Amerikán Národní Kalendář Volume: XXXI, Year: 1908, Pages 272-275 Translated by Dr. Mila Saskova-Pierce and Layne Pierce Onward To Our Past Frank Dudek Frank Dudek. The Fight for a Clump of Earth is how we might describe the emotional history of the agricultural conquerors of the Wild West. This would be a fitting continuation of the mountain man stories of Dr. May, but one in which the rifle is replaced by the plow. In this historically momentous act, which occurred on the 16 th of April 1889 on the endless prairies between the Canadian and Cimarron rivers, our people played a significant role. This marked the last time when civilization overtook wasteland by attack to open it immediately to the plow. The prospect of a whole quarter of a section (160 acres) of rich land that might be obtained for free attracted thousands and thousands of men and women from all parts of America: that is, people yearning for work and home, yearning for adventure and even those that saw an opportunity to operate in a crooked way, and maybe even steal. In this mixture the character of the Czech agriculturalist, motivated by an honest desire to fight for a clump of earth, stands out. And it is this Czech farmer whose plans corresponded best to the aims for which Oklahoma was opened, who had to suffer the most, who had the live through the bitterest injustice. His life was endangered. Murderers shot at him. He was dragged from court to court and finally, behind bars, he could think about how difficult it is to obtain through honest means a clump of earth. Today, when any of the first Oklahoma pioneers narrate their experiences from the nineties of the last century, when you listen to them sitting on a shady veranda of a beautiful residence surrounded by shady trees in the middle of beautiful fruit orchards, then it seems to you that it is
perhaps not even possible that a mere eighteen years after so many obstacles and so much adversity a human hand could create all of what you see around you. Nevertheless you will come to know the enchanting power, the magic twig that changes deserts into paradise when, saying good-bye, you feel the hard calloused palm of the farmer in your soft hand. They are disappearing. There are less and less of these men of ours in the trenches as, one after another, they lay down their careworn heads beneath the sod that they have watered with their sweat. The time is not far away when the last among them will leave for the eternal unknown and, to his descendants who are enjoying the fruit of their work, there will be nothing left in their memory-- nothing but pieces of the stories that tradition has embellished. There is a need for more professional pens to record truly, for the memory of the descendants, what the first settlers had to live through in the now famously rich Oklahoma, before they had set down the foundations of the shining future of the 46 th state of our Union. As far as I am allowed to do in the limited space of this periodical, I will outline several pictures from the life of our first settlers and in fact, I will begin with old Mr. Dudek from Yukon. Frank Dudek was born in 1845 in the village Lupenice of the Rychnov District in the former Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. His father was a village smith and because, not counting little František, he had eight children to feed, it will be apparent to everyone that he was not drowning in wealth. This is the reason that he decided to move to America, from which letters often came-- from other countrymen from Lupenice, Roveň and the surrounding small villages-- about how easily a person could obtain land in America. Mainly, Ant. Sulek in Johnson County, Ia., who had settled there, would describe the inviting conditions in America for the Dudeks, so that they departed directly to his place. At that time the railroad only went as far as Iowa City, and when our immigrants reached it, after several weeks of grueling travel, the older Dudek went on foot across the prairies to search for Sulek, his countryman. The latter then came with a wagon rack for the Dudek family. There was another friend and countryman of the Dudeks living in Jones County, Šabata, for whom old Dudek, together with a certain Roček, went to find on foot. Šabata took Dudek into his home and helped him to find a homestead with 20 acres. Here the Dudeks made a small hut out of clay and straw bricks. With the remainder of their money they bought a young cow, and now they were penniless on a twenty acre unfenced farm. That was on the brink of the Civil War and money was hard to come by. Throughout the countryside, in fact, there was no money, and as a means of barter they used coupons that were given out by businessmen, or shopkeepers in the tiny towns, which they accepted among themselves. As an example of the financial situation of those times Mr. Dudek narrated the following to me: Countryman Jílek received a letter from Europe that was not paid for with a stamp. He had to pay fifteen cents before the postman gave him the letter. One evening, fatigued and completely exhausted he came to our place and asked us to help him with five cents. He had been walking in the surrounding area for three days already to collect the postal charge, and he had succeeded in collecting ten cents from among the farmers. At home we had five cents hidden, as today golden coins are hidden, and we helped Jílek so that he could get the letter from the post office. The father worked in the area with farmers who paid him for the work with wood for the fencing of the little farm. He also chopped shingles for covering roofs and so the first year they received enough potatoes. One day when there was no one in the house the
prairie caught on fire and the shed made out of straw for the small cow that was built behind the house burned as well as the roof of our simple, and so they had to start the work over again. The mother was a skilled lace maker from Bohemia and she was tatting lace, with which she would walk on foot throughout the surroundings, and offer it for sale. However since there was no money she had to accept foodstuff and so, often in the evening, bent low under her load, she would return to our hut. Meanwhile the older girls grew up-- at least to the point to where they could go into service. Every two weeks mother would go eighteen miles on foot to visit them and she would bring back the earnings for their service in the form of foodstuff. Four years [after the girls] Frank also went to serve an American, and after the Civil War broke out when the latter went to serve with the Army Frank stayed to work on his farm for a year. As compensation he immediately received a horse, which he gave to his father who at that time had already 80 acres. Frank farmed with his father for several years and once they had four horses and were real farmers and so he got married, taking Kateřina Márová from Oudraž, born in the Písek Region, as his spouse in 1870. When the young spouses saw that in Iowa it was difficult to obtain larger properties, they set off further west in 1873. Mr. Dudek bought from the B&M Railroad, 160 acres at $6 per acre in Saline County in Nebraska in nearby Pleasant Hill about nine miles away from Wilber They moved from Iowa on a wagon, and they drove the cattle with them. Anton Dudek, his brother, helped him. The beginnings were very bad in what is now the very rich Saline County. But it was like that generally everywhere. They had to experience drought, hail, grasshoppers, etc., etc. This is the reason why after six years they sold the farm and moved to the town of Wilber, where they started inn keeping. However, he did not keep the saloon for long. Having sold the inn to the Fishers, he went back to a farm between DeWitt and Wilber. There he spent three years. At that time word of the opening of Oklahoma was going around and the homesteading fever also struck Mr. Dudek. The proof that he was serious about the settling was the loaded train car on which he moved with all the furnishings and cattle for a farm. He sent the train car to Oklahoma Station, which is now Oklahoma City. As soon as they unloaded the car he was told that he could not stay on the territory. The countrymen Kučera and Wolf, who were staying in Station at that time warned Dudek to go of his own free will, before he was chased away by soldiers, because in the future it could be held against him that he was on the territory prior to its opening. Dudek listened. He loaded up the train car once again, and had it taken to Purcell on the territory of the Chickasaw tribe, where the homesteaders were congregating and waiting for the opening. There by the Canadian River was a great camp of boomers, in tents and camping under open skies, and also our own people who were organized under the leadership of Captain Cáha. Everyone was awaiting the presidential proclamation to pour into the promised land and to race in competition for the free land sections. The spies, mainly the leader of the Czech expedition, Ant. Cáha, already had a specific place in mind where the Czech colony was supposed to be founded. When the designated day for the opening was approaching, the Cáhas, Josef Doležal and Dudek went to scout ahead, to find a river crossing where they could drive across the Canadian River. They were going on their horses against the river stream, however, they were forced to go quickly back, so that they could inform the families camping by the river about an incoming flood. Meanwhile, the Czech colony with Captain Anton Cáha at its helm was organized. Its aim was the country west of today s Oklahoma City by Mustang Creek, and the little town of the same name. The river was high and
it was full of people everywhere. The Czechs stuck together, because that was the only way that they could defend themselves from adventurers. Our people had money. Some of them even had more than $1,000 with them, and that is why they were afraid of attack and murder. When they got up to Long Crossing, to the west of Purcell, they decided to cross the river. In the middle there was a sand bar which was useful for crossing the water. On Sunday afternoon the crossing started. The old Horák undressed and pulled a rope to the other side. Behind him John Březina set off, and then the others followed. The young men stayed, Winchesters in hand, on guard by the horses on the right bank of the river, the others were on the sand bar, and on the Oklahoma side was also a guard. In order to see the rising of the water willow branches were planted, and so this memorable night passed without any sleep, in constant excitement, because of the danger presented on all sides. In the morning at sunrise there was a sign given to continue the march, and the crossing of the water by the horses. Around twelve o clock noon everybody was on Oklahoma soil, and the passage to the promised land started. The front guard on the horses was composed of old Skala, Vraný and Joe Doležal. When they arrived at the chosen place, the colonists found out that other people had settled on the claimed sections. They tried to chase the Czechs away with threats and weapons. Our men remained firm and decided to fight for their rights. Tents were built for the families, and the next day the homesteaders went to register in the land office in Kingfisher. It was a dangerous path and they did not spare the horses so that they might get to the land office first. The soldiers were putting the homesteaders into lines two abreast, and when they allowed fourteen of them in through one door, they closed it, and then only when they were let go through other doors, were new ones were let in. The Czechs marched in first. Their adversaries came only later and when they saw that the contested lands were already registered by other people, they registered a complaint against the Czechs saying that they had entered onto Oklahoma Territory before the law permitted it, and then during the registration they swore falsely. The first case was Thomas Burch vs. Anton Cáha. This is how the famous court case started and it lasted for 2 years and was followed by all of America. The next cases were James Beasley vs. Charles Černý, S-w ¼ sec 1, twp 11, r. 5. Warren Shroyer vs.anton Černý, n-w sec 11, twp 11, r. 5. Andrew J. T. Roff vs. Joseph Cáha, s-e ¼, sec 1, twp 11, r. 5. Charles Roff vs. John Březina, s ½ of n-e ¼ lots 1 and 2, sec 2, twp 11, r. 5. Stephen Hostetter vs. Joseph Černý n-e ¼ sec 11, twp 11, r.5 ----Daniel Boone vs. August Kasl s ½ n-w ½ lots 3 and 4, sec 2, twp 11, r.5 --Edward B. Brooks vs John Nový s-w ¼ sec 4, twp 11, r. 5.--Uriah Brown vs. John Benda s-w ¼ sec. 10, twp 11, r. 5.--William E. Banks vs. John Diviš,s-w ¼ sec. 2, twp 11, r.5.--r. J. Thompson vs. John Roztočil s-w 1/4 sec. 11, twp 11, r.5.-- William Smaley vs. Frank Dudek. At one point Mr. Dudek had two contesters, one claimed that he was on the land sooner than Mr. Dudek, and the other claimed that Mr. Dudek was there too early. As soon as our homesteaders came from Kingfisher from their registration. U. S. Marshalls came for them, and they took Dudek, Cáha, Roztočil and Černý with them. Since there was no prison at Oklahoma Station, they locked them up in a railroad car, and guarded them with rifles. In Kingfisher the Czechs rights were recognized, and the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. decided in their favor and so it seemed that it would be given to them to live quietly on their homesteads, when on the contesting side, John Hubatka was hired as a spy to find new testimony against the Czechs, and so the trials began again. Some listened to sage advice and stepped aside in exchange for compensation, and others tenaciously defended
their rights from instance to instance. The court swallowed thousands which our people had collected for their group defense. Finally there was a memorable court proceeding in Wichita, Kansas, which attracted the attention of the whole country and which filled up many pages of Oklahoma history. Twenty-one of our countrymen were taken to the court and the testimony filled heaps of paper. J. Eddy was a representative of the government. Judge Williams was the chairman of the court, and Henry Asp from Guthrie and the provisional governor Stanley from Kansas, represented the accused. More than fifty witnesses were interrogated and everything indicated that the Czechs would be victorious, since they were sincere settlers and they really came to build homes for themselves. When it was time for the jury to pronounce the freeing words, the detective John Hubatka and another countryman, Wolf and Horace Speed took the accused Vraný and Kalášek aside. They convinced them that everything was lost and the only way they could escape prison was to acknowledge their wrongdoing. They brought them convinced in this way to the court hall, where their words played like a lightning rod onto the judge and all those present. The result was that every accused person, including Vraný and Kalášek, received a year and a day of prison, which they served in Lansing. Vraný and Kalášek, who had acknowledged their guilt, also lost any right to homestead. All the others went back to the contested homesteads after their return from prison. How difficult it was in the prison during that time, thinking about abandoned families surrounded by enemies, exposed to danger, without any wage earners or defenders, one cannot even describe. Dudek and Smaley both stayed on the homestead, while waiting for the official document, until the question of ownership could be decided. Finally both came to the conclusion that it would be better if they could come to an agreement, and they would leave the homestead to another person and they would divide the money for the transfer. They put the land into an agent sale in Oklahoma City, and the agent immediately found a buyer. The money was deposited in a bank, and there was only the need to sign the transfer document. When they came with this aim to the land office, they found out that there was another contest submitted against both of them by a city policeman on the basis that they were holding the homestead for the purpose of speculation. This is the reason why Smaley got together money, and he paid Mr. Dudek $950 for his abdication. Later, Mr. Dudek bought [land] in several locations; however, he sold again when there was more countryside that was supposed to open, hoping to get land by homesteading, but not once was he successful. This is the reason why five years ago he bought a quarter mile west of Yukon on the Canadian River where, having overcome many difficulties and suffering he hoped to spend his old age in peace and quiet. ***END***