The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-05-18
DISSOLUTION
Of COUNTY
OPPOSED.
QUO WARRANTO PRO-
CEEDINGS BEFORE SU-
PREME COURT
HARMON co. LAWYERS
WILL FIGHT TO FINISH
Lack Of Required Population
and Taxable Area Alleged
By Petitioners

iNtcAS NY o0pl0liit tOulL tibIdyl
Andrew Stewart Of Mangum, w A.
Ledbetter of Oklahoma City, and T..
NJ. Stewart Of Hollis. made answer
to the quo warranto proceedings
brought by j. ID. Ready of Vinson,
Harmon county, TO dissolve Harmon,
the newest county of the state, unless
Swanson stands as such,
The quo warranto proceedings ask
dissolution on the allegations that
harmon county has neither the pop
ulation nor taxable wealth prescrib
Cd by the constitution for the crea
tiOn of new county.
The style of the case Is, The State
Of Oklahoma ex rel, G. j. West, YER
sus III. Treadway, |. n. Gibbons, N E.
kbernathy, county commissioners of
Harmon county, ct al The state Is
acting because of the affidavit of j..
d. Ready and others, of Vinson, Har-
non county.
Judge Stewart and brother, +. NJ.
Stewart, and Mr.. Ledbetter set forth
in answer that Harmon not only has
the required population and taxable
area, but that the action of the gov
ernor was final and that no further
action lies within the province of
sovereign power.
Historical Division
The story of Harmon county may
be linked with the other divisions
which have been made from the "Old
State OF Greer" brought into Okla
koma from Texas, after long dispu-
tation, some years ago. The terri
tory originally embraced all of the
land west and south of the North
Fork OF Red river, embracing all OF
what IS now Greer, Harmon and jack
son counties and part of Beckham-
the greatest Democratic Domain in
the state of Oklahoma. With the con-
situtional convention the counties OF
Jackson and Beckham took from
Gree. a large slice of her broad area,
and Harmon was cut off last fall, only
after one of the most hard-fought cam
paigns Southwest Oklahoma has
known, and ii has known not a few
II cut off Greer from all Texas bound
airy, the new county being bounded on
the north by Beckham and Greer;
cast by Greel and Jackson; south by
Jackson and Texas, on the west by
Texas.
AT that time Hollis was made the
temporary county capital and has
4 since, by popular election, been maze
1he permanent seat of county govern
n.eut. At the time of formation there
wasN no railroad in Harmon county,
but The wichita Falls TOAD Is already
lalilt Within four miles of Duke, and
graded into Hollis, which, by the way,
las grown from a village of few
hundred Into flourishlng little couIl-
" seat city in the past tea months.
The county is an agricultural one,
and. notwithstanding il has been with
out transportation facilities, farmers
have prospered. with attendant pros
perity to the business institutions
which have grown from mere cross
road stores into large mercantile es-
Establishments
A Hard Contest
The contest over Harmon county
has been intense Vinson Is town
IN the narrow strip which extends
west of Greer to Beckham county,
with Texas as the western bo-der
line, and was strong for staying with
The parent county. From there Ready
and his co-workers have made their
battle for dissolution, employing
Judge John II. Burford, Of this city,
az special attorney, the state, by ma
ture Of the proceedings being made to
enter as plaintiff in the case.
Strong Delegation Here
Present today TO watch the pfoceed-
ings wee: County Commissioners II.
Tredway, |. N. Gibbons and N. Il, Alb,
ernathy: L. NJ. Stewart, county at
torney; County Judge c. W. King; l.
w Burwell, treasurer; ]. b. 0yerton
register Of deeds; Albert Snider
clerk: Henry Scruggs, weigher P. W
Nance, sheriff (the elected sheriff was
niysteriously murdered and his wife is
row in the Norman asylum; Senator
Harry Denton: Representative JohT
J.. Savage; W. S. Cross, president Hol
lis State bank: w. h. Groves, presi
dent Groves National bank; w. L
Hollis. william Clendennin, Dr.. J. d
Jones. Or. X. ]. Luun, all of Harmon
county, and others from different sec
tions of the couLties OF Greer an'
Harmon, all interested in the fina
settlement ~ The controversy.
Strono Question Advanced
The proposition that. after hagini
met each constitutional Requirement
- zach staoa of fha nroceediDe