The Hugo Husonian (Hugo, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1913 Page: 1 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
jwwrtert 8°clelT
o I
i
VOL. XII.
usonian
HUGO, OKLAHOMA, THURSDAY. OCTOBER 23, 1913.
NOTED MURDER USE
BEGINS TOMORIIQUI
STATE AUTHORITIES AND NOT-
ED CRIMINAL ATTORNEY8
CLEAR DECK8 FOR GREATEST
TRIAL IN CHOCTAW COUNTY
HI8TORY
S. A. Blank Will Go to Trial First
And is Charged With Slaying Wo-
man and Two Children
From Wednesdays Daily.
The beginning cf the mo3t noted
murder case of Choctaw county is slat
ed fcr tomorrow morning. I; is that
of S. A. Blank for the murder of Mrs.
George Webb and her two children,
the murder occurring in the woods
twelve miles north of Boswell one
year ago last Saturday.
The state Is being fortified by out-
side assistance, so intense being the
feeling at Boswell that citizens have
employed attorneys to assist in the
prosecution, and George Webb, hus-
band of the slain woman, has B. D.
Jordan to aid In the prosecution.
Charles McPherren of Durant lias
been also employed to assist Messrs.
Warren and Jones of the county
forces and that gentjeman has been
in close conference with the county
authorities and Mr. Jordan for the
past two days.
The two Blanks and Henry Dodson
and his son, Clem, have m-t been
w ithout assistance. S. A. Downs, one
c-t the original attorneys has for
outside aid Senator McIntosh of Du-
rant and Attorney W. E. Utterbadk,
011,. of the big attorneys of Southeast-
ern Oklahoma, h;is also been chosen
to aid in the defense, and tho defend
ants will go before the trial court
surrounded with men able to defend
to the last extremity.
Probably no other case in the his-
tory of Choctaw county has cxcited
much attention as the si'.flag ot
the woman and her two little chil-
dren. and It has attained nation wide
fame.
While there la a bare possibility of
reaching the case late this afternoon.
County Attorney Warren stated to
The Husonian this afternoon that It
was the intent to start the cuse again
8t 8. A. Blank Thursday morning.
Recapitulation of the case has been
made In The Husonlan. The woman
'and her two (ittle thildren were
found dead in the lonely woods twelve
miles north cf Boswell. Sundav morn-
ing. October 17, 1912. The bodies
were shot almost into pieces, and the
murderers had closed the gate to dis-
covery with seeming ease
George Webb, husband and "atiier,
was held, as was Rogers Jones. but
both easily convinced the authontes
•they had nothing to do with I he kill-
ing and George Webb has since spent
whatever money he could get hold of
to aid in ferreting out the murderer
or murderers.
Last spring S. A. Biank was arrest*
fd, charged with the crime and a
bloody sweater belonging to him was I
sent to State Chemist Do Birr, who'
pronounced the blood that of a hu-
man being.
At the trial
tried to claim tlu
confused In his i,
arrested and lai-
ties that he was s-
had been requestr-i
ry Dodson. He al:
man Blank did tlit-
he believed that Ik did.
Later Sprangley lometimes called
pPMngles) asserted that the first
story was incorrcct .and that he,
Henry and Clem Dodson and S. A.
Blank were returning from Boswell
that Saturday aftdrnqon and tnat
Blank and Clem Dodson got out of
the wagon and went to the 'ent, that
be heard shots and the two soon re-
turned. that they went back to the
tent, taking Henry Dodson with them
The man did not see the killing but
heard it discussed, and 3. V Blank
was the man who did the chootlng.
Henry Dcdson lias no connection
with the case according to Sprangley,
iher than going back with Blank and
more from other sources which the
sheriff, the attorneys and citizens
working on the case have zealously
guarded. These au'horltles nre ron
fident and believe that they have the
right people charged with the atro-
city of the Boggey bottoms and are
determined in their efforts. On the
other hand the attorneys for the de-
fense have had witnesses summoned
from everywhere, and they <tre equal-
ly confident that they can have
Blank freed. On his case hinge all
of the rest, as he is deplete! as the
real slayer.
The Official Advertising Medium of Choctaw County
NO 27.
MARRIED A UTAH MAN
Mi«a Nora Shelton Wedded Man
From Far-Off Inter-Mountain
8ection
Judge Glenn, Tuesday night at the
home of the bride just north of the
city, united in marriage Frank San
Felice and Miss Nora Shelton. He is
from Park City, UCah .and there s
where they will make their future
home. The bride was among the hand
some young ladies of the county. Her
husband is a Park City business man
Jury in Case Disagreed
•
The Jury in the case of the state
versos T. H. Johnson, for larceny of
hog, after being out since late
Tuesday afternoon, was discharged
by Judge Hardy at noon Wednesday,
owing to failure to agree Johnson,
who lives seven miles northwest of
Hugo was charged with havft.g taken
u hog from Justice Winchester who
resides two miles from Johnson. The
Jury stood nine for acquittal and I
three for conviction.
STEMI HELD FOB
SEEK MURDER
EMANUEL WEBSTER RELEA8fD
ON MURDER CHARGE BUT
PLACED UNDER BOND AS A
WITNESS
Little it Known as to Cause of Negro
Murdering Steven* at 8chool North
Of Fort Towson
'-mas Sprangley
cater and was
nony. He was
->Id the authori-
sing falsely and
o do so by Hen-
tated t.'rnt Her-
Hing, or at least
HSUMOD SECURED
IM COURT REVERSAL
MAN TWICE SENTENCED TO BE
HANGED WILL GET ANOTHER
TRIAL IN DISTRICT COURT.
A. Wash mood Has Tried For Seven
Years To Prove His Innocence of
Killing Ben Collins.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA, 0ct.20,
—A. Washmood, twice ccnvictcd of
conspiracy in the murder of Ben Col
lins, former Indian policeman, near
Tishomingo in August, 1906 and giv
on the death penalty, was granted a
third trial when the criminal court
of appeals Saturday reversed the
case. The opinion was written by B.
B. Barefoot of Chickasha, special
judge of the court, serving in the
place of Judge Furraon. who was dis-
qualified. The reversal came upon
the court s holding that the testimo-
ny was insufficient to establish Wash-
moods connection with the alleged
conspiracy, as well as errors com
mltted in the trial. The court erred
in its instructions, the opinion says.
It also held as inadmissible the
state's showing that one of *ho per-
sons indictcd jointly with Washmood
for the alleged conspiracy has since
been lynched.
Collins wes a member of the Chick-
asaw Indian tribe, and had served as
a United fctates marshal and a Chick-
asaw Indian policeman. On the night
of August 1. 1906. he was shot from
ambush while traveling a road west
of Tishomingo. Washmood and live
others were indicted by a Federal
grand ju/y in the Southern district
of Indian Territory, sitting at Ada,
charging eight counts (or alleged
conspiracy in the Collins murder
A preliminary trial for hmanuel
Webster and Will Stewart, the two
negroes charged with shooting John
Stevens, north of Fort Towson a few
weeks ago, death having occurred at
the Paris hospital last week from the
effects of the wound received .occur-
red in Justice L. W. Oakes' court
Wednesday morning.
Webster was represented by Works
and opping, and Stewart by At-
torneys Wlygul of Fort Towson and
M. W. Gross of this city.
8tevens was shot in the thigh, and
the Done was shattered. The ques-
tion of as to which negro shot the
young white man hinged on the size
of the bullet found, and Dr. Ham-
monds of the hospital produced the
ball, which was of .32 calibre. The
revolver which belonged to Stewart
was a .32 and that of Webster was a
44. Justice Oakes held Stewart to
the district court without Lend fori
murder, and placed Webster under]
bond to appear as a witness.
j The tragedy occurred on Saturday!
, night three weeks ago. The victim,
John Stevens rede to a ueg-o moet-
ing and while there was ordered
away by the blacks,Stewart and Web-
I ster approached him and une of them
fired, the ball striking him in the
right thigh. He was carried to the
Paris hospital, where he died a w«ek
ago
The incidents leading up tp the
shooting are more or less mysterious
and the real cause is probably un-
known, as Stevens was non-communi-
cative about the tragedy.
CRIP HUGH EARLIER
MUST TEAR
SOME CHANGE8 IN COTTON RE-
PORT MADE BY GOVERNMENT
FOR STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Hughes Led List In Number of Bales
Ginned At Time Report Was Made
With Lincoln a Close Second.
CRUCE WILL MOVE CAPITOL
The government cotton -eport of
bales ginned at the close of Septem-
ber 25 shows a total for Oklahoma
cf 148,979, against a total of 77 394 at
the corresponding period last year.
Some of the big cotton counties had
less ginned September 25 than at a
corresponding period of last year
while many of the counties which
have been heretofore in the second
division had five times ay many
bales ginned this year at reporting
time. The counties having over
5,000 bales ginned September 23 were
as follows:
Bryan, 5,716.
Carter, 5,358.
Garvin, 6,072.
Hughes, 6 635.
Lincoln, 6,211.
Okfuskee, 5,545.
Pontotoc, 5,379.
Pottawatomie, 5.880.
Choctaw, had 3,299, Pushmataha
had S84 and McCurtain 2,341, all of
[ which have been previously reported.
Marshall county had only 2.S40 bales
ginned against 3,473 at a coriespond-
ing period last year. Greer aad Har-
mon, two other big cotton counties,
had less ginned this year than last.
Okfuskee and Hughes, whlcn show
in the 5,000 bale list, have ginned i
several times more bales this year]
than last at the same period
Goes to Tulsa For Big Dry Farming
Congress
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 22.—Gov
ernor Cruce has announced the offic-
ial party which will accompany him
to Tulsa, where he will maintain his
office for four days during the Inter-
national Dry Farming congress, as
follows:
Secretary F. s. E. Amos. Miss La-
vina Woods, stenographer; hi* daugh
ter Miss Lorena; his niece, Miss Ada
Bennett; Adjutant General Frank M.
Canton of the Oklahoma National
guard; Lieutenant Thuis, U. S. A., sta
tioned at Oklahoma City; Major
Burk of the governor's staff- Capt&in
Edson Walte of Shawnee and Cap-
tain F. H. Clark of El Reno, aids-de-
camp.
The expense of the party and their
< ntertainment while In Tulsa includ-
ing the building to be used fcr the
governor's office, will be borne by the
management of the Dry Farming
congress.
The governor and his party will
leave Oklahoma City Sunday night,
and beginning Monday morning until
the following Friday evening all offic-
ial acts of the governor will be per-
formed at the Tulsa office for four
days
BLASKBIROS THRONG
ED HUH COURT HUUSE
IKE RHONE CASE DROUGHT
OUT FULL NEGRO POPULATION
FROM HORSE PRAIRIE SEC-
TION
All Could Agree That Will Stewart
Was Killed by Rhone But How
And Why Was a Varied Stor/
ADAIR COURT U1SE
HMD
BUT FEW OF COUNTY RECORDS
WERE SAVED FROM BUILDING
WHICH BURNED MONDAY
County Had It* Officers In a Frame
Structure Which Burned Up Rec
ords of Great Value.
Issued License to WM
A - marriage license has been issu-
ed to Colbert Curtis, 21. and Miss
Grace Bryan. IS. both of Boswell.
DESTRUCTIVE EIRE IU
IDIDRJEDUESDIT
THREE MERCANTILE ESTAB-
LISHMENTS DESTROYED IN
ROBINSON ANNEX FIRE WED-
NESDAY MORNING
Mrs. VanAlstyne Lost All Her Prop-
erty and Many Others Victims of a
Morning Blaze
BAPTIST VOUANTLERS
IS MEETING PLACE
TWENTIETH ANNUAL SESSION
OF FRISCO BAPTIST ASSOCIA-
TION FINISHED ITS WORK.
Antlers Will Be Next Meeting P|ace
and Burden of Debt Is Lifted From
This Division.
The case was taken to Ardmore, an
other court town In the Southern dis
trict, on a change of venue, and after
statehood was assigned to lohnston
county as being the proper venue,
but later was returned to Carter coun-
ty for trial. The first trial was be-
" —w~ ",lu "ians aim fcre Judg? A. H. Huston of Guthrie.
young Clem Dodson nnd aiding to B!i special judge, resulting In convic-
to conceal the IHonHtv „r 11... n„„ .......
m acce
to conceal the Identity of the mur-
derers. Herman Blank was also
brought into tin* case as
sory after the fact
Such in brief aiu the
Sprangley which have be
to gi 1 into print. Ther
stories of
>n allowed
'* much
"on Judge Huston granted a new
trial, und the last was before G. W.
Clark of Oklahoma City, us special
Judge, again resulting in conviction
with the death penalty, and this eon
viction was Saturday reversed by th-->
appeal court.
Special to Husonian.
FORT SMITH, ARK.. Oct. 20:-
Fire partially destroyed the court
house at Stillwell. county seat ol
Adair county, Oklahoma, this mori:
in?. The blaze was discovered at
2:30 o'clock this morning and before
the fire fighters could stop the flames
the majority of the Adair county rec-
ords were destroyed
A few of the records in the regis-
ter of deeds office were saved, a!
though badly damaged. The lower
corner of the frame structure occu-
pied as a court house was leaoed to
the Davis Grocery company and that
firm's stock of goods was wholly de-
stroyed.
The loss of Adair ccunty is estimat-
ed at 112,000. but the loss of records
can not be computed in money.
Cause of the fire may have been
incendiary, but the more conserva-
tive of the citizenship believ? that it
was due to defective wiring
ARRESTED WORK OXEN
Deputy Birchfield Had Peculiar tliss
Ion to Texas
Deputy Sheriff Pony Birchf.eld ha
returned from Paris, Texas, where he
served papers on Ex-Sheriff Walker,
two miles out of Paris, restraining
the latter from selling two yoke of
work oxen, formerly the property of
Inn Morris, a farmer who resided
south of Soper but who Ins gone
away and did not leave his postoffice
u.'drcss fc>r the Soper firm nf White-
head and Borriman claim th^ cattle
Walker purchased the o:;en of Mor- j
ris nnd the rights of property wil! be
tried in Lamar county, Toxas
Special to The Husonian.
IDABEL, Oct. 22.—Fire which
broke out in the Gem cafe at three
o'clock this morning destroyed the
Robinson Annex, a two story building
that had a 75 foot frontage on Cen-
tral avenue and extended back 80
feet.
The building was a rooming house
occupied by Mrs. Van Alstynj on the'
second floor, with several law offices
also on that floor. The lower part of
the building was divided into three
store rooms, one of them being occu-
pied by the Gem cafe, where the fire
originated, and the other two rooms
divided between the Morgan Grocery
company and the Morgan pool hall,
tbp latter being a total loss ab no in-
surance was carried.
Mrs. Van Alstyne carried a very
small Insurance on her furn'ture and
:he three attorney s offices were gut-
ted without insu^^ce compensation
of any kind. A small insurance was
earred on the Gem cafe and the Mor-
gan grocery store.
C. C. Weaver, J. L. Barnes and
Horton & Phillips were the three
firms of attorneys
It is impossible to estimate the loss
to all of the property owners, but it
*111 fall quite heavily, as the fenyaunt
of insurance was much less than fifty
percent of the actual value
Wrenn Given Sentence
Joe Wrena, living just out of the
city, was sentenced in the United
States court at Ardmore to 60 days
in Jail and to pay a fine cf $100 by
Federal Judge Campbell. Wrer.ii
was caught in l
with twelve ca c
The Frisco Baptist association
closed its twentieth annual session at
the First Baptist church shortly af-
ter one o'clock this afternoon, the
session having proven one of the
best in the history of the association.
Saturday afternoon the La lies Aid
society j>f the Baptists gave an elab-
orate reception to all of tee mem-
bers and visitors to the association
at the Clayton street Baptist church,
and the occasion was one of the most
elaborate ever attempted by a ladies
society of the city of Hugo.
Sunday association members heard
Dr. Stalcup, head of the state mis-
sions, at the Clayton stree' Rap*jet
church in the morning and at the
First Baptist church in the evening.
Rev. W. D. Moorer spoke at the First
Baptist church in the morning ser-
vice. Rev. C. W. Hawkins of Okla-
homa City spoke at the First Chris-
tian church Sunday evening; Rev. M.
S Kelly cf Fort Towson occupied
the pulpit of the First Presbyterian
church Sunday evening, and Rev. C.
M. Brewer of Valliant filled the pul-
pit for the evening services at the
First Methodist church.
Miss Sue M. Howell, corresponding
secretary for the Baptist missionary
association in this state, belt" a mass
meeting at the Clayton street Bap-
tist church Sunday afternoon and the
house was filled with association
members and visitors.
A debt of |200 which the Frisco
association owed was voluntarily
paid, and the meetings this morning
had a full attendance of working
members. Many able addresses were
made by visiting Baptists, and Dr.
Stalcup spoke on the missionarv
work and very ably answered a sto-
ry that gained publicity soma months
ago that it took a dollar to send a
dime to the missions. Dr. Stalcup
showed that owing to the endowment
funds of the East, the Baptists have
been able to send to foreign lands
just a little more money than the
churches have paid for missions.
Antlers -was voted the meeting
point for the Frisco association next
year, or the 21st annual meeting.
Issued License To WeJ.
got his trial postponed
later in the summer am
1' Ardmore this week.
The following marriage license
have been issued: Emmott Har-
grave. 21,_ and Miss Vera Campbell,
. i .«c spring| both of TJr!*. Texas; Sand* Word!
Whiskey, lit-1 «0, and Mrs. Ava Robersan 12. both
at McAlester,
went to triol
of Fort Towson;
and Miss Lillian
cf Fort Towson.
Tilton Weaver. 21,
Birchfield. 16. both
That secticn of Choctaw county
sometimes designated as Horse Prai-
rie is located south by east of Grunt,
and the number of Senegambians
who make it their habitat are as nu-
merous as 'the troubles which arise
when the course of darky true love
runs not smooth.
Horse Prairie had an Lining in the
district court Friday, whe.i the case
of Ike Rhone was placed on trial,
rather when the trial wa3 resumed,
for the court adjourned Thursday
night with the Ike Rhone case to bat.
Rhone is a nSgro who raises corn,
cotttfta and a fuss, being cjusiJered a
fairly thorough man in eacn line of
action. The case at bar is ;ver too
killing of William Stewart, another
Horse Prarie negro, the killing oc-
curring on the night of August six-
teenth, 1912, a short distance from
the homes of the two men.
That part over whlc'i Hie u<>rk
population of Horse Prairie is agreed,
| is that the killing occuired on that
[ date and that the slayer was Ike
Rhone and the slain William Stew-
art. Beyond that the testimony
leads in opposite directions, and the
witnesses for state and defense are
considerably at variance.
The woman in the cas'j' is Ike
Rhone's wife, for whom both Ike and
Stewart had a fondness and Rhone's
defense is that because of Stewart's
refusal to leave his wife alons and
the additional cause of Stew an har
ing told neighbors that he would
get" Rhone, the slaying occurred.
Witnesses for the state were both
white and black and none of them
were of opinion that Rhone i what
one would exactly term a peaceful
citizen, as they allege he wert arm-
ed and bore the name of a m.ri who
would pull tho gun trigger when
hard pressed in an argument. The
defense offset this with th-> story
that Rhone was like a lamb m his
habits, whilst the decease-! negro
was a roaring lion who had numer-
ous difficulties and was much tc be
feared.
M. W. Gross, who was ass is La nt
county attorney when the killing oc-
curred, assisted County Attorr.ey
Warren and Assistant Jones in the
prosecution. Rhone's attorneys a^
Gaylord Wilcox, and Works and Cop-
Ping, the same forces which have led
the case through various court pro-
cesses.
Long Effort of Lawyers
The Rhone case first assumed news
value when Justice Biard. before
whom the preliminary was heard,
granted Rhone bond. County Attorney
Harden felt that the justice could
not do this, and had the information
dismissed, filing a new one, and
Rhone went to jail. The Rhone attor-
neys got a habeas corpus before
Judge Ferguson and the fight was
on, with Rhone out of jail one day
and in the next. Finally bail was se-
cured in the sum of 2.:00. granted
by the district Judge, and the case
set for trial last November. An error
of some kind in the papers caused an-
other round before the Judge, and the
cage was finally put over until the
spring term of court; the latter not
being held because of the small pox
which raged over Southeastern Ok-
lahoma at that time.
After being out since two o'clock
Saturday afternoon the jurv in the
Ike Rhone murder case was dismiss-
ed by Judge Hardy at 12:10 o'clock
Monday. the jurors announcing
that agreement to a verdict was im-
possible.
The jury stood eight lor acquittal
and four for conviction and had male
no change for a long time.
Failure of the jury to agree gives
the Rhone case a further hold for tri-
al records in Choctaw county. The
trial cf last Friday was the first, ha
being charged with maaslaufchter in
the district court, but the numerous
e:forts of the attorneys for the stato
(Continued on page 4.)
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Hinds, C. W. B. The Hugo Husonian (Hugo, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 23, 1913, newspaper, October 23, 1913; Hugo, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141251/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.