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Chronicles of Oklahoma
In the elegant casket in which he was buried, he was clothed in his uniform as a Major General of the United Confederate Veterans. He was a charter member of the first Masonic (Blue) Lodge organized in that section (North McAlester) in 1875. Many full- blood Indians under his leadership became members of the Lodge. A Royal Arch Chapter was later installed there (the first in the Indian Territory), of which Dr. Hailey was a charter member. He took a marked interest in Masonry and at one time or another held the highest office in each branch in that jurisdiction. He was also a Shriner and at one time held a national office in the Elks. For years he was a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Public Library in the city of McAlester. Flanking Highway 69 (Jefferson Highway) to the left going north through north McAlester on its outskirts, is the old Choctaw Court House of Tobucksy County, an unpretentious frame building with a stone chimney and a porch and lean-to like modest dwelling houses erected over fifty years ago in the Indian Territory. This building was erected at the expense of Dr. Hailey in 1876 for the Choctaws. He lived in what is now Pittsburgh County, Oklahoma from 1870 to the date of his death on October 14, 1919. His wife who then survived him has since passed away. Coming to the Indian Territory at a time when there were no local courts other than those of the Indians, these not having juris- diction over the white people, he had a large part in shaping the development and uplift of the country, and discouraging its being a refuge for undesirables. He took the leadership in the organizing of the Confederate Veterans in the Indian Territory and the state of Oklahoma. For many years he was the commander in the respective jurisdictions. In cooperation with others he secured the building of the Confederate Home at Ardmore and was active in promoting the passage of the act providing pensions for Confederate soldiers. During the many years of his association with these organizations he did not prior to the year of his death miss either a state or a national meeting. A fine and distinguished citizen, he was the embodiment of courtesy and a typical representative of the antebellum South.
