The Atchison Daily Champion from Atchison, Kansas • Page 1

V.O Aflami ATCHIS VOLUME 2G. ATCHISON, KANSAS, TUESDAY, APML 23, 1881). NO. 26 ON DAILY CHAMPION THE HOUK AMUYES. First a oi Telegraphic new.

Scooicu Pa'r litiliil (in.l Mlsoellaneoui. Thirii Pvk Miscellaneous. Foukth Pa Local litelttenc Kifth P.vhk-City and Miscellaneous. 3ixth PAiiK-Marlcpt Keports and Miscellaneous. Skvksth Paj Miscellaneous.

Rt hth PArtg Telegrapti Us new nJ He gave his name ub Harvey Saddler, and said he was born in England, but hud been in this country for nine years and had come all tho way from Seattle, W. to get a foothold in Oklahoma. He was elected as the representative of the London 'Vwif, and also us the mascot of the hew city of Guthrie, and to make the bargain sure it was agreed he should have one of the best lots in the heart of the city. At the lust station outside of the Oklahoma Territory there was a great crowd of boomers who had forsaken their teams anil hoped to get in quicker by rail. There being no room Inside hey climbed to the top of the coaches, and the entiro train from one end to the other wng roofed with them.

In this way the line was reached about five minutes after 12 o'clock. The ride of Paul Revere dwindles into obscurity beside the feats of horsemnnship performed in Oklahomu to day. Hides of 15 or 20 miles were made in nn indescribably short apace of time by old boomers familiar with the country, and who knew where desirable lands were located. The train stopped at a military post. The white tents of the soldiera, and the officers' tents, surrounded by the national colors, were a gratifying evidence of a rower sufficient to maintain order.

Troop of the 5th cavalry was quartered there, and the officers saiil that at the sound of the bugle at high noon there had been a movement among tho boomers camped along the border, which hail extended across tho entire frontier line, and that the riding hail been fust ami furious ever since, some of the prospectors running to Guthrie to file their entries, and others going to locate on the land and secure a prior right to possession by actual occupancy. It was 12:20 p. m.when the first section of the great Atchison train reached the line, and its progress from that point on to Guthrie was not rapid enough for the rapid men who wanted to get there in a hurry before all the cream wus skimmed oil tho milk. Nevertheless, it lacked but a few minutes of 1 o'clock when the train stopped at the Guthrie station, a hand -some and substantially built edifice, which has recently been libelled by the newspaper artists, who have drawn on their imagination for its picture since this excitement begun. lleforo the train came to a stop It was seen that somebody was already there.

In fact, the iwn was already well populated. Tents wero numerous on the eastern slope and stakes were sticking up nut of the ground like poles in a bean patch. Men could be seen rushing in the direction of the valuable spots, and the scene was as busy as it is possible to imagine. Tho profanity among the Arkansas City, Wichita and other people about the Kansas City speculators wus both loud and deep. If sprinkling of the demi monile.

The farming element was not largely represented, as all of the homesteaders have gone on before. There were men in thecals from every great city aud important point in the country, and there was not a State or territory in tho country which did not have its representatives among those who tilled all of the seats, occupied all of the standing room in the aisles und filled up the space between the couches, hanging on the iron girders with a grip born 01 despair and determination. The newspaper coach was the first out of Arkansas City. It contained representatives of all the loading newspapers in the country. The conductors were vigi-laut in the collection of fares, but it is certain that a great many deadheads went through to the promised land in the rush and hurry and roar of the boomer campaign.

There was but little sightseeing indulged in, as the crowd did not care to look ut anything until it got to Oklahoma, like the emigrant at Castle Garden who refused to pick up a silver dollar because he expected to find gold in the street in the next block. At Arkansas City there were over seventy-five cars side tracked in the yards awaiting the rush. All of these were run into the yards some distance below the depot. The crowd began to gather on the platform two hours before daylight, and long befoto tho first fail streak of the dawn of the fateful day the city was awuke and stirring. The streets presented a living picturesque appearance after the sun rose.

Crowds were rushing toward the centre of action from all parts of the city. The lintels emptied tho hundreds into the streets, the cot houses contributed hundreds more; out ofthe hospitable homes of the city, nearly all of which have entertained guests during the past week, some long strings of men carrying grips, I undies, knapsacks and parcels of every possible and impossible description came. Hundreds of boomers and rustlers, in their impatience to get aboard, rushed down en masBe to the yards anil attempted to force an entrance into tho cars, all of which were securely locked. Tho excitement may be judged from the fact that a large number of coach windows were broken out by people who were anxious to secure seats. A strong guard of railroad men was detailed to protect the company's property, and they had a contract of unusual dimensions on their hands.

The crowd was panic Htrieken. It had leaked out during the wakeful hours of the night that the press special couch would be a part of tho first train to move out. The. railroad management had succeeded well in keeping this fact secret. No one but the representatives of the press were informed of tho fact or knew the locution of the press cur or tho time of its departure, but It cheese.

Probably the most pitiful case is that of a family of four, discovered during the afternoon near Walnut creek. They inhabited tent wonderfully constructed of bits of canvas and oil cloth, which seemed destined to go to ruin with the first gale of wind. The head of the family, a hollow-eyed and emaciated man, lounged on a ragged quilt spread on ihe floor of the tent, and three ragged, unkempt children sat listlessly heside him. The wife and mother, whose appearance was on a par with the surroundings, bent over a skillet in which she was frying a mess of wild mustard. There was nothing else edible in sight, not even the bacon, without which the mustard greens are unpalatable.

It was a scene which called to mind Daniel Webster's experience with a family which, during the two days' he remained with th them, subsisted "on grass fried in lard. There was need of charity and it was bestowed promptly, but of course the provision was only temporary. To-day, Providence permitting, this family will" cross into the promised land, and if they don'tstarve to death in a week it will be because there are plenty of good people there. RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION. The Santa Fe is arranging to run a numbei of trains into Oklahoma from this point throughout the morning, to reach Guthrie at noon.

An order was issued last night to bar all commercial messages from the single wire between Purcell and Kansas City until next week. Another wire is being rapidly strung. Business messages from this place now go by the way of Texas. READY FOR THE HUSH. St.

Loris, April 22. Special dispatches from the Oklahoma country say that everybody is on the qui riir to make a grand rush across the line into the land of Caanan at noon to-day. Four hundred dollars was yesterday offered and accepted for a fleet horse at Purcell. The horse was purchased by Tom Horton, a man who expects to reach a claim now proposed to be taken up by a town site company, which expects to build acrosB the river a city which will in the future rival Purcell. As many fleet horses are being brought in from Texas and Kansas, the race will be most exciting, as thry fly across the country, the goal a stake, the prize a claim.

There is as much, if not more, struggling for townsites as for sections. It is said thirty-two loan companies are going for Guthrie, about half 'that number tor Oklahoma City, and about twenty for Kingfisher, while thero are opponents for sites on almost every section. This makes the average settler swear. The trouble between town site companies promises to be as dangorous as among the claim hunters. There has also been brewing for the lust day or two an animosity between the Northern fellows and Texans especially, including some coming from other States.

On the west of strip men, either on foot or in wagons, were to be seen almost continually going southward. There were no soldiers or officers of any kind to prevent their entrance into the country. Home were encamped on the banks of streams. The women were cooking the meals, and the men were shooting at either murks or gume. "Few persons know," said un old boomer who was encamped on the Oklahoma line "what dan gers I have gone through to reach here.

My party had a cowboy for a guide, and whe we came to the Chickafaw we were competed to pay a man $150 to swim the stream and bring us a little boat In which we could cross, und we then pulled our rig and swam our teams. The same thing had to be done at Salt Fork. Wo gave our guide $100 and if begets us well located he gets $150. Another party paid their guide $250." DKSPEHATE SCHEME. A scheme has just developed, the magnitude of which and the bold conception 1111ft the daring character of the men engaged in it make it one of great importance.

It is every day becoming more apparent that the lands of Oklahoma will be insufficient for the peopln who will be here to claim it. As a consequence, there have been organized bands or companies, the members of which are sworn to protect their fellows. The leaders ot the companies have agreed that if any considerable portion of them fail to get into Oklahoma they will league together and take possession of the Cherokee Strip. Two thirds of thfse organized men will be left, and in a week from to day they will have 10,000 determined men, desperate from failure of cherished plans, driving the stock out of the Strip and ho.ding down claims. The hope of the men who have this desperate enterprise is to have so many people in the Strip in a short time that it will be thought bettei to leave them there than attempt to drive them out.

Arkansas City is the headquarters of the engineers of the scheme, but auxiliaries are locutfd along the line and the rush will be simultaneous at all points. The officers fear thiB and will endeavor to hurry a patrol for the Strip from Oklahoma to anticipate and thus prevent the expected rush. It is well known that such a scheme hus been tulked of by Col. Cole and other Oklahoma agitators, and at the present time they find it most opportune to make the advance. ON THE HANKS OK SALT HOUK.

Kanbab City, April 22. A Star special from Arkansas City Bays: Saturday night there was a continuous line of camp-fires from Wharton, the last station in the Cherokee Strip, to Arkansas City. There were fewer fires along the border line of the promised land than would have been expected. Comparatively few of the wagon men reached the Oklahoma line until last night, and this morning Salt Fork, which winds through the Strip and on the banks of which the Ponca reservation is situated, caused the settlers much delay. The rains had made it so high that fording was dangerous, and only a few were fool-hardy enough to venture it.

Friday morning fully 700 wagons wanted to get across. Captain Hays and his company, who escorted the settlers to the border, rendered thern most valuable service. He induced the Santa Fe road to permit him to lay planks beside and between the tracks of the railroad bridge and get the emigrants over. A soldier with a red flag half a mile from each end of the bridge prevented any trains from approaching until the bridge was clear. In spite of all the cautions a woman and two children and a number of cattle were drowned at the bridge, ('apt.

Hayes' good work at the Salt fork bridge kept linn uud his troops from getting to the Oklahoma border. This morning a careful estimate by a Slur reporter, who was on the border last night, is that within a radius of live miles from the border entrance, on the Ponca trail, fully live hundred men were at least a mile over the line, where a fence divides theSlrip from Oklahoma. The men did not know the fence was the dividing line, or if they did heeded it not. No soldiers were there to dispute their entrance or tell where the line was. Without let or hindrance great number of people went into Oklahoma as early as Saturday night, and a cattleman at lied Kock said last night as ho came through Oklahoma from OalveMton he counted over 100 men in the bushes aloug through Oklahoma.

A FINE DAY. A Slur special from Arkansas City says the sky was cloudless and it was cool this morning. The crowd at the depot was larger than expected. From the top of the dispatcher sollice a photoi h'M'took the crowd. Four trains, with ten roaches each, stood about ready to start.

Crowds of people walked up and down on the tops of the cars and the moment the doors were thrown open the curs were filled. The crowd followed the newspaper men, hoping to find out by them which train started first. Fifty "tents which were pitched about the depot were down before 0 o'clock. It is estimated that five thousand people were at the depot awaiting transportation. The outfits at the depot were striking.

One man wearing a Bilk hat carried a hoe over his shoulder, to which was attached a bundle of clothing and a box. Spades and axes were the most common equipments. Before the train started the town was almost deserted. There were many women among those to 'go to Guthrie. People walked to the end of the yards to get on night coaches, knowing that all would go (Hiring the day.

Danger seemed to have been lost sight of. Many crowded under the curs until the, police stopped them. THE START. Kansas City, April 23. It was just 8:45 when the first train pulled out.

A shout from a thousand voices announced the fact. The Press car was next to the engine, and eight cars were attached. There were fully fifty persons in the Press car. Mivny had no credentials. Many freight trains had been supplied with seats to follow later.

At the St. Louis and San Francisco crossing, where a stop was necessary, people besieged the first train, but guards kept them oil. Just outside the city two daring men got on the air brakes under the press car. E. C.

Heck was the conductor of the. first train, and Harry Livingston, engineer. At the speed ujt hich the train started, the train willWeach Guthrie late. The wagon bridge across the Arkansas river was full of settlers' wagons. Two men jumped on the cowcatcher, but were put off.

ON IIUHINK8H. Newton, April 22. Three train-loads of people bound for Oklahoma left this morning over the Santa Fe. Among them were a number of capitalists, who will organize a bank and open stores and be ready for business in Guthrie to mor-row. Two hundred dwellings were shipped ready to be put up in a couple of hours.

Wichita's qi oi'A. Wichita, April 22. Three train loads of boomers, numbering about 1,5110 people, left hero for Oklahoma this morning over the Santa Fe. A large number also left by way of the Hock Is land. Another train has been wired for, its eveiy passenger car on the Santa Fe is in use.

An extru train will bo made up of cattle cars. Division Supei inteiid-ent Turner, of the Sunta Fe, says that it will be night before the last of the Oklahoma special trains will reach Guthrie. The number of people going rom all thu railroad towns in iiitliern Kansas is far greater than was anticipated. hundreds go down merely to Bee the scramble and with no idea of remaining. It is believed that the stage line at Pond creek, on the Kock Island, will be totally unable to accommodate the crowds who will want transportation across the sixty miles lying between the railroad terminus and Lisbon.

An Arkansas City special to the K.njU says: Division Superintendent Turner stated this morning that he had between six and seven thousand people to move from Arkansas City. He hud no idea of how many would be in from the north. Two trains passed through this city en-route, with no Btanding room on the steps. Special trains according to railroad advances, will pass through the city thiB evening. There were about 5,000 people on the north line of the Oklahoma country near the Santa Fe road ready to Blurt.

P. V. Ilealy, a prominent citizen came up from Pond Creek to-duy aud says that within a few miles around the north corner of the country are stationed 10,000 people. K. Page, who left this city for Kingfisher, was shot last night aud seriously wounded.

THE RUSH DEBCKHIED. Sr. Loi is, April 22. The special from Arkansas City, says: Oklahoma is open. The trials and struggles and sacrifices of years are partially rewarded, but the events of ty-day and those of the days, weeks and months to follow, will prove how far the supply is below the demand and necessitate further concessions to avert disorder, bloodshed and other conditions but little short of anarchy.

The history of this one day will forever be memorable in frontier annals and will leave behind a heritage of litigation which will be fruitful to land sharks and claim attorneys, but be destructive to the claims of poor and honest settlers. The Atchison, Topeku ti Santa Fe railroad began running its sectional trains out of Kansas City last night and picking up cars at almost every station along the route. Hundreds of people were waiting at every depot, and the cars, all of which were full be fore the border line was reached, could have been coupled they would have made a train miles in length. The crowds were eompesed of speculators, adventurers, sightseers, thieves, gambler and a Exciting Scenes Attending the Departure of the First Train for Oklahoma. At the Word the Settlers Rush Pell-mell into the Land ot Milk and Honey- Some Seek the Land Offices, while Others Make lor Select Claims.

The Land Office at Kingfisher Reported Not Yet Ready lor Business. The Town of Guthrie Springs into Existence in a Day. THE SCHAMlll.E COMMENCED. Chicaoo, April 22. The scramble for virgin soil in Oklahoma begins at noon to-day, says the Dully Seim.

This morning according to the latest dispatches fully 50,000 people are waiting on the border of that small patch of ground. Fast horses, railroad trains, stages and all sorts of prvate vehicles will bear them into the coveud territory at the earliest possible moment. Ten thousand or more will get possession of all the desirable land and then they apparently will have to hold it against five times as many disappointed men. Everybody is armed. No government save that of the War Department exists.

There is reason to fear, therefore, that much bloodshed will result from the general turmoil. Many of the men who crossed the border of Oklahoma to-day will be residents to night of large towns which have no existence this morning. The towns and the farming lands will furnish a large part of the people with local haLitation. The rest will go back to their old homes or will help to locate grave yards in the new country or become squatters in the Indian Territory, or settlers in Texas or Arkansas. The scenes at Oklahoma are without a parallel.

The sudden turning of an uninhabited country into a country teeming with people is a unique incident in the country's history. A late telegram from Purcell, Indian Territory, says: A detachment of the Fifth Cavalry arrived last night and went into camp four miles below the town, with instructions to move up in the morn ing and guard the ford until noon. There is but one regular ford here, and the scenes recently witnessed at Arkansas City will be repeated on the road leading to the stream. There is great rivalry among the boomers for the honor of crossing first, and as the road is narrow, it is not unlikely that many of the more adventurous home seekers will seek to cross the other places where the stream seems fordable. The Fe crosses the South Canadian some distance below here, and many of the boomers have prepared to pull their wagons over the bridge by hand and let their horses swim across.

As there are many stock trains now-running the clement of danger enters largely into this plan. From the great bhiffsj ust north of Purcell a completview of the ecodus can be had. Lust evening the current of street talk turned towards the town site speculators, and they were denounc ed by self appointed orators, who are early recognized us old time boomers. There is an unmistakable hatred of this class, and although the law, as construed by Secretary Noble, renders them practically harmless, the rank and file are not yet fully posted and are disposed to push them to the wall. The question of priority between squatter and filer is a vital one, and no two persons seem to be agreed as to the proper method of proceedure.

The non-mineral affidavit will be exacted from every applicant at the land otliceB. He must swear he has been on the proposed claim, is familiar with it from actual observation and that there exists no mineral or coal, to his knowledge. This is a blow at the proxy system and opens a wide gate for perjury. SELLING TOWN LOTS. During the night 400 town lots in Oklahoma City were Bold at auction at prices ranging from $2 to $10 each.

There are seventeen Oklahoma City town site com panles doing business, and each illegally disposing of lots. HOUSE THIEVES. Just at nightfall four deputy marshals came in with two horse thieves, whom they had captured, after long chase, eight miles from Purcell. The streets were crowded as soon as the tidings spread. The marshals and their prisoners were surrounded, and one loud voiced cowboy implored his companions to lynch the thieves.

"Hang them," he shouted, and the crowd surged obediently forward. The marshals drew their revolvers and the chief announced that the first man who attempted to harm the prisoners would be filled full of holes. Proceedings came to a sudden stop. The thieves were then taken to the jail and placed under a strong guard. THE CAMPS.

The outlying camps before the breakup began in the darkness, commenced at a point a mile west of town and extended in a semi circle to the river bank. There are probably 1,000 wagons, with an average of five persons to each. Bacon and hominy constitute the chief meal of the majority, while many looked as if they were unable to afford these articles. Suffering there is already, and how some of these people will manage to exist when they get across the river is a question not easily answered. There are cakes of families found subsisting on crackers and TELEGRAMS.

MIDNIGHT DISPATCHES. By the Western Union Line to The Champion. Indications. War Department, Washington, D. April 23.

For Kansas: Fair, preceded in Northern Kansas by light rain, winds shifting to colder northwesterly. For Missouri: Fair, followed by light Tains; warmer on Tuesday followed on Wednesday by cooler, northwesterly winds. ll.T TRIM. 4igantlc Combination to Control the Kntlio Product ofthe lulled States. Toledo, April 22.

The Ilbule, will say this evening on the most unimpeachable authority that Wellington R. liurt, of Saginaw, president of the Michigan Salt Association, sails on Wednesday next for Southampton, on the North German Lloyd steamer Saale, on an errand, the results of which will be felt from one end of the United States to the other, lie goes to secure $10,000,000, by means of which, with the pool already formed in this country, the entire salt product of the United States will be controlled by a syndicate, of which he will be the head. English capitalists who have ooerated a salt trust in Great Britain are interested in the project, the details of which have all been arranged, and which will all be settled by Mr. Jinn during his brief visit to England. The gigantic business combination is not to be a salt trust, in the usual acceptance of the word, although in many of its features it resembles one.

It is Bimply applying to the entire Bait industry of the United States the same principles that from time to time have been used in the great salt producing section of the Saginaw Valley. Each district will produce the usual quantity of salt, and will report to headquarters constantly the amount of stork on hand. Headquarters will make the sales, and see that the stuff is shipped in the most economical manner. For in stance, orders from the country tributary to Syracuse will be filled from that city instead of the Michigan people stealing in there as they do now. Kansas and other States thereabouts will be supplied from Kansas, instead of from Michigan or New York, and Kansas people will not undertake to supply Ohio and Michigan, as is now the case.

It is estimated that in this way there will be saved in the oparating expenses of the business at least $500,000 a year, even at the present ridiculously low prices of salt. It is not the purpose of the proposed syndicate to go into this matter with the intention of forcing up the price of salt. There will be no necessity for any such action, as with the business management consolidated and concentrated the saving in operating expenses will yield a comfortable return in and of itself. It I. II The PolnffB ofthe Mnful World an ported by Telegraph.

1:01, i Gallatin, April 22. One of the boldest railroad robberies ever perpetrated by a single robber in Missouri occurred at Pattonsburg, on the Wabash railroad, Friday night, and it has just leaked out. About 9 o'clock Friday night one masked burglar entered the station at Pattonsburg. He covered the agent, the only person in the station, with a pistol, and demanded the key, which he received. He then made the agent occupy a given position and proceeded to plunder the safe.

He cleaned it out of everything valuable, securing money estimated at from fd.OOO to $10,000. Among the booty was one express package of $3,000, a letter addressed to the Pattonsburg bank containing $100 and anumber of express packages. He also took all the express, ir.ight and ticket funds and robbed the agent of his own money and valuables. The robber then backed out of the station, mounted a horse and rode away. The agent Saturday notified Superintendent McGee of the Wabash 5c Western.

Mr. McGee communicated with detectives in St. Louis and a search for the robber was started, which has bet without success. UADisLTIKK. The llly Keeord of Accident and MlHfortnnea Generally.

FATALLY INJURED. Bili.inos, April 22. Selma Holmes was fatally burned yesterday while kindling a fire. Some onej had thrown a paper containing gunpowder in a waste box near the stove. The girl threw the paper in the lire, causing an explosion.

Defeated. Boston, April 22. One hundred and fifty-eight cities and towns outside of Boston give the following vote on the constitutional prohibition amendment: Yes, no, The vote of Boston is: Yes, no, 81,075. The amendment is defeated by from 35,000 to 40,000 majority. there bus been prospect- of shooting at; Dllv litni bi.duv it u-fta uhen tliraA liiAn found themselves bullied at the game of freeze.

out, but they wero compelled to swallow their wrath, for, according to all the technicalities of the law, the men in possession were fhe rightful owners, and the men who hnd been left out wero. the ones who had been most persistent in their demands for Ihe law's enforcement. There was nothing to do but tako what was loft, and it was In the scramble to get this that the most ludicrous scene of tho day wus presented. Fulling over each other in the effort to get out of the cars every vuriely of man along the frontier mado an army, which charged the land office at the top of the knoll, not in a body but in detachments. The land office was not their point of destination, though it.

stands at the corner of the section and is, therefore, the present centre of the town, but it was to secure the lots nearest to it that, the rush was made. There was but little left near it. StakeH hail already been driven almost to tho limit of the half section of acres allowed lor the town silo, anil when tho second und third sections ofthe Atchison train arrived and found everything cornered the air was blue for miles around the metropolis. There was nothing to do, however, as every lot wus protected by lilies and revolvers, and if the shooting began there was no telling where it would stop. Tho only recourse left to the disappointed men was to buy out such holders of lots as were willing to sell, or run the risk of taking outside the legul limit, lloth courses were adopted.

A good number of Guthrie city lots chunged hunds. The first sule wns mude by a inun named 11. C. Kummels, of Mulvun, Kansas, who sold a fine 25 foot front lot near the land office for $5 to an old doctor, a resident of one of the Indian reservations adjoining Oklahoma. The purchaser refused $50 for the lot five miuutes later.

Several transfers were made to day and others who were determined tolncito here drove stakes outside the town line. This is preparatory to purchase ofthe homesteaders rights aud exteutious of thu city limits. a town SPHINX'S it. No one who hiiB never Been a western town take form and shape can comprehend how quickly a full rigged city with a double deck boom can be put in running motion. Guthrie already has its main street, its Harrison street, its Guthrie avenue and its Oklahoma avenue, and this morning it was a wilderness.

The antelope sported and the jack rabbit flopped his ear in the sun. 'I'll in afternoon, at 4 o'clock the first municipal election occuriel. The election notice appeared to day in the Oklahoma Jlirulil, a duily paper published at Guthrie on the first day of its existence. A Council will be elected at the same time. Nearly 1,000 votes wero polled, as there are about that many men in Guthrie with the intention of becoming citizens.

The leuding candidates for Mayor were Adjutant General Keiee.nf Illinois; Win. Constuntine, of Springfield, Ohio, und T. L. Sumner, of Arkunsas City. A strong dark horse is Volney Haggert, of Huron, Dakota.

The Hank of Oklahoma opened for business at Guthrie to-day with a capital stock of $50,000. M. W. Levy, the Wichita banker, is President; Geo. W.

Hobin-son, a banker of Winlleld, and Hon. Horace Speed, of Indianapolis, directors. The new city is flooded with business cards of all descriptions, representing every line of trade and bii8ines, every professiou and every occupation imaginable. The schemewhich resulted in theprac-Continued uit KttjMh Page. is impossible to keep such Information from people who sit up all night to find out the shortest and easiest way of getting Into he promised land.

The result was that when the newspaper coach was bucked up at a point below the depot the entire crowd charged upon it. The newspaper men were ranged in a solid phalanx, but had to fight lor access to the platform to the car. People who hail been lighting on the border for Beveral years, und who had a death grip on tho iron railing, expressed a determination to go in that car. These were not easily disposed of, but after th'ur came a swarm of men with bogus credentials, presuming to represent every great newspaper in the United States. Nearly every correspondent was called upon to discredit, two orthreo of thesi) assumed Journalists, und scores of others failed of identification, und hud to tall back with morn of precipitancy thun good order.

Every cur brought up to the line wus greeted with tremendous cheers. As the coaches which were to be attached to tho newspaper special were brought ofr the siding there was a simultaneous rush of two or three thousand men toward them. They were filled to overflowing in less than half a minute, anil 11 countless throng struggling for a place 011 the steps. It was in vain for the officials to say that trains would run iu sections fifteen minutes apart. Every man there wanted to be fifteen minutes ahead of everybody else.

The first sect ion mudo up consisted of nine coaches, the newspaper coach and one cuhoeso. It pulled out at 8:45. It was drawn by engine Will, in charge of Captain Cooper, who has been on tho Santa Fe for fifteen years and is one of the oldest and most trusted engineers In its employ. Trainmaster Eon lies was in charge of the entire train. This wus the first train that ever run out of Kansas loaded with settlers for Oklohoma, and oven those who were disappointed in getting aboard of itjoined in a wild, enthusiastic cheer, which rent the Kansas air, as the first step toward the realization of hopes und drraruB of yeurs, and the reward for the sacrifices of ttie past was taken.

The train ran slowly, as there was great danger of mispluccd rails und switches or obstructionsof yariouB kinds placed there by those gone before, and who wurited a corner on tho best lands in sight. It was 0:40 when the sign which marks the State line and the dividing line from the Cherokee Strip was reached. It was greeted with a cheer which rolled from the news car iu front to the rustlers' caboose behind. It marked the departure from a State government towurd a country where a government is yet be created and established. Still the Cherokee country Iny between them and the rainbow laud.

There were no Indians to be seen after Willow Springs was passed, when a wagon loud of bucks of the Poncu tribe passed up the trail, who responded to the shouts und cheers of those on board the train with sullen looks and gesticulations of defiance, us if not evidently pleased at the coming of the pale face. Along the Pawnee trail the train also passed caravans of wagons, many going south, but some returning towards Kansas, lietween Willow Springs and the Ponca agency somebody iu the newspaper car discovered a man riding on the trucks beneath the coach. Immediately an effort was made to open up negotiations with him, but they resulted unsuccessfully until the train stopped at Ponca, when' the adventurous boomer on the wheels was taken up into the car, elected an honorary member of the press association and furnished with refreshments out of a bottle, which he drank with relish and amidst enthuslastio appluuse..