The Norman Transcript. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 11, 1909 Page: 1 of 8
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The Norman Transcript
ED. H. BURKE, Publisher.
A Live Republican Newspaper—Devoted to the Best Interests of Norman and Southern Oklahoma.
VOLUME XX.J
NORMAN, CLEVELAND COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, February n, iqoq.
NUMBER 12
THOSE MUSKOGEE INDICTMENTS.
The Sort of Evidence Against Gover-
nor Haskell and Others —Views
of the Government's Prose-
cuting Attorney—Re-
sume of the Case.
The Preliminary Trial
Muskogee, Ok., Feb. 6.— Gov-
ernor C. N. Haskell's prelimin-
ary hearing on the indictment
charging him with conspiracy to
defraud the government will
take place Monday morning,
March 1, at Vinita, Okla. The
governor objected to February
14, the date originally set, on
the grounds that he was too
busily engaged at Guthrie to
thoroughly investigate the
charges against him in so short
a time. Many attorneys have
offered their services to defend
him.
Jury Said to be Unanimous
Muskogee, Feb. 6.—It is un-
derstood the grand jury was
unanimous in voting the indict-
ments, and a number of them
say there was nothing else to do;
that the testimony was such as
to appear incontrovertible. One
of the government's attorneys
said: "In all my experience of
fourteen years as United States
Attorney in North Carolina and
as state prosecutor, I never saw
or knew of a case in which the
evidence was so clear. The evi-
dence consists of records and
in the past three
statutory period.
years, the
Basis for tbe Indictments
The charge against Gov. Has-
kell and other defendants is that
they entered into a conspiracy to
defraud the Creek Indians of
half th > appraised value of j
numerous 4-acre lots In Musko-
gee, by using "dummies." The
law is that «uch lots, unoccupied,
should be sold at public auction
at not less than appraised value,
but, if occupied, the person so
occupying could purchase at half
the appraisement. It is set forth
in the indictment that the de-
fendi nts were the first to sched-
ule with the town site commis-
sion the names of all the persons
they could think of in different (
parts of the United States, per-1
sons who had never been in
Muskogee or even in Oklahoma,
and so set the government
machinery in motion which
would finally result in the issu-
ance of patents in those names-
While the machinery was grind-
ing, it is charged, the defendants
would secure quit-claim deeds
from these prospective patentees,
and having secured record title
the defendants would then has-
ten to dispose of the lots to in-
nocent third parties. The result
of this is charged as a fraud
upon the United States and also
upon the Creek Nation, wards of
the government. In pursuance
of the conspiracy, it is charged,
the defendants wrote letters,
signed deeds, paid money tj the
documents that are as s trong as I "dummies," and accepted pat
holy writ."
ents from the government. It
is even charged that names of
"dummies" were forged to quit-
claim deeds.
C. A. Brakebill Sues for $7,100.
Through his attorneys. Wil-
liams & Williams, J. B. Dudley
and B. F. Wolf, C, A. Brakebill
on Friday instituted suit in the
McClain county district court at
Gov. Haskell in Muskogee.
Gov. Haskell accompanied by
Adjutant General Canton and
Mrs. Haskell, went to Muskogee
from Guthrie, Thursday, to give
bond for his appearance to an-
swer the indictment for land
fraud. He was met at the de-
pot by a band and 1,000 citizens purceii" for"" $7,100 damages
of Muskogee, and taken to the agajnst b. Lane of near Blan-
Turner hotel where, to a cheer-; c^ar[j The suit is the outcome
ing crowd of several thousands, j an assault made on Mr. Brake-
he made a speech, eulogizing the bin by Lane at Blanchard a
other men who had been indict- j C0Up]e or three weeks ago, in
ed with him, calling them up- j whieh the former was badly j
right, honorable gentlemen, the | beaten up.
"pioneers" of the country, the '
"town-builders." As for him-j
self, he declared it was a put-up j Rev. Willis to Edmond.
job by Hearst, Roosevelt and the I Rev. J. W. Willis, pastor of!
"interests" to discredit him be-1 the Norman Baptist church the
cause of his record in favor of: past year, leaves Saturday for j
labor. He then went to the Edmond, where he will have
court room and signed the $5, -1 charge of the Baptist church at
000 bond for his appearance, that point. He preached his
Something like 100 wealthy men | first sermon there last Sunday, |
of the town, representing over | and met with a most cordial
$1,000,000 signed with him. ! welcome. Rev. and Mrs. Willis, j
! during their stay in Norman, I
have made scores of friends, j
who sincerely wish them every |
success in their new home.
Sort of Evidence Given.
As to the sort of testimony
given against the defendants,
the following statement from
a witness from Tennessee is a Preacher Bailey in Jail.
fair sample. He was one of j Rev. J. A. Bailey, of the Trib-
twenty-five witnesses from that j bey neighborhood, was landed
state, and said: J behind the bars of the county
"When I was subpoenaed by ! bastile, Tuesday night, upon the
the government to come to Mus- [ charge of disposing of mortgag-
kogee I did not know there was! ed property. Up to date he has
such a town on the map. I had j been unable to give bond, but
never heard of it and wondered j expects to get the required sig-
what Uncle Samuel wanted me natures in a few days,
for. Since my arrival I have I
learned that I was once the |
owner of a four-acre lot here. I
also learned that in some myste-1
rious manner the lot and I had
parted company and some one
had signed my name to the quit I
cliam deed. That is all I know
about it and I suppose that is'
what I'll have to tell the jury." :
Views of Prosecuting Attorneys.
Special Assistant Attorney
General Rush, of Omaha, (a
Democrat, by the way), con-
ducted the presentation of evi-
dence before the grand jury.
Before he left Muskogee he said:
"This investigation into the
Muskogee town site transactions
has been conducted wholly by
the srovernment and has been
thorough. The defendants are
charged with nothing more than
i'hat the evidence indicated, and
Jim Lee Accnsed of Murder.
Jim Lee, who resides across
the river, and is well known in
Norman, " as here Saturday hav-
ing just returned from Altus, j
Okla., where he was taken a
couple of weeks ago to answer i
to the charge of murder. The
murder, it is claimed, occured
several years ago near Altus and
the supposed murdered man was
working for Mr. Lee. The man
disappeared suddenly, and has
not been seen since. Sometime
after the disappearance human
bones, it is claimed, were found
at the bottom of a well on Lee's
place
A warrant was issued for Lee
with the result that he was lo-
cated a couple of weeks ago and
the arrest followed.
Mr. Lee scoffs at the accusation
and claims he knows where the
wnat me ev.uence mu.cuieu anu J murdered man is now
iieve6 thev will that the facts '"> ™i< ™ «™d he?"!V
u L iL„0 I'nti Jii ii n He was released on $6,000 bail,
charged constitute violation 1 rpnuirpfi ^ionzitiires beinu
facts. The grand jury extended he arrived at Altu,.
immunity to no one concerned in j
these transactions wherein their j See the Cleveland County
connection was established with- Fair at Opera House Feb. 19.
Lincoln's Best Monument
CLOSE MARGIN FOR SHAWNEE. TO CELEBRATE BIRTH OF LINCOLN
0)ttr iflartijtrii JlrratiUutt
jriNCOLN; the "man of sorrows and acquainted with
^ grief;" who bore within his great heart the burdens
of the people: whose great heart, even in the midst
of great administrative problems, was ever open to the
cry of the distressed and downtrodden; rightly is he
likened unto the Man of Galilee, for he came to lead a
great nation into the light of righteousness and right.
Well might it be said of Lincoln:
"He only is great of heart who floods the world with
great affection. He only is great of mind who stirs the
world with great thoughts. He only is great of will who
does something to shape the world to a great career. And
he is the greatest who does the most of all these things,
and does them best.''
Lincoln's Notable Utterances.
The following delivered by Mr. Lincoln at Gettys-
burg on Nov. 1!), 1863, is pronounced by all critics as
probably the most eloquent utterance of the civil war, and
nothing more eloquent is known to have been spoken in
the same compass by any man. He said:
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liber-
ty, and dedicated to uie proposition that all men are
created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battlefiied of that war. We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field as" a final resting place for those
who have gave their lives that that nation might live. It
is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot con-
secrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men,
living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it
far above our power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it
can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the
living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly ad-
vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us, that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom, and that the government of the people, by the
people, and for the people shall not perish from the
earth.''
Another most eloquent and notable utterance was that
of his second inaugural address, only one short month be-
fore he met his death at the hands of the assassin. Al-
most one can imagine he felt the shadow of the death
angel over him even then, but his firmness and courage
bade him press on to the end. He closed that eloquent
address with these words:
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if
God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by
the bondsman's two hunbred and fifty years of unre-
quited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood
drawn with the lash shall be paid for by another drawn
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so
still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether.
"With malice towards none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let
us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations's
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle,
and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just find a lasting peace among our-
selves and with all nations."
Claims County Seat Election by a Lead State University Will Hold Services
of Only 213 Votes-Tecumseh
Will Contest to Bitter End.
Special to the Transcript.
Shawnee, Feb. 11 The county
seat election was bitterly con-
tested in this county yesterday,
and numerous personal encoun-
at College and Opera House
Gov. Haskell and Judge
Williams Expected.
The State University at Nor-
man will celebrate the centennial
anniversary of Lincoln's birth-
day next Friday. February 12th
uaj IICAl I I , 4 cui ua >
ters are reported. It seems that i)V brief < \< rci at 1'v lT
Shawnee has won, having receiv-
ed 5027 votes to Tecumseh's 2997.
The total vote cast was 8024, of
which Shawnee was required to
got sixty per cent, or 4814. If
she got 5027 legal votes, she has
received 213 more than the re-
quired 00 per cent.
Tecumseh will contest bitterly,
up to the court of last resort.
THEY WENT R0LND AND ROUND.
City Dads and Paving Remonstrators
Have Lively Time Tuesday Night
A Deluge of Oratory the
Order of the Eveninfl.
Because no one seems to know
whether the University Boule-
vard belongs to the City of Nor-
man or the Board of Regents of
the University, and should that
driveway be paved, as provided
in the present contract, who
would pay the bill, the city dads
enjoyed an evening of eloquence
Tuesday night. The residents
along the boulevard were there
in force to remonstrate against
the paving being charged up to
them claiming that the boulevard
belongs to the University and
citing instances where they have. rounding country are invited to
applied to the city for improve- be prese it.. 1 he members of the
ments and were told that the city (i- A. 'v- :l.n(! tbe Confederate
had nothing to do with that par- \ Veterans living in this vicinity
ticular part of roadway. Jare especially invited to be 1'ies-
After Prof. Buchanan's talk, ent as honored guests and will
as representative of the remon-,occupy the front seat* in the
strators, the oratorical outbursts! body of the opera house. It is
sit.v chapel at 9 o'clock, during
which President A. Grant Evans
will unveil a bust of Abraham
Lincoln and dedicate a memorial
tablet. Th i ... t ifl a present to
the Uni. from Pres. Evans. At
10 o'clock the facult y and i-
dents will form in precession in
front of the Library Building
and, headed by the University
band, march down town to the
opera house where, at 10:30 the
Lincoln memorial exercises will
bdgin.
The following is the program:
Introductory remarks - Pres.
A. Grant Evans.
Music Orchestra.
Specinl vocal music.
Invocation —Rev. Alexander.
Address The Hon. R. L. Wil-
liams, Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court of Oklahoma.
Brief address Gov. Haskell.
Remarks Other speakers.
Song, "America" By the au-
dience, led by the orchestra.
Benediction.
Music Orchestra.
The exercises at the opera
house are of a public character.
The citizens of Norman and sur-
invited
1 body of the
| hoped that
lias declar.h
unee the Governor
this dav as a legal
became fast and furious, S. P.
Render following with a scorch-
ing speech warning the city, holiday everybody will pa; due
council that they were dealing honor to the memory ol A n ;;liam
with a set of buzzards (meaning: Lincoln by attending these me-
the Cleveland-Trinidad people or j jnorial services at the v. va
any other contracting parties j house.
with whom they had dealings)
who would pick them clean at
every opportunity, and express-
ing the hope that they (the coun-
cil) would not jump into this
$150,000 proposition blindfolded.
Judge Wolf followed with a re-
monstrance to some parts of the
contract, and then came the cli-
max in Councilman Bobo. I)r.
Bobo warmed up to his subject
Death of Mrs. Rachel Tate.
The Persians have a way of
saying on the birth of a child:
"O little one, you came into the
world with cries while all around
are smiling. So live that you
may go out with smiles while all
around are crying." Compress-
ed within this simple prayer are
all the things that make life
luickly, and for a few minutes i worth living, all the things that
held his audience spellbound. \ rob death of its terrors. To go
He told his fellow councilmen j out with smiles, in the happy
that the council was "in bad" on | consciousness of a life well spent
this paving proposition, and be-s; nd with an unfaltering trust in
fore it was too late pleaded with the beneficence of the unknown
them to get themselves out of beyond! It was thus with Mrs.
the hole readvertise for bids and j Rachel Tate, who passed across
thoroughly inform themselvesj the invisible boundary Monday
upon paving work before letting1 night, Feby 8, 1909, after 76
another contract. ; years filled with good deeds.
The usual number of bills were
1 allowed, after which council ad-
Ijourned to meet next Tuesday
' night when the paving proposi-
tion will again be brought up.
There is grief to-day in the
hearts of her children and of the
innumerable ones who called her
friend, but their sorrow must
inevitably be soothed by the con-
templation of what she has done
J. R. Stogner Buys Dreamland. and the certainty of her reward.
J. Ii Stogner, register of ^ good w'^e- a mother a
l deeds, is now proprietor of the *ood woman God has created
Dreamland picture show, having nothing greater.
assumed the mortgage on the Her Illness was brief and only
equipment yesterday He will her daughter Mrs. A. D. Acers
'open up the business Saturday a?t j s0^ S-, were present
night. It is understood that her death which was peace-
id W. Morgan, the former pro-1 ful and quiet, a passing away as
jprietor, will manage the show. ;a dream Her other children
1 ' arrived from Nebraska and
western Oklahoma on Tuesday,
Rring your pumpkins and so that all were here except one
taters and win the prize at the'son, who is in. Seattle. Those
Cleveland County Fair Feb. 19. 'here were Robert a d Charles
Grandpa Fred Carder is re- i '• an,('-, j^ls"
reiving many congratulations fate an(l then' children, and Joe
over the arrival of another grand-
A fine boy was born to Mr.
Mrs. Boasen at Oklahoma i'
9th.
Billy Reid was
Madill, Wednesday.
here
He
Marriage Licenses.
! I' u' \Vi'pft'i'priver r'okf 27 been attending the preliminary He was the negro who assaulted
' ' ' „ , trial of William Thomas at j a little girl near the fair grounds
Tate, of Gotobo, Okla. The
funeral was held at the Presby-
terian church on Wednesday,
services being conducted by Rev.
Alexander in the presence of
a large concourse of friends and
Sheriff Ike Sales returned neighbors, evidencing the great
from McAlester last night. He esteem and respect felt for the
had been over there taking a deceased. Interment was made
had young negro to the penetentiary. : in 1. O. O. F. cemetery.
The sympathy of all goes out
son.
and
City, Tuesday night. Feby.
All parties doing nicely.
from
j Jasper Guthrie, Moore
"/ El - ie I). Clark, Moore
Chickasha, who killed Chief of | last fall. He plead guilty to the
—Ess-Tee-Dee cures dandruff.
Guaranteed by Abies & Wingate.
Police Goodwin last week.
Thomas was released on $10,000
bail, gentleman representing
several hundred thousand dol-
D. F. Hood is again with us1 lars going on his bond. Mr.
for an indefinite period. He ar- Reid says the sentiment of the
rived last Friday from Kansas | community is with Thomas, the
City, Mo., where he has been I idea being he acted in self de-
spending the past three months; fence; that it was a case of kill
with a sister and son. or be killed.
charge, at Purcell, last Monday,
and goes to prison for ten years.
Sheriff Sale says the warden and
assistants at the new penetenti-
ary are getting things in good
shape. It is probable J. H. Ter-
rill will go over there as one of
tbe guards. Sheriff Sale brought
home the offer of a position for
Mr. Terrill.
to the sorrowing children and
relatives.
— "Ma's New Husband" at
the Franing, Saturday Feb 13th.
—Word was received yester-
day from George Renner, at
Los Animos, Colo., that he was
the proud father of a fine 10
pound boy, born Saturdsy, Feb.
6th.
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Burke, J. J. The Norman Transcript. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 11, 1909, newspaper, February 11, 1909; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc138600/m1/1/?q=Hughes: accessed April 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.