Rachel Whitney, Curator,
Sapulpa Historical Museum
The town of Sapulpa has often given itself a nickname or two. These nicknames often refer to the progression of the town and how significant the products of the town are important to not only Oklahoma but the country. One such nickname of Sapulpa was “Crystal city of the southwest.” This refers to the time of the many, various glass plants operating in the small town of Sapulpa. One such glass bottling factory was for Coca-Cola.
The history of the bottling plant, known as the Sapulpa Bottling Works, began around 1901 or 1905. “‘Albert Straughan, the proprietor, came to Sapulpa in November 1901 and opened the plant. Business was slow to start but during his residence here he worked up a large trade. All the surrounding towns are supplied by the Sapulpa Bottling Works. The leaders are Iron Brew, Dr. Pepper and Regal Tonic, but all kinds of carbonated beverages are made and soda fountains charged.”
The bottles from the company read “Sapulpa Bottling Works, Sapulpa, I.T.” and it included the initials “A S” along the bottom.
In August 1919, the Sapulpa Coca-Cola Bottling Company, located at 7-11 West Bryan Street*, would change hands. Willis C. Strange purchased the company after he was discharged from the Army; he and his brother, John Strange, were “proprietors of plants in Greenville and Rosedale Mississippi.”
*Note: today, the address is 420 South Main Street, where the current Dollar General Store near the Sapulpa Post Office is located.
“When Mr. [W.C.] Strange purchased the Sapulpa Coca-Cola Bottling Company, he changed the name to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company.” It is unsure why he removed the name of the town from the company’s name, however.
Before Willis Strange ran the Sapulpa Coca-Cola plant, Strange served “eighteen months as a captain in the Quartermaster Corps, in addition to seven months in a British hospital. Strange also served five years in the Philippines previous to his enlistment.”
After his discharge, Strange wanted to continue his work with his brother. The Strange brothers were not only the proprietors of the Sapulpa glass plant, but Willis became the manager of the factory so his brother could continue to work in Mississippi.
By 1927, a new owner purchased the factory, Charles Oakes. Oakes would continue the company until the early 1950s, when new owner Jerome Croston moved the plant in 1956.
This week in Sapulpa history, Willis C. Strange announced his campaign for Creek County Sheriff.
“To the people of Creek County – for the benefit of those who do not know me, I declare to briefly state: I am 47 years of age. Upon my discharge from the Army in 1919, I came to Sapulpa and engaged in the Coca Cola Bottling business, which I successfully conducted for eight years. In 1927, I sold this business and shortly afterward, the Claud Harmony established the Harmony-Strange Printing [located at 10 West Dewey].”
“As a Rotarian, American Legionnaire, and member of the Chamber of Commerce, I have been vitally and actively interested in the welfare of the community. Being interested in public affairs and good government, I yielded to the solicitation of many citizens of Creek County, and the request of many of my party leaders to become a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Sheriff.”
The Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Sapulpa produced bottles that simply read: “W C S” on the front with “Sapulpa, Oklahoma” across the bottom, and “pure beverage” on the backside. It is unknown if these bottles were produced during Strange’s management or if this was a campaign bottle for the sheriff position. But both previous owners Albert Straughan (“A S”) and Willis C. Strange (“W C S”) put their initials on their bottles.
“Willis Cook Strange was county sheriff here at the height of the 1930s outlaw era in Oklahoma.” Sheriff Strange was involved with some of “the most famous of all murders in Creek County history.”
In his first year, 1931, “Sheriff and his deputies made 437 arrests during the first six months of the present year,” announced in the semi-annual report. “More persons were arrested for larceny than for any other crime” with 81 arrests. Whereas other arrests were as follows: 49 liquor-violators arrests, 37 drunkenness, 33 burglary arrests, 24 for assault, and 24 for miscellaneous. There were many other arrests listed as well.
This week in Sapulpa history, just one year after running for sheriff, Sheriff Strange was on the case of the bank robbery in Bristow. “No trace of the three men who robbed the Community State Bank of Bristow of almost $3,500, with the exception of the green Pontiac sedan, in which they made their escape. The car was found seven miles southeast of Bristow, abandoned by the robbers…Sheriff Willis Strange and Police Chief Tom Brumley said that this is the second time this bank has been robbed recently; Charles Gibson, oil field worker, took $3,200 ($63,000 today) and then was arrested within hours.”
In 1933, a story about a “mass slaying, infanticide, sex, a love-triangle, unusual means to accomplish the murder, and a spectacular trial” broke out. “Chester Barrett made an application for an insurance policy on all members of his family, naming himself as beneficiary.” The doctor and Sheriff Strange found Barret’s wife and their children “all in convulsions. Two of the daughters were dead. A third died enroute to the city hospital. The daughters were six, three, and two. Three other children and Mrs. Barrett recovered. An infant had not been given the poison.”
He also did not try to poison his mistress, nor their child that they had together. Sheriff Strange took the confession of Barrett. Barrett stated that “the money situation, considering the support for the child of his lover, had become critical, there was little to eat.” Barrett was found guilty in 1934, and was executed in 1935.” Barrett may have been the last man from Creek County to have been executed.
In February 1934, a shooting took place just about a mile northeast of town. Sheriff Strange and his deputies were called to the area of “presence of several suspicious characters in town,” then gunfire erupted.
Chief of Police Tom Brumley and Officer C.P. Lloyd were killed in a shootout with a gang of outlaws. Three gang members were also killed: Aussie Elliott, bank robber, Eldon Wilson, desperado and fugitive, Lee Davis, and Dupert Carolan.
Carolan was said to have killed Officer Brumley with a shot through the heart. Carolan ran to escape as Elliot was killed on the scene, and Wilson was bleeding out. Both Davis and Wilson were taken into custody, where Wilson would succumb to his wounds.
Carolan was met with more gunfire as he tried to disappear in a ravine; Officer Lloyd was killed in this shoot-out with Carolan.
“A mob of 500 citizens assembled at the jail that evening…Sheriff Strange put out an SOS to Oklahoma Governor William Murry, requesting militia aid. Over 100 National Guardsmen quickly assembled.”
By 1938, Sheriff Strange received a new title and position, Creek County Treasurer. Strange and his family would move a few years later to Alabama. Willis C. Strange died in 1958.
(Sapulpa Herald, August 21, 1919, October 30, 1919, July 5, 1930, July 6, 1931, February 5, 1934, February 11, 1996, April 15, 2012; Democrat News, July 3, 1931, January 19, 1971; Sapulpa Times, July 29, 2021)
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