The San Francisco call., 1903-01-02
THREATENED
BLOODSHED
IS SPARED
Wyoming Oil Men
Camp on Their
Claims.
Col. Ketehum's Cowboys
Terrorize Aspen
County.
Most Of Loeators Still Out
# and Serious Trouble
.... Is Anticipated.

I. EVANSTON. Wyo.. Jan. 1.-THE. rush
f6E claims in. the J1ntah oil fields still
FcoHtinpes, and from the present: outlook
moro than a week viii elapse before the
locating. " III have been completed. So. far
as lsrlown there has been no bloodshed.
although shots were exchanged in many
cases:
Up to midnight last night person
/ could. we'll imagine himself in the heart
OF a. hostile country. Fires arking the
corners of claims were lighted by the
tl2cUsands. and these, together with hun
.dIeds. of locatoFs camping near them. re-
minded one of q bivouae at war
Z Colonel Betchun at the head Of twelve
t@despeTate COWBOYS well armed and
rnounted carried Aspen County by. storm.
All midnight they rode forward down the
section lines. setting stakes as they came
TO the corners. As. tue first stakes We're
being driven they wefe treated by yolley
OF gunshots from opposing. toeatoFs but
the bullets All went wide OF their Ts1arizs.
Swinging to their. saddles the party DART
I. ed forward. nor did they. cease until they
had located every section open for films
Then. retracing their way. they found
that the opposition parties had in many
eases pulled their stakes. and burned them
in the fre. These were replaced. and the
triumphant party returned 10 file their
claims on record.
In the Spring Valley. country there were
fist fights on every side, but the men re-
Trained from the use of firearms as far as
known. but up to this time not one lo-
Gator in ten has returned. and the next
few hours may bring stories of conflicts
The whole oil field is the scene of in
tense excitement, and it is not believed
the trouble can pass without bEoodshed,
as a feeling of deadly hatred has existed
between the locators for some time.
O : o
tcIligence. and. after a few more rambling
sentences concerning the weather and the
instruments Governor DOTes greetings to
the President were received at this end.
The officers on board the :Silvertown
kept wiring at short intervals that the
weather was rather rough in the harbOr
OF Honolulu. and that some delay might
take place before the hnaI splice was
made This led the officials of the Postal
Company to believe that the first signal
would be late in arriving
The cabIe-room of the Postal Company
was a busy spot all during the evening.
Nc visitors were present, but. the men
who were looking after the interests Of
the cable were on the alert all the. time
H. S. Harrington, the cable superintend-
ent, and p. McKenua, the operator who
received the first message, took turns at
watching the long roll of tape asst passed
through the receiving instrument.
The first signal flashed over the wire.
Minute You are reversed" was to the
! effect that the instrument on this end OF
the line was not working properly Min
ute" was a request. from the man who
was sending at Honolulu to Operator
McKenna to pause until the instruments
were working properly.
1t took but few seconds to get the in
struments in proper working order and
then New Years greetings were sent from
both ends. Wire good, Signals excel
lent Company messages, Happy New
Year" and other short sentences were re-
ceived here before Governor Dole's mes
sage arrived.
The greetings Of Governor Dole to Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Clarence Mackay were
treated as private business by the officials
of the cable company and they refused to-
give out their contents last night. When
the answers are sent back to Honolulu
the full workings OF the two messages will
be given TO the world.
WORKS PERFECTLY.
The cable worked perfectly from the
start and all the experts who were pres
ent expressed keen surprise that a new
wire would transmit over nearly 300