People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1893 — BULLETS FLY THICKLY. [ARTICLE]

BULLETS FLY THICKLY.

A Battla in Indian Territwry in Which Ten Men Are KMled and Fifteen Wounded. Paris, Tex., March 29. —The Choctaw feud has resulted in blood. A desperate encounter took place at Antlers, I. T., at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon and for thirty minutes a storm of leaden hail fell about the town. One hundred and fifty men were on each side. Ten were killed and fifteen wounded. One side represented the Choctaw government and was termed the national militia. The other side were followers of Dick Locke, who resists arrest, fearing that he will be killed instead of being given a trial by law. United States officers arrested nineteen of the mililia leaders at 6pi m and brought them here.

At 2:30 p. m. seventy-eight militiamen suddenly deployed from the woods and charged down upon the residence of Dick Locke, leader of the national party, and opened fire upon it Locke saw them coming and barely got into his house when the fusillade upon it began. Locke with five men returned the fire from the upper story. Fully 1,500 shots were fired. Every window was shot out and the walls were perforated like a sieve. Stray bullets flew far and wide and terror and consternation prevailed throughout the little town. Everybody was uneasy and no one knew who was safe with four score half-drunken, infuriated Indians armed to the teeth and with the smell of blood in their nostrils. Minutes seemed hours and every heart went out to Locke, his wife and little children who were cooped up in their home which was being riddled by Winchester balls The attack was a surprise to everyone, coming as it did. All believed and hoped that the matter had been settled or soon would be. At the first volley four Indians fell dead and several were wounded. The Jackson party lodged behind the platform and at the next fire another Indian was laid low. The Choctaws then retreated and it was believed that they would not come back. Sheriff Locke said that he had no further fear. At 4 o’clock the Choctaws came on again reenforced for another battle. They found the Jackson party poorly prepared. As a result they marched straight to Locke’s home. The Jackson crowd gathered and attempted to repulse the Indians, but the Choctaws were well organized and drove Locke and his crowd into the woods, losing three men and killing two of the Locke or Jacksoa party. They rescued their man. The town of Antlers is wild with excitement. In Locke’s house three men were found wounded—Mack Hill, shot through the shoulder, wound painful but not necessarily dangerous; John Worcester and Solomon Homer, shot in head; serious wound. One of the militia, Solomon Battiste, was shot through the arm and in the side; mortally wounded. Three others had flesh wounds. Locke’s little daughter had her hair burned by a bullet as she was going upstairs with her mother’s baby in her arms. A ball passed through Locke’s hat and his son’s arm was grazed. It is said that his children were shot as they endeavered to go from the residence to a cabin in the yard. At daylight Tuesday morning the militia, under command of Capt Key Durant, went to Locke’s house and insisted on searching it for Waldo Jones, who was one of the Indians of the Jackson faction that participated in the killing of the six men near Wilburton, I. T., last fall, but escaped punishment and capture. It was discovered Monday that he was being secreted at the house of Dick Locke, a wealthy and prominent citizen of Antlers. The Jones men then swore they would capture him and an armed force of braves camped only a few miles from Antlers. The Jones men also began to gather their forces together and a battle was expected to take place Monday.