-399-

JOHN J. CARNEY. Among the able young lawyers of Oklahoma, John J. Carney has a fine record both as a public official of the territory ana one of the founders of the state, being one of the most active and useful members of the constitution which. forms the basis of the laws of the commonwealth. He is at a West Virginia family, born at Orlando, April 21, 1868, his immediate ancestors being of Irish birth. He received his education chiefly in the country schools of West Virginia, and at the Normal and State University from which he graduated in 1893. Commencing his legal studies at Parkersburg, West Virginia, he was admitted to the bar before leaving that state in 1893. In the year named he came to Oklahoma, stopping for a time at Perry, Noble county, at the opening of the strip. Within a few weeks he had removed to Yukon, Canadian county, and in September, 1894, located in El Reno, where he has since practiced, demonstrating his abilities both as a lawyer, a citizen and a public man. In 1900 and 1902 he served as county attorney, and in November, 1906, was chosen a member of the constitutional convention from the Thirty-sixth district. During the entire period of its deliberations he never missed a roll-call, and as chairman of the editing committee personally performed most of the work of the final revision of the constitution. He was also a member of other important committees.
     Patrick Carney, father of John J., was a native of Ireland, who came to the United States when he was seventeen years of age, settled in West Virginia when the country was new, and accomplished much toward the development of his home locality. He was accompanied to America by the paternal grandfather, Owen Carney, and the latter's wife (the mother of Patrick), Ellen (Naughton) Carney. Patrick Carney, the father of our subject, died in West Virginia, in 1891, at the age of sixty years. His mother is still living. John J. Carney was married in May, 1895, to Miss Anna Chase, of Missouri, and the five children of their union are: Bryan, Ellen, Lorenzo and Loreno (twins) and John. In his fraternal relations, Mr. Carney is identified with the Royal Neighbors and the Knights of Columbus.

-399-
cont.

DON C. SMITH, a well-versed and successful lawyer of El Reno, and a prominent Democrat of Canadian county, is an Iowa man, born in Jackson county, on the 21st of November, 1871. His father, who was a pioneer of that section, is now a leading business man of Kansas, having also resided in Dakota for a number of years.
     Don C. Smith was educated in Iowa ana Dakota, pursuing higher courses at the state university and afterward taking up his professional studies in the St. Louis Law School. Graduating from the latter in 1899, he came during the same year to El Reno and there, engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1901 he was appointed clerk of the territorial legislature, and in March, 1904, was chosen assistant attorney general under P. C. Simons, his service extending into the incumbency of Judge Cromwell. During this important period of his professional career, Mr. Smith handled a number of important cases in such a masterly manner as to earn the gratitude of the territorial government and to greatly add to his reputation. On June 1, 1907, he returned to El Reno, and resumed private practice in partnership with W. A. Maurer, their association forming a strong and progressive firm. In speaking of his official career, it should be stated that prior to his appointment as assistant attorney general, Mr. Smith served for a time as deputy district clerk of the second and seventh judicial districts. In March, 1897, Mr. Smith married Miss L. May Heberling, a Virginia lady, and they have become the parents of one child, Don Carlos.
     W. C. Smith, the father, is a native of the Empire state, who when a boy accompanied the family to Jackson county, Iowa, the head of the household (Peter) dying in that vicinity. W. C. Smith migrated into Dakota in 1879, and after a residence of five years there removed to Kansas, settling at Cottonwood Falls, Chase county. During nearly .all the period of the subsequent years he has been engaged at that point in the agricultural implement business. His wife (the mother of Don C.), formerly known as Alsa Purdy, is also a native of New York state.

-399-
cont.

DR. MICHAEL H. LEVI. The first physician of Elk City was Dr. Michael H. Levi, who has been located at this point in western Oklahoma since February, 1901. The town had not yet been started, the first sale of town lots taking place on March 20th of that year. The Choctaw Railroad was completed in the fall, and it .was in connection with the con_truction of this railroad that Dr. Levi so early found a residence in this section of country.

-400-

He had charge of the medical work in the construction camps along the new line, and the prevalence of smallpox in the camps made his professional work as taxing and hazardous as it was necessary to the welfare of the laborers. With the founding of the town of Elk City he continued his residence there, and is one of the ablest and most successful practitioners in this part of the state.
     Few members of the profession have received better training, and at a cost of greater persistence and labor. He has made his progress to proficiency and professional success as the result of his own efforts, and in the face of obstacles that would have discouraged many. Born in Prussia in 1872 and left fatherless and under the care of his mother at thirteen he came to America in 1891, when nineteen years old, landing at New York with only seventy-five cents in his pocket and unable to speak the English language. A place in a store at a low salary helped him to live while he was studying the English language at night, and after getting some money ahead he went to Atlanta, Georgia, becoming a clerk in a store, The night hours that were not given to rest he spent in study and having mastered the language and the ordinary English branches he began, in line with his life ambition, the study of medicine under a local physician. Being employed in' a. drug store, he had already made progress in the study of pharmacy, and before completing his medical studies had been licensed as a pharmacist. He received his college training in the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1898. In Savannah, Georgia, shortly after locating there to begin practice, he was appointed city physician. Dr. Levi has an unusual amount of post-graduate work to his credit. His first post-graduate course was in the Johns Hopkins Medical College of Baltimore, later he did general post-graduate work in the New York Polyclinic, and for six months was house surgeon in the hospital connected with that institution. His work also includes a special post-graduate course in surgery at the New York Post-Graduate Medical College, and in 1905 he attended the Illinois College of Electrical Therapeutics of Chicago. A post-graduate course in diseases of the stomach, at Johns Hopkins, is the work for higher preparation that he has determined upon for 1908. Notwithstanding that he has spent a great deal of money in educating himself, Dr. Levi has acquired substantial financial and property interests in Elk City. He is a member of the Oklahoma and American Medical associations, and has been superintendent and secretary of the board of health for Roger Mills county six years. Dr. Levi was married on October 14, 1902, to Miss Gussie Rosenberg, who was born in New York City and reared in Alabama. She has the honor of being one of the first housekeepers of Elk City, coming here immediately after their marriage and establishing a home in the best residence building that was completed at the time. They have two children, Robert Louis and William Bertrand.

-400-
cont.

R. E. ECHOLS. At the statehood election of September 17, 1907, the second senatorial district, comprising the counties of Beckham, Roger Mills, Ellis and Dewey, chose for its first representative in the state senate Mr. R. E. Echols, a prominent lawyer of Elk City and a leader in Democratic politics in western Oklahoma. Mr. Echols has been identified with Elk City almost from the founding of the town, having established his law practice here in 1901. His professional interests, in. creasing from year to year in keeping with the growth of this city and the rich surrounding country, have placed him in very close touch with the people whom he now represents. By birth, education and experience, his equipment is such that he is not only worthy of the honor bestowed upon him in being the first senator from his district, but is also a definite assurance that he will take an active part in shaping the first body of legislative acts for the new state and leave his impress on the permanent legislation.
     Mr. Echols is a native of Texas, born in Upshur county, in 1874, but was reared and educated at Terrell, where his parents took up their residence during his childhood. He studied law in a law office at Terrell, and also in the law department of the State University at Austin, where he was graduated in the class of 1899. He was engaged in practice at Terrell before coming to Elk City in 1901. Mr. Echols was married at Greenville, Texas, to Miss Sallie Chandler, of that city. They have two children, Ida and Mary.

-400-
cont.

WILLIAM P. FRANCIS. One of the pioneers who took part in the opening of these reservations in April, 1892, is William P. Francis, one of the most prominent men of affairs in western Oklahoma, and now a resident of

-401-

Elk City in Beckham county. Practically he has been identified with this section of Oklahoma since the beginning of development in this part of the southwest. From 1877 until he became a resident of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country he was a resident and a leading cattleman of old Greer county, Texas, now the extreme southwestern corner of Oklahoma. From this direction he made the run into the new country at the opening of April 19, 1892, taking up a homestead at Ural, nine miles south of the present site of Elk City, in what was then Roger Mills county, but now in Beckham county. This farm, still owned by Colonel Francis, is noted as one of the finest in Oklahoma, and shows what thorough and competent farming will do in this country. One hundred acres of alfalfa on the place averages forty dollars per acre a year. Not since the country was opened has Colonel Francis recorded a crop failure on his place. This is due to his methods of farming as much as to the productive and rich quality of his land, since he believes in deep plowing, thorough cultivation and the use of all progressive means to make agriculture profitable. His homestead has the appearance of being well cared for, the machinery and other equipment being kept in the best of condition. He has raised as high as sixty-five bushels of corn to the acre and a bale of cotton.
     Mr. Francis was still engaged in the cattle business for some time after the opening of this country, and in the early days he established a cattle camp on the present site of Elk City, which had no existence as a town until 1900. With the coming of the railroad and the founding of the town, he soon after moved to Elk City, and has been identified with this flourishing community since, owning much real estate in the town and also having erected several residence houses. The newspaper history of the town also includes his name and activity. When the stock company was formed to publish the Roger Mills Democrat, he was induced to take some stock and was made president of the company. After about a year he was made editor of the paper, and subsequently bought out the other stockholders. Being so widely and favorably known, and lending force and individuality to his paper, he extended its circulation to all parts of western Oklahoma and made the enterprise pay. The work finally became so arduous that he was compelled to give it up, and he disposed of the property in September, 1907.
     In public and political life, Colonel Francis is one of the prominent figures of western Oklahoma, and has had many honors bestowed upon him. In his native city of Paris, Texas, years ago he served as alderman, and still earlier, during the carpetbag regime in Texas, he was one of the prime movers and originators in the plan for having adopted the primary system for nominating party candidates. Both while a resident of Greer county and in Oklahoma, he has continued consistently to advocate and help carry out this reform in party politics, and has the satisfaction of now seeing a practical provision to this effect incorporated in the state constitution of Oklahoma. In Greer county, Mr. Francis was elected and served as county commissioner, and after coming to the new country was elected and served four years as county commissioner at Roger Mills county, being chairman of the board. In 1902 he was elected on the Democratic ticket a member of the territorial lower house, representing Roger Mills and Day counties during the seventh session of the legislature. In 1904 he was elected to the upper house, representing Greer, Roger Mills and Day counties.
     In the territorial legislature, Colonel Francis must be given credit for some careful work in behalf of measures that have since been made a part of the permanent constitution of the new state. While a member of the lower house he introduced and succeeded in passing the railroad commission bill, which was defeated in its course through the senate, mainly by the opposition of the railroad interests. He renewed this legislation when he became a member of the upper house, but without success. Through a close study of the work of railroad commissions in Texas and other states, Mr. Francis had been able to embody the best features of them all in his measure. The constitutional convention provided for a railroad commission, thus completing the work which Mr. Francis had begun several years before. The initiative and referendum feature of the new constitution, which was the subject of so much discussion previous to the adoption of the constitution, was strongly advocated by Mr. Francis, and, while a member of the territorial senate he had introduced a measure providing for this system; a strict party vote defeated his bill. Colonel Francis has for eleven years served

-402-

as territorial Democratic committeeman, and he helped organize the Democratic party in Greer county, Texas. In his home city he is a member of the school board, is vice-president of the Commercial Club, and is a director of the Beckham County Fair Association.
     This prominent citizen of western Oklahoma, so generally esteemed for his personal character as well as for the varied public activities which have been mentioned, was born at Paris, Lamar county, Texas, in 1844, and was reared and educated in Paris, his father being one of the prominent pioneer business men of that town. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted at Paris in Company C, Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry, and served throughout the war in the Trans-Mississippi department, in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Indian Territory. During most of this time was, on detached duty in scouting service, and as such had to engage in some exceedingly dangerous operations, particularly in the fierce border warfare of Missouri and Kansas. He was more than once within the federal lines. Constantly in service, often engaged in long and hazardous expeditions, he was present in one hundred and sixty battles and engagements, a record that would seem difficult to equal. He was once captured, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, but made his escape within an hour. He was in the campaign after Banks in Louisiana and Steele in Arkansas, and his duties took him from the extreme lower Mississippi through Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and as far north as Fort Scott, Kansas, engaging in several of the hard battles with the Sixth and Ninth regiments of Kansas. His duties in that part of the country often brought him in touch with Quantrell, the famous guerilla leader. After the war he resided in Paris until his removal to Greer county. Colonel Francis was married in Paris to Miss Helen Johnson of that city. She died in 1899, leaving nine children: Mrs. Juliet Arnold, William, Robert, Frank, Harry, Charles, Allen, Edith and Pearl.

-402-
cont.

FRANCIS E. HERRING. A pioneer of western Oklahoma, and now the leading merchant of this section of the state, Francis E. Herring of Elk City has been identified with the country since it began to develop from a cattle range to the abode of permanent settlers. As one of the old-time cattlemen he came to western Indian Territory several years before the first part of it was opened to settlement under the name of Oklahoma. He was born in Hill county, Texas, in 1860, and was reared and educated there and lived there until 1884. In that year he came to the Comanche Reservation of Indian Territory (a part of Oklahoma territory), and as a member of the firm of Herring Brothers & Stinson got one of the first leases for pasturage in the western part of the territory. This firm was a leading figure in the cattle business of those years. In 1886 he established a farm and cattle ranch in Greer county, then a part of Texas. Living near and keeping in close touch with the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country, which was opened to settlement in April, 1892, in 1896 he moved his cattle to the Washita river in Roger Mills county. Though it was four years since the opening, that part of the country was still very thinly settled, and for a time he had great freedom of range for his cattle. With the further development of the country, and the division of the old ranges into quarter sections for permanent settlers, he discontinued his cattle operations and, establishing a store at Cheyenne in Roger Mills county, he laid the foundation for the extensive mercantile enterprises which he now conducts. He is now one of the wealthiest merchants of western Oklahoma, although his beginning was made on a small scale. He has big modern department stores at Cheyenne, Foss and Elk City, the store at the last-named place being headquarters for the firm, which is Herring and Young. The Elk City store was established soon after the town was located in 1901. As an item indicating the extent of the firm's business, the Elk City store alone sold $202,000 worth of goods at retail in the year 1906, and is still increasing. Nevertheless, the increase of the business is merely in keeping with the remarkable development and progress of the surrounding country, with its splendid resources in broom corn, cotton, alfalfa and grains. Since going into the mercantile business, Mr. Herring's career has been a continuous story of success. However, in the earlier years, when the country was new, he was not without reverses in his business experience. The first year following his advent into the Comanche reservation in 1884 was a very disastrous one, most of his cattle perishing during the severe winter of 1884-85. In Greer county, too, both before and during the panicky times of 1893, he had to contend with some hard business situations.

-403-

In the public life of Oklahoma, Mr. Herring has a place that deserves record in history. In 1906 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention representing the forty-sixth district, comprising the counties of Roger Mills, Washita and Custer. It was largely owing to his efforts, that the delegates decided to submit the prohibition question as a separate amendment to the constitution, thereby effecting two results: First, that the prohibition question was placed squarely before the people and was decided according to the real sentiment of the people; and, second, that the possibility of an adverse vote against the prohibition amendment did not jeopardize the adoption of the constitution as a whole. In Elk City, Mr. Herring has served as mayor, and is known as one of the enterprising and public-spirited forces in the upbuilding of the city. Mr. Herring married, in Hill county, Texas, in 1886, Miss Mollie Lee, who was born and reared in that county. They have four children: Jesse L., Flossie, Olic and Elgin.

-403-
cont.

DR. HENRY RILEY. One of the oldest physicians of the southwest is now a resident of Elk City in western Oklahoma. Dr. Henry Riley has had a professional experience quite unlike that of the average practitioner. In these latter days of civilization, the practice of medicine and surgery in the southwest has few characteristics to distinguish it from the professional routine in the east. But twenty to thirty years ago, the doctor in the country where Dr. Riley's practice was mainly carried on was called about as frequently to render emergency aid to the victims of a shooting as to prescribe boluses and to assist in the ordinary processes of life and death.
     Dr. Riley went to Texas in 1870, locating first at Denison, then and for some time afterward, while it was a railroad terminus, one of the toughest towns of the state. He later moved to Bowie, Montague county. Most of the operations he performed in those days were for bullet wounds received in fights, in which desperadoes, local settlers and the Texas rangers were involved. Dr. Riley's residence was known everywhere as neutral ground between these contending elements, where separately they were always safe under his roof, the enemy never presuming to come there for purpose of attack. Hence, Dr. Riley is a typical Texan and westerner, of the type that is now rapidly passing away, and his reminiscences are of the old cattle days, the Indians and the desperadoes, which were the prominent features of that epoch which preceded the advance of modern civilization into the southwest.
     Dr. Riley was born at Plattsburg, Missouri, in 1851, and studied medicine in the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis. He lived in Texas until 1902, since which time he has been located at Elk City, in what is now Beckham county, Oklahoma. He is best known as a surgeon, having been accustomed for years to performing the most difficult operations, and in this line of cases is always sought as an adviser and assistant by other local physicians. He is a member of the different medical associations, including the National Association of Railway Surgeons. He was for many years surgeon for the C. R. I. & P. and the Fort Worth & Denver Railroads in Texas.
     He married in 1875, Mollie E. McHenry, of Denison; there are three children: Mrs. W. C. Boone, of Bowie, Texas; Orland, of Rush Springs, Oklahoma, and Marie, at home.

-403-
cont.

PERRY C. HUGHES. The only postmaster that the flourishing town of Elk City has had since its founding is Perry C. Hughes. When the Choctaw Railroad was completed through the country in 1900, he moved to the present site of Elk City, and was there when the town was laid out by the townsite company. Having been appointed postmaster he established the postoffice under the name of Busch on May 28, 1900. The town itself has always been known as Elk City, but the postoffice continued to be officially known as Busch until October, 1907, when the department changed its name to correspond with that of the town. Mr. Hughes holds three Presidential commissions as postmaster, the office having been raised, during his term, from fourth to third class. The increase of post office business has indicated the growth of the town, which is now, after less than ten years' existence, the thriving center of a large and rich agricultural region.
     Perry C. Hughes was born near Quincy, Adams county, Illinois, in 1842, and was reared and educated at Quincy, attending Quincy College, and supplementing this by study at the Iowa Wesleyan University, Mt. Pleasant. In April, 1861, on the first call for volunteers, he responded by enlisting in Company E of the Tenth Illinois Infantry, under General Prentiss, the hero of Shiloh. His regiment was the first infantry to reach Cairo

-404-

on the way to the fighting in the South, and it was engaged in the second day of the battle of Shiloh. His entire service during his enlistment was in the Western army, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi. On the expiration of his three-year enlistment he reenlisted in an Iowa regiment. While in college at Quincy, before the war, and in Mt. Pleasant, during and after the war, Mr. Hughes studied law, and continuing his preparation was admitted to the bar at Ottumwa, Iowa, soon after the close of the war. Beginning practice at Sedalia, Missouri, in 1866, he moved to Eureka, Kansas, in 1869, and later to Larned, being a resident and active lawyer of that state for nearly twenty-three years. On coming to Oklahoma in September, 1891, he established his law practice at Kingfisher. In December, 1899, he moved to Western Oklahoma, and before identifying himself with Elk City he lived a few months in Berlin, Roger Mills county. Mr. Hughes is of Scotch and Welsh ancestry, and during the Revolution members of the family were with Washington at Valley Forge. At Sedalia, in 1867, Mr. Hughes married Miss Josie Middleton, a native of Ohio. Her death occurred in Elk City in September, 1906. Of the four children, the three sons are prominent and successful business men. Otis A. is a contractor and builder at Elk City. Wirt M., who served eighteen years-as a postal clerk, is now a postoffice inspector with headquarters in Minnesota. Edwin R. is United States commissioner at Elk City, and in the statehood election of 1907 was Republican candidate for state senator from the second senatorial district, being defeated with the rest of his ticket. The daughter is Mrs. Myrtle Addison of Elk City.

-404-
cont.

JOHN E. STANDIFER. The physicians who located in extreme Western Oklahoma before the present decade deserve the honors as pioneers of that section in their profession. The territorial county of Roger Mills was thinly populated until within the last few years, and few opportunities were held out to doctors. One who deserves mention in this class is Dr. John E. Standifer, now of Elk City, who began practice at Cheyenne, Roger Mills county, in 1899, and continued there until March, 1906, when he removed to the metropolis of this part of Oklahoma, where he has become connected with a much larger range of professional activities, as physician and surgeon. Dr. Standifer has been identified with this plains country since the beginning of permanent settlement and development. He established his practice on the plains of the Texas Panhandle in 1890, and until moving to Oklahoma in 1899 was located at Tulia and Eolian.
     The year previous to his location in northwestern Texas, Dr. Standifer had graduated from the Louisville Medical College. He was born in Wise county, Texas, in 1868, was reared there, receiving most of his early education in Lee college at Chico, in that county, and acquired his professional training in three well known medical schools, at the Louisville Medical College, the College of Physicians and Surgeons in St. Louis, and the medical department of the Fort Worth University. Dr. Standifer is a member of the Oklahoma and American Medical associations. He was married in Texas to Miss Blanche Brown, who was born and reared in Stephens county, that state. They have two children, Iris M. and Orin C.

-404-
cont.

BASCOM BATES. It is admitted that the building of the Rock Island railroad west from El Reno was one of the largest factors in the development of that portion of western Oklahoma included within the counties of Custer, Roger Mills and Beckham and adjoining territory. The greater part of the population of that section followed the progress of the railroad. But the railroad did not build into an entirely unsettled country. Some pioneers there were, inspired by some of the same ideals that led Daniel Boone and other pathfinders into a new land, who explored the country and founded homesteads on the prairies which never before had supported any industry except range cattle raising. One of the earliest and likewise one of the most successful of the homesteaders of what is now Beckham county was Bascom Bates, a prosperous farmer, a contractor and builder who has constructed many of the buildings of Elk City, and county commissioner since 1903.
     Mr. Bates came to western Oklahoma in 1897, practically penniless, with a family to take care of, and in the face of previous financial reverses began to build up in a new land and under absolutely new conditions. Weatherford was the nearest trading point, the Choctaw Railroad having been completed to that point, and in the vicinity of his claim were neither roads nor trails. He began farming, and it is a tribute to his energy, ability and recuperative powers that he is

-405-

now a well fixed man financially, owning his homestead, which is splendidly improved and one of the best and most valuable farms in the county, as well as a nice home in Elk City, where he now lives, having rented his farm. Besides his farming operations, he carries on his old business of building and contracting, and has put up many of the substantial buildings of Elk City, including the Herring & Young Mercantile building, one of the costliest business blocks and the first brick building in the town. Mr. Bates has served since 1903 as county commissioner, first of Roger Mills county, and in September, 1907, was elected one of the first board of county commissioners for the new county of Beckham.
     Mr. Bates was born at Greenville, Hunt county, Texas, in 1850, his father having settled there during the forties.

-405-
cont.

CHARLES W. TEDROWE, M. D. a physician of substantial standing and practice at Elk City, Beckham county, is a native of Dayton, Ohio, born on the 14th of May, 1872. His father was a veteran of the Civil war, and early in the Doctor's life removed the family to Indianapolis, Indiana. There the boy received a thorough education which included courses in the common schools and a business college of that city, prior to his matriculation as a student at the University of Medicine. His proficient acquirements as a stenographer earned him many a welcome and necessary dollar to support him while he was obtaining his professional education.
     In 1898, immediately after his graduation as an M. D., Dr. Tedrowe removed to the West, where he has since been engaged in a practice which has earned him a good reputation and a substantial income. He is a thorough lover of the West and its people. He is popular both in social and professional circles, and his connections with Masonry are prominent and of long standing. The Doctor belongs to all the standard societies of his profession, local, state and national, and is a leader among his associates of the city and county. In 1900-2 he served as vice president of the Lincoln County Board of Health, and is at present identified with the Elk City Hospital. Although he has concentrated his abilities, primarily, upon his professional work, he takes the interest of an intelligent American in political and public questions, and, although he admits he is a Republican "by birth and breeding," he does his own thinking along these lines. Married on the 28th of September, 1893, to Miss Frances P. Sims, of Newton, Kansas, he is the father of one living son, now thirteen years of age.

-405-
cont.

SHANNON C. LINDSEY. In 1898, when the present county of Beckham was still a very sparsely populated region, Shannon C. Lindsey filed on the southeast quarter of section 12, township, 11, range 21, as a homestead which it was his purpose to improve and make a home and profitable property. Three miles to the southwest lay the site that in 1901 was platted as Elk City, but no town was thought of in this vicinity when he settled here, so that he belongs among the pioneers of this section. As a proof of the condition of the country at that time, he shot coyotes and other game on the site of Elk City, where now is one of the best towns of western Oklahoma. He has succeeded in improving his original homestead until it is now considered one of the best in the vicinity of Elk City. Ten years ago, when he came here, he had practically nothing, and lived for awhile in a dugout. Through energy, honesty and good judgment in the conduct of his business, he has reached a position of material success that ranks him among the leading men of the county. With the growth of the surrounding country his property has been constantly increasing in value.
     In 1905 Mr. Lindsey placed a renter on his farm and established his residence on a little farm of eighty acres that adjoins Elk City on the east. It is one of the best situations for a home in Elk City, being on an elevation commanding a view 'of the town and surrounding country, and with the extension of the residence district the land is rising rapidly in value. Mr. Lindsey's chief business connection with Elk City is through the operation of a model dairy farm. His dairy barn is one of the best equipped and most convenient for its purposes in western Oklahoma. For dairy purposes he raises and uses principally the Jersey stock of the highest grade, about thirty-five cows supplying the demands of his business. He has been interested in fine stock since his boyhood, and as a result of long experience and success in business now raises and handles nothing but the best, whether cattle, horses or hogs. His stock are premium winners and command the highest prices paid in this part of the country.
     Mr. Lindsey was born in Boone county, Missouri, in 1869, the Lindseys being one of

-406-

the oldest families in Boone county. His parents, Jezrell and Julia (Cunningham) Lindsey, were both Missourians by birth and are now living in Arkansas. Shannon C. Lindsey was reared on the Boone county farm and was identified with that county until he came to Oklahoma in 1898. He was married in Boone county to Miss Lavinia Martin, daughter of R. S. Martin, a prominent citizen of that county. They have a daughter, Lois Lindsey.

-406-
cont.

JOHN B. HARRLSON. The Forty-fifth constitutional district sent to the convention that made the state constitution, Hon. John B. Harrison, one of the pioneer lawyers of the old Cheyenne and Arapahoe country. In describing the personnel of the bar of southwestern Oklahoma his name probably should be honored as the oldest, certainly one of the oldest, legal practitioners continuously identified with this country. Though young in years, he was admitted to the bar at Mangum, in what is now Greer county, Oklahoma, as long ago as August, 1888, and his experience as a lawyer covers most of the broad region between the Red and Canadian rivers, throughout the Panhandle of Texas and the southwestern corner of Oklahoma. For some years his home and headquarters were at the famous old metropolis and judicial center of Mobeetie, whose courts in the early years had jurisdiction over a territory of imperial extent. Much the greater part of his career, in fact, belongs with the era of the range cattle Industry, his residence for only a very few years having beel1 located in a region developed and improved by the presence of the railroad and the farmer-settler. Coming to Cheyenne, in Roger Mills county, at the time of the opening of the reservation in 1892, he was still for nearly ten years many miles from the railroad and in a region little occupied except by the cattle interests. It will be remembered that the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country did not, like the more eastern parts of Oklahoma, settle up quickly after it was opened, and only after 1896 did farmers begin to enter in any considerable numbers. With the building of the Choctaw railroad in 1901, development was hastened, and three years later, in 1904, Mr. Harrison moved to Sayre, where he has continued his practice in all the courts of western Oklahoma.
     Mr. Harrison has been prominent in public affairs since his removal to Oklahoma. In 1894 he was elected county attorney for Roger Mills county, and by re-election served four years in the office, In 1900 he was elected to the territorial senate, representing the thirteenth, or "Jumbo," district, embracing the counties of Greer, Roger Mills, Washita, Custer, Day, Woodward, Beaver and a portion of Dewey. Then in 1906 the people chose him to represent their interests in the constitutional convention. He had the misfortune to be ill a portion of the time, but for the most part he was on hand at Guthrie, and as a member of several committees did his share of the arduous work of that notable convention,
     Mr. Harrison is a Kentuckian by birth, born in Anderson county in April, 1861, but at the age of seventeen, in 1878, moved with his parents to Gainesville, Cooke county, Texas, so that his active career has been entirely identified with the Southwest. During the several years that he claimed Gainesville as his home, he spent much of the time on the cattle ranges of northwest Texas and the Panhandle, at a period when Indians and cattlemen were the only occupants of that country. Usually he worked on the range during the summer months, and during the winter attended school arid studied law. He was a student of Gainesville College, and Hobbs' high school of Paris, Texas, and pursued his law studies in Gainesville under the direction of several of the well known lawyers of that city (which has always been noted for its strong bar), including Messrs.. Potter and Hughes, W. O. Davis and Joe Garner. With his admission to the bar in 1888, above mentioned, he at once began the career which, has given him such varied experience of the life and affairs of the southwest, Mr. Harrison's wife before her marriage was Miss Etta Wallach, a native of Texas. They have five children, L. D., V'Roy, Qmar, Lura and Burford.

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cont.

FLEETWOOD BELL. Beckham county's first county judge, elected at the statehood election, September 17, 1907, is Fleetwood Bell, a prominent lawyer who has been identified with this section or western Oklahoma since the Choctaw Railroad was built. A lawyer of experience, he located at Sayre in 1901, when the town was founded along the new railroad line, and from the opening of his law office for the clientage of a brand-new country he has prospered steadily each year. The people of Beckham county gave him an overwhelming vote in their choice of the first county judge, an historical as well as civic honor,

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since he will always be named at the head of the list of the county officials for Beckham county. He is a Democrat.
     Judge Bell was born in Clay county, Missouri, in 1869, belonging to a pioneer family of western Missouri. He received a good education, having prepared himself for a teaching career and following in that line of work for some years. After graduating from the Missouri State Normal at Warrensburg in 1889, he taught at California, Missouri, a year, then a year at Buena Vista, Colorado, and three years at Midland, in West Texas, and in other places. He studied law in the law department of the University of Missouri at Columbia, where, after graduation in 1897, he practiced for a time, and then engaged in practice at Kingman and Prescott, Arizona, until he moved to Sayre, in 1901. On coming to this country in the latter year, Judge Bell took up a homestead on Buffalo Creek fifteen miles northwest of Sayre, and has become a man of substantial interests, being engaged in the land and loan business in addition to his profession: It is a tribute to the natural wealth and the rapid development of the country, as well as to his energy and ability, that he has been so successful, since he had practically nothing at the time of his coming to this country. Hugh R. Bell, the well known citizen and business man of-Sayre, is a brother of Judge Bell, and preceded the latter in gaining a permanent residence in this section of western Oklahoma. Judge Bell was married in Sayre to Miss Ella M. Wagner, a native of Odessa, Missouri, They have a son, Frank Wagner Bell.

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cont.

JAMES R. RICHERSON. The citizens of the new county of Beckham, on September 17, 1907, elected as their first sheriff Mr. James R. Richerson, a veteran buffalo-hunter, cattleman and early merchant of southwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle country of Texas. By residence and mercantile activities Mr. Richerson was identified with the town of Doxey from its foundation in 1901 until his election as sheriff, and has since moved to the county seat at Sayre, where his official duties are centered. A large majority of the votes were cast for him, his standing in his home community at Doxey being attested by the fact that every .vote in his home precinct was cast for him. His special fitness for the office, in addition to his well known characteristics as a citizen, comprises service for four years as deputy sheriff of Roger Mills county previous to the organization of Beckham county.
     The career of Sheriff Richerson exhibits one of the typical men of the southwest. Born in Sheridan county, Missouri, November 11, 1858, son of John H. and Mary (Robards) Richerson, in 1872 he was brought to Texas by his parents, who located on a farm near the Red river in Montague county. That part of Texas being yet on the frontier, he was very early made experienced in all the conditions that have made the history of that region unique among the frontier commmunities of the United States. Depredations by Indians and outlaws were familiar events in the first years of the family's settlement. Those familiar with the history of the southwest will recall that the buffalo dominion over the prairies of the southwest was ended during the dosing years of the '70's, and buffalo hunting as a business was one of the earlier experiences of the present Beckham county sheriff. He went with his father on a skinhunting expedition in 1875, and during the first year they found their game at the head of the Wichita river near the present town of Henrietta, but in the following years had to go further west to follow the rapidly disappearing herds. His last camp, during the last season in the business, was in Collingsworth county in the southeast part of the Panhandle. After being with his father two years, he was in the business on his own account, with his own camp and outfit. The season lasted from September until June, the buffalo beginning to shed during the last month. In 1877 he started operations the first day of September and by the first of December had obtained the skins of 6,275 buffalo. His father, who was a noted westerner, widely known by the familiar title of "Uncle Johnny," died in September, 1904; his mother is still living; and both parents were born and reared in Missouri.
     In 1879, following his marriage to Miss Alice Holden, a native of Wise county, Texas, Mr. Richerson established his home at Mobeetie, the old-time county seat of Wheeler county, Texas, and the metropolis for the Panhandle and much of what is now southwest Oklahoma. April 19, 1892, the day of the opening of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation, he came to this Territory and took up a homestead on Timber creek, six miles east of the present site of Sayre, in what was then organized as Roger Mills county. For

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years there was not a railroad in eighty miles. On the completion of the Choctaw Railroad in 1901 the town of Doxey was started on the Richerson ranch, and he established and conducted a general store, in addition to his stock and agricultural interests. He is owner of the half section of section 12, township 10, range 23 west, and was actively connected with this community until he moved to Sayre. Though he is now known as one of the prosperous citizens of the county, he states that when he settled here he had only twenty dollars in money. He is one of the men who continued the work of improvement during the years when this country was thinly settled, and has lived to reap the rewards of his persistence. Mr. and Mrs. Richerson have five children: Dora, Ida, Harvey, James and Lilley.

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cont.

HENRY A. RUSSELL. The business progress and development of Sayre have been affected in many ways by the personality and enterprise of Judge Henry A. Russell, who is the United States commissioner for this district. He was one of the founders and is vice president of the first bank established at Sayre, which is now the Beckham County State Bank, a strong financial institution that is thoroughly identified with the growth and development of Sayre and Beckham county. Mr. Russell is a pioneer of this part of Oklahoma, having the distinction of having arrived and begun the work of development before the construction of the railroad, which was completed to the western line of the state in 1901. He located on a homestead three miles northeast of the present town of Sayre in October, 1899, and as one of the few residents of this region, commenced making a farm which is now one of the best in the western part of the state.
     Mr. Russell has also allied himself to the newspaper interests of Oklahoma. One of the early papers published in this section was the Berlin Venture, at Berlin, in Roger Mills county. Mr. Russell purchased the plant and removing it to Sayre, christened it The Headlight, a Republican, weekly newspaper, characterized by newsiness as a local sheet and by a vigorous influence in political and civic affairs.
     Judge Russell was born at Macomb, McDonough county, Illinois, April 11, 1859, was reared there, and from 1880 until his removal to Oklahoma in 1899 was a resident of Burlington, Iowa. He married, at Macomb, Miss Estella Cale. Mrs. Russell was born in Ohio, but was reared at Macomb. They have six children: Ola, Ina, Arthur, Guy, Reece, and John.

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cont.

HENRY A. HASKINS. One of the settlers at Sayre soon after the completion of the Choctaw Railroad to this point in 1901 was Henry A. Haskins. In a number of ways Mr. Haskins has been identified in a conspicuous manner with Oklahoma. He was one of the original settlers, and after making the run on April 22, 1889, located at Yukon, in Canadian county. Homesteading a claim, he engaged in farming for several years and then turned his attention to the land and real estate business on an extensive scale. It is said that Mr. Haskins has sold more land in Oklahoma than any other individual operator. He has been actively connected with the business throughout the greater portion of Oklahoma's history, though during the last few years he has retired in a measure and only occasionally makes a deal.
     Mr. Haskins' long and active career has gained him a large measure of esteem among prominent men in various parts of the country. A proof of this is found in the generous support of his application, in 1893, for the office of United States marshal for Oklahoma, during the Cleveland administration. The failure to obtain the office was compensated by the strong proofs of loyalty from men in public life in New York, Kansas and Oklahoma. Among those endorsing and actively urging his candidacy were Governor Roswell Flower of New York, the leading men of Jefferson county, New York, and men of similar prominence in Kansas and Oklahoma.
     Mr. Haskins was born in Jefferson county, New York in 1835. His parents, Ruben and Emily (Fuller) Haskins, were natives of Connecticut and were long residents of Jefferson county, New York. The father died in 1861. Mr. Haskins' mother was a remarkable woman, of extraordinary energy and fine qualities of heart and mind. She lived to the age of eighty-six, dying at her son's home in Oklahoma in 1890. Although so advanced in years, she had persisted in her resolved to come west, and, still more remarkable, she homesteaded a claim in Canadian county soon after joining her son. She was a woman of strong motherly qualities, and religion was native to her, having been a member of the Methodist church over half a century. She carried her motherly devotion to the point of self-sacrifice and endurance of personal hardships for

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his sake. During the war, when he was taken ill in the service in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia, she made the journey alone to be at his side and care for him,
     The home farm and the country school in Jefferson county were the training places for Henry A. Haskins during his youth. With the breaking out of the war he enlisted at Point Peninsula, New York, in the Thirty-fifth New York Infantry, and on the expiration of his two years' term re-enlisted, in the Twentieth New York Cavalry. During the entire war he was in the Army of the Potomac, and engaged in all of its battles in Virginia. He was seriously wounded four times, and still bears the marks of these wounds. At the battle of Fredericksburg, for gallantry in the face of the enemy, he was made sergeant over four other soldiers who in regular course would have preceded him to that grade. His captain and other officers all gave him fine commendation for being a brave and efficient soldier. He was honorably discharged from the army July 31, 1865, and ten days later was mustered out at Sackett's Harbor, New York. He continued to live in Jefferson county until 1879, when he came west to become one of the pioneer settlers of Sedgwick county, Kansas. He was postmaster of his home town there, Colwich, during the first Cleveland administration. From Kansas he came to Oklahoma, where he has been so actively identified with business and civic affairs. In 1892 he was one of the two delegates who represented Oklahoma in the National Democratic Convention at Chicago. Mr. Haskins placed Adlai Stevenson of Illinois before the convention as candidate for vice president.
     Mr. Haskins was married at Watertown, New York, in 1863, to Miss Hattie Maria Tompkins of that city. They have ten children: George McGellan, Mrs. Cornelia Boone, Mrs. Eva Parks, Fred L., Willard S., Mrs. Lillian Ferris, Mrs. Luella Hochdeffer, Mrs. Hattie McGee, H. A., and Iva H.

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cont.

GEORGE C. WHITEHURST. Of the merchants who started in business at Sayre when that town was founded with the completion of the Choctaw Railroad through western Oklahoma in 1901, the only one who still continues in active business and therefore the oldest merchant of the town, is George C. Whitehurst. He is a young man to hold such an honor, but having come to a new country as a pioneer and having shown the business ability and integrity that make for success in such a country, he has been honored in other ways. In the constitutional and statehood election for general officers on September 17, 1907, Mr. Whitehurst, having been nominated on the Democratic ticket, was elected by a large majority to the office of representative for the Beckham county district in the first legislature of the new state. He is a young man of fine talents and ability and the honor that has come to him is worthily bestowed.
     Mr. Whitehurst is a fine type of the strong young business men of alert mind and capacity who are taking a prominent part in shaping the destiny of the new state. He received his business training in his father's store, and while still a youth branched out for himself when he and his brother Harry established a store at Sylvan, Kansas. The store which he established at Sayre in 1901 is known to all the trading public of that vicinity as "The Red Front." It is one of the most complete and modern department stores of western Oklahoma, and is the favorite supply point for residents over a large area of the new county of Beckham. The store is housed in a large and substantial brick building, that is of itself a credit to the new town.
     Mr. Whitehurst is a Texan by birth, born in Washington county, September 8, 1877, and was reared and educated at New Birmingham, near Rusk, Cherokee county. His parents were Martin S. and Mary (Mallard) Whitehurst. His father, now a resident of Sayre, has had a long and varied career. Born in Jefferson county, Florida, in 1845, he was reared there until the opening of the, war and then enlisted in the Confederate army, joining an independent battalion of Florida artillery. His service in Florida included the battle of Ocean Pond, and after that his battalion was in prison guard service at Andersonville, Georgia, until the close of the war. He lived in Florida until 1872, when he came to Texas, first locating in Washington county, later lived on a farm in Grimes county until 1888, and then engaged in the mercantile business at New Birmingham. in Cherokee county. He was in business there until his removal to Sayre in 1903, joining his son here and retiring from active business, though he gives both time and attention to his son's business affairs. His wife is also a native of Florida, where they were married. Mr. George C. Whitehurst married Miss Kittie Garner. She was reared at Forney in Kauf- (page 410) man county, Texas. Their three children are: Edith, Gordon and Alice.