Cornett's Corner
'Tobaksi' the Choctaw word for coalBy Mike Cathey Guest columnist?Aug 21, 2020?1?of 4 HYPERLINK "" \l "1" Photo #2. Choctaw Chief Greenwood “Green” McCurtain 1848-1910 HYPERLINK "" \l "2" Photo #3. U.S. Marshall Bass Reeves 1838-1910Tobucksy County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory was an especially hotbed of activity between 1894 and Statehood. This hotbed of activity made a little clapboard house transformed into a Choctaw county courthouse in McAlester, still standing today, a busy place with an almost legendary cast of characters and their stories walking through its doors.To understand the times one must remember the following: a Nation within a Nation, the Choctaw people forced to leave there home now almost 50 years hence had well adapted and had developed a strong system of governance and rule over their new land but with a push for Statehood and loss of governance on the horizon; the lawlessness refuge that “the Territory” had become; And the fields of coal “plentiful enough to fuel America for hundreds of years” with all of the challenges entwined- ownership, immigrant workforce, and labor and safety issues.There are so many stories that have and are still to be told about our area during this most exciting time but three individuals and their stories seem to jump off the pages to represent this era; Choctaw Chief Green McCurtain, U.S. Marshall Bass Reeves, and mine inspector/union leader Peter Hanraty, and all could be frequently found in McAlester between 1894-1907.Greenwood "Green" McCurtain was a tribal administrator and Principal Chief of the Choctaw Republic, serving a total of four elected two-year terms. He was the third of his brothers to be elected as chief. His older brothers Jackson Frazier McCurtain and Edmund McCurtain had previously been elected as chief, serving a total of three terms. He was a Progressive Republican in the late 19th century, leaning toward allotment and assimilation when the nation was under pressure by the United States government, as he believed the Choctaw needed to negotiate to secure their best outcome prior to annexation.McCurtain was appointed as chief by the United States government after 1906 and dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Act prior to Oklahoma achieving statehood, and the annexation of the Choctaw Republic by the United States. He served in that capacity until 1910 and his death in office. He was the last freely-elected Chief of the Choctaws until 1971.Bass Reeves, American lawman who was the first deputy U.S. marshals of African descent in the American West. In 1875 he was commissioned to be a deputy U.S. marshal by Federal Judge Isaac Parker of the Western District of Arkansas, remembered as the “hanging judge” for the high number of convictions of crimes punishable by death in his court.Reeves was responsible for apprehending criminals in a 75,000-square-mile region of what is now mostly Oklahoma and Arkansas. Well known for his valor, Reeves killed 14 outlaws and apprehended more than 3,000 throughout his tenure (including his own son) Upon retirement in 1907, he became a city police officer in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While there is no definitive proof of the connection, Reeves is sometimes speculated to have been the inspiration for the fictional character the Lone Ranger.As Oklahoma's mine inspector, union leader, and member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, Peter Hanraty was a tireless advocate for the protection of the workingman in Indian Territory and during early Oklahoma statehood. He was blacklisted for his efforts in Pennsylvania and Ohio, so he traveled to Indian Territory and worked in the most dangerous mines in North America at the time. He was shocked by conditions in the mines. Because the area was not a state, there were no laws protecting miners, and only the most desperate came to what is now southeastern Oklahoma for jobs.A single explosion could kill more than one hundred workers. By experimenting at night when there was no one in the mines, Hanraty found that the coal dust clinging to the walls and ceilings could cause a spark to become a raging fire that ignited huge explosions. Keeping the dust damp contained the fire and prevented an explosion from being so large. His discovery would save an untold number of lives.At the age of 34, Hanraty led a successful strike, and in 1907 at age 43 he was elected vice president of the Constitutional Convention for the new state. He wrote most of the sections in the Oklahoma Constitution dealing with worker benefits, safety, and protection. Hanraty lost both legs in a mining accident but continued to be a true champion of the workingman until his death in 1932 in McAlester.Author and Choctaw Storyteller Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer of Canton, Texas has just released the third novel in her Choctaw Tribune Series — “Shaft of Truth” following “Traitors and “Executions.” This series may be the very best historical fiction ever written that brings to life “the story” and the stories of our region from the arrival of the Choctaw people to Oklahoma Statehood.Specifically, this third in the series “Shaft of Truth”, with the 1881 historic Tobucksy County Courthouse on the cover, the series characters arrive in the Winding Stair Mountains and Wilburton to intersect with criminal outlaws, to Krebs, McAlester, and Savanna to intersect with the coal mines and immigrant coal miners and finally to the doors of the 1881 to present Tobucksy County Courthouse.Sara Elisabeth Sawyer will be in McAlester at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27 on the grounds of the Tobucksy County Courthouse (near North 4th and Krebs Streets) to deliver an author talk and to sign copies of her books. She will also be in McAlester on Friday, Aug. 28 from 10 a.m. to noon at the grand opening of J.J.’s Corner to be located inside The Trading Post at The Whistle Stop Depot at 2700 North Main Street. ................
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