Jesse James’ brother Frank lived here
In the Dec 13, 2009, story by Oklahoman reporter Ken Raymond, titled “HUNTERS TRAIL JESSE JAMES’ GOLD“, he tells of the treasure hunters and searches for the loot supposedly hidden by the James gang.
He also mentions that Jesse’s brother Frank settled down near Fletcher, OK, to have easy access in his search for their ill-gotten gains.
A search of The Oklahoman’s archives finds a story from The Oklahoman, July 25, 1909, that reported:
“Frank James, formerly member of the famous James brothers, who committed numerous depredations in Missouri and terrorized citizens throughout the middle west, is certainly a man of his word. Soon after Jesse James was killed and Frank James surrendered to the governor of Missouri, the chief executive promised him his pardon, providing he, Frank, would live a “quiet and peaceful life.” Frank promised to follow out the governor’s instructions, which he has done.”
James and his wife moved to a farm near Fletcher in southwestern Oklahoma in 1906. There, they raised corn and chickens on 100 acres of land.
The 1909 article continues:
“Mr. and Mrs. James attend church and social gatherings in Fletcher, and Mr. James is ranked as one of the foremost men in that part of Oklahoma.
A great many people stop at Fletcher to visit the once noted outlaw. They are always tendered a cordial welcome and asked to remain as long as they like, providing they do not get too inquisitive in regard to Mr. James past life. Mr. James seldom refers to his reckless Missouri days and he is very sensitive towards publicity. One of the principal reasons why he moved to the farm was to evade so much newspaper notoriety and the ever curious public.”
In 1911, Frank James’ mother, Zerelda Samuel, died on a train near Oklahoma City en route from Fletcher to Kansas City to visit her grandson. Shortly after her death, Frank and his wife moved from Oklahoma, eventually returning to his farm at Excelsior Springs, Mo.
This story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 19, 1915, the day after Frank James died in Missouri, gives a slightly different picture of the man.
Frank James, who died at Excelsior Springs, Mo., lived on a farm one and a half miles north of Fletcher, from the fall of 1906 until his mother died in Oklahoma City three years ago. The farm here is still in James’ name. Following the death of his mother , who was a Mrs. Samuels, he returned to his farm here and remained through the following winter, since which time the farm has been tenanted.
The farm is in what is known as the Little Pasture, and was sold to James for $3,500. While on the farm he did most of his own farm work, and his wife lived her with him. While his mother was en route from Fletcher to Missouri she died on the Frisco train as it was entering Oklahoma City. She was accompanied by Mrs. Frank James.
James, during his residence near here, mingled but little with the public, and so far as known never referred to his outlaw career.
E.W. Dilling, cashier of the Fletcher State bank, and one of the few local citizens with whom James was inclined to talk, say that James was a good bank patron, courteous at all times, and anxious to be of material aid to those less fortunately situated so far as financial conditions were concerned.
Although James lived for several years within one and a half miles of Fletcher he seldom came to town, and seemed to shun the gaze of the curious.
Perhaps this quote from an Aug. 14, 1932, story from The Oklahoman about treasure hunters looking for lost fortunes in Keechi Hills in southwest Oklahoma offers an explanation for James settling in Oklahoma:
“Skeptics may hoot at the idea that the James gang ever had at one time more money than they could haul around with them, but skeptics can’t disprove the fact that Frank James acquired the farm north of Fletcher, Okla., and continued to own it till his death. “Why would Frank James in his old age, buy a farm in the new country of Oklahoma, or anywhere else, except his dear Clay or Jackson county, Mo., unless to look for buried bandit loot?” is the question that treasure hunters in the Keechi hills ask of those inclined to doubt.”
–Mary Phillips
“The meaning of Easter”
This is a reprint of an article by Edith C. Johnson, an editorial writer for The Oklahoman, that was first published 95 years ago on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1915:
“Today is Easter — the most significant and appealing festival in the calendar of the year — with the single exception of Christmas.
Easter is our most perfect symbol of hope renewed and our promise of life eternal. Rightly interpreted, it becomes the sign-manual of creative energy bursting the bonds of a thousand limitations. It is the token of new courage with which to face life’s struggle–strong in the belief of an ultimate supremacy. To contemplate the eternal verities for which it stands is to widen our horizon and broaden our purposes and hopes.
Science teaches us that one spring is like another–but science is forgotten in the message of inspiration the recurring springtime brings to a world that is weary with toil and endless disappointments, that is wasting its blood in futile warfare, that is struggling with iron oppressions and that is crushed to earth under the heel of selfishness and cold indifference.
Easter beckons on the human race. Symbolizing the renewal of man’s shining ideals, it revives human faith after the winter of our discontent, and spurs us on to the accomplishment of unbelievable tasks, through a courage that finds its source in the life-giving stream of our spiritual nature.
There is a sublime general in Easter, celebrated by the return of spring with its melting snows and streams, its budding leaves, and its bursting blossoms that once more turn their petals to the sun. Man may fall, but nature always stands proudly erect– for the seed drops to earth, only to blossom forth in greater glory. Man may transgress or evade the law. Inviolable nature keeps it. Man may sullenly turn away from light and truth. All nature turns her face towards the sun.
Thus do we read in the buds and blossoms and leaves of grass the victories of life. The beauties of nature heal and restore us. The incommunicable trees, flowers, the earth and the waters, all growing things and the heavens, bid us live with them and enter into the fullness of life. They proclaim that love shall overcome hate; that justice shall rise above injustice; that right will triumph over might and that dominion and power shall ultimately belong to the righteous and pure in heart.–E.C.J.”
May you find beauty in the Oklahoma spring landscape on this early Easter morning.
Mary Phillips
“Father of Capitol Hill” named Oklahoma City
I came across a story that referred to Benoni Harrington as the “father of Capitol Hill.” I was curious because I had never heard of him. So I began looking for any information I could find, and I was able to learn about another of Oklahoma City’s colorful pioneers.
Ben Harrington, the father of Capitol Hill, 86 years-old. - THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES
Benoni (Ben) R. Harrington arrived in Oklahoma City on April 22, 1889, by train. He was, however, not new to Oklahoma Territory.
Relocating in Wichita, Kan., from California, he would take the train several times a month to the “wild country.” He was a correspondent for the Wichita Beacon and would write about the Unassigned Lands. An interview with Ben Harrington from The Oklahoman, Feb 6, 1949, stated, “Harrington’s stories did a lot toward starting the Sooner movement. People who read them, came on the Santa Fe to look and some tried to stay.”
When Hamlin Sawyer, a Kansas editor, wanted to start a newspaper in the Oklahoma Territory, Sawyer asked Harrington what he should name the newspaper, and Harrington told him to name it the Oklahoma City Times. The Times was first printed in Kansas and sent down by train.
Quoting from “The First Eight Months in Oklahoma City” by Bunky (Irving Geffs) serialized in the Oklahoma City Times in 1933: “The initial number of the Oklahoma City Times was published to the world Dec. 29, 1888 by Hamlin Whitmore Sawyer, the present editor and publisher. Mr. B. R. Harrington, who was perfectly familiar with this country, was the local editor. The mechanical work on the first issue was executed at Wichita, Kan. but the copy was furnished by Mr. Harrington from this place. Type and material was at once furnished to Mr. Harrington at this place and the Oklahoma City Times as a weekly paper appeared regularly and was circulated to the world through the postoffice at this city. The novelty of a newspaper in the Oklahoma Territory, from the city that bears its name, was a drawing card and everybody wanted to see the new paper. Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Wichita and many metropolitan papers quoted the Oklahoma City Times. The result was a marvelous increase in circulation. In 30 days from the first issue the circulation was extended to every state and territory in the union besides quite a list in Canada and Great Britain. It afforded the publisher a handsome income until Feb. 10, 1889, when Lieutenant Malcomb, commanding a company of U.S. troops raided this section of Oklahoma and put the Times to flight.”
Eventually, the newspaper was purchased by The Oklahoma Publishing Company and was Oklahoma City’s afternoon paper until ceasing publication in 1983.
Because of Ben Harrington’s input in the naming of the newspaper, he was credited with the naming of Oklahoma City. Two stories I found in The Oklahoman and his obituary published April 30, 1959, confirm this.
In 1900, Harrington bought 160 acres south of the North Canadian River, and in 1901 he platted the first addition that was named Capitol Hill.
During his 1949 interview, Harrington said, “Near as I can remember, I answered right off Capitol Hill. They said no, call it Harrington addition. But I said call it Capitol Hill and put it on the map.”
The newspaper article reported: “His idea was to locate the capitol there. There was no state then and Guthrie was the territorial capital.”
In 1904, Capitol Hill was incorporated as a town, and in 1910, it was annexed by Oklahoma City with a population of 2,500. In 1949, it was estimated the population of Capitol Hill was 85,000.
Ben Harrington had a mercantile and contracting business in Oklahoma City on a lot he paid $100 for at 225 w California, but he also dabbled in land developing, natural gas drilling and he was one of the businessmen who encouraged the packing plants to locate in Oklahoma City.
Before his death on April 29, 1959, at 96 years old, Ben Harrington had lived long enough to see Capitol Hill grow from “the one store on the river and open country it was when Harrington planned it,” according to the 1949 story. In 1959 Capitol Hill had ”a semi-weekly newspaper, a daytime radio station, 75 churches, 18 schools, seven parks and business and industry of untold financial value. A major part of Oklahoma City industry is located in the Capitol Hill district.
The Discovery Well of the Oklahoma City field. - THE OKLAHOMA ARCHIVES
“The district’s real growth dates from the discovery of oil, the final realization of Harrington’s dream on Dec. 4, 1928.”
The Indian Territory Illuminating Oil and Foster petroleum companies’ well came gushing in 6 and 1/2 miles south of the city and was the discovery well for the Oklahoma City field. On Wednesday, Dec 5, 1928, the citizens of Capitol Hill held a celebration including fireworks and a street dance for the oil discovery.
During the 1949 interview, Harrington said, “Instead of capping it and keeping it quiet, they did like I asked and let her gush.”
The article continued: He figures the gusher attracted attention and started a black gold rush which boomed Capitol Hill and Oklahoma City out of slow growing pains.
Flower stealing could get you shot!
Spring will arrive March 20, if you can believe the weatherman. Spring flowers have begun to appear in gardens across the city.
This item appeared in The Oklahoman April 30, 1915:
“WARNING TO FLOWER THIEVES”
“Vandals cut 104 tulips from the flower garden of Mrs. James Geary Wednesday night. Other vandals ruined flowers at the home of Frank Harrah on West Thirteenth street. Other losses are reported on East Fifth street.The civic beauty committee of the Women of “89 has offered a reward of $10 (almost $215 in today’s currency) for the arrest and conviction of flower thieves. This committee has asked the aid of the city authorities in stopping the mutilation of flower gardens and has been promised the services of watchmen.
A number of owners of flowerbeds have loaded their shotguns and propose to protect their property in this severe manner.
The civic beauty committee asks all citizens to make close inquiry of all persons offering to sell flowers, believing that if purchasers will refuse to buy flowers indiscriminately that the practice of stealing flowers will be broken up.”
In the May 7, 1915 newspaper, this followup ran:
“OFFICIALS AFTER FLOWER VANDALS”
“City officials announced Thursday that a vigorous campaign will be waged to arrest flower thieves. Many complaints have been received that marauders were invading parks and lawns and pulling up the flowers. Mayor Overholser has instructed the police department to keep a close lookout for this class of offenders. They wil be severely punished if caught, he says.
Dr. J.G. Street, commissioner of public property is considering offering a reward for the arrest of flower thieves. He will consult the city counselor Friday on the matter and if such a move is within the law it will be offered by this department.”
Further searching did not disclose any arrests, but as flowers continue to bloom across the metro, this should serve as a reminder to leave the flowers for the next person to enjoy.
Mary Phillips
A flower bed of tulips and iris. - FROM THE OKLAHOMAN'S ARCHIVES
Grand Prix car race not new idea for Oklahoma City
While news reports abound with the proposal of a Bricktown Grand Prix auto race, the idea of racing high speed automobiles on Oklahoma City streets is not a new one.
“When the whir and whizz of automobiles, running in international races on the asphalt road known as the Grand boulevard of Oklahoma City, disturb the stillness of 1911 then the park board may rest–and not ’til then.
In their (the park board members) dream, or rather plan–for it is mapped out now, and grading is underway–they have conceived of a road 200 feet wide, interlaid with trees and flowers, an endless path of unobstructed ease for those who would drive and drive and drive.”
The Oklahoman Dec 12, 1909, story further described their dream:
“On this primrose path there will be none of the grade crossings, nor the halting unpleasantness of hucksters, pedestrians, sand piles and street cars that befuddle and make stuffy the streets of cities. Overhead and underneath, the vehicles which pass the course of the boulevard will go over viaducts and through tunnels.
On the auto-course road rules alone governing directions will restrict. Not only will there be no limit to speed but driving to the best power of the machine will be encouraged.”
As history and current experience shows, Grand Boulevard never quite reached the high expectations of those early leaders.
When Oklahoma City finally staged the Southwest Sweepstakes Race in April 29, 1915, the racers, including the famed Barney Oldfield, did not race on Grand Boulevard. The racetrack, 2.404 miles long, was laid out on Linwood Boulevard. The winner of the 200-mile race was “Wild Bob” Burman, and there were only two slight accidents. Burman received $2,500.
When Grand Prix racing comes to Bricktown, the prize money will be greater, but the excitement for the crowds will be much the same.
–Mary Phillips
Winged lions revisited
The winged lions that were originally destined for the state Capitol have been sitting right up the street from The Oklahomanbuilding all these years. Their location is in front of Cunningham Interiors at 2701 W Britton Road.
I want to thank the readers who called and e-mailed to let me know where the lions were and to tell me their memories of the lions. I especially want to thank Sheldon Tarver and Lyle Cunningham of Cunningham Interiors for their calls. They both gave me additional information that led to me finding the following:
A story from The Oklahoman, Sept 24, 1968, that did not come up in my original search, answers the question of when the lions were moved and tells of the fuss that followed.
“After sitting docilely on the corner of NW14 and Classen Dr. for over 50 years, two lions decided Monday it was high time to kick up their heels and cause a little confusion.
The seven foot, 2,500 pound marble mammoths, which had twice been promised to the Oklahoma City Zoo, were recently sold to Cunningham Interiors, 2640 NW Britton Rd. by M. S. Kaufman, of 823 NW 47, who owns the property on which the lions stood.
The hassle began when movers hired by the company carted the statues off Monday morning only minutes before the zoo movers arrived on the scene.
“The statues belong to the zoo,” Mrs. Martha J. Sturm, zoo official, said. “We’ve been delayed in picking them up, but we definitely want them to place at the zoo’s entrance.”
“I offered the lions to the zoo about 10 years ago,” Kaufman said. “They never came and picked them up. I got an opportunity to sell them, so I did.”
Meanwhile, about five years ago, zoo officials were again offered the lions by another man, L. A. Wilcox, 1848 Dorchester Dr., who said he was their rightful owner.
Mrs. Sturm said zoo officials had accepted Wilcox’s offer and had planned since that time to have them removed to the zoo as soon as they could decide on an appropriate spot for them.
“The drawings were submitted and plans drawn up the first of the year,” Mrs. Sturm said. “Mr. Wilcox has worked with us and was eager for the zoo to have them.”
“We contacted the moving people and they were to pick the statues up Monday morning,” she said. “When we arrived the lions were gone.”
Wilcox said that about 5 years ago, his son, Burr Wilcox, who owned a wrecking company, was contracted by Kaufman to demolish the buildings that occupied the property.
“When a man accepts such a job,” Wilcox explained, “the buildings he tears down automatically belong to him.”
He said his son asked Kaufman if he might salvage the two statues and donate them to a worthy cause, and Kaufman agreed.
However, shortly before the job was finished, Burr Wilcox died. His father then decided that the lions should be donated to the zoo as a memorial to his son.”
With two estates involved and the zoo claiming ownership, the last story I was able to find was from the next day and said, “attorneys for three individuals and the zoo met but were unable to work out an agreement.”
Since Cunningham Interiors had purchased, paid for and moved the lions, the assumption is that legally they were his, and so they have been for the last 42 years.
I drove past last week, and the lions looked well cared for and quite content.
Visit my blog at http://blog.newsok.com/archivist/ and view more photographs of the lions.
Mary Phillips
(Photographs taken by Steve Maupin of The Oklahoman)
A dubious first
The headline in The Oklahoman for Sept. 20, 1959, read: “Notorious Bank Bandit Dies,” and the story led with: “A 58-year-old man, virtually forgotten by society for 23 years died Saturday in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan. His death brought back the notoriety he had outlived.”
Frank Delmar, a convicted murderer and possible associate of Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, earned the dubious honor of being the first man arrested by the FBI for bank robbery. If he and his fellow bank robbers had robbed the People’s National Bank of Kingfisher 23 days earlier, it would have still been a crime prosecuted under state law, but President Franklin Roosevelt had signed a bill into law making the robbery of a national bank, a federal offense.
Delmar and seven others had escaped the prison at Lansing, Kan., on Jan. 19, 1934. On May 31, Frank Delmar and three other escapees robbed the People’s National Bank of Kingfisher of $3,000. The bank robbers took four bank employees hostage but released them unharmed.
On Aug. 12, 1934, Frank Delmar was arrested near Claremore by two federal agents. He was tried for his crimes and could have received the death penalty because of the kidnapping of the bank employees, but he received a sentence of 99 years in the federal prison at Leavenworth.
He remained in prison for 23 years until his death Sept. 19, 1959.
The newspaper article, which served as his obituary, said: “He entered the federal prison immediately, and virtually dropped from the eyes of society.” For the 23 years he was in prison, Delmar “never wrote a letter, never received one, and never had a visitor. He had no known relatives.”
The article ended with the statement: “And Saturday, his death closed the book. It marked the severing of another link with the wild days of gangsterism for the entire midwest.”
Mary Phillips
Cute little ditty
The little poem, above, by R. Alex Wells was published in The Oklahoman, Jan. 30, 1910, 100 years ago yesterday.
Curious about the inspiration for the poem, I searched the archives of The Oklahoman.
I found a report on Jan. 1, 1910, that Professor Percival Lowell, of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, had stated in an address given in Boston that a previous mapping of the canals on Mars had counted 177 canals, but that number had increased to nearly 600 canals by his count. According to him, this was a result of construction by Martian inhabitants.
An internet search identified Professor Percival Lowell as a respected astronomer who developed the theory of life on Mars.
On The Oklahoman’s editorial page for Jan. 10, 1910, this item appeared:
“Squire Brown says: P’r'haps those marks on Mars are merely reflections of Oklahoma City’s “suburbs.”
The newspaper reported on Jan. 31, that: R. Alex Well’s poetry or ditty in Sunday’s Oklahoman was favorably commented on by his many friends. Mr. Wells writes poetry only as a sideline, as the traveling gentry say. He is a partner of Watton & Wells, photographers. Mr. Well’s poem appeared under the caption , “Hello Mars.”
I can imagine that both Professor Lowell and Alex Wells would be surprised by the recent photographs sent from Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.
Mary Phillips
mphillips@opubco.com
Geary Avenue: named for a forgotten pioneer
There is a short street east of I-235 named Geary Avenue. It’s longer on the south side of the river.
I figured the street was named for the town of Geary in Blaine County. I was wrong.
With a little research in The Oklahoman’s archives, I learned about one of Oklahoma City’s forgotten pioneers.
James Geary was born in 1844 in Missouri. At age 15, after the death of his parents, he left home to become a frontiersman. He helped survey the area where Denver, Colo., now stands and rode with wagon trains on their way to New Mexico and beyond.
During the Civil War, he was an Army scout in the company of William “Wild Bill” Hickock, Amos Chapman, Ben Clark and Col. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. After the war, he built houses under government contract in Oklahoma before moving to Kansas and settling down as a rancher and merchant.
On April 22, 1889, James Geary came to Oklahoma City and on May 3, 1889, he opened the Citizens’ Bank at the corner of Main and Broadway. He sold the bank in 1893 to Capt. Daniel Stiles, another pioneer with a street named for him. He joined Stiles, and the two became real estate developers.
They developed the Maywood Addition, Oklahoma City’s first “Nichols Hills,” which included the area around Geary Avenue. It was the fashionable part of town where the wealthy lived.
Geary served on the Board of Trade , the predecessor to the Chamber of Commerce, which was formed on May 25, 1889. He later was elected and served as an alderman (city councilman) and, at the time of his death, was still involved in real estate.
James Geary died on Oct. 21, 1904. In The Oklahoman for Oct. 25, an article said his funeral was attended by “the largest throng of people ever assembled in this city to pay a parting tribute to a deceased citizen.”
After a procession consisting of “a platoon of twelve members of the police force. A band followed, and the remainder of the line of march was composed of the city fire department, the city officials, forty members of the Knights Templar, members of the A. F. & A. M., and hundreds of citizens,” Geary was eulogized in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church by the Hon. Sidney Clarke.
In his address, Clarke said about his friend: “He lived an active and honorable life in this world and with malice toward none and charity for all, he met the envitable with that sincerity and composure which characterized all his intercourse with his fellow men.”
James Geary is buried in Fairlawn Cemetery.
Mary Phillips
mphillips@opubco.com
Hello girls???
When I saw this headline in The Oklahoman for July 6, 1926, “Hello Girls In Course of One Day’s Work Say About Everything Except Hello,” I had to stop and read the story. I’ll admit it wasn’t what I was expecting.
The story was about the telephone operators of the Bell Telephone company switchboards. It begins:
“Hello girls” never say “Hello.”
Have you ever heard your telephone operator say “Hello?”
No, and neither has anyone else. But people have referred to all girls at the telephone switchboards for a number of years as “Hello girls.”
“Hello” is not in the vocabulary of the Bell Telephone operators. Their lines are many but stereotyped ones. Their lines go to hundreds of thousands of persons who always answer calls with “Hello.” But that “kind of line” is not ever used by the operators themselves.
Then what is the “line” of the young woman who is the medium between you and the person with whom you desire to talk?
“Number please” is the first letter in the operator’s book of A B C’s. That is the only permissible phrase for her to answer your signal with when your receiver is off the hook, indicating that you want her services.” (Remember this was the era of party lines and the switchboard operator actually connected you with your party.)
The article goes on to give the rest of the “letters” in the operator’s book continuing with “What number please,” “They do not answer,” and “That line is out of order.”
The article concludes with, “These four stock phrases are supposed to care for all business that a telephone operator has with person she serves. So they plainly are not “Hello” girls.
There are 348 telephone girls in Oklahoma City. In one year’s time in Oklahoma City there are 87,800,000 calls placed by telephone operators who never use the word “hello.” (Boy, has that changed.)
Further research in The Oklahoman’s archive found the first reference for “Hello Girls” in a 1902 headline announcing the setting of telephone poles to Bridgeport leading to the start of telephone service. The last mention where the phrase was used as a current term for telephone operators was in the 1950′s.
Now, of course, we have directory assistance operators, and, somehow, I can’t imagine them being called “Hello Girls.”
Mary Phillips
