, 1891-10-28

A dispatch from Oklahoma CITY saws it
was expected that there would be a riot at
the land Office when it opened for business, at
noon. The crowd, which had surrounded it
for the last four days, became very boisterous
last night, and, this morning, it was found
necessary to guard the Office with deputy
marshals. The latter succeeded in preserving
the peace, and there was no disturbance.
simultaneously with the arrival of the hour
OF noon, the homeseekers gathered on the
border, made a headlong rush over the line
into the coveted country, and on to the quar-
ter sections upon which the eyes of some had
been feasting for days, and of others for weeks
and months. The rush was a mad one, and
was made so by the fact that the number of
homeseekers greatly exceeded the number Of
quarter sections available for settlement.
There is room in the lands for about 5000
settlers, allowing 100 acres for each. There
were on the border, waiting to claim avail
able land, fully Is 900 people, SO that there
were three people for each quarter section.
1t is no wonder, then, that the rush was a
mad one. Like scenes were never witnessed
before, except in Oklahoma two years
ago.
The craze to become owner of part of the
new lands caused a strange c~ommingling Of
the various elements of society. Half an
nOuT 3 ulllR6uI WOrk would nave D6en SuthCl-
ent to prepare the most elaborateIy equipped
boomer for the race into the new country,
but the preparations were begun long before
the hour of noon. Horses were hitched,
wheels creased, saddle girths clinched, and
everything snug as early as 10 o'clock, so an
xious was everyone to be in readiness to move
at the appointed time. When the noon hour
did arrive the excitement found vent in firing
of r~evolvers and rifles, and shouting and sing
ing, and cracking OF whips, and furious driving
and running. The horsemen, Of course, had
the advantage over all others in the race.
Most OF the racers were horsemen who had
proceeded to the border IN. prairie schooners
with their families, each leaving his schooner,
family and one horse on the border, and
mounted on the other. After locating his
claim the boomer will return and direct his
possessions to his new home. Some of the
more desperate cowboys mounted steers, and
the latter, joining in the stampede, carried
their riders to the interior, while others were
unceremonlously endorsed or unsteered, not
far from the border.
The boomers were distributed among the
various starting points about as follows At
Tohee, 5000; Langston, 1000; on the bor-
der OF Klckapoo, 5000; at the Pottawattomie
border, 1000. The allotment to the Potta-
wattomie Indians nearly exhausted the land
IN their reservation, so that the homeseekers
had little chance of locating a claim there.
AT Langston were negroes, gathered by a
negro colonization society to the number of
1000, and they were to move en- masse into
the Cimmaron valley, the most fertile region,
ard locate in a bunch. Five hundred whites,
mostly cowboys, also had their eyes on that
section, and each party made all sorts of
threats of taking the land by force.
One unique sight at Tohee was q company
of young ladies from Guthrie, who had formed
a colonization company to proceed to the new
lands and settle on the adjoining gclaims.
They were mounted on Texas ponies and
were attired as near as might be in cowboy
costume, armed with r~evolvers and equipped
for camping out. They made the race in a
body.
The rush from here to the border began
before daylight this morning. Ten thousand
persons would be q moderate estimate of
the people who passed through this city en-
route for the new country.
The government supervision Of the open
ing seems to have been sadly deficient. The
entire. government force was composed of
two companies of troops, 200 men, and the
force of three United States marshals, num-
bering about $50 men. Of the latter fifty
were sent to Langston to preserve the peace
between the cowboys and negroes; fifteen