The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-03-04
PIONEERS CURSE IS
FULFILLED AT LAST
Oklahoma Boomer Sees SO
Enemies Carried to the
Cemetery.

Oklahoma City. Okla.-"Having lived
to see the fulfillment of a curse which
i prayed upon 80 of my enemies, who,
nearly 10 years ago, tried to swear my
HE away-having survived the gallows
they builded for me to hear the funeral
d1rge OF each of them, / now leave
Oklahoma forever. Where l am go
ing is the business of no one but my
selfnsutiice to say that never again
shall l return to the land that has
blighted my life
This remarkable statement was
made by j. G. Adams. an oklahoma
pioneer, as he swung upon the rear
coach of a southbound Santa Fe pas
senger train.
Away back in April. 1889. when Okla
homa was opened to settlement. Adams
came With the rush of the homeseek-
crs and "staked" a claim" of 100 acres.
upon a part Of which is NOW situated
the oklahoma City court house. The
remainder of that claim" has long
since been dotted With six and seven
story buildings, the total value of the
ground now running we'll up into the
millions.
Fight for Early Land.
Back III the early days when the six
shooter and the Winchester We're law
In Oklahoma, there came forward min
contestants for the Adams claim" AT
last the contest narrowed down to Ad-
ans and Captain w. l.. Couch, the lat
ter being far famed as a lieutenant of
the original Oklahoma boomer, David
l.. Payne. A fierce gun fight was the
sequel to the Adams-Crouch feud-a
battle in which the Wife of Adams
dashed between the combatants as u
target to shield her husband.
Couch was killed and his lead body
was carried away by rough men OF
the frontier. who had learned to ad-
mire him. Adams was tried for mur-
der, and was sentenced to be hanged.
The flight of time brought execution
day dangerously near-tne scalfold of
death was built.
Prayer for Divine Aid.
One night when the gallows seemed
inevitable, so Adams related Just be
fore his final departure from oklahoma.
the doomed mar kneeled on the rough
floor of his frontier Jail cell and uttered
a prayer, q verbatim copy OF which he
recorded in Il book which he desis-
mates as The Balance Sheet" The
prayer follows:
God in heaven. I am a rough
man, but I'm square. | killed a
a while fighting for what right
fully belonged to me-killed him aft
ter he had fired 20 shots trying to
kill me-. If i was wrong. let them
hang me. If ] was right. a v me
and let all of my enemies who per
jured themselves to send me to the
kdllOWS liz UeloIe i liz Idl Is
all, o, God, for I'm not much of q
praying nan.
Next day, whether by mere coincf-
dence or in answer to prayer, opinions
widely differ, there came an order for
the sentence of Adams to be
from death to a penitentiary term of
seven years. Oklahoma. having no
state territorial prison, Adams was sent
to the Kansas p~enitentiary, where, at
ter the expiration Of three years OF his
seven-year sentence, he WAS pardoned
by the late Grover Cleveland. then
president of the United States. Okla
homa convicts at that time being fed
eral charges.
Fights to Recover Rights.
Following his pardon. Adams re
turned to Oklahoma City and sought by
civil litigation to be restored to owner
ship of the land he claimed. He dealt
in other real estate meanwhile, and. as
the city grew, he p~rospered for a time,
but all of his accumulation was swat
lowed up in attorney fees and court
costs.
At last. money gone. family gone
for the wife who once braved bullets to
protect him. eventually turned against
him for some cause which has never
been explained-the old man dropped
out of public view, and. living in a
squalid little hut in the poor quarter
of the city, became a recluse.
His last years in Oklahoma City We're
devoted largely to the writing of a
book which he never intended for pub
LEGATION. but which purports to be a
faithful portrayal of the tragic happen
ings of early days in Oklahoma when
might made right and when many a
claim" was washed in the blood of
contesting homeseekers. In that book
he recorded the names of 33 witnesses
who appeared against hiln-and he
waited in Oklahoma City until the
years licked off their allotted time and
flo,, ,Na,.o 90 rriai To tho oanaofar., =