Griggs courier., 1893-09-22
THE CHEROKEE STRIP.

1t IL Finally Opened to Settlement-Rush
of the Thousands for the Coveted Claims
Many Killed and Injured-The Lands
Said to BE q disappointment and Boom
ers Arc Already Returning Disgusted.
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan, Sept 19.-The
mystery which through SO manv long
years of anxious waiting shrouded the
real character of the Cherokee strip,
the gauzy veil through which ex-
pectant homeseekers thought they
saw a Canaan. has been swept away.
The Cherokee strip is now a reality.
and very grim reality at that. There
is no Canaan about it, either. It was a
promised land, but it has not kept its
promise. It may do SO a year from
now, but at present the strip is about
the most uninviting quarter on the
face of the earth. Water is obtainab BILE
in only few places. Food is SO
scarce that loaf of bread costs fifty
cents and pound of smoked ham is
worth one dollar. The weather is suffo-
eating and another hot wind is blowing
from the south that would parch all
vegetation if there was any to parch.
At noon Saturday the signal was
given announcing the passing of the
title of the land from the United States
government to the boomers, and a race
such as was never witnessed before and
will probably never be seen again was
begun. On the lines in the vicinity of the
various border towns the boomers had
gathered in great numbers. AS far
as the eye could reach in either direc.
tiOn could be seen men mounted and in
wagons and on foot closely packed to-
gether, making a solid column 200 feet
or more wide in the middle and taper
ing away to mere streak of black
in the distance. The scene when the
column broke at the firing of the
signal gun and each individual entered
the contest for common prize can be
imagined better than described. Con-
fusion reigned everywhere. So closely
were the contestants packed to-
C.ther that the start was haz-
ardous one. Horsemen were unseated,
wagons overthrown and pedestrians
prostrated in the mad rush. The
cries of angered men mingled with the
shouts of the racers, the Gathering of
hoofs, the rattling of wagons and the
shrieking of locomotives combined in a
roar similar to that accompanying the
progress of a tornado.
In the race many men were injured
and some killed. OF the latter some
met death by accident and two were
murdered. The dead bodies, one
stabbed and the other shot through the
head, tell the manner of death. Many
dead horses have been found on the
some were killed by falling in the race
and others receiving broken limbs in
the rough prairie were shot by their
owners. The names of some of the VIC
Tins are as follows:
Mrs. Charles T. Barnes, of Eldorado Kan,
run over and killed; William Browning, of
Texas, fatally crushed under his horse Carl
Byers, OF Atchison. Kan. thrown from his
ing over blun; Mrs Sarah Hughes fatally
crushed while getting on train; Harry
Matthews killed by riding over blum.
Near Blackbear, northeast OF here, the dead
body Of James Reardon, Of Milford, Mass, was
found on the prairie after the rush He had
been stabbed to death, and the weapon with
which the crime had been committed was
found sticking in his breast Further north
the dead body of w. D. Blake sup
posed to be from Gainesville. Tex, was
found He had been shot through the heart
1t is not known whether he was murdered or
shot by accident The dead body Of Madeline
Granger Of Terre Haute, Ind. was also found
on the prairie. There were no marks of
violence upon her body and it is believed she
died from natural causes
Mrs. Sallie Freeman, of Louisville, KY, leg
broken; George Gillett, foot crushed by train:
sryr- R-1~ nN.y~A -.
crushed by stake in D quarrel over lot;
Henry Pointer. of Ohio, skull crushed by fall
ing from his horse: Jesse Strong, cut in head
and face in a quarrel over pony; John Wheat
ley, shot in the leg by accidental discharge of
his own pistol. Many riderless horses are COM
ing in and it is feared other persons are badly
injured.
Unfortunate occurrences were the
shooting down of ''sooners'' near Still
water, .. T., and Arkansas City. Kan.
Judge Wollack, special agent of the
land office, has advices showing the
number of people who made the run
into the Cherokee strip far exceeds all
expectations. The land Office had
counted on $4,000 to make the run.
Fully 100000 started in the race,
and estimating the families of the mar
bearer, the Cherokee strip has a popu-
lation of 100000. The advices to Judge
Wollach show the racers were divided
about as follows among the border
towns: Arkansas City, 10000; Orlando.
%, 1000; Caldwell, $4,000; Hennessy. 10, 600;
Saltwater, 10000; Kiowa, 5000; Hun
newell, 5000; other points. 1900.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, Sept. 19.-Over
1000 ex-boomers passed through Kan
sas City Sunday en- route to their
homes in all parts of the country fresn
the Cherokee strip. A more tired
and disg,rsted lot of men were
never seen together. They had
gone to the opening unprepared for
such tremendous rush as occurred
and were mainly those who had de-
pended on the trains to take them into
the strip, but the trains were distanced
by the horsemen and ,vheelmen and
they got to the heart of the promised
land only to find every claim pre-
empted and every town lot gone.
ORLANDO, o. T., Sept. 19.-Thousands
of persons who left their homes in
Oklahoma to seek new homes in the