Carrie Starr, Heroine

Maybe it was the sounds of horsemen coming that alerted the household. If that was not it, maybe it was the masks and gowns the approaching men wore. If it was neither of these two, the first shot certainly got their attention.

Carrie Starr was in her home near the shipping pens. She was Pony's wife. Joe Davis was with them throughout the following shootout. Carrie Starr's actions that morning saved lived. In the Porum Range War saga, her actions are almost an unmentioned part of the story.

This story needs a preface in order to understand the relationship of the principal characters to the story. It begins with cattle thieves plaguing the area around Porum for decades.

The problem started with the arrival of the Davis family from Alabama about 1880. It did not help matters that the Davises chose a brand that exactly covered the brand of Judge Hester. A large rancher, Hester blamed the Davises for any losses that occurred. Over the years, the feuding included barn burnings and murder on both sides.

Eliza Catherine "Carrie" Horn Starr was born in August 1877 in Indian Territory. She became acquainted with Pony Starr when she worked in the home as a servant helping to raise Pony's brothers and sisters in 1900. She and Pony were married shortly afterwards.

Pony Starr was born Samuel Saguila Starr in June 1876, also in Indian Territory. Joe Davis was a grandson of Old Man Davis. Joe turned nineteen on the day of the shootout.

The recent murder of a Deputy Sheriff trying to bring in several of Joe's uncles antagonized area residents. They felt justice was never going to be carried out. Whenever the Davises went to trial, the evidence proved too insufficient for conviction. Afterwards the rustling would resume.

The last straw proved to be the murder of the peace officer. At the same time, reports swirled that stolen cattle were in railroad shipping pens at Porum that day. This added urgency to the coming conflict. Frustration over the shortcomings of the law ran high. This augmented the failure of not solving who was behind the thefts. The Hester crowd, and the independent ranchers who also lost livestock to thieves, were boiling mad.

That day the law-abiding ranchers decided to take the law into their own hands. Their aim was to shoot down any member of the Davis clan. Pony Starr was a target, too, because he sided with the Davises. The cattle pens near the Starr home, located a mile northeast of Porum, reportedly contained the stolen livestock. Retrieving the cattle and striking a blow for justice was the goal of the masked riders on Monday morning, May 29, 1911.

Pony Starr and Joe Davis immediately reached for their weapons when the shooting started. They instinctively knew they were targets.

While her husband and visitor fired their guns as rapidly as they could, Carrie reloaded the empty ones. Altogether, close to a hundred rounds were fired into the house without hitting an occupant.

With ammunition running low, Carrie calmly walked out of the house into the hail of gunfire from the vigilantes. One masked gunman tried to shoot her down, but his rearing horse caused him to miss each time he fired. In disgust, he finally threw his pistol at her. Whereupon, Carrie picked up the gun and threw it back at her assailant.

Reaching the barn, Carrie saddled two horses and led them back through the gunfire to the house. Her husband and Joe Davis bolted out the back door, jumped into the saddle and rode off through downtown Porum. They had just three bullets left as they rode away.

Carrie's calmness enabled her husband to flee to safety. A week later Pony turned himself in at Eufaula. The county court acquitted Pony of having committed any crime during the shootout. Afterwards, the family left the Porum area. In 1920, Carrie lived with Pony and their daughter in Craig County, OK.

A fuller account of the Porum Range War is at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2480/rangewar1.html. Olevia Myer's account contains more information about Carrie.

William T. Miller, Horse Breeder

This picture came from Sue Miller Stephens of Clinton, Mississippi, who suggested a column about her great-grandfather.

William Thomas Miller was born in Kentucky in February, 1854. Breeding and raising horses was the love of his life. His specialty was raising American Saddle Horses on his farm near Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The American Saddle Horse came from cross-breeding small Narragansett Pacer horses with imported Thoroughbreds. These unnamed horses became desirable because of they were easy to ride and they were good at pulling carriages.

By the beginning of the American Revolution, this breed was called the "American Horse." Cross-breeding improved the American Horse. For example, cross-breeding the it with Morgan horses increased their stamina. During the American Civil War, the Confederate cavalry preferred the American Horse as their mount. The reason is they could endure long marches. They also tolerated the sound of gunfire better than other breeds.

Very early in 1891, Miller wrote to the "Farmers Home Journal." He suggested the formation of an association to promote the American Horse. This idea had been around for a while. The editor agreed the time was right and published several notices announcing the first meeting.

During the meeting on April 7th, 1891, the National Saddle Horse Breeders Association was established. This was the first American horse breed association formed in the United States. William T. Miller was elected one of the first directors.

In 1899 the association changed its name to the American Saddle Horse Breeders Association. The organization Miller helped start still survives. In 1980 the name was changed to the American Saddlebred Horse Association. Altogether, over the years, the association registered more than a quarter of a million horses.

W. T. Miller left Kentucky and by 1900 lived in the Cherokee Nation. He briefly operated a small mill. Around 1907 he started selling real estate for a living. At the same time he continued to raise American Saddle Horses on his ranch outside of Porum.

Many states including Oklahoma started chapters of the American Saddle Horse Association. Around statehood, Miller became vice-president of the Oklahoma chapter. This chapter was incorporated in 1955 as the Oklahoma Saddle Horse Association. It was re-incorporated twenty-two years later in Mounds, Oklahoma as the American Saddle Horse Association of Oklahoma.

W.T. Miller sold land and horses until age and infirmity forced him to retire. He died at the age of 88, about five months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was laid to rest in Porum at the Coleman Cemetery beside his wife.