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Levite's Leaven Number Five
The following article appeared in the Watonga Republican when Thompson Ferguson's term as Territorial Governor ended and he and his family returned to their home town and the almost brand new house they had left in January of 1901.
Fergusons made triumphant return home from capitol in Guthrie in 1906
A Kindly Greeting
Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson Given a Rousing Reception.
The following account of the return home of Governor and Mrs. Ferguson was furnished by a special correspondent selected by the citizens of
Watonga, through the executive committee, viz: D.J. Martz, Victor Payne, C. E. Malcomb, J.C. Fisher and W. R. Kelly:
The homecoming of Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson was the occasion of a royal reception such as come only from the hearts of a loving and
appreciative people. Hundreds of the county’s representative people, together with scores of prominent men and women from other parts of the territory, assembled to honor the man, who, in the midst of political
trials and difficulties, has kept himself unspotted by the world, administering the affairs of the territory fearlessly and honestly.
Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson, accompanied by ex-Delegate Flynn, arrived at Enid at 11:30 a.m. Enid citizens had arranged for a reception and fully
500 Enid people, together with the Enid band and a delegation from the governor’s home county met the party at the station. Amid cheers and shouts the governor was escorted to a platform and introduced by Hon. Jud
Cullison, acting as mayor. Gov. Ferguson thanked the citizens for the demonstration in his honor, and said that, coming as it did, he recognized it as a heart-felt expression of good-will and esteem. At the
conclusion of his speech the governor was cheered vociferously. The reception committee and other representative citizens of Enid formed a double line in the south room of the depot, and for more than a half hour
the governor and Mrs. Ferguson received the people as they passed through.
Through the efforts of Hon. J. C. Fisher, chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Blaine County, the citizens of Okeene secured a
special train at Enid. The car was handsomely decorated with flowers, bunting and flags, and on the outside of the governor’s car were banners, bearing the inscriptions: “T.B. Ferguson, the Enemy of Grafters,” and
“The People will Reward your Honesty.”
The special left Enid amid the cheers and shouts of the hundreds assembled, and at the several stations along the route, large crowds were
gathered to greet the governor.
At 1:30 the special reached Okeene, chairman Fisher’s home. A banquet was given at the Hotel Hutsel. Covers were laid for 100.
Hundreds were assembled at the station and for two hours people streamed into the hotel to meet the governor and Mrs. Ferguson, and ex-Delegate Flynn. The hotel was gaily decorated and the portraits of Lincoln,
Roosevelt, Fairbanks and the governor were hung among the floral decorations. During the banquet music was furnished by the Enid orchestra. The Okeene people spared no pains to make the reception a royal one.
At the governor’s hometown the demonstration lasted for two hours.
Thousands of people thronged the streets. As the train drew into the station, the shouts were almost deafening. Men shouted and threw their hats into the air, women cheered and waved their handkerchiefs. The governor, Mrs. Ferguson and ex-Delegate Flynn were escorted to their carriage, and a procession, headed by the Watonga and Hitchcock bands, and followed by company F.O.N.G., marched to the opera house.
The address of welcome was delivered by Hon. D.J. Martz, a prominent Blaine County democrat. Gov. Ferguson was then introduced.
After thanking the people for the reception tendered to him, the governor said that he appreciated their manifestation of friendship, for he knew it was from the hearts and sincere. “If this demonstration had been
as I was going into office,” he said, “I should understand it differently.”
Continuing, he said, “I would rather have the confidence of the people than prove recreant to the trust they have imposed in me and meet with the approval of irresponsible politicians. During my administration I have had some experience with the politicians – men who wanted to do certain things which to me were questionable – things which would be a blot and libel on the fair name of Oklahoma.”
The governor referred briefly to the demand made upon him to recommend a certain person for an official position, and his refusal to
recommend him because he knew him to be an unfit man. “I would rather come back to this people,” he continued, “knowing as I do that I have done my duty as I saw it, than to be in favor with the politicians who are
trying to ignore the rights of the people. The work of reform has just commenced in this territory. The people are determined to have better and cleaner things in politics and the administration of public affairs.
Last fall we heard the mighty, mighty tramp of a people in the Buckeye State, and a certain party, once having a majority of 200,000, went down in crushing defeat. In Ohio it was a rebuke to a corrupt political
machine, and the same has been true in New York and elsewhere. The people of Oklahoma demand the same kind of government as the people of Ohio and elsewhere have demanded, and the mighty, mighty tramp of this people
will be heard. There is too much good sense and good judgment among the people of Oklahoma to permit the building of a corrupt political machine such as existed in these other states.”
Ex-Delegate Flynn was introduced as the best and greatest man Oklahoma ever had in congress. As the ex-delegate stepped to the front of the
vehicle from which he spoke, he was cheered long and loudly. After relating his first experience in Blaine County as a politician, he said: “Tom Ferguson was always at my right hand when the battle for
people’s rights was on.”
He referred briefly to the appointment of the governor and then continued: “When Tom Ferguson went to the capital to assume the office of governor, he went there to look after all of the people’s rights alike. He did his whole duty, and he returns to you today with no more laurels than he had when he left you; for his administration has been characterized by the same honesty, the same integrity as was his every act before he became a public officer. I wish I could say as much of all the officials of Oklahoma. ... And no man that I know of, unless it be a politician, can say aught of his administration as governor. How pleasant it must be to Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson to return to their home after an absence of four years, and know that the hand of no man is raised against him, but the hand of that man whom Tom Ferguson nominated for congress. ... I believe the people should be allowed to say who they want in office. I don’t believe that certain politicians should say who is a Republican and who is not, and I don’t believe that when a man refuses to graft he should be kicked out by these politicians. ... Since Gov. Frantz’s appointment I have had a talk with the President [Roosevelt], and the president said that Gov. Ferguson was not allowed to retire because of any fault in his administration. “His administration was a grand one,” said the president, “and one that we are all proud of.” Certain interviews of certain gentlemen, reflecting discredit on the administration of Gov. Ferguson were published soon after the change was announced; and it affords me pleasure to say that those interviews were forgeries; for in the presence of the president I heard Gov.Frantz deny them.”
At the conclusion of Mr. Flynn’s speech, Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson were presented with a handsomely engraved set of resolutions. The
presentation speech was made by Hon. Victor Payne. The speech was a severe arraignment of the professional politician and his corrupt methods. Payne declared that the time had come when the people were demanding
better things in politics, and spoke of the demonstration in honor of Gov. Ferguson as an endorsement of official integrity and civic righteousness.
The program arranged for the afternoon, which could not be carried out on account of the opera house being too small to accommodate the
immense throng of people, was rendered in the evening. At 8 o’clock the auditorium was crowded by an enthusiastic but attentive audience. The stage was handsomely decorated for the occasion with the word
“Welcome” on a banner suspended above the rear of the stage. D.J. Martz presided. Rev. Ward pronounced the invocation, which was followed by an address of welcome by Mr. Martz. The male quartette then sang an
original song of welcome and were encored. A pleasant feature of the exercises was 11 little girls attired in white, each carrying a bouquet of carnations, which were gracefully presented to Gov. and Mrs. Ferguson.
This was followed with brief addresses by Messes. F. W. Hoyt and Prof. Wyatt of Okeene, J. P. D. Mouriquand of Homestead, W. O. Woolman and Gov. Ferguson.
(Reprinted from Jan. 25, 1906, Watonga Republican; submitted by Mark Moore)
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