Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-23
A GAME OF GRAB.
The Wild Scramble for In
dian Lands.
Boomers on Horseback and on
Steerback.
The Race Was Not in All Cases to
the Swift.
Owing to Defective Supervision by the
Government Many "SOOners" Crept
In and Stole the Choicest
Claims-Little BlOodshed.
Associated Press Dispatches.

Associated Press Dispatches.
GUTHRrE, OFT, Sept. 22.-Simultan-
eous with the arrival of the hour OF
noon, the homeseekers gathered on the
border, made headlong rush over the
line into the coveted country, and on to
the quarter sections upon which their
eyes had been feasting for some days,
and others for weeks and months. The
rush was a mad one, and was made 20
by the fact that the number OF home
seekers 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 counting to
claim available land, $1,000 people, so
there were three people for each quarter
section. It was no wonder then that
the rush was a mad one. Like scenes
were never witnessed before, except in
Oklahama two years ago.
ALL READY TO START.
The craze to become owner of part of
the new lands caused a strange COM
mingling of the various elements OF So
ciety. A half hours diligent work
would have sufficed to prepare most
elaborately equipped boomer for the race
into the new country, but preparations
were begun long before the hour.
Horses were hitched, wheels creased,
saddle girths cinched, and everything
made snug as early as 10 O'Clock, so anx-
ious, was everyone to be in readiness to
move at the appointed time. When the
noon hour did arrive all the pent-up ex
ctement found vent in the firing of re-
volvers and in shouting and singing and
cracking OF whips and furious driving
and running.
COWBOYS ON sTEERBACK.
Horsemen OF course had the advan-
tage over the other men in the race, and
most OF the racers were horsemen. The
man who proceeded to the border in a
prairie schooner with his family left his
schooner, family and one horse on the
border, and mounted the other and be-
came a horseman. After locating Ills
claim he will return and direct his pos
sessions to his new home. Some OF the
more desperate cowboys mounted
steers, and the latter going on a stam-
pede, carried their riders to the interior,
while others were uncerem enormously un-
horsed Cor unsteered) not far from the
border.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BOOMERS.
The boomers were distributed among
the various starting points about as fol-
lows At Tohee, 5000; Langston, 2000;
on the Kickapoo border, 5000, and on the
Pottawattomie border, 1000. The allot-
ment to the Pottawattomie Indians
nearly exhausted the lands in their res
.ervation, so that the home-seeker had
little chance of locating claim there.
At Langston the negroes were gathered
by the negro colonization society to the
number OF 1900, and they were to move
en- maese into the Cimarron valley, the
most fertile iegion, and locate in "a bunch.
Five hundred whites, mostly cowboys,
also had their eyes on that section, and
each party made ali sorts of threats of
taking the land by force. A force of
deputy marshaIs and deputy sheriffs had
been dispatched there to preserve order,
and it was believed they would be able
to maintain peace.
A COMPANY OF YOUNG LADIES.
One of the unique sights at Tohee was
a company of young ladies from Guthrie
who had formed colonization company
to proceed to the new lands and settle on
adjoining claims. They were mounted
on Texas ponies and were attired as near
as might be in cowboy costumes, armed
with revolvers and equipped for camp
ing out. They made the race in body.
GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION DEFICIENT.
The government supervision of the
opening seems to have been sadly def
cient. The entire government force was
composed of two companies of troops
GOO mem. and the forces of three
United States marshals, numbering
about 250 men. Of the latter, fifty were
sent to Langston to preserve peace be-
tween the cowboys and negroes; fifteen
were required at each of the three land
office, and twenty-five at Tehee. OF the
regular troops, squad was stationed at
each of the two county seats. This lett
only some 200 men to patrol the borders
of about 200 miles extent. The men
were not stationed at regular intervals.
In some places there were ten and fif-
teen men to the mile, while at others
there were stretches of five and ten
miles entirely unguarded.
THREE THOUSAND 'sooNERs."
Under these conditions it might have
been expected that a number OF boomers
would enter before the appointed time,
and they did. Two miles north OF
Tohee, about 200 boomers had gathered
in. secluded spot, knowing that the
government force would be massed at
the border towns. They all set their
watches three hours ahead last night, so
their testimony would agree as to the
time if their claims were contested on
the ground of their being ''sooners." "
At 8 O'Clock their watches indicated the
noon hour, and they rushed over the
border and began to race for choice sec
tions of land. 'Sooners" at other un-
guarded portions of the border also
were very numerous, and it is estimated
that there are fully 5000 settlers who en-
tered the land before the legal-tim
A MAGIC CITY.
Tohee this morning was an Indian
town; tonight it is white mans city OF