The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-04-17

MIN, tnat ne uVed Dy ntmSelI on tne
outskirts OF the town, always. afraid
that some one would kill him, and
was down and out. We found from
the effects In Clark's trunk that he
was a good business man. buying and
selling cattle. There were a number
OF nice letters from his wife, telling
of his little boy, and telling him to
hurry home. I sent these letters, his
trunk and other things to HIS wife.
After this as other parties we're
coming to help settle up the country
and we were tired of mob laws, we or
ganized a Town Board. At the first
election J. Thomas was elected
Braidwood and Jack Garvsy, mem
bers Of council, W. B. ogden. clerk;
Merritt Magann, city attorney; A.
Der of ordinances. One OF the most
stringent was prohibiting carrying or
discharging fire arms in the city
limits. The first sermon In Beaver
was preaced by II. M. Overstreet. This
sermon was preached in sod build
ing where the Paul Light Lumber Co.
Is now located. The pulpit was
poker table. He preached nearly
every Sunday. In the fall OF 1887.
the Presbyterian church was built by
the Rev. r. NJ. Overstreet. Every one
helped with either work or money.
Some donated the hauling from
Dodge City. Kansas. That was our
nearest railroad point. They had a
splendid mixed choir-Mrs. Garri-
CUES. sporano; Mrs. Beeson, contral-
to: J. c. Hodge. tenor; and Frank
| Garrigues. basso. They we're away
above the average singers one would
expect to find In a small place like
Beaver. About this time the Meth
odlst people organized under Brother
Bob Allen, typical backswood
preacher. He was good man. Was
greatly respected. About 1889 or
1890 the Methodist people built a
small sod church about 1924. It oc-
cupied the lots on the northwest
corner of the court house square,
nearly opposite to this church.
| We had different ways OF raising
church funds in those days from the
way now employed. There were very
few places OF amusement and we had
dances at least once or twice week.
remember at one time the ladies of
the Methodist church were trying to
raise money to buy seats for the
church. We gave q dance and they
furnished the supper.
A ranchman lived near where the
old town OF Benton. was located. He
had been a preacher at one time and
was quite eloquent. He had one fall
Ing, he would get drunk. He came to
Beaver. ] think II was on Thanksgiv-
ing Day 1887. He was then about SIS
years OF age. He was dressed in
brown overall pants. q long black
frock coat--a relic OF former gran
deur. He had his pants tucked In his
high-heeled COW boy boots and wore
q large COW boy hat. His hair and
beard were of q sandy hue and he had
q florid complexion. He heard some
of the boys talking about what a
time they expected to have ut the
dance that night. He butted in and
was telling the boys about the sin OF
dancing. One Of the boys knew of his
failing and said. "Mr. p do you ever
take any thing?" He replied very
seldom, very seldom. so they ad-
journed to a saloon that was next door
to where the dance was held on the
lot now occupied by Mrs. Robertson's
store. They had a few rounds of
drinks. By that time the old gentle
man was as hilarious an could be,
and wanted to dance. We had him on
the floor In an old time quadrille. He
would whoop. jump in the air, crack
his heels together. and cut more fig-
ures than l ever saw. II was worth
the money. About IL o'clock he went
to the bad 30 they had him laid out
In one OF the back rooms. The ladies'
OF the Methodist church furnished us
with an oyster supper. think the
price was about SO cents plate. and
was well worth II. This same meal
today would be cheap at 800.
hope this revelation will not
shock some of our straight-laced
brothers and sisters. We turned In
all the money to the church, above
the actual amount paid the "fid-
dlers'. You must remember the
country was new and we were de-
pending upon our own capabilities
for our amusements. We had NO
movies to attend, no motor cars to
ride In. no telephones to call up our
neighbors and gossip, no electric
lights and other conveniences which
We now have.
Women were quite scarce In those
days. When we had dance the boys
would bring In the girls from 40
miles around. I have seen plenty Of
married women come with their
babies. They would put the babies
to sleep on and under the benches
and dance all night and 60 home in
the morning tired but happy. The
boys would bring In the girls and
take them to the Thompson Hotel.
II The girls would hunch nm torether
In the rooms. The boys would look
out for themselves. Today II would
be almost impossible for girl to
stop at hotel without chaperone.
but no one thought any thing out Of
the way then. II was the custom Of
the country. We sold numbers so the
boys could get dance when his
number was called. Very often there
was not girls enough to fiji up the
sets 40 they would tie a handkerchief
II n hox, 4 H.