The Topeka state journal., 1901-07-17
NO LET UP IN Rush.
Homeseekers Continue to Crowd
in on El Reno and Lawton.

FL Reno, Okla, July I'm the six
days Of registration ending Tuesday,
54,29S homeseekers have been registered
at the FL Reno and L4awton land Of
fees.
There were 1886 registered at the
seven booths in this city Tuesday,
making a total for Ell Reno of 39, ,697. At
Lawton there were 1928 persons reg
istered, making a total for Lawton of
1886.
Commissioner Richards established a
booth for the exclusive use of old sol
diers and barred men from the wo-
mems booth. This reduced the con-
fusion to the minimum and enabled the
clerks to work rapidly and the lines to
move promptly.
Receiver T. r.. Reid and Register F.
G. Sickles of the land Office We're placed
in charge of the old soldiers booth.
Commissioner Richards has estab-
Hshed two more booths, making ten IN
all. and he believes his force viii be
shipments of supplies have been re-
celyed in anticipation of today's rush
Oscar ROehr and Fred Gordon, of To-
peka, are here. Charles E. Elliott, of
Wellington, r. 2. Harness, of Clay
Center, "A. B. Vaughan, of Hutchinson,
and Carey Carroll Of Alma, are among
the advance guard of Kansans now on
the ground.
Harry Barnes, son of Ex-Governor
Barnes, of Oklahoma, has opened UP a
notary'S Office here along with two
Kansans. G. M Myers and T. K.
Richey, journal clerk and reading clerk,
respectively, of the house at the last
session of the legislature.
So anxious are some of the home
seekers to be at the head of the column
when the booths open for the day that
they wake up notaries in the middle of
the night to take their acknowledg-
ments.
x-Governor c. NJ. Barnes is over
today from Guthrie to look at the
crowds.
B. i. Norman. freight brakeman
on the Choctaw route, was shot by
the point of death Sterling tried to
steal a ride to Oklahoma City. Nor
man put him off the train, whereupon
he pulled revolver and shot him.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cunningham, of Okla
homa City, reported to the police that
a. negro thug crept into her tent at an
early hour this morning and assaulted
her.
4. J. Peery, one Of the al1otting
agents, stirred up the animals in gov
ernment circles by announcing that he
had been informed that Governor
Jenkins had decided to take the capital
prize Of 100 acres adjoining the Lawton
townsite for school lands. He got his
information from Indian Agent Rand
lett of Anadarko. While the report
created considera bic stir, Governor
in it.
Mr.. Peery brought over a story to the
effect that the Rock Island would make
Fort Cobb a big city at the expense of
Anadarl1o, by running the Enid branch
to Cobb instead of Anadarko, and by
having the Enid land office also moved
there.
Col. A. r. Greene. assistant to Gov
ernor Richards, was worked today.
While sitting in his buggy at the wo-
mans booth, big, fat, 200-pound wo-
man came hobbling up and said: Mr..
will you please haul me to the depot [
have a wooden leg and cant get
around.
''In very busy" said the colonel.
but can always find time to help a
crippled woman" She got in and he
drove her to the depot. After alight-
ing. she remarked. Mister, have no
wooden leg: it's only soft corn
There is a noticeable difference be-
tween the crowd at Fort Sill and that
at El Reno. The Fort sill crowd is
made up largely of Texans and Indian
Territory people who came here in their
FL Reno crowd is composed of KAN
sans, Oklahomans and people from
afar who travel by rail
Homeseekers at Ell Reno seem TO
have N ore money than those at Fort
Sill. They regard the opening less Sc
riously than their neighbors, and will
feel the loss of lands less keenly-
Nearly everybody at Fort Sill is a
farmer, while at. El Reno there are
hundreds of people who couldn't tell a
corn field from a COW pasture
e. f. Mitchell, the big cattleman of
FL Reno, has huge contract on his
hands. He must tear down 700 miles
of wire fence, wrap it on spools and
deliver it to the Indian agencies in the
Kiowa, Comanche and Apache coun-
tries by August 6. He now has los rnen
and AZ teams at work, and says ne will
complete the contract on schedule
time