The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-05-24
THE RUSH TOR HOMES.
Exciting Scenes at the Settlement
Of the Kiokapoo Country.
THE SPEEDY GROWTH OF A TOWN.

How MeLoud, o. T., sprsnE Into Exist
enee In u Few Minutes-From Ten to n
Dozen Claimants on Each Farm In the
New Country.
OKLAHOMA CITY, o. T, May 24.-Sharp
at noon yesterday st least Is, 600 men, with
large number OF women, made the grand
rush from all sides of the Kickapoo reser
walton for the 400 odd claims open to white
settlement. In less than an hour after
ward there were scores OF contestants on
each Of these claims, In addition to the
"sooners," who had already taken posses
sion OF the lands long coveted by them.
The scenes at the opening were pre-
cieely similar to those at previous open.
ings. There were the mad rush. the wild
yeiis and the mtshaps more or less seri
Gus. So far as Is known, no lives were
lost In the race, but 1t is too early yet to
hear from the interior of the new coun
try.
Sweeney's Ridge, on the north ford Of
the Canadian river, in township 10, WAS
one OF the principal points of entrance to
the new land. Here there were 800 men
gathered, and just before noon there was
suppressed excitement as the minutes
licked nearer and nearer the hour.
Watches were held in one hand and the
lines tightly grasped In the other. The
scene that followed the shout go" was
intensely exciting. The first man to dash
across the bridge was in little buggy
drawn by a pair Of bays The horses
were tense with excitement. The driver
brought his whip down, shouting at them,
and the horses bounded across the bridge
and of up the roadway with u good start,
running away.
Following him came eight horsemen
Jostiing one another on the narrow bridge,
trying TO pass each other. They whipped
their horses and struck at them and at
each other, and at last got across and
scattered, racing like mad
The recklessness of the drivers In whip.
ping thoir horses down the bank an,
across has seldom been equalod. Horses
would fall, only to be dragged to their
feet again. Men were hatless and their
faces and foreheads wrinkled and strained
Wagons and horsenen came rushing pell
nell, and in five minutes the last wagon
had passed over The air was full of dust,
and the sound OF the shouting men and
rumbling wheels grew fainter and fainter
up the road.
About half mile northeast from
Swecney's the road crosses through mar
row lane of trees. Hero an awful jam oc-
Cured, lasting ten minutes. Men behind
saw their chances for claim pass away
right there, and cursed like mad The
jam was finally Strengthened out, how.
ever, and they were OF again.
Wednesday night 1t was made evident
to many of the boomers that all could not
get claims, so 1t was resolved TO organize
towns. About midnight big crowd left
Swecney's, and as the procession went
along large additions were made to its
ranEa Two tnwna had alrnaly hapn
jected-Olney and Aurora. A council was
held between the projectors of both towns,
and It resulted In n consolidation of inter.
ests, the new town to be called McIIoud
in honor of the general solicitor of tho
Choctaw road.
The procession, 1000 strong, then took
up the march to Douglas Mills, at the
section on which McLoud was to be stu
ated. AT the head OF the enterprise is DIR.
J. W. Gillett, of Perry, who was chosen
mayor. Green B. Raum, Jr,, OF Wash.
ington, son of the ex-commissioner of
pensions, is a leading member of the town
organization. The site is a bank covered
with cactus and underbrush.
A noon the crowd passed over the ford
in very quiet way and drew lots for po
stions on the town plat A corps OF sur.
veyors was on hand, and Mt once laid out
the town. Wagons with liquors, groceries
and cots came In, tents were erected and
soon stores, restaurants and n hotel were
opened and a new town had been born
The Kickapoo opening was much in the
nature of huge farce. AT l2 10 nearly all
claims had from ten to twenty claimants
on Them and those furthest from the line
were reached from tho border in twenty
minutes.
In one section hundred claimants who
had run In from both borders and those
who were "sooners" wero oongrcgated
The honest runners combined to drive tho
'sooners' off. Several fights occurred
and number of shots wese fired A col
ored man named Blackford, from Okla.
homa county, is reported badly wounded
As Sawnec, whom tho noon hour ap
pronched the crowd became restless At
three minutes to l. by some watches and
precisely noon by others there was "a break
here and there in the line, n wavering, and
then all broke into Il run The race across
the Lowell plateau was very pretty sight