The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-09-15
Different TOWNS WILL
CELEBRATE EVENT
Parade at Perry WIf Bring Back
Memories Of Greatest
Horse Race
continued from Page -

n
| fell from his horse dead. The cayal.
ryman was afterward tried in Kay
| county. whore the shooting occurred.
but was acquitted.
Exactly at the noon hour the Sig
nal was given BY the cavalrymen
! along the line for the start and the
great crowd broke into the race like
a cavalry charge. The eager rush for
homes was on and within a few hours
the Cherokee strip. wherein that morn.
( ing there was not a white man except
! the soldiers, had a population of at
least 10000 The towns sprang up
rapidly. One of the closest to the
Kansas line was the townsite of Black
well. Up to 2 O'Clock in the after
noon 1t was but stretch OF raw prai-
rio, but when the sun went down there
was instead tented city of 1000 peo-
pie. Business was opened in tents,
banking was done, a postoffice estab-
hshed, hotels flourished-all In tents.
The opening day was on Saturday
Despite the fact that men were as.
sembled from all portions of the coun-
try, forming motley gathering of
strangers, religions services were
held on the following day in ali of
the new towns. In Blackwell for in
stance tho service was held on the
banks of the Chickasha river and the
first sermon was preached by man
named Lee. who some time later com
mitted suicide in Newkirk
Laughed and Fell from Horse.
IN the crowd that made the race
that day was a party of Missourians
from Macon county, and James Robin
son, now living at Tonkawa, relates an
interesting incident that occurred
while the race WAS at its hottest They
arrived on the southern Kansas line
about week before the opening and
Robinson and his friends employed the
time IN getting their horses in train
ing for the race. Each day they would
take the horses out. walked them for
time, then trot them several miles,
ending the exercise with fiye-mile
gallop and run. The animals were IN
good condition and each won a good
claim. In telling Of that days expe-
rience, Air. Robirson said:
The funniest incident | saw during
the run was man riding an old white
mule For a saddle he had several
bed quilts strapped on the mule with
a slrcingle. TO urge the mule to his
best speed the rider was using some
thing that looked like broomstick,
and at every jump he struck the mule
with the stick. | called the attention
of the boys with me to the sight, and
one of them laughed so heartily that
he fell from his morse. delaying him
some time. | do not know whatever
became OF the man and the white
mule, for we left them behind several
miles north Of blackwell
''Thc contest that day was certainly
a great sight. Had / not obtained q
foot OF land J would have considered
the experience Of the race worth all
il cost me The plunging. foaming.
snorting horses. the excited riders
weaving TO and fro, some struggling
10 retain their seats IN the saddles,
some leaning away forward and urg-
ing their horses to greater speed,
some yelling 10 companions. Others
rising strangers who blocked thr
way, still others shouting with Taught
er at ridiculous incidents, garments
Tapping IN the wind hair flying Wild
iy from hatless heads-all this pre-
scented a spectacle never to be forgot
ten.
Not Rostonese Enough for Her.
No story OF the opening OF the Cher
okee strip, however, is ever complete
without relating Of iiie disgust Of the
girl from Boston. 80, WAS called the
Cherokee strip and is sim 80 called 10
this day. because the land comprised
a strip extending several hundred
miles westward. giving the Cherokee
Indians an outlet TO the hunting
grounds near the Rockies
This girl was from Boston and she1
fialted Okiahuma several years al
the opening Of the strip in 1893. He