The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-09-16
10000 IN THE RUSH
Exciting Scenes at Noon
Today at the Chero-
kee Strip.
EVERYBODY REGISTERED.
The ''Sooner" Element There-Re-
spect For Law and Order Kept
the Crowd in Check.


All night there has been hurrying to
aud fro. and but few OF the 10000 boom
ers upon the border Of Promised Land
closed III -ir eyes In sleep. With prairie
fires raging In front Of them and with
mind aud body strained by the pent mp
excitement of the coming struggle, th ere
was no room for sleeping. no inclination
to rest.
All night the wagons and boomers
Kept pulling up from the streams to
which they had retired for water and
pasturage; all night the loaded railroad
trains continued to arrive. and before
the break Of day every body was astir.
During the aight thousands OF letters
were written home. and at mornings
dawn ceuriers weSe seut to the nearest
post office loaded down with misstves
from many and many man realizing che
danger that WAS impending and thai the
end might come In his long home, tn-
stead OF home for his family.
This morning the scenes have been the
same that have been witnessed ut all
other great land rushes. There was
careful packing OF all loose articles. q
looking over harness and saddle. or oiling
Of wheels and q careful grooming OF
horses.
EsFIMATE OF THE CROWD.
The number at persons passed at varl-
Gus points Is estimated to.0e as foliows:--
Arkansas City. Kan, $4,000; HunnswsiI.
Kan. 5000; Cameron, 5000; Caldwell.
Is zoo; kiowa, 5000; Higgins. Tex,
0s0; Hsunessv, 10000; Cantoument.
5000; Orlando, 1900; Saltwater. 10000;
total, 100000. Half as many more are
scattered iu little groups along the 400
miles OF border line.
Here and there q blue coated soldier
was seen today; here and there 40 armed
deputy marshal stood at the front. but so
few was their number that the mighty
throng of people could have swept them
out OF existence In twinkling.
II was no armed force, but the Ameri-
can peoples patriotism and respect for
the law that held the waislnR thousands
In check.
Thirty thousand cerrificates have been
issned at the Orlando booth, $4,000 at
Hennessy and %, 900 at Saltwater. Every
body has been registered. but 1t was
necessary for th,s Governments to employ
ftty clerks at some points, instead of the
three they started with. The day opened
fore night. but the dust WAS flying IL
great clouds before the rising wind,
Guthrie was deserted this morning.
All the banks and stores were closed. and
1t was quieter than on Sunday. Every
other city near The Strip was In ths same
condition. All Tue raen and half OF the
women had Roue to take part In the race !.
EXCITEMENT THIS MORNING.
|A4 At least one hundred and nifty thou
sand people bivouacked upou the border
OF the great strip last night. Long be-
| fore daylight this morning thousands OF
people had asse bled about she Santa Fe
depot here and train after train was
speedily packed with people and pulled
out for Orlando upon the line. The rush
| for good places on the train was hard and
| number were crushed and injured.
Arriving at Orlando all were compelled
| to leave the cars and take their places
with the the $4,000 people who bad spent
the night there upon the railway right OF
way or sat about the town. A thousand
| or so OF people who had not registered
were speedily accommodated and then
began q scene of pushing and crowding
aud elbowing that has never before Deen
seen.
GROWING TRAINS.
| Over 5000 people wanted TO 20 l n on
| the first train. which had capacity Tor
| less than 1900, and all were anxious to
| get the best place aboard. At
eleven O'Clock the frat train pulled up to
| the line and the others came right benind
/ il. Here were at least half dozen trains,
| put everybody wanted to ride on the hrst
Que. and as far forward in that as poss-
| ible. with q wild shout the crowd rushed
1 us
| were swept frem their fest, and for q
| time It seemed as though the mob would
| capture the train. for men and women
| were around and over the engine and
tender, upon and under the plat
forms and even upon the roofs
of the coaches. The blue
coated guardians soon recovered, how
ever. and the fixed bsyonets cleared the
train aud compelled everybody to show
his or her certificate before entering.
| But on every side people fought and
tstruggied to- get near the car. Women
had their clothes torn off and men were
knocked down and trampled upon,
the struggle a,Ip kept up until the
peated on smaller scale at each
succeeding train. Every train was
| loaded as never passenger trains were
loaded before, seat, aisle and platform,
roof and tender and baggage car. In
every couceivabls nook on every imsgin-
able percning point was human being
At last 1t Is nigh noon and at Ruushot u
mighty shout goes up. aud the race has
mas begun.
THE sooNERs AHEAD.
At twelve o'clock the bars that have 80
long enclosed six million acres of public
land wsre let down. and over hundred
| Thousand men and women Joined In the
mad rush, for land. Men who had the
fastest horses rode Ike the wind from the
border only TO find other men with sorry
looking animals ahead of them. Fast
teams carrying anxious homeSeekers
were driven at breAkneck speed ouly Il
find men ou the land who had gone in
afoot. Every precautlon had been taken
TO keep out the sooner element, and
ret that same element, profiting by for
mer experiences. had captured tne land.
All night the rumble of teams could be
heard as they moved out TO the strip. Al
the depots the men stood iu line a
the ticket Office awaiting the SLOW
movements OF ticket sellers who coulC
not sell over Two thousand tickets al
hour. The great jam. however, was al
Orlando where there gathered 20,00l
Perry citizens all anxious Tor the time Il
come when they could star on their ter
mile race. AT tho meridian nour tn,
start was made. For an hour before tn,
borders of the trip were black with men
horaes and teams.
From the elevation at Orlando the lin
could he seen for q distance OF eiRh
miles east and ten miles west. In eaci
direction the liue was crowed until ther,
| appeared but y black RIBBON outlined ol
the gray surface about them. Half
dozen times some one would shout tn
hour or noon. and fifty to hundre
horAemen would draw out of the lin
only 10 be driven back by the cavalryme
who were patrolling the strip In front Q
the impatient tbrong.
THE SIGNAL TO START.
At last puff or smoke Was seen out o
the plains TO the north and soon = du
report of cannon was heard. A doze
response 70 the signal and the tine wa
!, | br.,kaff lDnrtin0 ofe ns brea Z naek nuaed