Show CONTEST IN COURT OVER OYER THE FAMOUS CHOCTAW STRIP Former Refuge of Outlaws Where Men Were Hanged S in Border Days Fort Port Smith Ark March 25 The state stute circuit court of Arkansas to today today today day granted an appeal to the United States supreme court in the oase growing out of the contest to determine whether what is known as the Choctaw strip is a part of Oklahoma or Arkansas The Choctaw strip is twelve miles long and two miles wide and adjoins Fort Smith It was a part of the Indian Territory allotted to the Choctaw Indians but later was ceded to Arkansas by Congress so the local authorities could have police jurisdiction over it The strip had become a refuge for I outlaws and during the border days men were hanged there thereafter thereafter I after being sentenced by the Arkansas I courts By a decision of the UnitI States circuit court here on December 28 1908 1905 the strip was taken away avay from I Arkansas because the state had failed to accept the land by constitutional amendment The Oklahoma constitutional conven convention convention convention tion adopted a resolution declaring the tho tholand theland theland land to be a part of Oklahoma William Bowman under sentence to tobe tl tobe be hanged in Fort Smith on April 8 S for criminal assault ss was today granted a reprieve Bowmans Bowman crime was wa com corn I mUted in the strip and the contest this land had bad a bearing Maring Upon the grant grantIng granting It C Ing of th the reprieve I |