The Okfuskee County News (Okemah, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 1918 Page: 1 of 8
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-v Okla Historical Society
I he Okfuskee County News
VOL 15 No 13
OKEMAH OKLAHOMA THURSDAY JANUARY 3 1918
$150 PER YEAR
4-
i
BANDITS RAID
THREE TOWNS
Texas Rangers Hurry to Point
Where Another Raid
Is Expected
Nogales Ariz Jan 1 — Three towns
were raided and looted and a Southern
Pacific de Mexico train held up yester-
day by bandits operating between here
and Cananea Sonora according to re-
ports reaching here today
Three hundred federal soldiers have
been ordered from Hermosillo to take
up pursuit of the marauders
Austin Texas Jan 1 — Learning
that Mexicans planned a raid across
the border at a point near Alpine Ad-
jutant General Harley dispatched ev-
ery ranger available to the supposed
point of danger It is thought the to-
tal number of rangers on the way to
Alpine is eighty
This order was given and executed
Monday night announcement being
made today The adjutant general’s
office says it has not since heard from
the rangers '
The adjutant general’s office does
not know as yet whether the bandits
have made their raid The element of
danger appeared when the sheriff of
Brewster county wired trouble im-
pended Bnd demanded the aid 'of the
state
It is understood four companies of
rangers are by now at Alpine The
companies were taken from Del Rio
commanded by Captain Barler Ysleta
commanded by Captain Dais Marfa
Captain Fox and Austin commanded
by Captain Gray
WELEETKA BOYS PROMOTED
FOR EFFICIENCY IN ACTION
Weleetka Okla Dec 31— Two sons
of the Rev S X Swimme pastor of
the M E church South here who a
serving in the United States navy
have been promoted recently accord-
ing to word received Sy their father1
H T Swimme the older boy who
is on the battleship Texas is now a
warratft gunner
Fred W Swimme was promoted to
be a quartermaster of the first class
“for efficiency in action” the mes-
sage said Because of the fact that his
vessel had been in action its name is
withheld from publication The ves-
sel is a torpedo boat destroyer
Another son of the Rev Mr Swimme
has just enlisted in the navy and a
daughter expects soon to enlist for
Red Cross service in France
ROYAL NEIGHBORS IN-
STALL OFFICER
The Royal Neighbors installed the
newly elected officers of that order
Tuesday night The first Tuesday
night in each month is the regular
meeting night and it is the hope of
the new officials that a goodly num-
ber will be present each time Follow-
ing are the names of the newly in-
stalled officers:
Mrs Henry Mansur Oracle
Mrs Pete Fears Vice Oracle
Mrs R R Lee Past Oracle
Mrs Ballard Chancellor
Mrs S L O’Bannon Recorder
Mrs Alice May Marshal
Mrs Elsie Goad Assistant Marsi
Mrs Gertrude E Board-Inner Sentinel
Mrs Mae Mann Outer Sentinel
Mrs Cora Dunegan Manager
Mrs Effie Sesher Receiver
Dr H A May Physician
EASTERN STAR ELECTS
OFFICERS FOR ENSUING YEAR
The Eastern Star elected officers
for the ensuing year Monday night
The newly elected officers will be for-
mally installed Monday night January
7 The following are the officers
elected:
Mrs L A Nye Worthy Matron
M B Castle Worthy Patron
Mrs Rose Bearden Associate Matron
Mrs Rellon Huser Conductress
M's Grace Scott Associate Conductress
Mrs Ella Wilson Secretary
Mrs Kittie Fears Treasurer
DISTRICT COURT MONDAY
Judge George C Crump will be in
Okemah Monday and open district
court This term of court is for the
purpose of clearing up the equity doc-
ket This docket is not heavy there
being only fifteen cases and the tarm
will be very brief There will be no
jury ut this term
OSCAR SINGLETON HELD ON
CHARGE OF ROBBERY
Oscar Singleton charged with rob-
bing A J Beridon was given a pre- a marriage license until he is reason
liminary hearing before W J Law-?“? Certan 4kat ke ca" use au an
rence justice of the peace Monday ns4“4- °" December 28 how-
and held to the superior court hisever’ W!lker B°yles’ of Boley’ pr°'
bond being fixed at $1500 r? a 1can8e 4° mar telle Bal-
On the night of December 14 two11 and Wednesday the license was
young negroes entered the store of A
T T -ii t -i cant annotation “Can’t use ’em” The
J Beirdon at Childsville a few miles
north of Boley They commanded the rwo“ld-be bndegroom is only nineteen
storekeeper to hand over his money ?"d 4he nte"ded rd4 e‘gh4een
and as he was a little slow in comJ parental authority interfered
plying with the command one of the !with the matrmonml intentions of the
robbers pointed a gun at him Beir- young coup e’ or whe4hf Cupid balked
don threw up his arm and just then"4 s°me unforeseen obstacle is a mere
the robber shbt the ball striking the matter of speculation so far as the
general public is concerned
SERGEANT HUSER WILL EN-
TER OFFICERS’ TRAINING CAMP
storekeeper in the arm inflcting a se-
vere flesh wound
The robbers then took a little over
a hundred dollars in money and dis-
appeared A day or two after the robbery Os-
car Singleton was arrested at a place
he was staying near the scene of the
crime Twenty nickles was all the
money he had in his possession at the
time of the arrest He denied that
he had anything to do with the rob-
bery stating that he went to the store
to make some purchases at the time
the other man came in and shot and
robbed the storekeeper
A J Beirdon however identified
Singleton as thq man who shot him
Singleton’s partner in the crime has
not been arrested but the officers
claim that he has been located some-
where in Kansas
N J MARKS LEAVING OKEMAH
N J Marks proprietor of the
Ready-to-Wear Store is closing out
his business in Okemah preparatory to
moving to new fields It is his inten-
tion to establish two stores one at
Tulsa and one at Miami Mr Marks
has been in business in Okemah for
six or seven years and has established
London Jan 1 — The British gov- an enviable reputation for upright
ernment reports that Brest-Litovsk dealing and general probity of char-
peace proposals constitute a grave and acter Mr Marks is recognized as an
new factor of which official cognizance up-to-date progressive business man
must be taken says the Daily Chron- j who always keeps abreast of the times
icle in reporting as did the Manches-' and he is rated as a live number in
ter Guardian yesterday that the Brit- business circles
ish government intends to return a se- The business and personal friends
rious and reasoned reply to the Aus- j of M Marks at this place regret to
tro-German peace terms when present- see him leave but wish him unbound-
ed officially The Chronicle adds that ed success in his new fields
United States Great Britain France I
and Italy already are exchanging LIEUTENANT KILLED BY
views concerning the peace proposals MILITARY POLICE
The reported visit of Premier Lloyd
George to Premier Clemenceau it de-
clares is an intelligent anticipation
which may or may not be realized
San Antonio Jan 1 — LieuK ::nnt
Fleet Heard machine gun company
357th infantry Nineteenth division
The foreign affairs committee of the wa8 almost instantly killed Monday
bundersrat will meet in Berlin Wednes- night when struck by a bullet fired by
day according to an Exchange Tcle-'a military policeman at Camp Travis
graph dispatch from Amsterdam and Lieutenant Heard was riding in an au-
the main committee will meet Thurs-tomobile A military policeman claims
day To both committees Dr von he fired at the tires of a speeding auto
Kuehlmann the foreign secretary will and that the bullet went wild A
board of officers has been appointed
to investigate
Lieutenant Heard’s home was at
Temple Texas
MANAGER OF TELEPHONE
COMPANY RESIGNS
W J Steel who has been manager
of the Okemah Telephone Company
since Berry Jones has been sheriff of
-
Okfuskee county resigned his position
j L it
Tuesday night Abe White who has '
been conencted with the telephone1
company for some time past is the
’
new manager
oi i -n
Mr Steel will return to his former'
home at Kingfisher and engage in i
farming Mr Steel has been a very '
capable manager and has made many i
s
friends at this place The new man-1
ager is also a very efficient telephone
moii
SOME BUSINESS CHANGES
P M Lue Rutz from Fort Smith
Arkansas has taken charge of the fur-
niture and undertaking department of
the Okemah Hardware Store Mr Lue
Rutz is an experienced undertaker and
comes highly recommended
N L Eaton formerly with the Oke-
mah Hardware Store has gone into
business for himself and will occupy
one-half of the building formerly oc-
cupied by Lud King’s dry goods store
Scott & Chastaine with the Central
Barber shop will occupy one-half of
the building formerly used by Mr
King
Lud King is moving his dry goods
store into the west part of the Wilson
Grocery Company’s building
PADEN COUPLE MARRY AT
CASTLE
J P Harrolson and Miss Grace
Woods both of Puden were married 'age
at the parsonage of the Nazarene
church at Castle Sunday Rev W H Hugh Phillips of the Trenton neigh-
Logan officiating The yeung couple borftood was transacting business in
will make their future home at Pndenj Okemah Wednesday
RETURNED MARRIAGE
LICENSE UNUSED
It is not often that a man procures
returned with the simple but signifi
Sergeant Tom Huser of the 111th
Ammunition Train at Camp Bowie
who has been home on a brief fur-
lough returned Saturday to his com-
pany Sergeant Huser will enter the
officers’ training camp at Fort Worth
and after a course of instruction he
will pass an examination and his
friends have little doubt that he will
be granted a commission and that he
will make good as he has in his pres-
ent position
EARTHQUAKE LEAVES 100000
PEOPLE HOMELESS
XT vino
New York Dec 31 — An estimate
that 1000 persons died in the earth-
quake ruins at Guatemala City is con-
tamed in a telegram received here
from the Central and South American
Telegraph Company s manager at San
n
Jose Guatemala who returned to San
’ ‘
Jose from Guatemala City yesterday
afternoon
Washington Dec 31 — Still without
- ’
detailed information of the earth-
quakes which destroyed Guatemala
City costing many lives and leaving
100000 homeless American officials
today prepared to send aid to the
stricken sister republic
Red Cross officials conferred with
navy officials as to the supplies to be
sent forward on American warships
v uii 111CI1VUU wtlIS
ortereTtoTcMtalarsM JTrt!
While the American diplomats are
safe archives of the legation und con-
'ulate are believed to have been lost
as the buil(lings are reported t0 have
been ahaken to the Kround Unofflcial
advices Indicate that the foreitfn col
ony escaped without loss of life
Four earthquakes apparently hav
shaken Guatemala City Records on
seismo
jtbe Georgetown university
raph iriStluments here ahow the fivst
shocks were felt on Christmas night
shortly after midnight A second se-
ries of shocks about 9 a m on De-
cember 20 Further shocks were re-
corded on Friday December 28 at 4:23
p m but the heaviest shocks came ut
5:57 p m Saturday December 29 It
appears thnt this last disturbance was
the one which caused the most dam-
BLAMED ON ENEMY AGENTS
Norfolk Va Jan 1 — Fire broke out
in Portsmouth Va just across the
Elizabeth river from Norfolk about
1:45 o’clock this morning Four o:
five residences and two or three barns
were reported destroyed The origin
it the fire had not been determined at
that time
Norfolk Va Jan 1 — Nearly two
blocks in he heart of Norfolk’s busi-
ness district including the Monticello
hotel were destroyed three men were
I killed and a score more injured in a
series of explosions and fires today
which both the police and naval au-
thorities believe were incendiary
The fire had been checked tonight
but still was burning fiercely in the
ruins The loss is roughly estimated
at more than $2000000
Three distinct explosions in an many
buildings one after the fire once vir-
tually had been brought under control
led to the general belief that enemy
agents were at work
0
Bluejackets Patrol Streets
Mayor Mayo virually placed the city
under martial law by turning the sit-
uation over to naval officers and some
2500 marines and bluejackets from
nearby naval stations assisted the po-
lice and home guards in maintaining
order and preventing vandalism
Naval patrols rounded up suspicious
persons throughout the afternoon
while five men were arrested as sus-
pects Two of these Hugo Schmidt
and H K Lessing said to be Ger-
mans were turned over to the depart-
ment of justice agents
Tonight there were reports that two
Germans had been shot by sailors dur-
ing the day but neither the police nor
naval authorities would confirm them
Starts Before Dawn
The fire started before dawn in the
old Granby theater on Granby street
and gained rapid headway as the fire-
men were handicapped by frozen fire
hydrants low water pressure and near
zero temperature It quickly spread
bjie Monticello hotel and other near-
by' buildings in the block '
It was brought under conrol late in
the day but broke out anew early to-
night leaped across Granby street and
levelled half of the block there before
being checked
Falling floors and walls took toil of
firemen and naval guards One fire-
man Charles McCoy was killed and
several others hurt in the collapse of
an upper floor of the Monticello hotel
in the day and tonight two firemen
and three sailors were caught in a
falling wall of the Lenox building
Three were brought out badly hurt
but two others were left in the debris
Sailors Save Firemen
Firemen of Norfolk Portsmouth
and Suffolk with organized sailor fire
brigades fought heroically amid ice
and blinding smoke and 1 bluejackets
led the rescue work when the fighters
were trapped Several of the firemen
caught in the hotel were brought out
alive through the daring of a score of
the jnckies
When the firemen responded vo the
alarm for the theater fire they found
all the hydrants in the vicinity frozen
Fires had to be built to thaw them out
In the meantime the firemen looked
on helpless while the big theater build-
ing burned When water finally came
the pressure was so low thnt streams
would not reach to the upper stories of
the burning building and the fire soon
was beyond control
Five Under Arrest
The combined departments of Ports-
mouth and Norfolk apparently were
making good headway against the
flames when an explosion occurred in
a cloak shop ami another blaze started
Suffolk then was asked for aid i nd
rushed apparatus to the city by train
In the meantime the naval authorities
at the navy yard and naval base of-
fered aid and fire brigades were soon
on the scene
Department of justice agents joined
with the city detective force in seeking
to unravel the mystery of the explos-
ions Three of the men arrested were
placed in the city jail and federal
ngents took charge of the other two
Schmidt and Lessing
Breaks Out Afresh
Just at dusk the fil'd in the Monti-
cello broke out afresh and despite the
heroic work of the firemen and sailors
the Lenox Carpenter and Tazewell
buildings six-story structures across
the street were wrecked For a time !
the naval Y M C A was threatened I
but the wide lane separating it from
the burning buildings enabled the fire-
men to save it and other lagc build-
ings nearby
SOLDIER ON FURLOUGH AC-
CIDENTLLY WOUNDS HIMSELF
Elmer Coulter a soldier belonging
to Ammunition Train No Ill at Car
Bowie who was at home on a Christ-
mas furlough accidentally shot him-
self in the foot Thursday afternoon
inflicting a very painful wound
Elmer and his comrade Ed Swea-
zey both of whom live in East Oke-
mah started out on a hunting trip and
when a short distance from Coulter’s
home they started to crawl through a
wire fence intending to go across the
pasture just north of East Okemah
In crawling through the fence Coul-
ter’s gun caught on a wire and was dis-
charged and the load of shot struck
hin‘TnU’ZV’U01 8n°l StrT
4 °°’ seyering the
middle toe
The young man was assisted to his
home and Dr Bloss was summoned
and administered the necessary surgi-
cal aid
Some of the soldier’s comrades who
were also home on furloughs went to
see him and then reported his condi-
tion to Captain Donahue at Camp
Bowie
Coulter will not be able to report
for duty at the expiration of his fur-
lough owing to the accident but will
have to report as soon as his condi-
tion will permit It is not thought
that the loss of the toe will disable
him from military duty
MENIFEE HELD ON CHARGE OF
ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO KILL
Jim Menifee of North Fork was
given a preliminary examination Fri-
day before G R Davis justice of the
peace at Castle on a charge of as-
sault with intent to kill and was held
to the superior court his bond being
: fixed at $1000
I' G P Greer formerly county com-
I missioner for the Third district was
the complaining witness- The trouble
between the defendant and the prose-
cuting witness grew out of the arrest
of Menifee on a charge of forcible en-
try Menifee had moved into a house
belonging to Greer without the con-
sent of the owner Menifee claims
that he obtained the eonsert of the
man who had bought the cr'p on the
farm to which the house belongs and
moved in under a verbal conract to
gather the crop This is denied by ia vlctory for the democratic move
Greer who caused the arrest of Men- went generally not only of the Rus-
ifee on a charge of forcible entry I sian but German democracy Austria-
fZrbT0UZht 4? jail)u4 kl Hungary he said is on the point of
friends soon furnished bond for his
release r vo‘t and every country in Europe is
A day or two after Menifee returned filing the pressure of democracy
home he and Greer met near the house from below The German attitude
!!whifh thc defen‘iant is living and Trotzky added means that the Ger-
according to Greer’s testimony Men
ifee assaulted him with a rock
The defense put on no evidence at
the preliminary other than the testi-
mony that Menifee after the fight
appeared before W S Browning jus-
tice of the peace at Weleetka and
pleaded guilty to assault and paid a
fine
Menifee’s attorneys entered the plea
that the defendant had been previous-
ly placed once in jeopardy for the of-
fense and moved a dismissal of the
charge On constitutional grounds but
Judge Davis overruled the motion and
held the defendant to the superior
court
CASE IN JUVENILE COURT
O’Neil McGlory a 17-year-old negro
boy was brought down from Boley
Monday under arrest charged with
having taken a watch from another
negro boy named Hunter It is claimed
thnt young McGlory knocked the other
boy down took his watch from him
and then smashed it with a rock
County Attorney Hurst intends to file
a case in juvenile court against the
boy nnd see if a term in reform Thomas Waterhouse was given a
school will give him a different view- preliminary examination before Jus-
poLt of the rights of others tk'e W J Lawrence Thursday Water-
house is charged with grand larceny
the complaining witness being Lee
Jones According to the evidence
Jones was riding to town a week or
two ago in Waterhouse’s wagon when
Borne party or parties who e:- he dropped $35 in cash out of his poc-
ket HiOmd been in town some little
time beffre he missed the money
When Jones asked Waterhouse if he
had found the money the latter denied
it Jones then notified Sheriff Berry
Jones of It's loss and of his suspicions
and the officer searched Waterhouse
finding the money on his person
Waterhouse then admitted thnt he had
found the money in the wagon
The result of the preliminary was
that the defendant was held to the
de tly intend to avoid any more m r -less
days than are absolutely n (-
sary stole a couple of big side of
meat from the smokehouse of V U
Earnest one night last week iir
Earnest made his loss known to llie
sheriff and a search warrant was ob-
tained and a thorough search was in-
stituted but no trace of the missing
middlings was found Who ever stole
the meat has got the camouflage stunt
ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT
WITH WAGON SPOKE
P I McGlory was arrested Monday
and brought to the county jail on a
charge of having assaulted Elisha
Spivey McGlory and Spivey are both
colored and live at Boley Several days
ago an altercation occurred between
the two negroes in a blacksmith shop
at Boley and it is alleged that Mc-
Glory attacked Spivey with a wagon
spoke striking him over the head nnd
rendering him unconscious McGlory
succeeded in evading the officers until
Monday when he was found nnd placed
under arrest
RULE WITH
IRON HAND
Correspondent of London New
Says Privileged Classes Fight
Reds All in Vain
London Dec 31 — The Bolshevik!
government is extremely efficient en-
ergetic and decisive though faced by
noisy opposition from the privileged
classes who are doing all they can to
check it by sabotage and libel accord-
ing to the Petrograd correspondent of
the Daily News The correspondent
who has just returned to Petrograd
after a lengthy visit to England says
bai be mmp nrflprlv thnn fnr
that the city is more orderly than for
some months before the Bolsheviki
took control The people may not like
the Bolsheviki he declared but they
obey them with startling alacrity and
the government is based on real force
The constituent assembly the cor-
respondent hears will meet as soon as
delegates from the Ukraine arrive
perhaps in ten days He asserts that
whatever is the decision of the assem-
bly as constituted at present it will
not alter the essential direction of
Russian policy although it might by
weakening the government at home
weaken it in its dealings with the
Germans
Opposition Means Anarchy
Any attempt to turn out the Bolshe-
viki government by force would le-
sult only in anarchy favorable to the
Germans says the correspondent who
does not believe that such force is
available He writes enthusiastically
about Leon Trotzky the Bolsheviki
foreign minister who told him the war
would be decided by social rather than
by military pressure Trotzky is
quoted as saying:
“The German democracy looks to the
Russian revolution It is recognition
of this fact that compels the German
government to accept Russian princi-
ples as the basis for negotiations”
Trotzky Baid the German offer was
man government is wiser than most
governments because it recognizes
real factors
Failure of Germans
Democratic pressure Trotzky is
quoted as adding forced the Germans
to reject their grandiose plans of con-
quest and to accept the peace in which
there are neither conqueror nor con-
quered He admitted however that
such a peace could hardly be achieved
unless the entente allies join the ne-
gotiations Pro-ally Russians the correspondent
of the Daily News says feel that Ger-
many's terms offered at Brest-Litovsk
were for the purpose of confounding
the allies and winning sympathy
These Russians oppose a separate
peace but say the next word belongs
to the allies
FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS
QUICK ACTION
A disastrous fire was narrowly
averted at the home of Charlie Hall
the blacksmith who lives just back of
the jail The bowl of the stove gave
way nnd the contents a considerable
quantity of live coals fell on the floor
which was soon ignited
One of Mr Hall’s neighbors turned
in u fire alarm and the fire depart-
ment responded in an incredibly short
time but before they arrived on the
scene the fire laid been extinguished
The Okemah fire boys certainly
have learned how to handle their fire
truck nnd cold as it was Saturday
morning they lost no time in getting
the machine under way nnd also made
good time after they started
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The Okfuskee County News (Okemah, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 1918, newspaper, January 3, 1918; Okemah, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1713027/m1/1/?q=aRCHIVES: accessed June 11, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.