Mangum Sun-Monitor. (Mangum, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1904 Page: 1 of 10
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ItsUrUal liiUly
Mangum Sun-Monitor.
ss: Isssf wr*-
CNwIUlIwi »r»tl •. ItHll
(MfWtal Organ uflh« V. S. Un4 <MIU«. Mmmum Ih.irUI.
MANCl'M, C.RKKR COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, THURSDAY, NOVKMHKR 1904
VOL. 14. NO. 4-
COURT HOUSE AFIREl^-^b^'^r THE CONTRACT LET
_____ ling record* ilvirimeiilil to the lib- ,,
Prompt Action by Janitor and JJJ&iJyThil! ibe An Oklahoma CHy Man to Build
Good Work of Citizens Saved it case might I*. Tlu« might New High School for $18,740
______ I l>ly 1* Ihc caw h it i» |*rli«j*» not
WORK OF AN INCENDIARY I HAS 25 DAYS TO MAKE BOND
| way of indictment*, judgment* or | _____
' bond* are kept 111 the court house,
I except where duplicate paper* arc
i*»ued, and either the duplicate
copy or it* original are iu safe keep-
ing elsewhere. Had the work of
the fire fiend been successful, it i*
true that a very great loss would
have resulted to the county and to
it* individual projwrty owner* and
citizen*, yet it i* pointed out that
no great benefit would be derived
Probably Wanted to Destroy Rec-
ords—Used About 20 Gal*
Ions of Coal Oil-Who is
the Guilty Person?
An attempt to buru out the
county offices and district court
room at a nearly hour Holiday
morning wa* foiled by the effort* of I ihcPefroni by any one person. The
the towns people. joss 0f tbc Gf the various
All the county offices, together county officers and district clerk
with the law office of Garrett, Gar- wouId 1k. an almost jrrcparable one
rett & Wells, of Greer county, with i to (j,e Gf this county, en-
the exception of that of the county I lailing on them almost endless liti-
superintendent. are located 111 the gation m ti,e establishment of ti-
secotid story of the J. C. Gilliland clearing of records in admiii-
& Co. building on the south side istralors reports, loss iu chattel
of the square. The lower story is mortgages, tax records, etc., and
occupied by the J. C. Gilliland |a moveroent by the county com-
The Three Bids Considered Were
Very Close Together-Home
Bidders Did not Comply
With Requirements.
stock of dry goods and clothing
and the Garner-Beauchamp Gro-
cery Company.
About 2:30 o'clock Monday
morning Janitor Jackson, who
sleeps iu the law office of Garrett,
Garrett & Wells iu the north end
of the building, was awakened by
a noise in the district court room.
Arising he went to the door of his
room and looked out. A light was
seen emanating from the court room
and knowing that the electric |
lights had been turned off, he in-
vestigated. The whole south end
of the room was in flames. Jack-
son immediately ran down stairs
to the sidewalk and gave the alarm
and enough men were soon on hand
to quench the flames, thanks to a
barrel of water which stood on the
stair landing at the rear of the
building, and a nearby pump.
The smoke was so intense that
it was almost impossible to see,
immediately, what damage had
been done, but as it gradually
cleared away, it was discovered
that an organ belonging to the
Central Christian church, which
had been situated near the rear
hall door, had been entirely con-
sumed, the matting had been
burned away and several holes
were burned in the floor. The
ceiling and walls had been dam-
aged and blackened with smoke,
some plastering had fallen, but
otherwise no damage had been
done by the flames.
By the efforts of the fire fighters
the flames had been confined, for
the most part, to the space between
the judge's rostrum, in the south
end of the room, and the hall door,
some ten or twelve feet to the east.
Investigation as to the origin of
the fire showed that coal oil in
great quantities had been poured
on the floor, saturating the mat-
ting with which it was covered.
Inspection of the matting in front
of the rostrum revealed the fact,
however, that here it had been
doused with oil and from this
point, west to the wall of the build-
ing, and then north along the aisle
for a distance of fifty feet to the
door of the deputy district clerk's
office. Raising the matting the
floor was seen to be covered with
oil. Enough had been used to run
under the door into the clerk's of-
fice, and not an inch of space in
the entire distance but showed its
presence. From the judge's stand
the flames had started along this
pathway, but had been intercepted
before they had crept farther than
ten or twelve feet.
Later on one of the buckets in
which the oil had been carried, was
discovered. It was found to be
one of the water buckets used in
the court house, and still retained
some of the oil. Oil on the back
stairs indicated that the incendiary
had come up the back way, and a
staple pulled from the door of the
brick oil room in the rear of the
Garner-Beauchamp grocery store,
together with the fact that a new
oil tank which contained sixty gal-
lons of oil Saturdaynight, Monday
morning contained but thirty-five
missioners to provide some kind of
protection for the county records
would l>e much appreciated by the
people of the county at this time.
As a mark of appreciation for
servsces rendered Janitor Jackson
was presented with a purse of $60
and Sain D. Rude and Dr. Hall
were each presented with a fine
ring. A purse has also been raised
to defray the expense of a new or-
gan to take the place of the one
destroyed.
No clue to the incendiary has as
yet been discovered.
THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Met Last Tuesday and Made rtany
Changes in Election Inspectors-
Saloon Licensed at Erick.
At the meeting of the board of
county commissioners held on
Tuesday, all members were present.
The following changes were made
in the appointments of election in-
spectors:
T. T. Avant in place of Wm.
Robertson.
J. W. Simmons in place of J. P.
Wilmoutb.
J. C. Hussey in the place of W.
D. Stinnett.
W. R. Johnson in the place of
G. F. Stephens.
J. W. Ryder in the place of M.
N. Hudson.
J. W. Thrower in the place of
A. R. Garrett.
J. N. Cobb in the place of L. G.
Cousins.
Y. L. Stockman in the place of
I,. W. Richardson.
W. R. Clements in the place of
W. B. Kizer.
H. H. Campbell in the place of
J. M. Forest.
Mr. Boss in the place of Hugh
Metcalf.
Dick Williams in the place of J.
R. Anderson.
W. M. Cunningham in the pl&ce
of G. W. Johnson.
W. T. Cotney in the place of G.
A. Porter:
S. O. Frazier in the place of W.
L. Hunter.
W, T. Dale in the place of J. D.
Bailey.
J. O. Colman in the place of F.
M. Miller.
J. W. Dickey in the place of E.
E. Jones.
J. H. Beanland in the place of
Joe Gregory.
John Norton in the place of W.
D. Ballard.
The firm of Moore & Hoard was
granted license to sell liquors at
Erick.
Ree\es-Banks Wedding.
Mr. Will C. Reeves and Miss
Dora Banks were united in mar-
riage at the home of the brides pa-
rents, Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Banks,
in Altus, on Sunday, October 23,
1904. The ceremony was per-
formed at 10:30 a. m. by Rev. E.
L. Massey of the Methodist church,
and after congratulations the bridal
party enterel a carriage and were
driven to church. After church
the party returned to the Banks
home where a bridal dinner was
The contract for the construction
of the new $20,000 school building
iu Mangum ha* been let. L. F.
Lee, of Oklahoma City, secured
the job and he wa* given twenty-
five days in which to get up his
bond ami have it approved, and he
will then be given a reasonable
time in which to get the building
completed. As he knows that the
tqouey is now in the bank waiting
the completion of the job he will
probably push the work as rapidly
as possible when he gets it started
For some reason there were no
bids from home contractors that
came up to the conditions required
by the board and therefore none
were considered.
The board had three full bids to
consider and there was only $110
difference between the largest and
the smallest. Mr. Lee's bid, the
one accepted, was the lowest, it
was $18,740; the next lowest was
that of H. J. Van Derburg, of
Weatherford, for $18,830; and the
third bid was by Thomas O'Keefe
& Co., of Oklahoma City, for
$18,850.
It has not been settled just where
the new building will be situated,
but it is settled that it must be on
the present school grounds or
ground adjoining. The lawyers
have all agreed that this being a
common country school district it
can have but one recognized legal
school site. It is quite likely that
the board will buy the old Zook
property adjoining the school
grounds on the north and put up
the new building there.
A Card From Bob Dever.
I want to say to the voters of the
second commissioner district that
when I was a boy down in old
Kentucky going to school at the
liltle log school house, sitting on a
split log bench without any back,
our teacher used to tell us boys
between larrupings—as he called
them—with good long smooth elm
switches, that some day he would
not be surprised if some of us boys
would be president of this great
republic and of course it made us
feel pretty big. But since that
time I have been too busy hustling
grub and hickory shirts to cover
those numerous children, that poor
dissatisfied fellow tpld you about
that I have just got started and of
course 1 expect to climb the ladder
just a few rounds at a time. Down
in Texas I had the honor to be
elected road overseer abd from that
I was elected justice of the peace.
So my fellow citizens you see I
have made a great start towards
the white house. Now if you vot-
ers will kindly remember me 0x1
next Tuesday, November 8th, in
the good year of our Lord 1904
you will have my everlasting grati-
tude and in return I will promise
to serve you honestly and faith-
fully, ever having in mind that I
should deal'justly with all parts of
the district. I will also use my
best efforts for good roads, espe-
cially the main traveled highways
to the different markets and in all
the business interests of the coun-
ty that I have to deal with will try
to be conservative and reasonable
and make a dollar buy a dollar's
worth. Your humble servant
Robt. E. Dever.
THE FARMERS'UNION
An Organization That Started on
a Small Scale but is Growing.
HAS BUILT 3 GINS IN GREER
thoroughly gone into by out opri-
aiiug department, and owing to
the cxiMing conditions it is found
that the t*fe*rnt schedule i* the
best adapted to meet the cummer
cial ami traffic condition* ou that
line 1 regret very much to state
that It ia therefore deemed inadvis-
able at this time to reestablish our
former schedule,'' The Second
Assistant Postmaster General, iu
hi* letter, slated that the postoffice
department could not control train
schedule* and can n*e for mail pur -j
pc*c* only »uch train* a* the rail-1
road companic* find il advisable'to
operate. That plan work* alright
where the railroad* have compcti
tion, but in our ca*c we have 110
other railroad and "must put up. . ... . .. „ , M . .
«i.b, to .11 cl.»«c»of railroo.l truf-j ''"V?"
1 torial organizer, assisting linn in
fic, just what the railroad sees fit
to give u*. Perhaps some day we
will get another railroad aud when
we do we won't do a thing to the
Rock Island.
J. A. McWalters, living about
ute principles mat they advocate.
stand up and light aod die fug
1 your convtctiona.
Uiother if you think a* we do,
register your protest against the
wrongs of today and thereby help
lo Ioomtii the grip ou the cros* of
gold "aud pluck from the bleeding
brow of laNir the crown of thorn*. '
The tight i* left with you aud
1 feel 0s»urrcd lhat you will do
your duty. We have done all we
could do for the cause of the |co-
pies' party and are willing lo leave
the work lo the future aud God.
_____ | We will continue to organise the
party after the election for the
W. O. Smith, president of the ucxt Krcal toIlfljcl two year*
Gip Hill Farmer*' Union, ia out |,vncc_
So brother, in conclusion we ask
you lo come and go with us for we
have enlisted in the fight to
emancipate the toiling musses who
Has Nothing to Do With Politics
or Religion—Now Has Fif-
teen Hundred Members
in This County.
'organizing Union*among the farm-
er* iu the north part of the county.
Messrs. Peters and Smith called on|haVe been euslavi i "by the trust
aud combine*. Yours for tqual
rights to all, J. W. Bkkky.
the Sun-Monitor Monday.
Mr. Peters came to Greer county
last March commissioned by the
niue miles southeast of Mangum ! president of the Texas Grand Un
was in town Tuesday and reports
Dr. Hardin, ol Olustee, and Mr.
that his home was entered by a
burglar Monday evening. Mr.
McWatters had Iteeu absent from
home all day and did not return
uutil near nine o'clock. His wife
had gone to a neighbor's about
dark. He stopped there for heron
his return and they went home to-
gether. When they entered the
house they found chat the screen
had been ripped from one of the
windows and a shotgun that stood
beside the window was not there.
Nothing else was missiug and it is
Mr. McWatters' theory that the
party had just entered the house
as he and his wife drove up and
they frightened him away.
CHANOE OF PREACHERS.
Rev. J. W.Sims Succeeds Rev. Roper
m* Pastor of the First Methodist
Church of flangum.
NO HOPE OF BETTER SERVICE.
The Postoffke Department Tried to
Helpusdet it But the Mean Rail-
road Company Would Not.
Rev. W. S. P. McCullough and
Rev. W. H. Roper returned last
night from attending conference.
Rev. McCullough remains in charge
of the Mangum district as presid-
ing elder. Rev. Roper goes to St.
Paul's chufch, Muskogee, and Rev.
J. W. Sims comes to Mangum.
Rev. J. M. Maloy is assigned to
the Mangum circuit, the country
churches in the vicinity of Man-
gum. The other assignments tor
the county are: Deer Creek cir-
cuit, W. J. Wilson; Erick circuit,
W. J. Hale; Altus station K. L.
Massey; Headrick circuit, Hal A.
Burns; Yeldell circuit, J. W. R.
Bachman; Olustee and Eldorado,
W. L. Dickey; Duke circuit, W.
E. Woodward; Hollis circuit, G.
M. Moon; Granite circuit, G. W.
Lewis; Blair and Martha, J. W.
Kizziar. Rev. Sims sends word
that he will arrive in Mangum
next Wednesday.
NEGROES IN GREER COUNTY.
Deputy Sheriff Banks Has Twenty-
Nine Black Cotton Pickers at
His Farm Near Hess.
ion to organize Oklahoma aud Dickey, the new owners of the
since his coming there has been | Ben Kiser salt spring, were in
about ninety Unions established in Mangum today. They had l»een
this county with a membership of j out to the spring and brought in a
alx)Ut fifteen hundred farmers. gallon jug of the salt water. At
The Union built and now oper- the Mangum Hospital the soliHiou
ates three gins in the county, one i was reduced and the gallon of wa-
at Headrick, one at Elmer and one ' tcr was found to contain three
at Duke and has shipped some coal1 pounds and twelve ounces of clear,
to the county which cost the mem- pure salt The flow at the spring
bers only $4.50 per tou. j is estimated at 108,000 gallons
Farmers who have investigated every twenty-four nours, if every
the Union and understand its work- gallon contains nearly four pounds
ings are coufident that it is a good j of salt the daily out-put, therefore
thing and will result iu much beue- if all the water was utilized would
fit to the farmers. The Uuiou was be about twelve car loads of salt a
started by a few farmers iu a com- day. That is certainly something
big in the way of a salt proposi-
tion.
BOB BLEDSOE ARRESTED.
munity in Texas and was intended
as simply a local affair but proved
so successful and was constructed
011 such broad lines that other com
munities took it up and in a re-
markably short space of time it had | Indicted on r^the C^«ei o! Keceivln*
extended all over the great state of " "* "
Texas. It inibodies the good
points and leaves out theobjection-
al features of the old Grange and
the Alliance. The Union has
nothing to do with either politics
or religion and there is a strict rule
that those subjects must not be
mentioned in or about the Union
meetings. These
Sara Banks, one of Sheriff Nel-
son's deputies who lives in the
southeastern part of the county
near Hess, was the first man to
bring a gang of negro cotton pick-
ers into Greer county. He wanted
hands to pick his cotton aud declared
that he was going to get "niggers.''
He went to Dallas and engaged
twenty-nine black people and
brought them out to his farm
where they are now picking his and
his neighbors'cotton. He got word
last week that a crowd was coming
from Altus to run the negroes out
and Banks sent word that they
would have to run him off first and
swore vengence on the first man
who came upon his premises with
evil intent.
The crowd did not appear and
the negroes are there yet. Thus a
deputy sheriff was the first man to
successfully run the blockade
against negroes in Greer county.
Letter From John Rose.
re the rocks
upon which were wrecked the
farmer organizations that have
gone before and if the Union is
kept at a safe distance from them
there is 110 telling how much good
may come of it.
AN APPEAL TO POPULISTS.
Money From Gamblers While
Deputy Sheriff.
The recent grand jury returned
an indictment against Bob Bledsoe,
et-deputy sheriff, charging him
with having received bribes from
gamblers while he was deputy sher-
iff. I11 the mean time Bledsoe had'
been retired to private life by Slier- _i>
iff Nelson, and had left Man-
gum some weeks before the setting
of the grand jury. After the, in-
dictment was found inquiries were
sent out for him and he was located
at some point in New Mexico. He
was arrested by authorities there
and last Saturday Deputy Sheriff
Gov. Moore was sent after him aud
returned Wednesday night with
his man. Bledsoe was Sheriff Nel-
son's chief deputy for over a year
aud made himself quite conspicu-
ous in "regulating" Mangum.
He gave bond in the sum of $300
with Dr. Border, W. M. Harris
and G. C. Moore as sureties.
Chairman Berry Urges all to Vote
the Ticket and Help on the
Work of Reform.
Editor Sun-Monitor:—I want
to speak to the populist of Greer
county through your paper.
Brother populist of Greer coun-
ty, I want to urge you to stand by
the populist nominees on the 8th
day of November and get every
Bryan democrat that you can to
vote with us. I call upon you who
are dissatisfied with the conditions
that confront us to day to cast your
votes for men who ark pledged to
a platform of equal rights to all.
Those who believe in the princi-
ples of the populist party should
do all they can for the candidates
of the party. Why? Because it
is a duty they owe to the men that
are leading the fight for the masses
the ones that produce the wealth
and pays the taxes.
Some may say that your vote
will be lost because there is 110
chance to elect the ticket. This
may be true to a certain extent
but not in whole. Now, brother,
remember when you go to the polls
to cast your vote that this election
is not the only contest that must
be fought by those who believe in
reform. The peoples party was
called into existence to right the ! fights are scarce, and most every-
wrongs that were upon us through J thing else in our community is
the old party and today the peo-! scarce with the exception of cotton
pies' party is united and the Jeffer- J _it is here in abundance,
son democrats in every state are c , . ... , „ ,. • , .
rallying to the flag of Tom Wat-! ^°» ^"keffeld picked
son who will poll more votes than | pounds of cotton last Tuesday
any other man that ever led the
reform forces. So let us take in-
City View Items.
October 31.
J. S. Wakefield has sold his farm
to Mr. Guthrie.
Mr. Armstrong has gone to
Chickasha on a business trip.
A few of our people attended the
Fifth Sunday meeting at Reed.
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Haney have a
fine girl at their house, born last
Thursday.
P. V. Martin and family from
near Francis are visiting relatives
and friends at this place.
Roya Goodman, the little son of
Mrs. Alice Goodman, was quite
sick last week, but is able to be up.
Mr. aud Mrs. Feaster, of Mis-
souri, have been visiting Mr. Feas-
ter's mother, Mrs. Mary Feaster,
for the past two weeks.
News is scarce, cotton pickers
are scarce, marriages, deaths and
65-*
He
Chamal, Mexico, the 10th of Xo-
many
vember. There must be manv to **• 54
Some weeks ago a petition signed
by the business men and other of us to start from Mangum
or forty! at mwst. point to the fact jserved. After dinner the bride and prominent citizens of Mangum was
that this firm unwittingly furnished groom drove to Looney, to the sent in to the postoffice department
the fluid which came so near to home of the parents of the gToom asking the department to use its
patting them their nearbv neigh- where a nice sapper awaited them, good offices to assist in secur:ro-
bots and the coanty officers oat of The bride wore a pretty taffeta silk better passenger tram ind man
buMot*s. at least for the time being, gown. They received quite a nam- service for Mangum. W. u. White.
Bat few of the records of the ber of nice preseats. Mr. Reeves president of the Board of Trustee
county are kept in the vault, which is now in business in Eldorado, he of the city, received a reply on
is so small that it is incapable of formerly resided in Mangum and is Tuesday containing the fattowin,;
tbe pro- well known among the yonng folks , paragraph from the ra.ta, vi com j w. Rose.
was only ten hours and twenty-five
Dallas Tex n-1'04 I reiorm .orces. =*> ier us raxe m-, ™ Picfkiu8 that amount.
Dallas Tex. i i i 04. | oq ffom tfals and |Q tfae He picked forty-seven pounds m
Dear Sir:—There will be a crowd , ^ tW . twenty minutes during the same
polls and do our duty that we owe I
to ourselves and to those that are !
loing we will be
Mucr. 1 at peace with our conscience and
ten from Fort W orth to Monte- ,
our tioa
If yon like the principles of the
democratic party of today vote the
party ticket. But you shoaldread
compare Parker's platform
with the Republican platform and
day. He is anxious to meet any-
one in Greer county for a six
hours' race.
"Ixo."
rey, Mexico The rate will be
$35.50 from Mangum to Monterev
and return, good for nine months.
We will hare to pay fall fare from
there on. which will be about J6 *n
Mexican money, eac*
holding
jnst
of the pany's letter of reply to
rh otl
h they differ from
d so you vote with 1
if you believe tn (
All
Warner &
the correct
itral as they
itor, placed
tesy of Dr.
.rs and op-
Sabacnbe fur the San-
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Crittenden, H. L. Mangum Sun-Monitor. (Mangum, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1904, newspaper, November 3, 1904; Mangum, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc285770/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.