Marshal office abolished here

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 21, 1999, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The U.S. Corps of Engineers is planning to let the lake levels in corps lakes in eastern Oklahoma rise, in anticipation of any Y2K bugs which might hamper power generation.

Edward Engelke, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Tulsa, said Lake Tenkillers water level is one of those which will be allowed to rise.

“That way, if any Y2K bug strikes, all we have to do is open the gates and generate power,” Engleke said.

Engleke said the corps is “confident we don’t have any Y2K bugs. At the dam, we rely on human power to turn the valve and let the water out.”

Its other power sources and suppliers which may be worried. “That’s why were storing water,” Engleke said, “just in case and because all these questions enter peoples’ minds.”

50 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 21, 1974, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Arkansas Oklahoma Gas employees went out on strike Friday at midnight when their two-year contract came to an end. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (AFL-CIO) Local 944 began walking the picket line at 8 a.m. Monday.

Tom Swafford, president of the union’s local, said that the 103 members were prepared to stay out on strike indefinitely.

“We just can’t go on,” he said. “The membership is really hurting and we would at least like to keep up with the cost of living.”

75 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 25, 1949, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Two Hutchison, Kansas, men reported to Sequoyah County Sheriff E W Floyd at 5 a.m. Saturday that they had been hijacked of between $1,100 and $1,200, at midnight Friday night.

The men claimed that a car with a siren and spotlight stopped them on State Highway 10 about two miles north of Gore. When they got out of the car, they said they were knocked in the head, blind-folded and put in the other car.

After 10 or 15 minutes, they said, they were transferred to another car, then deposited at Tenkiller quarry, where Dr. Holcomb dressed their wounds.

The two men said they had no idea who pulled the job, but that one of the hijackers kept calling the other “Jay.”

Sunday morning, officer Tom Stites and Highway Patrolman O.E. Shamburg arrested J. Payne of Vian, they found a pistol and bloodstains in his car, according to Floyd.

—The pie supper Thursday night at Stony Point brought a total of $104.42 for the community’s annual Christmas tree.

The program was well attended, and many persons from other communities were present.

Billie Speck won the candy for being the prettiest girl, and J.W. Moss won a pie as a prize for being the ugliest boy.

100 Years Ago

—The deputy United States marshal’s office which has been stationed at Sallisaw since statehood has been abolished according to a letter from the United States marshal’s office at Muskogee.

The reason given for the abolishment of the local office, is on account of “lack of business.”

George W. Ritter who has been the deputy U.S. Marshall here during the past three years was offered a place at Tulsa, but Mr. Ritter declined the offer, stating in a letter carrying his resignation that he did not care to live in Tulsa.

The abolishment of the local office came as a “blow” and one of the juiciest plums in this section of the state is gone. The work at Tulsa requires another deputy and in order to stay within the limit of the appropriation it was necessary for the department to make a “cut” some place and the Sallisaw office happened to be the one.

—The celebrated and much discussed damage suit of Joe Brandon, former Sallisaw barber, against C.B. Johnson, Mayor of this city and former owner of The Democrat, was dismissed on Wednesday of this week in the Federal Court at Muskogee by Judge R.L. Williams upon motion of attorneys for the plaintiff.

The suit grew out of an article written and published in the Sequoyah County Democrat soon after the arrest of Brandon in Portland, Oregon, and his return to Sallisaw to answer a charge of forgery which had been filed against him. He left Sallisaw suddenly, leaving a note stating that he would not return, and his creditors at once began search for him, with the result that a charge of forgery was filed and within a short while Brandon was apprehended at Portland and returned to this city by Sheriff Johnston. Following the forgery trial, a story was published relating to the case and with this published story as a basis, a damage suit for $80,000 against C.B. Johnson was filed. The case had been set for Nov. 20, but when court opened on Wednesday, attorneys for Brandon appeared and asked that the case be dismissed. Federal Judge Williams expressed gratification when this was done, and openly stated in court that the suit should never have been filed in the first place and that he hoped no similar case would be filed again. The result was a distinct victory for the defendant, and followed the decision of Brandon’s attorneys that their case was a hopeless one and not based upon sufficient grounds to obtain damages.