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INDIAN GRAVES YIELD RELICS OF DAYS WHEN RED MEN

 ROAMED PLAINS OF SOUTHERN TILLMAN COUNTY

Excavations Continued on G. H. Hamill Farm Where Important Finds

Have Been Made; Colorful Story Is Entwined In Legends of River Valley

July 31, 1935—Fredrick Leader—Mute evidence of an Indian village that once flourished on the plateaus of southern Tillman County bordering the bed of Red River is revealed in continued excavation of skeletons in a cove-like area of the G. H. Hamill farm seven miles west and our miles south of Grandfield.

Thought Paints Vivid Picture of Inhabitants

       One has but to let his imagination have free rein to stand on a knoll overlooking the “second bottoms” of Red River at the point where excavations have been made, and envision a colorful picture of unrestrained tribal life that in ages past sent sounds of beating hoofs and cries of the Indian echoing up and down the fertile valley.

       Rampant thought can repaint the scene of an warring warriors execution at the stake by his own people for a wrong he had done.  His charred skull and bones were recovered last week by the young explorers who have found the key to this interesting study.

The mental picture moves swiftly on, as the story is pieced together bit by bit.  The strong arm of America’s early military forces reached into the southern most part of the prairie country that has since become Oklahoma.  Fort Auger was built on the bank of Red River, at a point where Auger Creek now lows into the big boundary stream.  The red man departed, leaving behind his tribal dead whose bones now come to the light of day to weave in thought an interesting story.

Soldiers Established Early Outpost on River

       Stone and rock from old Fort Auger formed the foundations for homes of Tillman County’s own pioneers and all traces of the fort have been erased.  A skeleton near the old fort site, distinctive from the Indian remains with its wide forehead and broad shoulders, in all probability comes from he grave of an American soldier, buried by comrades in the stillness of the valley long before actual settlement of the Sooner state and while the red man was making his last stand against encroachment of the civilization of an already teeming nation.

       Fist skeletons found on the Hamill farm were uncovered two years ago while the owner was plowing his field.  The cache marked the burying place of between ten and twenty bodies, all of which had been laid with head together in star shape, their feet away from the center and piled one on top of the other.

       Since that time Charles Hamill, son of Mr. And Mrs. F. C. Hamill, has continued the digging.  It is estimated that through excavation or in plowing, between three and four-score bodies have been uncovered.

       One of the latest and most interesting finds was the skull and bones in all probability had been burned at the stake.  Parts of it are charred by fire and the head hung down over the breast, revealing that the unfortunate one’s neck had been broken or that he had been partially decapitated.

Speedily Dispatched

       Another skull, perfect in the completeness, bears a hole in the top and fissures that denote fractures, leading to the belief that he had been struck down either by bullet or the sharp blow of a spearhead.

       In excavations made last week by young Hamill, aided by Glenn Rrasmusson, 20, son of Mr. And Mrs. A. J. Rasmusson of Grandfield, a skull intact save for a small part of the jawbone was found.  All but three of the teeth are in place, their worn tops indicating that burial occurred at an advanced age.

       Teeth and parts of bone are found scattered among sands of the small plateau on which the digging is progressing.

       Auger Creek may have taken its name from the winding way in which it runs its course through a deep valley to flow into the stream of Red River.  Old township maps, according to George M. Burkhart, local abstractor, who accompanied the writer on the interesting excursion, show that a government road once coursed from Fort Sill southwestward to Fort Auger, terminating its course along Auger Creek.

Fort Is Obliterated

       All remains of the old military outpost and even outline of the once improved road across the prairie country have long since disappeared.  Masonry from the fort was used by early settlers in the Big Pasture as foundation materials for homes.

       Differing widely from skeletons of Indians, denoted by their narrow, slanting foreheads is the skull found near the old fort site, which is believed that of an America soldier who died during service with the outpost.  The forehead is wide, the head

Yellow and are believed to be the colors used by former inhabitants of the section for painting grotesque faces and inscribing designs on teepees and leather goods.

       Arrowheads are easily found all along the area south of Grandfield, Jim Rasmusson has said.  He has a special group for which Mr. Burkhart, an interested collector, is now bargaining to add to a select showing he purchased recently from Carl Stroupe in Ringgold, Texas.

       Charles Hamill retains a nice display of the skeletons and relics he and others engaged in the excavations have uncovered.  Several good specimens have been given to Grandfield High School.  Curio collectors have taken others away and some have deteriorated to crumbled masses of bone through improper preservation.

       The spot where the finds have been made is one of the most beautiful in Tillman County and one can readily see why an Indian village once pursued carefree happiness where there is now finely tiled farm land

FROM SOONER COWBOY TO WORLD HUMORIST

By United Press

August 16, 1935—Fredrick Leader—Will Roger, America’s foremost wise-cracking humorist, rose from the place of a humble Oklahoma cowboy to world fame as a humorist, author and actor.

       His name was a by-word in the newspapers, political and shows worlds.  He was quoted more than any other living person.

Native of Sooner Area.

       Rogers was born, November 4, 1879, at Claremore, the old Indian Territory.  He attended the Willie Hassell School at Neosho, Missouri, and later obtained what he called his “military training” at Kemper Military Academy in Boonville Missouri.

       His schooling was obtained mostly from a roving life, which took him all over America, South America, Africa and the continent.

       Rogers married Betty Blake of Rogers, Arkansas, in 1908, and to them were born two sons, Will and Jim, and a daughter, Mary, who followed her father into Hollywood’s film life.

       He entered vaudeville as a rope-twirling, gum-chewing cowboy at Hammerstein’s Roof Garden in New York in 1905.

       His rise was low. His homely wit and “hick manners” which were his greatest characteristics were slow in obtaining recognition.

       Later he joined up with Flo ZeigFields Follies and the Night Follies, still performing his rope twirling stunts.

Unofficial Ambassador

       During the Coolidge administration, Rogers obtained his first “break” for world recognition. He toured Europe and published in this country a series of “Letters from a Self-Made Diplomat to his President.”  The work, salted with cowboy phrases and humorous observations upon international diplomacy, hit a high note in comic writing and won him immediate fame.

       He began contributing a daily “squib” to hundreds of newspapers, magazine articles, by the score flowed from his pen, always the hick cowboy’s sage observations on public life and prominent personages.