Valentines Day Snow Storm

Though the higher elevations of the Rocky mountains received new snow fall readings this week, here in the valley south of Bayfield, we have seen warmer temperatures and the snow has slowly compacted and started to melt... slowly, of course, making things a bit muddy around here. We did see another couple of inches of snow here in the valley around Valentines Day.

We hear that Oklahoma might have had some rain and are expecting icy stuff this weekend but not as much as was originally predicted. AND... Oklahoma gas prices around Perry, Oklahoma have gone back up to $2.93.9. Our gas prices at the Conoco in Bayfield, Colorado have still been hanging steady at $2.99.9. If you go down highway 160 to the East, the Phillips 66 station, gas prices are 3-cents higher.

I got sidetrack this weekend watching the old oscar winning movies on the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel the last few days. Remember the movie with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, in "True Grit," directed by Henry Hathaway in 1969, with John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby. A drunken, hard-nosed US Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn young woman track the murderer of her father in Indian Territory. Actually, the filming took place mainly in Ouray County, Colorado, in the vicinity of Ridgway (now the home of the True Grit Cafe), and the town of Ouray. The courtroom scenes were filmed at Ouray County Court house in Ouray.

We have also managed to transcribe some more Oklahoma histories from A Standard History of Oklahoma that had some interesting stories from that time.

We would love to hear some of your ancestor's growing up memories of life in the twin territories. AND... old photos that you might find in your grandparent's treasures of the past. Thanks to all of you who have shared your memories with us all in the "OkieLegacy Ezine."
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Last Man Executed Under Tribal Laws of Choctaw Nation

Deputy Marshal James Ennis, tells the story of the last man executed under the tribal laws of the Choctaw Nation, was William Going, a member of the tribe by blood and a baseball player of considerable prominence.

William Going was shot in 1898, by Sheriff Tom Watson of Nashoba County at Alikchi, the old Court Town of the Third Judicial District, of the Choctaw Nation, after having been convicted of murder of Ishtimihoke, a Choctaw woman, whom Going thought was practicing arts of witchcraft upon him.

The execution of William Going... occurred about the time Congress gave its approval of the Atoka Agreement, and the passage of the Curtis Act, which abrogated the Choctaw Government to a great extent and deprived its court of Jurisdiction to try cases.

The attorneys for Going made application to Judge Clayton, United States judge for the Central District of the Indian Territory, which included the territory in which the Going case was tried, for a writ of habeas corpus, to stop the execution of Going, Judge Clayton heard the case and after a thorough investigation decided that he had no jurisdiction to interfere in the matter, and delivered Going to the Choctaw authorities.

The judge of the Choctaw District court re-sentenced Going and about the time for the execution an effort was made in Antlers to forestall the execution, and telegrams were sent to Judge Thomas that Judge Clayton was out of the district and that Going was going to be unlawfully executed.

Judge Thomas upon said telegrams issued an order staying the execution until the matter could be investigated, and sent the order to Antlers by telegram. The telegram was conveyed to the Choctaw authorities at Alikchi on the day set for the execution.

When this telegram was taken before the Choctaw judge he declined to be controlled by the order of Judge Thomas, saying that Judge Clayton had decided that the United States courts had no jurisdiction in the case and decided to let the Choctaw law and judgment of the court be enforced.

Abner Clay, an educated and brilliant young Choctaw was district attorney. Abner Clay told the court that in his opinion the execution should proceed.

Shortly before 2 o'clock on the execution day, Going was stripped to the waist and made to kneel on a blanket spread on the ground. His heavy irons having been removed in the jail, he walked down between two lines of men to the site of the execution. Every safequard was placed around the execution, for Going had the reputation of being a desperate man.

When he had knelt a medicine man of the Choctaws painted a black spot on his left chest, supposedly over his heart, a deputy sheriff held each hand and Sheriff Watson, thirty paces away, after careful aim fired his Winchester. The ball hit the center of the painted spot and passed through the Indian's body. Going threw up his hands, screamed and fell backward, but he was not dead.

Sallie Durant, an Indian woman, recalling similar occurrences of earlier years, suggested the use of water to complete the death job, and the suspicion had since been current that Going would not have died had it not been for the use of water.

Warrants were issued at Antlers charging the sheriff, the prosecuting attorney and clerk with violation of the order of Judge Thomas, and James Madison Ennis, then deputy United States marshal under Col. John Carroll at Fort Smith, were charged with their arrest.

Sheriff Watson came to Antlers and surrendered and the others were brought in. Charges against them were dismissed when it was learned that Judge Clayton was yet in his district when the order was issued by Judge Thomas. This fact invalidated the order. Judge Thomas was killed in 1914 by prisoners in the State Penitentiary at McAlester during an uprising of convicts. At the time Judge Thomas was sitting in the office of the warden.

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Claud Baird Poems

This week we received an email from the granddaughter of Claud Baird. We also learned a bit more about the man, Claud Baird, who wrote Patriotic and Other Poems.

While digging through some back issues of our family treasures and "OkieLegacy Ezine (Vol. 5, Iss. 12)" we found this McGill Bros' copy of Patriotic and Other Poems - written, published back in 1917 by Claud Baird.

Patriotic & Other Poems was printed by Renfrew's Record Print, Alva, Oklahoma and published, copyrighted around 1917, in Alva, Oklahoma by Claud Baird. This was supposedly his first volume published for the public. Claud Baird dedicated it to the one who had given him his greatest inspiration -- his mother.

Among the selection of poems you will find is a poem Baird wrote for the Pilgrim Bard. It is entitled... To The Pilgrim Bard - (SEE pg. 3, of the scanned pages of Baird's Patriotic Poems.)

"Sweet Singer of the Western plains!
I come not to disturb thy blissful melodies
With harsh and untried meter.
Thy fame is great, thy songs have long since
Been sung by thy fellow pioneers....."

The Horse That Won A Claim & An Election

Last week we mentioned the biography of William Thomas Little, Guthrie, Oklahoma. This week we continue with this horse story during the opening of the Cherokee Strip.

In the race for homestead claims at the opening of the Cherokee Strip, there were fine race horses used by many of the more enterprising homeseekers. One of the finest of these was that which was ridden by William "Will" Thomas Little, of Guthrie. Will Little was a born horseman -- a horseman after the order of Alexander, Washington, or Grant -- and nothing delighted him more than the privilege of subduing and training a horse that had proven to be utterly intractable in the hands of every one else.

As the time for the opening of the Cherokee Strip drew near, he began to make inquiry for a speedy horse with which to make the race for a claim. In the course of this search there was soon brought to his notice a pedigreed race horse, which had won many races and lost none. The name of this horse was "La Junta". But, sure footed and swift though he was, La Junta was notorious for his vicious temper -- he was reputed to have killed two men already and was only waiting to kill more men when the opportunity was afforded. But for this, he could not have been bought for $10,000. His owner was afraid of him and La Junta knew it.

Will Little went to see the horse and looked him over with a discriminating judgment that noted every line in perfection of equine form -- the fierce eyes were a matter of consideration. The owner frankly told Little the reason for his willingness to dispose of the animal. He named a price of $150, but refused to ride the brute to show his gaits and paces or even put a saddle on him.

Little paid the purchase price down on the spot and led the animal home. There he roped La Junta, threw him, tied him and battled with him for an hour -- until man and horse were both well nigh worn out with the struggle. Then he took off the ropes and allowed La Junta to get to his feet, leaving neither bridle nor halter on his head, and told the horse to follow him -- and La Junta followed Will Little up and down the street, with his vicious temper subdued, conquered!

La Junta had never been harnessed, yet Will Little harnessed him, hitched him to a buggy and drove him down to the stable whence he had been led, a veritable equine demon, less than two hours before. The former owner could scarcely believe his eyes, yet there was La Junta, harnessed and hitched to the buggy, a mute witness to the triumphant will of a man who passionately loved a good horse. After that first battle, the new owner had no more trouble with La Junta.

With Will Little in the saddle, La Junta was in the race for a homestead claim, that bright autumn day -- September 16, 1893 -- and La Junta carried his appreciative owner to a choice quarter section in the valley of Bear Creek, a few miles from Perry which was henceforth the Little homestead.

A year later, Will Little was nominated for representative to the Legislature from Noble county. Up and down the length and breadth of the county Will Little rode La Junta in his campaign of personal visitation, until nearly every man, woman and child in Noble County knew both horse and rider. No wonder that the latter used to proudly declare: La Junta elected me to the Legislature."

Subsequently, Will Little was persuaded to sell La Junta for a goodly price that he might return tot he racing stable and the speed ring. But La Junta never won another race, for, such was his former bad name that grooms were afraid to him and jockeys would not ride him. -- Vol. 2, pg. 722, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn
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Claud Baird Descendant

"I would like to contact the person who wanted to know who Claud Baird is on the webpage: OkieLegacy - Vol. 5, Iss. 12. I believe that he is my grandfather.

My father looked at you website and confirmed that Claud Baird, the poet, is my grandfather. There is more information on my grandfather and his family tree at the Woodward County Pioneer Families webpage. If you scroll down the webpage, there is a link for Claud & Nora Baird that has a bit of history on him. There is also a link to his parents, William & Carrie Baird, if you are interested. The other links to Bairds are my grandfather's brothers.

May I ask what your grandmother's name was and where she lived? I wonder if she knew my grandfather. The Pioneer website says: Mr. Baird attended Normal School at Alva. After attending Normal School, he taught school at Little Jewel and at Pleasant Valley. After World War I, he taught Industrial Arts in the Woodward High School. Moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma, about 1920, he taught in that school system before going into the cabinet and planeing mill business.

I don't know if our grandparents knew one another, but it is fun to wonder. I also appreciated your website, it was fun to peruse the wealth of information you have posted. Thank you." -- Susan Baird
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Crenshaw Memories of NW Oklahoma

If you still maintain your newsletter, would you please put me on your subscriber list? I am Jerry Crenshaw, Russell, KS 67665. I attended Horace Mann school after WWII and then AHS graduating in 1954 and Northwestern graduating in 1958. My parents and grandparents had Hillcrest Dairy and then Lynn's Restaurant in Alva.

Are you the daughter of Gene McGill or otherwise related? Although he was older than me, we were pretty much good friends. I remember he flew his plane to Helena, Oklahoma to deliver a speech at the high school where I was teaching. He landed in a pasture north of town and I picked him up and drove him to the school auditorium. He was state party (Democrat) chairman for one of the political parties at the time." -- Jerry Crenshaw - email: svashtar@eaglecom.net
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Old Grimes Road Racer - NW Alva, OK

"Onecia Mercer's information and picture were very interesting. I hope she has much more to share." -- SBW
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Colorado Rocky Snow

"The day has brightened but the snow still falls. Wes has just been to plow. I have another picture of snow, fallen from the south side of roof over porch. I would have caught it falling if I hadn't forgotten to take the card out of the computer and put it back in the camera. Damn." - SBW
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Moses & Emaline Paris

"I am very curious about the Paris relatives that you have. Is this part of the Moses Paris family that is listed in the Cherokee Pheonix. Moses Paris is listed as a member of the Council at New Echota, Ga. He would be my Great Great Grandfather, through his daughter Emaline who married a 3rd great grandson of Nancy Ward. (Most Beloved Woman of the Cherokee's). I also have Many relatives that are buried at South Bethel Cemetery in Braggs, OK. This is all very confusing, but I guess you have to start somewhere. It seems like such an unusual name, but I have found mentions of the name Moses Paris in several states over a 150 year time span so far. Thanks for your help." -- Carol Hayes McKenzie - Email: ladyadler@truvista.net

[Editor's Note: You can view this NW Okie's PARIS Genealogy at the following links:
ParisTimes Pioneers
Paris Info courtesy of Jim Henderson
Edward Paris/Parris]
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Pine Valley, OK - Huddleston

"My mother, Gwenda Huddleston, was born in Pine Valley in 1929 to Paul and Opal Huddleston. I enjoyed your article about the town and will pass it on to my mother who is now 78." -- Leslie Broome - Email: Leslie.Broome@usm.edu
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The Organic Act

See the Organic Act, 1890 -- By the terms of the Organic Act, the boundaries of Oklahoma Territory were drawn to include all or most of present Lincoln, Payne, Logan, Oklahoma, Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, and Pottawatomie counties, the Public Land Strip, and the Osage, Kaw, Ponca, Oto, Pawnee, Wichita-Caddo, Kiowa-Comanche-Apache, and Cheyenne-Arapaho reservations. Old Greer County was technically included within the territory''s boundaries but was specifically exempted from the application of homestead law or further settlement until the Red River boundary dispute could be settled with Texas. The Public Land Strip, heretofore a closed part of the public domain, was declared subject to settlement under the regulations of the 1862 Homestead Act. The new territory specifically excluded the Cherokee Outlet until it could be acquired for the federal public domain and opened for settlement.
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Caddo, Comanche & Kiowa Counties

Three new counties, designated as Caddo, Comanche and Kiowa, were added to the organized portion of the territory as the result of the opening of these reservations. The townsites of their county seats were reserved from entry, were surveyed and platted and the lots were sold at auction to the highest bidders, the government devoting the proceeds to public improvements and other public purposes for the towns and counties -- such as the erection of courthouses, waterworks, bridges, schoolhouses, etc.

The pasture reservations, for the segregation of which there had been much just criticism, were thrown open to settlement five years after the opening of the rest of the reservations, the land being placed on the market and sold to the highest bidders. Thus, excepting only the reservations of the Osage, Kansas, Ponca and Otoe-Missouri tribes of Indians, all of the unallotted lands of Oklahoma Territory were finally thrown open to settlement.

To get an idea of the way the twin territories were divided by tribes and nations in Oklahoma and Indian Territories you can see a map over at OKGenWEb. You can click on each of the Nations to read more about them.
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Distribution of Homestead Privileges By Lot

Distribution of Homestead Privileges By Lot -- pg. 728, Vol. 2, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn.

In order to prevent the disorders which had attended former land openings, the new rules drawn up by the Secretary of the Interior, and included in the executive proclamation, directed that all persons desiring to take up homesteads on the surplus lands of either reservation should be allowed to register; that the names of registered should be written on cards and enclosed in envelopes, which envelopes were to be thoroughly shuffled and then drawn out and numbered, the applicants to be permitted to file in turn on homestead claims at the district land offices in the order that their names were thus drawn. Thus, at last, it was hoped and believed that the "sooner" was effectually circumvented.

Two new land districts were created, with offices at El Reno and at lawton, and all registration had to be done at one or the other of these two places; though any person could register for either district or reservation at either land office, no one was permitted to register for a chance in both. The offices were opened for registration on July 9th and the drawing began August 6th.

The work of shuffling and drawing the envelopes was all done at El Reno. With about 16,000 quarter sections subject to homestead entry, there were ten times that many registrations, so interest was keyed up to a high pitch when the day arrived for the beginning of the great "land Lottery," as it was called.

In the meantime, El Reno had been about the busiest place in the whole county. Every incoming train was crowded. Several registration offices had to be provided. Numerous notaries did a thriving business in filling out and certifying to registration applications. The center of the principal business streets was leased out to booths, refreshment stands. Gamblers and sharpers plied their wiles and fleeced the unwary. Land office officials had a small army of clerks and assistants on hand. many were the expedients resorted to in order to make money. Certain self-appointed persons (doubtless with the connivance of land office clerks) charged the people 10 cents apiece for forming them in line at the registration offices and most people laughed as they paid it, even though they knew it was a species of petty extortion. While it has been asserted that there was some sleight of hand performance by which the sealed envelopes of several favored ones were slipped into the drawing for the first two or three days, there were no grounds for it beyond a vague suspicion and, on the whole, the system gave much less grounds for complaint than any had been tried before.
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The Last Great Land Opening

The Last Great land Opening of the Twin Territories, pg. 727, Vol. 2, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn

It was on the 6th of October, 1892, David H. jerome, Alfred M. Wilson and Warren G. Sayre, as commissioners on the part of the government, concluded an agreement with the Indians of the comanche, Kiowa and Plains Apache tribes, whereby the people of those tribes were to accept allotments of land in severalty and cede the surplus lands to the government in order that the same might be thrown open to settlement under the homestead laws.

On the 4th of June, 1891, a similar agreement had been entered into with the Indians of the Wichita, Caddo and affiliated tribes and bands for a like purpose by the same government commissioners. In those days, however, much of the land in both reservations was leased to cattlemen who were naturally very reluctant to quit business. it was evident that some if not all of the cattlemen had friends in Congress, as it was nearly four years before an act was passed approving the agreement made with the Wichitas and affiliated bands and tribes and nearly eight years before the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache agreement was similarly ratified by Congress.

The Wichita-Caddo agreement was ratified by act of Congress, approved march 2, 18895, and the Comanche-Kiowa-Agapche agreement was ratified by an act approved June 6, 1900.

Even after the Wichita agreement had been duly ratified, the opening of its surplus lands to homestead settlement was deferred from year to year until the other agreement had been ratified and another year was consumed in delays before an opening proclamation was issued by president McKinley.

Allotments were made and the two reservations were resurveyed, many of the marks of the original surveys (made nearly thirty years before) having disappeared. The Fort Sill military reservation was enlarged to an area of 56,000 acres and a forest reservation in the heart of the Wichita Mountain range was reserved from settlement. pasture reservations aggregating 500,000 acres were also withheld from homestead entry -- ostensibly for the benefit of the Indians but really as an act of accommodation to favored cattlemen.

At last, on the 125th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of American Independence, president McKinley issued a proclamation giving due notice that the surplus lands of the Comanche-Kiows-Apache and the Wichita-Caddo Indian reservations should be thrown open to homestead settlement on and after the 6th day of August, 1901, and prescribing the rules and regulations for the government of such proceedings. These rules and regulations differed radically from any of those which had been adopted or used in preceding land openings.
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Greer County, Oklahoma

Greer County, pg. 724, Vol. 2, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn.

The government exploring expedition of Captains Marcy and McClellan traversed Southwestern Oklahoma, in the spring and summer of 1852, it did some very effective work but a serious mistake was made in drawing the maps which accompanied its report. This blunder consisted in locating the 100th meridian (which then as now constituted the eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle) just one degree too far east.

This made its intersection with the Red River at a point near the mouth of the north fork of the Red River; hence all the land lying between the Red River and the North fork apparently fell within the territorial dominions of the State of Texas.

Moreover, the marcy report habitually referred to the Red River above the mouth of the North Fork as the Ke-che-ah-que Hono, which, in the language of the Comanche Indians, meant "Prairie Dog Town River," while its principal tributary from the north in its upper course was always called the north fork of the Red River rather than by its Comanche name, which was Mobeeteh Hono, meaning "Walnut River." Now, by the terms of a treaty made with Spain in 1819, the 100th Meridian of Longitude West had been determined upon as the boundary between the United States and the Spanish dominions from the Arkansas River south to the Red River. Of course the accidental miscalculation as to the location of the 100th meridian on Marcy's maps could not affect the international boundary which in the course of time had come to be a boundary between the State of Texas and the Indian Territory, but the substitution of the name of Kecheaque Hono, or Prairie Dog Town River, for that of the Red River made it possible for the State of Texas to assert that the Meridian boundary line ended at its intersection with the channel of the North Fork. The authorities of that state therefore laid claim to all the lands lying between the Red River, proper, and the north fork of the Red River.

In assertion of this claim, the Legislature of the State of Texas created a county of the region embraced between the Red River, the North Fork and the 100th Meridian, which was named Greer, in honor of John A. Greer, who was once a lieutenant governor of Texas. But, though it was thus dignified by name and bounds, it was destined to remain for a score of years as a part of the wilderness of the Great Plains, the grazing ground of the buffalo herds and the hunting range of the untamed comanches and Kiowas. During the '70s, it was occasionally visited by white buffalo hunters from the Texas frontier, though that was a very hazardous field for such operations then, for the Indians were hostile to all white hunters the found in that region.

In 1880-1, the first cattlemen began to seek ranges for their stock in Greer County, establishing their ranches at places which were conveniently near a dependable water supply. Other settlers arrived and located in various parts of the county during the course of the next few years. In 1884, the Federal Government took cognizance of their presence, president Arthur issuing a proclamation warning them against trespass, and in 1885 troops were sent to expel the settlers as intruders.

They were merely warned to leave, however, and none of them paid any attention. practically all of the settlers were from Texas and they felt assured of the moral support of the authorities and people of that state, so the situation was scarcely analogous to that of the "boomers" in the Oklahoma country. The order for the expulsion of the settlers was afterward modified as the result of representations made the Texas authorities. A year later (August 1, 1886) Greer county was formally organized as a county of the State of Texas.

While the dispute between Texas and the Federal government as to the ownership of Greer County was of long standing, neither party to the controversy had been in haste to press for a settlement of the same. Bills were introduced into congress at various times to provide for the adjudication of the conflicting claims, but nothing ever came of such efforts. Finally, when the Organic Act was passed by congress, in the spring of 1890, one section made it mandatory that the attorney general of the United States should file in the Federal Supreme Court, a suit in equity to determine the long standing dispute. There followed several years of careful preparation for the trial of the issue.

The archives of mexico and Spain were searched; an elaborate set of copies of old maps was procured and depositions were taken in many places both in Texas and Oklahoma. Nearly six years had passed since the Organic Act had authorized and directed the beginning of the suit before the Supreme court of the United States rendered its decision in the Greer county case, March 16, 1896.

The court of the Forty-sixth Judicial District of texas was in session at Mangum, with the late Justice G. A. Brown, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, then a resident of Vernon, Texas, presiding as district judge, and a trial was in progress when a mounted courier arrived from Quanah, Texas, with the announcement of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Greer County case, which had been handed down the day before.

Without the formality of adjourning the court, Judge Brown stated that he had no jurisdiction in Greer County and he returned forthwith to Texas. Within a few weeks congress had passed an act, approved may 4, 1896, providing for the organization of Greer County under the laws of the Territory of Oklahoma. The people of Greer County participated in Oklahoma elections for the first time in November following. By the terms of an act of congress approved January 18, 1897, the Greer County lands were declared to be open to entry under the homestead laws, and were constituted a new land district, the land office being at Mangum.

The area thus added to the settled and organized part of Oklahoma was larger than either of the States of Delaware or Rhode Island. In addition tot he present Greer county, it included all of the counties of Harmon and Jackson and also that part of Beckham County which is located south of the north fork of the Red River.
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Opening of the Kickapoo Reservation

Opening of the Kickapoo Reservation, Vol. 2, pg. 723, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn.

The reservation of the Kickapoo Indians was located in Lincoln, Oklahoma and Pattawatomie counties. As a tribe, the Kickapoos have always been numbered among the most conservative indians.

They did not want to adopt the ways of the white people and they were bitterly opposed to accepting individual allotments of land for personal fee simple ownership. The government commissioners seemingly could make no headway in the effort to induce them to accept allotments and sell their surplus lands. It is said that they were finally induced to sign a power of attorney to certain persons, ostensibly for the purpose of collecting some money alleged to have been due the Kickapoos, and that this power of attorney was used in signing an agreement on behalf of the Kickapoos to accept allotments and sell their surplus lands in order that the same might be thrown open to settlement under the homestead laws.

The lands were opened to settlement by the usual executive proclamation and race, may 25, 1895. The Kickapoos were never satisfied, most of them leaving and going to Mexico for a time. The migration to Mexico aided if not instigated by scheming white men conspired to buy Kickapoo allotments for a mere fraction of their value. This resulted in a scandal and a congressional investigation which is alleged to have covered up quite as much as it exposed.

The published report of the senate subcommittee, which conducted the investigation of the Kickapoo frauds, s contained in the Senate Document no. 215, Sixtieth congress, first session, comprising 2,3000 pages in three volumes.
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Pioneer W. Milton Bickel - Woods Co., OK

W. Milton Bickel was its first Democratic representative to the State Senate, in 1914, for the Fifth Senatorial District.

W. Milton Bickel overcame a normal republican majority between 700 and 900 in that senatorial district and went into office with a plurality of twenty-one votes. This election had brought to the Senate a valuable member and a lawyer of broad experience. His election was also a high tribute to his personal standing and his commendable record as county judge in Woods County. Bickel held that office four years, and during that time only two of his decisions were reversed by higher courts. As a county judge, Mr. Bickel was a Democrat in a county that was normally republican, and it was his popularity associated with his services as county judge that undoubtedly enabled him to seek with success the higher official honors which brought him to the State Senate.

W. Milton Bickel was born in McPherson county, Kansas, in 1877, the son of H. M. and elizabeth Bickel. There was an interesting bit of family history concerning Michael Bickel, the paternal grandfather, of German extraction, who lived in the southern states before the war, practicing his profession as civil engineer.

When the war broke out he became a member of a confederate regiment formed in Mississippi. At the same time his son, H. M. Bickel, was living in the NOrth, having been reared in Iowa, joined an Iowa regiment for service in the Union army. These two soldiers, on opposing sides in teh great conflict, fought against each other in the battle of Shiloh.

W. M. Bickel afterwards became prominent in McPherson County, Kansas, was one of the leading Democrats there and in 1884 was candidate for Congress in the Seventh Kansas district, but was defeated by the republican nominee. From 1884 to 1888, during Cleveland's administration, he held the office of receiver of the United States Land Office at Larned, Kansas, and after that was engaged in the practice of law. He moved to Alva, Oklahoma, in 1893, soon after the establishment of that town.

Senator W. Milton Bickel received most of his education in Kansas, attending the public schools and graduating from the high school at Larned, Kansas, and after completing a course in shorthand and typewriting in a business college at Wichita took up the study of law in his father's office, and for some time was his father's secretary.

W. Milton Bickel was admitted tot he bar at Alva in 1898. Three years previously, at the age of eighteen, he had been appointed journal clerk in the office of United States Judge J. L. McAtee, a position he held four years, until his retirement in 1899. For the following two years he was deputy county treasurer of Woods County.

In 1901 Senator Bickel engaged in the banking business as cashier of the Bank of Ingersoll, Oklahoma, and later was cashier of the Bank of Commerce at Alva. In 1910 Bickel was elected county judge of Woods County, and in 1912 was re-elected to that office.

W. Milton Bickel married in 1902 to Rosa B. France of Woods County. Their two children were named marshall and Beryl, who were twelve and five years of age in 1916, respectively.

Senator W. Milton Bickel's legislative record was an advocate for a repeal of the county tax assessor law, offering instead a measure providing that only counties expressly so voting should possess that office. Bickel introduced and championed a measure amending the constitution so as to provide that women should have equal suffrage with men in case an election was held for that purpose, in which only women voted, a majority of all women otherwise qualified should declare in favor of such amendment. -- Vol. 3, pg. 1230, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn
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Pioneer James Madison Ennis - Antlers, OK

On June 16, 1913, James Madison Ennis was appointed postmaster at Antlers by President Wilson, succeeding C. E. Archer. At Fort Smith, Arkansas, in October, 1893, James Madison Ennis married Effie Basham. James Madison Ennis was a postmaster at Antlers, Oklahoma and had for years been one of the best known public characters in the old Choctaw Nation. His record was especially interesting for his long service as a deputy United States Marshal.

James Madison Ennis was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, November 8, 1862, the son of John C. and Parthena (Hughey) Ennis. There was another son, R. A. Ennis, who was an intermarried Choctaw citizen and lived at Haworth.

When James M. Ennis was quite young his parents moved to Texas, and his father died in Abilene in that state in 1880. The public schools of his native state and of Texas gave him his education, and he also spent four years in a private school in Huntsville, Alabama. For a time his home was at Clarksville, Texas, where he entered the employ of H. Herman of New York as a timber buyer in the Choctaw Nation. Mr Herman had a sawmill at Herman's Point in Towson County, and the buying range covered territory along Red, Little and Kiamichi Rivers.

Besides prosecuting his business as a timber buyer Mr. Ennis also owned a general merchandise store just over the river from Bon Ton, a noted place of the South Choctaw country. Later he entered the employ of the government, and subsequently for twenty years was a farmer and stockman near Antlers, Oklahoma. He still had some valuable farm land near that town, and had some livestock interests which required part of his attention.

The experiences of Mr. Ennis as an officer in the Choctaw Nation covered a wide range of activities, and embraced many interesting features of life in those days. During the four years that he was deputy marshal, 19 commissioned officers were killed and many were wounded. Mr. Ennis was wounded once. This wound came at the hands of Will Meeks, who was charged with horse stealing, and whom Ennis located at a dance near Red River.

Meeks fired when Ennis entered the room while a dance was in progress. Meeks, however, did not escape but was arrested by Ennis and taken to Fort Smith. He was the first man ever to be granted a new trial by United States Judge Parker at Fort Smith, and on second trial he was acquitted.

The territory embraced in the district covered by Ennis as marshal was that of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations. There were numerous cases of murder and theft and several of those arrested by Ennis on these charges were hanged in Fort Smith. So vigilant and vigorous were his activities that many organized bands of thieves were broken up summarily.

An interesting case in his experience indicates the distinction between federal and tribal laws of that period. At Fort Towson a merchandise store owned by J. Rosenthal, an intermarried citizen, was burglarized by Indians, whom Ennis arrested and took to Fort Smith. There the Federal Court disclaimed jurisdiction in such a case. The Indians were returned to the Choctaw country, but could not be prosecuted under tribal laws because Rosenthal had not complied with the law in the matter of obtaining a license when he was married to an Indian woman.

Goodland was the official headquarters of Ennis and prisoners were transported to Fort Smith by wagon, such a trip and return sometimes requiring sixty days. During his service, John McAlester was killed at Purcell, John Phillips was killed in the Creek Nation, and posseman Williams was killed in the Chickasaw Nation. These were among the best known and bravest officers of Indian Territory.

Deputy Marshal Ennis recalled the killing of Frank Dalton, a deputy marshal, near Fort Smith in Indian Territory. His murderer was a boy eighteen years old, a member of a band of horse thieves. This boy was the only one of the band left after Dalton and Jim Coe had fired into their tent, and Dalton was shot through the head after he had emptied his Winchester and was trying to release the hung trigger on his revolver. The boy escaped and was followed by Ed Stokely and Bill Moody to the vicinity of Stringtown, Indian Territory, where he was overtaken.

Refusing to surrender, he was fired upon. he fell after the first fire and when Stokely advanced to him the lad raised himself up and put a ball through the officer's heart. This daring young desperado later surrendered to Moody and was taken in a wagon to Stringtown with the body of Stokely, but died about the time the party reached Stringtown.

Most of the troubles of that period were brought on by white men, is the mature opinion and judgment of Mr. Ennis, who can recite almost any amount of evidence to support his opinion. As a rule the Indians were peaceable and law abiding. In fact Mr. Ennis classes them as among the best people in the world in the matter of obedience to law. -- Vol. 3, pg. 1222, A Standard History of Okalhoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn
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Borger, Texas Funeral Home

"The funeral home at Borger was Blackburn-Shaw-Brown." --
OkieLegacy Comment

[Editor's Note: Ken couldn't recall if the Borger, Texas funeral home was a "3-name" funeral home. He thought there was more than one funeral home there. And one of the business phone number was 555. Ken tell's me that there was a local joke around town, that their motto was: "Dead or Alive, call 555."]
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