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Alexander, J.F.
Post Office: Sulphur, OK
Field Worker: John F. Daugherty
Date: July 15, 1937
Interview: # 4869
Address: Sulphur, OK
Born: September 23, 1870
Place of Birth: Texas
Father: Paul Alexander, born April 5, 1842 in Mississippi
Mother: Elizabeth Coates, born August 2, 1846 in Mississippi
My father was Paul Alexander, born April 5, 1842 in Mississippi.
He was a farmer and stockman.
Mother was Elizabeth Coates, born in Mississippi, August 2,
1846. There were eight children in our family. I was born
September 23, 1870, in Texas. I came to the Indian Territory in a
covered wagon in 1893. I crossed Red River at Brown's Ferry near
Thackerville, and settled three miles south of Ardmore.
I lived there four years and moved to Troy in Johnston County.
I was the first postmaster at Troy. The mail came from Tishomingo
in a cart every day.
There were some cattle thieves living near Troy. One night a bunch
of the good citizens got on their horses, tied handkerchiefs over their
faces and rode to the of these thieves. They slipped a rope
about the neck of one of these as he slept, and awakened him by punching
him in the side with a six-shooter. They took him out to a tree and
hanged him. Then took him down and asked him where the cattle
belonging to a neighbor were located. He would say nothing, so
they pulled him up again, and this time when they let him down he told
them where to find the cattle. They told him if he didn't move the
next day he would be hanged after dark and left him.
As they returned to their s they met his brother-in-law, who was a partner
in the cattle stealing. They caught him and hung him twice and let
him down, but he would
tell nothing. When they returned to the road, the boy's horse was
gone. One of the leaders of this masked bunch took him on his horse
as far as his , then turned his horse over to the boy to ride .
The next morning the boy returned the horse and they moved that day.
When the Frisco Railroad was built in 1901-02 the bed was made with
teams and scrapes. I furnished the beef for Whip Powell's
camp. They had camps from Scullin to Ravia and I
butchered the beef for them all. It took about eight hundred pounds
per day. I butchered early every morning, and had it all delivered
by nine o'clock. There was
no ice to keep it, so they got it fresh each day.
I married Rebecca Cummings in Texas, May 4, 1890. We have six
children. We have lived in Sulphur about twelve years.
Transcribed by Brenda Choate and Dennis Muncrief, November, 2000.
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