New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-25
CHEROKEE STRIP COVETED.
DISAPPOINTED BOOMERS RETURNING.
WITHOUT MONEY TO SECURE HOMES IN SETTLED
sTATEs-THEY PROPOSE TO BEGIN FARM
ING IN THE WILD LANDS NORTH OF
OKLAHOMA-ABSURD TALES OF
CRIME IN THE NEW
TERRITORY,
rBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE. I
ERRlTORY.

Willow Springs Ranch, l. T., April 2i.-Already
the trails which lead from here across the Chcro-
kce Outlet into Oklahoma, which only last week
bore thousands of men, their hearts filled with
hope, brightness and cheer depicted in their faces
toward the promised land, begins 10 be dotted
here and tlare by the canvas-covcred wagons OF
boomers returning disappointed, broken in spirit,
driven almost to desperation by what they con
slider their ill-lucl, but which without too great
stretch Of the imagination might well be termed
their fatal obedience to the law II is only too
true, probably, that the greater portion of the
Oklahoma town sites and agricultural lands worth
struggling for was seized and held at noon on
Monday by men who had either SnealIcd through
the lines of soldiers stationed along the borders of
the territory; by boomers, who had for months
hccn in hiding in the bushes along the river
banks: by the so-called deputies whom the marshal
Of the Indian Territory and his colleagues from
the Topeka Court had run in, and by alleged
section hands Of the different roads which pass
through Oklahoma, who, when the hour came.
dropped their spades and picks, and with one
wild whoop made for the lands they previously
had amph opportunity TO select. The honest
boOmcr-the man who obeyed the law and whom
the military authorities, with watches in their
hands, kept back at the border until the last min
ute-was gloriously left in the race for quarter
sections Iln stood no fair show in it whatever.
No wonder, then, that their feelings are outraged
and that he cXclaims against the law which up 10
this time he has vigorously observed, but which
now he declares he will no longer respect flc sees
among the most notorious violatOrs of the law
prominent officials Of the Government: he crosses
the strip and encounters vast hordes of cattle
men, WHOSE leases are unlawful, but whose fences
are protected by the military authorities He
thinks of the sham proclamation issued with such
bravado by the Cleveland Administration, rcquir-
ing the cattle to be removed and the fences taken
down, and he comes to the conclusion that it
does not pay to be law abiding.
You cannot altogether blame the boomer His
logic is sound and the facts are undiSputed and
yet it. would be idle to talk of counteracting law
cssness. At present, however it is useless to
reason with a returning boomer. He is in no
frame of mind to listen TO you. What he wants
is to have the strip opened at once for settlement
If it is not, he will settle upon it Gny way, and
let the military remove him. Such talk, and IT.
is more than talk, opens the prospect of some
lively encounters and difficulties without end
Should the negotiations with The Chcrollecs, about
20 be begun. miscarry, the situation would
tainly be a serious one Oklahoma cannot furnish
steads w'th paying land. That much seems to
be conceded by this time in every quarter The
overflow must be provided for somewhere The
disappointed boomers cannot return whence they
came. Most Of them are too poor and they have
spent the little they had in coming here. They
cannot, even if they had the desire, invade the
reservations actually occupied by the Indians.
With the Cherokee Outlet. however, it is different
This is land the Indian title to
which is not altogether nawlcSs. AT any
rate it is land not used by the
Indians It was granted to them rs an outlet
to the Western hunting grounds The game has
long since ceased to exist. and with it the object
of the outlet has been accomplished. At present
1t serves no other purpose than TO swell the
already overtowng treasury of the Cherokee
Nation with the money obtained from illegal
leases. To the boomer it seems absurd that
IN Indian should have thousand acres or more,
while the white man has TO hustle for hundred
and sixty.
The Chcro<ees are the most civilized of the
Indian tribes They can drive a bargain as
sharp as any New England pcddler. The price