The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-05-03

LHdC he Was gong away lOT d lew udyS,
and that, on his return, he was going
to Carrie Nationize Indian Territory.
He posted spoilers" at all points
where beer or whisky could enter the
territory, thus actually blockading it..
Then, gathering a band of deputies
around him, and armed with big six
shooter, steel hammer, and a "jim-
my for prying open cases, collins.
etc., he returned. And that was the
beginning of real war.
Il was shanghaied by Mr.. Leupp
into the job Of leading this enterprise"
says Johnson. II marveled somewhat
at taking the job, as I knew what it
meant if anything real was under
taken.
Il gathered together band of fell
lows who felt much as / did and who
were ready to take chance with
me. And for IA months flying beer
bottles, midnight shooting affairs.
burning gambling outfits. and broken
heads followed.
"At the end of the period an astro-
nomical reckoning showed that we had
destroyed 250,000 bottles of liquor,
burned out Is gambling houses, and
made LAP arrests Fresh mounds of
earth marked the resting places OF
four of my boys who had been killed
in the campaign. Another carried a
bullet in his neck, and most of us
carried scars of one sort or another.
There has been something doing
1--WE have not been very tender in
our dealings with these hyenas, who
would get an Indian drunk so as to
rob him of his blanket. Nothing but
the unrelenting cold steel of absolute
Justice will have any effect on the
cuticle of such. There is no quarter
asked or given, and no sympathy
wasted. I have never invoked the law
against man for making an assault
on me or attempting my life
Tulsa, l. t., was the scene of the
first hostilities. Numbers of gamblers
had f1ocked into that city across the
Texas line, and had made arrange
ments with the city council to open
gambling houses on payment of
fine" Of $125. The inevitable crowd
of bootleggers and whisky peddlers fol.
lowed them.
Shortly before midnight Johnson,
accompanied by three trusted deputies,
Sam Cone, Ed T. Egan and Frank
West, who was a half-breed Greek In
dian, slipped into Tulsa. Their move
ments were so swift and sudden that
the terrorized citizens believed that
Johnson had a whole army at his
back. For four hours the town was in
fever of excitement. Three gambling
houses were burned out, the flames
reaching as high as the tops of the
tallest buildings Only one man Of
fered resistance. This was a no
torious bad man" named Bill Burke,
who armed himself and threatened to
drive the raiders out of the town. This
added some zest to Johnson's enjoy
ment. He at once turned his prisoners
over to his assistant, and, taking
magazine rife, started down the mid
die Of the street to give battle to the
terror" Covered with sweat and
mud, the blood streaming down his
clothes from a wounded hand, Big
Johnson must have presented the ap-
pearance of walking Eiffel tower
that had been thrown down and picked
up again. Bill Burke cast one glance
at this awful apparition, jumped on his
horse, without waiting to saddle it or
to put on his coat, and made for the
woods at full gallop.
Johnson likes Tulsa. He raided 1t
three times. 1t is said that whenever