Former Muldrow man killed by K.C. bootleggers

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 27, 2000, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Wondering what’s going on south of Sallisaw on U.S. Highway 59? Cap-Rock Communications Corp., a telephone service based in Dallas, is building the info-structure for the information super highway, Joe White, construction superintendent of Cap-Rock, said Wednesday.

CapRock, founded in 1991, is a leading provider of telecommunications services in six states in the southwestern United States, specifically, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.

“The fiber lines will make communication in the county a lot stronger,” White said.

White said the installation project in the county will begin at the Arkansas River bridge, then go west along U.S. Highway 64 and then north to Muskogee.

50 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 27, 1975, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The severest storm in recent history swept over Sequoyah County in the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 23. Fortunately no serious injury or damage was reported due to the icy weather.

Snow, fell throughout the day, leaving an estimated 8 1/2 inches piled up around the countryside in a 24-hour period.

O.M. Orendorff, Sallisaw’s friendly weatherman, was unable to find any records to indicate a deeper snowfall. He has been the local weatherman for 45 years.

The closest was in February of 1972 when 7 1/4 inches fell.

The highway patrol reported that over a hundred vehicles throughout the county required assistance Sunday. Tow trucks and wreckers were kept busy all day starting cars and pulling cars out of ditches.

75 Years Ago

(From the March 3, 1950, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The Sallisaw Fire Station at the City Hall is undergoing a minor operation this week as workmen are enlarging the door from 12 to 18 feet to accommodate both fire trucks, according to City Manager, Fred Johnston.

As it is now, he said, both trucks can occupy the building at the same time, but only one could get in and out at a time.

Work started on the door Tuesday morning and is expected to be completed by the middle of next week. The new door, said Johnston, will be of the overhead variety.

The new truck will be ready in about 30 days, he stated.

—Contractor Charles Mattox announced this week that he will eventually build 35 new houses on the east end of Chickasaw Avenue, where he has had grading done recently.

“It will be a new addition to Sallisaw,” he said. “There are 35 lots to build on and I am going to start putting up houses on 10 of them in the near future.”

100 years ago

(From the Feb. 27, 1925, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —George Peters, a former policeman on Kansas City police force and his companion Bert Lovejoy were found brutally murdered in the swamps of the Missouri River, near Kansas City, Sunday afternoon, Peters is the son of W.J. “Billy” Peters a well-known citizen of Muldrow.

The bodies of the missing men, their heads crushed in, their throats cut and the corpses partially consumed by fire, set after gasoline had been poured over them, were found in the heart of the “willows” desolate and sinister hangout for bootleggers and automobile thieves of Kansas City. From the trench in which the bodies were found Peters and Lovejoy had taken 67 five-gallon jugs of illicit whiskey to sell.

It is said Lovejoy and Peters had been implicated with bootleggers, which brought about their death. A former federal prohibition agent was arrested a few days after the brutal murder and the police believe inasmuch as he is a close friend of Peters he will be able to tell something of the liquor ring in which Lovejoy and Peters were involved and in which jealousy and revenge bred murder of the pair. Both murdered men were involved with “other women” according to the development in the case. W.J. Peters, the aged father of one of the victims wired the authorities from his home in Muldrow to ship his son’s body there for burial. Up to press time no word has been received by the father. It is thought that on account of mutilation the body will not be sent, but will be interred in a Kansas City Cemetery.

Peters is well-known around Muldrow and the county seat.

—The auditing firm of Henry and Wright of Muskogee has just completed checking the city books and records kept by Edgar E. Sprinkle who left Sallisaw quite suddenly last month, allegedly with a Sequoyah County girl and with a shortage in his accounts. He had been employed as city clerk for a year or more past, and is said to have told close friends just prior to his untimely departure that he was short in his accounts. The auditors found a discrepancy in the accounts of several hundred dollars, but their final report will not be available until next week. The shortage is amply covered by surety bond, and the bond company will pay the shortage just as soon as claim is made upon them and copy of this report filed. Sprinkle has never been apprehended and no one knows positively of his whereabouts, although rumor has it that he is in the state of Louisiana. The young lady with whom he was supposed to have eloped, returned to her home about ten days ago. No successor has been named by the city manager, and inasmuch as this is not a heavy season of the year, the clerk’s work is being carried on by the manager himself.