River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-09-21
HE CHEROKEE sTR,p.
1t Is Finally Opened to settleraent-Rush
of the Thousands for the Coveted Claims
Many Killed and Injured-The Lands
Said to BE a Disappointment ard Boom

mystery which through so many long
years of anxious waiting shrcuded the
real character of the Cherokee strip,
the gauzy veil through which ex-
pectant homeseelers thought they
saw a Canaan, has been swept away.
The Cherokee strip is now reality,
and very grim reality at that. There
is no Canaan about il, either. 1t was a
promised land. but it has not kept its
promise. 1t 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 a few places Food is so
scarce that loaf of bread costs fifty
cents and a 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 ali
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-
ton 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 a 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
i,naginad heteer IMAM deoeribsd- Con
fusion reigned everywhere. So closely
were the contestants packed to-
gether that the start was a haZ-
ardous one. Horsemen were unseated,
wagons overthrown and pedestrians
Frustrated in the mad rush. The
cries of angered men mingled with the
neighing of panic-stricben horses, the
shouts of the racers. the Gathering of
hoofs, the rafting 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
prairie. Sone died of overexertion,
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 II. 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
horse and killed; Harvey Cheney killed by rid
ing over a bluff; Mrs Sarah Hughes fatally
crushed while getting on a 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 neart
1t Is not known whether he was murdered or
shot by accident TIE 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 1t is believed she
died from natural causes.
Mrs Sallie Freeman. OF Louisville, Ky, leg
broken; George Gillett, foot crushed by train;
Thomas Mcbride, OF Oklahoma City, skull
crushed by a stake in quarrel over lot;
Henry Pointer. of Ohio, skull crushed by fall
ing from his horse; Jesse Strong, cut in head
and face in 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, q. r., 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
ried men at one to each certificate
bearer, the Cherokee strip has popu-
lation of 200, 600. The advices TO Judge
Wollach show the racers were divided
about as follows among the border
towns: Arkansas City, $4,000; Orlando,
5000; Caldwell, 5000; Hennessy, 10, 900;
Saltwater, 10000; kiowa, 5000; Hun
newell, 5000; other points, 1900.
KANSAS Cir, Mo, Sept. 19.-Over
/ 900 ex-boomers passed through Kan
sas City Sunday EN- route to their
homes in all parts of the country from
the Cherokee strip. A more tired
and Disguised 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-
perded on the trains TO take them into
the strip, hut the trains were distanced
by he horsemen and wheelmen 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. 10. Thousands
of persons who left their homes in
Oklahoma to seek new homes in the
Cherokee strip are returning. They
thought they were in hard luck in
Oklahoma, but are now convinced their
condition was paradise compared to
what it would be in the new strip.
Some say they would not take claim
for a Gift