Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 13, No. 1
March, 1935
"NOTES"
Page 105
At the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society held January 24, 1935, Judge Thomas H. Doyle was
unanimously elected President of the Society to succeed Colonel Charles F. Colcord, deceased. No one else was thought of for
this honor and no better selection could have been made. Judge Doyle has taken an active interest in the building up of the
society for many years, and has served as vice-president since 1917. There are but few men, if any, now living, who have been
so actively identified with Oklahoma history, or have served the public as long, in positions of honor and trust, as has Judge
Doyle. To paraphrase: "Not to know Judge Doyle argues yourself unknown." He was here in territorial days, served two or three
terms in the territorial legislature. He spent much time in Washington promoting statehood, and no one contributed more to
the passage of the "Enabling Act." He presented the data, before committees of congress, that enabled Oklahoma and Indian
Territory combined, to join the sisterhood of states.
After the adoption of the constitution, Judge Doyle was elected one of three members of the Criminal Court of Appeals, and
served continuously on the bench for more than twenty-one years. Governor Holloway appointed Judge Thomas H. Doyle, chairman
of the State Industrial Commission. He served on this commission for more than five years, and under his administration millions
of dollars were paid to laboring people who had met with accidents while engaged in industrial service. While a member of
this commission he wrote a bill, which became a law, providing for an industrial insurance to be administered under the supervision
of the commission. This plan has lessened the cost of insurance more than fifty percent, and has met with the approval of
both labor and industry. He resigned only in January of this year that he might qualify again as a member of the Criminal
Court of Appeals to which office he had been
elected in the November election.
Judge Doyle loves his state as every patriotic man should, and has contributed much to the preservation of its history. The
Oklahoma Historical Society has not a better friend nor a more loyal supporter.
Page 106
The Board of Directors selected Judge Samuel W. Hayes of Oklahoma City to fill the unexpired term of C. F. Colcord as a member
of the board. Judge Hayes is generally conceded to be one of the foremost members of the bar in the state. He has made an
eminent success, not only in his profession, but also in business. He has long been identified with all the events that have
made up not only the governmental and political side of our history, but also with industrial affairs that have contributed
so much to the growth and development of Oklahoma. Judge Hayes was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and soon established
the reputation as an independent thinker and became a real leader before the convention adjourned. He was one of a committee
of three who was sent to Washington by the convention, to confer with President Theodore Roosevelt and find out the objections
to the constitution that prevented the president from signing it. At the first state election, Judge Hayes was elected to
the Supreme court and served seven years on the bench. Since his retirement from the judiciary he has practiced law in Oklahoma
City. For years he was a member of the firm of Cottingham and Hayes, attorneys for the Santa Fe railroad. He is recognized
as one of Oklahoma's most learned and successful lawyers. In litigation where great interests are involved, and complicated
legal questions to be solved; where the services of an erudite lawyer is imperative, the advice of Judge Sam Hayes is first
to be sought. Judge Hayes is familiar with the history of Oklahoma and will be a worthy successor to Colonel Colcord.
Governor E. W. Marland has placed in the Historical Society Building a magnificent painting of a spectacular Indian pageant.
The picture depicts a scene somewhere in the northern mountainous part of the country, and was painted ninety-seven years
ago.
We have no story or tradition as to what tribe of Indians was the conception of the painter, but from the evidence presented
by the picture itself, it would seem that the artist was reproducing a Mandan or a Black Foot tribal ceremony.
The canvas is eight by ten feet, and is enclosed by a frame in keeping with the grandeur of the painting. This picture does
Page 107
not have any name and all the information concerning it is in the following historical statement given to the society.
"The picture which was sent to the Oklahoma Historical Society by Governor Marland was painted by Alfred J. Miller, N. A.,
of Baltimore, Maryland. Sir William Drummond Stewart, of Murthly Castle, Scotland, made a trip in 1837 to the Far West. He
took with him Alfred J. Miller, to whom he had given a commission to paint for him scenes of Indian Life in the West. This
picture is one of those which Miller painted. It is one of a series of four pictures depicting Indian life and buffalo hunting.
The other three are in Governor Marland's home in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
"These pictures hung in Murthly Castle until about 1926, at which time they were sold and sent to New York. Governor Marland
purchased them from the Anderson Galleries, New York."
The great picture that now hangs in the west gallery, and the famous collection of 78 fans, recently presented to the Historical
Society by Mrs. Laura Clubb of Kaw City, Oklahoma, has enriched the Oklahoma Historical Society collection, both artistically
and historically. This famous collection of fans from all nations, were among the presents presented to General Grant and
his party on his triumphal tour of the world in 1877. Some of these fans date back two and three hundred years, and have been
the property of famous people, historic characters of many nations. If the Oklahoma Historical Society museum had only these
two exhibits it would be worth while for you to pay it a visit. However, the Indian Museum is one of the most complete in
the United States, and perhaps no collection excepting that of the National Museum and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington,
excel in Indian lore.
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