THE RE-BURIAL OF HONNIE A. POTTS, AT CHEORKEE

The Hennessey Clipper—The happening of a fast-misting past were reviewed by Attorney Sam Riddings, of Medford, author of the book, "The Chisholm Trail," last Sunday in connection with the reburial of Johnnie A. Potts, victim of a gun-battle on the T-5 Headquarters Ranch, in 1884. The remains were interred in a Cherokee cemetery after being removed from an alfalfa field near the former site of the old ranch headquarters. Many old-times of this section of the state were present Sunday. Attorney Riddings’ address follows and will interest pioneer residents and others of this section:

Johnnie A. Potts was a Texas cowboy 23 years of age, who died of gunshot wound on a March day in 1884. At the time of his death he was working at the T-5 headquarters ranch, near where the town of Carmen, Oklahoma is now located. He fell in an unfortunate controversy with a friend, and was laid away in his temporary resting place some distance fro the old headquarters ranch. Over 56 years after his interment, he is now being laid away in a regularly organized cemetery in a civilized and populated country.

With the brief understanding there naturally calls for investigation and inquiry as to the circumstances and developments which existed at that time and brought this youth to the open prairies of the then Indian Territory and away from his native land of cactus and Spanish moss. In answering that inquiry it is necessary to apparently diverge much from the surroundings that then existed and now exist.

This location where this boy worked and was first laid away was in what is known as a portion of the Cherokee Outlet, and in order to ascertain the status of this portion of the country, it is necessary to go back to the year 1828 and ascertain how the Cherokees came possessed of this portion of this land.

The Cherokee Indians were on of the most civilized tribes of Indians. The very name, "Cherokee," in their own dialect signified "upland fields," and they inhabited a vast portion of what is now the United states, lying in the portion of the country in and adjacent to the state of Tennessee.

In the year 1828 on account of the encroachment of the white settlers on their lands, they were compelled to make a treaty with the government of the United States, transferring to the government ten million acres of their land in the east for seven million acres in the Indian Territory, where their main reservation was established in the eastern portion of Oklahoma and they also were to have on the west a perpetual outlet to the mountains for hunting purposes. This outlet to the west consisted of a strip of land extending west from the Cherokee reservation and adjoining the south line of the state of Kansas, being 58 miles wide and, according to the terms of the treaty, extending westward as far as the limits of the United States then extended, which was then the 100^th meridian, but was no surveyed or marked.

As heretofore state, the Cherokee were engaged in domestic pursuits and were not hunters any more and perhaps not as much as many of the white settler. Hence this portion of the land lay idle until after the Civil war. Also, this land extending from the Red River on the south to central Kansas, on the north was up until after the Civil war, perhaps the wildest and most uncivilized portion of North America.

It will be remembered that the time of the death of the deceased Johnnie A. Potts, was in 1884, and the Civil war was then terminated, and it was only the matter of a few years prior to that time that the buffalo had been exterminated on the Western plains.

In 1865 Jesse Chisholm had laid out and established a trail from Wichita, Kansas, to Anadarko, Oklahoma. This trail was originally laid out as a "Trader’s Trail," and extended between these two points. Two years later, in 1867, Colonel Oliver W. Wheeler in the spring of that year, with his associates had assembled a large herd of cattle near San Antonio, Texas, and with great difficulty had crowded them north across the intervening wild country to the new railroad station at Abilene, Kansas and ha thus established a permanent trail and route for cattle of Texas to the north. Gradually and slowly after that for the next ten years, cattle drifted into the Cherokee Outlet, which grew to be known as the Cherokee Strip and gradually across that 58 miles ranches were established on the Indian domain, which extended also to the lands of the other civilized tribes farther to the south. Finally prior to the year 1880, all the country of the Indian Territory, except what was held under actual possession of the Indians, to whom it belonged, was used for grazing purposes.

In 1883 there was a meeting of the cattle men at Caldwell, Kansas and arrangements were made to lease the entire portion of the 58-mile strip, known as the Cherokee Outlet, from the Cherokee Indians. In order to bring about this arrangement an association was organized which comprised all the ranch men in this 58 mile strip, and they took stock in the corporation, which was known as the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, each taking stock according to the extent of the holdings in the country.

The lines of each of the ranches were laid out and established and the owners held stock in the company accordingly. In order to finance this arrangement, a lese was obtained from the officials of the Cherokee Nation, to extend for a period of five years, and for which the association aid an annual rental of $400,00, which was to be made in semi-annual payments of $50,000 each. The association figured on so much money for their operating expenses and added this to the annual payments and determined what was necessary to be raised to meet the payment to the Indians. Assessments with the expenses added to it were made on the stockholders of the company, according to the amount of their holdings, to raise this money. If my memory serves me right, there were 87 ranchmen located in this Cherokee Strip Outlet, with 87 different ranches located therein. Each of these ranchmen gave notes to the association due at the time the money had to be aid to the Cherokees.

One of these ranches was the Texas Land and Cattle Co., Limited, with its brand heretofore stated being T-5. This range and holdings was one of the largest in the Cherokee Strip Outlet. The northern boundary extended from the range of the Eagle Chief Pool and Drum and Snyder on the north to the north line of the Cheyenne and Arapaho country, which is now marked by the southern line of Major county, being a distance of over thirty miles. The range was divided into three ranches.

The headquarters ranch, where the deceased was killed, being the north ranch, was near the north boundary of the same. This ranch was about six miles west of Cleo and was known as the "Horse Pasture," with two dugouts on the west side of a little creek on the north side, about two or three miles north of the Cimarron River.

The south ranch was west of the town of Fairview and the town of Fairview was located some six or seven miles from the south line of the T-5 range extended from the Eagle Chief {Pool on the north to that of the Dickey Brothers on the south. There was however, a small neutral strip near the Cheyenne and Arapaho line on which no one had a lease.

This was the situation as to location and boundaries on third day in March 1884, when this unfortunate controversy and tragedy occurred.

I was not acquainted with the deceased, having only seen him a few times and then having no special association with him. I did, however, know very well Ben Franklin, who killed him. Both were Texas boys. Franklin was somewhat older than the deceased and had a few years before coming up from Texas with several other cowboys with whom he was associated.

Among the boys who were quite familiar with this occurrence, it was quite generally understood that this matter was simply an unhappy occurrence, which never should have led to the result it did. Both of these men were considered good, sociable boys. Franklin had, perhaps, more experience in the world than the deceased.

Franklin was also considered as an expert in card games and was reckoned as somewhat of a gambler. He was not considered quarrelsome or bad, but was considered quite a gunman. I was quite well acquainted with him, sufficiently so, hat we at one time traded Winchester scabbards, and I owned the Winchester scabbard that Franklin brought from Texas up until after the time of the opening of this country for settlement.

In taking notice of the development and progress of the cattle industry in this country as we have done, it is well to notice some of the matters of progress and course of the same. Originally after the establishment of the Chisholm Trail it took its course to the northward from San Antonio to Abilene and the other cow town at the north terminus thereof.

It is difficult to say where the south terminus of the trail was, but it has often been said that the original trail started at the Alamo and ended at Abilene, a distance of some 8o00 miles. Many of the drivers who came north, however, started as far south as Matagorda.

In 1878, Charlie Goodnight, with his two brothers in law, the Dyer brothers, took a herd of cattle south in the Panhandle of Texas, settling in the Paladura canyon, which is now in Deaf Smith County, Texas. There they established large herds and improved the breed until they were much the finest class of cattle there was in the west.

By the year 1883 and 1884 these herds left the various parts of the Panhandle, took their course eastward, either by way of Wheeler or Mobettie and joined the cattle trail coming up from the south near the South Canadian river and took their course northward on the old Chisholm Trail to the cow towns and the pens on the railroad. Thus the territory originally supplying the cattle that came up the trails was used to furnish cattle to the railroad lines that had been built into Texas, and the trails were used to take the vast herds out of the Panhandle of Texas and to take the herds to the railroad lines and thence to the markets of the East. It is not generally known, but it is a fact, that there were very few cattle bred and raised in the Indian Territory. In those days Texas was considered the source of supply for young cattle and after they were brought to the Indian Territory they were kept and grazed until driven north and the ranches here were only generally used to mature the cattle and get them ready for market.

Thus, these boys, such as the deceased and Franklin, had spent their lives on the ranges of Texas and the trial connecting other portions of he country. People of this day and age of the world are not in any particular versed in such life, but the boys in Texas were reared to it.

The life of a cowboy fitted very well the spirited youths of that time. It has been said that the lie of a cowboy was one medley of danger from morning until night. This was a time in the life of these boys that they were apt to get into some sort of trouble or meet some disaster.

When the herds stretched out towards the north and they came to one of the rivers, it was very frequent that the turbulent red waters of these rivers that had drained of the hills of the adjacent country were flowing wildly toward the sea. They hardly ever stopped for one of these things, but animals and men alike plunged in and the herds were guided over these treacherous streams beneath each of which was an extensive bed of quicksand.

When the storms came all men in camp were called to duty and it was a very frequent experience in the early stages of a drive, that a stampede took place.

The banks of many of the rives at the crossing of the trails and at other points along the trails, where fortune had not favored the driver or drivers, were graves marking the last resting place of many boys who had met without success some of the dangers they had encountered.

When on the trail all day, far from civilized men the cowboy rode behind or by a vast herd of wild cattle, crowding them on and one. After riding all day with his herd on the trail he stood his allotted portion of guard on night herd, known as his ‘shift." If the cattle were nervous, regardless of what the exertions of the day had been, he was compelled to ride around and by them and sing songs to entertain them. Some boys like this and some didn’t. As for myself, I always told them that the only effect my singing would have on the cattle would be to make them so tired they would go to sleep.

The personal appearance of the cowboy was characteristic. He had a style of his own copied from no man or set of men. These styles and habits of his daily life were the outgrowth of necessity and convenience. He invariably wore on his head the broad-brimmed Stetson sombrero. I later years the brims of these hats were made very stiff so when the wind blew they would not bend or flap in the face of the wearer. Their colors varied but were usually white, brown, gray or some other light color. His shirts were usually of good quality of wool, of various designs and always attached collars. His trousers were of very durable material, usually a good quality of wool that would wear well. He seldom walked and his trousers buttoned tight around the waist. One of the designations of degradation, which he applied to anyone whom he did not like, was that he suspected that he wore "galluses" the dress of his head and feet were his pride. He often dressed to meet his convenience for the work that he was engaged in.

In later years I was closely associated with the Old Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association in the offices of the company and in closing up the business of the company. I, perhaps, knew more about the history of that old company than any other man now living. I have written and prepared briefs for the company in determining some of the mot important questions that were presented to the courts in those days. These brief were submitted in some of the highest tribunals of the country, but even such being the case as we grow older and can see the days for us thing, in the future and taking a retrospective view of life and my associations with the old Cherokee Strip Lie Stock company that I prize most, was my younger day s when I rode the range and the trails as a common cowboy. That is true even though I most cases I helped to bring up the drag of the herd.

It has been observed that the range of the Texas Land and Cattle Company, Limited, was on what was known as the Cherokee Outlet or the Cherokee Strip. This particular portion of the Cherokee’s holdings embraced six million acres of land and was located at the place above stated. This land was thrown open to public settlement and homestead entry on the 16^th day of September 1893, at 12 o’clock noon. Before the sun had set on the evening of that day every quarter section of the land in this entire body was reduced to private ownership and was detached from the public domain and attached to a legally organized government subdivision.

It was observed that bounding the holdings of this company on the south was the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation. This reservation included something over four million acres of land. In 1893 over three million acres of this land had been leased by seven cattle men, among whom and holding the largest portion therein, was my old friend, William Malaley. They paid an annual rental of $95,000 for this land.

The ranchmen on this lease on the Cheyenne-Arapaho land had fenced it and stocked with cattle the leased portion. The lessees at that time had grazing on this land 210,000 head of cattle as to who would get them first, vast country, much of which was timbered brush or hilly,

Like lightning in a clear sky, in 1895, the President of the United States issued a proclamation to these seven ranchmen, requiring them to remove their cattle from the Cheyenne-Arapaho lands within sixty days thereafter. This was an impossibility, even with all the force they could muster. They could not have gathered and removed these cattle within 12 months and they did not do so.

There were at that time loose in that country about 1,200 renegade Cheyenne Indians. Towards the last portion of this removal it was a race with these unscrupulous class of the Indians and the persons removing cattle as to who would get them first.

My friend, Billy Malaley, removed his as fast as he could and transferred them to New Mexico.

The cattlemen on the other portions of the ranches in the Indian Territory thought to be worth a million dollars, survived this loss and came out with also suffered reverses, and but few of these men, many of whom were thought to be worth a million dollars survived this loss and came out with any portion of their holdings.