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Biographies
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BEN B. BURNEY
A great deal of history is connected with the name of Burney in Oklahoma, as there is also about the names of Cheadle, Overton, Harris, Byrd, Guy and Maytubby in the old Chickasaw Nation, for Ben C. Burney, father of the county treasurer of Marshall County, was one of the several governors of the Chickasaw Nation. Governor Burney, who has been dead for several years, was born in Louisiana while his parents were en route from Mississippi to Indian Territory during the historic migration of the Indian tribes. For many years he was one of the leading men of the nation and once was a delegate from that nation to Washington, District of Columbia. He was a full-blooded Chickasaw and possessed much of the sort of talent that made the government of the Chickasaw Indians probably the best ever conceived and conducted by red men.
County Treasurer Ben B. Burney, of Madill, Oklahoma, was born in 1881, near the present Town of Aylesworth, eleven miles east of Madill. His mother, who was also of Indian extraction, was before her marriage Miss Louisa Alberson. Mr. Burney's education was acquired in Harley Institute, at Tishomingo, an institution conducted by the Chickasaw Government, and in the public and high school at Pottsboro, Texas. After finishing his education at Pottsboro, he returned to Indian Territory and for five years conducted a ranch at Cumberland in Marshall County, and after statehood, in 1907, was selected as deputy county clerk of Marshall County, a position which he held for two years. In 1914 he was elected county treasurer, having for the democratic nomination defeated Miss Ava Milner, of Madill by seven votes. He took possession of the office, July 1, 1915.
Mr. Burney has one brother and one sister: Paul E., who was formerly county clerk of Marshall County and is now assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Woodville; and Mrs. R. E. McGaugh, who is the wife of a farmer and stockman at Aylesworth. Mrs. W. M. Archerd, of Lynn, Marshall County, Oklahoma, and Mrs. J. J. McAlester, of McAlester, Oklahoma, wife of a former lieutenant-governor of the state, are sisters of Governor Burney, and E. S. Burney, of Chickasaw, is a brother.
Mr. Burney is a member of the local lodge of the Woodmen of the World, and is one of the county's most progressive young men. He belongs to that interesting class of native sons to be found in Oklahoma, a class that is helping to make the state more prosperous and cultured. It is especially interesting, as well as fitting, that the son of a former governor of the Chickasaw Nation should be engaged hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder with the white man in the conduct of the business of government. Mr. Burney has shown his faith in the future of his state by investment in property, is an active agriculturist and is the owner of a valuable farm in the vicinity of Aylesworth, Marshall County.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn - Submitted by Barb Ziegenmeyer]
CHARLES A. COAKLEY
The open range of Indian Territory that for over thirty years was common to the early cattlemen, developed among a certain class a passion for theft, the inspiration for which was furnished by the comparative ease with which a man could round up cattle, place his mark and brand upon them and count them for his own. There have been times when this passion, which frequently led to murder, placed disfiguring black spots upon the fair and romantic history of this region, but as the open range became smaller through the establishment of more ranches and the building of fences, this business diminished to the stage of larceny and then followed an era in which men of small caliber vied with each other in the business of cattle theft. Some made a bare living and escaped prosecution; others made small fortunes and with a part of the proceeds of their crimes escaped prison sentences. The accessibility of Texas was an important factor, a small band of thieves could gather up a few cattle here and a few there, between suns, and drive them into Texas and dispose of them without being apprehended. This practice was still common even down to the year of statehood, under which, however, a regime of law and order was established and the men elected to office in the Indian Territory country faced many grave crises in attempting to enforce some stringent laws to which the people of this region had not as yet been subjected.
Charles A. Coakley, who was the second county attorney of Marshall County, found soon after he entered upon the duties of his office that one of his principal duties was the suppression of cattle theft. This was not easy, for the thieves had a thorough mastery of their game. Among them were five men in the southeastern part of the county who had transferred their booty regularly over Red River to Denison where the cattle were sold to a local slaughter-house manager. There was a sort of underground route and along it were men who shared in the proceeds for helping in the transportation of the cattle. Attorney Coakley, when he had advanced far enough in his investigations, caused the arrest of a number of men. He was as courageous as they were '' game'' and his methods were equally as shrewd. They were '' caught with the goods'' and one of their number was induced to turn state's evidence, which resulted in the conviction of several of his companions. The result was that Marshall County was rid of systematic thievery for the first time in nearly half a century. This much, and more, Mr. Coakley has contributed to the history of the great commonwealth of Oklahoma.
Charles A. Coakley was born at Farley, Iowa, in 1884, and is a son of C. C. and Annie (Coleman) Coakley, his father a native of Wisconsin, a farmer and stockman, an early settler of Iowa and now a highly regarded resident of Flandreau, South Dakota. There were six sons in the family: Raymond, Lee and Harold, who are engaged in farming operations in Iowa; Walter, who is a student at Creighton University at Omaha, where in 1914 he was manager of the athletic association of that institution; Manning, who is private secretary to the manager of the Soo Lines at Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Charles A., of this review. Mr. Coakley's maternal grandfather was a soldier during the Mexican war, and during the gold rush to California during 1849 made the long and dangerous trip across the plains in search of the yellow metal.
Charles A. Coakley received his early education in the public schools of Iowa, following which he attended the state university there and later the University of Minnesota, his degree of Bachelor of Laws being secured from the latter institution in 1906. His higher education was acquired with funds which he had earned himself while going through school. In 1908 Mr. Coakley became a stenographer and court reporter in Oklahoma, and in 1909 was admitted to the bar, receiving the highest grade of the class before the Oklahoma State Bar examiners. At the beginning of his practice, Mr. Coakley formed a partnership with F. E. Kennamer, which association has continued to exist save for the two years he served in the capacity of county attorney, an office to which he was first elected on the democratic ticket, and in which he served until 1915. Prior to that time he had established an excellent reputation as city attorney of Madill, where he continues to make his home and practice his vocation. Mr. Coakley is a member of the Marshall County Bar Association and of the Oklahoma State Bar Association, and aside from his profession is identified with the Madill Commercial Club and the Madill Library Association. With his family, he holds membership in the Catholic Church. Not only is Mr. Coakley well known in professional circles, but as a business man and influential democrat, being president of the Democrat Publishing Company which publishes the Marshall County News-Democrat at Madill.
Mr. Coakley was married in 1910 to Miss Elizabeth Langley, of Madill, who is well known in literary and social circles of this city. The inception of the movement at Madill for the establishment of a public library probably was due in greater degree to the efforts of Mrs. Coakley than to those of any other person in the city. Mrs. Coakley, Mrs. J. P. Rierdon and Mrs. M. Scott formed a committee that investigated plans for the library movement, and their efforts put about 600 volumes in the new courthouse as a nucleus. The county commissioners set aside two rooms for library purposes and there became available in 1916 a source of public revenue that assures the library being a permanent institution at Madill.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn - Submitted by Barb Ziegenmeyer]
RAYMOND DANCEL GARY
(1908-1993)
Oklahoma's fifteenth governor was born on January 21, 1908, south of Madill, Oklahoma. The eldest of five children of Daniel and Winnie Edith Gary, Raymond spent his childhood on the family farm near Buncombe Creek. After attending rural schools, Gary went to Madill High School. While riding his horse five miles to school, he was often accompanied by a neighbor, Emma Mae Purser. One year after he graduated in 1927, the two were married. After passing the state teacher's exam, Gary taught for five years at Raborn and Rocky Point in Marshall County. He also attended Southeastern State Teachers College to obtain a life certificate. In 1932 Raymond Gary entered and won the election for Marshall County superintendent. Within four years he obtained an A accreditation for all his schools. Then in 1936 he established the Gary Manufacturing Company to make school and office furniture. Additionally, in 1946 he bought Kingston Commercial Oil and Gas. Renamed Sooner Oil, Gary's company became a major oil and gas wholesaler. He also purchased a 120-acre ranch outside Kingston; the ranch later grew to hundreds of acres. A Democrat and always interested in politics, Gary ran for the Oklahoma Senate in 1932, losing by three hundred votes. Eight years later he handily won reelection. Serving for fourteen years, Gary won wide acclaim for his expertise on appropriations. In 1953, after declaring that he had "a deep desire to serve as governor," he entered the sixteen-candidate field. Initially finishing second to William Coe, he won a solid victory in a bitter runoff. Gary began his governorship on January 11, 1955, by delivering an extemporaneous message that was instantly proclaimed to be one of the best speeches ever delivered before the legislature. The new governor's words focused on his intent to integrate peacefully the state's schools, promote industry, and build roads. Once the ceremony ended, the governor's forces quickly introduced his Better Schools Amendment. Aimed at destroying Oklahoma's constitutionally segregated schools, his omnibus amendment replaced the existing four-mill separate levy for black schools with a common school fund four-mill tax. By ending separately funded schools, districts would be forced to integrate voluntarily, resulting in larger schools with better standards. Quickly voting passage, the legislature recessed so the governor could personally lead a statewide campaign for approval. Knowing that he had staked the "success or failure of my administration," Gary was elated when the voters overwhelmingly voted yes. Oklahoma, therefore, became the only southern state voluntarily to begin to end segregation. Moreover, Gary abolished separate bathrooms and fountains at state buildings. Further, he ended segregation in the National Guard and Crime Bureau. Next, the governor secured legislation creating the Department of Commerce and Industry. Directed by the governor and a citizen advisory council, the new agency's role was to inform the nation about the state's natural resources and its agricultural and commercial opportunities. Using an official state magazine, Oklahoma Today, and other promotions, the department effectively began to publicize Oklahoma's economic and environmental virtues to encourage businesses from around the country and the world to relocate in the Sooner state. Another growth barrier Gary attacked was the state's dearth of good roads. Responding to his wishes, the solons soon appropriated $10 million to begin meeting Gary's goal of twenty-five hundred miles of new or renovated construction. Eventually, the governor's tenure provided an "incredible" total of four thousand miles. Another area he targeted was urban water development. As requested, the legislature created the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to oversee long-range use of the state's waters. Additional farsighted water reform legislation allowed cities to join resources to create water conservation districts. During 1957 Gary happily assisted the Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Commission in celebrating the state's fiftieth birthday. Declaring "every citizen should be proud . . . to live in this great state," the governor opened the Semi-Centennial Exposition in Oklahoma City with a golden tomahawk. The spectacle, which Gary effectively used as a publicity opportunity, attracted the participation of nineteen countries and drew over 1,500,000 visitors. Among many other major achievements, Gary's term brought increases in appropriations for common schools, higher education, old-age assistance, the highway patrol, and mental health programs and hospitals. Serious reforms for the mentally ill soon made Oklahoma's program a model for the nation. When Gary left office, it was well acknowledged that his practical approach to politics and ability to compromise had insured his success. Certainly, his deep knowledge of the intricacies of government astounded both his allies and his opponents. In essence, Gary's remarkable tenure had created a positive picture of Oklahoma's state government, an achievement that greatly enhanced the state's image to the world. If he had done nothing else, the governor's heroic stance on integration had insured a legacy that would live on and inspire others to rid the nation of that particular evil. While Gary never held elective office again, he remained a major influential personality in state and national politics for more than thirty years. Gary died on December 11, 1993, and was buried at Madill.
["Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture"]
GEORGE ALLEN HENSHAW
1867-1947
A young attorney, George Allen Henshaw was born in Stonefort, Illinois on October 2, 1967. He attended the public schools of Illinois and at nineteen entered an academy at Crab Orchard in that state. Though he had chosen law as his profession he taught school in WIlliamson County and adjoining territory for several years until he entered Indiana College of Law, then a department of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana completing his law course in 1894. He practiced law in Illinois until 1900. The new country of the Indian Territory attracted the ambitious your attorney, he came to the town of Madill, which is now the county seat of Marshall County. He began practicing law. He at once showed splendid character and leadership. He was on the Board of Education and in time became president of that body. He was chosen to represent Marshall County as a delegate to the State Convention which drafted Oklahoma's Constitution for statehood. After the conventionhe was appointed Assistant Attorney General under Charles West, and Counsel to the State Coroporation Commission in 1907. He submitted the name Marshall County to the committee in honor of the name of his mother, Elizabeth Ellen Marshall Henshaw, who was a collateral kin to John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, and of Thomas Marshall, a Judge and Congressman from Kentucky. He was elected to the State Corporation Commision in November 1910. He took this place in January 1911 and served with distinction until January 1917. He was honored by Governor Murray by his appointment as a District Judge of the 13th Judicial District of Oklahoma on July 20, 1933. His paternal grandfather was James Henshaw. His grandmother was Carolyn Robinson Henshaw. His first marriage was to Nettie E. Anderson on February 6, 1888 in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois. She died on October 1, 1912 and is buried at Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City. His second marriage was with Lillie Duvall Hays on September 15, 1915 in Oklahoma City.
["Chronicles of Oklahoma"]
WALTER A. HOLFORD
"Fifty Years in the Saddle'' would be an appropriate title for any message to the world, emanating from the life and experiences of Walter A. Holford, of Madill, Oklahoma. Fifty years he was a cattleman. Fifty years the feet of his horses trod a range wider than the boundaries of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, a range that extended from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to the Panhandle of Texas. And out of that range the feet of his horses beat trails to the pioneer market places of Kansas City, St. Louis, Sedalia, Baxter Springs and Shreveport.
Mr. Holford was the first white man to establish a cattle ranch in the Chickasaw Nation. That was in 186.5, after he had returned from four years at the front with the Confederate Army. In a stretch of country as wide north-south as the latitudinal measurement of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, he was the first white man to make permanent settlement between Asoka, Indian Territory, and the Rocky Mountains; the first man to risk his life and fortune in combating the wild tribes of the Comanche and Kiowa reservations against theft, murder and depredations: the first man to announce to the Indians of the Civilized Tribes that the world offered them a market for their livestock. It may be said truthfully that he established the livestock industry of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, and in developing it for half a century the Indians of these nations remained his friends.
The ranch house that he built fifty years ago, six miles west of Madill, remains intact as one of the monuments to an almost unexampled career. The only other early-day improvements made were horse pastures and lots which required the splitting of 30,000 rails. Permission of the United States Government was obtained, through officials of the Indian Agency at Muskogee, for the establishment of the ranch, and the horizon was the only line that marked its territorial boundary. That was before the days of leases on Indian lands, but Holford was welcomed by both the officials of the Government and by the Indians, for they were looking for a man with the business acumen and the courage to occupy the plains and create what for half a century was the most important industry of the Indian Territory.
The first herd of cattle driven to market from the Chickasaw Nation was rounded up by cowboys in Holford 's employ on the site occupied by the Town of Madill. These cattle had been purchased by Holford from the Indians and they were driven to Shreveport. Louisiana, to be there transported by boat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. This trip netted Holford about $2,000. His wagons, drawn by ox teams, accompanied the herd, and returned loaded with clothing, provisions and other necessities, which were traded to the Indians for more cattle. With a medium of exchange established through the finding of a market on the Gulf Coast, the business entered upon a profitable era. The next important drive was made to Sedalia, Missouri, where feeding pens were established and the cattle fattened before placed on the market. This trip and its crowning activities required six months to accomplish, and it netted Holford about $17,000.
Meanwhile, the Katy railroad began pushing southwest out of St. Louis, and the cattle market was brought nearer to the Indian country, Hunnywell, Kansas, and later Baxter Springs, that state, became important points. This road was finally extended to Denison, Texas, and thereafter there were no long drives. Trails of historic interest today had been established, however, and prior to the completion of the railroad they became avenues of commerce for a large part of the southwestern country.
Of still more interest to the history of the Southwest were the activities of Matthew Holford, father of the subject of this story, who established a cattle ranch in Grayson County, Texas, with headquarters on the site of the present Town of Gordonville, in 1850. Matthew Holford. who was a native of Carmiton, Arkansas, and a Presbyterian minister, was among the earliest of all livestock dealers to conceive of the coming importance of the Indian country, and he established himself near to its border. The cattle industry of Texas really had its inception in the Holford ranch. Here Walter A. Holford trot his first experience as a cowboy. From this ranch he went on the first long cattle drives from Texas. St. Louis was then the chief market, and herds of from 750 to 2.000 head were driven there. Until the breaking out of the Civil war two drives wore made every three years from this ranch to St. Louis. From this ranch the junior Holford enlisted as a soldier in the Confederate army as a member of the Eleventh Texas Cavalry, his company's first captain being Bill Cloud, an interesting pioneer of Cooke County. Holford served through the war, taking part in the battles of Shiloh, Pea Ridge fin which he was wounded in the. knee and crippled for life), and Corinth. Mississippi. His regiment was with General Morgan on his celebrated raid into Ohio. After the war closed Mr. Holford returned to his wife, whom he had married during the war. and whom he had left in Grayson County. Later in the year he established his ranch in the Chickasaw Nation and called it the Cross J Ranch.
Westward from the Cross J Ranch lay a stretch of prairie land that merged itself into the Great Plains country, and over this country in that day the Kiowas and Comanches were practically the sole inhabitants. They made raids into Texas and stole thousands of horses and cattle. The opening of the ranch in this territory soon became known to them, and their marauding lines were extended eastward. During a period of twelve years Holford and his little colony of cowboys constituted themselves into an army of defense and they fought many battles with the bold redskins from the west. Altogether these Indians made away with 800 horses from the Cross J Ranch.
One of their principal fights with the Indians took place on the site of the present Town of McMillan, a few miles west of the ranch. Holford and eleven of his men engaged twelve Indians who were armed with guns and bows and arrows. Five Indians and one cowboy were killed while the Indians lost fifteen horses and the whites one man and one horse. The remnant of the band of Indians was chased by the cowboys to the site of the present City of Ardmore, where another fight took place. In this engagement Mr. Holford was slightly wounded in the shoulder, which robbed the cowboys of some of their courage and the white men retired. The Indians retreated without further show of resistance.
Mr. Holford had moved his family to Indian Territory, but for many years had never dared to take them to the ranch to live. He built a magnificent colonial-style home a few miles from the Red River, near to the Burney Institute of Lebanon, which was one of the first Indian schools founded in the Chickasaw Nation. Frequently the marauding Indians came so near this home that the family was precipitately moved over the river to the Gordonsville ranch. For weeks at a time the white men stayed away from the ranch except in daytime, spending their nights in the Holford mansion near the river. At odd times the men fortified the place by setting firmly in the ground long slabs of oak. These were set close and were of such a height that it was impossible to scale them. At intervals portholes were cut and at these men stood guard at night when the Indians were near. Through these holes Mr. Holford and his men watched the redskins, which resulted each time in the retirement of the latter. Finally the Indians learned to fear the leader of the cowboys, and one time he tongue-lashed "a party of them into a retreat without the firing of a single shot.
There was established, probably sometime during the '50s, a United States military post in Indian Territory, known as Fort Cole, which was built on the site of the present town of the same name, in the western part of the state. On the eve of the declaration of war in 1860, Bill Young led a force of some 300 or 400 adventure seeking young men of the cattle plains of North Texas to Fort Cobb to demand its release to the Confederacy. This undisciplined and uniniformed army, not yet a part of the organized Confederate forces, marched upon the post early one spring morning. Captain Young in the name of the South demanded the surrender of the fort. At his elbow, muskets in hand, stood Walter Holford and Sam Murrell, the latter a picturesque pioneer of Cooke County, Texas. The commanding officer offered no resistance. He called his troops in parade form before him and announced that as war was about to be declared, he was going to abandon the post. He said that as some of the men probably were southern sympathizers, he would give them honorable discharges if they desired to join the southern forces. Only fifteen of them left the ranks. Captain Young took possession of all the property of the post save enough ammunition, provisions, and wagons and teams to enable the troops to make their way safely to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis.
Fort Cobb was established for the protection of the frontier settlements against the Indians. The new command had fought Indians in their own country, but never before had been camped high and dry in the heart of the wild Indian country. When dark came they were apprehensive, and among the most apprehensive was Sam Murrell. He was nervous and uneasy—in such a state of mind that when lightning bugs made star sparkles in the firmament of the bushes he leaped to his feet and began peppering them with lead from his musket. Then and during several succeeding hours of the night he was confident that the lights in the bushes were sparks from the flintlocks of the Indians. Other intrepid volunteers of this band of conquering heroes shared in this opinion, so that the establishing of outposts proceeded with fear and trembling. Every man on outpost duty many times during the night made murderous onslaught into the ranks of the fireflies. Slowly, as morning dawned, the deception silently exposed itself throughout the ranks, but during the rest of his life Sam Murrell was known as the hero of the Battle with the Lightning Bugs.
There was a time when Mr. Holford knew every man, woman and child over ten years of ago in the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations. He has been personally acquainted with every governor of these nations, and some of them have frequently been guests for days at a time on his ranch, or in his fine home. He was a friend of Quanah Parker, an early chief of the Comanches, and of Lone Wolf of the Kiowas. He knew more or less intimately Santa Ana and Big Tree, who were among the most intrepid of Comanche leaders when the Indians were in their marauding period. He was the friend of the Indian and the foe of the outlaw and cattle thief. Many times a cattle deal amounted to $100,000, an amount larger than was involved in any other transaction in cattle in the Southwest in the '60s, and he recalls that once ho wrote a check for $60,000 on a bank in Gainesville, in which he had not a dollar on deposit at the time. But it was honored, for the honor of Walter Holford was never questioned. One of the first teachers in Burney Institute, in 1854, was Miss Sallie Holford, his sister, who rode to the school from Grayson County on horseback. She is now Mrs. Richard Litzey of Denton, Texas, and is eighty years old.
Matthew Holford, father of the subject, was for many years a resident of Tennessee, and for four years he was a colonel in the National Guard of the state. His father, John Holford, was a hero of the American Revolution, as was also Walter Alley, Walter Holford's maternal grandfather. Walter Alley Holford was married at Burney's Institute, in 1862, to Miss Amanda Babb, a step-daughter of George D. James, who was of Choctaw descent. Mrs. Holford was the first white child born in Paris, Texas, and she was born on property that had been willed to her by her father before her birth. She became the mother of eleven children, six of whom are living now. Mrs. Jesse Wharton, the eldest child, is the wife of a stockman at Lexington, Oklahoma. Mrs. Amanda Pidcock married a hardware dealer at Vancouver, Washington. Mrs. Arthur Creel is the wife of a hardware merchant of Carnegie, Oklahoma. George M. D. Holford is a land owner and ranchman of Madill, Oklahoma. Matt Holford is engaged in the oil business at Beggs, Oklahoma. W. D. Holford is a traveling salesman and lives in Oklahoma City.
In 1910 Mr. Holford retired from active work, that year marking the completion of his fiftieth year in the saddle. He has his home with his son, George M. D. Holford, in Madill, Oklahoma. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a Mason.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn - Submitted by Barb Ziegenmeyer]
JOHN L. HOLLAND, M. D.
In the course of ten years experience as a physician at Madill, where he was one of the pioneers of his profession, Doctor Holland has been closely associated with both the Indians and white citizens of Marshall County.
Only a few years before he located at Madill the city had been founded in a region of the Chickasaw country that for a generation furnished rest, recreation and rendezvous for many of the bold and bad men who openly violated the law. Soon afterward he was named county physician, an appointment which was remarked throughout the cattle country as an undeniable sign that encroaching civilization had become thoroughly established.
It was as county physician that Doctor Holland had one of his most thrilling experiences, and one which attracted wide attention at the time. Several men of desperate character, charged with the theft of horses and believed to belong to a noted band of thieves, had been confined in the county jail. Along toward midnight following their incarceration one of them reported to the jailer that he was suffering from a chill and feared he would die unless he had speedy relief. The jailer examined the man and was convinced that he was indeed ill. He called Doctor Holland, urging him to make all haste, as the man was suffering intensely. Doctor Holland hurried to the jail. The prisoners were all gathered in an open cell. The jailer, unarmed, unlocked the door and as the doctor stepped in two strong men seized him and pitched him into a far corner. The other men rushed to the door, seized the jailer and flung wide the door. The entire group of prisoners, barring two trusties, made good their escape. It was a dramatic incident in which not a weapon figured, nor was a man injured. The only alarm raised was the cry of the jailer when the escaping prisoners threatened to pinch his arm in twain between the cell door and the door facing. Some of the men who escaped at that moment were not recovered for years.
Doctor Holland's early practice among Indians in Marshall County brought him other experiences that are of a different interest and serve to illustrate old Indian customs. There had been white physicians in the territory fifteen and twenty years before his coming, but modern medicine had not entirely supplanted the Indian Medicine Men. The latter had sullenly opposed the coming of the white doctors and their influence among the tribesmen, especially the fullbloods, and created a strong sentiment against the doctors. Doctor Holland was called one day to attend Gilbert Pickens, son-in-law of I. Hunter Pickens, who was one of the wealthiest and most influential men of the Chickasaw Nation. The red medicine man had had the case, and his herb and root concoction had utterly failed. Pickens was suffering from typhoid fever, and as Doctor Holland approached he saw the patient walking about in the yard. When he entered the house he found Pickens in bed in a state of collapse. He had suffered a severe hemorrhage that must have resulted fatally but for the timely aid Doctor Holland was able to give. This case, it is said, heralded the coming of a change in sentiment toward the pale-face medicine men among the more influential of the red men.
Doctor Holland was born at Era, Cooke County, Texas, in 1878, and is a son of Joshua L. and Agnes (Tripp) Holland. His father, who was a native of Georgia and a Confederate veteran, was an early settler in Cooke County, Texas. The grandfather was a native Georgian and before the war was one of the wealthiest men in his state, owning large plantations, slaves, mills and stores. When he settled in Texas after the war he paid $3.30 an acre for black prairie land that is today worth $150 an acre. Doctor Holland has a brother and three living sisters. R. J. Holland is a farmer at Era, Texas. One sister is the wife of F. W. Williams, a merchant in Myra, Texas; another is Mrs. E. KirkPatrick, wife of a farmer in Cooke County, Texas; and Thelma is the wife of Doctor Reynolds, of Marysville, Texas.
While attending school at Era Doctor Holland made up his mind to become a physician, but this determination met the opposition of his parents, and his medical education was accordingly acquired on his own resources. He graduated from the Era School with an A. B. degree and after a few years in the mercantile business entered the medical department of the Fort Worth College, graduating in 1905. In that year he began the practice of medicine at Madill.
Doctor Holland was married in 1895 at Era to Miss Zona Walker. Their two children are Wilna, aged fourteen, and Mildred, ten years old. Doctor Holland is a member of the Baptist Church of Madill. He is city superintendent of the public health and is a member of the County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. His fraternal connections are with the Masons and with the Woodmen of the World, and in the former order he belongs to the Shrine at Muskogee, the Consistory at McAlester, the Knight Templar Commandery at Ardmore, the Eastern Star at Madill, and the Blue Lodge No. 796 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Era, Texas. For five years he was clerk of the lodge of the Woodmen of the World at Hood, Texas.
[A Standard History of Oklahoma , by Joseph B. Thoburn , 1916 -- Transcribed by Cathy Ritter]
