Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1891-07-23
GEO. r. MACKAY,
Railroad and Steamship Ticket Broker.
Member American Ticket Brokers' Ass'n.)
CUT RATES 10 ALL POINTS.
Cor. National Ave. aud wall ST., Opposite
Interstate. FORT SCOTT. KANSAS.


ARKANSAS CITY, KAs., July 90
Some weeks ago a dispatch from For
Smith, Ark, stated that William West
moreland, John eagle and John BirC
had been brought IN from the Indian
Territory and imprisoned for the muir
der OF two strangers in the Cherokee
strip about year ago. A correspon
dent has been looking up the past his
! tory of the prisoners and finds thai
they are part of the most desperate
and villainous gang in the west anC
that the cabin where they lived is Q
slaughter pen bloodier and more horri
BILE than the notorious Bender house in
Kansas.
The Westmoreand family, consisting
OF Noah Westmoroland and his sons
Sherman and William, and his son-in.
law, settled about ten years ago on the
south bank of the Cimarron river in tho
extreme eastern point of the Chero-
kee strip They built cabin, cultiva.
ted a small patch of land. and although
they were ON Cherokee land they hun.
ted and ilshed without molestation.
After they had been there several
years counterfeit money became plenti.
ful in the territory and after time il
became generally believed that the
Westmorelands and a gang Of rough
characters who were generally around
them were engaged in counterieiting
and Illicit distilling. Revenue officers,
accompanied by company OF calvary,
raided the vicinity but could secure no
positive proof OF crime. Scattered
about through the woods and hidden in
out-ol-the-way places were found hu-
man bones, old satchels, clothing. jew
elry, lot Of peddler's samples aud 9TH
er ghastly relics indicating that a num-
Der OF people had been murdered and
robbed.
This was in 1887. and the gang has
been allowed TO continue is nefarious
work ever since, there being no con-
victing evidence against them.
A prominet Cherokee official states it
as his belief that this gang has muir
dered and robbed ten or dozen large
camping parties, leaving no one TO tell
the story of their bloody fate. His son
and another Cherokee boy fished a mat
tress, carpet and other camp furniture.
covered with blood, from the river not
far from the Westmoreland cabin and
discovered wheae a large number Of
Of bodies had been burned in a log
heap.
An old man who was known 10 have
money told the Westmorelands where
he intended to camp that night, but az
forwards changed his mind and changeo
his camping place. The next day he
learned that man who had camped at
the place he had designated had been
murdered and robbed during the
night
About the time Oklahoma opened
three or four men who had stopped at
the Wesimorelands, or in the immcdi-
ate vicinity, mysteriously disappeared
The list Of probable victims Of this
slaughter pen will run into the scores
and enough evidence can easily be Sc
cured TO convict the prisoners and 9TH
ers a dozen times over. All around the
old cabin are found evidences OF murder
and theii. and the proof against them
for the murder OF the two strangers a
year ago is strong enough to insure the
gallows that stands on the territory lire
at Fort Smith an addition OF four or five
to its large list Of victims.