Officers raid Sequoyah County’s ‘Monte Carlo’

—Sequoyah County Democrat, Nov. 23, 1923

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 26, 1998, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The weather may have been miserably hot last September, but that didn’t keep people from shopping in Sallisaw. Records released by the Oklahoma Tax Commission this week report that in September 1998, monthly retail sales in Sallisaw passed the $8 million mark for the first time.

In recent years, Sallisaw retail sales have been between $5 million and $7.5 million dollars a month. Previous high mark for sales was December 1996, when sales totaled $7,959,612. December is traditionally the best retail sales month because of Christmas shopping, so the September record was unusual.

50 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 22, 1973, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The KOA Kampground located south of Interstate 40 in Sallisaw opened for business Nov. 13, owners Mr. and Mrs. Hank Hanbery and Mr. and Mrs. Leo Sutlifff have announced.

The campground is a part of a national chain of top-quality facilities that cater to travelers on an overnight or long term basis.

Construction of the campground began in the spring, but rains hampered early construction and the mid-summer opening was delayed.

75 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 26, 1948, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Sallisaw will soon have a bus station as modern as the best of them.

Carpenters Tuesday afternoon were putting the finishing touches on the roof out over the station where the buses will drive in.

One layman, working on the building, seemed to think it would be finished in less than a month. Gene Ingle, who is in charge of the construction, could not be reached for a statement as to when it would be ready for use.

—Starting Friday, the I.G.A. store will have a complete bakery department with baked goods fresh daily.

This announcement was made by I.G.A., store officials Tuesday afternoon.

Jim Marvin, manager of the local store, said, “We will have everything from cream puffs down to French bread.”

—Even though they left Sallisaw at 5 a.m., last Saturday morning to be in Tulsa for the 10 o’clock parade, the high school band was wide awake.

At least they made a good showing in the Tulsa parade according to information your Times received in a telegram from a Tulsa newspaper man.

The wire read: “Sallisaw band was tops in Tulsa’s Santa Claus parade today.” Band director Tom Brown Brittain said the 56 band members were one of 17 high school bands in the parade.

100 years ago

(From the Nov. 23, 1923, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —The resorts at Moffett, in east end of Sequoyah County, were closed Wednesday night by County Attorney Harry Pitchford and Sheriff John E. Johnston after they had raided the places and inspected the skating rink, dance halls and other points. These places were known as “Joyland” and were patronized largely by night prowlers from Fort Smith, it is said.

County Attorney Pitchford stated in an interview Thursday morning that the “resorts” at Moffett had only been giving the authorities trouble during the past week. Complaints from citizens of Moffett were numerous and the authorities took steps to secure the necessary evidence in order to close up the places. “Following the raid Wednesday night, County Attorney Pitchford continued, “there were approximately 75 or 100 people in all of the places and we took due notice to see where they went after the places were closed, all with the exception of four went back to Fort Smith.”

According to the newspapers in Fort Smith, the places were called “Little Juarez” and recently sprung into prominence in Fort Smith, because of common talk that a wide-open gambling house was being operated there and whiskey sold freely to all comers. It also has been charged that the resorts clustered there has been a rendezvous of women of questionable character.

It is said the justice of peace at Moffett has turned in more money collected from fines and forfeited bonds than any other justice in the county, which is a direct result from arrests being made by the officials of drunks and other law violators at “Little Juarez.”

—Deputy U.S. Marshal George Ritter and Special Enforcement Officer Joe Morgan have been very active lately in raiding stills and making a drive against bootleggers in this county. Last week they destroyed five moonshine outfits in one raid, and in a raid in the vicinity of Liberty, in Board Hollow, located in the northeast part of the county, last Friday night, they captured a large still in operation, seven gallons of whiskey and five hundred gallons of mash. The still was being operated as the federal officers approached, accompanied by Deputy Sheriff Campbell Bellers, and six men were about the still when the officers made the dash from cover in an attempt to capture them. Four of them beat the officers to the brush, after a race during which several shots were exchanged, and two remained at the still and were arrested.