University:
Felician University
Course:
HIST-110 | World Geography and Culture
Academic year:

2019
Views:

33

Pages:

12
Author:

larbiwxcvbn

He built the Oklahoma Mining Company and then shared the profits with the Choctaw Nation. It provided steady income for the tribe for decades. The Choctaw renamed The Crossroads in his honor. Tribes had also known about the territory’s oil springs for centuries, but couldn’t find a use for them. Crude oil was believed to be medicinal, treating arthritis and rheumatism. The invention of the automobile in the 1890s made oil very profitable. Section 2: Law and Disorder The Lighthorse Police enforced tribal laws. Minor offenses were usually punished by public whippings. The most serious crimes ended with execution by firing squad. A condemned man would be released to his family, returning on the day of his execution. Natives honored the practice, because failure to return would brand a man as a coward. According to Plains Indian beliefs, a coward would be denied a home in the Eternal Hunting Grounds. “Firewater,” the Natives’ term for whiskey, caused many problems and was banned from the Territory. Later, white settlers distilled “moonshine,” a clear liquor that was so strong it was often diluted with water and flavored with ginger, red pepper, or molasses. People sometimes carried illegal liquor bottles into the Territory in their high-top boots. These criminals were called “bootleggers.” The flasks, or flat bottles, were hard to detect, since they sat snugly against the leg. From the end of the Civil War to statehood, Indian Territory was plagued with outlaws. Bank robbers, horse thieves, cattle rustlers, and others fled from the law and hid out in the Cross Timbers, caves, and hills. Not all of these outlaws were men. Myra Shirley, known as “Belle Starr,” was tagged as “The Bandit Queen” in the newspapers. She and her Cherokee husband Sam Starr had a homestead in Briartown (near Tahlequah) that became a safe haven for criminal gangs. Like other outlaws of this era, Hollywood was fascinated by her life, and made a movie about her in 1941. This is the real Belle Starr. A former bushwhacker named Jesse James became a bank robber and often hid out in Indian Territory, even though he did most of his “work” in Kansas and Missouri.