At one minute of 12 o'clock noon on September 16, 1893, a tense silence broken only by the occasional nervous whinny of a horse or braying of a mule, fell along the line of the entry of the Cherokee Outlet Strip. Then, a single pistol shot rang out and one of the most exciting runs' in the history of the United States began. The silence of the treeless plains were suddenly filled with screaming men, thundering wagons, cracking whips, plunging animals and yapping dogs, and the tidal wave of humanity, surrounded by a cloud of dust, swept towards Perry and its adjoining countryside. They came from all classes, from all directions; afoot, horseback, on lumber wagons, carriages and by railroad. They were honest men and thieves, bankers and paupers, adventurers and homesteaders, all wanting some of the virgin land that made the outlet famous.