The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1901-05-20
SKELETONS FOUND IN
BEAVER COUNTY.
Excites Curiosity Of PeopIe-Probably
a Surveying Party.

y
have been much interested in the nnd.
ing Of four skeletons on the farm Of
J y. over Since the unearthing of
the skeletons thore has been much
speculation as to the cause Of their
being there. but as yet no one has
come forward with plausible explain
alton
The skeletons were found by John
Graves who was plowiug on a por
tion of the farm. While making
round of the field he unearthed a skull
I'm a sandy piece Of the ground. In.
terested and excited over the strange .
find Graves went to the farm house
and secured a spade and begain to dig .
for the rest Of the skeleton. He did
not have o dig far when he found the
skeleton He unearthed it to the hips.
and while working to get the skeleton
out he found another skull This so
surprised him that he stopped his
digging and went to the house TO I'M
form Mr.. Over, the owner of the farm,
what he had found over and Graves
decided to get another man, and Sc
curing Captain H. Mott, who lives
near the farm, went back to the field
and began to dig for the skeleton to
which the second skull belonged AZ
ter digging for some time in the sand
they brought out four skeletons.
A close examination Of the skele-
tons was made by the party and from
all indications the men were murder
ed The skulls of the two skeletons
were crushed and the third skull was
so mashed in removing It from the
ground that it was impossible to tell
whether it had been mashed previous
to It's interment or not. No skull
could be found for the fourth skeleton.
After repeated Efforts to find IT, the
task was given up.
It Is estimated that the skeletons
had been in the ground for at least
twenty years. or perhaps a longer
time. The burial place OF the bodies
was on sandy knoll, and the first
skeleton was not over a foot beneath
the surface Of the ground It seemed
as though a round hole had been dug
to receive the bodies at the time that
they were buried and they were
spilled in on top Of one another un-
tremendously. The bodies had evi.
IDENTIFY been piled in the hole in haste
9s they were all doubled up. In the
hole was found a shell watch charm
and flint arrow head. BY the side OF
the fourth skeleton was piece of an
instrument which is supposed to be a
part of a surveyors outfit.
Since the finding of the skeletons
there have been stories told of a band
of surveyors who started out to sur
vey Oklahoma in the seventies. and
who were never heard of after they
left Fort Supply. Bands OF Indians
were on the war path at that time and
it is supposed that perhaps these men
met their death in this manner. This
is hardly probable, though, as the In
dians are not supposed to bury their
victims. It might have been. however,
that their bodies we're found after the
assault and buried in a shallow hole.
Previous to the time that Mr.. over
took the farm there was a skull on a
pole near the large spring on the
place. This might have been the skull
OF the fourth skeleton. There is talk
Of band of horse thieves which was
captured and the vengeance of the
earl days taken out on them, and
they were buried in a hole as though
they were the Indians who were de-
spised at that time by the settlers OF
the territory or the cattlemen of the
Strip
Nothing else that would give any
clue to the mystery hs- becn lo1Gd
and as there was nothing else to do
the bones of the four men who met
their death in a sudden manner as
it would seem, were inferred in the
cemetery by the persons Of that yicin
ity
The mystery which shrouds these
skeletons will probably never be clear
ed up unless some character of the
early days comes to the front and tells
the stories Of those interesting times
1t is not likely that such viii be the
case, as affairs of that nature were SC
frequent it would be hard to remem
Der the details Of every event which
resulted in the death Of a human be
ing or even four Of them. Until the
mystery is cleared up the citizens o
this county will all have their ideai
as to the manner in which the mer
met their death and who they were.