The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-11-10
PAY SIX MILLION FOR LANDS
AND SPEND TWO AND A
HALF MILLIONS TO
SETTLE THE 0W-
MERSHIP.

DALLAS, >. d., Nov. Six thou
sand farms were given away last
week by Uncle Sam in his latest land
lottery. Nearly $4,000 persons
made the journey in the last three
weeks to one of the points of regis
tration, Chamberlain, Gregory, o.
Neill and Dallas, and expended about
$2,500,000 for the purpose of deter
mining the ownership to lands held
by the Government at $6,000,0O0.
The lands were not exactly pre-
sented by the Government, but they
will be disposed of to the lucky draw
ers at about fifth of their present
value. In order to secure a chance
at the land everybody save soldiers
and sailors had to journey to a reg
istering point and personally deposit
a sealed envelone containing the APP
phcation in a metal box. Nobody
could enter who was not eligible to
take up homestead, and all who
draw must pay Sc an acre for. the
LOO acres parcelled out and must live
upon the land for fourteen months
before proving up.
Immediately after the books closed
for the registration, on the night of
Saturday, October II, the whole town
went to sleep and didn't wake up till
Monday morning. For three weeks
every citizen had been on the wake.
and nobody slept. Notaries, hotel
men, lunch counter proprietOrs, res
taurant keepers, gamblers-every-
body kept wide-awake at all hours.
All the railroads ran special trains
to town, and they arrived at al! hours
Of the day or night. For the last few
days of the rush everybody slept on
his feet or snatched a few hours be-
tween trains. One member of the
family was kept on watch at some
time during the twenty-four hours,
and as every trainload was dumped
into town and the tired, cramped
land-seekers, sleepy and dull them
selves, wandered up town lights flash
ed in front of every business house
and tent bankers before the notaries'
Offices and lunch counters began their
spiels, and the whole town walked to
life and took up the chase of the
nimble dollar.
Being a notary public was a profit
able business. The law restricted the
charge to % cents for each certifica-
ton, but even at this small rate near
ly 100000 was reaped for performing
this service. Leather lunged bark
ers, some of them imported for the
occasion, others college boys out to
make little money and transformed
into while you wait spielers, bawled
out, Register here! Register herew
And this was the first duty every man
performed. That was really all there
was to it-sign the application and
drop it into the can. Then the home
seeker was free to 90 home again.
Only he didn't.
Improvised lodging houses and res
taurants, each had its barker. Sa-
looms in plenty there were. and in the
back part of each there was gam
bling outfit. The usual rental asked
by the saloon man when he wasn't
running the game himself was 800 a
night, and he got it. Roulette, 5000
limit faro bank, poker, wheel of for
tune, anything or any game you like.
The gamblers reaped the richest
harvest of all. Gambling is under
the ban in most of the towns in this
section Of the West and the land
seekers were more often hungrier af-
ter a chance to lose their roll than
after land. One game running here
had bank roll of 100000, and it
was nearly doubled in the few weeks
the lid was elevated.
Tackled on stalls and sides of build
ings were copies of the map of the
land the Government had made. On
these each bit of land was labelled
descriptively, hilly, level, rolling wa
tered, sandy loan, etc. Eager groups
of land seekers clustered about these
maps. Most of the level land was
reserved for the Indians, as was that
closest to water. This gave rise to
great Indignation.
s'Why didn't the Government give
'em the rough lands?" one home
seeker would growl out. They've
gone and hogged the best land. They
amt no farmers, dang 'em."
The new settlers will have choice
collection Of Indian neighbors, ac-
cording to the map. As one local
paper put it: u
"'Want to know where Jim Win
tresteen's place is one can fancy of
a summer evening a homesteader
saying to the inquiring stranger at
his door. The next claim to mine be-
longs to Lizzie Forked Tail and the
next to her is John B. Circle Wing
and Mollie Standing Cloud. You inst
drive along there to Joe Crazy Bulls