Shotgun v. Gavel

Under the auctioneer's gavel last week went famed 101 Ranch, bringing sorrow to the hearts of many a cowboy, cowgirl, Indian chief & squaw, including onetime Cowboys Will Rogers & Tom Mix, but mostly to the heart of Col. Zachary Taylor Miller, owner, who lay abed ill with a shotgun standing in the corner.

The 101 had come to the end of its resources. Founded by Col. George W. Miller in 1879, it comprised no.ooo acres of ranch land in Oklahoma's Cherokee Strip, was for two generations a rich cattle range, a richer source of oil until Depression hit the oil industry. But its greatest fame came from the Wild West circus organized in 1906 by the first Col. Miller's three sons, George, Joe & Zack. The troupe comprised some 1,400 cowboys, cowgirls, Indians, Cossacks, animal trainers, 600 horses, hundreds of wild animals. Cinemactor Mix and Funnyman Rogers got their start there. Col. Joe rode in a saddle set with 246 diamonds. Gems glittered in the neckties and on the fingers of the other brothers. In 1914 the show closed. When it reopened in 1924 interest in the Wild West was dead. For seven more years the 101 show played, losing money. Col. Joe Miller was killed by carbon monoxide fumes from his automobile; Col. George, in a motor accident. Last summer the show stranded in Washington, straggled back to Oklahoma in confusion. Fred C. Clarke, onetime manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was named receiver. Three foreclosure suits were decided against Col. Miller. Last week the auctioneers arrived.

Fuming against the pass to which Depression had brought him, 52-year-old Col. Zack Miller lay abed. Two employes tried to talk loudly enough to keep him from hearing the shouts of the auctioneer. Then two attorneys for Receiver Clarke entered the room, announced that harness, cows and pigs were being sold. Up jumped Col. Miller and reached for his shotgun. As the two lawyers turned to run--Bow!--he fired into the floor behind them.

"I didn't try to shoot them," said Col. Miller. "I just wanted to see how fast they could run."

Barricaded in his room, he gave out an interview over the telephone:

"I haven't had a break in all these court actions, but I'm determined to preserve the peace of my homestead. I'll hold this White House, my ancestral home, in spite of hell & high water, and I'll do it in the manner of any son of the Old West. If the officers come for me they'd better bring a machine gun."

Next day Col. Miller changed his mind, went to the courthouse at Newkirk, posted $16,000 to keep the peace. "He's a sick man," said Prosecutor Bruce Potter. The Colonel's lawyers prepared to appeal to President Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation to save old 101.

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