"GOBBLE 3 TIMES IF YOU MEAN TO KILL ME"

RANCHER  SAYS TURKEY GOBBLER'S CALL REASON FOR SELF-DEFENSE IN MURDER TRIAL

Okmulgee, Oklahoma (JFK+50) On April 28, 1926, Associated Press reports that "the imitation of a turkey gobbler's call...forms the basis of the defense" in a murder trial being held here in Okmulgee*.

AP says the gobbler's call is the Indian signal of intent to kill.

A wealthy rancher by the name of Jim Crowell is charged with shooting Willie Brunner, an Indian who the former testified "gobbled three times" and then "attempted to kill him."

AP cites precedent in the Indian Territory where the court ruled "justifiable homicide" in a similar incident.

*Okmulgee, Muskogee word meaning 'boiling waters', is located in the Tulsa metro area in Oklahoma.  It is the capital of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation.

SOURCE

"Indian 'Gobbled' Rancher Who Shot Him, Tells Court," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 28, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

Gobble Turkey Thanksgiving Poster

www.publicdomainpictures.net/

OKLAHOMA LAND RUN OF 1893

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1715

LARGEST OKLAHOMA LAND RUN BEGAN 122 YEARS AGO TODAY

Oklahoma Territory (JFK+50) A century and 22 years ago today, September 16, 1893, the Cherokee Strip Land Run began with the loud boom of a cannon at Noon local time.  More than 100,000 men stood along the Kansas border poised to race to claim their share of two million acres.

In 1818, the Congress of the United States declared Oklahoma to be Indian Territory.  All white settlers were ordered out and Native American tribes, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole were ushered in.

By 1893, with economic depression throughout the land, the Oklahoma Territory was once again open to white settlement.  This time, those who wished to claim one of the 42,000 parcels of soil had to wait on the border until the signal was given for them to legally cross into Oklahoma.

President Grover Cleveland designated September 16, 1893 as the date for the Cherokee Strip Land Run, just one of five "land runs," but what was to be the largest.  There was also a land lottery and a land auction.

The 100,000 faced a line of soldiers with rifles raised to fire.  When the cannon shot erupted, each soldier fired his weapon into the air and the race was on. There were not just men on foot, but there were horses, some mounted and others hitched to wagons.  There was even a locomotive with ten carloads of men.

SOURCES

"Cherokee Strip Land Run:  September 16, 1893," Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/

"The Great Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893," Eyewitness to History, 9-18-2010, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889

McClenny Family Picture Album