Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1890 — OKLAHOMA’S INS AND OUTS [ARTICLE]

OKLAHOMA’S INS AND OUTS

Political Strife That H«s Ended In Mach. Lawlessness Desperadoes .from Noj Man’s Land, - ~ United States Marshal Jack Walker, of Wichita, has been called to Oklahoma City to quell the rowdyism now so prevalent there and which threatens to develop into a reign of terror. TheKickapoos anti semiuolek,*respectively the ins and outs in the city government, wage contin ual strife and us the date of the new election draws near, the feeling becomes more and more intensified. The appointment of adeputy marshal as city marshal has: added fury to the flames, and the reports of the trouble sent out have still further' separated the opposing factions. On Saturday evening a party of masked men armed with Winchesters stopped a newspaper correspondent on the street and' asked him if he knew a man named Thornton. That was the correspondent’s name and when they told him that they intended to riddle with bullets Thornton and every 'other newspaper cor 1 respondent, he sent them in one direction, after Thornton, while he escaped in an. other. Threats have been 'made against: the lives of the Deputy United States: Marshals, and Marshal Walker is calling; in support from all sections in order to be fully prepared for any emergency. Word comes from Stevens county that a score or more of horses were stolen Saturday night by a gang of men who came up from No-man’s Land early in the week. The citizens are out in squads, and as they have suffered much from such depredations, they are liable to mete'out prompt, punishment to the thieves, if caught. Judge Brewer’s recent decision as to the jurisdiction of the Paris (Texas) court oyer No-man’s Land, is causing an exodus of desperadoes from that place. Many of them are going into Oklahoma, and so: bold have been their outrages that some of the smaller places have asked for military protection. At Norman,in broad daylight, two roughs who said they were from the neutral strip, entered a grocery store, helped themselves to what they wanted, and when the proprietor, a man named Thornton, asked payment, one of them shot him through the arm. Oklahoma had a similar case the day before, and such occurrences are becoming too prevalent for the comfort of peaceable citizens. A dispatch from Oklahoma City Tuesday says: The situation there is growing more critical every hour. Mayor Beale, leader of the Kickapoos, has formed a secret organization among his followers for the purpose of overthrowing the present City Council and substituting in its place one composed of his friends. A committee waited upon him Monday, appealing vith him to desist from his present course, but he ignored them entirely. Both sides have telegraphed United States Attorneygeneral Miller their side of the difficulty. The committee referred to above sent a telegram to General Merritt, advising him. of the probability of an outbreak, and asking him to be ready to send aid.