Duchess of Weaselskin

Bayfield, Colorado - It has been quiet around southwest Colorado with some sunshine making a return around here. On those sunny days I like to find a sunny, dry spot outside to take a nap and watch over my yard here in the rockies. NW Okie sure can sneak up on me during one of those times as shown in the photo on the left. We hear it was quite windy last week in northwest Oklahoma, but did it bring much rain?

NW Okie is taking you back to Highland county, Virginia this week with more history of the Indian Perils of Bath and Highland areas. She is also sharing an Abstract of Legislative Work & Sen. Robert L. Owen (1907-1912) that she found when digging through some of the boxes of her Grandma's that are in storage. Here is a link to the PDF file of the Abstract of Legislative Work In Which Senator Robert L. Owen Actively Participated, 16 December 1907 to 1 March 1912, when Oklahoma had just become a State of the Union.

Then there is the case of Charlie Bias, which was one of those cases that Moman Pruiett defended back in 1899, in Southern Oklahoma, in which Moman Pruiett took it all the way to the US Supreme Court, January 1900.

Then we have this week another Oklahoma Pioneer taken from the History of Oklahoma published in 1916. Edwin Roberts settled around Woodward and had a hand in establishing Avard State Bank and served as mayor of Avard, Oklahoma as a Progressive Democrat.

Happy Belated Birthday to NW Okie on her 64th, and Happy Leap Year Tomorrow!

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On This Day In History (27 February)

America - On Feb. 27, 1886, Hugo Black, who served 34 years as a U.S. Supreme Court judge and was known as a champion of civil liberties, was born. Following his death on Sept. 25, 1971, his obituary appeared in The Times. Go to obituary. On This Date - February 27
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NW Okie's Corner

Bayfield, Colorado - This is an old picture of my great grandpa John Robert Warwick's Aunt. It did not say which lady was Great Grandpa Warwick's Aunt. I can only assume, but perhaps Louisa Susan Warwick (Oct. 1835-11 Aug 1923) is seated on the right and Eli Seybert (Seibert) is seated on the left. The lady standing behind resembles my Great Grandma Signora Belle Gwin Warwick, but not sure if that is the lady in the background.

On doing some digging at Ancestry.com, I found that Louisa Susan Warwick, daughter of Robert Craig Warwick (1801-1845) and Esther "Hester" Hull/Hohl (1804-1853), married Eli Seybert (born 21 April 1831), in Seybert Hills, Pendleton, Virginia) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, 31 October 1854. Eli served in the U.S. Confederate Soldiers 151 , 157 and 162 Militia with an enlistment date of 1861.

Louisa and Eli Seybert resided in Bath county, Virginia until we see them in the 1876 census Eli Seybert shows up in Eight Mile Grove, Case, Nebraska State census as a farmer, age 45 years, with his wife Louisa (40 years of age), Mary A. Seybert (1859-), Joseph (1861-), and Ruth (76 years, must be Eli's mother). The 1880 census shows them back in Highland county, Virginia. I also show them also with a son, Robert W. Seybert (Seibert), born 4 October 1855, in Virginia. But do not see him listed in the Nebraska or Oklahoma census. Did Robert W. Seybert die young or move off on his own? Does the "W" stand for "Warwick" or "William?"

The 1900 US census shows their residence as Galena Township, west half, Woods county, Oklahoma Territory. In the 1910 US census they show up in Eagle Chief, Alfalfa, Oklahoma. Louisa Susan Warwick Seybert (Seibert) died 11 August 1923, Lambert, Alfalfa county, Oklahoma. I am not for sure when Great grandparent Warwick's came to Oklahoma or if they came with the Seybert family. Are there any descendants of Galena or Lambert, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma that might have had ancestors that knew of my Seybert (Seibert) relatives?


Here is another inquiry from another person looking for information on the Butts family born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. This comment appeared in our OkieLegacy Ezine, Feature #5587, Vol. 12, Iss. 26 Jane Butts is,"Looking for info on Butts family: Virgil, John Wesley; my father John Richard Butts born Wewoka (Oklahoma), 1918."

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100 Years Ago Today February 27, 1912

America - It was a Tuesday, February 27, 1912, when the headlines in the New-York Tribune had some of the following headlines: "Roosevelt Says He Will Support His party's Choice, Roosevelt's Polices Drive Many From Him, Brandt Remanded To Await Trial, Taft Indorsed In Kentucky, Meteor Almost Hit Liner, and Arrest of F. J. Gardner."

This week let us look closer at the headlines that read, "Roosevelt Says He Will Support His Party's Choice," where he declares he will abide by the decision of the convention, though his own candidacy failed. Roosevelt also denied breaking pledge and asserts "Third Term" statement meant Third consecutive term and is happy because a "fight for Principle" is on."

Boston, Feb. 26 (1912) -- "Colonel Theodore Roosevelt plunged into the thick of the fight for the Presidential nomination today. He said unequivocally that he was in the fight to the end and was glad of it. He replied to the charge that he would be breaking his third term pledge if he accepted another nomination, and asserted that whether or not he should be the choice of his party at the Chicago convention he would abide by its decision. Roosevelt was quoted as saying, "I am perfectly happy now because I am making a straight out fight for a principle. The issue is in no way a personal one." When asked if he intended support the Republican nominee, Col. Roosevelt replied with, "Of course I shall."

Colonel Roosevelt pointed to his speeches in columbus, Ohio, the week before and before the Massachusetts House February 26, 1912, in response to inquiries as to the principle for which he is fighting. Col. Roosevelt defended his proposal for limited recall of judicial decisions and championed the right of popular opinion to control the machinery of government.

Col. Roosevelt's position in regard to the "third term" was explained to a number of his callers, "My position is perfectly simple. I stated it as clearly as i could in 1904, and reiterated it in 1907. I said that I would not accept a nomination for a third term under any circumstances, meaning, of course, a third consecutive term."

Roosevelt goes on to say, "I could not have said less at the time, nor could I have said more. Of course, I could not then know whether or not there would be a demand for me to accept a nomination at some future time. And believing, as I do, that the selection of candidates for the presidency rests entirely with the people, I could not say that at no time in my life would I accept another nomination.

"It must be clear to any reasonable man that the precedent which forbids a third term has reference only to a third consecutive term. It grew out of the fact that a President of the United States, under the present convention system of electing delegates, can, if he knows how to use the machinery at his disposal, renominate himself, even though the majority of his party is against him. But after he has been out of office for a term he has lost control of that machinery. He is in the position absolutely of any private citizen. The machinery is then in the hands of the man occupying the office of President."

Colonel Roosevelt devoted a large part of the day to conferring with the men who are forming the Roosevelt organization in Massachusetts. He told them that he would not identify himself actively, for the present at least, with the organization. He also talked for some time with Governor Robert Bass of New Hampshire, whom he is to meet again tomorrow. After taking lunch with Mrs. Robert Wolcott, widow of a Governor of Massachusetts, and Margaret Deland, the novelist, he went to the State House and thence to the home of Speaker Grafton Cushing, with whom he spent the night. Tomorrow the colonel is to pay another visit to Harvard and will also meet a few more politicians.

The news article mentioned that Colonel Roosevelt promised to send a letter to be read at a Roosevelt rally, which would be held on Saturday night by the Progressive Republican League. Governor Stubbs of Kansas, ex-Governor Fort of New Jersey and Senator Clapp, of Minnesota, were expected to speak. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Highland County Virginia - Time of Indian Peril

Highland County, Virginia - This week we bring you Chapter VIII of Oren Frederic Morton's book, A History of Highland county, Virginia. The nearest Indian village near the Highland settlement of Virginia was a small village of the Shawnees about 60 miles down the South Branch. The Indians used the Valley of Virginia only as a hunting ground and military highway, which bands of Northern and Southern Indians made forays against one another. The chief of these war trails laid through the Shenandoah Valley and alluded to in the surveyor's book as the "Indian road."

The Shawnee Indians move around a lot trying to avoid conflict with the colonists as well as marauding Indians from other tribes. The Shawnee originally came from what is now known as Ohio. The Shawnee could have been found as far away as New York. Many of the Shawnee settled into what is now the state of Oklahoma.

The Shawnee did not live in permanent shelters. They lived in round wigwams which were reminiscent to what we would call igloos, but instead of being made from ice these wigwams were made from sheets of tree bark, tree saplings (which helped form the framework), cattails, thick brush grass and other natural materials.

The Shawnee Indians did not have a warrior-like existence. BUT . . . They did their share of fighting to protect their families, the land and their way of life. These Indians were also proud of their heritage and used storytelling as a way to pass along the history, stories of their ancestors.

Small hunting parties often visited the homes of the settlers, picking up serviceable knowledge of the whtie man's tongue. The Indian was himself very hospitable when he came to a house and he expected something to eat. He was not backward in making his wants known. To the INidan, the white settlers was an intruder to pilfer from whom was not considered wrong. To the white settlers, the Indian was more objectionable than a tramp. The frontiersman would marry an Indian woman and adopt Indian ways, and the Indian would hobnob witht he paleface. For more than 20 years after the founding of Augusta, there was peace between the races. The clash came through the rival ambitions of two white nations.

The English and the French, which had already fought three wars in America. The French claimed all the country west of the Alleghany divide, and so did the English. By 1754 the British-Americans had not only pushed inward to this very line, but were pressing beyond it. The settlements of the British-Americnas were compelled to fight for their very existence. The weak, scattered settlements of the french had usually been let alone. This was because of the difference between the two nations in their attitude toward the Indian.

The Frenchman did not clear the land or elbow the native out of the way. He often took an Indian wife and lived like the natives when with them. The latter was benefited by the commodities he received for his pelts. The British colonist preferred a wife of their own color, and their numbers were greater. He cleared the land as he came along, and scared away the larger game.

The British colonist in dealing with the Indian had less tact than the Frenchman and less influence. When Governor Dinwiddie precipitated the fighting that took place between 1754 and 1760, the tribes generally sided with the French and were very helpful allies. In 1755 Braddock marched his army against Fort Duquesne and he met a needless and crashing defeat and his routed redcoats fled in panic to the very coast. A frontier of hundreds of miles was exposed to Indian depredation. Flushed with triumph at their easy victory, the red warriors from the Ohio proceeded to persistently harass the frontier with fire and tomahawks.

The news of Braddock's defeat reached the Augusta people in one week and created consternation. Hundreds of people fled across the blue Ridge, while others stayed manfully in their settlements. Washington was assigned the defense of the frontier with headquarters at Winchester. His force was too small to protect so long a line effectually. To make matters worse the men of one county were not inclined to help those of another. Washington's letters gave a vivid idea of those distressful days -- under date of 15 April 1756, Washington reports that "All my ideal hopes of raising a number of men to search the adjacent mountains have vanished into nothing." Nine days later WAshington wrote, "Not an hour, nay, scarcely a minute passes that does not produce fresh alarms and melancholy accounts." Still another letter declared that, "The deplorable situation of these people is no more to be described than is my anxiety and uneasiness for their relief."

Highland county went through this trying ordeal with less injury than Bath to the south or Pendleton to the north. Some damage was inflicted, but there was no exterminating raid into the Bullpasture valley, to which the settlement was as yet almost wholly confined.

The Log House

The log house of the frontier was built with reference to possible attack; near a spring; The door could be strongly barred; the windows were too small for a man to crawl through; there were loopholes in the walls through which the inmates could fire; and if possible it was not too near the spot where the enemy could find cover. Houses in this region still stand and in the walls you might might find shooting-holes covered by the weatherboarding which was laid on the walls afterward.

There is a story of a man taken by surprise near Fort Lewis in Bath county, that could not get into his cabin in time to escape a flying tomahawk which grazed his head and stunned him. His wife put him on the bed, bolted the door, and kept the enemy at bay with the husband's gun. Two Indians mounted the roof and began to descend the cavernous chimney. The woman at once pulled the bed tick from under the man and threw it on the live coals. The Indians were stupefied by the smoke and the first indian fell through the and was promptly tomahawked. The second coming to his aid shared his fate, leaving the victory with the plucky wife.

The stockade with blockhouse inside was amuck better protection than the strongest cabin, though. It was a far easier means to keep the enemy at a safe distance in any direction. The Indians had small relish for assaulting a stockade. If they could not fire the buildings nor lure the garrison into an ambush, they sought to reduce the fort by stratagem or starvation. The whites on their part were often careless. They (settlers) were used to an outdoor life and it was wearisome to stay cooped up in a little enclosure. If the enemy were not positively known to be near, they would take very imprudent risks, and were often killed or captured by Indians lurking near the fort.

It was the practice for two or more rangers to set out from a stockade with provisions for three or four days, and watch the trails and passes in the vicinity, sometimes guarding a circuit of 30 miles. If signs of Indians were detected an alarm was given, so that families at their own homes could flee to the fort. When their provisions were gone, the scouting party would be relieved by another. Some of the frontiersmen became even more skilled in woodcraft than the Indians.

The settlers were safe during the winter season, because the Indians were not inclined to maraud while food was scarce and the first leaves had fallen. One actual stockade seems to have been built in Highland county, Virginia. it stood in the Bullpasture bottom midway between the Clover Creek Mill and the Residence of L. M. McClung. It was on the land of Wallace Estill, whose house appears to have stood a few yards beyond the southern angle; about 90 feet square and placed diamond-wise with reference to the direction of the valley. At each angle was a bastion ten feet square. Inside the western able was the powder house about 12 feet square. A few yards beyond the southern angle stood a house, probably Estill's dwelling, about 18 by 22 feet square with an annex 12 by 12 feet. Under the main portion of the house was a cellar. Toward the river from near the east corner of the stockade were plain traces of a short covered way leading to shallow ravine, once the river channel. The fort was bult under the direction of some person who understood the correct principles of fortification. The walls in accordance with the time were of logs set firmly into the ground and rising to a height above 10 or 12 feet. The fort in the heart of the Bullpasture settlement and near a commanding elevation as it guarded the road which crossed the river in its course from Bolar Run to the Calfpasture.

It is highly probable that the fort was put up in accordance with the following letter from Dinwiddie to Washington, dated 11 September 1754:

Abstract of Legislative Work & Sen. Robert L. Owen (1907-1912)

Oklahoma - We were digging through some of the boxes of Grandma's that clutter our basement and storage and found this Abstract of Legislative Work In Which Senator Robert L. Owen Actively Participated, 16 December 1907 to 1 March 1912, when Oklahoma had just become a State of the Union. Thank goodness for ancestry clutter, huh? We scanned to a PDF file at the link above.

It begins with the Sixtieth Congress, First Session, 16 December 1907 to 30 May 1908. They attended to the appropriations for the support,etc., of Apaches, Kiowas, Comanches and Wichitas, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, the Kaws, Kickapoos, Pawnees, Poncas, Quapaws, Sac and Fox, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, etc.

There was a special appropriations for Apaches, Kiowas, Comanches and Wichitas ($375,000); Chilocco School ($120,000); Sac and Fox, per capita ($100,000); Kickapoos ($215,000); enlarging Tribal Schools for white children in Five Civilized Tribes ($300,000); Union Agency ($152,000); Dawes Commission ($143,410); to suppress liquor traffic ($40,000); furnishing counties with records affecting titles ($15,000).

Public buildings were authorized for Oklahoma City to cost not exceeding $300,000; Muskogee ($250,000); and Enid ($100,000). Appropriations were secured to begin work on public buildings at Oklahoma City, $50,000; Muskogee, $50,000; Enid, $20,000; Chickasha, $15,000; Tulsa, $20,000; McAlester, $15,000; Guthrie, $35,000.

Legislative obtained for discontinuing the taxing of Indian lessors or lessees for cost of making leases and issuing patents. The immediate sale of tribal buildings provided, giving State, counties and municipalities of Oklahoma preferential rights to acquire such property. The distribution of balance due Iowa Indians was obtained.

The Following Acts Passed:

1. Providing patent of 40 acres to Catholic Indian Mission, Quapaw Nation, for church and school.
2. Authority to sell 640 acres of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency and use proceeds for school purposes.
3. Authorizing Secretary to lay out towns in segregated coal lands and to give patents to town lots theretofore sold and under cloud.
4. Payment of annuity to intermarried whites of the Cherokee Nation provided.
5. Authority granted for removal of restrictions from two acres of unalloyed land in each school district for school purposes.
6. Authority given to sell certain Cheyenne reserve lands, with preferential rights to adjoining property owners.
7. Authority given to sell 640 acres of Cheyenne lands to El Reno for school purposes.
8. Acts passing quieting town lot titles at Dewey and at Hartshorne.
9. Acts passed granting a 10-acre park to Enid, a town block to Alva, and a town block to Woodward.
10. Authority obtained to offer unsold Kiowa, Comanche and Apache land under the Act of June 5, 1906, with special rights to vendees to acquire immediate title.
11. Act passed to allow 160 acres to each Kiowa, Comanche and Apache child born since previous allotment.
12. Authority to pay outstanding chickasaw and Choctaw warrants bought for valuable consideration without fraud.
13. Senate passed Act authorizing Osages to bring suit for civilization fund, $800,000; failed in House.
14. An Act authorizing moneys forfeited by bidders on Kiowa, Comanche and Apache lands, where such payment involved an honest mistake, to be refunded.
15. An Act authorizing sale of one-half section of land adjoining Lawton, 20% of proceeds to be used to build court house and post office at cost not exceeding $100,000.
16. Authority granted to turn over to Lawton, Hobart and Anadarko unexpended balance town lot proceeds.
17. An Act (May 27, 1908) removing restrictions in allotted lands of the Five Civilized Tribes, removing restrictions on about 9,000,000 acres, with authority in the Secretary of the Interior to remove the restrictions on the entire remainder of unalloyed lands. This Act would add probably $200,000,000 to the tax schedules of Oklahoma.
18. The right of eminent domain was made to apply to all allotted or restricted lands for public road purposes.
19. The authority of the Oklahoma Courts to complete control over minors was recognized.
20. Provision was made that Indians may lease their restricted lands for agricultural purposes for five years without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, except homesteads, which could not be leased for a longer period than one year without the consent of the Secretary.

1. To appropriate $500,000 for improvement of the Arkansas river in Oklahoma (S.3,417)
2. Senator Owen obtained legislative authority for a Government survey of the Arkansas river to Tulsa, with a view to its improvement, as a part of the general system. Later he assisted in securing two large dredge boats to begin the improvement of the Arkansas front he Mississippi up toward Oklahoma (36 Stats. L. 651)
3. Various bills to erect public buildings at Alva, Anadarko, Ardmore, Bartlesville, Chickasha, El Reno, Enid, Lawton, McAlester, Muskogee, Vinita and Woodward.
4. Bill to elect Senators by direct vote of the people (S. J. Res. 91)
5. To establish a Department of Labor (S. 7,266)
6. To pay interest on the Cherokee funds (S. 4,051)
7. To establish a road from Fort Gibson to the National Cemetery (S. 3,424)
8. Bill for the relief of the people of Hartshorne (S. 4,289)
9. Bill providing for the Initiative and Referendum (7,208)
10. Bill extending time to purchasers of Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Fort Sill lands (S. 4,290)
11. Bill to pay loyal Creeks (S. 3,424)
12. Bill for the relief of the Miami Indians (S. 3,422)
13. Bill limiting speculative loans by national banks (S. 3,984)
14. Bill providing for insurance of national bank deposits (S. 3,988)
15. Bill to provide a Home for Aged and Infirm Indians in Oklahoma (S. 3,420)
16. Bill to establish Indian Training School in Oklahoma (S. 3,421)
17. Bill to establish fish hatcheries in Oklahoma (S. 3,426)
18. Bill extending payment on town site lots (S. 3,995)
19. Bill granting lands to Oklahoma (S. 7,057-7,178)
20. Bill conferring jurisdiction on Court of Claims to ascertain Osage Civilization Fund (S. Res. 67)
21. Bill for the relief of purchasers of town lots of Pawhuska (S. 6,795 and 7,207)
22. Bill to establish fish hatchery at Platt National Park (S. 4,293)
23. Bill to penalize false entries of public moneys (S. 5,854)
24. Bill prohibit stock gambling (S. 5,678)
25. Bill to establish public schools for children in Quapaw Agency (S. 5,779)
26. Bill providing for erection of statue of Sequoyah at Washington (S. 3,425)
27. Bill to adjudicate rights of persons who formerly held town lots in Sulphur, Oklahoma (S. 6,741-7,206)

1. The Oklahoma Constitution (S. Doc. 1,006)
2. Resolutions of the Trans-Mississippi commercial Congress favoring experimental farms west of Mississippi river (S. Doc. 162)
3. Memorial of Tonkawa Indians (S. Doc. 206)
4. Memorial of Creek Indians (S. Doc 310)
5. Report as to disbursement of the funds of the five Civilized Tribes (S. Doc. 825, 61st Congress, third session).

Charlie Bias Sentenced to Hang 1899

Southern, Oklahoma - An online southern historian sent me a copy of some history that I had sent him a few years (2004) back that I had found in the source index in the back of a book by Howard K. Berry, Sr., who wrote about Moman Pruiett - He Made It Safe To Murder. "Charlie Bias' Death Sentence was commuted to Life (See attached DOC file) Charlie Bias case was one of those cases that Moman Pruiett defended back in 1899, going all the way to the US Supreme Court, January 1900.

As the story goes, Charlie Bias was in the Federal prison at Ardmore, I. T. - sentenced to be hanged, January 19, 1900. The scaffold was built -- the inhabitants of the countryside, white, black & Indian, were straining the accommodations of the settlements, hotels and rooms as they came to town for the execution.

The Daily Ardmoreite announced: "People of the Indian Territory should not fail to be at Ardmore on the 19th January 1900, for there the great government of US, represented by deputy US Marshal John Hammer, will provide a festival which will bring to the mind tender suggestions of ancient Israel and Rome. Take your children with you and wait with them, exposed to the elements, as the people of Jerusalem were wont to wait outside the gates for the coming of their victims. Of course, the sport will be less exciting than in the days of Moses, when every body who could throw a stone was allowed to take part in the execution, or in Nero's time when the victims of the law were torn by wild beasts "to make a Roman Holiday," or in the Later days of our own Anglo-Saxon race, when ignorant negroes were artistically tortured to death by refined and civilized men."

The condemned Charlie Bias, pauper, had the same kind of representation at south McAlester where the Territorial court of Criminal Appeals was in session. Pruiett duplicated, embellished fierce forensics of trial court -- the results were the same. Pruiett was drooped, dejected when he returned to the valley. He told his troubles to the Cruce brothers (Andrew "AC" and Will), attorney in Ardmore. They advised Pruiett to make a trip to Washington for a reprieve from President McKinley. Andrew Cruce told Pruiett to get a lot of pull of a few senators, representative to put pressure on. Big time politics wasn't much of a difference from backwoods politics - Its pull and fix that gets results. Attorney Andrew Cravitt "AC" Cruce was a prominent Ardmore attorney, friend, confidante to Moman Pruiett. Their friendship dated to Moman's arrival in Pauls Valley in 1897 and for the next two decades. They shared the defense table, and opposing counsel in murder trials.

Pruiett left the valley the day after Christmas, 1899 for Washington, DC. The Attorney General (Griggs) finally gave Pruiett a hearing, 2:30pm, mid-January 1900. It was transferred to the Solicitor General J. K. Richards (whom was directly opposed to capital punishment). Attorney General Griggs had a death in the family.

January 17, 1900, - Pruiett spent the day in the waiting room of the Solicitor General Richards office pacing the floor while waiting for the decision. Back in Ardmore under a "Death Watch Set," the Daily Ardmoreite carried the related Pruiett news: "negro Chas. Bias was taken from fellow prisoners in US jail and furnished more comfortable quarters to spend the few remaining days of his existence. During his removal today Marshal Hammer notified prisoner of nearness of death, advised him to employ time making peace with his maker. In his cell Bias seems content, nothing to say, wholly in different to his fate on next Friday when he will hang by neck until dead: unless perchance the President's clemency intervenes."

January 18, 1900, 4:00pm: Solicitor General, acting Attorney General, completed, forwarded his report, recommendation to President McKinley. The Times Herald special article, late edition made public the text of the report: "Fight to save human life ended successfully January 18, 1900, when Solicitor General Richards acting Attorney General recommended commutation of sentence for colored Chas. S. Bias [incarcerated at Ardmore, I. T. ] to be hanged next Friday. Pruiett sought many senators and they became interested, chiefly because his mission was purely charitable, because they were told Bias had really killed Wright in fair fight, self-defense. Pruiett (age 27 years) defended 20 murder cases in the country and acquitted all but Bias - had now saved Bias' neck by a miracle." The Washington news write-ups defined Pruiett as a typical southerner, slouch hat -- top boots -- heart full of charity -- head full of brains. The Daily Ardmoreite that had previously decried the contemplating hanging and Roman Holidays - gave this more descriptive than exultant version: "Seated in death cell, with 2 guards, never speaking one word and evidently suffering no mental anguish, when informed last evening that president McKinley commuted his sentence to Life imprisonment and not be hanged, with muscles unmoved and without any apparent effort from gladness or joy, Charlie's only answer was ëAll right.'"

The Chickasaw Weekly Enterprise, in Pauls Valley (Moman Pruiett's hometown back then) wrote the following: "Word was received in Ardmore Monday, January 18, 1900, from Washington that sentence of Chas. Bias had been commuted to Life imprisonment. Bias would have been hanged tomorrow. Attorney Moman Pruiett of this city has been in Washington the last 2 weeks working on this case."

Thanks to the Southern Oklahoma Historian of Southern Oklahoma History for reminding me about the Charles Bias case of 1899. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

About Moorman "Moman" Pruiett

Oklahoma - Moman Pruiett defended many cases in early Indian Territory. In November, 1910, though, Pruiett was on the prosecutions side in the trial of N. L. Miller vs. State of Oklahoma for the alleged murder in the Old Opera House Murder of Alva, Oklahoma>. Pruiett was working with the "Law Enforcement League" back then. It was thought that Moman's wife had relatives in the Alva area at this time (1910).

Moman's father was a Confederate Captain Warren Legrande Pruiett, Kentucky. Warren Legrand Pruiett, while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp. He was released following the end of the fighting. He returned to find his homeland destroyed by the war and his first wife, Martha Harris Pruiett, dead. He had two sons, Oscar and Albert, and a daughter, Anna, by his first wife. On March 23, 1869, he married Elizabeth Louise Laws Moorman. She was 19 and he was 42. This was Captain Pruiett's second marriage. The Captain tried his hand at raising tobacco in 1880-82 - At some point they moved to Rogers, Arkansas while the captain cut beef for the railroad workers and his wife ran a bordering house, feed the railroad workers.

Moman's mother's folks were the Moormans near Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky. Moman's mother was Elizabeth Louisa "Betty" Moorman. Moman's mother Elizabeth Louisa Laws Moorman Pruiett, was his most dedicated, loyal, and staunch supporter. She saw him through years of poverty and deprivation and his time in prison, but she never gave upon her dream of him becoming a famous lawyer. She divorced her first husband, Thomas Laws, when he joined the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War.

Moman was born Moorman Pruiett (1873 near Louisville) aboard the Gray Eagle, a steamship operated by the Louisville and Evansville Packet Company, on the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.

It was 1900 when Pruiett was 27 years of age -- average height, heavy square shoulders, robust brown neck which lint him the appearance of physical strength and endurance -- also coal black hair, black brows unnaturally shaggy and prominent.

The Texas Governor and later US Senator Charles A. Culberson paroled Moorman Pruiett from the Texas State prison at Rusk, Texas June 18, 1895. Three years previously Pruiett had been convicted of robbery and sentenced to five years in prison. Culberson's belief that Pruiett had reformed was justified in 1900 when he witnessed Moman taking the oath granting him the right to practice before the US Supreme Court. Moman Pruiett of Pauls Valley, I. T. formerly of Paris, Texas was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court in 1900 - that was just incidental to his real business in Washington - to save Chas. S. Bias from the gallows in southern Indian Territory.

Moman Pruiett had no schooling -- he served time in Arkansas before getting in trouble in Texas - he served 3 years of the 5 years in Texas prison when Gov. Culberson turned him over to Pruiett's mother -- a devoted, persistent women.
v Moman was considered a genius -- a little on the crooked side -- shefty -- head full of the damnedest brains with a belly full of guts - No education except for the law books he read in the attorney's office that he cleaned. Moman was tall and learned his lessons the hard say. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Oklahoma Pioneer - Edwin Roberts

Avard, Oklahoma - This week we share with you another Oklahoma Pioneer from the book, History of Oklahoma, written, compiled by Joseph B. Thoburn. We are talking about one Edwin S. Roberts, who was reared to the age of fifteen years in his native Kentucky county, where he acquired his early education in the common schools. He was about fifteen years fold at the time of the family move to Macoupin County, Illinois, where he continued his studies in the public schools, and in 1887, shortly prior to attaining to his legal majority, he accompanied his parents on their move to Sedgwick county, Kansas.

Edwin Roberts came with other members of the family to Oklahoma in 1893, and he entered claim to a tract of land in the newly opened Cherokee Strip, in Woodward County, having been improved by him and developed into one of the excellent farms of the county. Mr. Roberts was a man of alert and vigorous mentality, of well fortified opinions and marked progressiveness. Roberts had been influential in public affairs of a local order. In 1903, he was the democratic nominee for representative of Woodward County in the Territorial Legislature, but his defeat was compassed by normal political exigencies.

In 1902, Roberts was associated with other representative citizens of Woodward County in the organization of the Farmers' BAn of Mutual, the Town of Mutual having been developed at the expense of the old Village of Persimmon, which was little more than a name.

In 1904, in Woods County, Edwin Roberts became associated with John J. and George Gerlach in the organization of the Avard State Bank, and of this institution he has since been cashier, its development and upbuilding as one of the substantial banks of this part of the state having been largely due to his energy, good judgment and progressive policies. Roberts had been none of the foremost in promoting the civic and material advancement of the thriving and attractive little City of Avard and had served continuously as its mayor since the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907.

Roberts had been also a member of the local board of education since 1904, and his loyalty and public spirit were of the most insistent and benignant type. He did not deviate front he line of close allegiance to the democratic party and was influential in its councils in Woods County. He was Affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Edwin Roberts had been twice married. On 20 June 1903, he wedded Miss Alta Grunewald, who was born in the City of Van Wert, Ohio, and whose death occurred at Avard, Oklahoma, on 7 december 1904. She is survived by twin daughters, Corene and Lorene, who were born 22 November 1904. On 18 June 1906, Roberts married Miss Eloise M. Taylor, who was born in Carroll County, Missouri.

Edwin Roberts had given a most progressive and popular administration during his period of service as mayor of Avard. Within his regime and largely through his influence have been installed the excellent municipal water, electric-light and telephone systems, streets had been carefully maintained in good order, and cement sidewalks installed throughout the town, these modern improvements being the more noteworthy in view of the fact that this vigorous little western city had in 1915 a population or less than 300. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe