Indian
Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: Feb. 14, 1938
Name: James P. Denton
Post Office: Stringtown, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1872
Place of Birth: Arkansas
Father: W. F. Denton
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Adaline Geer
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Etta D. Mason
Interview: 12972
Boggy Depot,
Fifty-five Years Ago
I was born in Arkansas in
1872. My father was W. F. DENTON and my mother was Adaline GEER, both from
Texas. My father came to the Indian Territory when I was very small and located at
Boggy Depot. He was a tenant farmer and rented the land by permit. We were
only allowed a certain amount of stock but were not restricted on the kind of crop we
planted. Father raised more cotton than any other kind of crop, for cotton was the
main money crop. We rented our land from Peter MATUBBY.
Cyrus KINGSBURY’s mother
taught a school three miles from Boggy Depot and a few white children were allowed to
attend. I attended this school. I remember one incident connected with this
school. There were five white children in the school and each morning the whites and
Indians would have a real battle before Mrs. Kingsbury arrived. One morning one of
the Indian boys grabbed my new hat and tore it in two pieces and threw it on the
ground. Of course there was a fight and Mrs. Kingsbury arrived in the middle of the
fighting. She took me into the house and with great care and many small stitches
mended my hat and told me that there would be no more fighting. We wondered how she
knew, but the next morning when the fighting began a tall muscular Indian stepped out of
the bushes back of the house with a long cane in his hand. He seized the first boy
in reach of his arm and shook him then gave him one stroke with the cane and said in a
calm voice “Boy, behave yourself.” Each boy who was fighting, whether
white or Indian, received the same advice. That was the end of the fighting.
Julius FULSOM owned the tall bridge
over Boggy at Boggy Depot and my father operated the bridge for him. Father got half
of the profits from the bridge. Later he was killed by Fulsom. No one ever
knew why. There were no witnesses.
After the shooting, Fulsom went to
Joe WARDS and told Joe that he had shot Denton. When Ward got to the bridge Denton
was dead.
Friends of my father said that
Fulsom cried all night after the shooting because he had killed his best friend.
Both men were bad tempered and Fulsom claimed they disagreed about the money.
