New-York tribune., 1901-07-30
THE BIG LAND LOTTERY
DRAWING FOR THE OKI AHOMA HOME
STEADS BEGINS AT Ell RENO-THOSE
WHO GOT THE FIRST CHANCES.
rBr TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.l

TBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE
Ell Reno. okla. July 29.-The great free land
drawing for farms in the new Kiowa ana
Commanche country was begun to-day 1t VIII
last four days in which time 16f'oo names
will be drawn from the two wheels. There are
only 1900 prizes. This morning twenty-five
names from each district were drawn from the
boxes and this afternoon six hundred more were
taken out.
The man who drew the first farm in the Law
ton district was James r. Wood of Weather
ford He is a farmer Miss Matte Beal, a tele-
phone girl of Wichita, drew the second choice.
The farms are said TO be worth no less than
$4,000 apiece Miss Beal left town for El Reno
tonight TO select her farm She is unmarried.
The man who drew the first farm In the I'll
Reno district was Stephen A. Hocoim, OF Paul
Valley and Leonard Lamb. of August. drew the
second prize These farms are worth S2o,ooo
each.
When the drawing began at 8 O'Clock this
morning fully twenty thousand persons STOOD
on the side of the hill in West FL Reno. All
were in suspense Ten boys, five for each wheel
were chosen by Commissioners W. A. Richards
and Frank Dale. who had charge OF the dra"-
ing TO take the names from the wheels These
BOYS were chosen from the crowd just before u
O'Clock When the first name was taken out
great cheering went up. After the name or MISS
Beal was announced following that OF MT
Wood drawing second prize, the crowd yelled
''They must get married.
1t is announced that two thousand repeaters
will be thrown out 1t is alleged that this num-
her of persons registered three and four times
once at each booth. Other frauds have been
discovered it is said which may be the means
OF throwing out three thousand more names
About one thousand persons registered whose
names cannot be made out by the clerks pS
reason of flegibity OF handwriting. and theSe'
too, will fail TO get their names IN the chahce
for farms.
Before the drawing began Frank Dale read
the proclamation declaring the country opened
TO settlement 1t was cheered loudly. AS the
drawing advanced the excitement became more
and more intense Several women failing 10
draw farms to-day have become Ill from the
strain on their nerves. Immediately alter lie
names of men drawing the first two claims were
announced there was rush by land agents u
e,.+ ar them Wood was offered S;5 600 for his
farm but says he will live on 1T and prove IL
I'D which requires fourteen months time. he
will then lay out a town site near Lawton' anu
saws he can make $4,000 out of 1t. He was
moor farmer in Weatherford, and has been IN
both free land rushes into Oklahoma before but
secured nothing.
In Wichita there great excitement over
the drawing Thousands who have registered
stood around the bulletin boards waiting TOT
their names to appear. Miss Beal was al work
answering Hello calls when she got WoTu over
the long distance phone from Ell Reno She
went on with her work to-day, but resigned
this evening She will live on her farm win
her mother. Considerable excitement was
caused at Fort Sill to-day by the announcement
that several hundred boomers" had settled on
mining claims in the Wichita Mountains. Cap
tain Scott is having trouble ousting soon
ers' from the military reservation surrounding
Fort Sill.
The eighteenth winner in the Lawton dlstrlct
to-day was Minerva McClintock, twenty-five
wears old, of Oklahoma City She was married
Yesterday and by this act forfeited her right 10
The claim She might have chosen a claim near
a county seat town worth several thousand dol
lars The drawing will be resumed tomorrow
morning at O'Clock, and. ii is believed, VIII
have been completed by Thursday evening.