Area firemen report they are ‘ worn out and tired’

25 Years Ago

—Fires raging throughout Sequoyah County this month have threatened 181 structures and burned nearly 300 acres using up much available resources and leaving firemen “stretched pretty thin and exhausted,” Bob McCord, with the U.S. Forest Service in Tahlequah, said.

As of Tuesday, 24 fires reported in Sequoyah County in September including one which destroyed an 80-acre pine plantation between Muldrow and Roland, another north of Muldrow, one south of Muldrow which burned three acres, one south of Nicut and another one south of Vian which burned two acres near the Game Refuge, all on Monday.

Firefighters were dispatched from one end of the county to the other Tuesday when fires broke out in Muldrow and Gum Springs.

Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced firefighters from Atlanta, Ga., were scheduled to arrive in Oklahoma to assist Oklahoma firefighters in battling grass fires throughout the state.

50 Years Ago

—The Sequoyah County sheriff’s office is back to full strength with the rehiring of Deputy Jim Rinehart and secretary Mrs. Lessley.

They were both laid off last month when the County Commissioners and excise board cut the sheriff’s budget.

75 Years Ago

—Donald Williams, 16-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jess Williams of Sallisaw, became the godfather to a litter of 20 pigs Tuesday, according to Ray Zimmerman, assistant county agent.

The boy’s sow, a Duroc gilt, was procured through the Sears 4-H program, he said. This is the second litter, there were 13 pigs in the first.

Several of the pigs have been sold already, said Zimmerman. Seven are being fed in the house, as there are still too many for the sow to take care of. “They are already drinking milk from a trough,” he said. “It’s the darndest thing I ever saw.”

Zimmerman said that the birth of 20 pigs in one litter is very unusual, and 13 are more than what are normally born in the first litter.

—The front page of an issue of virtually every newspaper in the southwest, including your Sequoyah County Times, will be placed in a time capsule at the Texas State Fair and buried until the year 2050.

The pages will be photographed on microfilm, which will be especially treated and sealed in an air-tight container of its own.

“The State Fair of Texas feels there is no better way to record an era in time than by preserving the newspapers of the day,” officials stated.

100 Years Ago

—Undersheriff Bert Cotton and Deputy Perry Chuculate underwent an interesting experience Tuesday night, while returning from a hurry-up call to the east end of the county, and incidentally nabbed two men suspected of trickery or crime in Arkansas.

While nearing a spot between Muldrow and Hanson, two men on foot hailed them and asked for a ride into Sallisaw. Their general appearance was rather suspicious and their actions indicated that they were probably not wanting to encounter officers of the law. The two deputies talked for a moment with the boys and concluded to search them. One of the men was wearing three shirts and four pairs of trousers and could not give a very clear explanation of where he got them or how. The other boy carried a .38 revolver and when asked what he was doing with it, stated that he thought all travelers should carry one and that they were entitled to carry one. The deputies brought the two men to town and lodged them in jail. One gave the name of Roy Dare, aged 19, and the other gave the name of Jeff Hage, aged 19. They state that they live near Russellville, Ark. The sheriff’s office is making an investigation to find whether the men are connected with wrong-doing in that section of the country.

—Sequoyah County’s astounding record of tragedy and death was enhanced and made greater last Saturday afternoon about 4:30 o’clock when Lonnie Whitney, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Whitney, tenant farmers, was stabbed to death by Walter Daugherty, 17, son of Lige Daugherty, within the boundaries of this city, near the underpass on the Kansas City Southern railroad.

The two boys are said to have quarreled violently on the streets of Sallisaw a short while before. Trouble had been expected for ten days past, following minor quarrels between the two boys at the protracted meeting in progress at Shiloh school house west of the city. Rumor has it that they were both charmed by a girl of the community and that the quarrels centered in this girl. The quarrel on the streets Saturday afternoon was the culmination of their troubles and they agreed to go the edge of town and fight out their troubles, accompanied by a number of their respective friends. On the way, some of these friends who were older in years urged the boys to take knives and fight it out, to which they at first agreed. Arliss Farris, neighbor of Whitney, loaned his friend a knife, but the Whitney boy returned it to him before reaching the fighting ground. The Daugherty boy was handed a knife by Tom Roark, who is older and the Daugherty boy retained possession. When the dueling ground was reached, the claim is made that the Whitney boy called the Daugherty boy a bad name which he resented. He made one lunge at Whitney and sunk the long bladed barlow knife in the boy’s right breast. No fist blows were struck and no fight ensued. The one knife thrust seems to have been the only blow struck. It entered Whitney’s right lung and caused almost instant death.

Chief of Police J.C. Woll was immediately notified of the murder. Daugherty left the scene immediately and went to the home of his father two miles south of the city. Chief Woll followed and found the lad calmly doing the chores as though nothing of serious moment had occurred.