Russell Cobb Book Launch: Ghosts of Crook County
October 21, 2024
Tulsa Historical Society
Russell Cobb’s newest history, Ghosts of Crook County, traces the life—and the alleged fraud—of Charles Page, that scion of Sand Springs whose name graces a statue and street signs along the Arkansas River. In front of an eager crowd at the Tulsa Historical Society last week, Cobb fielded questions from Magic City Books founder Jeff Martin about a life many have likely never considered. Charles Page, Cobb suggested, may have fabricated a child out of whole cloth in order to manipulate an oil-land holding at the turn of the 20th century.
To many, Page is a kind benefactor who saved children from orphan fates and brought a whole generation of Oklahomans in from poverty. That’s the official story. But to Cobb, the story of Tommy Atkins—the dead child whose Mvskoke allotment Charles Page bought in order to fund his own beneficence—complicates it.