The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-19
IT IS A HE'LL ON EARTH.
That is the Way One Correspondent
Describes Perry.

The New Boom Town in Cherokee
Strip is Reminiscent of the Tough
Border Towns of Pioneer Mining
Days-'Blaok Nell's" Dance House,
Saloon and Dive Open When the Set
tiers Arrived-Saloons in prairie
Schooners''-No Water, No Work, No
Food-A ''Tenderfoot's" Popularity.
From the New York Recorder.
On land as barren and deserted as that
from which grew Jonah's gourd sprang
up in day, as did that gourd in a night,
the town of Perry, in the newly settled
Cherokee strip.
All have heard the story of that wild
race of boomers, who, at the rifles crack,
spurred their horses over the boundary
line of the Cherokee strip, and sought for
themselves or their masters claims and
quarter sections, in most cases of less
value than the flint rock on the New
England farm. Few, however, followed
their movements further or know aught
of life in such frontier towns.
AS the town of Perry stands to-day.
thrown, pitched, tumbled into place by
its %, 900 inhabitants. its streets present
a more conglomerate picture of struggling
humanity than any seen in Chicago's
Midway Plaisance.
There are four distinct classes of people
in Perry. First, men who have money
and are improving the strip in promising
localities in the hope of adding still more
to their wealth Second, the men who
have but little ready cash and have come
with the determination of making a home
for themselves, their wives and their chill
dren. Third, the class of shiftless men
who have never done well and never will
do well, because they believe that ''luck
is agin EN- and are too lazy to make an
effort to disproye the fallacy, and last, the
set of gamblers, thugs, and blacklegs of
| every description always found in a new
! and half-ciViLzed community.
To man, woman, or child possessed with
other than strong eyes, accustomed to
| wind and weather, life in the strip would be
a hell on earth. The soil is strongly aka
line Wind drives the white dust into
the ears, mouths, and nostrils until it
bites and burns. Huge goggles are a ne
cessity. They are made of mica, leather
bound. But even with these protectors
one dare not venture out in the face of
such wind as at times comes sweeping
| across the desert.
The daily routine of life in Perry is
wearisome and monotonous. With the
! sinking of the sun and the closing of the
! land office, however, the men seek their
| houses, camp fires, or whatever they call
| home. The evening meal of bacon and
| coffee, common with banker and suuatter
| for Perry has bank, is disposed of,
| and then back into the streets goes the
| throng, uneasy with the unrest which per
vades everybody and everything in the
! territory. Settlers from outlying claims
ride in to join the gaunt, begoggled throng
| which collects on corners, in barrooms,
! and around poker tables, trying to forget,
each IN his favorite way, the trials.
troubles, and suffering, both mental and
physical of the daylight hours.
PRIMITIVE DIVE.
One of the finest houses built in Perry
was combination saloon, dance hall, ana
| gambling den. Other similar resorts
were soon running in opposition. but this
| one, owned and conducted by woman
| called BLACK Nell, " will probably always
hold more than its share of patronage