Volume 8 , Issue 17

Old Opera House Mystery of 1910...

What are the talking about in the coffee shops in northwest Oklahoma and Southern Kansas? It must be the cover story that is making its debute in the May edition of the "Prairie Connection." This Harper, Kansas history newspaper hit the newstands this weekend. Do you have your copy yet?

The cover story this month is the 1910 murder mystery that occurred at the "Old Opera House" in downtown Alva, Oklahoma, written by this NW Okie, LK McGill Wagner. We began our story by setting the stage for 1910 in northwest Oklahoma. It was 9 November 1910, considerable excitement was buzzing through the government square of this northwest Oklahoma community, in Woods County. There had been a general election held just the day before. This November 9, 1910 was to be known as "A Day of Black Infamy." Sometime between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., November 9, 1910, young Mabel Oakes was found dead in the "old Opera House around 3:30 p.m. by Justice Miller. The local papers jumped on this story to the extent that a changed of venue was granted to the neighboring county of Woodward to the west. The trial lasted from September 5 thru 12, 1911.

Mabel Oakes, was a young country girl (23 years) living at home with her parents, George and Carrie (Howard) Oakes and a younger brother, Clarence (15 years). Through testimony, transcripts we find that Miss Oakes was a large, sturdy, supposedly healthy woman of that time weighing around 160 to 165 pounds. Miss Oakes was also 5-months pregnant at the time of her demise. She wore a tight fitting corset and a scarf wrapped tightly around her tall neck. Miss Oakes explained away the reason for the scarf tightly around the neck as a throat problem.

In 1910, Miss Oakes was known for her fainting spells for which she took prescribed medication of strychnine and morphine tablets. Were these fainting spells the cause of her broken arms, black eyes and bruises about her face. OR... her pregnancy? OR... were the fainting spells brought on by a heart condition or a tight fitting corset used by Miss Oakes to conceal her pregnancy that began in the early Summer of 1910? OR... were Mabel's unfortunate accidents of broken arms, black eyes and bruises the cause of "Black Hand Letter" threats?

Only Mabel Oakes memories of that time will tell us the whole truth. AND... those memories lay underneath the northwest Oklahoma soil, in the Alva Cemetery, in the Oakes family plot.

Meanwhile, catch the "Old Opera House Mystery (Black Hand Letters of Death)" in the May edition of the "Prairie Connection." We would love to hear some feedback concerning our "Old Opera House Mystery" story of the 1910 murder of Mabel Oakes in Alva, Oklahoma. You can contact Linda at paristimes@earthlink.net - mcwagner.lk@gmail.com. We are presently working to put together a timetable of chronological events that happened around that infamous black day in November, 1910. Would you like to hear more about the "Old Opera House Mystery?" Stay Tuned!
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