The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-08-07
Indian Stories
Branded False
Special TO The world.
TAIil.EQGAII. Al


TAHLEQUAH, Aug. 6.-Some o,
the hoary myths related concerning
the celebrities alleged to have once
lived at old Fort Gibson have bcon
S" often repeated that the REALTORS
. nave probably come to believe them
: - De the truth. As "a matter OF f<ct.
] however they are Just the reverse
/ Ihore are four tales In particular
/ which more than others are re-
/ poated. one OF these is that Zach
AIRY Taylor once lived at the military
! post and was in command there.
| another Is that Lieut., jefferson Da-
| Wis eloped with the daughter OF
| Taylor from the post; yet another is
to the effect that the hcadstone Of a
small girl probably the daughter
| OF an officer. and whose name, as
| shown upon the headstone, was
viva, was u woman with a past" "A
feminine soldier, etc, while the
fourth in the series of fables is that
which relates that Gen. William B.
Hazen was once in command OF the
post and lived In the commanding
officers headquarters on the sum
NIT Of Garrison lin while his wife,
who eventually became Mrs George
Dewey, was the most styllshly
dressed woman ever at the post"
All Of this makes very interesting
reading but cannot bear the test of
investigation. However. there are
those who are conycrsaut with his
tory and more especially with the
history of Fort Gibson from its early
days and the testimony Of th,sc
contradicts the legends as above
mentioned and referred to.
e. h.. ct oh 1ieh IA
ment of the post in 1924 until the
early forties of the last century the
com mandant at Fort Gibson was
Col. Matthcy Arbuckle. II is true
thai Col. Zachary Taylor was in
command at Fort Smith for some
time, hut never at Fort Gibson. 1t
is a fact that Lieut.. jefferson pa
Wis was at Fort Gibson for a short
time in 1884 but the story that he
|. elopcd with Miss Taylor from the
post is. simply another myth. The
same tale is told concerning Taylor 5
alleged elopcmcnt at Fort Smith
and at Little Rock, Ark, but he
himself in his Memoirs, says tha!
he was married to MisS Taylor at
Prairie Du Chicn, wis, whore her
father was in command of the mill
tary post there, and there was moth
'llS III tllf way u an tiblltHltlls
Davis certainly knew whether or
not he himself cloped and his tcstl-
mony to the effect that ~ did not Is
believed by quite a number of per-
sons.
Viva, probably 10 to 13 years Of
age. or perhaps leS is person.
age Of whom little is known. Tha;
she died during tn" thirtics Of the
last century seems likely as at that
period a variety Of sandstone was
used in making hcadstoncs for those
inferred in the government section
Of the then common burial ground
No one ever hear the tale that-shc
was a person OF "mclauchuliC past
with n pcnchant for displaying
Amazonlan qualities until a com
parativcly recent period, when some
person filled with Imagination,
speculation and mis!nformation,
gave to the public long and base
less story concerning the beautiful
and unfortunate VIVA"
So far as known to old citizens
of Fort Gibson, those whose recol-
lection dated back in TO the early
and Cvcnttul yyars, Colonel. after
ward Gen. Winiam h. Hazen, was
never in command at Fort Gibson.
post in his capacity of paymastcr
general of the army, His Wife may
or may not have accompanied him
on these visits. According To those
having knowledge OF stylish dressed
women at the post. the one who
put on the most agony" was
the wife Of man who conducted
the suffers store and vino sold
enough whisky to FLOAT "A ship" and
was thus, ablo to amass "a barrelfull
Of money" The wife of this man
is said to have dressed in the very
height of fashion. sporting silks,
laces, ostrich plurnos ana all the
trimmIngs.'
But the biggest story Of ali Is
that which says that Henry NJ.
Stanley once taught school at Fort
Gibson. No one evur heard this tale
until about a score OF years ago, or
thcreabouts. Henry NJ. stanley, ac.
cording to himself. was born IN 1874
and had he ever taught school in
the old church al Fort Gibson il
would have hccu about the begin
ming of the civil war period or after
me close of the conflict, but none
Of the old citizens ever knew Of
stanley visiting Fort Gibson, much
less teaching school there James
Stanley, painter Of western scenes.
was there in lS43 ana lS44 and
may have taught private school
for short time, but Henry NJ.
stanley never did How ON carrh
tsn,IINT. IA tsg u AgTs TrAarI