978.101 '^«

I.76d

1148218

QENEALOGY COLLECTION

1833 01064 8936

EX-GOV. L. U. HUMPHREY.

HISTORY

O F

MONTGOMERY
COUNTY,

KANSAS.

By Its Own PeopI

pie.

ILLUSTRATED.

Containing Sketches of Our Pioneers— Revealing their Trials and Hardships

Planting Civilization in this County— Biographies of their Worthy

Successors, and Containing Other information of a

Character Valuable as Reference to the

Citizens of the County.

PUBLISHED BY

L. WALLACE DUNCAN.

lOLA. KANSAS:
PRESS OF lOLA REGISTER.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1903. by L. WdlUce Duncan,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. D. C.

1148218

Preface

The histoiy of Montgoniei v <<iimty reveals this locality as the spot
where the Osage ludian made his last stand before the white man's
advance in spreading civilization over the plains of Kansas. It was here
that he was crowded oft' of the reserve traded him by the "Great Father'' in
1825, but which lie had really occupied from the first years of the nine-
teenth century. For at least fifty years he had been master of this domain
.-^ and here mudi of the tangible history of the several bands of the tribe
^ was made.

^ From the <'ra of "sciuaiter" settlement, the final treaty with the Red

\) Man and the legitimate settlement by the white man, down through the

j\ organization and development of the county, the pages of this book are

^. replete with events and incidents which mark the stages of advancement

1 toward the splendid civilization of the present day.

' The publisher of this volume and those who have rendered valuable

- assistance in the preparation of its descriptive part have realized the

Y importance of the work and have, therefore, labored assiduously toward

^ an accurate and reliable production, and one which shall not only be full

and thorough as to substantial facts, but which shall serve as the basis

of future publiciitions touching the history of Montgomery county.

For the prejiaration of valuable articles for this volume we acknowl-
edge our obligation to the following citizens of the county and commend
their ettorts to the confidence of the generations to come : Ex-Senator H.
W. Young. Hon. William Dunkiu and Hon. W. T. Yoe, of Independence;
T. F. Andress, M. 1)., of Liberty; Dr. T. ('. Frazier, of Cofteyville ; Hon.
J. R. Charlton, of Cauey; and Miss Josie H. Carl, of Cherryvale. To the
many citizens who have furnished information and extended other favors
to the writers hereof we desire to express our appreciation and hei-eby
extend to them the compliments of the literary board.

Tc John S. (iilmore, of Fredonia, are we indebted for an important
article for this work, jirojjerly ])laced to his credit, and we wish, publicly,
to make acknowledgement of the same.

In the bi(igra]<liical department of the work are rejiresented worthy
citizcrs frcm evcrv honorable walk of life. It was our wish that everv

'distiiiL'uislied cili/.cn of ihc (•(.tiiily p:irlicip;iU" in tlic s]K\ri' allotod lo lliis
(l('li;iiiiiieiit, ;uh1 wiiik' hosts of llicin liavi' done so. soiiio of them havft
dciiit'd lis not only thoir story. l)ul their snhstaiitial to-operatiou ; yet the
merits of the hook liave not thus been imjiaired. Our ac(omi)auying
illusti-atious represtMit pioueers, worthy people of a later day, aud well
known and historic objects of the county. These add interest and
attractiver.ess to the hook, on the whole. niakin:>- the biographical and
pictorial deiiartment bv no nieaiis the leasi iiiijiortant features of the
work

If this volume shall meet Tl;e expectations of its jiatrous aud shall,
in some measure. ren<ler them an equivalent for tlie contidenee bestowed
upon the enlcrjirise. then shall we feel that our elforts have not been in
vain. THE PUBLIiSlHEK.

HISTORY

OF

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

KANSAS

CIIArTEK I.
Organization, Location and Land Titles

During the earlier liistory of Kansas the territory •which now consti-
tutes Montgomery county formed a part of Wilson county. The latter
county was created by act of the territorial legislature in 1855, but it was
not organized until September lS6i, at which time it extended from
Woodson county to the south line of the state. Montgomery county was
created by act of the legislature in 1867, a little more than half of the
southern part of Wilson county being taken for the purpose. By the act
of the legislature which created the county, its boundaries were fixed as
follows :

"Commencing at the southeast corner of Wilson county; thence south
with the west line of Labette county to the thirty-seventh parallel of
north latitude; thence west with said parallel twenty-four miles; thence
north to the southwest corner of Wilson county; thence east with the
south line of Wilson county to the place of beginning."

This description depended entirely on the bounding of Wilson county,
and, in 1870 the statute was changed to read as follows:

''Commencing at the southeast corner of Wilson county ; thence south
to tlie south line of the state of Kansas; thence west along the south line
of Kansas twenty-four miles; thence north to the sixth standard
parallel; thence east along the said sixth standard parallel to the place
of beginning."

This description seems to have meant exactly the same thing as the
other, and yet neither of them is accurate, as the width of the county east
and west, owing to the botchwork made in fitting together the surveys of
the ceded lauds and Diminished Reserve, is considerably more than half a
mile above the twenty-four mentioned.

^\'hile all of the county except the three mile strip of ceded lands on
the east side was still Indian land, and there was no treaty even pending

-6 HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KA^^SA^^.

for tlu'ii- (vssion to the United States, saving the Sturgis alidiiiinatiou,
whhh was never ratified, the eounty was organi/ed Ity iirorhiiiiatiou of
Governor James M. Harvey, on Jnne ;!d. ISCi'.t. It was claimed that at
this lime the county had the requisite puinilaiiiui of (iim. and wliether this
was true or not. the progress of events soon made it an accurate
statement. Verdigris City was designated as the temporary county seat,
and a l)oard of county commissioners was api)ointed. For further details
as to the early history of the county and the story of the struggle which
resulted in the selection of Independence as the county seat, the reader is
referred lo the chai)ter on the political history of the county.

Location

]\I(>ntgomi'i'y county now ranks as the seventh Kansas county in pop-
ulation and, as shown by tlie United States census of l!l()0. forms a part
of tl!( largest contiguous area west of tlie .Mississiiiju river, having a
population in excess of forty-five to the sijuare mile. It is between
tweniy four and twenty-five miles in width east and west, and between
twenty-seven and twenty-eight miles in length north and south. It is the
third county west from the Missouri line, on the southern tier, and adjoins
the iTidian Territory on the south. Label tc county forms its entire east-
ern boundar\- and Wilson its mntlici-n, while on the west it adjoins
('hauiau(pia and a jiortion of Elk. Neosho county corners with it on th(i
nortiic;ist.

{{■< i>liysical features and soil are extremely varied. The Verdigris
is the principal river, entering its northern boundary and meandering
across to its soutliern. The Elk enters the west line of the county and
foni s another winding valley, emptying into the Verdigris about four
miles northeast of the center of the county. The Caney cuts across the
southwest corner of the county. I*esides these rivers there are dozens
of ci'eeks and runs with much fine alluvial land adjoining them, in
addition to the bottom lands of the rivers. I'.etween the streams there are
here and there rock-cajijied mounds and much high, thin, stony land, fit
for little but ])astin('. Use is, however, now being found f<)r the limestone
that c.qis sonic of the mounds and outcrops along the streams in the man
ufaclurc of ccnicnl. while the shale that is abundant in the hills is
extensixcly ciiiiilo,\cd in the nuinufacture ot vitrified brick. Taking her
agricnltui-al res(iurces in connection with the abundant dcjiosits of nat-
ural gas and jieti'oleum oil found in the earth liiiiHlrcds of feet below the
surface, and remembering that .Montgomery is I be only county on the
south line of the state that lies wholly within the gas and oil belt, we are
certainly justified in saying that nature has done more for her than for
any other eipnil area in I he slate.

The seclion of which (his county of such boundless lesources and
]iossii!ililies forms a iiarl. was tirst a jiorlioM of Hie French domain in

lIlSTOIiV OK .MO.NTCiOMEUY COUNTY, KANSAS. 7

Aiiu'iii-.i, having been taken possession of by tlie Canadians, who drifted
down the Mississippi to the gnlf in 1682. Eighty years later it was eeded
to Sp;iin. t>y whom it was retained until 1800, when it was retroceded to
France. In eoninion with the entire area of Kansas, except a small frac-
tion in the southwest corner, it formed a part of the Louisiana purchase
made by Jefferson in 1803, and has ever since been American territory,
though little was known about it during the first half of the 18th century.

The first legislation in regard to this section appears to have been
enacted in 1834, when all the territory west of the Mississippi and Arkan-
sas was declared "Indian country," with the laws of the Ilnited States
in force; and the country of the Osages was attached to Arkansas
territory. In 1854 the territory of Kansas was organized and, in l.S(il, the
tei'ritory became a state.

The country from which the present county was to be made still re-
mained Indian territory, however. The Osage Indians were first found
on the Missouri river, and, later, were forced down to the Arkansas. In
1808 they ceded their lands in Missouri and Arkansas to the United
States government and went west. In 182.'") they relin(iuished their lands
in Kansas .e.xcept a strip fifty unless wide along the south line of the state,
beginning twenty-flve miles west of the Missouri line, near the present
eastern boundary of Labette county, and reaching west to an indefinite
line extended from the head waters of the Kansas river, southerly, through
the Rock Saline. This was the Osage reservation, which conipi-ised the
largest body of good land in Kansas, remaining unsettled when the civil
war closed in 18(J5.

Land Titles
The white men wanted these lands and were bound to get them soon
in any event, but the return of the soldiers of the Union to civil life in
1865 no doubt hastened the movement to send the Indians westward again
and make homes and farms out of these fertile Southern Kansas valleys
to which they held title. At Canville trading post in Neosho county on
September 29th, 1805, a treaty was negotiated which became opei-ative
January 21st, 1867, by whose terms the Osages sold a thirty-mile strip off
from the east side of their lands for $300,000. This strip' embraced the
counties of Xeosho and Labette, and a fraction about three miles wide
along the east sides of Wilson and Montgomery counties. The contest
between the settlers and the Missouri, Kansas iV Texas and the Leaven-
worth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad companies for the title to these
lands forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Labette
county. This contest also involved the three-mile strip on the east side
of Montgomery county and interested a considerable per centage of its
population. It was finally decided in favor of the United States, under
whom a portion of the settlers claimed title, leaving those who had bought

8 HISTORY or MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

their lauds from the railroad coiiipaiiies to seek to perfect tlieir titles
anew.

These ceded lauds were eventually entered under the pre-emption
laws and paid for to the credit of the Osage fund in the government
treHsury.

The same treaty which cut off these Osage lauds on the east also
sliced off a twenty-mile strip on the north, leaving the -'Diminished Re-
serve" but thirty iniles in width, and as the territory narrowed the eager-
ness to possess it became greater. The corporations had an eye upon it, as
well as the settlers, and on May 27th, ISGS, a little more than a year
before the rush of immigrants began to fill the county, there was negotiat-
ed on Drum Creek a treaty which for downright infamy outranks any
other transaction in the history of the opening of the west to settlement
and civilization. This treaty was known as the "Sturgis Treaty," aud is
liberally treated under the head of "Drum Creek Treaty'" in this volume.

Owing to a discrepancy between the southern boundary line of the
state of Kansas and the south line of the Osage Dimiuished Reserve, there
was a strip of land along the south line of Montgomery county, varying
between two and three miles in width, which was claimed by the Cherokee
Indians, and which was eventually sold for their benefit several years
later. Actual settlers were given a preference in the purchase of these
lands, but those which remained were disposed of in any desired quantity,
and at a price somewhat higher than the settlers were asked to pay.

land titles in the county were thus of four different kinds. The land-
holder may find his chain running back to a government patent originat-
ing in a purchase from the Cherokees or the Osages. aud if the latter, it
may be either of "Ceded" or "Diminished Reserve" lands. Or he may hold
by virtue of a purchase from the state school fund commissioners. It
was fortunate for the settlers, though, that for all except a small fraction
of the area of the county, the ccmtest between the corporations and the
l)eople was fought out before the lands were entered. They were thus
freed from the long period of strife, the expense and the uncertainty which
were the fate of their neighbors in Labette county and on the "Ceded"
strip. The titles which they obtained when they paid the purchase price
to the government and received their final receipts from the land office of-
ficials, have never been called in (juestion. and the courts have been resort-
ed to only to settle individual and isolateil cases of rival claims to
proprietorship.

The original government surveys of the lauds in the county, however,
were made in a very careless manner, the section and (piurter section
cornel's often being many rods from where they should have been, and
the surveys of the "Ceded" and "Diminished" lands wei-e so loosely con-
nected that in ii:;niy cases there are (piarter sections on the line between

[ISTORY OF MOXTGOJIERY COUNTY. KANSAS.

CHAPTER II.

Important Events
The lU'iini Creek Treaty, The Elk Kivcr Valley Floods. The Volcanic Up-
heaval at Coffeyviile in ls!»4, the Eeed Family Tragedy, Why Did
Poiueroy Trtist York?, The County High School, and the Daltou Raid
lit Coffeyviile.

The Drum Creek Treaty

r.Y JNO. S. GILMORE.

On May 27th, 1808, a treaty with the Osages was concluded on Drum
Creek. Montgomery county, for the disposition of the Diminished Reserve,
or thirty -mile strip. This was popularly called the Drum Creek treaty
or the "Sturgis treaty." Wm. Sturgis was the controlling spirit in its
negotiation. By its terms the entire Diminished Reserve, comprising
8,003,(»00 acres was to be sold to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston
Railroad Co. for |1,600,000, or a fraction tinder 20 cents per acre. It was
understood that Sturgis would be the indirect beneficiary of this stupen-
dous wrong. The treaty was a premeditated, thoroughly planned and
successfully executed fraud from its iucipiency up to the stage of its
submission to the United States Senate for ratification. It was even
more — a brazen steal, so extensive as to be infamous — and the oflScials,
politicians and leading men who approved or aided and abetted in the
attempt to carry it out deserved to be buried so deep under popular
obloqtiy that they would never again publieally show their heads. The
Indians were no doubt unduly influenced by the promoters and retainers
of the L. L. & G. railroad company. The treaty commission, with special
interpreters, Indian agents, and advocates of the scheme had gone into
the Indian country accompanied by a detatchment of the Seventh Li. S.
cavalry commanded by Capt. Geo. W. Yates. (Yates and his troop went
down to death with General Custer on the Rosebud, June 2oth, 1876,)
The commission composed N. G. Taylor, President; Thos. Murphy, Geo. C.
Snow, Albert G. Boone and A. N. Blacklidge, Secretary ; with three inter-
preters. Those signing the treaty by way of attesting the signatures (X
marks) of the Osage chiefs and their adherents were Alex. R. Banks,
special U. S. Indian agent; Geo. W. Yates, Captain Seventh cavalry;
M. W. Reynolds, reporter for commission ; Charles Robinson, I. S.
Kalloch, Moses Neal, W. P. Murphy, Wm. Babcock and the interpreters.
Alex Beyett, Lewis P. Chouteau and Augustus Captain. The first Osage
X mark was under the title of Joseph Paw-ne-no-pashe, White Hair, prin-
cipal chief, followed by the Indian names of lOG other chiefs, councilors

lO msTt)RY OK MONTCJOMISRY COUNTY. KANSAS.

aiul l.iavt's of llie Big and Little Osage tribes. Of Indians signing the
dociinient wlio were known by many Moutgouiery county pioneers were
lUack I»og. Little Beaver, No])awaila. Strike Ax. Wyohake. Chetopali,
Hard Kobe. Walisanka and ^Mclotuiinini (Twelve O'clock, i Little Bear
was dead.

B\ the time this treaty reached the Senate the settlers on the reserve
were aroused a nd their friends throughout the State and many newspap-
ers shared ojienly their feeling and espoused their cause. A determined
fight was made against the ratification of the treaty, led by Hon. Sidney
Clarke. Kansas" sole Congressman. Both Senators were silently for the
robber measure. Senator E. G. Ross, a year later, rei)orted it to the Senate
so amended as to divide up the lands with other railroad comi>anies,
witluut adding to the price or making any provision for the interests or
rights of the settlers. But Congressman Clarke did not relax in his bitter
opposition. He brought to light the objectionable and unjust features of
the treaty, stood for the opening of the reserve to actual settlers as the
Trust Lands had been opened, and as a result of his protests and efforts
and at his request General Grant, soon after becoming President, on
March 4th, 186!), withdrew the treaty from the Senate.

Sidney Clai'ke framed and offered in the House the section in the an-
nual Indian appropriation bill, ai)proved July 15th, 1870, which opened
the ]>!minished Reserve to actual settlers only at .fl.25 per acre, excepting
the lOtli and 36th .sections, which were reserved to the State of Kansas for
school purposes. After a two years' contest he had prevented the con-
summation of the greatest swindle on Indians and settlers alike ever con-
cocted in Kansas. The railroads, losing the rich prize which seemed
almost securely within their grasp, combined in the campaign of 1870
against Clarke and defeated him for renomination for Congress,

At a council held on Drum Creek in Septend)er, 1870, arrangements
were effected for the final removal of the remaining Osages to their new
home in the Indian Territory, just south of the Kansas line. By the act
ai)iir(.ved .Inly l."ith of that year the I'residciit bad been directed to make
such removal as soon as the Indians would a^rcc thereto. They went.

The Elfc Valley Flood of 1885

.\ner till' grasshdiiiier plague of 1S71 .'i laoliably llic wurst .-alamity
that h;!s bcrallcii Monlgonicry county sinre its scltlcmcnt was the flood
wliicli s\ve|,l down the Valleys of the' l-:ik an<l Verdigris (ui Friday, Sat-
urday and Sunday. .May l.l'th, KJth, and 17tli, LSS.".. Perhaps the most
comi)i'eiiensive account of this disaster was the one imblished by the Star
and Kansan. at Independence, on the Friday following; and it is from
this account that the facts for this sketch are gleaned.

That fateful Fridav was noted at Jndependence as a day of clouds

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY'^ KANSAS. II

au(l sliowei's with heavy Imiilcs of cloud along the western horizon
Toward night news canie of a great storm in Elk county and that the
railroad track had been washed away in the neighborhood of Elk Falls.
No more trains were able to get through on the Soullicrii Kansas line of
the S'anta Fe railroad in either direction, and on Saturday morning a re-
pair train loaded with material for bridge building had gone out to the
neighborhood of the bridge over the Elk at Table :M«)und. About half
past ten o'clock a telegram was received from this train stating that lives
were in danger and help was needed. All the available boats in the city
were taken to the depot, and a little after noon the repair train, which had
returned to Independence, stai-ted for the scene of danger with about a
hundred and fifty men on board. A few nunutes run brought the train to
the locality of tlie tlood, and at the southwest corner of Table Mound the
boats were unloaded and started out over the waste of waters on their
errand of mercy. Among those who risked their lives in these frail crafts,
to rescue those in peril, were Eugene B. White, Milton Gregory, Lewis
Bowman and Elisha Mills.

During the morning the waters had risen so high as to touch the sills
of the iron railroad bridge over the Elk, and a gang of men were at work
on the bridge dislodging the mass of corn stalks which had lodged against
it on the upper side. Beyond the bridge, to the west, the railroad track
was out of water as far as the trestle over the slough, and this strip Mas
the only bit of dry land visible in the entire valley from bluff to bluff. On
it were gathered a few cattle and hogs which had tied to it for their lives,
and to which the waters were bringing the scattered ears of corn they had
gathered. To the left of the railroad, chickens were seen roosting in the
trees near a deserted house, and still nearer a bunch of them had gath-
■ered on the upper ends of a pile of posts which projected a little above
the surface of the water; and away to the north of the railroad were a
number of horses which had been tied on the highest ground in the vicin-
ity, but were still nearly covered by the waters.

It was not, however, until the writer climbed the slope of Table
Mound and stood upon the rocky ledge that marks its outlines that he
realized the extent of the calamity which had befallen the residents of
these fertile valley lands. Up and down the river basin, as far as the eye
could reach, there was water everywhere. Only a small fragment of a
single wheat field showed above the flood in this entire rich valley district.
Still the waters were dotted with trees and groves, while a fringe of
timber marked the windings of the channel of the Elk; and houses and
barns could be seen here and there, the highest of them with apparently
not less than three feet of water on their first floors, and the lowest sub-
merged to the eaves. Probably the watery area in sight from this point
was not less than ten scpiare miles in extent; and at one jdace the width
of the vallev is scarcelv less than five miles.

12 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

In one instance a family refused to leave the bouse when tlie rescu-
ing boat appeared, but when a second downpour came later in the after-
noon they were fain to seek the shore. Some of the dwellers in the valley
wei-e landed on the west shore, having made one portage across the rail-
road during the trip. There they were warmly welcomed by the neighbors
gathered on the opposite mound, who could be seen from our side running
across the grassy slope to meet them. And all this while the sullen roar
of the angry waters rang in our ears and we bad only to close our eyes to
imagine we stood on the ocean's beach listening to its endless refrain.
About us were the most lovely of our wild flowers, the graceful, nodding
columbines and the crimson hued verbenas ; but above us the heavens were
again gathering blackness and the inky pall of cloud along the western
horizon was ever and anon illuminated by a vivid flash that left it blacker
and more ominous than before ; while below, in dozens of swift curi'ents,
the thick and noisome waters rushed onward unresting to the sea. Prob-
ably no one who gazed in fascinated awe upon those thousands of acres
which at dawn had been covered with luxuriant fields of wheat, promising
within a month a harvest of golden grain, and which were now buried
from five to fifteen feet in depth beneath a swiftly flowing volume of water
wider than the Mississippi, will ever forget the scene.

Meanwhile the panorama was not without an exciting and, what
threatened to be, a tragic interlude. One of the boats — Bowman's it was
said — ventured into the swift current setting under the trestle west of
the iron railroad bridge . In a flash it was sucked under and upset, one of
its occupants clutching the timbers of the trestle and being drawn out
from above, while the other apjieared on the bottom of the u}tturned boat
as it drifted down stream. Fortunately he reached the fringing grove of
the river channel unharmed, and was able to halt the boat there until
another came to its rescue.

During the afternoon, the iron wagon bridge. I wo and a half miles
north of Independence on the Neosho road, was swept down stream and,
shortly after, the one on the Radical City road, a couple of miles farther
west, went to keep it conifjany. Sunday morning the flood was at its
height in the Verdigris in the neighborhood of Independence, and the
water to the northeast of the city had backed up as far as Pennsylvania
avenue, just south of the railroad trestle. Kock creek on the south was
also full and almost impassable, while the entire valley from the bluff at
the east side of the city to the hills a mile away to the northeast, was one
vast sheet of water. The railroad was washed away at a small trestle
near the east side of the valley, and that afternoon the passengers coming
in from the north were ferried over to the city by boat, among them being
some returning visitors from the New Orleans exposition.

Until Sunday no loss of life had been reported in the county, but dur-
ing the forenoon came the melancholy tidings of a pathetic fatality at the

HISTORY OV MOXTfioMERY COVNTY. KANSAS. I J

month oi C:ud ncek in Rutliind towusbip. Saturday niovuiiij!,- Dr. I. H.
.McCov. of thai iH'i.sihborhood. who had recently been engaged in business
in Independence, with Mr. Greer, a neighbor, had hastily constructed a
square box boat which could have been little more than a raft, as the work
on it is said to have taken tiieni but forty minutes. With this Ihey rescued
the family of a Mr. Wallace, living in the path of the flood, in whoso house
the water had risen to the ceiling of the first story, and brought them safe-
ly to laud. Finding no more [leople in danger in their neighborhood, they
liext ferried a cow out of the flood, one of them holding her by the horns
while the other paddled. About noon John E. Rice, an unmarried young
man 23 years of age. took Mr. Greer's place, but Dr. McCoy, though a man
of family, refused to permit anyone to become a substitute for him.
Manned by McCoy and Rice, the boat put off to a knoll lying a little to the
west of tlie mouth of Card creek and south of the river, where a uumber
of people were to be seen. Here were found Mrs. Eliza Woods, a widow
who had resided iu the county from the date of its first settlement, and
several other people, among whom were John McCarty and Maurice and
George Heritage. The two latter were at work upon an old and heavy
boat Avith which they had been engaged during the morning in rescuing
those who were in danger, but which had sprung aleak. The story of the
fatal accident which followed is as told the writer by Maurice Heritage.
When he went to the Widow Woods" residence to take her away, he found
her nearly beside herself with fright and excitement, and engaged in con-
strucling a raft with which to start for the shore. When McCoy came to
the knoll, she eagerly assented to his proposal to take her to the mainland,
though the water had already fallen a foot and a half and all danger was
past.

With her youngest child. Toiiimy, a boy six or seven years of age, and
another little boy about the same age, the son of Ira VanDuzeu, a neigh-
bor, Mrs. Woodsgot into the box boat with McCoy and Rice. It was only
sixty rods to the shore, but they had not gone more than three before they
were in a strong current, and their boat, which was evidently overloaded,
became unmanageable and was sucked through an opening in a hedge
wherj this current was setting most strongly. vSeeing their peril Mr. Her-
itage and Mr. McCarty rushed toward them, thinking they could make a
sort of living chain of themselves, and while one of them held to the
hedge, the other holding fast to the first could reach the boat and swing
it out of the current and into safety. By the time Heritage had got with-
in twenty-five feet of the boat it went under and he was sucked in after it
just where the boat had disappeared, the water being eight or nine feet
deep. Here Heritage says he lost consciousness, until v»-heu he came to
the surface ten yards away, he was recalled to a knowledge of his peril
by McCarty calling to him. and swam out of the current.

Mr. Rice.though an ex]iert swimmer, did not arise again, and it is

14 HISTORY or MONTiJOMERV CorXTY. KANSAS.

thonslit that he was stunned by a hlow across the bridge of the nose
whicli left a bruise perceptible when the body was recovered. The boat
was afterward seen floating down stream with McCoy and Mrs. Woods
both clinging to it, but it kept rolling over in the waves so that they soon
lost their hold. As McCoy was also a good swimmer, it is inferred that
but for an attempt to rescue Mrs. Woods he would have saved himself.
The boat did not upset until its occupants attempted to jump from it as
it was going down ; it simply foundered from overloading. The bodies
were found about seven o'clock the next morning, from seventy-flve to a
hundred yards fi-oni where they disappeared, having lodged in a hedge, at
rigiit angles to the one through which they were passing when the boat
sank.

hi this cduiily no oilier fiil:ililii-s wei-e rcjiorled. lliough the losses in
the destniitioii of growing crops were almost beyond computation. On
Sunday A^'. If. Linton's Houring mill, three miles southwest of Liberty,
fell into the river, entailing a loss of «:',.()(»0. :McTaggart's mill, northwest
of Liberly. and near the sight of the oi-iginal town of that name, was
flooded to a depth of thirty-three inches, which was sixteen more than had
been observed there since its erection in the pioneer days. At Elk
City the wafer was three feet deep in the depot, and many residences were
damaged by the Hood, but the business quarter was not inundated. Tiie
raih'oad was overflowed three miles north of Cotfeyville at Kalloch
station, and during the first of the week that city was ciit oft' from mail
communication with the outside world, except by hack to Independence.

The "cloudburst" which caused this flood originated in Chautauqua
county, and in Ihat county the loss of life was greater than in ]M -utsoin-
ery, no less than eleven fatalities being reported. Twn bodic-. were re-
covered at Matanzas and three in the neighlxuhood of ( \uiey : while six
deaths occuried in the vicinity of Sedan. The following; vi\i(l and strik-
ing story of the storm and its work in Ihat county is from the columns jf
the Sedan (Tra[)hic of the next week :

"Last Friday commenced like a balmy spring morning, with southerly
winds, and it bade fair to be the most jileasant day of the week; but be-
fore noon dark clouds had begun to rise in the north, and by half past
eleven the northern part of the county was the center of one of the most
disastr(nis rainstorms ever rec(U-ded in the annals of the state. The rain
and hail. accomi»anied at times by winds of a <'ycl(>nic natttre, fell for
eight consecutive hours. The water stood on the level i)rairie at times
nearl\ (wo feet deep. The clouds from this place looked as if they were
rising and moving oft', when other clouds, if anything of a more fearful
character, would i evolve aroui-d and taUe the place of the one which had
just si)ent its fury. The northern sky all the afternoon was a dark mass
of revolving clouds. The clouds would apjicar in the northeast, and fol-
lowing llic circle, (Iisaii|.car in the norihwest with terrilde regularity.

UlSTOUY UF MO.N'niOMEKY COlNTYj KANSAS. I 5

At about five o'clock in tlie evening the first approadi of the stoi-ni was
announced here by the dark circling clouds overhead, acc<)nii)anied by a
deluge of rain, which converted our strets and water ways into boiling
torrents. A few minutes after the rain had commenced to fall it was re-
ported that the river was out of its banks, and in less than half an hour
from the time of the first indications of the rise, the river was fifteen feet
higher than it had ever been before since the first settlement of the county,
and our iieople. for the first time, began to realize that those farmers liv-
ing in the low river bottoms had either escaped by marvelous exertion or
been carried to destruction. Horses, cattle, hogs, wagons and farming im-
plements were driven past by the mad torrents at a frightful rate. The
water came down in walls four feet liii:li. crushing and carrying away
everything that opposed its forces; fenifs and lanii improvements disap-
peared in an instant, and great trees that liad stood the test of ages were
uprooted and leveled to the earth ; while the roar and swish of the waters
made the bravest stand back and shudder as he contemplated the awful
consequences that must inevitably follow. People began to move out ofi
the lower part of town to the high points. Xight coming on and the rain
still falling, nothing could be (lone till morning to relieve the sufl'erers
on the bottoms.

"Next morning the cries of the sufferers in tree tops were heard, and
rafts and boats were speedily constructed to render assistance. One raft
was made out of the side of a house and set afloat by William Harbert
and others, and rescued Ben Adams, his wife and two children out of the
tree to])s. where they had taken refuge the night before. Their house
started ofl:' about six o'clock. The woman caught in a tree top and lifted
her two children on to the same limb, her husband going still farther and
catching to another tree. The plucky little woman sheltering her children
all night and fighting the drift wood and everything, to keep from being
dragged oft their only hope of safety. Just above them, and four miles
from i^edan, Mr. Witt, his wife and one child, also. Mr. Green, seeing the
flood coming, tried to make their escape to the highlands in their wagon,
but were carried down with the flood. Mr. Witt making his escape, and
the child, woman, and Mr. (Ireeu being drowned. Their bodies have all
been recovered. Ed. Chadburn. a freighter from this city, was on the
road to Moline, and was drowned in a small rivulet north of town. His
body was discovered early Saturday moiniug, and was brought home and
interred Sunday evening. Two children of Mr. Rogers, on Xorth Caney,
east of Sedan, were drowned; their bodies were recovered. Mr. and Mrs.
Rogers escaped after a perilous swim of a mile."

The next great flood in the "\'erdigris came in Septend)er. ISflo, but
was unaccompanied by loss of life, and while it ruined most of the corn
fields in the valley only injured wheat in the stack.

In the latter part of :May. l!)(i:!. the highest water since the settle-

I6 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

ment of the county swt'i^t tliroiif;!! IjotU the Elk and Vercligris valleys,
and at midnight on Friday. May I'lid, it reached its maximum at Indepen-
dence, three feet above the high water mark of 1895. The wheat crop in
all of the valley lands of the county was ruined by this flood, but the only
loss of life reported was in the upper part of Sycamore valley, where J.
W. Burke was drowned by the ui)setting of his buggy in the rapidly flow-
ing stream, which was not more than three feet deep at the ford where
he attem))ted to cross. His wife, who was in the carriage with him. was
rescued. lie was a ])i(ineer and a well known citizen and had beo.u prom-
inent for years in the councils of the INipulist party.

The Volcanic Upheaval of 1894 at Coffeyville

Viewed from the standpoint of the geologist ami the student of physi-
cal ])!ienomena, in the entire history of the slate of Kansas, from the days
of Coi-ouado to these opening yeais of the Twentieth century, there haS
been no more interesting spectacle than was witnessed by those who vis-
ited Major Osborn's pasture adjoining the city of Coffeyville in the
summer of 1894. The location of the volcanic upheaval which occurred
there on the night of Sunday, July 22d, was only about four blocks north
of the Eldridge House and the business centre of the city, and not more
than seventy-five yards west of Ninth street, which there marks the west-
ern limit of the town. Had the upheaval occurred fifteen hundred feet
south of where it did, it would have made utter wreck of most of the
business buildings of that city.

As compared with the un<l('rgi-<iun<l distiubance on that July night,
the Daltoii raid which brought ('oHVy\illc so much unenviable notoriety,
was but a ri])])le on the surface <>f events. That affair was transitory and
left no such abiding scars on the eartli's surface as did the elemental up-
heaval that occurred two years later. Aside from events which are of
interest because th(»y attect those of our own race, there has been no other
happening in the entire histoi-y of Kansas so far out of the usual order of
Things, nor so significant in its suggestions. Elemental commotion above
die earth's surface we ai(^ accusiomed lo. and the violence and destruction
wrought by cyclones and tornadoes do not excite our special wonder, as
they would if they were new to our ex]ierience. Hut when the solid earth
itself begins to rock and vomits forth ston(^s by the ton from depths that
have not .seen the light for uninniibered aeons, ]M'o])le have reason to pause
and (luestion whether there is nnythiiig stable, anything abiding in
this old world of ours.

The writer of this aiticie visited CotVeyville two days after the ex-
plosioii. aiKl ihis is wlial lie s.iw as he ihen reconled his obsei'vations :

The main cralei- extends in a nori Invesierly and southeasterly di-
rection about a liuiidred feel. It is oblong in shape and varies in width
from thirly lo fifty feet. The pile of stone and earth that surrounds it

HISTORY Ol' JIONTGO.MERY COL'NTY^ KANSAS. I7

is ten or twelve feet high at the southeast corner, but the crater is scarcely
lower on the inside of this pile than the ground just south of it, so that
the bowl-shaped or crater-like appearance is due in large measure to the
piling up of earth and stone around the region of upheaval. Most of the
central depression, as well as the surrounding elevation, is covered with
jagged and irregular stones of various sizes, giving the scene a slight
resemblance to some of the stone gardens among the Rocky mountains.
These stones are principally fragments of sandstone, but among them is
some bluish soapstone. The gas men who have drilled here say that the
latter is not found nearer the surface than thirty or forty feet. And yet
right in the center of the crater is a great mass of this stone, consisting of
four or five layers, all tilted up on edge, about six feet in thickness and
fifteen feet long, with their lower edges concealed by the debris about
them. This is the mass which has been repeatedly described as "about
the size of a wag(m box." As a matter of fact there is stone enough in
that mass to fill a good sized wagon train and to weigh from fifty to one
hundred tons.

The force re(piired to tear this stone loose from the horizontal strata
in which it lay so quietly imbedded a week ago, as it had been ever since
it was mud and ooze in the bed of a great inland sea, to break up and lift
all the layers of sandstone That lay above it, and to instantly raise the
thousands on thousands of tons of rock and soil between it and the sur-
face, is beyond all computation. It must have been something titanic
— something compared with which the charges of dynamite u.sed
in shooting oil wells are as toy pistols to the great Krupp gun we saw at
the Chicago Exposition. That an explosion of gas in a pocket scores of
feet below the surface might have stirred the bosom of the sleeping earth
and opened a seam to ease the pressure would be credible ; but what kind
of a force, how sudden the explosion, and how beyond measure the pres-
sure, the force, required to produce so stupendous a result !

Yet this one minatui-e crater, where a bit of smooth, grass-grown
Kansas prairie had been, in the twinkling of an eye, transformed into
such a scene of stony desolation, by no means told all the story. Running
thence southwest for nearly fifty yards were great cracks from six to eight
feet deep and a foot or more in width. They terminated in another small-
er crater where the eruption seemed to have been much less violent, the
soil merely boiling up from the effects of the blow-out by the pent-up forces
below. Still farther to the southwest, traces of the exjjlosion and smaller
fissures could be perceived for a thousand feet or more out into the
pasture.

The main crater could have been little short of a full-fledged volcano
at the time of the explosion. Eye witnesses say that stones and earth
were thrown to a vast height — some think as much as four hundred feet,
which T am inclined to believe is more nearlv correct than the conservative

iS nisTiJKv nr Mu.\i(i(i.Mi:i:Y cdrNTV. Kansas.

estimate of one limuhed ami titty feet. The fiiomid fi-diii ilie i eiilei- of tlie
crater east to Waluut street, a distance of seventytive \:irds. is iliickly
strew!! -with stoues varying in size from the smallest ijaiiirle ii]i id l>nil<en
pieces of rock weighing two hundred j)ounds or more; and there is hardly
a bit of ground large enough to i)lace your hand ujion that is not covered
with this crumbled stone. There are jdenty of j>ieces in the street, too;
and so lu'a\y were the rocks tailing along its east side that a wooden
sidewalk, not less llian a hundred yards t'roiii the crater, built of plank
two inches thick, was broken in several places by the falling fragments.
For I block farther, more or less of the stony rain fell, some of the pieces
of blue soa])st(me here being large enough for building slabs. In the lot
directly east of the crater is a two-story residence jirobably twenty-ftve
feet stpiare. Here the window glass was all broken <>n the e.\]ios(Ml side,
and in one jilace the weather boarding had been crushed by the bomlnird-
menr. Mr. K. 1'. Kercheval occu]>ied the n]i]M'r story of this residence,
and his bedroom window was shattered and stones thrown over on to
the bed. fortunately withotit injuring any 4ine.

At the n(U-theast corner of this house is a small cistern about six feet
deej) and eight feet in diameter. It is of the shai)e of an inverted bowl,
and the native rock formed the b<itl<nii and a portion of the east side.
Here the effects of still another e.xiilosion were perceptible, the rock in
the renter of the l!oor being torn loose and thrown up with such force

as to crush the arch at the to]i. leaving a

ho

le in the bottom where the

firmest jiossible foundation had been befo

re..

Of course the cistern was

drained, the water disaii|peariug down the

' llo

le. Why the only break in

the surface (d)servable east of the main

cral

ter should have been made

right in the bottom of this cistern is one

of 1

Ihe many curious and inex-

plicable facts connected with this exjilosion.

Looking for something to throw light on the causes of such an tip-
upheaval. 1 note that a gas well had been drilled just northeast of the
crater in the i.asture and not more than fifty yards distant. That this
well had something to do with the exjdosion is an almost universal con-
cltision. Indeed. Major Osborne, the owner of the jnoperty, is talking of
suing the gas company which drilled ilie well, lor damages. Again, two
wells in the vii-inity are reported to have behaved sirangely before the
explosion. One of them, only about .-i Imiidivd xards to tite southea.st, is
thirty feet deej. and usually has six or ei-hi feel of water in it. Here,
before the exidosion. Ilie water is said to !ia\c lisen to within four feet
of the stirface. a fad dillicnlt to explain at smli a dry season as had been
previiiliiig. The wal.'i- ha< subsided to the iioinial level since the explo-
sion. .\nother well, a block larilKM- away, had been bubbling with gas for
two or Ihree wi'cks. bni simc has be.-ome (piiescent. The day after the
(^xjilosion. while a linndred people weic viewing the scene, one of those

HISTOKY OK .\rO.\T(;OMEUV rorXTY. KAX8Art. I9

ed tliat they have uo business to. stiuck a niatch and iguiled gas enough
to cause an expk>sion and some trembling of the earth.

All these faets tit in vei-y nicely with the theory that the gas well
had been leaking into some tissures comparatively near the surface, and
(TOW (led ilicm with gas until the pressure became very great, when the
St nil exploded in some unaccountable way. In that case, though, it is
naturally questioned why some of the force and effects of the explosion
were not manifest in the well itself. That seems to be uninjured, and
the gas escapes from it now with considerable roaring, burning at night
with a great mass of Hame and a noise that may he heard blocks away.

People who were awake at the time of the explosion say that it was
jjreceded by a heavy rund)ling and roaring that seemed to come from
the southwest; that the earth i-ocked and then tlie dirt and stones were
thrown high into the air. At the same time people living three miles to
the northeast rejiort that dishes were thrown from a table by the tremb-
ling of the earth.

Tlie explosion occurred at two o'clock Monday morning. A few
minutes before one o'clock Tuesday afternoon, the sound of a heavy ex-
plosion was heard at Caney, twenty miles to the west; dishes rattled,
buildings rocked, and there were all the phenomena of an earthquake
shock. The same afternoon several people from the neighborhood of
Independence, who were attending a sale two miles '.orth of Jefferson
and about twelve miles northwest of Coffeyville, report having heard a
loud explosion. Threshers in Rutland township observed the same thing,
and llieir machine was shaken as if by a rolling of the earth's surface.
Where this explosion heard by .so many jjeople in such widely separated
localities actually took place, no one ever learned; and it seems hardly
possible that it could have all been the work of the Cotfeyville boy with
his little parlor match, as the noise he made could not have been heard
at so great a distance.

That the gas which exjiloded was far above the dee]) veins from
which the gas wells draw their suiqily seems probable. That electrical
or other conditions which accompany earthquakes could ignite subter-
ranean gasses is well known. Why an upper vein should be exploded &nd
the lower ones remain undisturbed by the effects of an earthquake,
whose tremblings are supposed to originate hundreds or thousands of
feet below the surface, is hard to understand on the theory suggested.
That the gasses which filled the tissures comparatively near the surface
could have been exploded by any other agency than one originating deep
in the bowels of the earth seems unreasonable — the more especially as
there was no thunder or lightning on that eventful night.

The years that have passed since the occurrence who.se effects are
detailed above have witnessed no other like jihenomena anywhere in the
gas belt; nor have they thrown any ailditioiial light on the cause which

20 HISTORY (IF :MllN-|i;0>Ii:i!Y Cm-NTV. KANSAS.

produced tluil blow-out. Aiul 1 am still iiiflined to believe that it could
only liave been the frictional or eleetrical effects of a slight earthquake
shock that could have exploded the gas in its underground chambers and
jirodiK ("d the resulting volcanic ujdieaval.

The Reed Family Tragfedy

Manj terrible tragedies have darkened the annals of Montgomery
county, but among them all there has been no other that has so profound-
ly moved the jieople as that of the suffocation of the family of George W.
Reed, at Independence, cm the night of Saturday, December 31st, 1893.
The calamity was due to the imperfect consumption of natural gas, on
account of the entire stoppage of the flue of a chimney, resulting in the
formation of that deadly product of combustion, carbonic oxide gas. This
fact, however, was not learned until days after the tragedy, and
meanwhile the mystery and the horror which surrounded the affair so
impressed the public mind that the jieople of the city could neither think
nor talk of anvthing else, and foi' a time business was almost at a stand-
still.

The Keed family at the time consisted of Mr. Reed, who was manager
of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, his wife. Ella, who was a sister of
E. P. xMlen, president of the First National Bank, their son Allen, a boy
of five yeai-s, and Miss Eda Scott, a young lady 22 years of age who had
been in their employ for several months. On the night mentioned Mr.
Reed had gone for a doctor for a neighbor's child, about nine o'clock in
the evening, which was the last seen of him alive. On the Sunday follow-
ing, at least six or seven times attempts were made to obtain entrance to
the house, but every one who came found the doors locked and received
no response to repeated knocks. Tom Foster, who was a step-son of a
married daughter of Mr. Reed, had been invited to take dinner there on
that day, and not only came at the appointed time but when he found the
door locked, the curtains drawn and everything still about the house, sat
down on the jiorch in the warm sunshine of that New Year's day and
waited for an hour before going away. J. A. Sparks, then turn-key at the
jail, was the affianced husband of the girl. Eda. and he not only went
there once but rejieatedly. in fulfillment of an engagement to take her for
a buggy ride that aftei-noon. without learning why it was that no re-
sfjonso came to his knocking.

Everyone of course concluded that the family had gone out aud so
no attenijit was made to break into the house. When, however, the next
morning came and .Mr. Reed did not a])pear at the lumber yard, his
friends, and Mr. Sjiarks as well felt that it was time to make an investi-
gation. Accordingly a jiarty was formed, consisting of Allen Brown,
whose tirst wife was .Mr. Reed's daughter. Rev. J. E. Pershing, Charles
Yoe. of I he Tribune. Justice C. E. Cilmore. .L A. Sparks, H. J. Fairleigh,

HISTORY OF MONTCJOJir-UY COINIV. KANSAS. 21

and Geo. L. Remington, which prqoeeded to the residence and obtained
entrance through an unfastened kitchen window. Mr. Brown went first,
followed by Mr. Yoe. The kitchen tire was burning brightly, but the air
was hot and foul, and Mv. Yoe stopped to turn off the gas. I'assing on
into the sitting room Br. Brown was heard to exclaim "My God. what a
sight!" Sweated within two feet of the stove was the body of Mr. Reed,
already so far decomposed in that over-heated atmosjihere that long lines
of blood and corriijition were stealing down his clothing to the floor
forming a pool on the carpet and soaking through into the pine tloor be-
neath.

Haste was made to throw open doors and windows and change the
stifling and pestilential air which was charged with the odors of death
and decay. Had not this been done, the cause of the calamity would
have been sooner discovered in the asphyxiation of some of the party.
Further search disclosed that the wife and child, who were in the bed-
room most distant from the fire, were still alive, though unconscious.
The girl upstairs had been stricken while at her toilet and had fallen to
the fioor and died many hours liefoi-e. as was indicated by the stage of
decomposition that had been reached.

The efforts to resuscitate Mrs. Reed proved successful, but the child
lingered only until Monday evening, when his young life went out. Mrs.
Keed could throw no light on the cause of the awful tragedy, though she
remembered that Mr. Reed had complained of feeling chilly after re-
tiring and had got up and lighted the fires, which had been turned out.
It was later that he had responded to the call to go for a doctor for the
neighbor's child, after which, she said he had retired again.

Autopsies of the victims of this tragedy were held, and it was an-
nounced that nothing inhaled into the lungs was responsible for it, and
that in neither case was death due to as]jliyxiation. This was the dictum
of a Kansas Ciiy expert who has never exjilained his blunder. The local
physicians. Kuctors MeCulley, Masterman and Davis agreed that death
was due to poisoning, and two of tliem said the symptojus were those of
strychnine. From this, however, Masterman dissented. Xo people stood
higher in the community than Mr. and Mrs. Reed, and so far as was
known they had not an enemy in the world. How or why they could have
been poisoned was a mystery that baffled every attempt at solution. And
yet, that they had been poisoned by something other than gas from the
stove, every one was forced to believe. It was more than a nine days'
wonder. It was a horror which was inexplicable. Speculation ran riot,
and everything imaginable was surmised. To solve the problem, if pos-
sible, it was decided to have a chemical analysis of the contents of the
stomachs of the two adults and of Mr. Reed's brain as well. Dr. Davis
accordingly took them up to Kansas City and the inquest was adjourned
to await the result. When word came on Saturdav. a week after the

fatal evening, that no trace of poison could be discovered the mystery
seemed deeper tlian ever. Many people were demanding that a test be
made by subjecting dogs to the same conditions that prevailed in thejiouse
when tlic viclims were found. The idea was that in some way the heated
air h;iil pioxcd falal. Sroutiiig this suggestion, one of the physicians
had assiMicd iliai a dog wnuld live for a month in just such an atmos-
phere as those tires had i)roduced.

Unintentionally a test was made, however, in a way that set all
doubt, as to the calamity being due to the flres in the stove, completely
at rest. Mr. Keeds' married daughters, ;Mrs. E. L. Foster and Mrs. R. O.
Barbee, had been summoned from New .M,cxi<'o and Kentucky to attend
the funeral. On the following Tuesday. Mr. K. P. Allen accompanied
his wife and Mrs. Foster to the Reed house and lighted the flres to warm
the rooms foi- them while they proceeded to look over the clothing in the
bureaus and closets. Fortunately the outer door was left open. Each
noticed that her eyes were smarting, but as the articles they were
handling had become saturated with foul odors, they remarked that it
would not do to rub them. Mrs. Foster soon complained of a smarting
sensation in her throat also. A moment more and there was a strong
twitching sensation in each side of her neck, and she felt her head drawn
backward. She started for the open door and had barely reached it
when nIic slaupcicd. icclcd and frll bac'liward on the porch. Her head
struck a posi as slir ti'll, and sultcring fiuni a terrible nausea she vomited
profiisely and h<Taiii(' in.sensible where she fell. Subsequently there was
observed frothin.g at the mouth and the same convulsive symptoms that
had been manifested in Mrs. Reed's case, as she was being slowly brought
back to life. Not only that, but in her case her hands had remained
clasped for twcnly-fonr hours, and her jaws were set so that it was with
the utmost ditli<nlty they were forced apart to permit the administration
of nourishnii'ni.

There was of course no lunger any doubt that, whatever had been
the cause of the trageily, it was still potent aTid might easily j)rove fatal
to any one who should venture to enter that charnel house. One fact like
this was worth a million theories in solving the problem of that awful
calamity. The jirojiosed experiment with living animals confined in the
places in wliicii the jieople had been found was now undertaken. On
Wednesday, .lamiary 10th, Marshall Griffey got together three dogs and
a cat. and under the sniierintendence of the sheriff and several physicians,
they were locke<| up in the house with the fires burning. The dogs were
in crates or ciges, and in ad<lition to placing them where the bodies had
been found, a cai w.is fastened at the foot of the stairway.

An interested iiuwd lingered about the house all day watching the
exiieriment. Son;i' ilimlied to the roof of the kitchen from which the dog
in the girl's room up stairs cmild be closelv observed. It 'vas noticed

IIISTOKV (H- Md.NTi.d.MUKV Cdl N'lV. KANSAS. 23-

that llie tiro in the siltin<; nxim was acting <nic('i-ly. the Ida/.c fi-oiii the
gas coming out of the door for several inclu« and showing a reversed
draft. Step by step the mystery was being cleared up. On the roof it
was finally noted that while a large volume of heated air was coming
from the kitchen chimney, the one from the sitting room remained cool,
and no draft of any kind was i)erceptible. The cliinuiey had been choked
up by the mortar which had fallen in when it was repaired and pieces^
had continued to fall until there was no longer any vent.

By half past two in the afternoon the dog in the sitting room was in
convulsions and the one up stairs had begun to show signs of distress
and was frothing at the mouth. From this time on the crowd of inter-
ested sight-seers increased, and there was a constant concourse of bug-
gies and wagons in the street. The dogs were not rendered suddenly un-
conscious, as Mrs. Foster had been the day before, but suffered one spasm
after another, each of them exceedingly severe. In the intervals between
the convulsions the animals lay panting, the one near the stove with his
tongue- jirotruding and very rapid respiration. At half past seven this
dog died, and just bef(!re midnight the last signs of life wei'e observed in
the one up stairs. When the animals were taken oiit on Thursday morn-
ing, the dog in the bed room was still living, but it lay sprawled and
stiffened with convulsions so that its recovery was deemed impossible'
and it was shot. The cat alone survived and with its i>roverbial hardi-
hood ran away as soon as liberated and jilunged its head rejieatedly into
a vessel of water, as if to free itself from the poisonous effects of the air
it had been breathing for twenty-four hours.

An autopsy of the dead animals was made by Doctors McCulley,
Chaney and Davis, which resulted in disclosing the cherry-red ajipearance
of the blood that is noted as one of the marked indications of i>oisoning
by carbonic oxide, a gas that is formed in large quantity wherever there
is imperfect combustion of fuel in a stove. This gas is not immediately
fatal and its evil effects consist chiefly in shr.tting out oxygen, though it
has a positive deleterious (piality also.

The mystery was at last fully solved, and in the ten years since there
has never been another fatality in the county from poisonous gasses de-
veloped by natural gas stoves. Though learned at such a terrible cost,-
the lesson proved effective beyond expectation.

A further demonstration of the deadly character of this carbonic
oxide gas was made at the office of the Independence Gas C'omjiany the
same week, which will prove both interesting and instructive in this con-
nectioTi. In the plumbing sho]) stood a stove with no pipe, the pi'oducls
of combi^stion being allowed to pass oft" into the air of the room. Placing
a board over the hole for the pijie, at the to]) of the drum, the products
of combustion were confined in the drum. In a short time, with the stove
door open, the flames would project two or three feet and burn with the

24 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

reddish Inu- of imperfect combustiou. If tlien the stove door was closed,
the tire wouhl soon go out entirely, there being uo oxygen to support
combustion. Had the stove iu iMr. Reed's sitting room been of this sort,,
the only result of the stoiipage of the flue would have been to put out
the lire: but with the niii-a i-aiicls in ils door bvoki-n, Ihe tlanies came
out as when the stove door at tjic slio]! was oiicii. and the air grew more
deadly every moment.

Visitors at ilr. Reed's a day or two previous to the tragedy had no-
ticed that the air was bad; but it did not become deadly until the vent in
the chimney was entirely closed, and he was such a sufferer from catarrh
that he did not detect the changed character of the air as the fatal gas
began to poison it.

"Why Did Pomeroy Trust York?
i;y II. w. Yot'xc.

That "tnith is stranger than tictiou" is among the most trite of prov-
erbs. Ami \i't, that it is the tarts of human life rather than the wildest
vagaries uf the romancer that appeal to us more powerfully as weird,
strange, wonderful, or inexplicable, is evidence of the intiiiite versatility
of nalure. The materials that go to make the warp and woof of events
are often the most unexpected, and are ever blended in any way that
sets at naught the greatest foresight and the wisest predictions. Indeed,
the more one reads and studies the lore of the past and the fiction of the
present, the more fully will he be convinced that all there is of interest
or value iu the creations of the novelist is the truth they contain.

During the first five years of Montgomery county's history, the most
striking events, seen with the clear perspective of almost a third (»f a cen-
tury's distance are the lender tragedy and the exposuic by Senator A. M.
Yoi"k of the attemjjt made to purchase his vote by Tnited States Senator
S. C. Pomeroy, who was a candidate for re-election. Another less im-
portant, but still remarkable event, was the location of the Osage District
land office at Independence. That there could be any connection between
events so entirely dissimilar, or that one of them should stand to another
in the relation of cause and efi'ect, would seem to be especially unlikely.
And yet not only was this the case, but we find one name — and that of a
man wh i was mniucst ionably the foremost citizen of Montgomery county
in those early days— coming to the front iu all three of those events. It
was only the fad ili;it Dr. William York was the best known of the Ben-
ders' victims. ;iii(l thai ii was his disaiipcarance which led to the search
that hroughl ihcir ciimcs to light thai connected Senator York with that
tragedy in is?:'.. What an event lul period that was for our Senator be-
tween .lainiary IsTii and .Inly 1ST:!. How much of thrilling personal
experience was crowded into it.

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 25

When ill the early winter of 1872 the mayor and conucil of the city
of Independence decided to leave no stone nnturned to secure the removal
of the United States land office from Neodesha to their own town, they
raised |3,000 for the purpose and sent Senator York to Washington to
engineer the deal. What he did there he shall tell in his own language,
as it is recorded in the report of a legislative investigating committee at
Topeka, testifying before which on January 31st, 1873, the Senator said:

*'I was authorized as an attorney or agent of the town of Indepen-
dence, by the mayor and council of that place to visit Washington last
winter, and to do all I could to get the land office located at Indepen-
dence. I think I left for Washington in January, 1872 ; anyhow I knew
Mr. Caldwell was at home, being absent through the holiday recess. I
took with me a letter of introduction from Mayor Wilson to General
McEwen. I visited Messrs. Tomeroy and Lowe frequently with reference
to the land office removal, and had consultations with the Kansas dele-
gates in Congress separately and collectively, and could do nothing for a
long while. I also calletl tm Secretary Delano and ascertained from him
that Mr. Pomcniy had ilie control of such orders. I then saw Mr. Pome-
roy again and wanted him to promise that the office should be removed
when the "strip bill" passed, but he told me it could not be done, and
advised me to return home. This conversation I think was in February.
However, I have a record of all my conversations with the delegation and
with every member thereof. I recorded the conversations inmiediately
after the respective interviews occurred. Thereafter I called on General
McEwen and presented my letter of introduction, and as our companion-
ship grew he made me acquainted with the details of the Alice Caton
scandal and showed me the original affidavits, similar in every respect to
the printed affidavits circulated in this city recently. And now let me
say here that I did not countenance the circulation of these affidavits
during the late Senatorial canvass, but did renmrk to a friend that they
were word for word of the original affidavits which 1 had then and have
now in my trunk. After reading these affidavits in (ieneral Mc-
Ewen's presence, I received permission to keep them, and the following
evening called to see Senator Pomeroy at his private residence in W'ash-
ington. I found him in the middle parlor. I think there were three
parlors or reception rooms in his house, communicating with each other
by folding doors. Senator Caldwell was there that evening and other
gentlemen, and, I think, several ladies. Seeing Senator Pomeroy occu-
pied, I requested the privilege of an interview at his committee room
early the following morning,, and the Senator said he guessed the com-
pany would then excuse us. and he invited me into the back parlor. We
went to the further side of the room and sat down close together, my
chair facing him. I said: 'Senator, you have all this time failed to ap-
preciate the earnestneiss of my demands for the removal of the land office

;26 UISTORY OF MUXT(iU.MERY COIXTY, KANSAS.

to IiKleiieudeiue, and now I want to show you some docninents That will,
I think, appt'al very forcibly to yon.' And thereupon 1 took from my
pocket the affidavits referred to and showed them to him. He commenced
reading and sotm his face began to change color. I leaned forward and
put the question direct to him: 'Did you jio to Baltimore (naming the
day) ; did you stop at Barnum's hotel?' He said he did. 1 then asked
him if Alice Caton went to the same city the same day and sto])ped at
the same hotel. He said she did go to BaJliiiiore that day. and he
thought she stojjped at Barnum's hotel. I asked him if he did not room

in Xo. . He said he could not recollect. I asked him if there was not a

door directly communicating between his and her room. He denied that
there was. and said he slept with a young man that night whose name
he did not remember. At length he agreed to have the land office re-
moved on the first of April, preferring that the scandal should not be
revived as coming from a resjjectable source; and the land offiiv was
removed to Independence according to agi-eement."

In reply to a question by a member of the investigating committee
as to the means he employed, Colonel York said he thought "they were
questionable, but the peo]»le of Indei.)*^iidence sent me to Washington to get
the land office and 1 got it."

It has always been :i wonder how so astute and exjiericnced a pol
itician as Senator I'omeroy could ]iul himself so entirely in the jjower of
a political enemy ::s he did when he placed those packages of bills in
York's hands to Imy his vie. especially in view of the fact that York was
made secretary of the anti I'omeroy organization in the legislature, of
which \V. A. Johnson, afterwards Justice of the Supreme Court, was
chairman. The st(uy told above by York throws a flood of light on this
(|uestion. York was not a stranger to I'omeroy. The latter naturally had
concluded that the Montgomery county man was as unscrupulous as he
was himself, and that he would employ any means, no matter how '"ques-
tionable" to accomplish the purposes he had in view. York had black-
mailed him into locating the Osage land office at Independence, and ho
had evidently set him down as a bird of his own feather. That the man
who would extort a favor foi- his town by a threat to expose Pomeroy's
moral coirujilion to his const jiuents. would be any too good to pocket
$S,(MI<) as the jirice of a vole for ilie same i-e]probate in the joint convention
never seems to have occiired lo llial slalesniau. He would not have
trusted a siranger in any such way. Inil a peddler of scandal! Why not
c(nint him sale?

So il is iliai liiii loi- liie removal of the land office to Independence
it is eiiliiely iiii|M-. Iiali'c iliit York would ever have been in a position to
"exiiose" i'(. menu's ( ni rii ja ion. Thus wtrangely are events linked to-
gelhe: That York was an honest man is attested by his civil war record.
.He was made captain in a negro regiment and ollcred an oi)Uortnnitv to

III.STUUY OF MON'TliO.MEllY TurNTY, KANSAS. 2"]

line his pockets bv putting fictitious iiaiiics mi ilic \\\\\ roll, aii<l dcfiaud-
inj>- the ignorant negroes of their ]iav. 'I'liis hi' stcrnlv refused to do. and
he was in ronst>(|ueiu-e ](roiiioted 1o he lieulenaiil colonel, whence liis
title.

It was in the same y(>ar. IS?:'., and only Ihi-ee months later, that
York was again brought into prominence in an entirely ditVerent way,
by the discovery of his brollu-v's body in that well-plowed garden of the
Benders'.

The Mont§:omery County High School

During tlie fall and early winter of is'.ic, there was some talk about
the establishment of a county high school at hideiiendence. and mention
was made of the matter in the newspapers, as one which might come be-
fore the legislature. On the 8d of February. 11S!I7. a bill was introduced
in the Senate by Senator Young, providing that a high school for Mont-
gomery county should V)e established at Indei)eudence. to be carried on
under the jjrovisions of the general high school law of 1880. The same
bill was introduced in the House by Representative Fulton, February
4th, 1897. Immediately on the introduction of this bill in the Senate,
the people of the county were notified of the fact through the columns of
the Star and Kansan. and invited to exju'ess their ojiinion in regard to
it in the following words, which will be found in ■■The Kdilor's Letter,"
written from Topeka by the Senator from this county, and published on
February 5th, 1897 :

A bill to establish a county high school at Independence was intro-
duced in the Senate this morning. I should like to hear a general ex-
I)ression from the people of the county as to the desiraliility of ])roviding
facilities for higher education at home, thus saving a jiortion of the large
sums now paid to send young men and women of our county to distant
institutions of learning.

Both the Senator and Representative from this county received a
large number of letters urging the jiassage of this special act. and favor-
ing the establishment of the school, while neither one of them received
a communication opposing it. The bill was held nji for a time in the
Senate committee, but when it became apparent that the jieoide inter-
ested were making no opposition to the proposed school, it received a fav-
orable report. It passed the Senate on February iOtli, 1897. without a
dissenting voice, by a vote of 'I'l to 0. In the House there was some op-
position to the bill in committee of the whole. Representative Weilep, of
Cherokee cininty. speaking against it, but it was recommended for pas-
sage February :i7th. 1897, and (Ui March l.'d, 18!»7. it i)assed that body by
a vote of 97 to 1. the Senate liill in the meantime having been substituted
for the House bill. It was signed by the governor March 5th, 1897, and

HISTOIJV OF .M(

ml)

iMICltY COUNTY^ IvAX

> ollicial stato pajic

Mill

;th, of

Jnsl as soon as llie hill had been passed, howi'vcn-, considerable
.opposition to Tlie scliool was dcvelojK'd in certain sections of the covinty,
iioruL:;.- in S.vcaiiiore. ("heiry. Drum Creek, Louisburg and Cherokee
lownshiiis. Meetings were held t() i)rotest against the establishuient of
the school. ;iiid jietitious were widely circulated requesting the couuty

THE MONTGOMIi

CO

mniss

iol

ers

to a],point

as I

SC

lool. ;

wl

o would, it

was

I'l

)\ isio

IS

of t

le law.

Wh

'U

the

coinniissioi

lers n

"!

. and

it

was

agreed am

"ig 1l

se

ected

t

lerc

should be

1 w • 1

tr

ct. The

boa

rd of conun

ission

of

Inde

)('!

den

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i\ciis.

of

I'ark

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els «

IS

aga

list the scl

..ol. 1

.nuht. t;

own to be
o action t.

■;tile to the
rrv out the

t in April, isi»7, they took the matter
ni that as there were six trustees to be
pjiointed from each commissioner dis-
s at that time consisted of 1'. S. Moore,
if West Cherry; and David A. Cline,
Icr fell that tl'ic .sent iiiient in their dis-
t were luiwilliiig to attempt to nullify

HISTORY OF .M0NT0O.MEUY C'OLNTY, KANi^AS. 29

tli(> law hv making the appointiuents petitiomvl for. Fii.in the northern
district Kevilo Newton, a banlcer of Cherryvale, and -M. L. Stephens, a
farmer of I.ouisburg townsliip. were uauied. neither of whom were
thought to heartily favor the school at llie time of their appointment.
For the middle district William Dunkin, of Independence, a lawyer
and capitalist, and Thomas Haydeu, a farmer of Liberty township, were
selected. From the southern district. J. A. Moore, a farmer of Caney
township, and E. A. Osborn, a stockman, of Coffeyville, were chosen.
Both Dunkin and Hayden were enthusiastically in favor of the school.
Moore also favored it,'while Osborn was not only opposed to it, but took
little interest in the matter, attended but a few of the meetings, and de-
clined to be a candidate at the following election.

So far as the six trustees were concerned, the Board was equally
divided between the friends of the school and those who were less fav-
orably disposed toward it, but the law making the county superinten-
dent n member of the board cr-officio and its chairman, prevented a dead-
lock at any time. The board met for the first time on April 22d, 1897.
and organized by electing Kevilo Newton secretary and ^^"m. Dunkin
treasurer.

I'nder the general high school law, a site for the building was re-
quired to be furnished without expense to the county. On May 28th the
board accepted the offer of the city of Independence to furnish a piece of
ground 300 feet square, comprising a block of land in the southwest
corner of out-lot .5 for this purpose. It was also stipulated in the con-
tract with the city, that a sewer connection should be furnished without
expense to the county. On tlie following day it was voted to make to the
county commissioners a certified estimate of six mills on the dollar as the
amotmt of tax needed to erect a suitable building. On this proposition
the six trustees were tied, three of them, namely : Messrs. Osborne, New-
ton and Stephens, being in favor of making the levy tw'o mills a year for
three years. The six-mill proposition was. liowever. adopted by the decid
ing vote of President Dollisou. At this meeting H. :M. Hadley, of Topeka,
was elected architect of the board.

On September 7th the plans and specihcations j»repared by Mr.
Hadley were accepted and the board advertised for bids for the constv-
tion of the building in accordance therewith.

At a meeting held on October 2Sth. ten bids were submitted for the
whole or part of the work, and on the following day the bid of M. P. T.
Ecret to erect the building for |1!),.d47 was accepted; also the bid of
W. A. ^lyrick. to furnish the heating and ventilating appratus and to do
the plumbing for gas and water, for f3,530. This made the total contract
price for the building |2:;.077.

Meanwhile the opponents of the school had not been idle. They had
temployed Hon. T. J. Hudson, of Fredoiiia. as their attorney, and on Sep-

30 HISTORY OF MONTGOJIEKV COVNTY, KANSAS.

teniber 14th. 1807. they filed in the district com-t of the ((unity, a jietition
iiskin*; for a restraining order to ]irevent the levying i>v cdl lection of the
tax for the bnilding. and to forbid the trustees from doing anything
further looking toward its erection, or the establislinieut of the school.
Lewis Billings, of I>runi Creek, and seventeen others, were named as
])laintitts in this petition.

The case came on for hearing at the Xdveiiilier term of couit, and on
the :.'9th day of that month .Indgc Skidisiore granted the injunction
prayed for. fortifying his action by an extended opinion. The ground
on which this order was asked and granted was the claim that the special
act establishing the school was unconstitutional, for the reason that a
general law was applicable. This point had been raised iu the supreme
court and overruled when the Labette county high school was established
by a similar special law; and two of the three judges who concurred iu
tiiat opinion were still on the bench, so that the chance of winning the
case in the final outcome did not seem esi)ecially promising. Neverthe-
less. Judge Skidmore reversed the sujireme coui't with a great deal of
alacrity, and the work of the tinstccs came to a ^*tandstill, while the case
was carried up to the suiircmc court.

By the terms of the injnintion. the county commissioners were for-
bidden to make a levy of tlic tax for the building, the county clerk was
forbidden to extend this levy on the tax books, and the county treasurer
was forbidden to collecr it. The original petition for a restraining order
had been made in the jirobate c(nirt ; but as it had been refused there, by
the time (he case was decided in the district c(uirt. the tax had been
levied and extended on the books. J. K. Blair, who was county treas-
urer, therefore refused to accejit any jiortion of any tax unless the county
high school tax was ]iaid. so that the collection of the money for the
building fund went right on. in spite of liie injunction. Nor was any at-
tempt made to ininisli Mr. lilair for contemiil of court in doing what the
law comiielled him to do. in making the collection.

While this case was pending, the oiijuments of the school hoped to
elect a board of trustees at the Novend)er electi(ni who were opj)osed to
the school. The Republican convention, which was held Septendier ISth,
•■o'^jniinated Messrs. Dunkin, Hayden and Moore who were friendly to
the . !,ool. and three more candidates who were thought to be unfriendly.
The I'o])ulists and Democratic conventions, held September 2'Jth, agreed
in conference committee to noniinale the old board with the exception of
Majoi Osborne, who jiositively declined to jiermit his name to be used.
In his jilace .Vdam Beatty. of Cherokee township, was named. The elec-
tion of either the Keimblican or the fusion candidates would have insured
a majority favorable to the school. So the plan adojited to defeat it was
to vole for the three unfavorable candidates on the Keindilican ticket and
the most liike-w.-iini li.embers of the old board. Ciivnlais were dislrihuled

HISTORY OK MONTCiOlIEUV COfNTY. KANSAS. 3I

nl iiKist (if ili(> polling i)lares advising that tiiis be done. The result was
till" election i>( the old board, with Mr. Beatty. by overwhelming major-
ities. The totals ranging from 3.459 votes for Thomas Hayden to 2.!l3()
for Eevilo Newton while the largest vote cast for an avowedly oi)posing
candidate was 2.622. This vote etfectnally settled the (jnestion as to the
feeling of the people, and also as to the possibility of defeating the school
by electing an unfriendly board.

On January 11th. 1898, the new board organized by electing William
Dunkin secretary and Revilo Newton treasurer. The question how long
each trustee should serve was decided by lot, Hayden and Newton draw-
ing the three-year term, DunUin and Moore the two-year term and
Stevens and Realty the one-year.

After various posti)onements and delays the case in the supreme court
was decided May 7th, and the judgment of the lower court reversed. This
dissolved the injunction and left the trustees free to proceed with the
erection of the building. On -Tune 14th the contract with M. P. T. Ecret
was (hanged so as to include H. A. Hrewster & Co. with him. W. A. My-
rick at the same time transferred his contract foi- plumbing to E. \.
Chaney. of Topeka.

(Jround was broken for the building Monday, June 2((th, 1898; and
on June 29th W. H. Hack was appointed superintendent of construction.
From that time the work was pushed rapidly all through the summer and
fall, so that by Thanksgiving the walls were up and the work of roofing
was in progress.

It was on Monday, November 28th, that a very pleasant impromiitu
affair occured at the building. The tower was already in place, and noth-
ing rensained to finish it except to paint the tin of the roof. A portion of
the scaffolding the builders had used still surrounded this tower. Miss
Mena Jones, a young lady of Sycamore township, and a daughter of
William Jones, had expressed a willingness to raise the American flag
upon a staff at one corner of this tower. She proved her grit and the
steadiness of her nerves by climbing the tower, walking erect and unat-
tended along a narrow plank near the top, at the same time waving her
hands to acquaintances in the street a hundred feet below, as coolly as if
she were standing on the firm earth. She attached the flag to the staff,
and it was greeted with a ringing cheer from the group gathered on the
roof, followed by another for the plucky girl who had performed the dar-
ing feat.

Tlip work of plastering and inside linishing proceeded through the
winter of 1808-99, and by the first of April the building was practically
completed, though some minor details prevented its foi-mal acceptance
by the trustees at the hands of the contractors until June fith, 1899. On
August 1st, 1898, the trustees made an estimate fixing 1% mills as the
fiuciint of tax levy neeced to raise a sum sufficient to furnish the build-

22 HISTOUY OK MONT<;OMEKY COUNTY. KANSAS.

ing, pay for all further iniproveineiits. and run the school until the close
of 181)9.

At the November election of 1898. Adam Beatty was re-elected tnis-
tee and P. H. Fox. of Fawn Creek townshiji. was elected to take the place
of M. L. Stephens.

March 20th. 18!»0. the board elected Samuel M. Xees, who had for nine
years previous been at the head of the Independence city schools, as
principal.

A contract for furuiline for the Iniilding was made with O. C. Clark
& Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, on April 11th. This included 500 opera chairs,
300 single desks. 9 teachers" desks, and 1327 feet of solid rock slate for
black-boards. The contract price was $1,721.82, and the next highest bid
was about §1,200 more.

J t was decided on April 25th to elect three gentlemen and two ladies,
\vh(j, with the princii>al, shoiild constitute the faculty, at salaries of f750
per annum each, for the former, and ^(iOO for the latter. T. B. Henry, W.
E. Ringle, Richard Allen, Georgia Cubine and Lura Bellamy were elected
to these positions.

At the meeting on June 6th, after the building had been received
from the contractors, a course of study was agreed upon and a set of by-
laws for the government of the school adopted.

At the meeting on June 28th the tax levy for 18!l!t was fixed at 2
mills. Rules and regulations were adopted and a list of text books
agreed upon July 18th.

On Monday, September 4th, 180!», the school was opened with very
simple ceremonies. After prayer by Rev. S. S. Estey, short addresses
were made by President Dollis<m of the board of trustees, Mr. Estey,
Principal Nees, and other members of the faculty. The enrollment of
pupils during the first week of school exceeded* 200, and the school,
which had been so long in jirej^aration and so bitterly fought over, was
fairlv launched among the institutions of the state devoted to the higher
education.

Classes in the following subjects were organized for the first term :
Beginning Latin, Ciesar, Cicero, Algebra, Geometry, I'sychology, Greek,
Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, General History, Bookkeping, Vocal Music,
German. Rhetoric. English Literature, Arithmetic and Physical Geog-
raphy.

At this point it is fitting to bear testinumy to the fidelity and de-
votion with which the members of the original board of trustees per-
formed their duties, and the intelligence and zeal with which they labored
to provide a home for and build up a school which w<iuld he a credit not
only to all connected with its establishmcnr, bnt to the c(ninty and the
state as well. Ii mutln-cd nut :it ull that son f tlicni had been at first

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. KANSAS. 33

opposed to the undeitakiug; no sooner did they put their hands to the
work tlian it began to grow broader and higher in their minds, and they
became inspired with the ambition to make everything the best. The im-
mense possibilities of good, not only for the young people of today, but
for the generations to eome, loomed up before them as they became inter-
ested in the work, and they gave to it time without stint, and their best
energies. As a result they could rejoice in having been instrumental in
providing for Montgomery county a High School that admittedly ranks
at the head of schools of its class in the state, both in its material equip-
ment and in the character of the work it is doing.

At the November election of 1899, E. P. Alien and Wilson Kincaid,
both business men of Independence, though candidates on opposing tick-
ets, were elected trustees. At the meeting held January 8th, 1900, the
new board organized by electing Thomas Hayden, Vice-President; P. H.
Fox, t^ecretary; and Eevilo Newton, Treasurer.

The Dalton Raid at Coffeyville

In all the annals of trinie in our country, few if any events have fur-
nished more dramatic incidents or created more of a sensation than the
raid if the Daltons at Coffeyville, on the morning of Wednesday, October
5th, 1-p^- - There have been other bank robberies where larger amounts
of nioTi&y have been at stake, and some in which better known bandits
and outlaws have participated, but in the sanguinary nature of the strug-
gle, the number of shots fired, and the victims on both sides, the Coffey-
ville affair must stand preeminent.

The "I'alton Cang," whose leaders organized aind perpetrated this
raid had already arquired an unenviable rejmtation as outlaws and train
robbers, and were ready for any crime if the stakes were large enough.
Three of the Dalton brothers, with two ordinary criminals of the sort
that could be j)icked up almost anywhere in the Indian Territory, con-
stituted the party. The Dalton family originally consisted of Lewis Dal-
ton and his wife, whose maiden name was Adaline Lee Younger, and who
was born in Cass county, Missouri, in the neighborhood whence came
other Youngers, who achieved notoriety as bank I'obbers. They were the
parents of thirteen children, of whom two died in infancy. The family
were not strangers at Coffeyville, having settled in that vicinity in 1882
and remained there until the opening of Oklahoma in 1889. In fact,
Lewis Dalton remained in this county until his death, at Dearing, in
1890. The rest of the family went to Oklahoma and took up claims. The
old people seem to have been jieaceable and law-abiding, but three of the
boys became deputy T'nited States marshals in the Indian Territory, one
of tlu-m also serving for a .^liorl time as chief of jiolice of the Osage Na-
tion. Familiarifv with crin.e and a<i|naintance with outlaws in the.se

The Dill tons

are cr

edited wiili inn

territory about i \
so far as know n,
tlie enrly i)art of

il,i'.\ 1

rs pivvi.Mis t.. r
.M,k 111,- liisi de
liailon. Willia

(■(1 fur train roltlx

n-y in

Tulare county.

34 iiisTOKV OF MoxT(;oMi:i;v cointv. Kansas.

positions seems to have developed a passion for criminal adventure, which
may have been also, to some extent, a matter of heredity on their mother's
side, (iratton, Emmet and Robert were the Halrons in the gang, and the
two other mend)ers of the quintette who r.-iidi-d tin- t 'olleyville banks were
known as Kill Powers and Dick P.roadwi-il. Itiilicri, the leader of the
gang, was only 22 years of age. while i:niiuct was a mere boy two years
younger. (Jratton was 31.

slcih'u a herd of cattle in the
vents to be here narrated, and
in outlawry at that time. In
lid Emmet I>alton were arrest-
iforuia. Emmet escaped, Wil-
liam was ac(|nitted, and Gratton was convicted and sentenced to twenty
years in the i>eniteutiary. He escaped from the county jail before being
taken to Eolsom, and there was a standing reward of |<),0(I0 offered for
(Jiaiion and Emmet by the Southern I'acitic Railway at the time these
men inel their fate at Coffeyville. Tn :\lay ISIM there was a train robbery
by masked men at NVharton, Imliiiii 'rcnii..i\, ..n i In- Santa Fe Railroad;
and in July of the same year aiimlii-i' :ii Ad.iir, mi the ^lissouri, Kansas iV:
Texas botii of which were credited To the l»allMns.

On the morning of the ( 'otfeyville raid, the tjve nM-n mentioned were
seen by several ]ieople riding toward that city, an<l they were taken, in
every instance, for a Enited Stal<-x Hepnty Marshal and'his posse. They
<ame in cm the main road fnnii lln- west, turned south (me block from the
business part of town and hitched ili,-ir horses in the alley running
hack from Slossen's drug store, which has since become famous as "the
Alley .if Death." They then started down the alley, (Jratton. with Pow-
ers and Proadwell in front, and Emmet and Bob following. As they
crossed the sidewalk, on emergiii- fmni the alley, they passed withiii
five feet of a citizen who was acnmiiitcd with theni well "enough to recog-
nize them in sjiite of the disguises ihey had assumed on coming into 'a
locality where Ihey were so well known. A moment later he saw the three
men who weic in front enter ('. .M. (•(imhrn ^\; ( 'o."s bank and present a
Winclicster at the cashier's counter. He raised the alarm at once.

.Meantime the other two had crossed Fnicm street and entered the
First National bank. They were followed by some citizens who suspected
their object and the alarm was sjieedily raised on the east side of the
plaza, also. Immediately half a dozen men rushed to the hardware stores
of Isham P.ros. & :Mansur and A. P. P.oswell c^c C... on the east side of
Enion street, and iiroceeded to provide themselves with rilles ;ind ammii
nition, deiei-mined that the bank robbers should nol -el ;iway if it was
possible to pi-event it.

In Condon .V Co.'s hank were ('. T. Carpenter, one of the iiroiirietors.

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 35

Chas 51. Ball, the casliicv, ami T. V. Babb, the bookkeeper. The leader of
the raiders, (irat. I>alt<iii. ordered the men behind the counter to throw
up their hands; and on lookin*;- up from his work at the desk. Mr. Car-
penter saw three Winchesters aimed at his head, and heard such reassur-
ing words as these :

"We have got you, O d .von 1 Hold up .your hands"

As soon as Daltou had passed around into the inside of the eucdosure
at the bank, he ordered Mr. Ball to hold a grain sack he had brought with
liirn, while Carpenter was told to put the money in the canvas sacks in the
safe into it. There was $3,000 in silver in the three sacks, and when he
had got that Daltou ordered Mr. Ball to open the burglar proof chest in
the vault. Ball replied :

"It is not time for it 1o o]ien." ^ ^ /1RQ1 Q

"What time does it o]ien?'" asked (ivatton. J— L'iO^XO

"Half pa.st nine." answered r..ill. guessing what o'clock it might be,
sparring for time.

"What time is it now?" cjueried llie bandit.

"Twenty minutes past nim-." glibly answered Ball, looking at his
watch.

As a matter of fact, it was twenty minutes of ten, but Daltou did
not know this and calmly proposed to wait until the chest could be
opened. In a moment or two he began to suspect the truth and turned on
Ball and cursed him and threatened to put a bullet through him. With
the money from the counter the robbers now had .f4.000,"but the firing
which had begun from the outside was getting so hot that the robbers
ordered the sack carried into the back room, where the currency was
sorted out and the silver left. The bankers and two customers who hap-
pened to be in when the raid was made, were lying on the floor now to
escape the rain of bullets that came crashing through the plate glass.
Broadwell had already received a bullet in the arm that disabled him,
and the robbers nuide Imste to get out into the street whence they had
come.

Meanwhile, a good deal had been happening at the First Xational
across the street. Bob i>alton and Emmet entered here about the same
time the other three men went into Condon's. They covered the cashier,
Thomas G. Avers, and the teller, W. H. Hhepard, with their guns and
ordered everyone present to hold up his hands. The men in the bank in
front of the counter at ihe time were J. H. Brewster, the well known con-
tractor, who built the county court house, A. W. Kuotts, who was after-
ward deputy sherift, and C. L. Hollingsworth. Leaving Emmet on guard
in front. Bob went around to the rear and entered the private room, where
he fo)ind Bert S. Ayres. the boid^keejier. and ordered him to go to the
front and get the money on the counter. He then ordered the cashier to

35

lIlSTOltV (

)1- M

lii-iiijr liiiii

Iho

nioiu'V tlia

1 Wil

i;ot \v(int

into

the v'iUllt 1

llilll^

rainiiiji ti\

•(' Uv

imsand doll

a IS

in the safe, and not satisfied with what he
If and took two jiackajies of ctiiTency con-
each, and added them to the collection in his
sack, which now amounted to .|;2(l.(Ml(l. Oiderin<;- the bank foire and cus-
tomers out befoi-e them, tlie bandits started to ,ud (Uit the front door, but
some shots drove them back and tliey then retreated by a back door.

Right at this time tlie murderous work began. 8o far, only two men
liad been wounded, Broadwell. on the inside of ('ondon's bank, and
<'harles T. (Jum]), wlio had taken a jiosition outside of the First National
with a gun ready to slioot at the r)l(bers when they started out. I'.i>l)
B alton fired a shot which srnck him in the hand and disabled him.
When tlie two robl)ers emerged from tlie rear door of the First National,
liaviiig the teller. M'r. Sliepard with them, they came across Lucius M.
I'.aldwiii. a cUmIc from Kecnl I'.rotheis" store. He was holding a revolver
at Ills side and <oming forward as if to join the others. Both the Daltons
leveled their \\'inchesters at liim and commanded him to stoj). For some
reason he failed to obey and kept moving toward tliem. Bob remarked,
••{"ll have to get that man," and jiulled the trigger which sent a bullet
tliroiij;li Baldwin's breast near the heart. He was only about fifty feet
away at the tim(>. He was ]iick(>d ui) by friends and carried away but
only surviwd for about three hours.

The Daltons ran north up the alley to I-^ighth street and turned west
when they reached that street, ^^■hen they got as far as Union street on
the east side of the Plaza, they looked down that street to the south and
tired a couple of shots, apijarently for the purpose of friglitening their
assailants away. liy the time they had reached the middle of the street
on their way a.-ross to tlie "Little block" in the center of the Plaza, they
discerned (ieorge Cubine standing in the doorway of Rainmel Brothers'
drug store, which adjoined the First National bank building on tlie north.
He had a Winchester in his hand and was looki'ng the other way, toward
the door of the bank from which he was expecting to see the outlaws
emerge. They each fired twice at him, and as the four shots rang out, lie
fell to the pavement lifeless, with one bullet through his heart, another
through his left thigh and a third through his ankle. The fourth ball
went astray and crashed through the plate glass window of the store
beliini] him. Charles Brown, an old man whose place of busines.s was
next north of the drug store, rushed out to assist the fallen man; but see-
ing that lie was dead, seized the Winchester Cubiiie had and turned it
on his slayers. Four more deadly shots rang out from the bandits' guns,
and Brown fell bleeding and dying. He stiivi\ed three hours in drea Iful
agony and then jiassed away.

These three murders had been commilt<'d in l.'ss time than it has
taken to tell it, l!v this time the Italtoiis cauuht si^lii of another iiia-i

HISTORY OF M0XT(;0MER1' COUNTY, KANSAS. 37

Ts-ho was watching the entrance of the bank, ready to fii-e when they
should emerge. When turned out of the bank at the time the outlaws
started to come out the front way, Cashier Ayre s ran into Isham's hard-
ware store, just to the south, and procured a Winchester, with which he
took a position in the doorway, where he could command the enti'ance
to the bank. As they were stepping up on to the sidewalk on the west
side of Union street, and across the street from the Eldridge House, Bob
took deliberate aim at Ayres, who was about seventy-five yards distant,
and fired a bullet which struck him in the cheek, just below his left eye
aind came out at the back of his head near the base of the skull. He fell
bleeding and unconscious and for days hung between life and death, but
finally recovered.

Just at this time, (irntlon and his companions had reached the alley
adjoining Slosson's store, up which tlicy had left their horses, and before
the prostrate form of Mr. Ayres could be removed they fired nine shots
into the front of the building where he lay. Bob and Emmet proceeded
west on Eighth street and were not noticed again until they reappeared
near the junction of the two alleys, having come down back of Wells
Brothers' store. Their escape would have been comparatively easy, had
they not returned to that spot, but made a break for the open country and
taken the first horse they came across.

As it was, the whole force of the bandit band was now gathered in
what has since been known as "the Alley of Death," and there they all
fell beneath the bullets of the volunteers for law and order, though not
until another good citizen lost his life. For the facts thus far published
we are indebted to the painstaking and carefully written work published
by Colonel I). Stewart Elliott, of the Cofteyville Journal, entitled: "Last
Raid of the Daltons;" and for the story of the concluding scenes of that
raid we can do no better than to reproduce the chapter of that work on
"The Alley of Death" almost verbatim.

When the alarm was first given that the banks were being robbed,
Henrv HI Isham, the senior member of the firm of Isham Bi'others &
Mausur, was busy with a customer, as were two clerks in the store, Lewis
T. J)ietz and T. Arthur Reynolds. This store not only adjoined the First
National bank ou the south, but from its front a clear view is to be had
acro«s the I'laza and up the alley at the west side to which the Daltons
first came and to which they finally retreated. Mr. Isli:nn ilismissed his
customer, closed his safe, and, grasping a Winchester, siaiiniinl liimself
near a steel range in the front of the store where he could sec :ill that was
going on in the front part of Condon's bank. Dietz snatched a revolver
and stationed himself close to Isham, while Reynolds, having observed
the robbers enter the banks, was so eager to prevent their escape that he
seized a Winchester, ran out upon the sidewalk and commenced firing

38 HISTORY OF .MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

upon the robber who was statioDed near the southeastern door of the
Condon bank. A shot from the hitter's rifle struck some intervening ob-
ject and glanced and hit Reynolds on the right foot at the base of the
little toe. coming out at the "instep. He was the third man wounded in
the store, and was now forced to leave the field. Indeed, with its blood-
bespalteded floor, the store now began to look like a slaughter house or
a section of a battle field. M. N. Anderson, a carpenter, who had been at
work a couple of blocks away, now arrived and took the Winchester Rey-
nolds had dropped and stationed himself beside Isham, where he per-
formed valiant service until the close of the engagement. Charles K.
t^mith. a young m:m from a barber shop near Isham's store, also procured
a \\'incliester and joined the forces in the luudware store in time to help
exterminate the gang.

From five to nine shots were fired by eath man who iiaiidled a Win-
chestei- at this point. The principal credit, however, for the successful
and fatal work dtme at the store was due to Mr. Isham. Cool and col-
le<-te(l. he gave directions to his comiianioiis and at the same time kept his
own gun at work.

The moment that (irat. l>alton and his rouiiiani.ins. ]»iik I'.roadwel!
and Kill Powers, left the Condon bank after looting it, they came under
the guns of the men in Ishanr's store. Grat. Dalton and Bill I'owers each
received mortal wounds before they had gone twenty steps. The dust
was seen to fly from their clothing, and Powers in his despei'ation at-
tempted to take refuge in the doorway of an adjoining store, but the door
was locked and no one answered his request to be let in. He kept his feet
and clung to his Winchester until he reached his horse, when another ball
struck him in the back and he fell dead at its feet. (irat. Dalton, getting
under cover of an oil tank which had been driven into the alley just about
the time the raid was made, managed to reach the side of a barn on the
south side of the alley, about two hilndred feet from Walnut street. The
])oint Mhere he stopped was out of the range of the guns at Isham's on
account of an intervening outside stairway. He stood here for a few
minutes firing wild shots down the alley toward the Plaza.

.Vbont this time John J. Kkiehr, a liveryman. Carey Seaman, and the
City ."Marshal, Charles T. Connelly, who were at the south end of the
Plaza, near Reeds' store, started uj) Ninth street so as to intercept the
gang before they could reach their horses. Connelly ran across a vacant
lot to an opcniiig in llic fence at the alley, right at the corner of the barn
where <!r:ii. Dalion was slill standing. There he sprang ilnto the alley,
facing the west where tlic horses were hitched. This movement brought
him with his back toward ilie iiiurdei-ous Dalton, who was seen to raise
his Winchester to his side ami. without taking aim, fired a shot into the
back of the brave olli,-er. (^miiellv fell forward on his face, within

lllSTOItV OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 39

Iwcnlv fwt of where his innrdeier stood. He breathed his hist just as the
tight ended,

Dielv r.roadweil. in llie meantime, had reaelied cover in the Long-
Hell Lumber Companv"s vaids, where he lay down for a few moments.
He was wounded in the back. A lull occurred in the firing after Grat
Dalton and Bill Towers had fallen. Broadwell tood advantage of this
and crawled out of his hiding place, mounted his horse and rode away.
A bail from Kloehr's ritle, and a load of shot from a gun in the hands of
Carey teaman, overtook him before he had ridden twenty feet. Bleeding
and dying he clung to his horse ;n!(l passed out of the city over a portion
of the' road by which the pMiiy eiilered it not more than twenty minutes
befovc. His body was suhsiM|\ieiiiiy found by the roadside half a mile
west of the city, and his horse with its trappings was captured near
where he fell.

Almost at the same moment that JIarslial Connelly went down be-
fore the deadly ritle of Grat. Dalton, Bob and Emmet emerged from the
alley by which they had left Eighth street in their eftoi-t to rejoin the rest
of the party where their horses had been left. They had not met with
any resisteuce iu passing from where they had shot Cub^ne, Brown and
Ayros, as the firing toward the south end of the Plaza had attracted gen-
eral attention iu another direction. The north and south alley through
which they reached "the Alley of Death," has its terminus opposite the
rear end of Slosson's store. When they reached the junction of the al-
leys, they discovered F. D. Benson climbing through a rear window with
a gun in his hand. Divining his object. Bob fired at him point blank, at a
distance of not over thirty feet. The shot missed. Bob then stepped into
the alley and glanced xip at the tops of the buildings as if he suspected
the fusilade that was pouring into the alley came from that direction.
As he did so, the men at Isham's took deliberate aim from their positions
in the store and fired at him. The notorious leader of the Dalton gang
evidently received a severe if not fatal wound at this time. He stagger-
ed across the alley and sat down on a pile of dressed curbstones near the
city jail. Still true to his desperate nature, he kept his rifle in action and
fired several shots from where he was sitting. His aim, though, was un-
steady and the bullets went wild. While sitting on the rocks he espied
.John Kloehr on the inside of the fence near Slosson's store. He tried to
raise his Winchester to his shoulder, but could not, and the shot intended
for Kloehr struck the side of an outhouse and failed in its mission. Bob
Dalton then made his supreme eftort. He arose to his feet and sought
refuge alongside of an old barn west of the city jail, and, leafning against
the southwest corner of the building he brought his rifle into action again
and fired two shots in the direction of his pursuers. They were his last
shots. A ball from Kloehr's rifle struck him full in the breast and he fell

40 HISTORY OF .MONTIiOMERY liUNTY. KANSAS.

over backward aiiioiig the stones wliirli coveicd the i;i-(nnul there, aud
which were reddened with his life bludd.

After shoot ins Marshal C.innelly. (irat. I>alt<>n made aiiuther at-
tempt to reach his horse. He passed l.y his fallen vidini. ahid had ad-
vanced probably twenty feet from where he was standing when he fired
the fatal shot;" then tnrning his face i.i his pursuers he again at-
tempted to use his Winchester. John Kloehr's rille blazed out again
now. and the oldest member of the band drojiped with a bullet in his
throat and a broken neck. He fell within a few feet of the dying marshal.

I']) to this time Emmet Dalton had managed to escape untouched.
He k(-i>t under shelter after he reached the alley until he attempted to
moiiiJ his horse. A half dozen ritles were then fired in Ins direction, as
he nndertook to get into the saddle. The two intervening horses belong-
ing to Hob Dalton aud Bill Powers were killed by some of the shots in-
tended tor Emmet; and the two horses attached to the oil tank-wagon
being directly in range received fatal wounds. Emmet succeeded in get-
ting into the saddle, but not until he had received a shot through the
right arm and an.other thi-ough the left hi]i and groin. During all this
time he had clung to Ihe sack conlaiHing the UHiney he had taken from
the First National bank. .\ml ihcn. instead of riding off, as he might
have done, Emmet boldly and conrageonsly rode back to what he must
have known was almost certain death and came up beside where Bob
was lying and attempted to lift his dying brother onto the horse with
him. "It's no use," faintly whispered the fallen bandit, and just then
Carey Seaman fired the contents of both barrels of his shot-gun into
Emmet's back, as he was leaning over the prostrate form of his leadei-
and tutor in crime. The youthful desperado dropped from his horse and
the last of the Dalton gang was helpless. In falling, the sack containing
the tvrenty thousand dollars he had jierilled his soul and body to get went
down witii him, and he l;;|nde(l al the feet of his brolher. P.ol.'. who breath-
ed his last a moment later.

Citizens who had followed close after the robbers, and some of whom
were close at hand when they fell, immediately surrounded their bodies.
Emmet responded to the command to hold u]( his hands by raising his
uninjured arm and making a jtathetic appeal for mercy. Lynching was
suggested, but better councils prevailed and he was taken to the office of
a surgeon, who dressed his wounds. He i-ecovered with the quick elasti-
city of youth and was taken to the jail at Independence, where, in the
following March, he jdeaded guilty to murder in the second degree and
was sentenced to a ninety-nine years' term in the i)enitentiary, ten of
whii-li he has .-ilready served. His aged mother is untiring in her
etVoits to secnie i.ardOn and ft lom for her wayward boy. but no

HISTORY OF MOXTGOMERY COUNTY;, KANSAS. 4!

governor has yet dared to brave the indignation of the friends of the vic-
tims of the raid by granting her prayer.

I^ss than fifteen minutes had elapsed from the time the raiders en-
tered the banks until four of tliem were dead and the others helpless with
wounds. And it was only twelve minutes from the firing of the first shot
until the last one sounded the knell of the Dalton gang.

Summarizing the reports, it appears that eighty bullet marks and
numerous evidences of the impact of small shot were visible on the south
front of Condon's bank when the battle ended. Not more than fifteen
guns were actively engaged iu the fight on both sides; and yet eight peo-
ple were killed and three wounded. While all the citizens who were
killed or wounded were armed, (ieorge Cubine was the only one of them
who had fired a shot before being striu-k down. Amtfng the scores of by-
standers and onlookers about the I'laza. including many girls and little
chidren. not one was struck by a sh(»rt or bullet. It was war, an^d very
sanguinary war, while it lasted, the percentage of victims to combatants
being greater than iu :',ny battle that was not a massacre; but no wild
shooting was done.

While the i)eople of Coffeyville wiped out the outlaw gang at a terri-
ble cost of valuable lives, they insured their city against any more such
visitations during the lifetime of the present generation, and conferred a
service upon the state and upon society by demonstrating how risky and
unprofitable such raids are likely to prove.

CIIAI'TER 111.
The Press of Montgomery County

BY H. W. YOUNG.

There is a fascination about the newspaper business which even
those who have spent their lives in the editor's chair would find it hard
to exi)]aiu. Certainly it must have been this fascination, i-ather than the
pecuniary reviards in sight, which have induced three score and ten men
to establish newspapers in nine different localities in Montgomery county.
For of all the seventy or more publications which have .been started in
this county as local newspapers, there is only one which has as yet placed
its jnoj-.rietors in independent circumstances, given them any bank ac-
count to sjicak of. (ir enabled them to become landowners on any but the
most limited scale. And the success which has attended this exceptional
venture, is without question, attributable to the public patronage it has
enjoyed rather than to profits from the sources of income accessible to all
newspapers alike, as the rewards of industry, energy and perseverance.

Before attempting even the briefest mention of the scores of news-
papers which have been born and lived their short lives within our bor-
ders, it is fitting to refer a little more in detail to the men and the papers

42 HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.

wliich have kept their places lougest ou tlie slippery surface where falls
have been so frequeut.

The only newspaper in the tdiinty which has ever reached its ma-
jority under the same ownershi]i and nianaf;enient is the one referred to
above as the one instance of financial success. The South Kansas
Tribune, of ln(lc|.cii,l,.|i. r. was established in March, 1871. W. T. Yoe, one
of the present ]ir(i|irict(n s. Iii'Iiijl; a half owner, and the other half being
the pro]ierty of the law lirni of Yoik & llunii)hrey; though Humphrey's
name alone a])]iearcd as repiesenting this interest and York was a silent
jiarfnei-. This partneisliip contiinued only aliout a year, when George W.
Bnicbard jmrchased York & Ifuniphrey's interest, and became editor of
the paper, with W. T. Yoe as local or associate editor. At this time the
Tribune was the best edited [taper in the county, and perhaps in this sec-
tion of the state. This arrangement continued until 1S74. when Mr. Burch-
ard's Republicanism became so attenuated that the only way to preserve
the ])olitical integrity of the paper was to remove him from his position.
Mr. Yoe accordingly bought him out. aind his interest was transferred to
Charles Yoe who has ever since been associated in its publication. For
the twenty-nine years since, this ]iaiier has kejtt the even tenor of its way,
as a defender of tlic licpuMiian faiili; and its unwavering adherence to
that organizalion has made it one of the landmarks of journalism in
Southeastern Kansas. Its publishers have become comparatively weal
thy; and while it has never reached the highest levels of journalism, it
has never sunk to the lowest dejtths. It has been careful and conserva-
tive, and it is usually found on the popular side of public cpiestions. It
has not only enjoyed a lucrative income from the county jirinting almost
uninlerrupledly for the past twenty years, but its senior editor has held
such jiaying official positions as member of the State Board of Trustees
of Charitable Institutions, and iKistmaster of the City of Independence,
while llie junior member was until recently secretary of the same board.

^ext to the Y'oes, the second oldest editor and publisher, in the time
s]ieii' on Montgomery county newspapers, is H. W. Y'oung. now of the
Kansas Pojjulist, but heretofore publisher of the Coffeyville Star, the In-
dcjicndcnce Star and the Star and Kansan. ilr. Y'oung rekons nineteen
years (!e\()1ed to editorial work in ^Montgoniery county and has held the
olliccs of Keceiver of the United States Land Office at Independence and
Slate Senator for the Montgomery county district. By his frequent
changes and his impulsive — some would say erratic — methods of con-
ducting a ncwspajicr Mr. Young has illustrated the old adage that "a roll-
ing stone gathcis no moss;" and while friends have often commended his
ncwsiiapci- as ••llic best in tli(> county." he has never demonstrated any
sjiecial ability as a iiioney get tcr.

T. X. Sickcls. of the l>aily Kcpoitcr. of Independence, conies third

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 43

ill l(Mij;11i (if service, having liecoiiie proprietor of that paper iln May,
ISSd, aud having published it uninterruptedly since, with the exception
of three or four years spent in the pension office at Topeka during Presi-
dent Harrison's administration, when it was in charge of his son, Walter.
Mr. Sickels is one of the few men who have been able to make a local
daily self-supporting in towns like Independence, and now rejoices in a
subscription aud advertising pati'onage in keeping with the growth of a
prosperous city in the gas and oil belt.

C. E. Moore, of the Cherryvale Eepublican, has also been a long time
in the harness, having become connected with the Globe of that city in
1881, aud having been engaged in the printing business there for nearly
all the time since.

Although ^Montgomery is a comparatively young county, hav-
ing been organized in 18G9, and is not in the first rank in population,
there are only four counties in the state which can boast larger newspa-
per graveyards. Untimely deaths of publications which have stai'ted out
with bright hopes and boundless ambitions have occuri-ed at the rate of
about two a year during the thirty-four years of our county's existence,
and we now have but twelve living.

When a company of Oswego men in the summer of 1869 determined
to locate a county seat on the ^'erdigris fJnd get in "on the ground floor"
in the new county to the west, one of the first things they did was to pro-
vide for the publication of a newspajier; aud so we find the first paper is-
sued in >J'ionrgomery county to have l)een the Independence Pioneer. The
first number bore date of September .5th, of that year. It was published
by E. R. Trask. of the Oswego Register, and printed at that place until
March, 1870, when it was provided with an outfit of its own, and David
Steel became its editor. In December, 1870, it was sold to Thos. H. Can-
field, who changed its name to the Republican. The paper remained at
the county seat for about two years longer, changing proprietors every
few mouths, and in the spring of 1873 again went west "to grow up" with
some other county.

The second paper established in the county was the Westralia
Vidette. by McConuell & Mclntyre, in the spring of 1870, It lived only
three months and two days, succumbing to lack of nourishment. Follow-
ing it came the Record, founded by G. D. P>aker at the new town of Par-
ker. It is said to have been an excellent paper, but when Parker faded
away it had to give up the ghost.

The first paper ou record as being avowedly in opposition to the dom-
inant Repulilican party in the county was the Kansas Democrat, which
the well known Martin VanP.uren Bennett removed from Oswego to In-
dependence in December, 1870. •'^'an" is supposed to have intended to
use this publication as a lever to boost him into congress; but his paper

< lie hopi-d.

aiul iu 1S72 he sold it to-

aftciward.

leiiioved it to the state

44 HISTOU\ OF .\10M(

was sensational and not as popnl
Peacock & Sons who, a year or
capital.

In casting about for sonicthin<; to do, after the sands of his official
life had run out, ex-United States Senator E. G. Ross concluded to try his
fortunes in the new county just opened down on the south line of the
state; and in the fall of 1871 established Koss' Paper at Coffey ville. Mis-
fortune still pursued the man who had saved Andy Johnson from im-
peachment, however, and in March. 1872. his office was destroyed by a
tornado. He did not re-establish it but removed to Lawrence.

Following this came the Circular, by E. W. Perry; alud in the
spring of 1873, the Courier, by Chatham & Scurr. Jim Chatham was one
of the best local itemizers who ever struck Montgomery county, but his
abilities as a business man were not adequate to the strain, and bad luck
compelled him to suspend in July 187.5. His office was i)Ut on wheels
and taken to Independence, where he jtnblished the Independence Courier
for a time, to be succeeded by the T>aily Courier, and the Workingman's
Courier, which was published by Frank C. Scott until 1S7!I.

The Independence Kansan was established in the fall of 1875 by W.
H. Watkins. The paper was Democratic, though Watkins was known to
be a Republican. While the Tribune, started in the spring of 1871. still
lives under one of its original publishers, the Kansan has seen changes
and vicissitudes without end. Will H. ^^■arner took it off of Watkins'
hand in December 1876. and ran it at high presstire for a little more
than two years, vastly increasing its subscription list, getting the county
I)rinting, and filling it with live local news; giving, however, too much
si>ace to salacious gossip. Finding the income of the paper insufficient to
enable him to "sit in" on ](oker games at Kansas City as freiiuoutly as he
wished, he sold it in January 187!l, to (i<'orge W. lUirchard. the only ma'n
in iMontgoniery county who has edited both the Republican and I>emo-
cratic organs of the county. In less than a year F>urcliaitl disposed of
the paper to Frank C. Scott, of the Courier, who merged the two papers
into one. Scott sold the Kansan to H. W. Young of the Star in February
1882, but at the same time transferred the good will and business to A.
A. Stewart, who published a new paper with the old name. Independence
Kansan until January 1885, when he also sold out to Mr. Young, who
has bought more ^lontgomery county newspapers than any other man
living. The Kansan and the Star were then consolidated as tlie Star and
Kansan. The Star was originally established at Coffeyville by Mr. Young
iin Aiii'il 1881. as the Coffeyville Star, but was removed to Independence
in October of the same year and jiublished as The Star until the merger
just mentioned. The Star and Kansan was jiulilislied by :Mr. Young until;
June 180(1, when he removed to Coioiado. leaving Charles T. Errett in

HISTUUY OF MONTCJOMERY COINTY, KANSAS. 45

clijirfie of tlie )iai:t'i-. 11 was jml.lislied iu Mi-. Y(Hin;;'s 11:11110 uiilil Sep-
tciiihcv l^^it^. wlit'ii Erirtt Ix'i-iiiit' pniinietni-. Jn .Jaiiiiaiy 181)3, Mr.
Youni;- i-ftuiiii'd and re-iniicliascd the \>i\\>t'v. again becoming its editor
and piililislier. In Novemher ISilC. lie sold a half interest to A. T. Cox.
hut the jiartiiership was inicoiijuenial and lasted not much over a year.
Indeed, the jiartners were unable to even agree as to the method of get-
tign unhitched, and the courts liad to be resorted to to divorce them.
Walter 8. Sickles was appointed receiver in January, 181)8, and ran the
paper until May 1st when it was sold by the sheriff and purchased by Mr.
Cox, who has since conducted it. A couj)le of years later Mr. Cox began
the issue of the Daily Evening Star, which he still publishes.

In June 1898. Mr. Young, deciding to continue in the newspaper
business in Independence, purchased the name and list of the Kansas
Populist from Mr. Ritchie at Cherryvale. He has published the paper
since that time, having recently associated his son, H. A. Young, with
him in the business, under the linn name of H. W. Y'^oung & Son.

The Daily Reporter was established at Independence in August, 1881,
by Harper & Wassam. They published it only a year or two, when it was
taken in hand by O'Ci'nner & McCulley. who held claims upon the ma-
terial. Subse(|uently, for a time, it was published by Charles H. Harper,
a son of one of the fcmnders, and then in 18S~j it was sold to T. N. Sickles,
in whose ownership it still remains.

Of short lived jiapers published at Independence, mciilioii may be
made of the following :

The Osage Chief, bv Ed. Van Cuiidv and A. M. Clark, in the spring
of 1874.

The Itemizer. triweekly, by J. E. Srinson. in 1870.

The Living Age. by I'. P.. Castle, in 1881.

The Montgomery Monitor by Vick Jennings, in December 1885, and
January 1S8(). .Jennings was the only newspaper publisher who has died
in the harness in Independence.

The Independence News, dailv and weeklv, bv Cleveland -T. Revnolds,
in 1886.

The M,^intgoniery Argus, by Sullivan & Levan, in 1880-87.

United Labor, by A. .1. Miller, was an Alliance organ established in
1892 and published until 1894. John Callahan, who was then deputy
sheriii', christened this sheet "The Dehorner," and it came to be much bet-
ter known by that appellation than by the name printed at its head.

The Weekly Call and the Daily Evening Call, by Rev. J. A. Smith,
in 189(5.

Turning again to Cotleyville. we Hiid that Hon. W. A. Peffer, who
subsequtiutly became I'liited States Senator, established the (''offeyville
Journal in the fall of 187."). After four or five years he removed to Topeka

46 HISTORY OF MONTGOIIEBV COUNTY^ KANSAS.

au(l left tlie pMiier in the hands of his son, W. A. Peffer, Jr.. better known
as "Jiike," who continued its management until Capt. D. l^tewart Elliott
assumed control in 1885. Elliott was sub.sequently elected to the legis-
lature, but owiug to financial reverses was coinpelled to sell the paper in
18'JG, when it went into the hands of a coinpiiny, with W. G. Weaverliug
and 1. K. Arbogast as editors. They have rouducted it very successfully
since that dale, and have for several years been publishing a" daily edition,
which is the newsiest paper of the kind now published in the county.

The Gate City Independent was established at Cotfeyville in the
early nineties, and for the past ten years has been pxiblislied by C. W.
Kent. Sometimes it has been a weekly, but most of the time a twicea-
week; and often, as now, it has had a daily edition.

In 1895 or 1896, John Tedder established the Montgomery County
Democrat, which he published for .several years, to be succeeded Ity J. P.
Easterly. Still more recently the paper has had a number of editors and
publishers; but about a year ago its name was changed to the Record, and
it has been made a daily by the CoftevviJle Publishino- Company 'with
Will Felker as editor.

Another weekly published f.-ir -AU.ui the same length .,f time is the
Coffeyville Gaslight, established in ISiis, by \\\ A. Bradford It now car-
ries the name of Fred R. Howard as editor.

.o-oS'"'"'-''"'''"''' ^''^* P'^i'*^'' '™'- ^^^^ nerald, which was established in
18(.^. but pined away after a sickly existence „f b„t si.x weeks. Following
It came the Leader, which flourished Un- a xnIiII,. in is77 The Cherrvvale
Globe was established in 1879, the Cheiiv vnh- News in 1881 and the Cher-

^^^n ^r\'"- ^•'^'%- '^^'' ^''"'"' ="■"' ^■'■^^•^ ''■'-'■' consolidated in 1882
and the Torch joined the same ,„,nl,ina, i.,„ in 1885. The Cherrvvale
St n 'I" ^ f ••" .\ r)<?"'0<-™tic n.nvspnp-r ('herryvale has ever had.' was
established by Major E. W.Ly.ui in 1SS4 an,l continued until 1888. The
Cherryvale ('iiam])ion ran from 1SS7 until IS!).',. Other short lived Cherrv-
vale papers are the Southern K.u.sms F;,rmer and the K.-.nsas Common-
wealth. 1S91; the Morning T..l,-r,.nn. IS-H-; the CiMMTVvale Kepublic and
llie HepublicMn-Plaindcalei-. 1S!»;;.

The Cherryvale I!epubli<-;iii was (■si:ihlisli..(l in 1SS(; and is sfill i.ub-
lished by ('. E. .Aloore.

The Kansas Populist was siwi i,-il by .1. II. Kit. hie in 1894 as a weekly.
In conn.'clion with it he has publislid li,,. |.;ii|y x,>ws. and sin,-e 1898 tlie
weekly luis also been known as ilu- Xcws. The pnblisluTs arc J. II. Ritchie
& Son.

The ClicrryvMlc Clarion, .laily -.uu] weekly. w,-is established in 1898,
and IS now jmhlishcd by L. I. Pniccll.

Elk City lias had the Times, rslablislicd in the fall of 1880, which
turned lip lis toes when only ten weeks., Id; tlie(;iobe, from ISSl' to 1887:

HISTORY OF MONTCiOMERY COUNTY^ KANSAS. 47

the St;u- in 1884-8r.; the Deniociat. iSS.'-Slj; The Eagle, ISStJlS'JO; and
the Enterprise from ISS'.l to tlie i)resent lime, with W. E. \\'oi-lnian as edi-
tor and iJiiblisher.

Caney has the t'hrouicle. whii-h was established in 1S8."), and is still
pnbllslied by Harry E. Brighton.

Other papers that have been pnblished there are the Times and the
Phoenix. The Times was established in 188!) and ran until the later nine-
ties, having had Cleveland J. Keynolds. Hon. J. R. Charlton and A. M.
Parsons as editors.

Havana has been without a newspaper for the past ten jears, but had
at various times the Yidette. the Weekly Herald, the Recorder and the
Press and Torch, none of which survived to reach the mature age of three
years.

Liberty has had the Light, published for a short time in 1880, and the
Review from 1887 until 1892.

All sorts of newspapers have been published by all sorts of men in
Montgomery county ; but the local conditions have never been favorable
for the building up of a great countj newspaper of universal circulation.
The railroads have not all centered at the county seat, but have run all
around the edges of the county. This has resulted in the development of
towns at the four corners of the county, two of which have come to be
cities rivaling the county's capital, and all of which are newspaper
towns. So instead of being concentrated, the newspaper business has been
split up, and no newspaper, no matter how well edited, nor how accu-
rate and euterjirising a jiurveyor of news, has yet been able to command
the patronage that would make it or give it a commanding j)Osition, (nor
the three or four thousand rirciilation which is sometimes found in
counties the size and iKiimlaliun of ours.

• HAl'TER IV.
Gas and Oil Devlopments in Montgomery Cou