten-
| ants, and noted the last moments in silence
that but echoed, as it were, the hush upon the
| boomers. The lieutenant stood in the open
| space at some distance behind his men.
As the hands overlapped at II o'clock the
officers made a sign, the bugles sounded ON
| both TANKS, the cavalry rolled back, closed up,
| and then swung away like huge gate, with
| the pin resting on the railroad. Shrill cheers
rose from the boomers. their whip-ash re.
ward impetuously, the teams tugged
at the rafting harness and the
whole motley crowd swept forward with
gathering motion. In a contest so wholly one
oil speed the race was 70 the swift, and the
broad line began 10 straggle, the gallopinc
horsemen disappearing over the first crest ere
the teams in harness had half covered the as.
cent or the astonished oxen had responded 10
the goad.
One man on the far right who had run his
horse like deer in the lead of hot chase,
leaped to the ground on the top of the ridge
and began driving stakes. This was certainly
the first homestead legally taken up in Okla
homa. he was wished welcome 10 his claim,
and the rest went tearing on.
We were prepared here TO send back our
horses and baggage and take the train due on
this line at noon. 1t came a few minutes late
and il was difficult to determine what manner
OF moving object approached. The locomotive
was covered with men, and the roofs of the
coaches held nearly as many as the interior.
We tagged the train and secured roof space.
We dashed over the twenty-one miles to Guth-
RE in thirty minutes and halted there, the first
train to arrive since the opening.
The town site had, however, been selected for
us. 1t was set on the exit side of the track,
and already the wooden land Office and JOG
tents were standing. while twice as many more
town lots were staked oat. A rude post.
Office was opened. lunch tent
was going at full blast, aud two meet
ings looking to organization had been held.