In the first major incident after a period of relative quiet, Oklahoma rebels have struck another Texan target. The airbase at Cimarron, Oklahoma was rocked by an explosion which destroyed airplanes and a large fuel depot at the Texas base, leaving Texan forces in that area dangerously unprotected. Located at the very tip of the Oklahoma panhandle, Cimarron's northwest corner is the intersection of the Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado borders—not the sort of area the Texans would like to see weakened.

The attack occurred in the middle of the night, and caused no casualties, but Texas Ranger Captain Sam Evans isn't giving the rebels any credit for that: "There might just as well have been mechanics working on those planes; those dirty cowards had no way to know that. The Texas Rangers don't take kindly to yellow tactics like this, and we'll make those fellows pay for this. Mark my words."

Anti-Texas slogans were found painted on hangar walls and on the fuselages of the wrecked planes, leaving little doubt about the perpetrator's motives. Oklahoma forces have been fighting skirmishes against Texan forces ever since Texas occupied Oklahoma, but their victories have been very few. Superior Texan numbers and technology have forced Oklahoma's rebels to go underground, and strike only from surprise. Texan officials had been hopeful that this period of tranquility may have meant the separatist movement was finished, but this attack seems to prove them wrong.

Captain Evans claimed the base would be operational again in a matter of days, and that reinforcements had already been moved north from Texas to bolster the Ranger's strength in Cimarron County.