The Guymon Herald. (Guymon, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 26, 1911 Page: 1 of 8
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The Guymon Herald.
VOL. 2(>
Offical Cur Pun
Official CtuBlr Paper
GUYMON. OKLAHOMA. THURSDAY. JANUARY 2«, 1911
NO 4(
THEY "PULLED" JOHN DOE /
The First Step in the Kffort to Hun
frown the Guilty l'artle* Who
Itur-itcd tin-1 ourtliouM> Taken—In-
surnme Companies Taking a Hand.
The first in the way or an investi-
gation of the fire which has been
made public was held in the city hall
commencing yesterday morning. The
night before a warrant was issued
and John Doe was arrested charged
with the burning. His real name
was not known at the time. In court
his attorney, J. S. Harris, gave the
name of John Frazer. This is the
first arrest made and whether this
man has anything to do with it re-
mains to be seen. They jailed him
for safe keeping and we understand
his arrest is the result of action taken
by the insurance companies, who are
interested in running down the crim-
inals to the extent of about $7,000.j
Many believe guilty ones did
not touch off the fire. The
first witness called was C. E.
Hunter, who testified as to the loca-|
tlon of the building, the general ar-
rangement inside, etc. The next wit-
ness called waB Dad Blatter. Dad
was janitor at the courthouse at the j
time of the burning. Dad testified |
in substance as to the number of
doors, windows, etc., about the court-
house and the one door In the south
side was used for going in and out.
He claimed he was awakened by the j
reflection of the fire In his bed room!
doorofthe room which adjoined coun-
ty clerk, where the fire was started.
According to his statements the fire
started from the outside, squarely at ]
the corner of the building and when j
he saw it inside was about the size of i
a bushel basket. He says a big pile
of assessment blanks was in the one
corner and that he plainly detected |
the fire coming in between these I
blanks and the wall of the room, j
When he was awakened he looked j
out of the south window and saw the
flames about six feet high on the out-
side of the building. He gave the
alarm to central and in a few minutes
others were there. The fire spread
so rapidly th* t when he attempted to
re-enter the room he was choked by
the smell of coal oil, which statement
he afterward qualified to the extent
that It was a very "peculiar" smell,
with accent on the peculiar. It was
I
OUR REGULAR
JANUARY . .
CLEARANCE SALE
33 1-3
IS ON
Per Cent Discount on Overcoats
and Ladies' Cloaks
JTT Extraordinary values that you must share, and values that will open your
U eyes. A great advantage to those who would have quality and yet save
money. One of the characteristics of our sales has always been that we do not
confine you to any special line of goods, but give you a big reduction on any
article in the house.
Special low prices on Furs, Fascinators, Flannel Shirts, Duck Coats, Blankets,
Comforts, Rubber Overshoes and other seasonable things too numerous to
mention.
Latham Dry Goods Company
Premiums will not be given on sale
days.
Special priceB on Ladies' ready
made Suits and Skirts. Shirtwaists,
etc. Don't fail to see about them.
A Good Place to
Trade
Dad did not come out of his room be-
fore they left, but they heard him
stirring round. He testified there wag
a light in the jail as they came home.
They came to the central office and
after staying there ten or fifteen min-
utes, Walter Carruthers left for home,
but Lee remained with Isaac Martin,
who does the nlghtwork at central.
, , # Lee was still at the telephone ex-
coal oil Dad smelled. all right, for „„m«
^ * change when the alarm of fire came
Dad Yeary claimed next morning he _ _ AU_ , u.,nA{no.
could smell it that night clear across
the townslte and the wind was blow-
ing toward the courthouse from his
residence. Blatter claimed the fire
was very small on the inside, but was
a good blaze outside.
The next witness called was Mr.
Hanecke, the special examiner re-
quested to examine the books of the
in. He ran to the burning building
to assist what he could. When he
got there there was no fire on the out-
side and the blaze was not very exten-
sive on the inside, although It was do-
ing business right along. His testi-
mony and that of Walter Carruthers
corresponded well.
R. B. Quinn was then called by the
official*. He testified as to the work j state. He testified that the bulld-
he was doing, the relative position of ing was about half burned when he
the desk, his papers, etc., in the
room when he left them.
Lee Nichols was then called to the
stand. Lee testified that when he
and Walter Carruthers went over to
the courthouse about 7 o'clock there
was no one there, and that they pro-
ceeded in their work in the usual
manner doing book work for Register
of Deeds Cox. Soon after Dad, the
janitor, came in. He poked up the
fire and retired in a few minutes, re-
questing the boys to call him before
they left. This they did when they
stardh for town at 11:05 or 11:10.
a HE MAN who succeeds is al-
ways up and doing; up with
the rising sun, using brawn
and brains. Luck has no standing with
him; for he depends upon elbow grease
coupled with mental activity.
I letter Stay With It.
Every now and then we print •
let of stuff to sell and most of them
rale bill for some farmer who has a
lot of Etuff to sell and most of them
tell us they want to get where they
ran dn a little better. Before you sell
out and leave It might be well t*
consider a few things, no matt r how
straightened or ho* desjterste your
circumstances may be. If you go
back to the old country you wl!l have
to be a renter or work for wages,
and not get much, either. They will
tell you crops have been poor there
and times are not the rosiest Imagin-
able by a long shot. If you have got-
ten even a small start here, say a
couple of cows and a few shoats and
ore proving up a quarter you have
saved that much and a start, be it
ever so small, is worth a lot *hen
you come to think it over. Get a cow
or two, a lot of hens and a few hogs
on the farm and you live all the year,
no matter if it does get tough.
You can just about always raise
Kaffir corn and It is now proven that
this Is one of the best crops on earth.
A lot of hens will pay a man good
money every day In the year and a
cow or two and a few hogs will give
you a good boost In the food line all
the year around. If you hike back to
the old home or some eastern state
you will find It tougher sledding there
than ever, for the easy places have
all been copped out long ago. Your
work will be tougher and you will be
working for someone else, too. You
may have to hunt around for work
now and then to stay with It, but It
is the history of all new countries
that the man who settles there and
who Btays with It year In and year
out Is the one who makes the money
m the end. Some of these days It
will commence to rain here and then
you will see things start oft again.
Get ■ few hens, cows and hogs about
you so that what you raise will bs
velvet lor you and stay for the gooa
time coming. Like one real estate
man said. "The Ix>rd Wr't making any
the surface of the plain is red. If a more land right now, but people are
hole Is dug Into the plain, In tea netting thicker every day." Hang on-
mlnutes it fills up with Btrong aalt to your land, Bomeway, somehow.
brine. The amount of this Is lnex-| ——
haustible for all practical purposes ! Speaking of Trouble
Professor Gould believes that within I Thursday afternoon Dr. Hayes
a few years, this plain will become .started off on a 15-mlle trip to the
What few Ladles' and Misses'
Cloaks we have left, we wjll offer at
a big saving to you. Come and Bee
for yourself.
standing In front of the HenBon pool | tie blew and he told them to get up
hall when the fire whistle blew. He I and dress. About this time Sheriff
opened the door and told J. I. Henson Latham appeared and told them the
where it was and started for the court house was on fire and told Lyle
got there. He approached Dad and j scene. When he got there he saw
asked how It started. Dad told him no one but Dad w ho was rattled to
he had nothing to say but would beat the band. He drew a bucket of
talk when the proper time came. | water, and cautiously ran down the
Quinn told him he ought to have an j alley way In the building, opened the
opinion as to whether it was atcl-1 door and threw the water on the
dental or set on fire, telling him "It I blaze. He testified that the blaze was
looks like you know a damned sight | squarely under the large desk where
more than you want to tell." Dad, the examiner was working and was
then opened up and said the building about six feet from the corner of the
was set on fire and that when he saw room. The fire was so hot that he
it it was bo big he could do nothing saw It useless to attempt anything
wjth j with a water bucket and ran out
J. V. Farr was the next witness j around to the south end of the build-
summoned. Jeff testified that he was ing. Smoke was coming out of the
It
Is a Serious
Matter
When you atop to consider where
will you buy your drugs the coming
year.
Why Not Start Right
We handle the best drugs, employ
the best assistance obtainable and
keep the standard up. Try ua once.
Croley Drug Corny.
ftsST Guymon
cracks but there was no fire on ths
outside and It did not break through
until the window glass became too
hot and cracked, letting out the
flames.
After Mr. Farr had finished his
testimony, the court adjourned until
after dinner.
After dinner L. B. Sneed, former
county clerk, L. B. Sneed. was
called to the stand. Mr. Sneed de-
scribed In detail the arrangements
of the furniture and things in his
office room, which differed slightly
from the opinions offered by other
witnesses, although It was relatively
the same. Mr. Sneed just knew the
situation more thoroughly.
Jack Flannagan was called to the
stand and he told what he knew
about his books at the court house
which appeared immaterial In the
case.
Judge Crow was also called to tell
what he knew about his office and a
few of the records which were de-
stroyed. His testimony was brief
and apparently opened no new avenue
for getting at anything.
Former Jailer Lyle was called and
he stated that he got to the jail
about 11:30 and retired upon hia ar-
rival there. He was asleep when he
heard cries of fire and did not under-
f stand the cry, either. Then the whls-
he would take care of the men in
jail and for him to asslBt in remov-
ing rurniture. This Lyle did.
Clemmons, one of the men in jail,
testified to practically the same thing
stating that Lyle ordered them out
being dressed before they were.
Boyd Corbett testified that he
made the fire run in. good time and
when he got there there was no fire
on the outside of the building, but
that it broke through the windows
after his arrival.
Will Lofgren testified that he, as
one of the first there, did not see a
bit of fire outside and did not notice
particularly where the fire was in the
room further than that It was in the
southeast corner of the building.
After this testimony the exami-
nation was continued until 9:00 this
morning, owing to inability to lo-
cate several witnesses desired by the
state. The defendant, John Frazer,
was remanded to the care of the sher-
iff. which meant confinement for
another evening. As nine is the time
the Herald goes to press, rain or
shine, news or no news, we will have
to aBk a suffering public to wait un-
til next issue to learn the further de-
velopments.
very valuable. The ^Irst plant to be
located there will control the salt
trade of Oklahoma.
Thing** Hold Well
People from here who went out to
the Tom Plerson sale report things
having sold at unusually good prices.
Cows went from $40 to $55 and ev-
erything else sold well. It was prin-
cipally a cash sale, we understand.
Mr. Plerson expects to leave in ihc
near future for Oregon and we regret
to note It. Tom is a good citizen in
any community and will be ml«sed
by hi? large acquaintance.
Sam WantM Your Help
In another place In this issue you
will notice the advertisement of Sam
Wah, our Chinese laundryman, who
is reducing hia prices on laundry work
for the next 60 days In order to stim-
ulate trade. Sam Is finding It a lit-
tle hard to make money Just now and
trusts that all who patronize the for-
eign laundries will let him try their
work for a time. He guarantee® sat-
isfaction and the town cannot afford
to lose him. Give Sam your work.
country, taking Mrs. Hayes and
daughter. Mary, along for the day
was a nice one. They hadn't gotten
far until they had a blow-out, which
tied them up for a short time. The
driver got things fixed and going
again when they traveled about three
miles before another tire gave way.
After fixing this they got to the place
of destination all right, but only to
find that the tire on another wheel
had picked up a nail. This was re-
paired and then the return trip waa
commenced about dark. They got
about 100 yards down the road when
the machine stripped the keys In Im-
portant bearings and they were up
against it right, then. They went
back to the farmer's house, chased a
team around the pasture until 10
o'clock, p. m., in an effort to get
across the country to Jim Hitch's
place to telephone to town. When
they did get there they found every
machine In town gone. R. 8. Cox
hearing of their plight sent his ma-
chine to bring them in and they got
here about midnight. That is get-
ting pretty close to what we call
trouble.
About Our Salt Plain*
Professor Gould, director of the
Oklahoma geological survey, visited
the Wg salt plain of Alfalfa county
not long ago with a view to the lo-
cation of a salt plant there. There i
are seven salt plains In western Ok-j
lahoma, but the one in Alfalfa i
county Is the largest of all. It Is I
twelve miles long and seven wide, |
Irregularly oval In shape. It Is as
flat as a floor, its surface Is hard and;
firm as an asphalt Btreet and under!
ordinary conditions It is covcred with |
a white Incrustation of salt cryatalsj
rendering It as white as snow. After,
a rain these crystal- are melted and, ^
FREE! FREE!
A book full of Receipts for Curing
Meats. Better Smoked Meats
invariably results from the modern method of smoking with a
brush than by the old fashioned smoke house process. The
scarcity of hickory wood, the loss of weight, the time devoted
to smoking, the retaining the natural Juices and loss by fire la
admitted, the only question Is, the kind of liquid smoke to use.
Liquid "Smoke 'Em" and
Wright's Condensed
are the two brands we have been selling the farmers for years
■ they give firm, Juicy, fine flavored smoked meat and sausage,
and by their use you'll save time, weight and money.
Get a bottle today. Quart bottles sufficient for 250 to 300 lb*,
of meat—price 76 cents.
WANSER & HAMILTON
PRESCRIPTION DRUGGISTS
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Zimmerman, Warren. The Guymon Herald. (Guymon, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 26, 1911, newspaper, January 26, 1911; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc273280/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.