Chronicles of Oklahoma

The evidence is to the contrary as this quotation from an editor
ial, just before publication was discontinued, will illustrate :13
The publisher has not received two hundred dollars, during the Dast
year; the consequence was, that he had to go in debt for the greater por-
tion of his paper, and for his board. At the expiration of this volume, there
will be due the office, between seven and eight hundred dollars. And will
our friends remember us?
If the Telegraph had been strongly backed by men of the cal-
iber listed as its agents, it is hard to believe that the paper could
have reached such financial condition as this item indicates.
Who were these agents? Of some we have rather complete in.
formation; of others we know nothing. "T. McKenny, Choctaw
Agency" was, of course, the most prominent citizen of the Skully.
ville community in the northeast corner of the Nation.14 "Jno. H.
Heald, New Orleans" was a former partner in the well known
firm of Berthelet, Heald, and Company. Robert M. Jones, Choctaw
tycoon of the times, was the "Company." Heald was not con-
nected with the partnership at this time but was in the Crescent
City as a member of the firm of Moses Greenwood and Company.15
"C. F. Stewart, Mayhew, C. N." was a prominent merchant of
Connecticut birth. His establishment was located at the crossroads
where the Fort Towson-Fort Washita road was cut by a north-
south road from Fort Smith to Beal's Ferry on Red River.16 "L.
Gooding, Ft. Washita" and "Col. R. Humphreys, Fort Washataw"
13 December 6, 1849.
14 "T. McKenny" should not be confused with the Thompson McKinney who
was principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, 1886-1888. "Recollections of Peter Hud-
son," Chronicles of Oklahoma, X, 513; Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choc-
taw Republic (Norman, Oklahoma, 1934), 167. ("T. McKenny" was a misspelling
for "T. McKinney" or Thompson McKinney, of S'kullyville, for whom Principal Chief
Thompson McKinney (1886-88) was named. Thompson McKinney of Skullyville
served as School Trustee and held other responsible positions in the Choctaw Nation
before the War of the States. His daughter, Susan Priscilla McKinney, married
Victor M. Locke, Sr., and they were the parents of several children, among them
Ben Davis Locke, Edwin S. Locke, Mary Locke (now Mrs. C. E. Archer of Antlers),
and the late Victor M. Locke, Jr., Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation 1911-17.
-Ed.)
15 Clarksville Northern Standard, July 1, 1848. Editor De Morse made this
comment: "We call attention to the card of Moses Greenwood & Co., in our ad-
vertising columns. Mr. Heald who has lately associated himself with the firm, is
the former partner in the firm of Berthelet Heald & Co., lately existing at Doaks-
ville and Fort Smith. We need not say a word in respect to the mercantile capacity,
integrity and accommodating spirit of this gentleman, to any one who ever h
business with him, when living in this section of the country; but to those Who
never had; we will take the responsibility of recommending the House, as one
the best in New Orleans, with which our planters or Merchants could make business
arrangements." By 1853 Heald had become the senior partner in the firm of Heald,
Massie, and Co., 35 Natchez Street, New Orleans. Clarksville Standard October
15, 1853. For a summary of Heald's life see Muriel H. Wright, "John Hobart Heald',
Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. II, No. 3 (September, 1924), pp. 311-318.   2
16 Muriel H. Wright, "Tryphena," Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol.- IX, No.or
(June, 1931), pp. 180-194; Telegraph, November 29, 1849. An advertisement
"Beale's Ferry" ran in the Clarksville Northern Standard, July 3, 1852.

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