Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1901 — TRICKED OUT OF HIS CLAIM. [ARTICLE]

TRICKED OUT OF HIS CLAIM.

Incident Connected with Opening of Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma. “Many things occurred during the opening and settlement of the Cherokee strip in Oklahoma in 1893, the like of which had never been seen or heard,” said a Joplin (Mo.) NewsHerald printer, who was mixed up in the race at thq opening, and secured a number of town lots at Pawnee. “I remember a young fellow who came dlown to Perry from lowa and staked out a nice corner lot. And, by the way, merely staking out a. claim did not give one the complete right of possession. You had to sit down on it and hold it fast, and the lowa chap, was a stayer. He ate his meals on the lot and rolled himself in ablanketand slept on it at night Unscrupulous schemers were ever present, beating the unwary out of their claims. But the lowa man held his base and played safe. “One night four men silently approached the sleeper. They carried a tent, a table and four seats. They quietly erected the tent over the lowa man, got out a deck of cards and began playing seven up. The lowa man, slept on. After awhile one of the players gave him a poke in the ribs with his foot. The man in the blanket rubbed his eyes and stared about inquiringly and in a much bewildered manner. “What the h are you doing here, ycung fellow?” demanded the man who had kicked him. ‘Why—why—l don’t exactly know,’ Paltered the lowan, as he ex--: tricated himself from the blanket. ‘I —I must have been walking in my sleep.’ ‘Right sure you ain’t tryin’ to steal this lot from me,’ demanded the other, scowling in a threateningmanner at the lowan. ‘No, sir, lam not. I had no tent or anything on my lot, and I do not wish to beat you out of this claim.’ ‘I believe you’re lying to me, young feller, an’ I’m a great mind to fix you right now, but 1 won’t If you will hold up your right hand in the presence of these three men and swear this is not your lot and l that you will not try to claim it an’ make me trouble, I’ll let you off this time. Some of you guys are too blame tricky to live in this neighborhood, anyway. What doydusay ?’ ‘Gentlemen, I swear this is not my lot and that I will make no claim on it whatever,’ said the lowan with uplifted hand. ‘That's enough. Now hit the grit.’ The young man gathered up his blanket and departed. He spent the rest of the night tryingto find his choice corner lot. The day broke and the sun arose, but he was yet unsuccessful in locating it. The men in the tent threw up a shack, opened a saloon and a thriving business on the corner lot, ami in a few days the lowan traded, his W inchester for a lame mule and sorrowfully rodeout of theferritory.”