Volume 8 , Issue 13

WHY? WHAT's the reason for this OLD Platte map of Old Alva's (Oklahoma) downtown square? This is what we are working on this week.

Since we have been back in SW Colorado, this NW Okie has been refreshing, rereading some 600 pages of 1911 testimony about the "Old Opera House Mystery" of NW Oklahoma. WHY? We promised another lady publisher/editor that we would write up a short summary of the case for her "Prairie Connections" newspaper. Rosalea, click this image and then right click to save this jpg file for your use in "The Prairie Connection."

Going back through all our research we realized that it has been exactly four (4) years (around the last week of March, 2002) since we began our research on the mystery of the "Old Opera House Murder" that happened November 9, 1910, in Alva, Oklahoma. We remember those four years ago as if it were just last week. It was a week that had given this NW Okie a steady rush of adrenaline -- sleuthing for bits, pieces and clues to this first homicide that occurred in NW Oklahoma.

We started with a date (1910) at Northwestern's college library going through old local newspaper archived on microfilm to see what clues we could find in the local headlines of that year.

With that clue in hand, our journey took us down to the county courthouse archives to retrieve copies of the old court records stored in their basement.

Each new clue lead to another destination for this NW Okie. Our journey four years ago... took us from the College library and old newspaper archives -- to the Woods County court archives in the courthouse basement -- to the Woodward County courthouse archives at the Woodward, Oklahoma -- to the Oklahoma Historical Society newspaper archives and census records -- Finally... weaving a path to the Oklahoma Supreme Court archives stored in the State Library. This last place was where we found over 600 pages of transcripts of Nelson L. Miller's Appeal from the Woods, Woodward murder Case (1911 - case #714, Woodward County, Oklahoma) for the alleged murder of the young, single Mabel Oakes.

Some of the headlines from the old news articles from around that time read: "An Awful Tragedy" - "Tragedy In Old Opera House" - "A Black Crime" - "Alva Girl Murdered, One Arrest" - "Official Accused of Slaying Girl" - "Mis-statement of Facts" - "Alva Man Fears Violence" - "Miller Case Continued" - "Miller Preliminary Postponed & The Miller Preliminary (District Court Room Crowded)" - "Miller Granted Change (Venue)" - "Trial of N. L. Miller Case Postponed & N. L. Miller Transferred to Woodward Jail."

We were and still are searching for anything to get a better understand of the era and the citizens of NW Oklahoma. We have accumulated quite a bit of information and made a list of the "cast of characters" from everything, anything that we could get our hands on. We are still searching for more, though. For instance, a photo of the "Old Opera House" on Barnes Avenue (Alva, Okla.) and a photo of Mabel Oakes whom would have been 23 years of age at her death in November, 1910. There was an "exhibit B" (photo of Mabel Oakes) mentioned in the transcripts, but somewhere that photo got lost or deteriorated. If anyone out there can help us in anyway with any interesting bits, pieces & photos concerning this NW Oklahoma "Murder Mystery of 1910," we would love to hear from you. Especially, if you can lead us to a picture of this young, office girl & typewriter who had worked off and on since 1909 to three weeks before her death for N. L. "Nelson" Miller (Justice of Peace).

Meanwhile... we are still trying to figure out -- creatively, HOW we are going to write, present this potential mystery novel to you in the future. If in the next few months you happen to get a hold of a copy of "The Prairie Connection," you might be able to read a summarized version of the "Old Opera House Mystery." If that avenue isn't open to you, then check out our "OkieLegacy - Mystery" section for the "Old Opera House Murder." OR... subscribe to "The Prairie Connection!"

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