Volume 16 , Issue 5

1893 - Angry Settlers & Alva Lynching

Back in 1893, during the homesteading of Northwest Oklahoma Territory, there were angry settlers, who fought for the possession of a quarter section. As The Guthrie Daily Leader, 1 October 1893, reported on page three, two men were shot and killed and a mob of angry settlers lynched a homesteader near Alva.

As the news story reported, "An attempt to drive honest men from their claims two men were shot and killed near Alva yesterday (30 September 1893) by a mob of angry settlers."

It goes on to tell how ever since the opening of the Cherokee Strip a band of about twenty Bohemians had been moving about the country, driving settlers off their claims and threatening to murder them if they returned.

It was 30 September 1893 those Bohemians ordered a cowboy, whose name is not known, to vacate his claim. They were accompanied by John Allen and his son (surveyors), who told the cowboy that the survey of the adjoining claim, which had been seized by one of the Bohemians, overlapped the cowboy's claim. The latter refused to vacate and the younger Allen attacked him with a hatchet, cutting two ugly gashes in his head. The cowboy then drew a revolver and shot and killed both the Allens.

News of the trouble reached Alva late into the night and an officer went to the scene. He found the cowboy holding the Bohemians at bay and arrested him and took him to Hennessey.

The Bohemians then, leaving two of their number on the claim, took their departure. News of the affair spread quickly among the neighboring settlers, and a small mob gathered early to lynch the two usurpers. One of the latter made his escape, but the infuriated settlers captured the other and hanged him to a tree.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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