The morning call., 1891-09-22
AT THE FRONT.
Fifteen Thousand Boomers As
Sembled Near Guthrie, 0. T.
AnXiOuSly Awaiting Permission to Enter
the Coveted Country.
If the Negroes Get There First They Will
Defend Their Rights With Their Lives.
The Boomers First Victim.
Special TO THE MORNING CALL

GUTHRIE %. T), Sept 21.-From early
blocked with wagons, horses and people.
men and women. boys and girls, scram-
bling to get here to take part In
the race for Government land. Every
thing is wide open. Liquor is plent-
full and the gamblers are here with their
outfits. Governor Steele will 90 to the
county seat, named Tecumseh. His
intention is to clear the town, and
with a signal let the race for town lots COM
mence. Trains continue to arrive. bringing
people anxious to secure homes. The men
in line before the Land Office are still there,
determined to make their entry. The hotels,
printing Offices. stores and shops are taXel
to their utmost capacity. Some establish
ments, especially those of the newspapers,
are seriously crippled on account OF their
help leaving to join in the race.
THE COVETED LAND.
The land to be opened for settlement to-
morrow noon consists Of tie country of the
Sacs, Foxes, IOwas and PottawatUmies, in
all /, ,101, $50 acres. The Indians do not lose
all their lands. Each buck gets quarter
section and. not only that. he is a lawful
"sooner" and has already picked out the
prize spots. He cannot sell his land for
twenty-five years, but during that time he
does not have TO pay taxes. After the ln-
dian lands and the lands held for school
purposes have been deducted from the
1,1O1 $50 acres, about 100000 acres are
60 los
5000 homesteads. and about twenty men for
every homestead are on :he ground. Some
are lowering along the line and some are
already in what il, until noon tomorrow,
forbidden country. 1t is the old Oklahoma
rush over again, with some notifications.
There are not as many boomers and
smaller number are in wagons. For the
last week, however, there has been an al
most continuous stream OF wagons over the
Santa Fe trail, across the Cherokee strip,
and there are wagoners all around the
border.
THE POINT OF ENTRY.
The nearest point of the new country is
oniv a little over nine miles from Guthrie,
and the greatest crowd will enter from near
this point; Dut as matter OF fact the
greater part of the crowd is not waiting to
enter. The country is already tul! of
"sooners." The plan is for one man to 90
in AID Jump" a claim and then turn
it over to partner. who starts in
after the legal hour and thus, betN cen them,
they get Il good claim. There will be
great rush for town lots. The Government
has selected sites for county seats, although
there is not even a shadow Of r town In
either county. The one that is to
be the county seat of the north
ern county will be called. called Chandler. Chandler.
of the Interior, and the southern town will
be called iecumseh. The Government sur
veyors are not through with their work on
the town sites. and Governor Steele has an
nOunced that the sites shall not be taken up
until the survey is finished. No attention
will be paid to this, however, and the force
of soldiers on the ground will not be large
enough to keep the people off.
MOVING ON CHANDLER.
A crowd of Guthrie men has been organ
lied to move on Chandler. Every one is
going. Cooks have deserted stoves, law
yers their offices and merchants their stores.
Many are bound to be disappointed,
whether they go for lots or quarter sec
tions, for there are at least $4,000 people
waiting for the hat to drop at noon to- NOR
row. Couriers from LangstOn City, the
negro colony, came In this morning and
purchased 20 carblnes and hastened back to
to the front. They report that the entire
town is covered with the tents of emigrants,
and that they are determined to protect
themselves from any attempts on the part of
the whites to keep them from the land in
Cimarron Valley. A squad of negroes Wis
tied a cowboys camp last night and de-
clared their intentions. They said they
would make race for the lands, and If they
got there first they would defend their
rights with their lives. If the cowboys do
not imbibe too much whisky, which is being
sent out by the wagon load, there will prob
ably be no trouble; but on the other hand
if they grow reckless under the Influence uf
LIQUOR, blOOdShed is certain.
WICHITA (Kans.), Sept. 81. The first
victim to suffer at the hands of the boomers
is AL Glazier, a Santa Fe conductor, who
was badly cut and otherwise injured by an
enraged mob on his train. Some OF the
boomers had no tickets, and Glazer de-
manded the extra 10 cents levied in such
cases. This caused the trouble. A number
of rioters were arrested and are in Jail.