In 1931, Texas and Oklahoma jointly built a new, free span northwest of the existing toll bridge.

[1] The company said that the highway commission had promised in July 1930 to buy the old toll bridge for $60,000 (equal to $1,094,343 today).

[1] The Texas State Legislature called a special session on July 23 to pass a bill allowing the Red River Bridge Company to sue the state over the issue, partially in response to meetings in Sherman and Denison, Texas, demanding the free bridge be opened.

[citation needed] The next day, Governor Murray declared martial law at the site, enforced by Oklahoma National Guardsmen, and personally appeared at the site, armed with a revolver,[1] hours before a Muskogee, Oklahoma, court issued an injunction prohibiting him from blocking the northern toll bridge approach.

Adolf Hitler may have believed that the events were evidence of in-fighting between the American states, weakening the union.