The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-07-11
ARE ALL ANXIOUS
TO SECURE ARMS
Thousands Of HOme-seekers
Throng Oklahoma Reserve.
AWARD Is BY LOTTERY
PEOPLE SLEEP IN STREETS TO
BE ON HAND EARLY
AWARD Is BY LOTTERY

FI Reno. .. T., July 10.-Following
ont the proclamation of President Nc
Kfarey. opening up TO settlement by
the whites the $1,000 farms in the KIOWa
znd Comanche country, the first regis
,-ation Of home seekers was made mere
and at Lawton at 9 O'Clock this morn
ing. Hundreds were lined before the
various registration booths when dark
ness came on tonight. and tomorrow
ard next day the registration viii con
tinue, until alI VINO come have been
given an opportunity to file their
names The drawing by lottery VIII
begin on J-Iy %, and until then none
Of the $1,000 applicants viii know
whether or not he has been lucky
enough to receive a homestead
The lottery scheme robbed the open
ins of the picturesque run and the ex-
citing times incident to the great OPEN
ing of the Cherokee strip ten years
ago, Compared with that event. the
affair is tame in the extreme Although
there are perhaps 10000 people in town.
H8 disorder prevails. As a rule the
h1me-seekers we're well provided with
money and provisions, and aside from
the long wait IN the sun before the reg
istratiOn booths, no serious incOnVen-
fence has been experienced.
Last night hundreds of people slept
IN the streets, and an were anxious to
maintain their places in the line, which
began forming yesterday a the six
registration booths in FL Reno. Many
had waited on the border of the new
country for two years or more. and the
last night of their long vigil was the
most trying they had experienced.
The line was made up Of the hale,
the lame and the NTaWuy frOpriersman,
sDrawled OUT in the dust The crowd
before each boOth elected a captain, and
each man and woman in line was given
"a number which they pinned couspicu-
ously to their clothes. A company
member was permitted occasionally to
absent himself from the line for a
short breathing spell, and iuvaria bly,
his place was protected by his fellow
watchers
Trouble is Averted.
As the hour of 8 o'clock neared. in
terlcperS tried TO push in and break the
numerical order in the line organiza-
ton. This Instantly raised baG blood.
and when word was passed down the
line little later that the booth officials
would not recognize the line OrgGniza-
t-o.. but would register the first per-
sens 20 present themselves. there were
threats OF violence. ana riOtinS seemed
likely.
Trouble was prevented by the early
announcement that the line OrganiZa-
tiOn would be respected by the govern
ment officials. Cheers and waving Of
hats greeted the word, and from this
time forth there was no sign of trouble
Applicants Wee admitted to the booths
four at time. and the filing proceeded
rapidly all day long
During the day the heat became in
tense. but no serious suffering was re-
ported. The numerous women in line
were treated g4Iflr.r1y- nv the man rrrl--
shaded them rom the sun with UNI
hra'las anu furnished drinks from the
lemonade vendors.
The second place of registration
named I'm the proclamation was at
LaWton- twenty-five miles overland.
where similar scenes TO those enacted
On El Reno We're witnessed. The people
DO the vicinity of Mountain View and
other points along the border contigu-
Gus TO that point, left yesterday for the
interior, and presented themselves
early today at the EawtOn booths.