Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-05-01

GUTHRIE. Oklahoma, via Arkansas
City, April 23.-Guthrie is plunged IN
seemingly inextricable confusion. The
differences of rival factions at the seat to
control the town have baffled the efforts
of half a dozen public meetings to
settle them. The settlement is at
a very high pitch and conf
dence is beginning to waver. The
suffering of the fifteen thousand unshel-
tered and Impoverished people is
something that could be endured only
amid such 8 furore. The scenes of the
night and day are unexampled. Thou
sands are fleeing the town and coun-
try, but thousands more have poured
in. There is a feeling of wild uncer-
tainty and apprehension that amounts
to distraction. There is no food, no water,
no cover for the bitter cold of the nights
and the whitening heats of the day.
The railroad is gorged with business and
Is temporarily imperative. n town
site is changed every hour by the rival
parties, as each secures a temporary
dominance. Not a building has been
started and but few more tents have
been reared. Nobody knows where
the streets are and every one
is just now yielding all things else for
clamor for food, drink and shelter or
means of flight. To complete this tre-
mendous excitement a disastrous wreck
occurred just south of the town during
the forenoon. A freight and a passen-
ger train met heads on and both en-
gines went into the ditch. No one was
hurt, but the track was blockaded for
hours.
The sight at Guthrie upon which the
sun lose this morning was probably
never before Witnessed in the history
of the world. The majority of the To-
600 people lay blanketless upon the
ground, either guarding their claims or
~slumbering where they had fallen of
fatigue. From the depot platform they
lay as close as corded wood, and in the
few tents they were huddied in
masses. AS many as could took
the mesger shelter afforded, but there
quickly came a limit to capacity beyond
which neither the tears or brides would
prevail. Among the thousands stretched
upon the ground, many OF them were of
respectable quality. Those who could
not sleep, and they were legion, in the
singing cold, crouched in groups, swear
ing or weeping, as suited their spirit.
The sun fairly leaped out of the prairie
and within two hours cold had been
supplanted with Sahara heat. The
wind rose, but without cooling effect. It
blew a hot sirocco that scorched the
flesh and flied the air with binding
alkali dust. To complete the general
misfortune the only large tent accom-
modating $50 people fell under stress of
the furnace blast. It could not be re-
paired and other tents could scarcely
be mounted.
The climate provoked an Unsuitable
thirst and water was the first supply to
fail. There is a little stream hard by
but the water is too strongly alkaline to
drink. The railroad tank takes it's sup
ply by a gravity pipe from a distance
and an elevated spring afforded the only
possible drinkable water, and it is brack-
ish. 1t was attacked by thousands of
people until the railway officials
der a pretense that they needed
the water to operate the road. The
tank man. however. sold the water at 5
cents a pint thereafter, as did the loco
motive engineers from the tanks of
their engines. The railroad seem to be
completely p~rostrated. and does not de-
liver the baggage otthe suffering throng.
Pneumonia and sunstroke are be-
ginning to claim their victims,
nor sympathy. The whole scene,
in its countless, varied and painful de-
tails, is simply indescribahle. Here
stands a big city out of doors and with
out supplies. Only one train left over
the crippled road, and it was crowded
beyond additional space for a mouse on
the floor Or a sparrow on the roof.
Those who could not get on cheered de-
family as the train pulled out, and an
other just crowded pulled in from the
north.
A special to the st. Louis Republic
from Purcell, [. T., says: Guthrie is in
great need of a perfection of her munic-
ipal government. There is now collect
ed a population of 10, ZOO or Is, 900 souls,
and among them are a large percent
age of the criminal and vicious class
es. The long platform at the de-
pot is packed with humanity at
the arrival of every train. The
crowd surges over the tracks and fills
the space on the opposite side of the
coaches. 1t includes some of the most
notorious crooks in the country, mainly
confidence and bunco men and pick
pockets. Their features adorn the
Togues' gallery In the cities of the Union.
Two OF Pinkerton's detectives have
been employed, but all they can do is to
warn persons that they are spotted and
give them three hours to leave the city.
No arrests have been made and crooks
who choose to remain there can
dO.sso at their own risk. Guthrie
is in the midst of one of the widest
booms aver seen in the west. Her ho-
tells ere crowded, but still run buses to
the depot. Her post-ofice is demand
ing more clerical help. Her banks are
doing a heavy business. Lumber is
commanding the enormous price of $50
a thousand feet on her side tracks to be
inclosed by purchasers. But there are
other rival towns along the line of the
Atchison road, which claim that the
Guthrie boom will soon collapse, and
they are aspirants for the title of CAPT.
tai of the future territorial govern
ment.
Oklahoma City has a population off,
900 or 5000, and is now the military
headquarters of the territory. Presi-
dent Richardson, of the Oklahoma
Bank, paid $500 for a lot there. A Chi
cago colony has located itself at Harri-
son, a new town near the old station of
Edmond, and has issued a large and
glaring plat of its future metropolis, CIV