Drennen-Scott Historic Site Dedicated $5.5 Million Restoration Project a Joint Effort
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Drennen-Scott Historic Site Dedicated $5.5 Million Restoration Project a Joint Effort Hangin’ Times Boudinot Crumpton Long Journey Home Men Behind the Badges Soldier Buried After 59 Years Lawmen Inspire Nkokheli Vol. 35, No. 2, September 2011 Journal Sept 2011.indd 1 8/13/11 2:01:28 PM MISSION: The mission of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc., founded in 1977, is to publish The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society and through The Journal and other activities to locate, identify and collect historical data; to publish source materials and historical articles, all pertaining to the City of Fort Smith and the immediate surrounding area. Preservation of Fort Smith history is our primary mission and to this end, we always welcome the loan of Fort Smith historical material and will return it promptly. MEMBERSHIP & ORDERS: Journal back issues are QUESTIONS pertaining to the Fort Smith Historical available. Cost for the current issue is $7.50 plus a $2 Society or The Journal should be addressed via e-mail to: mailing charge per copy. Cost for past issues is $4 plus Jerry Akins [email protected] the $2 mailing charge. A composite index for Volumes I Joe Wasson [email protected] through IX is available for $10 plus a $4 mailing charge. Billy Higgins [email protected] Cost for the complete set of Journals, Volumes 1 through Calline Ellis [email protected] 34, is $225. Volumes I and II will be reproduced copies, as these copies are no longer available in original form. VISIT OUR WEBSITE! http://www.fortsmithhistory.org Our website is updated regularly and contains information Membership in the Fort Smith Historical Society on the Organization, Membership, Back issues: How to includes a subscription to The Journal of the Fort Smith order, Tables of Contents of Back Issues, Contacts & Historical Society, which is published semi-annually. Links, Archives, and a Gallery of Historic Images: Views Correspondence concerning current or back issues of of old Fort Smith. The Journal, membership dues, and all business matters, should be sent to: See the Google group, Fort Smith History Forum, for a bulletin board of current research questions. Readers may Fort Smith Historical Society post their own research questions or topics in hopes of Attention: Nancy Ciulla, Treasurer furthering their own research. P.O. Box 3676 Fort Smith, AR 72913-3676 Webmaster: Al Whitson, [email protected] MANUSCRIPTS: Submissions of all types of Fort Smith, Arkansas, related materials including previously unpublished family Bibles, diaries, journals, letters, old maps, church minutes or histories, cemetery information, family histories, and other documents are welcome. Manuscripts, including quotations and footnotes, must be double-spaced, using The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press). Footnotes should be numbered consecutively in the text, assembled at the end of the article, along with a list of any additional sources. The author’s name, address, phone number and e-mail address should appear only on the title page. Manuscripts may be submitted on CD disks, using word-processing programs supported by Windows. Photographs should be duplicates or submitted in digital format, documents should be photocopies, as they cannot be returned. Manuscripts are subject to editing for style and space requirements. All articles and images accepted will become the property of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. unless return is specifically requested. Submit to: Managing Editors The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society P.O. Box 3676 Fort Smith, AR 72913-3676 Neither the Fort Smith Historical Society nor the editorial staff assumes any responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, made by contributors. Journal Sept 2011.indd 2 8/13/11 2:01:31 PM AMELIA WHITAKER MARTIN Journal Editor & Co-Founder 1977-2004 EDITORIAL BOARD: Billy D. Higgins, Editor Carole Barger Wincie Hendricks Steven Kite George McGill Loren McLane Clara Jane Rubarth Contents Bob Willoughby VOL. 35, NO. 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 DESIGNING: News & Opportunities ............................................................................... 2 Cathy Peterson Revamped Drennen-Scott Historic Site Debuts ......................................... 5 INDEXING & PROOFING: By Tom Wing Shelley Blanton Heck Bruner: Deputy U.S. Marshal in Indian Territory ............................... 6 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS: By Robert Ernst Jo Ann Campbell, President George McGill, Vice-President The Men Behind the Badges: Lawmen Inspire Nkokheli ........................... 17 Martha Siler, Recording Secretary By Daniel R. Maher Calline Ellis, Corresponding Secretary Nancy Ciulla, Treasurer Alphonso Trent: Influential Man of Music and Local Legend ..................... 21 Wincie Hendricks, Membership Chairman By Steven Kite Jerry Akins Jimmy Ciulla Long Journey Home: Korean War Soldier Buried After 59 Years .............. 29 C. Girard Jerry Hendricks By Steve Peterson Billy Higgins Bob Worley: A Glimpse in the Rearview Mirror .......................................... 36 Brad Kidder Steven Kite By Bob Worley Keri Powers Dorothy Rappeport Hangin’ Times: Boudinot Crumpton ........................................................... 29 Leita Spears By Jerry Akins Joanne Swafford Rev. U. C. Washington 1911 Newspapers ....................................................................................... 45 Joe Wasson By Wincie Hendricks Rena Westbrook Al Whitson Book Review: The Land Between the Rivers ............................................ 29 Membership in the Fort Smith Historical By Billy Higgins Society includes subscription to The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society, which Index ........................................................................................................... 49 is published semi-annually. Membership year begins January 1 and ends December 31. For membership, send dues with your name COVER: Main photo: A ceremony marked the May 10, 2011, opening of the Drennen-Scott House Historic Site and mailing address to: and Museum. A campus of UA Fort Smith, the site features an interpretation center and tours through the 1836 house of John Drennen. An entrepreneur, Whig politician, and friend of Zachary Taylor, Drennen The Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. also served as agent to the Choctaw Nation. Shown participating in the ribbon cutting, front standing P.O. Box 3676 left to right, are Morril Harriman, chief of staff for Gov. Mike Beebe, Angela Walton-Raji, Janis Beran, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 Caroline Bercher—a descendant of John Drennen, Tom Wing—with scissors, UA Fort Smith Chancellor Paul Beran, UA Fort Smith Provost Ray Wallace. Types of memberships: Lower left photo Johnny Mayberry, image courtesy of Alice Baker Annual. $ 30.00 Lower right photo: Old Fort Days Rodeo Parade, May 28, 2007, Garrison Avenue, Fort Smith. U.S. Senior Citizens (62 or older). .15.00 Deputy Marshal re-enactors, from left to right: Sam Tressler, Baridi Nkokheli as Bass Reeves, and Harold Annual Sustaining. 50.00 Tressler. Photo by Kaia Larsen, Southwest Times Record. Joint Membership with Fort Smith Museum of History. .100.00 © Copyright 2011 ISSN 0736 4261 Annual Business Sponsor. .200.00 by the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. Life (Individual). 350.00 c/o Fort Smith Public Library Journal Back Issues . Each Copy 4.00 3201 Rogers Avenue (For mail orders, add $2.00 mailing charge per copy.) Mailing address: P.O. Box 3676 Composite Index Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 for Volumes I thru IX. 10.00 (For mail orders, add $4.00 mailing charge per copy.) CHANGE OF ADDRESS We welcome the loan of Fort Smith historical Change of address cards are free at your post office. material and will return promptly. If you move, please fill one out and send it to: P.O. Box 3676 • Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 The Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. is a nonprofit organization under Sec. 501 (c) (3) No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form, except for of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Gifts brief excerpts for review purposes, without the consent of the editors of and legacies are tax deductible. The Journal. 1 Journal Sept 2011.indd 3 8/13/11 2:01:32 PM News & Opportunities Fort Smith Historical Society information check the park’s website at www.nps. Awarded FSACF Grant gov/fosm. The Fort Smith Historical Society received a *** Giving Tree Grant of $500 from the Fort Smith Area Fort Smith Historical Society Community Foundation in April 2011. The Fort Smith Area Community Foundation, a Sets Quarterly Meeting local office of the Arkansas Community Foundation, Wednesday, October 13, 2011, 6:00 p.m. makes grants to improve the quality of life in our The Fort Smith state and collaborates with individuals, families, and Historical Society organizations to build local communities through will hold its philanthropy. quarterly meeting This funding was made available for use with on Wednesday, our oral history project, The History of the African October 13, 2011, American Churches in Fort Smith. This project is at 6:00 p.m. in the ongoing with interviews of local residents, church Fort Smith Public members, and the ministry. For information, please see Library Community our website, www.fortsmithhistory.org. Room, 3201 Rogers Avenue. The *** program, presented by George McGill, Fort Smith National Historic Site will be “History Marks 50th Anniversary Makers, the Legacy of Leaders in the Belle Point and the buildings and grounds around