Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-10-25
MD. eDAY ooToBER s5, 1894 - NO. ia

n f1&tt F<y - '-.~'s
Gust Of the plains and the heat Of
tke sun .tnrned them from black to
leN. He wore IN old slouch hat,
foppine down at the sides and pull
% llp by cords In front, and carried
: rusty cap.and-ball pistol rs g CON-
paniSn piece to . Kentucky muzzle-
Ieeding squirrel gun. AT Hunne-
wsll and Arkansas City he. made
u 5pseches when Capt. Payne was abb
lsnt and after the FIRST raid and
eap4ure at Ewing CITY he sulleniy
16li0~ed . wagon ontlof the country
st-x - end of . rope and ia front of
" soldiers bayonet. From
h lnity be never recovered.
s0ldSer of coWboy
vas Intense and deadly. He took
to hanging around the frontier bars
more than ever. and his speeches
were filed with bitterness and de-
sire for revenge.
When Payne was killed by poison
at Wellington, he was in favor of
setting the prairie on fire and burn.
ing every burned cattleman in the
Strip He still followed his trade
as boomer and went in with
Capt. Couch to try and settle up
the desired land. Again he was
captured and kicked out of the Ter
ritory by the soldiers. When Couch
quit raiding and went to Washing
ton to lobby the scheme through,
the Sooner became disgusted and
talked of organizing party to 'go
in and skin the cattle police sold
iers.' He harnessed up his old
beasts and sneaked away down the
Chisholm trail into Oklahoma.
HID away in a little wood on the
banks of the North Canadian river,
he lived on fish. game, and berries.
Others like him had come in there
and were existing like Digger In
dians.
But the sooner was happy. He
had outwitted the Government and
was actually living in Oklahoma.
One day he and bis friends captur-
ed three negro soldiers, who were
away from Fort Reno on furlough.
They killed the soldiers and buried
them in the river bed. This was
one OF the pleasantest acts of the
'sooner's' life, and he always spoke
of it as Justice He was hunted
out of his burrow in the woods,
and, together with his companions,
driven back into Kansas. But he
would not stay there. and the pro-
clamation of the President opening
Oklahoma found him hiding in the
wilds of the country. He came out
of his retreat like a tiger from his
lair, and proceeded to stake out
claim. United States Marshals
came in and drove him out. Pro-
clamations were posted up forbid
ding any one from entering into
this country before a certain date,
under penalty of losing all rights to
claim, but the sooner didn't
mind, and the morning of the OPEN
ing found him on a claim, brindle
dog at his heels, a wind-broken team
Of skinny horses at his side, and a
dilapidated wagon at the rear.
The Sooner was delighted. He
had a legal claim at last. Now he
would 60 to work and get into Con-
gress. AS an old settler, he was
entitled to great consideration. He
frequented barrooms and endeay-
ored to enter politics. The tender
feet laughed at him so much that
he became disgusted and sold out
his hand and went. His occupation
was not yet gone. The Cherokee
Strip was still forbidden haven of
rest, he turned his raiding energies
in that direction. Once more he
found life worth the living, when
he was tracked and hunted from
cover to cover, like a wolf, by the
soldiers and Indian police lie was
not happy unless he was in trouble
with the Government. So he raid
ed and drank and schawed' tobacco
and swore at the damned sogers'
until this land was also opened. He
managed to change the stakes in a
county-seat town two hours before
the opening, and was unceremon-
iously kicked off the Territory for
his pains. However. although late
in arriving, he returned in time to
use his knowledge OF the twisted
stakes and secure ii good lot. He