"The Town of Hate" Is Dead

Oklahoma, 1920
----------
"THE TOWN OF HATE" IS DEAD; TOO MANY FEUDS, NO CHURCHES

WATONGA, Okla., May 20. -- Hate killed Ferguson, Blaine County, Oklahoma.

Fifteen years ago, a town of 1,000 people, having a large salt factory, a gypsum plant, and shipping facilities. Ferguson today is dead. By order of the Postoffice Department, the office has been closed and soon the railroad will be discontinued, with trains running only to Hitchcock.

Ferguson is said to have died fighting as it had lived. People were supposed to have hated each other, and main street fights were common. West of town, alleged outlaws "Yeager" and "Black" had their rendezvous, from where in early morning, they are said to have stolen horses and cattle of farmers and citizens, and then sought safety among the canyons and hills.

The Cyclone saloon still flares out its sign, but its proprietor has set up business in another city. The building is used as a barn, the Cyclone was the scene of many brawls.

The song "Oklahoma" was written at Ferguson. Mrs. Guy Camden, the author, frequented the city and the mountainous vicinity. Other poets and composers once lived in Ferguson.

Inhabitants claim that there never was a good thing done for Ferguson, alleging that strife, hatred, and opposition led to its downfall. Ferguson never had a church, nor talk of a church. The only schoolhouse in its history would not seat more than twenty-five children.

Wrongs were not punished, it is said, and people were permitted to run rampant.

The town of hate is dead.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 1.