The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1904-05-10
Political
Pet Gives Remarkable
Version of Okla
homa History

Oklahoma must certainly have q
10 Dandy as custodian at the Okla.
homa Worlds Fair building in ST.
Louis. For instance, let the old-timer
read the following mess OF misinforma.
tion which appeared in the st. Louis
Republic OF recent date, and then go
of in a corner by himself and ponder.
Herewith is reprinted this remark
able history:
IF youll notice the corner stone Of
the main entrance to the left of the
Oklahoma building as you go in
you'l read; Oklahoma, the Baby
Sister Of the Louisiana Purchase.
That is what Oklahoma is. and the
people OF that territory are proud cf
It. They are also proud that The ter
iItory was opened in April. 1889, and
nov has population Of 100000 Ano a
property valuation n $4OO,OoO.O0o. Al
least that is what is said by Edgar b.
Marchant, secretary Of the commits
sion
There is a picture in the main room
Of the Oklahoma building that occu-
pies a place of honor-as indeed it
should, for il is Of Captain David l.
PAYNE, known as oklahoma Payne.
and the man who made Oklahoma
possible. lie was the first Oklahoma
boomer He was sergeant-at-arns CT
the house in Washington in 1879 when
he discovered that all that vast sec
ton Of Indian territory now known as
Oklahoma was government land SUD
ject TO pre-emption.
Payne attempted to pre-empt the
land and the cattlemen had him ar
rested He was fastened TO the tail
board Of wagon and marched 23O
miles across country to Fort Smith.
He went out on bond Then he tried
pre-empting again, and again was ar
rested The fight that Payne had with
the cattlemen and the government to
establish his rights TO homestead land
Is one of the stirring events of Ameri.
can history and particularly in the
history Of the establishment of a state,
for Oklahoma will soon be a state.
payne after fighting for years sue
ceeded in getting into the United
States supreme court There he
Tough, It out and gained the victory
the court sustaining his contention.
That meant the birth Of new terri
tory and new state. Fate was un-
Kind for shortly after this decision
Payne died. but he will live SO long as
Oklahoma lives and viii always be to
Oklahoma what Sam Houston is 20
Texas. although their ways OF building
state differ very materially.
"There were thousapds and t1ou-
sands of entry blanks for the Cklaho-
man lands. and the government divid
ed them into two parts and placed
each part in a huge square box The
box is about feet high feet vide
and ~ feet in length II has four
apertures covered with a board
slide Two negroes turned these
boxes over completely at the drawing
and blIndfolded boy put hand into
the hole and took out blank Each
blank contained a name Of home
steader Benjamin F. Hegler drew
No. and homesteaded a quarter sec
tion around Lawton that netted him
$4,000 BY this act he set Wichita
Kas. telephone girl. who was No. 2,
back Of him.
This move by Hegler did him lit
tle good, He died soon after and his
widow married again. and she died, so
that the money from this lucky move
passed even out Of his family name.
The telephone girl now owns sixty-two
houses on her land in Lawton, from
which she draws pretty good month
ly income. The original box from
which these numbers were drawn IS
IN the Oklahoma exhibit
oklahoma also shows tables and
chairs Of oak made by the studspts In
the Oklahoma Agricultural college,
pictures OF the six governors Of the
territory and above the main en-
trance on the exterior Is shown an
Indian tepee a sod house and town
scene, portrayne the progress Of Ok
/ lahoma
by The way. il isn't 'Ocklahoma,
as commonly pronounced, but 'Oakla-
homa, says Mr. Marchant'