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Caddo Co. OK - Newspaper
The Caddo County Times
Submitted By:  Sandy Miller
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The Caddo County Times
March 31, 1902
front page 

THE PEOPLE's DEAD 
Many citizens are not aware that the sacred remains of our loved ones
are dumped promiscuously in a common potters field. In the present
condition no person can own any ground or have any rights. Strangers of
all ranks and nationality are buried promiscuously so that when a second
death occurs in a family the graves of unknown persons are between those
of members of the sorrowing family. No person can enclose or beautify
the resting place of a loved one without xpending money on the graves of
strangers. It will be necessary to take up all the remains at great
expense before they can be grouped in families. the epartment of the
Interior generously set apart 40 acres on the N.E. of 28-7-10 for a
cemetery for Anadarko and notified the Commercial Club of said action.
The committee appointed by the club was arranging to have a portion of
this ground surveyed, staked and platted. The writer of this talked with
surveyer Jones who expressed a readiness to do the work at once. About
this time the city unfortunatel was placed under the control of a
council wholy incompetent to manage the affiars of the city. The
Commercial Club turned the matter over to the council and impatiently
awaited the action of that body. the council, however, never showed any
courtesy to the Secretary of the Interior for this gift nor any interest
in the welfare of the city. It was hoped that when they were through
with naming a street for their presiding officer and a few other streets
as a blind and had voted themselves good and sufficient salaries to take
them through the winter, that they would give this important matter due
consideration, but they preferred to figure on franchises, hold star
chamber sessions and see how many frog ponds they could make on the
public streets. 
The club then appointed a committee of one to wait upon the mayor and
urge him to accept the cemetery ground and have a sufficient part of it
platted and arranged for the use of the city. He promised to attend to
the council but nothing has been done. 
It is rumored that the government may now make other disposition of the
land, and, if so, all the dead must be removed and the city taxed to
purchase cemetry privileges on some homestead or allottment. Fully four
months after the mayor and council had been repeatedly urged to give
this matter prompt attention attention, an article appeared in the
Democrat announcing in substance, that through the influence of the
editor and Col. Randlett 40 acres had been secured for cemetery purposes
and the ladies of Anadarko were asked to go to work at once to raise
money to beautify the grounds. 
The ladies of Anadarko are always willing and anxious to do their part
of the work but it is but little short of an insult to ask them to do
what is plainly the duty of the city council to attend to.