Published: October 07, 2008 10:34 pm         

Rankin’s grave is an unsolved mystery

Who was William Rankin? He died a long time ago – 120 years ago according to his grave marker made of railroad rails sticking up out of nearly waist-high Johnson grass alongside the Union Pacific railroad tracks three miles south of Waukomis.

A piece of steel between the two upright rails bears his name – Wm. Rankin and the date, 1888. The date is most likely the year of his death. Someone paints the grave marker white from time to time.

Bob Klemme, of Enid, a member of the board of directors of Oklahoma Historical Society, has made inquiries about the identity of Mr. Rankin, but so far at least, no one in the area seems to know him, nor could anyone enlighten Klemme about the grave or the person who keeps it painted white.

Stamped into one of the steel railroad rails is the name “Joliet” and the date, 1885. This probably means the rail was made in Joliet, Ill. in 1885.

According to Klemme, 1888 was about the time the Rock Island railroad began pushing its rails south through the Cherokee Outlet. The date was one year before the land run of 1889 in Old Oklahoma and five years before the Cherokee Outlet land run in 1893.

The Enid railroad depot was called “Skeleton” in those days – named after the Skeleton stagecoach station, and the Skeleton Ranch that was nearby. A railroad official renamed it Enid, and the federal government moved the town-site three miles south to its present location before the land run of ’93.

Was Mr. Rankin a railroader who died in an accident, or from some illness, and buried alongside the tracks by his fellow workers?

Was he a traveler, whose remains were interred there by his family or associates, in their haste to move on?

Was he an outlaw, buried there by the men who killed him?

Did he live nearby, and was it just more expedient to bury him there than somewhere else?

Who was he? What did he look like? Was he handsome? Was he ugly? Was he mean, or was he kind and loving?

Did anyone miss him after he was gone?

I’m told in the late 19th century there were a number of new immigrants to the U.S. working for the railroad – laying new track into the Western frontier. Many of them were Chinese, but Mr. Rankin would have been of European origin – maybe Scots-Irish?

Klemme plans to get rid of the high Johnson grass around the gravesite, lay railroad ties in a square around the marker, fill it in with rock, and perhaps, plant buffalo grass around it.

So, William Rankin, who may have come to this country more than 120 years ago seeking the American Dream, and who instead may have met a violent demise thousands of miles from his home and family, is being remembered. Dream on Bill Rankin.

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I ran across a news item the other day that indicates if German officials had done their job in the 1920s, World War II might never have occurred. It seems Adolf Hitler was a street hoodlum in Germany back in the 1920s. A German judge and police official wrote a probation report on Hitler recommending his deportation, first in 1924 and again in 1929. The government official called for his deportation and the dissolution of his storm troopers “but unfortunately,” according to a former police official, “the government did not follow the advice of police.” And we all remember what happened in the 1930s and ‘40s.

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Here is something to think about in this time of high gasoline prices and talk of fuel shortages. This is a news item from a November 1942 wartime newspaper: “Gasoline rationing is coming for sure. The basic ration will likely be less than four gallons per week.” How far will four gallons take your SUV today?

The wartime rationing didn’t quite play out that way. “A” and “B” ration stamps were worth four gallons, or less, but “T” stamps issued to many farmers and people with delivery vehicles were worth five gallons. Service station owners were not allowed to accept loose gas rationing stamps. They were supposed to tear them out of the ration books at the time of purchase, but they accepted loose stamps anyway. I remember there was a lively black market in gasoline rationing stamps among students at Enid High School. “T” stamps were selling for 25 cents, and sometimes as much as 50 cents depending on how bad the buyer wanted the gasoline.



Brown is a former managing editor of the Enid Morning News.