The Okfuskee County News (Okemah, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 1918 Page: 1 of 8
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The Okfuskee County Pfe
Historical Society
j u vro
150 PER YEAR
VOL 15 Ne 20
“SOLDIER SAILOR TOO"
INTERESTING LETTER FROM A
CASTLE BOY WHO IS A VOL-
UNTEER SERVING IN THE U
S MARINE CORPS
One of the most interesting branches
of the military and naval services of
the United States is that of the ma-
rine corps partaking as it does of the
nature of both land and sea service
Kipling in his well known poem has
described them truthfully as “soldiers
and sailors too” It was the English
marines which Kipling sings about
and the refrain is:
“For we are ’er Jollies
’Er Majesty’s Jollies
Soldiers and sailors too”
Uncle Sam’s marines also are sol-
diers and sailors too and an Okfus-
kee county boy Gene Moore son of J
T Moore of Castle is a volunteer
serving in the marine corps stationed
at present at Paris Island S C has
written a very interesting letter to the
News The letter in full fqllows: -
- Marine Barracks
Paris Island S C
Feb 12 1918
Editor of Okfuskee County News:
Dear Editor:— Noting the willing-
ness with which you publish letters
from lads in the army and navy I
would like to have a little space to
have something to say in behalf of sionetrs °f that county have been try-
ing to get Okfuskee county to come
across with its half of the cost of the
the well-picked clan the marine corps
of the numerous advancements one
can obtain in our U S Marine Corps
and also to say a few words to my
many friends who read the home pa-
per weekly
I hm a volunteer I enlisted June 1
1917 leaving home and friends also
an excellent job under employment of
the Castle State Bank which was un-
der the management of Mr T Elliott
This is a great life Every man
should grasp the opportunity to at-
tain a military education I am glad
to note that we have the best canton-
ment in the U S A Everything is
modernized in every way We being
noted for trench digging and sea ser-
vice are worthy of such praise If
that is not satisfactory come to Paris
Island S C and make a tour of our
camp
This island is situated off the coast
cf South Carolina The Atlantic
washes its shores sixty miles from
Savannah Ga The marines put it
on the map When I first came it ahtIe ov" “ beTe"pad at
looked desolate but it happened to be he ime °f construction This coun-
under supervision of the best officers ty however had paid $440 for the
in the service and within two weeks buld'f of approacheS ‘° the brdKa
and the commissioners from Creek
it was a city of barracks
The camp is divided into four sep-
arate barracks The recruit first enters
the quarantine where he is physically
and mentally examined Then he is
sworn into the service and issued his
uniform and equipment AfteF learn-
ing the principal foot movements of
our method ' of drilling- we are ad-
vanced to the “maneuvering grounds"
In going to this place the recruit takes
his first hike under heavy marching
order This hike is seven miles in
lengthv While at this place he takes
his first lesson in trench digging and
learns squad movements
After two weeks’ training in this
barracks he advances to’ the new can-
tonment This is the place where he
enjoys the life of a “boot marine”
He drills from six to six and does po-
lice work in between 1 This -continues
for six weeks then he’ goes on the
rifle range All qualify as sharp-
shooter or better Our coaches are
the best obtainable The recruit
spends about twp weeks on the range
learning the parts of the rifle throw-
ing hand grenades and again he
learns some more trench digging first
line trench work and communication
trenches are our specialty' It takes
sixteen weeks to complete the recruit
training after that a man is fit for
‘sea service abroad ’
When the recruit-training is com-
pleted he is detailed to the place that
he is needed most If his record-
book shows that he has had experi-
ence in some specific line of duty he
is detailed to that work I have been
kept in this post as clerk in the mili-
tary Mail Service (or the postoffice)
I have been here nine' months I
often wish I could meet a man from
home or from somewhere near there
Out of the many thousand of men who
go through training here monthly the
only man I have known that I knew
prior to my enlistment is S II Pitts
who enlisted at the same time I did
He is now somewhere in France He
writes me often saying to me that
when I write home to give his best
regards to his old customers who will
recognize him by the Armour Pro
duce Man of Muskogee Okla if not
by name
I am glad to say that I am from
such a porsperous county as Okfuskee
county I just received the Okfuskee
County News and I look for it pa-
tiently every week I note tiiat the
county is doing her part in the Red
Cross and Y M C A work I vouch
for them both Keep the good work
up- I am
Yours very truly
EUGENE A (GENE) MOORE
Pvt U S M C
BRIDGE CONTROVERSY BE-
TWEEN COUNTIES SETTLED
The Welty bridge controversy
which has been occupying the atten-
tion of the county commissioners of
Creek county and those of Okfuskee
county at intervals since 1914 has at
last been amicably adjusted
The bridge in controversy is the
one north of Welty across Deep Fork
on the line between Okfuskee and
Creek counties According to agree-
ment each county was to bear half
the expenses of building the bridge
It is claimed tjiat the county com-
missioners of Creek county let the
contract for the building of the bridge
Without consulting the commissioners
of Okfuskee county Creek county
paid for the building of the bridge
and since its completion the commis-
bridge
Previous boards of commissioners of
this county have claimed that they
were not consulted in letting the con-
tract for the building of the bridge
and also that the bridge cost more
money than was actually necessary
and that they were under no obliga-
tion to pay half of the expense
Monday the county commissioners
from Creek county accompanied by
Earl Foster county attorney- of that
county met the county commissioners
of Okfuskee county and County At-
torney Hurst at Okemah and went in-
to session with a view of reaching
some satisfactory agreement
' An investigation of the records of
the county with regard to the cost of
building bridges tended to show that
the bridge in question had not cost an
excessive amount
Okfuskee-countv’s share of the costs
of building the bridge would have bt
county proposed that if Okfuskee
county would pay them $1400 they
would consider the incident closed
This proposition was accepted by the
commissioners of this county
According to the terms of " this
agreement the county commissioners
of Creek county will file a friendly
suit against this county for $1400
and the commissioners of this county
will confess judgment for this sum
By this agreement Okfuskee county
saves the interest which would have
accrued sinoe 1914 but the Creek
county commissioners were perfectly
satisfied with the arrangement and of-
ficials of both counties are glad that
the matter is amicably adjusted
The commissioners from Creek
county who were here Monday are:
S M Smith chairman J H N Cobb
W T Wilson '
ONE OF THE ‘TWELVE APOSTLES’
J H N Cobb of Sapulpa one of
the county commissioners from’ Creek
county ‘ who met -with the commis-
sioners of this county in’ ' Okemah
Mondny is remembered by old-timers
as a member of thfc constitutional
convention He enjoyed the further
distinction of being one of the twelve
lonesome republicans in that body
who were dubbed at that time and
who will go down in history as the
“Twelve Apostles” Mr Cobb though
belonging to the minority party was
a very active anti efficient worker in
the convention which gave us our constitution
WOMAN’S COMMITTEE COUN-
CIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
This committee will be glad to re-
ceive and register any one desiring to
register for public national service
either paid or volunteer We will be
at Red Cross headquarters in Okemah
on Monday afternoon 1 to 5 o’clock
ready to render any assistance we
may be able
HASS1E O’BANNON
GERTRUDE BOARD
LEILA CROWNING
Committee
OKEMAH OKLAHOMA THURSDAY FEBRUARY 21 1918
Last Contingent
of First Quota
Fourteen Okfuskee County Boys
Leave for Camp Travis Saturday
— Will Mobilize Friday
When the eastbound passenger train
leaves Okemah Saturday it will bear
fourteen young men of Okfuskee
county who have been called for mil-
itary duty who will go into training
at Camp Travis This contingent
completes the quota allotted to Ok-
fuskee county of 162 men
Up to the present time 158 men
have been sent from this county Of
this number 52 or 53 are negroes T(ie
contingent which goes Saturday are
all white men With the 14 men of
this contingent Okfuskee county will
have sent 172 men to the training
camps The number sent being great-
er than the required quota is account-
to
Order
No Name
to
to
to
to
Pa
IE!
Pi
Pa
to
Pa
Pi
Pa
Pa
Pa
to
to
Pa
15— JAMES HARVEY McCAIN Henryetta
105-A— LEVI MANLEY Wetumka
303— WALTER LEE MOULDER Dustin
355— STEPHEN ARTHUR BETTS Wetumka
391— JESS EDWARD MOUTRAY Weleetka
404— BEN HOLLIS MORPHIS Bearden
407— ORA DODSON Okemah
415— LESTER COSTON - Wewoka
422— BOYD R SEAY Paden
429— HARVEY COCHRAN Okfuskee
435— NOAH CHEEK Okemah
444— LONNIE WHITE Castle
445— CARL D NEWTON Paden
466— ROY LEE RODEN Bearden
tototof'tototototototototo
FIRST CHARGE AGAINST
MRS VAILE DISMISSED
The preliminary examination of
Mrs A T Vaile charged with bring-
ing a stolen automobile into the coun-
ty was held before W J Lawrence
justice of the peace Thursday after-
noon The automobile which it was alleged
had been stolen was sold $6 the Oke-
mah Garage last November by A T
Vaile The Okemah Garage sold the
car to Theo Donnavant of Tuskegee
who in turn sold it to Clyde Lovelady
H M Shirley an attorney of Coal-
gate identified the car in Mr Love-
lady’s possession as one which had
been stolen from him on the night of
the 19th of October A mechanic in
the garage at Coalgate who had
worked on the car identified it as the
property of Mr Shirley
Opie Bearden of the Okemah Gar-
age however testified that this par-
ticular car had been in their garage
as early as October 12 City Marshal
Jim Thompson did not identify the car
but testified that the Vailes had been
at his house in Okemah from October
9 to October 28 which constituted an
alibi so far as conecting the Vailes
with the theft of the car on October
19 was concerend
After the testimony was all in
County Attorney Hurst stated that
there was not evidence to justify
holding the defendant on that charge
and the case was dismissed
The county attorney then filed in-
formation against Mrs Vaile for hav-
ing in her possession automobiles on
which the engine numbers had been
changed This is a misdemeanor un-
der the laws of this state Two sep-
arate charges of this kind were filed
against Mrs Vaile Her bond was
fixed at $300 The defendant fur-
nished a cash bond and was released
The cases were filed in the county
court but the time for the tidal has
not yet been set
The car in controversy had been
taken in charge by It M Shirley bui
was afterwards replcvined by Clyde
Lovelady Thursday however Mr
Shirley put up a bond of $800 and
took charge of the car and took it to
Coalgate The rights of ownership
of the car wil be tried here in county
court at the next regular term
W J Dixon age 41 of Paden und
Miss Estelle Furgoson age 24 also
of Paden were married at the court
house in Okemah Thursday’ Judge W
A Huser of the county court officiating
ed for by the fact that a number of
the men sent to the training camps
were rejected on final examination
I The boys who leave Saturday are
ordered to report at the office of the
local exemption board at 4 o’clock
Friday February 22 They will en-
train the next day at 1:35 and take
the Frisco at Weleetka for Camp
Travis '
The ladies of the Red Cross and th
citizens of Okemah will no doubt see
that the departing soldiers have an
appropriate send off to cheer them on
their way to the training camp
The names of the soldiers who leave
Saturday are as follows:
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
to
Jtototo to to to to to to to
PALACE OF SWEETS
' DAMAGED BY FIRE
The building occupied by the Pal-
ace of Sweets on Broadway was
partly destroyed by fire this morning
The fire was caused by the explosion
of a gasoline water heater
When the heater exploded the
flames extended up the wll of the
building and rapidly spread to the
ceiling and roof A fire alarm was
turned in and the fire boys with their
truck were on the scene in an incred-
ibly short time and only their prompt
response and efficient work prevented
a disastrous blaze
The building was considerably dam-
aged and considering the nature of
the structure the boys did remark-
ably well to stop the fire when they
did
The contents of the building while
not injured much by the fire were
badly damaged by the water which
was poured onto the roof and streamed
through the ceiling into the room be-
low The Palace of Sweets belongs to
J W Long The building belongs to
Burr Randles
LITTRELb CASES ARE
BEING APPEALED
Attorneys for Jess Littfell who
was tried in the superior court at this
place in November for the murder
of Deputy Sheriff L M Boulware and
j convicted and sentenced to the pepi-
tentiary for life are taking the final
! steps to perfect an appeal to the
criminal court of appeals
' Littrell was tried at Oklahoma City
for the Hurrah bank robbery and sen-
tenced to twenty-five years in the
penitentiary This case is also being
appealed and both cases will be re-
viewed by the criminal court of ap-
peals LittreH’s attorneys are Henry 51
Carr of Pauls Valley and(A B Bur-
ris of this city
1 John W Butler of Paden after
'meeting with the county commission-
ers of this county and Creek county
i here Monday left for 5fc Mestnr
where he goes to attend the meeting
of the Mnsonic grand lodge
H C Carter formerly a clerk in
Parsons drug store now located at
Fayetteville Arkansas was in Oke-
mah thtj first of the week on business
land visiting his father-in-law Jim
Thompson Mrs Carter is expected
to arrive on a visit to her parents in
a few days
SOLDIER REPORTED ABSENT
FROM HIS COMPANY
Military authorities at Camp Bowie
telegraphed the sheriff’s office here
Tuesday to arrest Silas Scott who
the telegram stated is “absent from
his company” Silas Scott is a na-
tional army soldier having left Oke-
mah on September 20 with the con-
tingent of 50 which entrained here on
that date for Camp Travis Silas was
afterwards transferred to Camp Bowie
and assigned to the 142d Infantry On
February 10 he came ' home on a ten
days’ furlough as his friends be-
lieved From the telegram received
from the military authorities at Camp
Bowie it is taken that he left without
the formality of a furlough but has
not yet been absent long enough to be
rated as a deserter The sheriff’s of-
fice has information to the effect that
the soldier is in the neighborhood of
Holdenville
NEGRO ACQUITTED OF CHARGE
OF ASSAULT TO KILL
T L Woods a negro living at Bo-
ley was given a preliminary hearing
Tuesday morning before W J Law-
rence justice of the peace on a charge
of assault with intent to kill
Two or three weeks ago Woods took
a couple pf shots at W L Jones of
Boley neither of the shots however
taking effect
The evidence was somewhat con-
flicting but the defendant claimed
that he was acting in self-defense He
claimed that he and Jones were quar-
reling and Jones was about to hit him
with a rock and that he shot to make
his opponent drop the rock He testi-
fied that he missed Jones purposely
After hearing the evidence Judge
Lawrence discharged the defendant as
not guilty
Woods was defended by W S Pet-
ers the colored lawyer of Boley
OKEMAH BOY ARRESTED
FOR DESERTION
A report comes from Seminole
county that Willie J Watson an Oke-
mah boy who belongs to a machine gun
battalion statioped at Camp Bowie
has been arrested for desertion
Willie Watson was a drafted boy
having left Okemah with the contin-
gent of the national army sent from
this county to Camp Travis on Octo-
ber 4
After arriving at Camp Travis
Watson and 21 other boys of that con-
tingent were transferred to Camp
Bowie
During' the early part of January
Watson came to Okemah to visit rela-
tives He remained here a few day3
and left his friends thinking that he
had returned to Camp Bowie It ap-
pears however that ( instead of re-
turning to his company he went over
into Seminole county He was rated
as a deserter on January 21
It is claimed that after Watson
went to Seminole county he shed his
army uniform and donned civilian
rclothes He was arrested by the sher-
iff of Seminole county and taken to
Camp Bowie and turned over to the
military authorities
Watson was a fine looking boy
about 23 years of age 5 feet 11
inches tall and was a perfect picture
of heatlh when he was in Okemah
COUNTY ATTORNEY WILL
HAVE CIDER AN MYZEI)
Sheriff Berry Jones and Deputy Jim
McAlester made a tdip to Paden
j'luesday in response to a complaint
to the effect tlfat intoxicating liynr
was being sold at that place and i at
several cases of plain drunk had re-
sulted from the sales The liquor it
was reported was a certain brand of
hard cider
When the officers arrived at Paden
and proceeded to make investigation
they found that there was a generous
supply of cider in the town Several
hundred gallons in fact were said to
be in the hands of a single dealer
The vendor of the cider claims that
it is not intoxicating and Bill Deweb-
er a deputy sheriff at Paden in-
formed 'Sheriff Jones that it was his
j opinion that the drunks reported from
that place had been caused from
Choctaw beer The sheriff was unde-
leided as to whether the cider is in-
toxicating and so made no arrest He
secured a sample of the stuff how-
ever and County Attorney Hurst will
have it analyzed in order to deter-
mine the percentage of alcohol it con-
tains The cider vendor agreed to discon-
tinue the sale of the hevernge if it
should be pronounced intoxicating
AN ENJOYARLE SMOKER
THE YOUNG MEN’S DEMOCRATIC
CLUB OF OKFUSKEE COUN-
TY HELD 'AN INTERESTING
SESSION MONDAY NIGHT
In response to a call a goodly num-
ber attended the Young Men’s Dem-
ocratic club luncheon and smoker at
the Midway cafe Monday night
The meeting was called to order by
Toastmaster Frank Douglass After
lunch cigars were passed and Mr
Douglass made a very interesting ad-
dress pertaiiting to the boys at the
front and made phophecies as to their
accomplishments in politics when they
return home
Mr Douglass then introduced J
Hugh Nolen who related some of his
experiences as an uninstructed dele-
gate to a democratic convention He
played' the game to the best advan-
tage and was served with the very
best both factions could furnish until
the time limit was about to expire
After making his decision the other
side immediately lost interest in him
and he was at the mercy of his cap-
tors L C Phillips was the next speaker
and his remarks were mostly confined
to the duty of every citizen in up-
holding the administration during the
duration of the war
Senator Board followed with a very
interesting address on the war and
political problems
C T Huddleston was the last
speaker and as a soothsayer gave a
vision of after the war conditions that
proved very entertaining
Messrs T S Hurst and Ural A
Rowe are the delegates to the conven-
tion that meets at Ardmore tomor-
row They are instructed to vote for
Bill Armstrong for president of the
state organization
BIG PIE SUPPER— BENEFIT
BOYS GONE TO COLORS
The W O W’s and the Ladies’ Cir-
cle of the Okemah Camps are going to
do their bit and are going to do it in
a very credible manner
On February 25th Monday in the
evening at the Armory they will
spread a pie supper to which every-
body is invited where pies of all kinds
makes and description will be taken
donated by the good people of the city
and country These pies will be auc-
tioned off to the highest bidder and
the proceeds will be used for paying
the dues of the members of the order
who are serving their country in the
present world war
The ones in charge of the arrange-
ments for the pie supper urge every
member of both organizations to be on
hand and also to see to it that their
friends are all advised of the supper
and the object of the same
This is one of the many fine things
that has been undertaken here for our
Sammies The idea of protecting the
lad’s membership in a fraternal order
which he himself chose to join is n
worthy one and this particular at-
tempt to help the boys who have gone
from here should meet the hearty sup-
port and co-operation of all
While the loyal members of the La-
dies’ Circle are not asking for dona-
tions for the supper wouldn’t it be
fine for anyone feeling so inclined to
call up some of the members of the
organization and express a willing-
ness to bring a pie or two?
CASTLE M AKES BEST SHOW-
ING ON INCOME TAX
W H New’ deputy internal revenue
collector for this district finished his
work at this place Saturday 51r New
says that he will be unable to return
to this place and advises all who are
subject to the income tux who have
not yet listed their incomes to secure
a blank and do so at once If they
have to be checked up by the depart-
ment 50 per cent will be added to their
tax- and they will be subject to a fine
of from $20 to $1000
5Ir New says that Okfuskee county
has made n fine showing especially
the farmers He says that he is sat-
isfied that there are some business
men in the county who have not yet
reported who are subject to the tax
The town in the county which made
the best showing is the little town of
Castle 5lr New was surprised at the
prosperity shown at this place He
said that nearly every man who came
in to give in his income tax at Castle
went above the small blank — that Is
they bad incomes exceeding $3000
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The Okfuskee County News (Okemah, Okla.), Vol. 15, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 1918, newspaper, February 21, 1918; Okemah, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1713064/m1/1/: accessed March 2, 2021), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.