I've found several new online sources for old newspapers and I've been learning a great deal more about Caddo than what can be found in the local paper. It's interesting to read about Caddo from a different perspective and to understand that during the early years this was a "city" in an otherwise unknown and misunderstood frontier. Newspapers in Ohio, Iowa, New York, and other Eastern states carried regular news reports from "The Indian Territory" or "The Choctaw Nation" or simply "The Frontier". It is comical now to see a newspaper colunm in a New York paper that has news from St. Louis, New Orleans, Houston, and Caddo, I.T. I'm getting ready to post a lengthy murder case on Stories Too Long (next week) and I was amazed to read that a reporter from the New York Herald was here for the execution. Most Eastern papers simply waited for a telegram from someone here.
Anyway, here are some interesting items about Caddo that were published in other states. More to come.
Galveston Daily News
Galveston, Texas
Nov. 19, 1874
The business of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway has increased so rapidly at Caddo, I.T. that the company has found it necessary to enlarge their warehouse at that thriving town. They will expand it 100 feet sometime this month.
Evening Observer
Dunkirk, New York
June 10, 1883
Two bear cubs shipped from Caddo, I.T. to G.F. Lapham, Cherry Creek, N.Y. went through Jamestown by express Thursday morning. They attracted considerable attention.
Middletown Daily Press
Middletown, New York
April 13, 1892
Terrible Tornado in Indian Territory
Caddo, I.T. , April 13- A terrible cyclone struck Caddo about midnight Monday, sweeping houses and everything else in front of it, but luckily no one was killed.
The Daily Northwestern
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Sept. 13, 1892
A Bloodthirsty Tribe
More Trouble Occurs in the Indian Territory
Caddo, I.T. , Sept. 13- Seven men are reported to have been murdered since yesterday morning in the Choctaw Nation, incidental to the political war now waging there. Governor Jones, who is here, has summoned Indian Agent Bennet, Agent Wright, Lieutenant Governor Brant and a number of prominent Indians to confer with him. He has dispatched an armed force to the seat of trouble and keeps a heavy guard round himself at the times.
The Daily Advocate
Newark, Ohio
March 11, 1893
Caddo, I.T.- Elias Loring, aged 28 years, a full-blooded Indian, was executed at Pushmataha court house yesterday for the murder of Susan Cravatt, and old woman living in a lonely section about 10 miles east of here on Jan. 3. Loring claimed the woman had bewitched him. The execution was carried out according to the customs of the territory. The condemned man was shot by a detail of deputy marshals.
Davenport Daily Leader
Davenport, Iowa
August 1, 1893
Caddo, I.T., Aug. 1- On returning home yesterday Wm. Corbett, a full-blood Cherokee Indian found his wife and babe dead in the yard. There is no trace of the murderer.
Bismarck Daily Tribune
Bismarck, North Dakota
Aug. 3, 1893
Found Wife and Baby Dead
Caddo, I.T. , Aug. 2- On his return to his home three miles west of here, Willis Corbett, a full-blooded Chickasaw, found his wife and baby lying dead in their yard, with one bullet hole in the head and three more in the body of each. There is no trace of the murderer, nor any motive known.
Middleton Daily Argus
Middletown, N.Y.
July 23, 1894
Caddo, I.T., July 22- Deputy United States Marshal McLellan was killed while trying to arrest Gerald Bryan and his brother for robbery. A posse followed the brothers to a farmhouse and a battle followed in which Gerald was killed and John captured.
Bessemer Herald
Bessemer, Michigan
Oct. 10, 1903
J.B. McMillan, a conductor on the Katy road, was killed at Caddo, I.T. by a gang of tramps whom he was attempting to put off the train. His home was in Denison, Texas.
Washington Post
April 6, 1905
Caddo, I.T., April 11- Near Caney Switch, nine miles north of here, Solomon Fletcher and Charley Davey killed Cyrus Crouch, shooting 10 Winchester bullets through his head.
The Commerce Journal
Commerce, Texas
May 19, 1905
While dynamiting a stream for fish, near Caddo, I.T., Alva Smith was probably fatally hurt by the explosion of a stick of dynamite in his hand. His right arm was blown off, his left eye torn out, his right eye injured.
From the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial Web Site
http://www.oklemem.com/
ABNER DAVID MCLELLAN, Deputy U.S. Marshal
U.S. Marshals
The evening of Friday, July 20, 1894, Deputy McLellan attempted to arrest Gerald Bryant, 19, for stealing corn about ten miles west of Caddo in the Choctaw Nation. As Bryant was leaving the cornfield he saw the Deputy and opened fire. Deputy McLellan was hit fatally in the right shoulder, the bullet passing through his body and exiting his left side. Bryant escaped to a farm about six miles away. The next morning Bryant and his horse were shot and killed by a posse as he tried to escape from the barn. Deputy McLellan was survived by his wife Susie, a young son and a soon to be born daughter, Abner D “Abby” McLellan.
Posted by: Tom | June 28, 2008 at 02:53 AM