Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1901 — BEATS GIRL FOR BEST LAND. [ARTICLE]

BEATS GIRL FOR BEST LAND.

J. R. Woods Choose* $50,000 Site i Fronting on Town of Lawton, O. T. When the Lawton, O. T., land office opened for the first filings of the lucky land claimants, J. It. Woods, who held i ticket No. 1, and Miss Mattlo H. Beals, ticket No. 2, stood side by side. Woods was entitled to first choice of all the land thrown open to settlement. He filed on the entire northern half of the half see- ! tion immediately south of the town site )■ of Lawton, one mile long by a quarter of a mile wide, instead of the square quarter section at the east end. This shut Miss Beals out from getting land adjoining the town site. She filed I on the south half of the same mile strip. I Sentiment is divided on Woods’ action. Lawyers of both claimants met in a tent ; in McCoy nvenue to represent their clij cuts and the story spread rapidly among . the boomers and settlers.. Public syui- ; pa thy was with the woman and Woods j received a public excoriation that was as 1 exact, emphatic and profane as a mixed | Western assembly could make it. The j story at first seemed unreasonable, i When James I). McGuire, receiver for i the land office, heard of the effort o.' Woods to gobble up the townsite front, he expressed himself in language whi h could not me misinterpreted. "The law does not contemplate any such sharp practices,” said he, “and, notwithstanding the construction of lawyers, I will not enter such a claim. I have not talked the matter over with Maj. MoKnight, the register, but I am confident he will agree with ns. But even if he does not, I shall protest. In that event the whole matter will be passed up to the Interior Department. If Mr. Woods does not take one of the natural subdivisions made by the government he will have to get instructions from some higher authority of the department than the officials of the Lawton land office.” Woods’ quarter section is rated at $5,000. He must pay the government only fL2r> an acre, amounting for the 160 acres to S2OO. The first town lot sold for $450. Five thousand people arrived Monday night, making a population of about 20,000 in the new city of Lawton. Murder and riot were rampant. James G. Rogers of Brnman, O. T., was shot to death by highwaymen just east of the tent city. He was hit twice and died in St. Joseph’s hospital tent. Two men ordered him to hold up his hands. He refused and was killed. Forty men have been robbed by ryail agents on the trail between Rush Springs and Lawton within three days. Congressional Delegate Dennis Flynn's First National Bank opened Tuesday morning in a tent near the land office. The Citixens’ National Bank began business iu a building just erected. There are only three buildings on. the townsite, but lumber is on hand for hundreds of houses to be erected. Hundreds of men came into the town carrying money in valises, in their shoes and sewed in their waistbands.