The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-09-23
THE BORDER LANDS
The Mad Rush of the Boomers
Begins.
SOONERs PUT THE WATCHES FAST
The Line Before the Land Ofice--A Woman
Shot for Presenting an Entry Before
the Legal Hour.

IoihhlE, L. L., SepG. 2S.-Slm ultaneOuS-
ly with the arrival of the hour of noon the
nome seekers gathered on the border and
made head long rush over the line into
the coveted country and on to the quarter
sectlon upon which their eyes had been
1eastlng for some days and others for
weeks and months. The rush was mad
one and was made 50 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
Tor each. There were on the border wait
Ing TO claim available land fully 10, 600 peo-
pie, so that there are three people for each
Quarter section. 1t was no wonder then
tnat the rush was mad one Like scenes
were never witnessed before except in
Oklahoma two years ago.
Inc craze to become owner of part of
the new lands caused a strange commlngl-
Ing OF various elements of society. Half
an hours diligent work would have been
SUFFICIENT to prepare the most elaboratelv
equipped boomer for the raid into the new
country, but preparations were begun long
DeIore the hour of noon. Horses were
nltched, wheels creased, saddle girths
clnched, and everything made snug as
early as III O'CLOCK, so anxious was every
one TO pc IN readiness to move at the ap-
pointed time. When the noon hour did ar
rive all the pent up excitement found q
vent in firing Of revolvers and rifles and
shouting and singing and the cracking of
Whips and furious driving and running.
Horsemen, OF course, had the advantage
over every other man in the
race and most racers were horsemen.
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 aud became
a horseman. After locating his claim he
will return and escort his possessions 70
his new home. One of the more desperate
cowboys mounted steer and the latter
joining IN the stampede carried their riders
To the interior while others were uncere-
moniously endorsed or unsteered NOT far
from the border
The boomers are distributed among vari-
Gus starting points about as follows: At
Ionee, 3o0O; Langston, 2, 900; on the border
or the klckapoo, 5000, and on the Potta-
wattomie border, 1000. o. the allotment
to the Pottawattomie the Indians have
nearly exhausted the lands in their reser-
vatlon, so that the homeseeker had little
chance OF locating claim there.
AT Langston the negroes are gathered
by the Negro Colonization society to the
number of $4,000, and they were to move
en- masse into Cimarron valley, the most
Iertlie region, and locate in a bunch. Five
hundred whites, mostly cowboys. also had
their eyes on that section, and each party
made all sorts of threats, taking the land
by force. A force of deputy marshals and
deputy sheriffs has been dispatched there
to preserve order, and it is believed thew
will be able TO maintain peace.
One OF the unique sights at Tohee was a
company Of young ladies from Guthrie.
who mad formed colonization company to
proceed to the new lands and settle on ad-
Joining claims. They were mounted on
Texas ponies and were attired as near as
might be in cowboy costume, armed with
reviewers and equipped for camping out
They made the race in body.
so far as ascertained up to the present
time no serious conflict has taken place be
tween rival claimants.
Government supervision of the opening
seems to have been sadly deficient. The
entire government force was composed of
two companies of troops, 200 men, and a
force OF United States marshals,
numbering about two hundred and fiftv
men. OF the latter fifty were sent to
Langston to preserve peace between the
cowboys and negroes. Fifteen were re-
CURED at each of the three land offices and
twenty-five at Tohee. Of the regular
troops squad of men was stationed at
each OF the two county seats. This left
only some three hundred men to patrol
borders of about two hundred miles in ex
tent. The men were not stationed at repu-
lar Intervals. In some places there were
ten AMI fifteen men to the mile, while at
othere there were stretches of five and ten
miles entirely unguarded. Under these
conditions 1T might have been expected
number of boomers would enter before the
appointed time, and they did. Two miles
north of Tohee about two hundred boomers
had gathered in a secluded spot, knowing
the government force would be massed at
the border towns. They all set their
watches three hours ahead last night so
that testimony would agree as to time if
their claims were contested on the ground
of their being ''sooners." At O'Clock
their watches indicated the noon hour and
they rushed over the border and began the
race for choice sections of land. ''Sooners''
at other unRuarded portions of the border
were also very numerous, and it is est
mated there are fully three thousand
settlers who entered land before the legal
time.
Tohee this morning was an Indian town
to night it is white mans city of 500 in
habitants. 1t fell into the hnnds of a town
site company, organized here by tie pres1-
dent of the board OF trade, the president of
the First National. bank, Mr.. Joseph Nc
Neil, and the city marshal of Guthrie. The
representatives of the company. this after
noon filed at the land Office plat of the
town and the company's claims. He re-
ports that at an election this afternoon Nc
Neil was chosen mayor.
AT Gohee the boomers waited until the
noon hour before making q rush for lots
and homesteads and the occupation of the
lands there was peaceful. Anon the boom
ers at point below Tohee there was one
woman who crossed the line before the
time. A deputy marshal forced her back
over the line. Soon afterward she again
crossed the line prematurely and when the
deputy a second time ordered her back she
drew revolver from her dress pocket and
opened fire upon him. The marshal re.
turned the fire and shot her in the left lep
Just below the knee, SCATTERING her limb
and disabling her so that she was unable tn
make the race. When the time came the
others left her under a tree this side of the
border. She has since been brought here
Guthrie, l. T., was an animated town
this morning. Many belated settlers were
skurrying around to find means of con-
veyance to the new lands. Horse traders
were selling stock, and farmers were So
Letting men to ride with them to the
borders Of the new lands. Ten dollars was
the fare and anxious boomers eagerly ac-
cepted the chance to make the journey
even at that outrageous price. The farmers
did a thriving business; so did the store
keepers. They all agreed last night 70
double price their wares, and even then the
supply was nearly exhausted before night.
The scene at the land Office here TO-DAY
was lively one. About two hundred and
fifty old soldiers armed with declaratorv
statements had been in line before the
office door for four days past. Some slept
in chairs some on the ground, some hardly
at all. Their meals were brought them bv
wives, children and friends.
The land office here opened at seconds
past IL o'clock to-day, and the first man to