The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-05
MAYOR FOR ONE NIGHT.
An Experience In Town Site Booming
 on the Cherokee Strip. M

An Experience in Town Site Booming
 on the Cherokee Strip.
 A. V. Alexander has sold yellow pine shingles to Kansas boomers, smoked the calumet with Cheyenne and Arapa- hoe braves in their tepees, drunk alkali water at critical times in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, has walked into Chicago dry goods store while he was wearing the big boots and spurs ana sombrero of cowboy costume and ex- cited the curiosity of the lady clerks by buying three dozen of Mother Hubbard wrappers, and has the distinction Of having served as mayor of a ''sooner' town that lived but one day.
 T was in Arkansas City. Kan, town located on the Indian National line, when the boomers were waiting to make the run for the Cherokee Strip opening" said Mr. Alexander, after be- ing solicited by his hearers for another story. Everybody was waiting until the bill for the opening passed congress and was signed by the president. At midnight one night there was furry in Arkansas City. The local paper had received a telegram that the bill had passed and was signed by the presi- dent. It was legal to make the run the moment the president had lifted his pen from signing the bill. So, about five hundred people left in wagons, on horseback and afoot at midnight to en- ter the strip. I took a surveyor With me in a buggy. and started for the old Standard Oil ranch, at the Willow Springs, to have town site located. wanted to sell lumber to the settlers. My buggy headed the procession. The AtNI k@ ,1y, hyy getting,a fee for surveying each lot.
 Well. the procession landed at the Willow Springs about daylight alighted from the buggy to hitch my horse when two men with Winchesters came up and said that if attempted to unload town-site crowd on to his claims he would kill me. I happened to know one of the men, who was from Guthrie. and I soon argued them out of the idea of attempting to fight five hun dred men. Tomake the story short, the surveyor drew plot of the town on pa- per, the lots were numbered, and slips of paper'bearing the numbers from up to 500 were placed in the hat. Then each man drew slip from the hat. and Athe number located his lot. By this means bloodshed was avoided, for by the old method of a run dozen men with guns would have rushed to each Eorner lot
 .'At night about five hundred of the gamblers and toughest characters of Guthrie came in and camped near by. They swore they proposed to drive my crowd out at the point of Winchesters and take the town site away from us. We sent a committee to effect a com- promise with the invaders. but no com hnrn ho said they had come to take the town site, and they proposed to take it. All preparations were being made for 8 battle with guns in the morning. During the night went alone with a Mag of truce to the camp of the enemy. I found the leader to be a notorious gambler whom knew in Guthrie. I told him of our lottery scheme, and proposed to take his crowd in on an equal footing with my crowd. That struck him as a, square deal The ene my broke camp immediately and came over with us.
 That night meeting was held in a small circus tent that my crowd had brought along. Everything was har- monious. A motion was carried that -~racn man sHouies s6Aate one@doliar in cash to the surveyor as a fee for sur Veyir1g. l was made treasurer, ana about one thousand dollars fell into my hands in few minutes. Mind you, the whole town was still on paper, and the money was to pay for the surveying that would be done.
 seTI1en several jugs of whiskey were opened, and under it's exhilarating in- f1uence the meeting became so enthusi- astic that 1t nominated and elected me Mayor of Willow Springs by acclama- Aion, and went ahead and elected a city council a board of public works and a chief of police, and even granted fran cl1tses for a gas company and street railway line. That night all fell asleep late, the majority rolled in blankets on the ground. A cold norther from Texas swept by and chilled everybody to the bone.
 saThe, next morning a troop of United States cavalry aWoke all of us and made everybody skedaddle out of the strip. It was fake telegram about the bill having passed congress at that ;time So I was mayor of Willow Springs from midnight until morning, even if it was Sooner town built on paper. Besides almost freezing M death that night, had to return the one thousand dollars donated to the surveyor and 1t took me six months to locate all the men.''-S Louis Globe Democrat
 
 HE WAS NOT HER DEAR.
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