Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-21
A ROPING CONTEST
FORMER oTTuMWAN WITNESSES
COWBOY SPORT IN THE IN.
DIAN TERRITORY
Mrs. Fannie M. Hatch Writes an In
teresting Letter to the Courier
Tell of the steer-Ropins Contests
and the Daring cravens Hold-Up.

A roping contest in the Indian Terri
tory is described in a letter to the
Courier from Mrs. Fannie Hatch, a
former Ottumwan. who is now resi-
dent of Bartlesville, l. T. The contest
was held as one of the features of! the
Fourth of July celebration and the
event drew crowds from all the sur
rounding country. Mrs. Hatch also
tells of the hold-up of the fishing party
by Ben Cravens' band of outlaws. the
particulars of which were given in the
Courier Monday evening.
Mrs. Hatch's Letter.
Mrs. Hatch's letter to the Courier is
given in full herewith:
"Bartlesville, l. T., July 10, 1908.
well, the glorious Fourth has come
and gone. 1t was busy lively time
for Bartlesville. Great preparations
had been made but heavy fall of rain
the second and third OF July spoiled
many of the arrangements. The town
was crowded with strangers, as ex-
cursions were run on both railroads.
Bartlesville has a beautiful natural
park, where all the entertainments are
held. Gas pipes are laid in this park
SO it is also fitted for the night as
we'll as day The usual fake side
shows were on the grounds besides nu-
merous refreshment booths. The park
also has large dancing pavilion
and it was well filled with merry dane
ers during the entire day and night. A
merry-go-round was there and to say
it was enjoyed by the people. does
hor nd on6 thon
as an accompaniment to the steam or
gan of the y-go-round, cowboy
would discharge each cartridge in his
"six-shooter" until it was empty and
then would reload the weapon and
again the night air would resound with
the sharp crack of the revolver, until
the merry-go-round was stopped for
another trip. AS the gun was discharg-
ed in the air, no one was hurt or
scared.
| Cowboys Do Lassoing.
ga roping contest was held about
three miles from town and this event
was the drawing card of the day. A
prize of $50 was given to the cowboy
who could lasso and hog tie vicious
| steer in the shortest length of time
/ lie CdlllG WCIG ullFCu lulO q 1t5n ! oil
pen and were turned loose one by one.
AS soon as one was turned loose, a
cowboy would come dashing up on q
fiery steed, whirling his lariat above
his head, suddenly he would lean for
ward in his saddle and with slight
| jerk of the arm the lariat would
gracefully descend over the running
steers head. The steer was kept run
ming for short distance until the
cowboy had taken up some of the
rope, when suddenly the horse would
come to a perfect standstill, in ar
| instant the steer is jerked to the
ground, in another the rider is of
| his horse and running to the steel
he ties it with his lariat, before it has
time to move. 1t took one minute
and four second to win the prize, but
last year it took but 45 seconds. I
was quite an exciting scene to a ten
derfoot.' There were about Is COW
boys that participated. The cattle
were not MANNED or even hurt ant
as soon as they are united, they jumI
up and ran away. We sat upon ,
mound about so feet about the field
where the roping took place, and thi:
mound took the place of an amphithea
tire, as its sides were surrounded witt
carriages and parties on horses, there
being several thousand people in at
tendance, and all were on the sidt
Of this mound.
L Much Coal and Oil in BartelsvlIe.
\ "Bartlesville now has brass band
called the 'Pythian band so we hav'
very good music on all occasions. TIL,
town at present is full of oil magnates
Some are from London, England, ant
the town is growing very rapidly
You cannot look in any direction blu
that you see oil towers looming up II
! view A seven-foot vein of anthracite
coal has been found almost in tn
town. Leases are being taken up eacl
day by northern capitalists and thi
land will soon be entirely controlled
by white men. The old business build
ings are all being torn away and mod
ern two and three-story brick build
ings are erected in their places. Gu
leading druggist has new soda four
tain in his place of business, which h
purchased for over a thousand dollars
so, you see, If we are in the Indian tel
ritory. we have some of the luxpries o
our white brothers. Not long since al
Indian squaw came into the drug stor,
and pointed to some perfume and CAV
few 'grunts meaning she wante'
some. The clerk stepped up to wal
upon her, and taking out bottle h
removed the stopper so that the squav
might inhale the fragrance and see i
it was to her liking, but the squay
took the bottle in one hand and tn
fold of her blanket in the other an
tipping the bottle she saturated tn
blanket, using about half the contents
then setting the bottle down she slow
ly shambled out of the story. The
) like that pretty stuff in bottles.
A Fishing Party is Held Up.
!, another chapter was added to tn,
/. history of Bartlesville few week
ago, when a party Of about thirty-fiv,