147 YEARS AGO
The Cherokees are, or were, in the habit of giving names in their own language to white persons who came among them.
The name almost always referring to some peculiarity in the persons themselves, or in their charterer or calling.
I cannot attempt to give the sound in Cherokee; but the signification of some of them I can remember.
Thus, one who came to bring to the people good tidings of peace, who gave his life to preaching to them and translating the bible, they named “Messenger.”
One of his children who was a baby at the time the Cherokees were driven from their homes, and so, with the family was obliged to move with them received the name “Dispossessed.”
Education
There was nothing that gave us more satisfaction than the liberal provision that has been made for education. The buildings of the two high schools at Tahlequah compare very favorably with those that are seen even in the oldest state, and the Cherokees have in addition 80 common schools (instead of only 13 as in 1842) and of their national funds 50 percent are invested for educational purposes and to the maintenance of orphans.
The Creeks have three public schools under excellent management, and 32 district schools.
The Choctaws have two public schools and 54 district schools.
LOCAL AFFAIRS
– Remember the Creek orphans.
– Wm. Perceival and wife of Fort Gibson have gone to St. Louis.
– Jas. A. Patterson has received another car load of flour this week.
– You can sell your pecans to Kincaid & Hogg in exchange for blankets.
– E. Lauphehmer shipped a car load of pecans last week and another last Monday.
– Game is plenty on our streets – venison and wild turkey. We saw a drove of eight deer bounding over the prairie towards Elk Creek Tuesday. Frank Butts brought down seven ducks at one shot on Wednesday.
120 YEARS AGO Friday, June 26,1903
BOLD ROBBERY
The store of the Eufaula Hardware Co., was looted last night for the second time.
Five Colt revolvers and an unknown number of razors and picket knives are missing.
The robber or robbers effected entrance into the store through the back door which was barred and locked, with the aid of a brace and bit and a pocketknife.
Fifteen holes were bored in a circle in the lower part of the door and a hole cut out with a knife. Through this it was easy for the robber to thrust in his hand and slip the cross bar inside and turn the key in the lock.
The robbery probably occurred during the rain as no tracks were left.
STRANGER KILLS HIMSELF
Train No. 1 on the Katy was 15 minutes late Monday morning from a very unusual cause, according to the Muskogee Times The train was on time at Vinita. It stopped for a few minutes and a passenger who was going to Muskogee, a stranger, went into the lunch stand near the depot and ordered a cup of coffee.
When the waiter turned his back the stranger picked up a large butcher knife that was used for cutting cheese and without a word drew it across his own throat, making a gaping wound from ear to ear. He lived but three minutes.
The conductor on the train witnessed the deed and he says the people about the station were so excited that they thought the waiter in the lunch stand did the cutting and were about to have him arrested.
KILLING AT SALLISAW
Sallisaw, June 23 – Deputy U.S. Mashal John Priest shot and killed John Wheat near here yesterday evening. Priest had a warrant for Wheat who was wanted for assault with intent to kill, and when the marshal undertook to make the arrest Wheat made a gun play.
Wheat was known in this section of the country as an all-around bad man.
• ••••
100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, March 20,1924
ANOTHER BIG SNOWSTORM PROLONGS WINTER Snow state, including several inches in Eufaula Winter entrenched itself Wednesday under a heavy blanket of snow that covered he state from end to end.
The fall was continuing, and it was announced at the United States weather bureau that the blizzard probably would continue through Thursday.
Temperatures in the state were above freezing but the snow melted slowly here and was approximately five inches deep at noon.
WRIGHTSMAN GETS LEAGUE APPROVAL EL RENO, March 18 – Charles J. Wrightsman, Tulsa oil magnate, was endorsed for United States senate by the farmer-labor league convention tonight.
INTERESTING, IF TRUE
That Pittsburg County is going to spend one and one-half million dollars concreting the Jefferson highway across the county, was the information the McAlester chamber of commerce gave C.C. Lydick, secretary of the Muskogee chamber yesterday.
• ••••
80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, March 9, 1944 Eufaula Boy Home After Escape from German Prison Camp
Indian Lad Caught Behind Nazi Lines Outsmarts Guards Among the invading troops of Uncle Sam’s fighting men to capture and take over Sicily, corporal Sampson Deere, full blood Creek Indian and popular Eufaula soldier boy, arrived home from Memphis, Tennessee Wednesday where he has been confined to a government hospital for the past several weeks.
Corporal Deere was one of the first U.S. soldiers to put foot on Sicily soil.
While the battle was at its height and the Germans were fighting with everything they had to drive our men back into the sea, Corporal Deere ventured too far beyond his company line and before he knew it three Germans had bayonets pushed against his back and he was taken prisoner.
Going without food and water the first two days of his capture, the Indian decided he would rather be shot than die of thirst and starvation.
Catching his guards busy with other Germans moving up their big guns, the Indian soldier made a run for it while all three of his guards took shots at him as he ducked and dodged behind trees and rocks and finally threw himself into a small ravine where he crawled on his stomach for some 60 to 100 yards. Finally, he sighted an American patrol whose attention he got after so long a time and was escorted back to his own company Corporal Deer went through the entire Sicily campaign and later took part in the invasion of Italy. After spending 48 days in the front lines of Italy he was taken ill and has spent the past two months in a government hospital in North Africa and this country.
Eufaula – Checotah To Hold Egg Shows
The annual egg shows for home demonstration club members will be held this year as in previous years.
All members are requested to send or bring one dozen eggs to either the show at Eufaula on Saturday, March 18 or Checotah the following Saturday, March 23.
Eggs may be shown in either the white or the brown class. They should be uniform in color, size and shape. They should be a desirable egg shape, that is neither extra-long nor too round.
• ••••
75 YEARS AGO
Thursday, February 10,1949
Reburial Rites Here Saturday for Sgt. Douglas Reburial rites for Sgt. James L. “Buster Douglas, who was killed on Leyte Island, Dec. 7,1944, during the Philippines invasion, will be held here Saturday afternoon. The body will arrive in Eufaula Friday.
Muskogee Sheriff Linked in Threats on Newspaperman
In federal court at Muskogee Wednesday a witness testified that Muskogee Sheriff Eddie J. Briggs had asked him to help frame an arrest of John L. Stone, managing editor of Muskogee’s two daily newspapers so that Briggs could make it appear the newspaper man had resisted arrest.
The witness, David Nicolls, proprietor of a night club on “Bootlegger’s Row,” just outside the northeast city limits of Muskogee, was the government’s last witness in the trial of Briggs, Fred (Slim) Payne liquor wholesale, and four other defendants on charges of conspiracy to violate federal laws in the operation of a wholesale liquor business in legally dry Oklahoma.
18 YEARS AGO
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Actor Sellers helps local store celebrate year anniversary
Oklahoma actor Larry Sellers, who is best known for his role as Cloud Dancing on the popular ‘90s drama “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” is scheduled to appear at Merle Norman’s one-year anniversary celebration between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday.
Renowned artist, Davis, dies at 43
Former Eufaula resident and national renowned American Indian artist Talmadge Lee Davis died last Thursday of a heart attack at his home in Tulsa. He was 43 years old.
