The NEWS - Frederick, MD
December 19, 1896
(First published in the Galveston News)

HE WAS ELECTED
________
Campaigning on Horseback With a Jug of Fireworks

"We used to have some grand old times at the Indian elections in the Chickasaw nation," Colonel I. M. Standifer to The News reporter this morning.
"I remember a few years ago I defended a Chickasaw for murder. There was no evidence against him, and I cleared him of the charge, and he made the race for senate in Panola county soon afterward. I formed an attachment for the man and took an interest in his race. I went over to the territory on election day. The voting was done at Rock Springs. What I would term the young Democratic party of the Chickasaw nation was behind my friend, and in those days it was no great crime to have whisky in the territory, so that men backing my friend had supplied the natives with plenty of the "sinews of war," in the shape of the best brands of liquor. There was a law in the territory against the Indians having whisky, but the only punishment for the crime was to find the liquor in their possession and break the bottle--that was all the officers could do."
"My Indian friend had a supply of intoxicants staked out on the prairie, and whenever his friends wanted a drink we would mount some of the fast horses at the polls and circle around over the prairie to get a drink. The officers were vigilant and watched our movements like a hawk watching a chicken, and we would no sooner be in the saddle than four officers, mounted on fast horses, would be preparing to follow us. When we would gallop across the prairie, they would also make a move. The only plan we had for getting a drink was to have one of the swift Indian riders go in advance of the others, and as he rode at breakneck speed he would lean from his saddle until his hand would reach the ground, and at the covering where the whisky was located he would make a sudden dart and run his fingers through the handle of the jug, lifting it to his saddle; then, slowing up, he would allow us who were behind to catch up with him and then pass the jug around to all to drink, which we were compelled to do while our horses were going at a sharp gallop with the officers close behind."
"As soon as the jug had been passed around, the man mounted on the fleet horse would take it and speed ahead, skirt around a patch of timber, get to a new place out of sight of the officers and bury it under the leaves, then hastily mounting his horse, he would be off to rejoin us. It took a man who was an expert rider to get a drink under those circumstances, and I have seen some riding on such occasions that would put all the Wild West shows in the country to shame. It is slightly different from that in the territory now, and if a man gets caught with a bottle of whisky passing it around under any circumstances Uncle Sam takes a hand and the guilty party is good for a trip over the road."
"Was your friend elected to the senate, Colonel Standifer?"
"Certainly. A man with the genius and ability he had for getting a drink could not be kept down in Politics." - - - Galveston News