Show i I II Exploits Pussyfoot of johnson I a f 9 Gleaning G jp d. d 3 Territory v r-v JL 0 Y 1 I t l i At t an editors editor's desk in Westerville othere f there sits a n man of about aboul two tt two preparing the outs lay-outs of a aIn In of temperance magazines and 3 SSI a His head bead is as bald b d asan asanI as an n nI I I gog gg and it would surprise anyone who t tc ed tid Just met him and andas was as listening toe to Q e editors editor's gentle timid half-timid accents j know that the several indentations 1 ithe the top of it come from revolver implanted there during a l He l in a n courtroom somewhere ine in exas e when the said editor was 1 sown as the most sensational newspaper news news- paper leper detective west of the f i ppl pI k E William WilHam Eugene Johnson is a ai i born bad man That his aci ac- ac i i viti s have hare always been een enlisted on Behalf of good citizenship is probably In accident due to early training andT and Environment T Picture a a. man of about bout tx feet teet three b by four feet in diameter fl S n elon elongated elongated flour barrel with musi mus- mus les i es bulging out all over him tl the e face facea I fa a bandit utter fearlessness a a. love lovelli f fighting surpassing an Irishman's strain of or Indian blood that makes l im lm as tenacious and resolute as a af f blood lull blood il-blood and andone one governing principle pl That is Johnson iTha Tho The governing principle is this Save ave the Indian from the bootleggers fi who ho o are debauching them with illicit Alcohol Johnsen is a stanch temperance te perance man but t no fanatic It is only when Ji his S brothers blood-brothers the Indians are I 1 ruined ined by rum that you can see the theman's theman's mans man's moral indignation aroused to toh the h point of fanaticism For six years years he ti fought a battle in the West on be beaU half aU of the governments government's wards that has S never been equaled in strenuous I activity The tale of his exploits is iso b o here re to be set out in full for the firsth first h time lime ne In August 1906 at the suggestion l of Commissioner Francis E. E Leupp 1 Johnson was Vas appointed by Secretary Hitchcock to be special agent in Indian Indian In In- dian I n Territory for the purpose of stamping out the sale of intoxicants to Indians In 1908 he was made chief g oF the service and after Oklahoma achieved statehood his duties were extended to cover all the Indian reser- reser w throughout the country AGo iGo Go down there were Johnsons Johnson's instructions instructions in in- and put as many bootleggers bootleggers bootleg bootleg- gers gers and illicit whisky sellers out of b business sIness as you can Put them in iI jail for r as long as you are able and and when they get out throw them back again H I Johnson arriving at t the steno cene of operations found four courts courts and eight judges with criminal cases cases ses awaiting trial It was evident l that at he might kick his heels till tm judgment judgment judg judg- ment day so far tar as bringing criminals t to trial was concerned He found round his deputies bulldozed and disheartened and at by the grog land If That was where Johnson began i His first move was to make the best collection of so-called so te temperance perance drinks drinks' used for debauching Indians that was ever assembled He t up bottIes bottles of Uno Ino J Longhorn Waukesha N New e State Meth Teetotal Tin op Pablo etc Ana a had them submitted to expert analysis analysis a Every Everyone one of them proved i to be beer highly eh charged with alco aleo- 1 hol Johnson went before various grand juries with this evidence and the grand juries smiled and voted no bill That spurred Johnson He gave out outa a signed statement to the newspapers that he was going away for a few tew days and that on his return he was going to Carrie Indian Territory He posted spotters at all points where beer or whisky could enter the territory thus actually blockading it Then gathering a band baud of deputies around him and armed with a big six six- shooter a steel hammer and a jImmy jimmy jimmy jim my for prying op open n cases coffins etc he returned And that was the beginning of real warI warI warI war I was shanghaied by Mr Leupp into the job of leading this ent enterprise says Johnson I marveled somewhat at taking the job as I knew what it meant if anything real was under under- taken I gathered together a band of fellows fel- fel fellows fellows fel fel- lows who felt much as I did and who were ready to take a chance with me And for 14 months flying beer bottles midnight shooting affairs burning gambling outfits and broken heads followed At the end of the period an astronomical astronomical astronomical astro astro- reckoning showed that we had destroyed bottles of liquor burned out 75 gambling houses and made 1142 arrests Fresh mounds of earth marked the r resting sUng pla places es of four of my boys who had bad been killed in the campaign Another carried a bullet in his neck and most of us carried scars of one sort or another There has been something doing We have not been very tender in our dealings with these hyenas who would get an Indian drunk so as to rob him of his blanket Nothing but the unrelenting cold steel of absolute justice will have any effect on the cuticle of such There is no quarter asked or given and no no sympathy y wasted Fasted I have never invoked the law against a man for making an assault on me or attempting my life Tulsa I. I T. T was the scene of the first hostilities Numbers of gamblers had flocked into that city across the Texas line and had made arrangements arrangements arrangements arrange arrange- ments with the city council to open gambling houses on payment of a afine afine afine fine of The inevitable crowd of bootleggers and whisky peddlers followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed them Shortly before midnight Johnson accompanied by three trusted deputies Sam Cone Ed T. T Egan and Frank West who was a half-breed half Creek Indian Indian Indian In In- dian slipped into Tulsa Their movements movements movements move move- ments were so swift and sudden that the terrorized citizens believed that Johnson had a whole army at his back For four hours the he town was in ina ina ina a a fever of excitement Three gambling houses were burned out the flames reaching as high as the tops of the tallest buildings Only one man offered offered offered of of- resistance This was a notorious notorious no no- notorious bad ad man named Bill Burke who armed himself and threatened to drive the raiders out of the town This added some zest to Johnsons Johnson's enjoy enjoy- ment He at once turned his prisoners over to his assistant and taking a magazine rifle started down the middie middle middle mid mid- dle die of the street to give battle to the terror Covered with sweat and It ii i h fl I Id d Ir 4 I tl 1 1 ti c I Id d I t 1 I j e t tI t i 1 13 i I I td I Ls L Ti J s DROP IT SAID JOHNSON i. i v 1 In Five Years by Grit Courage Ingenuity and Bulldog Tenacity He Wiped Out the Gamblers and Whisky Peddlers From Every Indian Reservation Reservation Remarkable Remarkable Narrative Th That t Rivals Deeds of Old Fronti Frontiersmen HE E Sf ARTS TO CARRI THE Lt JOINTS With Three Trusted Deputies He Suddenly Descends on Tulsa and Fires Fires' Three Gambling Houses Raids Houses Raids Other Tov Towns hs and Puts Crimp in Gambling and Saloon Business mud the blood streaming down his clothes from a wounded hand Big Johnson must have presented the appearance lap lap- ap appearance of a walking Eiffel tower th that t had been thrown down and nd picked up again Bill Burke cast one glance at this awful apparition jumped on his horse without waiting to saddle it orto orto or orto to put on his coat and made for the woods at full gallop Johnson likes Tulsa He raided it three times It is said that when whenever ver business was slow he stirred up Tulsa He left town immediately giving out outa a story th that t he intended to go t to ts another another another an an- other part of the Territory Wand and slipped back again a alone one and unde und Meanwhile Dick Borden a noted gambler gave 3 a hurry order toa toa to toa a furniture emporium which had some new furniture and gambling paraphernalia paraphernalia paraphernalia nalia shipped post haste to Borden Borden's s new place above Tate Bradys Brady's store Borden established poker and crap tables a faro wheel a roulette wheel hung mirrors on the walls put in electric electric electric elec elec- fans and rigged out a buffet for his customers About 30 gamblers were playing when in walked Johnson and Deputy Mar Marshal hal Booth The gamblers took look one look at Johnson Johnson Johnson John John- son and sprang for the back window leaping out upon the roof of an adjoining adjoining adjoining ad ad- joining building Johnson jumped after them and drove them all back firing a few shots at their feet to show he meant business They rushed back to be confronted by Booths Booth's revolver and surrendered Cash bonds having been deposited for their appearance incourt Incourt In Incourt court next day one of the gamblers seized the roulette wheel and ran I with it down a hallway Johnson went I after him and floored him with a blow blow from om his fist Another seized the wheel and threw it out of a window into an alley where a third caught it Then he glanced up as a com command and to see Johnson covering him with his six Drop It said Johnson The gambler dropped it Johnson did not rest on his laurels In pairs he sent his men to cover all aIr the towns in the surrounding terri terri- tory At Sam Cone seized two trunks full of whisKY which had been shipped as baggage That night while he was lodged in the house of Dr Mann a gang of negroes assembled outside and began firing through the windows window One bullet grazed Cones Cone's hand and another pierced his clothes but the two men went after the the- P a negroes drove them away wit with wit u a ar af well-directed well fire and captured two of them Through an underground wire Johnson learned that a man at Muskogee Musko- Musko Muskogee gee named Stewart had received a big consignment of liquor Taking Deputy Deputy Deputy Dep Dep- uty he searched Stew Stewarts Stewart's rt's house without results until 15 cases of whisky were discovered behind a a. secret panel Johnson pulled Stewart out of bed and found a 3 bottle of cham ham Please dont don't break that pleaded Stewart I got it for my wife who Is very ill Johnson who is a humane man went downstairs and found Mrs Stew Stew- art at the family wash tub I guess your wife needs soup more than champagne said Johnson as he smashed the bottle Between Tulsa and Sapulpa Johnson came up upon n two teams tin in in the road He stopped the first w wagon gon whereupon the driver of or the second wagon leaped from his scat seat scat and ran to c cover er The rhe first wagon was was f full ll of tanks and bot bot- Johnson drew his hrs trusty ax but the driver let out so wild a peal of terror terror terror ter ter- ter- ter that Johnson paused For say For for say This wagon Is load load- loaded ed with nitroglycerine shouted the driver We aro are on our way to the Sapulpa oil fields to shoot shoat a well Investigation gation proved that this story I was true The Tho second wagon contained contained contained con con- the whisky which was soon put putout putout putout out of commission while the team was taken for public sale Such methods practically drove the liquor men nen out of business for not only was their money money gone but their liquor had been destroyed and Johnsons Johnson's Johnsons Johnson's Johnson's Johnsons John John- sons son's blockade effectively prevented their obtaining a further supply at profit profitable ble prices When Johnson got through with Indian Territory the retail retail retail re re- tail price of a flask of whisky had risen from 25 cents to 3 Johnson did not stop when he had accomplished hed the first part of Ills his du du 11 ties As has been said Texas was the jumping off place for formost most of the gams gam biers and bad men who had infested Indian Territory Johnson went over the border to Sherman and here he pulled off a coup which gave him the reputation of ot being the nerviest man in th Southwest In fact tact his deed is believed to be without without parallel parallel outside of or dime novel noyel fiction I There was a certain establishment known to be be both a a. l liquor quor Joint and anda a gambling house but it was almost impossible to get into the place without with without without out being known and once in it was practically impossible to obtain evIdence evidence evidence evi evI- dence that would convict for the law required a man to be identified before he could be convicted of the sale of liquor Going to the building Johnson found a guard posted He e talked his way I past him with his natured good good natured I smooth Yankee accents and went on till he met another guard He talked his way past him also and met a a. third guard The third guard after cross cross- questioning him admitted him to an inner door which was was locked A voice on the other side demanded to know know what Johnson wanted and I have havea Im from the Territory a ten-dollar ten thirst said Johnson Well Vell if youre you're thir thirsty ty come como in answered the voice The door was unlocked unlocked unlocked un un- locked and Johnson found a fourth guard behind it He went further and came to a place where about men men were gamb gambling ing and engaging in various various vari vari- ous amusements At the far end was a bar where drinks of all sorts except soft were being served The bartender wore a mask and was dressed in a Mother Hubbard so that the only way in which he c could uld be identified would be beby beby beby by his production in court yours he inquired red of John John- son Old rye answered Johnson The bartender placed the bottle upon the bar As he stooped forward Johnson whipped off ort his mask and pulled his two Colt revolvers youre o re under arrest he said Jerking him across the bar he marched him through the midst of the astounded gamblers opened the locked door passed the four tour guards who who- who were were still too much confused to realize that there was only one raider and took him to the lock lockup Shortly after this a man In a smalltown small smalltown smalltown town near Okmulgee sent word to Johnson that if he be came to his town to start anything he would kill him himon himon himon on on sight This was the sort of ot situation situ situ- that always tickled Johnson and he met it in his characteristic way After making inquiries he learned that the man knew of him only by reputation ion and by photographs pub pub- in the newspapers newspapers' Accordingly According According- ly Johnson changed his appearance as as much as possible which possible which was not much much got got on a horse and rode to to- the town where he at once made for the saloon It was wide open and apparently apparently apparently in a prosperous condition yours inquired the letter- letter writer Old rye answered Johnson The proprietor who had a Colt 45 in ea each h hI hip pocket turn turned d his back to Johnson for a moment to get the bottle Johnson leaned over tho the bar and with each hand deftly extracted one of the revolvers Then he arrested the tho man at the point po nt of his own w weapons apons and marched him away At the beginning of his career various various vari vari- various ous epithets were applied app to Johnson Whisky Johnson and Pale Ale Johnson were familiar sobriquets But after atter this sensational exploit he was known as Pussyfoot Johnson This appellation clung to him and in every state where an Indian reservation exists exIsts exists ex ex- ex- ex ho he Is known today only under that Ut Johnson worked almost invariably invariably ably at night |