The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-09-29
THE RUSH ron HOMES.
THREE TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE AS
THERE ARE HoMEsTEAps.

Ride I'm on P~onies-Lively Boom Scenes.
GUTHRIE, D. T., Sept 22.-"The
land is yours" That Is what every
timeliece on the border of the lands
opened 10 settlement today proclaimed
when lis hands pointed to the hour of
moon. Simultaneous with that hour the
homeeseekers gathered on the border,
made a headlong rush over the line into
the coveted country and on to the quar-
ter sections upon which their eyes had
been feastlng, some Tor days and others
Tor weeks n months.
The rush was a mad one and was
made so by the fact that the number of
homc-seekers greatly exceeded the num-
Der OF quarter sections available for
settlement. First there, first served"
was the motto OF every racer. There
was in the new lands for about
5000 seekers, allowing 100 acres for
each. There were on the border waiting
to claim the available land fully Is, 900
people, SO that there were three persons
Tor each section. 1t was no wonder that
the rush was q mad one, for in this case
at least the race was invariably to the
swift.
Like scenes have never been witnessed
before except when Oklahoma became
the peoples two years 60. Some OF
the more desperate cowboys mounted
steers, and the latter, joining in the
stampede, carried their riders to the
interior while others were uncercmo-
nlously endorsed or unstecrcd not far
from the border. The boomers had
gathered for the race most at Tohee on
the Iowa reservation border directly east
OF Guthrie; Langston, at the middle Of
the Northern Iowa reservation border,
inside the boundary of the Klckapoo re-
sCrvatiOn (Which was not included in the
opened lahds) and at q point on the Pot
tawatOmie border directly east of Pur-
cell.
The most desirable OF the lands is
situated in the Iowa, Sack and Fox
reservations, and the greater number of
boomers naturally congregatcd around
them. The boomers were distributed
among various starting points about as
follows, at Tohee 5000, Langston 1900
negroes, and 500 whites, on the Kickapoo
border 5000, and on Pottawatamie bor-
der 1000. The allotments to the Pottawa-
mic Indians nearly exhausted the lands
III their reservation, so the home seekers
had little chance OF locating a claim
theIe. AT Langston negroes had been
gathered by the negro Colonization
society to the number of 1900, and they
were to move en- massc to Cimarron
valley, a most fertile region, aud locate
in a bunch. Five hundred whites,
mostly cowboys, also had their eyes on
that section, and each party had made
all sorts Of threats of taking Tie Land by
force. a force of deputy marshals and
deputy sherins under the sheriff Of this
county had been despatched there TO
preserve oraor, and it is believed thai
they will be able to maintain peace.
One of the unique sights at TohcC
Was q company of young ladies from
Guthrie, who had formed Il colonization
company to proceed to the new lands
and settle on adjoining claims. They
were mounted Oh Texas ponies and were
attlred as near as might be in cowboy
costume, armed with rcvolvers am
equipped for camping out. They made
the race in Il body. SO far as has beer
ascertaincd, up to the present time nc
serious conflict has taken place between
tho rival claimants, and the country has
been peacefully occupied.
Government supervision of the open
ings OF the lands seems to have beer
cut' NClISiCIU. III ClllllC SOScIiilllcll
force vas composed of two companies
OF United States troops, or two hundred
men, and the forces of three United
r States mnrshals, numbering about two
hundred and fifty men. or these latter
fifty were sent to I4angston to preserve
peace between the cowboys and negroes
fifteen were required ateach of the three
land Offices, and twenty-five at TOhcc
OF the regular troops, Il squad of mer
were stationed at each Of the two coun
ty seats. This left only some 800 mcr
to patrol borders of about 200 miles il
extent, or one man to every two-third,
OF mile of border. The men, however
were not stationed at regular intervals
In some places there were ten and IF
{. teen men to the mile, while at other:
there were stretches of five or ten mile.
entirely unguardcd. Under these con
ditions it might have been expected tina
numbers of boomers would enter before
the appointed time, and they did. Two
miles north OfTOhce about 200 boomer.
had gathered on 4 secluded spot, know
ing that the government force would b(
massed ut the border towns. They ha(
all set their watches three hours aheat
last night so that their testimony would
agree ii ever their claims should be con
tested on the ground Of their bein.
"soOners."
At 9 O'Clock their watches all indica
ted the hour of noon, and they rushed
over the border and began the fray fol
the choice sections. The "sooners" a
other unguarted portions of the bordcI
were also very numerous, and it IS esti
mated from all reports that the number
OF settlers who entered the land before
the legal time was fully 5000.
Tohec this morning was an Indian
town just over the Iowa border, due cas-
from this place; tonight it is a white
mans city OF 1900 inhabitants. 1t iel
INTO thch hands of the Town Site com
pany, organized here by the presiden
of the Board Of Trade, the president O
the First National bank, James Mcneil
and the city marshal OF Guthrie. A rep
resentative of the company returned t
this place this afternoon and filed at TIL,
land office a plat OF a town and count,
claims. He reports that an election wa.
held this afternoon, at which McNei
was chosen mayor.
AT q polnt five miles below Tohe,
quite q number of boomers were gath
cred to make the race. Among then
was Que woman whose name has no
been learned, whose impaticnce got TIL,
better of her discretion. She crossct