Sistersville daily review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1905-1907, 1905-06-05

Cleveland Okla, June lie
form menaces Cleveland. the only
wide open town in the oil country
west of the Mississippi. Since
early in the oil development it has
been the boast of Cleveland that it
was the only oil town prepared to
give man the right kind Of run
for his money, and this it still full
filling. But the future is uncert-
ain and shadowy. Next week or
the week after-unless the reform
ers lay down-Cleveland may be-
come as Bartlesville or Tulsa.
where even the drug stores do not
sell drinks, and whose only "tem-
pies" are those of trade and econ
omy.
Ten months ago Cleveland was
an ordinary Oklahoma village with
probably 800 people. The oil came
and there is to be found there
big wells that for days flowed a
product clear and rich and smooth,
and in the frenzy that followed,
the population increased many
fold. There is no way of telling
what it is now, because oil men
come and 60 with the rise and fall
of the capricious petroleum tide
and an estimate Of the new oil
towns population is purely guess.
In the case of Cleveland the
guesses range from $500 to 5000.
The place was in bad condition
for a boom and as it had prac-
tically no hotel accommodations
and few houses to rent For mon
tbs hundreds of persons have been
living in tents. stables or any
place that offered shelter. The
hotels sell in advance every foot
of sleeping room they have and
the new corners who applies for
accommodations leaves much to
chance. With the oil develop
ment came condition of lawless
mess unknown to any other town
| in Oklahoma or the Indian Ter
ritory. Saloons, gambling houses
and dance halls opened. increased
and multiplied until Cleveland be-
came the kind Of a town referred
to by a hotel clerk yesterday when
in a matter-of-fact way he observ-
ed that ''you can get anything
you are looking for here"
While it may be necessary to
guess at the population it is not
necessary to guess at the number
of gambling houses, for they are
all running wide open. There are
exactly ten. Attached to each is
a saloon. The tables are in the
rear of the saloon and can be seen
from the street. People passing
hear the confused murmlT Of the
players, the cursing of the cow
boys drunk at the bar and above
all the sharp tones of the men run
ming the game. "Men, are you
all on? Your choice is mine: here
she goes-the three the four and
the humpbacked five. Don't
crowd there's room for all. y
The games are those familiar to
old gamblers, but there are more
dice than is usually found in Il
gambling house. Every place here
has at least three dice games,
roulette and cards and along the
walls is strung slot machines. In
one place last Saturday night
seven poker games were going at
the same time. The crap game OF
the negroes seem popular.
"Examine them closely. III
give $1,000 to the man who de-
tects anything wrong with them,
saws the man at the table to a
suspicious player who looks the
"bones" over. Oil men. cowboys.
Indians and gamblers who have
followed the games to Cleveland,
crowd about the tables. The play
ers do not have to stop to 60 to
the bar in front for the cheap
whiskey sold there: it is brought
to them by walters.
Although the usual stories of
large stakes are told here most of
the bets are small. ranging from
a quarter to a dollar with any
kind of a poker game desired.