The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-04-08
OKLAHOMA
TRAGEDY Of
EARLY DAYS
sTCSy o. CC.5cf DAYS AND
PIONEER LIFETIME IS RANCH
UCTID OF TSEtC-E7Y -
A. UNMARKED GRAVE.

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One u tbe Dost famous ranches
along tae Ezgle chief Ess tie T..
SoEbere IN the entire county could
the eOTbogE rsde IL such daring man
ner. noEbere did the roundup boast
of - s1iif8l handling Of the rope as
dic those wh0 formed the outfit o.
the t. ranch.
EVEN ranch had it, history. many
of them reading Ike fiction more
than o. the life which these big
hearted men of the plains led OF
the t. this gtory viii deal
On hill overlooking the valley
Of the Eagle Calef is an almost for
gotten grave The brush has grown
around It until there remains little
70 marx il a. the last resting place
Of one who had been q part Of the
early day scenes in that part Of the
country.
Johnny Potts Remains.
Within the grave lie the remains
Of Johnny Potts. Where he came
from it is not known, but those who
were his friends believe him 70 be
the son Of a rich eastern man and
that the young man had qusueled
with his father, which resulted in the
youth leaving home.
One Ben Franklin was foreman On
/ the t. ranch Franklin boasted Of
/ the many men that had fallen al the
point Of his gun. the marks on the
I revolver butt indicated that many
may have crossed the Great Divide
At his beck. lie vas a good worker
and understood the ranch business.
Men who worked under him must
obey, they had TO work. for to be
! obstinate was Ike playing with pow
der over fire.
About this time Johnny Potts ap-
peared On the T. asking for work.
Potts Was unknown 70 them. He dis.
played signs that he was well edu-
Gated and had not been raised in
ire rough COW camps Of the vest.
His work on the T-j was faultless.
Nothing at which he was set 10 do
but was accomplished in a first class
manner
He soon became very popular with
the T-j boys. which fact made an
everlasting enemy toward him In the
person Of Franklin. Many times the
foreman sought quarrel with Potts
either with the intention OF killing
him or 10 have an excuse for getting
him discharged The cowboys know
ing the dangerous nature Of Franklin
warned Potts 10 be careful To their
warnings Potts replied that "a man
could draw a siege gun into action
while Franklin was drawing his re.
yolyer from its holster"
few weeks later Franklin met
Potts at a place in Caldwell. Franklin
started to draw his revolver but
before his hand had hardly reached |
the holster Potts had drawn his re. /
yolyer and was covering the foreman. /
Instead OF shooting Franklin he took |
the gun, extracted the shells. handed |
the gun back to It's owner and told |
Franklin 10 go back to his ranch and |
milk the COWS. Although frustrated |
in his attempt on Potts life, his |
wounded pride demanded revenge
Victim Of Treachery.
About two weeks later a dance |
was held at the T-5 ranch. Girls from
Caldwell came as invited guests
While the dance was in full progress /
visitor at the ranch came to Potts |
asking him for the loan of his re-
yolyer to shoot coyote that was
about 10 stampede the horses. The
revolver was returned to the owner |
soon afterward Potts did not ex-
anime the gun to see whether or not
the other shells had been exploded.
Later In the evening Franklin and |
Potts met The former started a |
quarrel. Franklin drew his gun but |
before he could fire Potts revolver
snapped twice in the face of the |