The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-12-27
FIRES WIPE OUT
WICKEDEST
U.S.TOWN .
Vice Reigned Supreme in
Oklahoma Oil Hamlet That
sprang Up Over Night.
BY International News Service.

N1t0II w 1lAlAAS NbhAAGAaa A@GSs
This little oil town-O Oklahoma So
called twentieth century Sodom and
Gomorrah--is no more. At least so
far as the dance ball "slave," the
bootIegger, the hi-jacker and other
denizens of the underworld are con-
cerned.
Two fires since December have
left little of the original business
district, and the underworld, always
superstitious, has taken the two
mysterious blazes as an indication
that business here is doomed.
Beginning as a hamlet of three
frame shacks and nineteen inhabl
tants, Cromwell in few months be.
came known throughout the nation
as 1.-The wickedest town in the United
States" The first buildings were
erected by Joe Cromwell, Muskogec
Gilman, in March, 1923, when he be-
gan drilling for oil here. A few
weeks later two ''gushers' came in,
and the influx started.
Vice Reigns.
1t was not until last March, how.
ever. that the Cromwell field be-
came really proven" Then two
more gushers blew in, and the fol-
lowing day a stream of oil workers,
scouts, lease hounds" gamblers,
bootleggers. dance hall operators
and the other hangers-on OF an oil
boom came pouring IN. For weeks
there were no peace officers. Few
were appointed and still fewer lasted
more than a week. Cromwell was
an unhealthy spot for police. Vice
reiened supreme.
HfV1 Cauoinn1n county in nAa,
peration, turned to William A. ("Rill')
Tilghman, veteran Oklahoma police
officer. Tilghman became chief OF
police, and for a few weeks his rep
utation as a killer caused q sem
bIance Of law and order.
Newspaper Expose.
Then came the newspaper expose
Of dance-hall conditions, of how girls
were held in locked rooms when not
forced to engage with oil-field hus-
kies in drunken revels ito make
the halls popular"
Judge George Crump then inau-
gurated his famous chain gang and
there was roundup Of bootleggers
and other criminals. Those who did
not flee were locked to a log-chain
and marched to Holdenville, where
they were sentenced to Jail! The
word went out that Cromwell was
quiet"
This quiet" ended a few nights
later in q Saturday night brawl
which resulted in Tilghman's being
shot to death in front Of the Murphy
dance hall when he attempted to
arrest Wiley Lynn, Federal prohibit
ton agent. Then the Murphys were
acquitted in Tulsa on a pandering
charge, and their Olympic dance
hall reopened in a blaze Of glory.
The old crowd came back and the
town became wilder than before.
$125.OOO Fire.
Shortly afterward-on December
6-the business district was swept
by a $125.00O fire. Incendiarism
was suspected. but nothing was
proved. Many new buildings were
built. Bob Duncan. self-styled
fighting parson," succeeded Thigh
man as chief Of police.
He soon found himself ignored,
however. Scouts Of the dance
hall operators began coming to
Oklahoma City and Tulsa for girls
They had to have them, they saiu
"a girl generally lasts about
three weeks at the halls" one
scout told police. "Unless they are
made out Of iron, they can't stand
the grind. They generally have
enough to retire on when they
quit, though"
Tulsa police arrested a caravan
OF girls as 1t was leaving for here.
Ten girls told how they had been
promised Eat least $40 q night, and
lRrRN a nvsA III
make more"
Blasts Shake Town.
Last Sunday morning at 8
o'clock. just as the revelry Of
Saturday night had waned, seven
explosions shook the town. Then
came fire, and in half an hour
seven buildings had been de-
stroyed, while half-clad dance hall
girls, oil workers and business men
looked on and mourned.
Dynamite saved the rest Of the
town. One unidentified man was
killed in the fire. His head was
found crushed.
The future Of Cromwell is the
future Of any oil-boom town. SO
long as the wells produce, there
will be q town. When they stop
90 far as the sporting element is
rncerned-Cromwell is no more.
Sunday afternoon the roads lead
ing from here were damned with
the departing.
Both dance halls and the theater
now are only blackened ruins. New
buildings probably will not be
erected.
BREAKS WORLD RECORD