My First 80 Years

The format is approximately 5.75 inches by 8.5 inches. [6], 188, [2] pages. Illustrations. Inscribed by the author on the fep. The inscription reads To Sherry Sheffield, a gracious young lade. Compliments O. A. Cargill July 11--67. The cover has some wear and soiling. He practiced as a trial lawyer. He has walked among men from the day of the ox team to the jet propelled airplanes. Otto Arthur Cargill (February 26, 1885 - March 20, 1973) was a prominent lawyer, author, politician and buffalo rancher during Oklahoma's early days. He was mayor of Oklahoma City April 4, 1923 - April 12, 1927. Cargill was elected mayor in 1923, defeating Allen Street. Assuming office when the city was in a bad financial condition, Cargill found his reform efforts frustrated, particularly by supporters of the former mayor Jack C. Walton who had remained in office after the election. In 1926, the electorate voted to replace Oklahoma City's existing city commission government with a mayor-council form of government. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1926 against Henry S. Johnston who was supported by the Ku Klux Klan. Cargill, being bitterly opposed to the Klan, came in third. Cargill practiced law for many years. Late in his career, he became embroiled in a wide-ranging scandal also involving several justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. During the 1965 Oklahoma Supreme Court scandal, he was convicted on three counts and sentenced five years in prison. In 1967, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit set aside two of the counts. During his early days in Oklahoma and Indian territories he was a Deputy U.S. Marshal under Bill Depew. Cargill worked as a streetcar conductor, became an Oklahoma City police officer, and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1916. He was county attorney of Oklahoma County 1919-1920. Cargill, as District Attorney of Oklahoma County, ordered a raid on the property of a suspected moonshine bootlegger, Charles Chandler of Logan County, which took place on the morning of August 29, 1920. "Crush it", he had instructed, though the property was outside his jurisdiction. What occurred at the scene of the raid is not clear. Evidence is clear, however, that a gunfight developed and Chandler was killed along with two law enforcement officers. One officer was injured as was Chandler's son, Claude Chandler, and the one remaining officer at the scene arrested Claude. Logan County Prosecutor A. I. Dinwiddie determined after a cursory investigation that there was sufficient evidence to charge Claude Chandler with homicide and try him in court. Cargill arrived on the scene with a group of heavily armed men and took custody of Chandler and crime scene evidence. Cargill indicated that he was taking Chandler to Oklahoma City in order that he be prosecuted in federal court, which he later admitted was a bluff. Dinwiddie's insistence that Logan County officials had jurisdiction, and that Oklahoma county and federal statute had no legal mechanism by which to prosecute Chandler (claims which were confirmed by the Federal District Attorney Herbert Peck), served only to anger Cargill, who would not be deterred. Cargill said, "I went to the scene of the murder and found [deputy] Adrean and [agent] Weiss lying in bloody dirt while Logan county officers stood and talked about holding an inquest. I did not fool; I just took things in my own hands, ordered the bodies taken to Oklahoma City, the Chandler boy to be brought to our jail." The following night, three men easily gained access to the jail, which was under the protection of one guard, and a mob abducted and brutally murdered Claude Chandler. A photo was taken of Claude Chandler, dead and hanging from a tree.…