Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-24
STORY OF CRIMES is
LIKE CHAPTER FROM POE
ANDY CREEK CROSSING TERRI
ToRYs "cREEPY" PLACE
Mysterious Murders, Searches for Hid
den Treasures and Bloody
Visit by QuantrelI
Memories

ATOKA, !. T., Aug. 23-No man has
ever travelled from Atoka to Boggy
depot, twelve miles distant, without
getting that creepy" feeling when he
crossed Sandy creek, three miles out
from Atoka on the old trail This
lonely spot, with its deathlike stiffness
by day and the weird call of the screech
owl and the yelping coyote at night.
will occupy a place in the history of
Indian Territory as the scene of prob
ably more mysterious murders than
any other one spot in it's borders.
Atoka is one of the oldest towns in
the Choctaw nation, and Boggy depot
is another. In the early days the trail
between the two towns was much FREE
quented. Long ago the crossing at
Sandy creek took the name Dead
Mans gulch." and to this day no native
of that section will make that cross
ing after nightfall unless forced to do
so. They go miles out of the way to
avoid it.
Started Forty Years Ago
| Nearly forty years ago the bodies
of two men were found at this spot
No one ever identified them. and no
one ever found out who killed them or
why. 1t was then the name Dead
Mans gulch'' was first heard A few
years later the stage driver who car
ried mail from Atoka over the trail
to Boggy depot, was murdered and his
body was found in the same spot where
the other two had been found
Quantrell passed this spot in the
Civil war and left his mark upon it.
He had found in the Choctaw nation
Ave men who were working among
the Choctaws trying to get recruits
for the northern army. These men
had come among the Indians as traders
and were not generally known to be
representatives of the northern army.
ts1k ~.
good will of the neighboring Indians
and then melted them to join the union
army. When Quantrell found the trail
of these men he searched the country
for them. They were chased across
the Choctaw nation, took refuge in the
Winding Stair mountains, were driven
westward and tried to get into the
Arbuckle mountains in the Chickasaw
nation, but were intercepted at Lime
stone gap by a squad of Quantrells
men led by Choctaw Indian. These
five men were taken to the trail and
hanged at the crossing at Sandy creek.
together with one of QuantrelPs own
men who had disobeyed orders in the
treatment of the Indians. It was diff
ficult for long time to get anyone
to travel that way even in the day
time
A Stage Robbery, Too
Immediately after the Civil war a
stage coach, with money designed to
pay government troops then stationed
near Boggy depot was robbed and the
government money, as we'll as all OF
the money and valuables of the pas
sengers, was taken. Twenty years later
three men, travelling in a light spring
wagon and driving fine team, stop
ped over night there. The next morn
ing the party was gone but there had
been strange proceedings that night
The men had measured off $50 feet
from the tree and set a circle of stakes
around it in a perfect circle. 1t was
evident that they had used tape line
for the measurements And where
they had set their stakes they had dug
into the ground At the end of one of
the lines their search had evidently
been rewarded, for in the bottom Of
the hole was plainly seen the imprint
of large pot with toes on the bot
tom large enough to hold at least
five gallons. The pot had been broken
and whatever 1t contained had been
carried away. There was no more
digging after the pot was found and
the remainder of the stakes were left
where they had been driven. There
are men living in Atoka today who
remember this incident. The men dis
appeared from the neighborhood as
mysteriously as they had come and
were never heard of again.