Hello Butch, In the last issue of “This and That” you told about the killing of Ben Collins and the arrest of Henry Pruitt, H. Washmood, and Ben Tie as perpetrators of the killing. The genesis for that killing occurred at Orr, IT three years prior, a shooting involving Poke Pruitt, brother of Henry. This was reported in an article in the Daily Ardmoreite, June 29, 1903:
“In a telephone message to the Ardmoreite last night brings the news of a shooting at the Orr picnic yesterday. Just before dinner was served on the grounds there yesterday, Charles Hare and Pote Pruitt got into a difficulty and Deputy Marshall Ben Collins told them they must quit fighting. Pruitt turned to Collins and asked him what he had to do with it and that he was not afraid of him. It seems that Collins then shot him, the first shot striking Pruitt in the front of the neck, ranging around and coming out at the back, and the other shot striking Pruitt in the back. This is the shot that will no doubt prove fatal, as Drs. Brown of Lone Grove and Ashley of Orr, who were probing for the bullet, had been unable to find it up to 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. His lower limbs were paralyzed.
Immediately after the shooting, Pruitt was removed to the home of his brother, Clint, of Orr. Collins and Hare were placed under arrest by deputy Marshall McLemore, and will be given an examining trial Monday.
The fight is the result of an old grudge which has existed between the parties for some time. It is said that much anger has existed between Hare and Collins on the one side and Pruitt on the other. Some time ago, Hare’s home was entered by unknown parties and some goods stolen, and Hare and Collins, who worked on the matter, intimated that Pruitt had had some connection with the theft.”
-submitted by Charles R. Walker
Below is a photo of the Meadowbrook School in Love County
-Submitted by the Marietta Monitor.
https://www.mariettamonitor.com/
Florence Revelle, first female attorney in Carter County. Grandmother of Dana Revelle Capshaw.
Considered to be the most important place in the state of Oklahoma, below is the INITIAL POINT!! It is the dead center origin of the Chickasaw Nation. All of the land in Oklahoma, excluding the panhandle, was plotted/surveyed from this location in 1870.
Without this place there would have been no land runs and no Boomer Sooner culture. Everyone who owns a piece of property in the state of Oklahoma is connected to this place!! The spot was chosen one mile directly south of a flag pole at Fort Arbuckle on top of a small mountain. It is said that every real estate agent in the state references this point indirectly in their transactions. The site was plotted as a point of origin to start the process of the individual allotment of American Indian lands by the Dawes Commission. However, it is not a formal tourist destination.
At the start of the surveying, the guys doing the job placed a 3 ft sandstone monument at the point to mark it. Engraved on the sides of the stone is IP for Initial Point, IM for Indian Meridian and 1870 for the year it was erected. Look closely to see the engravings!! This point is at the intersection of the Indian Meridian and the Baseline and located on a private ranch not opened to the public.
Below is a link to my webpage of people I’m looking for with unclaimed insurance at the State Treasurers Office in Oklahoma City. Some I’ve made contact with, and others I’m still looking for. Maybe you know someone???
https://oklahomahistory.net/unclaimed-property-in-oklahoma/
HAM Talk by KC5JVT via Echolink
The Arbuckle 97 HAM radio repeater is located in the Arbuckle Montains near Turner Falls. If you are a licensed HAM we welcome you to use the repeater and also check in at 8:00pm on Sunday nights when our 97 Net is held
From this week’s Mailbag
This Initial Point marker was placed west of Davis, Indian Territory, in 1870. All land in present-day Oklahoma (except for the Panhandle) was officially surveyed from this point! More than 150 years later, the I.P. marker is still standing—although it is located on private property. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. (10037, OHS Photograph Collection)
Below is from my newsletter archives dated
September 11, 1999 – Issue 125
This a 1956 photo of the ATSF FT #160 at, Ardmore OK. The photo was taken by A.E. Brown.
“The community of Wilson creek is still there. At the time it was regarded as a town it was known as Wilson. Nothing remains of the town but a cemetery and of course the creek that is known as Wilson Creek. I think the actual postoffice location was west of the creek. George H. Shirk’s book “OKLAHOMA PLACE NAMES” states the following: “”WILSON. In the southeastern Carter County, 7 miles southeast of Ardmore, A post office from April 4, 1888, to Aug. 15, 1907. No longer in existence. Named for J.H.Wilson, local merchant.”” The town of Wilson, 17 miles west of Ardmore is not to be confused with the above mentioned post office location. This town, once known as New Wilson did not become known as Wilson until 1/28/1920. Wilson (creek) location is: Carter County,
“I really enjoyed the T&T this week. I remember well the old swimming pool and skating rink at Whittington Park. The Skating rink was the place to go on Saturday night before the “Preview”. In case you don’t know what the “Preview” was it was the preview of Sunday’s movie at the Tivoli Theater. It started at 12:00 AM every Saturday night. That was where everyone went. I remember at one time the Cochran family owned the skating rink. They had a daughter “Cherry”. We went to school together. That was in the late 40’s. Good memories.”
“Love your weird stuff! Wanna know what I thought of when I first got to the site that sent me here? I’ve lived in Houston a long time and when it said “Carter County”, first I pictured a bunch of cars with “CR-” license plates and then looked around to see where I was, Ardmore, of course. Since I haven’t read all your stuff here yet, you’ve probably touched on old license plates in Oklahoma, but if you haven’t, please do! It used to be so much fun to drive from my house in Bartlesville, as a kid, to my grandmother’s in Chickasha and then maybe to Norman for a football game or to Dallas for Texas Weekend and guess all the county plates. Now we’re in Washington, now we’re in Tulsa (they had those ZZ’s that didn’t make sense), now we’re in OKC, with their XX’s, now Grady Co. (the old-time women were horrified when they had to go to GD from their original GR ‘cuz the county was growing), now ST, Duncan, now CR, Ardmore, etc. Don’t ya miss not knowing where people are from when you’re driving along the highway? We went to the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and stayed at some Holiday Inn on the outskirts of NYC somewhere and there was a Bartlesville car parked right next to ours the next morning–and it belonged to friends of mine. The worst was, we had to go on out to the Fair before we ever saw them. So, on the way back to Oklahoma, we went to spend some time in Williamsburg, VA– you guessed it– they were parked next to us there, too, and we finally got to visit. Is it a small world? Thanks again for a fun time here.”
“In those days, you could be sure the tag was purchased in Carter County only by the CE,CR or CRR. Also another interesting thing to know is that the tags were made in batches of 10,000 each – therefore Carter County probably only had 30,000 Car tags (or less). The system used now is much different because maybe for the same reason we have changes in area codes so often.”
“I forgot to ask you if “The Gourmet” is still there and if the lady who used to run it (she was mayor at one time)–whose name totally escapes me–her brother was named Major or Lieutenant or something and had a BBQ stand in town, too–are they all still there and cooking? During the Boom, she had filet mignons on the lunch buffet–all you could eat for $5–and those little steaks were good! Oh, also, I must tell you that I am a connoisseur of fine dining and whenever anyone asks me about my favorite hamburger, to this day, I tell everyone it is Bill & Barb’s educated cheeseburger. I have been known to make very long trips out of my way to eat at Bill & Barb’s. Last time I went was probably in 1992, bringing my niece with me to Chickasha for my grandmother’s funeral. Seems like it was closed for remodeling or just closed, period. Is it? Oh, I’m getting so hungry thinking about it now.” Note: Mazola McKerson owned The Gourmet Restaurant. Her brother in Law owned Lieutenant McKerson’s BBQ on east main.
“In a previous issue of T&T, someone asked about the old pool at Whittington Park. Here is a picture of that pool. You can see the slides in the background. This pic was taken in 1920.”
“Hi Butch. Sure do enjoy reading the This & That here in Algiers. Thanks for including the words to “Oklahoma Hills” in the last issue. About a year ago or less, I had dinner at a club in Australia where Arlo Guthrie, Woody’s son was singing for one night only. It wasn’t publicized very much so there was a relatively small group of people there that night. We all sat around after dinner and sang along with Arlo while he played a lot of his own and his dad’s old songs including Oklahoma Hills. Woody was quite a writer and Oklahoma Hills was one of his best.”
“To the world you may only mean one person, but to one person you may mean the world.”
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
580-490-6823
