610 



OKLAHOMA. 



States marshal has under arrest a young Seminole 

 Indian named Hargo, who confessed to being the 

 murderer of Mrs. Laird, for whose death young 

 Sampson and McGeisy were burned to death by a 

 white mob near Newark, I. T., last January. The 

 Government has maintained that the two Indians 

 burned to death were innocent, and will now prove 

 it. Hargo was captured in the Chickasaw nation 

 after an exciting chase of twenty-two days. Nearly 

 200 men are under indictment for participating in 

 the burning of Sampson and McGeisy." Five men 

 are now under arrest, charged with complicity in 

 the crime. 



Political. Conventions for nominating candi- 

 dates for the office of Delegate to Congress were 

 called by the Democratic, Silver Republican, and 

 Populist parties, to meet at Oklahoma City, July 13. 

 The resolutions adopted by the Populists called for 

 union of the free-silver forces, the initiative and ref- 

 erendum, the imperative mandate, and Statehood 

 for the Territory ; approved the war, denounced the 

 bond issue, and said further : 



" Resolved, That we extend to the Guthrie Typo- 

 graphical Union and all other labor unions our 

 hearty sympathy in their contest with organized 

 and avaricious capital. 



" That we condemn the action of Dennis Flynn, 

 Gov. Barnes, and other Republican leaders of Okla- 

 homa, for deserting the claimholders in their efforts 

 to secure free homes, simply because the people 

 would not elect a Republican to Congress ; and we 

 commend the people of Oklahoma for refusing to 

 stultify their manhood by yielding their political 

 views to secure the support of the Republicans to 

 the free-homes bill. 



" That we appreciate and commend the Hon. J. Y. 

 Callahan for his honest and untiring efforts in the 

 interest of free homes, and although they failed in 

 the attainment of their object, they are none the 

 less worthy ; and we demand that the nominee of 

 this convention shall put forth every effort to obtain 

 the passage of a free-homes bill." 



A committee appointed to confer with one from 

 the Democratic Convention reported that the Dem- 

 ocrats wanted them to accept their nominee for 

 Congress. The Populist Convention declined the 

 proposition and proposed that the Populist, Demo- 

 cratic, and Free-Silver men hold a joint convention 

 to nominate a delegate to Congress, and that a two- 

 thirds vote be required to secure such nominee. The 

 report of this committee was adopted by a vote of 

 93 to 58. 



The Democratic Convention adopted resolutions 

 congratulating fellow-citizens of all parties on the 

 fact that liberty-loving Democrats in Congress, by 

 their persistent efforts, had inaugurated the war, 

 and greeted the soldiers from the Territory ; depre- 

 cated " the existence of the Territorial law under 

 which equalization has been sustained by the Su- 

 preme Court of this Territory," and demanded its 

 repeal ; favored election of Territorial officers by 

 the people ; denounced " the cowardice and perfidy 

 of the Republican leaders for secretly knifing the 

 free-homes measure which they ostensibly pretended 

 to support " ; favored union of all parties opposed 

 to the Republican ; and " such legislation as will 

 result in the reduction of railroad fares and the 

 abolishment of the entire free-pass system." 



The proposition of the Populists was accepted by 

 a vote of 89 to 71. 



A joint convention was held on the 14th and 

 reached a nomination on the 15th, after 74 ballots. 

 J. R. Keaton, a Democrat, was made the candidate. 

 A fusion platform was adopted, which was substan- 

 tially the same as that of the Democratic Conven- 

 tion. 



The Middle-of-the-Road Populists, being opposed 



to fusion, held a convention in Guthrie, Sept. 1, 

 and nominated A. S. Hankins for Delegate to Con- 

 gress. 



They adopted the name " Free-Silver party," as 

 they could not get a place on the official ballot 

 under the old name on account of the fusion by the 

 regular convention of the party. 



The resolutions showed more originality than is 

 usually found in party platforms. They declared 

 the "shortening of the distance between the voters 

 and the legislators by means of the initiative and 

 referendum " to be the great issue of the age ; de- 

 manded the remonetization of silver, in regard to 

 which they said : " We can not look to the Demo- 

 cratic party for relief, because in the past twenty 

 years their representatives in Congress have killed 

 15 bills for the repeal of that act of 1873. The 

 Eastern end of the Democratic party is for gold ; 

 the Western end for silver; and no man can tell 

 which will be uppermost in the convention of 1900. 

 We can not afford to scuttle our own ship when it 

 is uncertain whether the other vessel is a friend or 

 a pirate. The continued existence of the People's 

 party is to-day the first necessity of a continued 

 civilization. The whole destiny of mankind is 

 wrapped up in its fate. To abandon it for a fe\v 

 petty offices would be a crime against the human 

 family. We have no hostility toward the Derno 

 crats or Free-Silver Republicans, individually ; 

 many of them are our best citizens, and we earnestly 

 and cordially invite them, in the name of God and 

 the suffering world, to come in and help us right 

 the wrongs of mankind." They declared the green- 

 backs to be the best currency the country ever had ; 

 demanded postal savings banks ; favored free homes 

 and Statehood; called for Government control of 

 railroads ,and telegraphs, declaring that in respect 

 to the power of corporations this Government is 

 " worse than that of Russia or Timbuctoo." In 

 reference to the war they said : " We approve of the 

 war for the liberation of Cuba, and demand that 

 bloody and brutal Spain be driven completely and 

 forever from the American continent. We will 

 stand by our soldiers and sailors to the last gasp; 

 but we are not willing that, under cover of their 

 banners, the bonded debt of this country shall be 

 vastly increased, at the expense of the business and 

 industry of this country. We do not believe in en- : 

 slaving Americans to liberate Cubans." 



A Free-Silver State Convention was held "at 

 Guthrie in September, which approved the nomi- 

 nation of J. R. Keaton and adopted resolutions 

 declaring Populistic principles, and said on Terri- 

 torial affairs : " We condemn the present Territorial 

 administration for increasing the salary of the 

 School Land Commissioner from $1,800 to $2,500 

 per annum, and allowing the Attorney-General, in 

 addition to his salary, the sum of $3,491.90 for COM 

 lecting school land notes." 



The Republican Territorial Convention met at- 

 El Reno, Aug. 24, and nominated Dennis T. Flynn 

 for Delegate to Congress, on the third ballot. 



The resolutions praised the national Administra- 

 tion and the conduct of the war enthusiastically, 

 and on Territorial interests said, in part : 



" We demand the enactment of a law providing 

 for such penalties as will enforce a uniform as>e-<- 

 ment of all property at its actual cash value, and 

 providing that the equalization of assessments shall 

 not increase or diminish the aggregate of the as- 

 sessed valuation of the taxable property of the Ter- 

 ritory. 



" We condemn the last fusion Legislature for i 's 

 unparalleled extravagance in the employment of 

 ' useless clerks and attaches and for public printii g 

 and for extravagant appropriations of all kinds. 



" We heartily indorse the course of the last R*- 



