The National tribune., 1910-11-03

part of Kansas which is now Cherokee
and Crawford Counties was, and had
been for years. the property of the
Cherokee Nation of Indians. and was
called the Cherokee Neutral Lands"
These Neutral Lands lay just over the
southern boundary line, within the
State of Kansas, were unsettled and
We're held in trust by the Government
| for the benefit of the Cherokees
When the war ended the Cherokees
ceded the Neutral Lands to the Gov
ernment, and they We're thrown open
| to white settlers, many of whom. in
anticipation of such an event, had pre-
Viously fiocked in and taken up all the
most desirable tiInbered claims" be-
| fore the land had been surveyed and
sectioniZed.
There was then no organization of
either civil or military law in that
country and no semblance of govern
| ing rules or regulations, except those
issued by temporarily formed squat
ters' clubs which formulated only
such rules as pertained to the taking
and holding of claims"
This total absence of law in the Neu
tral Lands offered strong attractions to
lawless characters thruout the country.
and particularly in Kansas, Missouri
consequently many of this class came
in among the new settlers.
PaXter Springs-which, however, is
located on the Government strip" q
miles wide, which lies between the
Neutral Lands and the Indian Nation
proper-Was one of the first towns laid
out in the new settlements, and, tho
only a village, soon became the most
important trading point i'll that part
of the country
Texas Cowboys.
The Texas cattle herds, which were
not allowed by law to enter the States
of Kansas or Missouri until cold wealth.
er, as a quarantine regulation, gathered
in immense numbers just over the
Kansas line, south of Baxter Springs In
the Nation, and contributed not lit
tie towards the trade of the town, and
also brought quite an addition to the
lawless element of the population.
i was one of the early settlers in
Baxter Springs-had taken up some
towr lots, built a house, and started.
in the grocery and provision business.
We, the first settlers, were nearly all
strangers to each other There were
but two men in the place with whom
l had been intimately acquainted be-
fore coming there. These were Ben.
Gump. whom / had known as Lieu
tenant in the 1st Indian regiment at
Fort Gibson. Cherokee Nation, during
the war, and Albert Willard, who, with
OWN lidiH ol iOuT-Inule teams,
been engaged in freighting between
Forts Scott and Gibson at the same
time.
Soon reports came-growing more
numerous and alarming as time pass
ed-of horse and cattle stealngs, open
robberies, with an occasional murder
by way of variety; and the bold and
systematic manner in which these
crimes were committed convinced the
law-ahiding element of our community
that they were done By an organized
gang, some of whom must be living
among us. But which ones could ii
be was question we We're daily ask
ing ourselves.
AS / have said. we were nearly all
strangers to each other, and each seem
ed afraid to express his suspicions-if
he mad any-to another. lest he might
be talking to one of the outlaws or one
of their friends, and might incur the
vengeance of the gang. We felt that
some of these robbers and murderers
were in our midst. and could not tell
whom II was safe to trust
j knew that my friends Gump and
Willard were trustworthy, but there
were three men in the place of whom
had had some slight knowledge at For,
Gibson during the then recent civil
war, whose reputation was rather
shady" They were renegade Texans.
who had deserted from the rebels Just
before the war ended, like rats desert
ing sinking ship, and while hanging
around Fort Gibson had been strongly
suspected Of many disreputable trans
arfionc