Volume 17 , Issue 29

NW Okie's Journey

Sometimes a simple little weekend garage sale in southwest Colorado (Durango) can surprise you with a unique first edition book of Oklahoma. My better half found the following book find for twenty-five cents - "Oklahombres: Particularly the Wilder Ones," by Evett Dumas Nix, written in 1929.

The title of the book "Oklahombres" is a coined word, intended to be used in either the singular or plural. It was ingenious, direct and impressive. Oklahoma, meaning the land or home of the red man or red people, and hombre, meaning in Spanish, man or mankind. "Okla," meaning doubtless land or home, affixed by hombre, constitutes the title word as stated. The Spanish language employs the word hombre in a highly dignified sense, more generally than we might attribute to the word man. Oklahombre or Oklahombres should become a permanent word in the Oklahoma vernacular, and be recognized as a tribute to the energy and progressiveness of the people of the State.

They say the story told by Col. Evett Nix in "Oklahombres" was not designed as a literary classic, but as a plain, simple, truthful and fascinating recital of early Oklahoma history, covering one of the most important and notable epochs in the settlement and development of the western hemisphere. Col. Nix had never attempted to glorify the gory work of exterminating more than three score of notorious outlaws and the arrest of more than fifty thousand of lesser criminal during his term of office. In 1929, this was the first time the gruesome details of this carnage of criminal expiation had ever been told by Col. Nix, and he did so with charity and forgiveness in his heart for the misguided victims.

Good Night! Good Luck!
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