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First Mayor of Oklahoma
City
Charles Gasham
"Gristmill" Jones
An important city founder, developer, and urban
promoter, Charles
Gasham "Gristmill" Jones
worked tirelessly to make
Oklahoma City the
most
important
metropolis in Oklahoma
Territory. He
was
born in Greenup,
Illinois,
on
November
3, 1856.
Shortly after
arriving in late 1889, Jones organized the
construction of a canal to bring
electrical power to
downtown
Oklahoma
City.
That
project
coincided with the
construction of
his
flour
mill, the
first in
Oklahoma
Territory, which
earned
Jones the
nickname
"gristmill." His most
important
contribution to
Oklahoma
City
involved
railroad
construction. In
1895
Jones
and
financial backer Henry
Overholser organized the St. Louis
and Oklahoma
City
Railroad Company
and in
1898
constructed a line from Sapulpa to
Oklahoma
City.
The
line became a key
transportation network that
spawned
significant
population
increases and
made Oklahoma
City a
viable candidate for
state
capital. Many of the
smaller
communities
around Oklahoma
City,
such as Jones,
Luther,
and
Mustang, owe
their existence to
Jones,
who
platted them and
sold the
land
for a profit.
Guided by
his
passion
for
farming, Jones
helped build,
fund,
and promote
the
Oklahoma Territorial
Fair and
the
State Fair
of Oklahoma
as a
means to showcase state
agricultural
products. A
staunch
Republican, he
remained
politically
astute and
eager
to
serve. He was
elected to
the First,
Fifth, and
Sixth
Oklahoma
Territorial
Legislatures,
served as
mayor of Oklahoma City in
1896-97 and 1901 1903,
represented
Oklahoma
County in
the
First and
Second State
Legislature,
and
had
unsuccessful
runs for
the
U.S.
Congress in
1908
and for
governor in
1910.
Married
twice and the father
of one son,
Luther,
Charles Jones
died of
a stomach
hemorrhage
on March 29,
1911. In
2001
Jones'
farmstead in
Jones,
Oklahoma,
is listed in
the
National
Register of
Historic Places
(NR
016000658).
Source:
Chronicles
of
Oklahoma
Jones
is a
town in
Oklahoma
County, in the
Oklahoma
City metro
area.
Covering 13.662
square
miles,
present Jones is
surrounded on three
sides by
Oklahoma
City and by
the
town
of Harrah to the
east-southeast
and
the town of
Choctaw to
the
south-southeast. Luther F.
Aldrich
platted the town
site
on
April 22,
1898. Aldrich, a
friend
and
business
associate
of Oklahoma City's three-time
mayor
Charles G. "Gristmill" Jones,
named the town after him,
and Jones
later
named his eldest son Luther,
indicating
his esteem
for
Aldrich.
C.
G.
Jones, a
industrialist
and railroad
promoter,
was
instrumental
in
bringing the
railroad through a town
know then as
Glaze,
Oklahoma.
C.G.
Jones
played a big part
in
Oklahoma
Statehood, and
was also
a
State Reprehensive,
just to
name a
few of his
accomplishments.
Jones
Oklahoma
Historical Society Museum
located at First and Boston
Street. Jones is situated just
south of the
place that
Washington
Irving
described as "The
Ringing of
Horses"
(site listed in
the
National
Register of Historic
Places,
NR 71001081) in
his book A
Tour on the
Prairies
(1835). In early years the
economic base
was
agriculture.
The
Charles G.
Jones Farmstead is
also listed
in the
National Register
of
Historic
Places
(NR
01000658).
History of the
Farmstead.
Source:
http://townofjonescity.com/
and
National Register of Historic Places
Application and
pictures.
The
financial
panic of
1893
affected
every
section of the
United
States, though some
localities
were in much
better
condition
to endure
such a
stress.
At
the time
Oklahoma City was four
years
old. It had
an energetic
and enthusiastic
population
and was
progressing
rapidly.
Without
reserve capital
and the
necessities of
the
case
demanding constant
progress
along
all linkes, Oklahoma
City met
what
was probably the greatest
crisis of its
career in
the
hard
time
of the
nineties.
In
order
to
keep
advancing
into a better
locality something
needed to be done to
improve the
economic structure
of the city. It
was a
railroad
that came to the
rescue.
That
is, people
generally
speak of a railroad as
preserving the
prestnt
metropolis
from oblibion,
though the
railroad
represented and
was the
exact
effect
of the foresight,
planning,
and
persistent
energy of
one
man.
Years
later it was
common to
attribute to
railroads a
major
share
of the
industrial
progress of
the
nation.
But
most people failed to look behind
the
material
instituation of a
railroad
for the person who
created it and
bestowed
its
beneifts
to the
world
At
that
time, when it looked
as
though every
business in
the
Oklahoma City
metropolis was going
bankrupt, a
successful
mill-owner,
who had
lived
in the
town since
the
second
year of
its
existence and
had become
well
known
through his flour-mill
interests,
was
studying the map of
Oklahoma and
devising
plans
not only
to save his
city from
the
effects
of
the panic but to make
its
prosperity
permanent and
unassilable. To
the
enterprising
miller
it seemed that a direct line of
railroad to
the
northeast would
result most advantageously for the city.
The Frisco,
running
southwest from
St. Louis, was at that
time
completed to
Sapulpa, Indian
Territory, but with no
prospects of
building
further
toward
Oklahoma
City.
It was
often
difficult to
come up with the funds for
building the
railroad tracks
on
further west, but the
difficulties
of
this
undertaking
fascinated the
chief
promoter of the enterprise and that of his
associates,
for, having
organized
the St. Louis and Oklahoma City
Railroad
Company, they
raised money and
promises of money, procured
franchises
and right
of way, and
working for
progress
while others were striving to prevent failure,
actually
brought about
the
completion of a first class line of
railroad from
Oklahoma
City to Sapulpa, connecting
with
the
Frisco.
The
credit
for
bringing about the results
of
the
railroad was
attributed
to
the Honorable
Charles
Gasham
(Gristwall)
Jones.
Mr.
Jones
had the
peputation as a
business
man,
manufacturer, capitalist,
railroad
builder,
landowner
and
famer,
and
one
of Oklahoma's
most
distinguished
citizins.
Mr. Jones was
born
at
Greenup,
Cumberland County,
Illinois
on
November 3, 1856
to H. and
Rebecca
(Wall) Jones.
His
mother died in
1860 in
Cumberland
County. His
father
moved
to
Vernon
County,
Missouri
where he
died
in
1890.
Mr.
Jones
arrived
in
Oklahoma City on January
31,
1890
only a few months
after the great
land
rush. He
established the
first
flouring mill in the
territory,
building it
a a
well
known
location
in the
sourthern part of
the city. At
that time
there
was
no
other
flour mill within
120
miles. The
business
was called
the Jones
Milling
Company
and the
flour made from his
mill
was such a high
quality
that it
took first prize
over all
competitors at
the World's Fair
in
Chicago in
1893.
Mr.
Jones
was elected
as mayor of
Oklahoma
City twice,
the first
being
from 1896-1897 and
the second from
1901-1903.
He
was also
a
candidate at the time
of
his death for mayor once
again. In April
1907
Mr.
Jones was urged to
become a
candidate for
Governor of the
new
state under the
Republican
party,
however, after
considering
the
matter
carefully
he decided
that
his
business
interests were
such that
he
could not
spare
the
time
for a season of
compaigning so
he
declined the
offer.
As a
member
of
the
first Oklahoma
legislature, he
was a
leader
in its
work, and in
the
session of
1891 he
became speaker
of the
house. The civil
records of
the territory
credit him
with four
years in the
legislature,
and most
important
of all the
things
he did was his
activity in
behalf of
statehood
during the
early stages
of
that
movement.
He
was
elected
a member of the
first
Oklahoma State
Legislature in
1907.
Mr.
Jones
was married
in Cumberland
County,
Illinois, to
Miss Tina
Stafford, who
was born June 1886 and
reared
in
that
county. She
died in
Oklahoma
City on
May
3,
1901.
They had one son,
Luther Jones
born November of 1895 in Oklahoma
Territory.
His
second wife
was,
Nettie
Wheeler-Chappel.
Sources: A
History of the
State of
Oklahoma
by
Luther B Hill with
assistance of local
authorities. Volume II
Lewis
Publishing Company
1910
Additional
Source:
The
Daily Oklahoman
Archives
March 30,
1911
Front
page and
March 31, 1911
Page
9
Additional
Source: 1900
Oklahoma
Territorial
Census
The
following
two
stories as
the
actual articles
listed
above as
additional
sources.
CG.
JONES,STATE
BUILDER, IS
DEAD
---------------
Prominent
Oklahoma
City
Capitalist
Known All Over
Southwest
-------
FUNERAL
ON
FRIDAY
Business Will Be
Suspended in
Oklahoma
City During
Service
----
Charles
Gesham Jones, 55
years old, an
89er in Oklahoma City,
state builder and one
of the
men
most active in the
building of
Oklahoma
City, is
dead. The end came
suddenly Wednesday
morning
at his
home, 611 East Eighth
Street. Mr. Jones had
been indisposed
for several
days
from indigestion
and had
remained at his
home.
Wednesday
he told
Mrs. Jones
that he
felt
better and that he was
going to the
city.
He
remained
at home at his wife's
solicitation. At 11 o'clock he
called to
her in a
peculiar
tone.
Mrs.
Jones called her
brother,
James
Wheeler, and
they
went
into
the
library
where he was
sitting. He asked
them to help
him
to a
lounge.
As they laid
him
down, blood gushed from his
mouth. He
died almost
instantly. The
physician
said
that death
was
probably due to
a
hemorrhage of the
stomach.
The
funeral will be held at the
family
residence
Friday at 2
o'clock.
Internment will
be at
Fairlawn
Cemetery.
Dr.
George H.
Bradford of
Epworth
university and A. K.
Riley
will
deliver the funeral
sermons. Mr. Jones was a
Mason of high degree,
being
a
Knights Templar and a
Shriner. The Masons will take
a prominent
part
in
the funeral
services. Mrs.
Jones was also an
Elk.
Among the
relatives are
his widow,
Mrs. Nettie
Wheeler
Chappel-Jones, a son,
Luther, by a
former
marriage. G. M.
Jones and Mrs. Mary
Halloti, a brother and sister in
southeastern
Missouri, and
Logan
Jones, a half-brother of
near
Jones
City.
The out of
town
relatives have been
notified.
The
death of Mr.
Jones at
this
time has
changed the
entire
political
situation in
Oklahoma City. He
had
filed as a candidate for the
republican nomination for
mayor under the new
charter
and his
nomination seemed
assured. He had a host
of friends
among
men of
all
parties, and there
was every
probability of
his election by a large
majority. Owing to his large
business
interests his
death will work
changes in the
directorates of
several big
business
concerns.
C. G.
Jones
was born at Greenup,
Cumburland County, Illinois on
November 3,
1856, and
as a
farmer lived there
until
he came to
Oklahoma,
in
1882,
locating at Oklahoma
City,
where he built the
first flour
mill that was
erected in
the
new
territory. H. Jones
and
Rebecca
(Wall)
Jones,
parents of
C. G. Jones, were
early settlers
in
Illinois, where in 1860 his
mother
died.
His father
moved
to
Vernon County,
Missouri,
where
he
died in 1890. C.
G. Jones
was
married to
Miss
Tena
Stafford, in Cumberland County,
Illinois. She died
in
Oklahoma City May 3, 1901.
He was married about
two
years ago
to Mrs.
Nettie
Wheeler-Chappel.
He has
served
a a member of
seven
legislatures,
served two
temers
as
mayor of
Oklahoma City,
1896-97 and
190-1903, and waws a
candidate at the
primary election last August for
the
republican
nomination for
Governor. He
was first
president of the first
commercial club in the
city.
Well known as a builder
of railroads, Mr. Jones was the leading
factor in the
construction of the
road
from Sapulpa to
Oklahoma City,
which was
later
sold to the
Frisco
system. He also
built the railroad from
Oklahoma
City to Quannah,
Texas,
known as the
Oklahoma
City & Southwestern: the
Arkansas Valley &
Western, from
Tulsa to
Avard, and assisted in building the
belt line
in
connection with the
stockyards terminal
road.
Equally well
known
as a
farmer, he
has at
Jones City one of
the
model farms of
Oklahoma.
Consisting of 800
acres or rich
bottom
land, this farm is
considered
to be one of the
most
valuable in
Oklahoma,
being equipped
with a
fine residence and immense
barn. This farm is worth
probably
$100,00. At
Mustang, the Jones
fruit farm of 700 acres is the
largest
fruitfarm of
the state.
Other
lands along the line
of the
railroads which
he
owns bring
his
holdings
well
into the thousands
of acres. He also
owns
many
town
lots in the cities
which
he was
instrumental in establishing along
those
railways,
and at one time was
said to pay taxes on
more places of
real
estate in the
world.
Active in
the long
fight for
statehood, C. G. Jones
became one of
the best known
citizens
of the
territory of Oklahoma. For
long
years he worked for
single
statehood, being opposed
by
many
politicians who
favored
forming two states of
Oklahoma and
Indian Territory. Spending
freely of
his own funds, Mr. Jones
was chairman of the single statehood
executive committee,
made many trips
to
Washington, and no
man of
Oklahoma felt
more
gratified when Oklahoma finally
became the
forty-sixth state. During
the trying
times of the early
nineties, when crops failed in Oklahoma, C. G.
Jones used
his influence
with the
Santa Fe and the Rock
Island
railroad
officials to secure
seed
for the farmers,
and he
felt
more satisfaction in
procuring that seed to
start
new
crops than in any act of a public nature
in his
long
career
in this
state. As first president of the
state fair,
director
in the State
National bank
and as an
active member of the
chamber of
commerce,
Mr. Jones has
been
aligned
during all his years in
Oklahoma City with the active
commercial and
financial
industries of
both city and
state.
Telegrams have
been
received from
many
out-of-town friends of Mr. Jones
expressing sympathy to
his
relatives and
sorrow at
his
death. Mayor Dan V.
Lackey issued a call
Wednesday
evening for a
special
session of the city council
for Thursday morning
at 10
a.m. for
the sole purpose of
passing fitting resolutions deploring
the
death of C. G.
Jones, who was a
former
Mayor of
Oklahoma
City.
Mayor
Lackey also announced that all
offical
business
for a halfday will
be suspended
to enable the
city
officals to
attend the
funeral in a body. A squad of
mounted
police
will participate in
the funeral
procession.
Manager J. H.
Johnston of the
Chamber
of
Commerce announced that
the directors of the
Chamber
will
attend the funeral in a
body,
and the business
men of the city who are
members will be
asked to close their
stores during the
funeral
hour.
The
following
resolutions were
passed
by the
Oklahoma City
Advertising
Club.
"Whereas, in
the death of
Honorable
C.G. Jones, this city and
state has lost one of its most
useful citizens, who as mayor,
represenative in
the
legislature, leader in the fight
for statehood, and as a
public-spirited
citizen was ever
ready to devote
himself
to any work that
he believed
to be
the
best interest of city and
state:
therefore
be it"
Resolved that we as
citizens of
Oklahoma City and
members of the Oklahoma City Ad Club, deeply
deplore his
untimely
death, and
sincerely regret the loss
of such a
worthy
citizen, neighbor and
friend.
Resolved
that we
sincerely condol the beft
wife and son in
their
afflication
and sorrow and in
evidence of same present
them a copy of
these
resolutions. Resolved
that
these resolutions
be
spread upon our
minutes and
copies
be
furnished the papers of the city.
O.P. Sturm, A.C.
Farmer,
and Barron
Housel (Committee)
Daily
Oklahoman, March 30, 1911
Front
page with continuance on page
2.
ENTIRE STATE MOURNS
DEATH
------
Business
Will
Stop While
Body of C.
G. Jones
Is
Laid To
Rest
_____
MANY
TRIBUTES
PAID
Funeral Will Be
One of the Largest in History
of
Oklahoma
___
With
business in Oklahoma
City at a standstill, during the
funeral hour of the late Charles G.
Jones, the
services
will
be held at the family
residence, 611 East
Eifth street, at 2
o"clock
today. Chancellor
George Bradford of Epworth
University and Reb.
A. K. Riley will
conduct
the funeral
sermons, Interment
will be at
Fairlawn. Both
the chief
executives of
the state and city have issued
proclamations calling for the
closing of state
and
city
offices in
recognition
of Mr.
Jones' service to the state
and city. All heads of
commercial
organizations have
asked
that members of the
organizations close their stores
and
places of business
and the city council has postponed
its
Friday meeting
until
Saturday out of respect and
sympathy. Mr. Jones was a Mason of
high
degree and a
portion of the services
will consist of the ancient rites of
Masonry. From
Greenup, Ill.,
where he
held his
membership in the blud
lodge, word was received Thursday
from J. D. Green, grand master, granting
permission to the
local
organization
to hold a Masonic
funeral. Mrs. Jones
belonged to
the Royal Arch Masons,
the Knights Templar,
and
the Mystic
Shrine in
Oklahoma City. A
squad of
mounted police
will be ordered to the residence
while the
services are in session
and will head the procession when it starts
for the
cemetery.
The chamber
of commerce will close
all its
offices
Friday afternoon and the
officers and
directors
will attend in a body. Mr.
Jones was for
many years a director
and head of important committees of the
chamber. It
is
also likely
that the banks and many
of the business
houses
will close during the
funeral. The Eight-Niner's
association has
been
called together by President A. O
Mitcher and
will
go to
the residence in a
body.
Another
organization
that
will
atten in large numbers is
the
Illinois society.
Early
Wednesday
afternoon floral
tributes began arriving
at the Jones residence
and a large number of others
were
received
Thursday
morning. Citizens
of Oklahoma City
generally are lamenting the
death of C.
G. Jones.
From all over the
state
there comes also a feeling that Oklahoma
has
suffered the loss of one of its
builders and in many
respects one of its
greatest
men.
Glowing tributes
to the life of Mrs.
Jones have
been
paid by
former
Governor Charles
N. Haskell, former Governor Frank Frantz and
scores of
other citizens who knew Mr.
Jones well. As a
fitting
tribute to the memory
of C. G. Jones
who
died Wednesday,
the city council held a
special
session
Thursday
morning.
Mayor Lackey issued a
proclamation ordering all offical
business suspended
Friday afternoon in order that the
employees may attend
the
funeral. The members of the
council will meet at the city hall
at 1
o'clock and
proceed
in a body to the
funeral. A
resolution was unanimously
adopted by the
council. His
picture in the council
chamber was
ordered
placed to
the front and
draped in
black. A copy of the resolution will be
spread upon
the minutes
of the
meeting and sent to the family.
The
folloing
statement
was made last
night by the president of
the
Retailer's
association: "To Members
of the Oklahoma
City
Retailers' Association: Out
of respect
to the
memory of C. G.
Jones, your board of directors and officers
ask that you
close the
doors of your
respective places of
business
between
the
hours of 2 and 3 o'clock
on Friday
afternoon." E.
I. Leach, President, and C. M.
Greenman,
Secretary. The Whig
club at a special sessionThursday night
adopted
resolutions
deploring the
death of Mr. Jones and
extended
deepest
sympathies to the bereaved
family, and
John W.
Shartel, Rev. Thomas H. Harper
and Ed S.
Vaught
also paid
tributes. Resolutions deploring the
death of
Mr.
Jones were
passed by the State
Eighty-Niners
association. Mr. Jones
was one
of the
associations's
most earnest members.
Resolutions were
adopted by
the
executive department of the
government of Oklahoma, proclaiming
appreciation of Mr.
Jones' worth and extending sympathey
to the bereaved
family. The
resolutions were
signed
by Governor Lee Cruce, Benjamin F.
Harrison, Leo Meyer and
others.
Printed in the Daily
Oklahoman March 31,
1911
on page 9
Following
are
glimpses
into
some of those
stories
—
with
information gleaned
in large part
from the
book “A
history of the State Fair
of
Oklahoma,” by
historian Bob
Blackburn and civic leader
Paul
Strasbaugh: In
the
beginning,
there were Henry
Overholser and
C.G. “Gristmill”
Jones —
the
consummate
Oklahoma City
boosters. The 1889
land
run was
barely
over in
1890 when Jones
and
Overholser
headed a
group of
civic
leaders
who launched
plans to
raise money
and build a
six-mile
Oklahoma City
“grand
canal.” Jones
planned to
build the
city’s first
flour mill
and wanted
the canal
to power it
(thus the nickname
“Gristmill”).
Overholser
and other
city
leaders
were
looking to the canal to
generate electricity. The
canal took
nearly a
year
to
build but just
days to fail.
It
didn’t
hold water. Considered
folly at the
time, the idea
looks
much better
from a
historical
perspective.
Visitors
to
Oklahoma City’s wildly
successful
Bricktown
Canal,
which opened
in 1999,
now can look
upon Jones
and
Overholser as visionaries who
were a
century
ahead of their time.
Jones
and Overholser
were
ahead of
their
time regarding the state fair,
as
well. In the 15
years leading up to statehood,
the pair
planned and helped finance
a series of territorial fairs, street fairs
and similar
events that
produced a
decent amount of
excitement but
mostly
failure on
the
financial
front.
Enthusiasm for
financing
fairs
waned, only to be
revived
again in
1907 with the
coming of
statehood.
After a long
summer of
planning,
working and scrambling to
pay
bills,
the first
Oklahoma
State
Fair
opened Oct. 5, 1907, with
Jones
as
president. Agriculture in
the
form of
chickens, crops and
livestock
provided
the
backbone of
the
first fair.
Excerpts from article
written By Randy
Ellis Published: September
10, 2006 in The
Oklahoman
First Legislature in 1907-'08 full of lively, wild
characters
By GENE CURTIS
Published Tulsa
World Statehood Edition
1/30/2007
Oklahoma's first Legislature
adjourned on May 30, 1908,
after
creating the
state's
first laws, including liquor
prohibition, the Jim
Crow law
and
one requiring 9-foot sheets in
hotels. It had been a stormy
session. At one point
legislators
stood
on their
chairs
and
desks and yelled at
each
other
and
at House Speaker
William
H.
"Alfalfa Bill"
Murray. On
another
occasion,
three
legislators
rushed toward the
speaker's stand,
planning to throw
Murray out
of the
chamber. At
the
session's
end, the
Tulsa
World
called it
the
"most turbulent
any
new state ever
experienced" but
urged
readers to
give
the
new laws a
fair
and impartial
trial and
to
"thank
God they are
not worse." About
200
bills remained in
committees
or on
calendars, and
there
was
talk
of a
special
session. But
none was
called
and the pending
bills died.
The
Legislature
convened in
Guthrie, the
state's
capital, on Dec. 4, 1907, less than a month
after Oklahoma
became a
state.
Murray, who had been
president of
the
constitutional convention, was
elected
speaker of the
House without
opposition,
but his
popularity waned
during the
nearly
six-month session. The turbulence
began on the
first day when
legislators noticed that Ira
N.
Terrill,
who had
been a member of
the first
Oklahoma
Territorial Legislature, was a
spectator, and
they feared he would cause a
problem. Legislators
remembered that, while
serving
in
the earlier
House, he
caused an
exodus stampede by pulling
a pistol
from his
boot while trying to
get
recognition
from the
speaker and
announcing he
would
use it if
necessary to get the
floor.
This
time, however, he
apparently left
the
chamber without
causing a
problem.
Terrill had
served a
prison
term for killing
a man in
Guthrie
and, after his release from
prison, had
filed
lawsuits against
sheriffs, judges
and the
state
claiming he had been deprived of
his
liberty by a
conspiracy. The
session was anything
but
peaceful.
Once,
Speaker Murray
attempted
to
have Rep.
"Gristmill" Jones of
Oklahoma
City put
in his seat
but
Jones dared the
sergeants-at-arms to
touch
him.
Other
representatives
stood on
their
chairs and desks
yelling until Murray
finally gained order
by
rapping hard
on
his desk with his
gavel,
and
Jones
returned to
his seat.
Two
months
later,
Rep. Woodson
Norvell
of Tulsa and
several
others
charged
toward
Murray,
declaring their
intention of throwing him
out of the chamber.
They
were stopped by
other
legislators,
but a short while
later,
Norvell
disagreed
with
one of
Murray's rulings, ran down
the
aisle
toward
the
speaker
and shook his
fist
in Murray's face.
A
Jim
Crow
bill
that
required
separate compartments
in
train
stations and other
public
places for blacks and
whites was
the
first bill
introduced.
It sailed through the process and
was
signed
by Gov. C.N.
Haskell.
Other
laws
provided for
liquor
prohibition, a
depositors'
guaranty
fund, a banking
commission,
transferred
funds from
the
U.S.
Treasury to
the
state,
invested
school
funds and
transferred court cases
from
Indian
Territory to the
state. And
there
was that 9-foot
sheet
law.
Many
believed that it was
prompted
by Speaker
Murray's dislike of short sheets on
hotel beds because of
his tall
height. But its
passage probably
had
more to
do
with
hygiene. The
long
sheets
allowed a
3-foot overlap of
quilts or
blankets,
which
probably
weren't washed
very
often
while sheets
were washed
frequently.
The
long-sheet
rule was
included in a
hotel law
that also
required fire
extinguishers, fire
escapes in taller buildings and
manila
ropes in
second-story
rooms
and
prohibited the use of
dishes
with cracks visible to
the naked eye for
food.
LUTHER JONES
Rites will be 4 p.m.
Monday in the Smith and Kernke
chapel for
Luther Jones, 43 year old former city motor car salesman, who died
last Monday in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Burial will be in Fiarlawn
cemetery.
Jones, who left Oklahoma City in 1933 for California, was the
son of the late C.G. Jones, pioneer Oklahoman
and early day mayor. At one
time he was
an assistant cashier at a city bank. He was born in Oklahoma
City.
Source: Daily
Oklahoman Dec 17, 1939 Page
32
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