The Kansas historical quarterly

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

KIRKE MECHEM, Editor
JAMES C. MALIN, Associate Editor

Volume II

1933

(Kansas Historical Collections)

VOL. XIX

Published by

The Kansas State Historical Society
Topeka, Kansas

16-1070

Contents of Volume II

Number 1 — February, 1933

PAOB

FERRIES IN KANSAS : Part I — Missouri River George A. Root, 3

THE INDIAN QUESTION IN CONGRESS AND IN KANSAS Marvin H. Garfield, 29

COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS. .Henry F. Mason, 45

THE GRASS WIGWAM AT WICHITA Bliss Isely, 66

THE ANNUAL MEETING: Containing the President's Address; Report of
the Executive Committee; Report of the Secretary and Treasurer; Elec-
tion of Officers Kirke Mechem, Secretary, 72

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY Compiled by Helen M. McFarland, 90

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE STATE PRESS 102

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 110

Number 2 — May, 1933

PAGE

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part I — Missouri River — Continued — George A. Root, 115

THE FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS: The Story of Edward Everett Hale's
Kanzas and Nebraska Cora Dolbee, 139

HISTORY OF LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS Genevieve Yost, 182

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE STATE PRESS 220

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES . 223

Number 3 — August, 1933

PAGE

Two MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS IN THE FORTIES - 227

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part II — Kansas River George A. Root, 251

THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE Kirke Mechem, 294

THE ROBINSON RIFLES Gen. Wm. H. Sears, 309

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE STATE PRESS 321

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 336

(3)

Number 4 — November, 1933

PAGE

THE SHAWNEE SUN : The First Periodical Publication in the United States
to be Printed Wholly in an Indian Language Douglas C. McMurtrie, 339

FERRIES IN KANSAS: Part II — Kansas River — Continued — George A. Root, 343
THE VEGETARIAN AND OCTAGON SETTLEMENT COMPANIES. . .Russell Hickman, 377

THE JOHN BROWN PIKES Frank Hey wood H odder, 386

KANSAS HISTORY AS PUBLISHED IN THE STATE PRESS 391

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 400

ERRATA TO VOLUME II 402

INDEX TO VOLUME II 403

(4)

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

Volume II Number 1

February, 1933

PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT

B. P. WALKER, STATE PRINTER

TOPEKA 1933

14-6617

Contributors

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society.

MARVIN H. GARFIELD is instructor of history in Roosevelt Intermediate
School, Wichita.

HENRY F. MASON, a former resident of Finney county, was a justice of the
supreme court of Kansas for twenty-five years. He died in 1927.

BLISS ISLEY is a well-known Kansas newspaper man of Wichita, Kan. His
present address is Phoenix, Ariz.

NOTE. — Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without regard
to their importance.

(2)

Ferries in Kansas

GEORGE A. ROOT
Part 1 — Missouri River

OETTLEMENT of that portion of present Kansas bordering on
O the Missouri river at once established the need of communica-
tion with the outside world. Steamboats were not yet making regu-
lar trips up the "Big Muddy," so some other method of water trans-
portation must be made use of. Mackinaw boats1 and bull boats2
used by early trappers and by the military at the time of the
establishment of Cantonment Martin were pressed into use, and in
the absence of anything better served their day and age very ac-
ceptably. When these mackinaw boats were not to be had the
white man fashioned a dugout from the trunk of some suitable
tree near enough to water to serve the purpose. Rafts were made
use of, also. Then followed the primitive ferryboats, formed of
two or three dugouts with poles laid crosswise and closely together ;
later the boats were made from sawed lumber, propelled by poles
at first, then by oars, then by means of ropes or cables stretched
across the streams, the current often furnishing the propelling force,
and then "Old Dobbin" was harnessed and pressed into service.
When immigration set in for Oregon, Utah and California, horse-
propelled ferries were about the fastest mode of crossing the Mis-
souri, but these were few. In the latter fifties and early sixties steam
was adopted by the most enterprising ferrymen.

With the coming of the missionaries and early settlers arose the
necessity for permanent roads. These thoroughfares were laid out
regardless of section lines, and usually followed the divides. When
a stream had to be crossed a good fording place was sought. When
this was not convenient or practicable, a ferry solved the problem.
Up to the time of the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill there
were but few ferries owned or controlled by residents living west of
the Missouri river — these being the ones operating from old Canton-

1. A flat-bottomed boat with a pointed prow and square stern, using oars or sails, or
both, used especially on the upper Great Lakes and their tributaries.

2. The bull boat was in common use on the Missouri and other western rivers between
1810 and 1830, being especially adapted on account of lightness of draft. They were shaped
much like a light raft and were from 25 to 30 feet long. This framework was covered with
buffalo bull hides sewed tightly together. These boats were capable of carrying a cargo of
5,000 to 6,000 pounds. — Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, p. 271.

(3)

4 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ment Martin, Fort Leavenworth, Grinter's, Wyandotte, Papan's,
Smith's, Ogee's and Marshall's ferry at the Blue.

With the establishment of the territory came an era of town
speculation :

"It was the day of small things but great beginnings. . . . Opportunity
was knocking at every door. There were schemes of every sort, rational and
chimerical. The laws of the early legislative sessions furnish abundant ex-
amples. If charters had been taxed, the revenues would have embarrassed
the vaults of the treasury. It was a time of tremendous mental and business
activity. Official sanction was given to operate ferries, toll bridges, and stage
lines in every direction. Highways were projected to imaginary cities in the
undisputed prairie grass, where flaming lithographs exploited the sale of town
lots at fabulous prices before there were any inhabitants except grasshoppers
and prairie dogs. Mail routes were established in advance of post offices or
settlements, and contracts awarded and paid for by an indulgent government
when there was no occasion for any service, and when in fact no service had
been performed. The Kansas river and many of its insignificant tributaries
were declared navigable streams, when in some of them the catfish actually
suffered for water. There were prophets in those days." 3

Up to the meeting of the so-called "bogus legislature" (the legis-
lature of 1855) there had been no restrictions hampering anyone
wishing to start a ferry. Before that body adjourned it had adopted,
along with many other Missouri laws, the one regarding ferries. This
act was evidently a satisfactory one, for not until 1862 were any
changes made in it, and these only regarding amounts of tax to be
paid to the county, or forfeits for failure to secure licenses before
engaging in business.

The earliest ferries touching Kansas were started by residents of
Missouri. These primitive affairs served their day and purpose,
enabling residents living on the west side of the Missouri river to
keep in touch with the East. With the era of railroad and bridge
building which followed the Civil War, however, the day of the
ferry gradually passed, until now it is but a memory. With the
building of the Hannibal bridge at Kansas City in 1869, the Fort
Leavenworth and Elwood bridges in 1873 and the Atchison bridge
in 1875, the need for ferries was almost ended — one being operated
at Kansas City as late as 1888, one at Leavenworth — the Willie
Cade — until about the last of the eighties, and one at White Cloud,
which was inaugurated in the fall of 1932, after that town had been
without ferry privileges for several years.

The following is an attempt to list Missouri- and Kansas-owned
ferries which had any intercourse with the territory embraced in

8. Albert R. Greene, "In Remembrance," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11, p. 486.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 5

Kansas. The arrangement is not chronological, but rather, geo-
graphical, beginning near the mouth of the Kansas river and pro-
ceeding up the Missouri. Some, created by acts of the territorial
and early state legislatures, may never have functioned; in all
probability the charters or licenses were secured by promoters who
hoped to "unload" at a good price to other parties. In some cases
these charters, granted for a specified number of years and claiming
exclusive rights within certain bounds, seemingly overlap. In
several instances this may be due to the fact that the first parties
allowed their franchises to lapse.

This list, by no means complete, is offered by the writer as the
first attempt to gather data on early ferries on the Missouri river.
Subsequent chapters will complete the review of ferrying on the
Missouri river and will cover the history of ferrying on the Kansas,
Republican, Smoky Hill, Neosho, Arkansas, and other rivers of
Kansas.

The first ferry operating at or near the mouth of the Kansas river
over the Missouri was established in 1825 by Joseph Boggs, a
resident of Clay County, Missouri. Richard Linville4 also started
one the same year. A third ferry, operated by John Thornton, was
located "at or near the Blue Bank." In May, 1825, a road was laid
out from Liberty to Thornton's ferry; another ran from Liberty to
the Missouri river "at the boat landing at the town of Gallatin; still
another ran from Liberty to the mouth of the Kansas river. From
the meager records obtainable it is difficult to locate the exact points
of these ferries and landings owing to changes in the river banks
and the vagueness in the descriptions of the landing places. When
the license was isued to Joseph Boggs, in September, 1825, he was
authorized to keep a ferry across the Missouri river 'from the bank
where Wyatt Adkins lives.' " He was permitted to charge the fol-
lowing rates:

For a loaded wagon and team, $2.

Empty wagon and team, $1.

Dearborn and horses, or gig and horses, 62^ cents.

Man and horse, 37Ms cents.

Single person, 18% cents.

Horses, each, 18% cents.

Sheep, hogs- and cattle, each, 3 cents.

4. Linville sold out in 1826 to an old Frenchman named Calisse Montarges, commonly
called "Caleece." He ran the boat until 1830, and it must have been the most popular of
all the ferries. The old man was one of the eccentric characters known all along the river,
as there have been many others since that time engaged in the transportation of men, animals
and chattels from one side of the river to the other. Calisse came to this part of the
country soon after the War of 1812 as a French trapper and voyageur. — Deatherage History
of Greater Kansas City, p. 188.

6 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

These charges were regulated by the division of the old Spanish
dollar into bits. A bit was 12 1/2 cents; a bit and a half was 18%
cents; 2 bits, 25 cents; 4 bits, 50 cents, and 8 bits a dollar.5

Prime's ferry at Independence, Mo., was being operated in 1829,
according to Frederick Chouteau in his reminiscences published in
Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8.

The settlement of the Platte Purchase had an important effect
upon Kansas City, Mo. Up to that time there had been no ferry
across the river there other than canoes, but with the opening of
this new country there was a spasmodic movement into it from the
south side of the river. To accommodate this immigration Peter
Roy, son of Louis Roy, who settled at the foot of Grand avenue
during 1826, established a flatboat ferry, and in order to provide
better access to it than by the old road he cut a new road through
the woods from about where Walnut street crosses Fifteenth street,
past the present junction of Main and Delaware streets, and thence
down a deep ravine along Delaware street to Sixth, thence across
by the corner of Main and Fifth streets, diagonally across the public
square and thence to the river a little east of the present line of
Grand avenue from Third street down. This road afterward became
a factor in the concentration of the Santa Fe trade at this place,
and was the one mainly used by the heavy freighting teams, as it
afforded a tolerably easy grade to the river, and also provided in
later years the means of reaching West-port by a short cut. The
ferry thus established by Mr. Roy, was conducted by him but a short
time when he sold it to James H. McGee, who then lived on a farm
south of Sixteenth street. McGee sold the ferry in less than a year
to Rev. Isaac McCoy,6 who conducted it until 1843 when he sold
it to his son, John C. McCoy.7 Mr. McCoy subsequently sold a half
interest in it to John Campbell, and in 1854 disposed of the other
half to Messrs. Northrup and Chick.8 This ferry was convenient
to the military road running from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson,
and was close to the trading posts located on the Kaw near its

5. Gatewood, History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 113; Deatherage, His-
tory of Greater Kansas City, pp. 187, 188.

6. Rev. Isaac McCoy, Baptist missionary, was born in Pennsylvania in 1784, and died
in Kentucky in 1846. He removed to Missouri in 1829 and later located near the mouth of
the Kansas river. He and his sons surveyed most of the Indian reservations located in
Kansas.

7. John Calvin McCoy was born in Indiana in 1811. He came west and assisted his
father in surveying in the Indian country. He later settled in Johnson county, Kansas, where
he lived many years. He died in Kansas City, Mo., in 1889.

8. History of Kansas City, Mo., pp. 295, 296; Goodspeed's History of Wyandotte
County, Kansas, p. 468.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 7

mouth, and also to several missions located among the Shawnees
along the route of the Santa Fe trail a few miles southwest of
Westport landing.

In 1828 another ferry was started by a man named Frost.9

Another ferry was operated by one Aaron Overton in May, 1830,
at the mouth of Rose's branch.10

All the above ferries were propelled by oars or sweeps, and it
was a good half day's work to take a boat over to the south side of
the river and bring back an emigrant wagon.11

In November, 1831, Allen Overton had a ferry at Overton's cross-
ing. Shrewsbury Williams operated one in 1832, and Samuel Gragg
established one in 1833. 12

Col. Shubael Allen established a landing on his plantation about
1830, and near by William Yates had a ferry in 1831. In the fall
of that year Colonel Allen obtained the ferry and operated it from
his warehouse. This ferry was succeeded by Fielding McCoy's
ferry.13

Allen's landing, from 1829 until the death of Colonel Allen in
1841, was the main point of exit and entrance of nearly all the
business and travel of northwest Missouri, in its communication with
the outer world by the river. It was for many years the starting
point of a large number of the employees of the American Fur
Company in their expeditions to the plains and the mountains of
the great Northwest.14

Isaac Ellis was granted a license in 1838 or 1839 to operate a
ferry across the Missouri river, between the Platte county side and
the west bank, and toll rates were prescribed.15

In 1844 William M. Chick started a ferry at Kansas City. The
first boat was simply a flatboat with two men to pull the oars.
Later a horse ferryboat was substituted and operated for a year or
two. While using the horsepower boat a traveling circus came
through and was ferried across the river. Mr. Chick states that
there were different kinds of animals to be brought over and that
they had no trouble with any except the elephant. It at first refused
to come on board, but after much coaxing, was finally induced to
do so. The deck creaked but the elephant was finally brought

9. Deatherage, History of Greater Kansas City, p. 188.

10. Ibid., p. 188.

11. Gatewood, History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 101.

12. Ibid., p. 119.

13. Ibid., pp. 118, 119.

14. U. S. Biographical Dictionary, Missouri, p. 313.

15. Gatewood, History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 572.

8 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

safely across, though not without considerable damage to the boat,
which cost $10 to repair. Mr. Chick tried to get the showman to
pay the $10, but he refused. Then Mr. Chick sued him, and attached
some of his belongings so he could not leave. The trouble was
brought before the justice of the peace court in Westport and the
showman was made to pay the $10.16

Early in the 1840's Kansas City, Mo., and Westport became the
depot for trade with Santa Fe and Mexico, as well as with California,
Utah and Oregon, and for a number of years following immense
caravans fitted out there for the long and perilous journeys to the
far West. Westport had one of the best landings on the Missouri,
and being most convenient to the Oregon and Santa Fe trails en-
joyed a monopoly of the business following these transcontinental
highways. Factories sprang up in the growing city, and about
everything needed in the transportation business was manufactured
on the spot. The magnitude of the freighting business starting
from there is shown in the following figures: In 1840 there were
five firms or proprietors engaged in the trade, with 60 wagons valued
at $50,000. The following year there were a dozen firms similarly
engaged, operating 100 wagons, valued at $150,000. In 1842 there
were fifteen, with 120 wagons valued at $160,000 and thirty in 1843,
with 350 wagons worth $450,000.17 During the period between the
early 1840's and the latter 1850's this business doubled and trebled,
for Kansas City's business transactions for the year 1857 amounted
to over $3,000,000. This business increased materially during the
next few years, when, owing to raiding parties during the Civil War,
it practically ceased, the commerce previously enjoyed having moved
north to Fort Leavenworth, Atchison and Nebraska City, where it
was practically immune. After the war the immense business going
west from Kansas City was taken over by the railroads, and the
long lines of prairie schooners, each wagon drawn by a team of six
or eight slow-plodding oxen or a like number of sturdy Missouri
mules and presided over by a picturesque "bullwhacker" or "mule
skinner," faded out of the picture.

Wyandotte was the natural distributing point for settlements
along the Kansas river and points to the south and west, and was
the radiating point for a number of roads leading in different direc-
tions. One ran northwest to Quindaro and on to Parkville, Mo.;
one to Leavenworth; one to old Shawnee Mission, where it joined

16. Reminiscences of Washington Henry Chick, MS., in the Kansas State Historical
Society.

17. Gregg, Commerce of the Prairie, v. 2, p. 144.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 9

the Old Santa Fe trail; one connected with the road to Fort Scott;
one to Grinter's ferry, where it crossed the Kaw river and ran up
the Kaw valley; one crossed the Kansas river and ran to Kansas
City and Westport.

There was a plot along the river at Wyandotte, known as "Ferry
Tract," and here the various ferryboats having ferry privileges
within the city took on or discharged their cargoes. Ferryboats
Lizzie, of Kansas City, Mo., in 1855; and S. C. Pomeroy, of Wyan-
dotte City, the largest ferryboat on the river, put in operation by
Capt. Otis Webb in 1857, plied back and forth from the two cities
at the mouth of the Kaw.18

Joseph C. Ransom & Co. were authorized by the legislature of
1857 to maintain a ferry across the Missouri river between Wyan-
dotte and Kansas City, Mo.,19

William Walker,20 Thomas H. Doyle, Cyrus Garrett 21 and Henry
McMullin were granted authority by the legislature of 1857 to
run a ferry across the Missouri river, and to have a landing on
land owned or claimed by the Wyandotte City Company, or others,
within the town limits. Their ferry privileges were to run for
twenty-five years.22

The legislature of 1858 granted a charter to Silas Armstrong ,23
W. Y. Roberts,24 S. W. Eldridge,25 James McGrew26 and James D.
Chestnut,27 to operate a ferry across the Missouri river under the
name of the Wyandotte City Ferry Company, the charter to be for
a period of twenty-one years, and to have exclusive privilege of
landing at any place on the west side of the river between the point
where the Missouri state line leaves the same, and_a point one mile
above the mouth of the Kansas river on the Missouri river, and at

18. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1230.

19. Laws, Kansas, 1857, pp. 157, 185.

20. William Walker was a native of Michigan, born in 1799, and died in Kansas City in
1874. He was a leader and counsellor of the Wyandotts, and came to Kansas in 1843 with
the tribe. He acquired the title of "governor" when he was appointed provisional governor
of territory embraced in Nebraska and Kansas.

21. Cyrus Garrett was a Wyandott, born about 1835.

22. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 157.

23. Silas Armstrong was born at Xenia, Ohio, in 1810. He was president of the Wyan-
dotte City town company and became wealthy. He died in 1865.

24. William Y. Roberts was a native of Pennsylvania and born about 1811. He came
to Kansas in 1855, took an active part in the territorial struggle, and held many positions
of trust. He died near Lawrence in 1869.

25. Shalor Winchell Eldridge was born in Massachusetts in 1816. He was a railroad
contractor and came to Kansas in 1856 and leased the Free State hotel that year, and also
established a stage line from Kansas City to Lawrence and Topeka. He died at Lawrence in
1899.

26. James McGrew was born in Pennsylvania in 1822. In 1859 he settled at Wyandotte,
and was engaged in various occupations. He died in Kansas City, Kansas, January 19, 1911.

27. James D. Chestnut was probably one of the directors of a South Carolina company
that came to Kansas early in 1856.— Kansas Historical Collections, v. 15, p. 415.

10 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

any point on the bank of the Kansas river, one-eighth of a mile from
its mouth. Nothing was to infringe on the right of the Wyandotte
ferry to cross the Kansas river. This act was vetoed by the acting
governor, and was passed by the legislature over his vote.28 This
ferry was operated between Wyandotte and Kansas City, Mo., for
a number of years.

It is said a steam ferry was in operation at Wyandotte as early
as 1858, but no details are available.29

The city of Wyandotte was granted a charter by the legislature
of 1860 to operate a ferry across the Missouri river, to ply at any
point or points between the mouth of the Kansas river and a point
on the Missouri two miles above the mouth, for a period of twenty
years. The city of Wyandotte was to run a good and substantial
steam ferry-boat within six months from the passage of the act,
which was approved by the governor February 14, 1860. The act
also provided that the city of Wyandotte should have power to lease
the ferry right for any term of years not exceeding the term for
which the charter was granted.30

On May 23, 1867, the Kansas and Missouri Ferry Company, of
Wyandotte, was chartered. J. B. Scroggs,31 Charles S. Glick, S. V.
Morse, D. M. Cable, J. A. Berry,32 Isaiah Walker, Russell Garrett,33
H. M. Cook and W. B. Bowman were the incorporators. The capital
stock of the company was $50,000 and shares $50 each. The new
ferry was scheduled to operate from the levee at Wyandotte across
the Missouri river. The charter was filed with the secretary of
state May 25, 1867.34

During the ferrying era the condition of the levee was paramount.
•From time to time repairs were made as occasion demanded. In the
fall of 1866 the city began to realize the need of better protection
from the encroachments of the Missouri. A committee was ap-
pointed by the city council to confer with railroad companies, but
no decision was reached at that time and no action was taken. The
Wyandotte Gazette urged that steps be taken at once, whether the
railroads were ready to cooperate or not, stating that if the levee

28. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 70, 71.

29. First Biennial Report, State Board of Agriculture, 1877-78, p. 455.

30. Laws, Kansas, private, 1860, p. 287.

31. John B. Scroggs was an Ohioan, born in 1838. He removed to Wyandotte in 1866,
and later served as county attorney and as mayor of the city. His death occurred June 28,
1898.

32. J. A. Berry was a resident of Wyandotte county during the latter fifties, and for a
year and a half published the Wyandotte Democrat.

33. Russell Garrett was a Wyandott.

34. Corporations, v. 1, p. 340, in Archives Department, Kansas State Historical Society.
Hereafter cited as Corporations.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 11

was not preserved Wyandotte would soon lose the great advantage
she then possessed over other river towns, that of ample room for
the transaction of heavy railroad and river business combined.
Apparently nothing in the way of permanent protection had been
accomplished up to the latter part of May, 1868, when renewed
efforts on the part of the city officials were again made. The
Gazette of May 30 contained the following:

"OuR LEVEE. We learn that Mayor Cobb and Mr. Killen have been to
St. Louis and had a conference with the directors or some officers of the
Missouri Pacific railroad in regard to the protection of our levee. At the meet-
ing of the council on Tuesday evening, a resolution was passed, offering, in
case the voters ratify the proposition, to give the railroad company $5,000 in
ten-year 7 percent bonds, with right of way and depot grounds, if the company
will go ahead and thoroughly protect the levee, from the mouth of Jersey
creek to the mouth of the Kansas river. The company has a gang of men now
at work throwing in stone, and we presume will accept the proposition. So
mote it be."

The ferry business on the Missouri river had no serious opposition
until the advent of the railroad. The first bridge to span the river
was that of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, built at Kansas
City in 1866. Up to this time freight shipments from Kansas and
the west had found their way in good part to the mouth of the
Kansas river by way of the various wagon roads and the old Kan-
sas Pacific railroad, which was put in operation that year.35 Late
in 1867 that railroad was considering laying a third rail between
the state line and the ferry landing to enable the road to handle
standard-gauge cars. This was for the purpose of transferring
freight from this road to the Kansas City & Cameron railroad.36

Moving up the river from Wyandotte we find the next point at
which a ferry was operated was Quindaro, about four miles distant.

Quindaro was started as a free-state town in December, 1856. The
river at this place had a rocky channel and good banks for landing.
By May, 1857, the city had a force of workmen grading the ground
near the wharf and Kansas avenue, the main street running north
from the river. By July a steam ferryboat 100 feet long, with a 26-
foot beam, was running between Quindaro and Parkville, a few
miles up the river.37

The legislature of 1858 granted a charter to Otis Webb,38 Charles

85. Report, State Board of Agriculture, 1877-78, p. 455.

36. Wyandotte Gazette, January 4, 1868.

37. Report, State Board of Agriculture, 1877-'78, p. 455; Andreas, History of Kansas,
p. 1229.

88. Capt. Otis Webb was a noted Missouri river steamboat captain, and ran a boat
named for himself.

12 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Robinson39 and Charles H. Chapin40 to establish another ferry cross
the Missouri river at Quindaro, with one or more landings for a
period of twenty-one years. The law provided that no other ferry
should be established between the intersections of the west bounds
of sec. 22, T. 10, R. 24 E., and the east bounds of sec. 28, T. 10, R.
25 E., with the Missouri river. Charges for ferriage were fixed as
follows:

Each passenger, 10 cents.

Two-horse team loaded, $1.25.

One-horse carriage, 75 cents.

Each additional horse, mule, ass, ox, cow, calf, 15 cents.

Each score of sheep or swine, $1.

Lumber, $1.50 per 1,000 feet.

All freight, not lumber, not in teams loaded and unloaded by the owner
thereof, and with a detention not exceeding 15 minutes, 10 cents per
100 pounds.41

This ferry was convenient to a road from Leavenworth to Wyan-
dotte, was but a few miles below the Parkville landing by the river,
and was also the northern terminus of a road running in a southerly
direction through the Delaware and Shawnee lands, and on to the
vicinity of Paola, Miami county.42

Later, George W. Veale, Abelard Guthrie, Fielding Johnson43 and
Julius G. Fisk were granted a charter, by the legislature of 1860, to
maintain a ferry at the present limits of Quindaro for a period of
ten years. The law provided that no other ferry should be estab-
lished within two miles of the city, and that the landing should be
restricted to and confined within the limits of said city.44

A Quindaro ferryboat was sunk by Missourians in 1861, but it is
not known who were the owners. The motive claimed was to pre-
vent slaves from escaping.45

On July 31, 1866, the Quindaro and Parkville Ferry Company was
chartered, Alfred Gray, Alfred Robinson, David Pearson, Francis
Kessler and Francis A. Kessler being the incorporators. The com-
pany proposed to operate a ferry across the Missouri river, steam,
horse, or man power to be used as the company should prefer. The

39. Gov. Charles Robinson was a member of the Quindaro Town Company.

40. Charles Herman Chapin was a native of New York, born in 1822. He came to Kan-
sas in 1856 and was identified with the free-state movement. Later he was employed in the
United States engineering service. He died in 1889.

41. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 68, 69.

42. Gunn and Mitchell's Map of Kansas, 1862.

43. Fielding Johnson was born in Indiana in 1810. He served in the Black Hawk War.
In 1856 he came to Kansas, and settled at Quindaro in 1857. He removed to Topeka in
1866, where he died in 1872.

44. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, pp. 285, 286.

45. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 13, p. 190.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 13

ferry was to run between the dividing line between sec. 29, T. 10, R.
24 E., extending from the east to the west bank of the river, and em-
bracing a strip of land 100 feet wide within these limits. The prin-
cipal office was at Quindaro, and capital stock was $20,000, in shares
of $100 each. The charter was filed with the secretary of state,
August 14, 1866.46

The most northern ferry in Wyandotte county, as one ascended
the river, was operated, on the Missouri side, from Parkville. John
Ryan, Solomon Taylor, N. L. Barnard, C. S. Click and L. F. Hol-
lingsworth were the incorporators of the Parkville Ferry Company,
chartered October 3, 1872. The capital stock of the enterprise was
$10,000, shares $50 each, with privilege of increasing stock to
$20,000. The principal place of business was given as Wyandotte,
and the ferry was to cross the Missouri river to a landing at or near
where the county road from Nearman station on the Union Pacific
railroad running due north strikes the Missouri river. This charter
was filed with the secretary of state, October 8, 1872.47

The first settlement north of the Wyandotte-Leavenworth county
boundary line was a German community known as Weimar City,
which was established about 1857-'58. It was near the site of pres-
ent Pope station on the Missouri Pacific railroad, about thirteen or
fourteen miles above Parkville, Missouri, approximately on the
NE*4 of sec. 33, T. 9, R. 23. This is about one mile below the old
town of Delaware, and about seven miles below Leavenworth city of
that time. Opposite this place the Platte Valley Ferry Company
was established, being incorporated May 15, 1866, with H. T.
Greene, James E. Ireland, Robert C. Foster, Archibald B. Earle,
L. B. Wheat and D. Hudson Redman as incorporators. The com-
pany had a capital stock of $10,000, with shares $100 each. On the
Kansas side the ferry operated above Weimar City to a point one
mile below where "Seven Mile creek" empties into the Missouri
river, and below to the dividing line between Leavenworth and
Wyandotte counties. The principal office was located at Leaven-
worth. The charter was filed with the secretary of state, May 26,
1866.48

The next settlement up the river was the town of Delaware, about
one mile above Weimar City and six miles below Leavenworth. The
town was platted in July, 1854, and was located on parts of Sees.

46. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 202, 203. Alfred Gray, an incorporator, was secretary of the
Kansas State Board of Agriculture 1871-1880. He died at Topeka, January 23, 1880.

47. Corporations, v. 4, p. 526.

48. Ibid., v. 1, pp. 162, 163.

14 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

18, 19, 29, T. 9, R. 23 E. The town was on a wagon road running
from Fort Leavenworth to Wyandotte, and was close to the junctions
of roads running south to Grinter's ferry and southwest to Lawrence.
John Van Vranklin established the first ferry at Delaware, having
it in operation early in 1855, as evidenced by the following ad-
vertisement, which ran in a Leavenworth paper:

"DELAWARE FERRY. — The undersigned has established a ferry on the Missouri
river at the town of Delaware, Kansas territory. He has been for some time
past and is at this time prepared to cross at a moment's notice, all those
wishing to cross the Missouri at Delaware. Any one wishing to visit Kansas
territory from any point below Weston, in Platte county, Missouri, will find
that this ferry is the nearest and best point at which to cross the river, partic-
ularly if they wish to go to the Stranger or Grass Hopper country. This also
will be the case with all persons wishing to go to the Kaw country, or visit
Calhoun, Lawrence, Council Grove or Fort Riley. He would state, that all
persons traveling towards Kansas territory, on the Great Stage route, on the
north side of the Missouri river, leading from St. Louis through Columbia,
Fayette, Carrollton, Richmond and Liberty and then visiting Kansas, from
the country bordering on the Mississippi river, will save weary miles by cross-
ing at this point. His ferry boats are safe and substantial ; his ferrymen hardy
and experienced; and will at all times be pleased to serve with alacrity, those
who may wish to cross the Missouri river at his ferry.
"March 13, '55— 6m. JNO. VAN VRANKLIN ."49

This ferry operated from the center of the townsite and was said
to be the equal of any on the river.50

Another ferry was projected for Delaware in 1855, the territorial
legislature granting a twenty-year privilege to Messrs. George
Quimby, William H. Spratt, William D. Brummell and W. Christi-
son. Their ferry was to be established within the limits of the
town and have exclusive privileges for one mile up and one mile
down the river on the Kansas side. The company, by one of the
provisions of the act, was not required to run a steam ferryboat
until the first day of April, 1856. 51 Quimby and Spratt were resi-
dents of Delaware, the latter operating a saloon there for a number
of years.52 Christison was a resident of Lexington township, Lexing-
ton P. 0., Johnson county, in 1860, his name appearing in the printed
census enumeration for that year.

While Delaware thus had a good ferry as early as 1855, apparently
there was a lack of suitable roads leading to the town. This condi-
tion was being remedied early in 1857 by a Captain Hollingsworth,

49. Herald, Leavenworth, April 13, 1855.

50. Ibid., June 1, 1855.

51. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 790.

52. Hall and Hand, History of Leavenworth County, p. 144.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 15

of that place, who was engaged in opening a road from Leavenworth.
The road started from the steam mill in the south part of Leaven-
worth, passed directly by the Muncie Mission and thence to Dela-
ware.58

Above Delaware a half mile was the next early-day ferry site.
On May 2, 1866, the Junction Ferry Company was chartered for the
purpose of operating a ferry over the Missouri river, being granted
exclusive privileges and rights at a point where Seven Mile creek
empties into the Missouri river, and one mile up and one mile
below the mouth of said creek. The incorporators were Richard
R. Rees,54 Martin Howsley, Robert C. Foster,55 L. B. Wheat,56 and
Henry T. Greene.57 The organization was capitalized at $20,000
with shares $100 each. The principal office of the company was at
Leavenworth City. Their charter was filed with the secretary of
state, May 24, 1866.58

Two miles below the original Leavenworth, David H. Mitchell
and James Davis 59 were granted exclusive ferry privileges by the
legislature of 1858 to operate a ferry for a period of ten years.60

Fort Leavenworth and Leavenworth City were terminal points
on the Missouri river from which highways radiated in every direc-
tion. A "Map of the Defence of the Northern and Northwestern
Frontier," of 1837, showed roads running from Fort Leavenworth to
the arsenal at Fort Osage and from Fort Leavenworth to Fort
Calhoun at the Council Bluffs.61 It was the starting place for the
road to Fort Scott and Fort Gibson; to the forts along the Santa
Fe trail; to Fort Kearney on the Platte. Later roads led to Fort
Riley, to the Big Stranger, to the Grasshopper country, to Topeka,
Lawrence, Lecompton, Shawnee Mission, and Wyandotte.

Up to January, 1855, Leavenworth had no Kansas licensed ferry,
depending for her needs in river transportation on the ferries
operating from the Missouri side. The Herald of January 19 men-
tioned that "a large and commodious steam ferry boat is being

53. Herald, Leavenworth, February 7, 1857.

54. Richard R. Rees was born in Cincinnati in 1812 and died in Leavenworth in 1875.
He came to Kansas in 1855 and later served Leavenworth county as probate judge.

55. Robert Cole Foster was born in Kentucky in 1834. He came to Kansas with his
parents in 1856. He died at Denison, Tex., in 1910.

56 L. B. Wheat was an attorney at law, and was listed as a resident of Leavenworth in
1858- 59.

57. Henry T. Greene was an attorney at law, born in Hanover Va. He came to Leaven-
worth county in 1854, and was a practicing attorney after his arrival. He was a staunch
Democrat.— Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 444.

58. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 156, 157.

59. James Davis is listed in the Leavenworth city directory, 1859.

60. Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 63.

61. American State Papers, Military Affairs, v. 7, opposite p. 781.

16 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

built expressly for this place, and will be here early in the spring.
It will carry two hundred head of stock and fifteen wagons at a
time, and cross the river in five minutes." The Herald pointed out
that the boat would do a heavy business during the next spring as
it was expected there would be an immense immigration. The terri-
torial legislature that year granted ferry privileges to at least one
Leavenworth ferry company, which up to near the end of July had
not started operating. The Herald of July 21 predicted that inside
of a month it would be in operation, and stressed the fact that a
good ferry would make Leavenworth the great point of entry into
Kansas territory, and that it would be the "primary city of
Kansas."62

Early in 1855 Leavenworth took steps to improve and protect her
levee. In March that year the landing had been graded from the
foot of Cherokee street to the foot of Delaware. The Herald stated
that the improvements made on the levee would add greatly to the
appearance of Water street, and when finished would be the best
landing on the Missouri river.63 By 1857 the city had decided to
undertake something in the way of municipal improvements. The
legislature permitted the city to borrow $100,000 for this purpose.
The Herald of April 4, that year, said : "We want a good levee. We
want our streets graded and we want the principal streets McAdam-
ized." That this was good policy is evidenced by the increase of
business the following year, the Herald of July 3 stating that the
levee presented a "busy scene the past week. It has been piled high
with goods and all kinds of freight from one end to the other. Dry
goods, groceries, flour, lumber, wagons, sawmills, machinery and
printing presses, all go to make up the huge pile." Every boat that
stopped at the levee landed hundreds and hundreds of tons of freight
upon the landing, prompting the Herald to ask "Why does not some
enterprising person prepare a report of business statistics of Leaven-
worth? We believe it would astonish the natives."

With the passing years Leavenworth's trade territory was ex-
tended across to the Missouri side, and the ferry company realized
that its existence depended upon this outside trade, and took steps
to hold it. Freshets in the river from time to time had cut a channel
through the low bottoms on the opposite side of the stream, and in
1867 the landing was at the island opposite the city. The ferry com-
pany had expended quite a sum of money in building a wagon road

62. Herald, Leavenworth, January 19, July 21, 1856.

63. Ibid., March 30, 1855.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 17

across the slough to the island, which served not only as a public
highway but also to turn this water back into its proper channel. An
earth-and-brush dam was started, and the ferry company was satis-
fied that if this were completed it would be of great advantage to the
city. The city drew an immense amount of trade from the Platte
country, and it was manifest that anything which facilitated com-
munication with that neighborhood would tend to the material in-
crease of trade. It was the judgment of competent engineers that if
the volume of water which every spring ran through the slough were
turned back into the river channel, the sand bars immediately oppo-
site the city would soon be washed out, affording a straight passage
to the shore of the island. The ferry people also held to the hope
that the Platte county railroad would run to and build its depot
upon the island were this done. If this were not done the depot
would be built some two miles down the river. The inconvenience
which this would occasion was pointed out. The ferry company
justly felt that the city should bear a fair share of the burden. The
matter was brought before the city council, and the Leavenworth
Conservative published the following paragraph showing the action
taken :

"Harvey Edgerton, from the special committee on the communication from
W. L. Reyburn, in relation to the embankment on the east side of the river,
recommended that the city encourage the enterprise by appropriating $2,000
therefor, provided, that none of said amount be paid until said work is fully
done according to the dimensions set forth in said communication, and re-
ported as done by the engineer of the city. After some discussion the report
was rejected."

The Conservative characterized the action of the council as nig-
gardly and, as the Commercial appropriately suggested, "penny wise
and pound foolish."64

By the last of February, 1867, the Platte county road was com-
pleted to a point opposite Leavenworth, or near the intersection of
the old Platte City road. The roadbed was also made to the depot
ground below, but there was not enough iron on hand at that time
to finish the work. The company was evidently waiting to see if the
wagon-road dyke then being built across the slough would stand the
spring rise before extending the line any closer.65

The citizens of Leavenworth also had appreciated at an early date
the importance of good roads and bridges into the interior. As early

64. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, February 15, 19, 1867.

65. Ibid., February 28, 1867.

2-6617

18 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as 1858 subscriptions were raised for the purpose of bridging the
principal streams on roads leading to and from the city, the Herald
insisting that "No move can add more benefits to our city than
this." At this time a substantial bridge was being erected across
Salt creek, on the Fort Riley road, near Rively's store, while others
were needed over the Stranger at Easton, Russell's Mills, and on the
Lawrence road. Leavenworth citizens were admonished to "come
up and subscribe liberally." 66

Not until April, 1873, was a railroad bridge across the Missouri
river at Leavenworth completed. This was located on the military
reservation, a mile or so above the town, and cost between $800,000
and $1,000,000. Just what effect it had on the ferry business is not
clear, as ferries operated for years afterward. The bridge was in
use up to about 1909, when the eastern approach collapsed. In 1913
the flooring on the Fort Leavenworth end burned. In 1926 the gov-
ernment rehabilitated the old bridge for use as the only free bridge
across the Missouri river, furnishing the connecting link for federal
highway No. 92.67

In 1918 Vinton Stillings, of Leavenworth, built a pontoon bridge
across the Missouri at a point a little north of the present terminal
bridge. The pontoon was 3,600 feet long, 18 feet in the clear, and
cost $36,000, being financed entirely by Mr. Stillings. On the east
side was a drawbridge to allow boats to pass up and down the river.
Toll charges over the bridge were: Vehicles, 50 cents for round
trip; foot passengers, 10 cents for round trip. Mr. Stillings has
said that during the almost four years of its operation, which began
in July, 1888, its revenue averaged $200 a day.68

The terminal bridge was constructed during 1893, and was opened
for traffic January 2, 1894. It was located a little south of the
pontoon built by Stillings, and cost, with tracks, terminal buildings,
freight depot, switches, etc., about $480,000.69

A railroad meeting was held at Platte City in January, 1857, to
discuss the advantages of building a road on the Missouri river
opposite Leavenworth, to connect with the Hannibal & St. Joseph
road. The advantage of such a road was self-evident. In fact the
ultimate success of Leavenworth depended upon the road. Kansas
City, the only rival Leavenworth had to fear, was already in the
field, and the Herald emphasized that Leavenworth must not allow

66. Herald, Leavenworth, August 7, 1858.

67. Leavenworth Daily Times, March 6, 1932; Kansas City Journal, July 25, 1915;
Topeka Daily Capital, June 29, 1926; Kansas City Times, January 9, 1918.

68. Leavenworth Daily Times, March 6, 1932.

69. Ibid., March 6, 1932.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 19

her rival to outstrip her by a suicidal apathy on the subject, but
that it was her duty to keep the project in motion until the work
was completed, to enable Leavenworth to enter into favorable com-
petition with others.70 Railroad talk prevailed, and during the
spring or early summer a preliminary survey was made for a road to
connect Leavenworth with Cameron, Mo.71 A little over a year
later the Herald, in an able editorial on the subject of railroads,
contended that Leavenworth could not compete with other cities on
the Missouri river in the commerce and trade of the great West
unless she formed means of communication with the East by rail-
road. Continuing, the Herald said:

"Kansas City and St. Joseph will have railroads running through them in
less than eighteen months, and then what position will we occupy, situated
between two flourishing cities which have the energy as well as the means
to take our present trade away from us? . . . Unless we establish a rail-
road connecting . . . with the East ... we will go backward instead
of forward. . . . The time has come when the people of Leavenworth must
look to her laurels, and let those who are interested take the subject in
hand." 72

While Leavenworth thus early appreciated the importance of a
railroad bridge, it was not until 1873 that the tracks actually crossed
the Missouri. For many years, therefore, her citizens depended on
the various ferries for transportation and communication with the
east. The first ferry operated from the city proper was owned by
Thomas C. Shoemaker,73 Jarret Todd,74 Samuel D. Pitcher and their
associates, who were granted a twenty-year charter by the terri-
torial legislature of 1855 to be restricted to and confined within the
limits of the city of Leavenworth. The law provided that no other
ferry should be established within two miles of the limits of the
town, and also prescribed charges for ferriage, as follows:

Foot passengers, 10 cents.

Each horse, mare, mule, or ass, with or without rider, 25 cents.

Each two-horse team, loaded or unloaded, with driver, 75 cents.

Each single-horse carriage, 50 cents.

Each additional cow or ox, 15 cents.

Each swine or sheep, 5 cents.

All freight of lumber, merchandise or articles not in teams, at rate of 15
cents [100 Ibs.]

70. Herald, Leavenworth, January 31, 1857.

71. Ibid., July 4, 1857.

72. Ibid., August 14, 1858.

73. Thomas C. Shoemaker was the first receiver of public moneys in the territory. Ha
came to Kansas about the first of May, 1855, and made Leavenworth his home, where he
lived up to the date of his death, February 5, 1857.

74. Jarret Todd came to Kansas July 4, 1854, and settled at Leavenworth. His name
appears in Leavenworth city directory, 1859, and also in a census of Leavenworth, 1859,
p. 66, in archives department, Kansas State Historical Society.

20 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Each 1,000 feet of lumber, $1 per 1,000 Ibs.
All other articles, 5 cents [per 100 Ibs.].

The act also provided that anyone crossing at night might be
charged double fare.75

In 1860 the law relating to this ferry was amended as follows:
"The owners of the ferry privilege granted shall not be required to
run their ferryboat or boats for any purpose in the night time, nor
at any time when it shall be unsafe to do so, by reason of ice in the
river, or other cause."76

This charter was again amended in 1861 to provide that the com-
pany should, on the first Monday in September each year, pay to
the treasurer of Leavenworth county the sum of $100, "which sum
shall be in lieu of all taxes and assessments of every kind and char-
acter, on said ferry privilege; and no additional tax, for any pur-
pose, shall hereafter be imposed or levied upon said franchise, by the
legislature or other authority." The amended law also extended the
franchise fifteen years beyond the limit set by the original act, and
likewise provided that "the moneys contemplated by this act shall
go to the road fund of Leavenworth county."77 This company's
ferryboat, the Willie Cade, Capt. Al Cade, owner, is also mentioned
in Leavenworth Board of Trade proceedings for year 1888, p. 253.78
This company's charter expired in 1890.

Other boats operated by this same company prior to 1866 were
the David Hill and the Ella. In the spring of 1866 the ferry com-
pany started work on a new ferryboat, the Edgar, which was built
by Frank Wheeler. This boat was to replace the old Ella, which
was withdrawn. The new boat, built on the river bank a short dis-
tance above Carney's pork house, and launched October 13, 1866,
was a large and staunch craft, which cost about $20,000, and was
to be used between the city and City Point (East Leavenworth) on
the opposite side of the river.79

Despite the fact that Shoemaker and his associates had received
an exclusive charter for twenty years, one Simon P. Yocum was
operating the Leavenworth steam ferry late in November, 1857.
Whether Yocum was an associate of Shoemaker is not known. The
Herald of the 28th of that month noted that the boat continued to
make regular trips, notwithstanding the river was full of floating

75. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 792.

76. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, p. 284.

77. Ibid., 1861, pp. 39, 40.

78. Manuscripts, archives department, Kansas State Historical Society.

79. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 1, August 18, October 14, 1866.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 21

ice, and was doing a good business. The boat was described as of
light draft, capable of carrying a great quantity of stock and several
wagons at a time, and could make the trip in less than five minutes.
It was also made clear that there was no time lost waiting for the
boat. An item in the Herald of December 26 stated that the Leav-
enworth ferryboat was making regular trips, and that it never
stopped for floating ice, running until ice closed the river. This
staunch little craft was christened the Leavenworth City, and was
mentioned by the Herald in its issue of July 3, 1858, which stated
that the boat still continued to ply between that city and the Mis-
souri shore, notwithstanding the high water and immense quantities
of driftwood. The current was reported as very strong, and the boat
had hard work bucking it, "but never fails to make the ripple."

Frank M. Gable, of Leavenworth county, tells of one of Yocum's
ferries :

"We crossed the Missouri river on a ferry called the Old Horse boat. This
was run by a Mr. Yoakum [Yocum?] and the motive power was a pair of
horses that worked on a treadmill. Ice chunks were floating in the river that
day, making the crossing very dangerous. Leavenworth did not amount to
much then, and I think there was only one grocery store in the town. This
was run by a couple of old German bachelors by the name of Ingrum. I
believe they were called Fred and Fritz, and were located on the corner where
Martin Donovan's transfer office now stands."80

The Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, February 12, 1859, con-
tained the following:

"The following telegraphic dispatch was received by the captain of the
ferryboat at this point, from our city marshal (now in St. Louis), who is one
of the owners of the boat :

"To Capt. HilL- "ST. Louis, Feb. 4

"Rather than cross Gen. Lane, or any one else in Missouri on an
unlawful expedition, sink the boat. I. G. LOSEE."

On February 21, 1865, the Leavenworth Ferry Company was in-
corporated by Isaac G. Losee, Jasper S. Rice, Amien Warner, David
Hill and J. M. Orr.81 The organization had a capital stock of $5,000,
divided into fifty shares. The ferry was to be located between the
southern line of the military reservation and a point two miles south
of the southern line of the city of Leavenworth, departing and land-
ing at any place between the points named. The charter was filed
with the secretary of state February 23, 1865.82

80. Leavenworth Times, January 13, 1907.

81. Jasper S. Rice was one of the proprietors of the Planter's House; Amien Warner, a
carpenter of Leavenworth; David Hill, captain of a ferryboat, and James M. Orr, a resident
of Leavenworth, 1859.

82. Corporations, v. 1, p. 21.

22 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This company probably ran a boat called the David Hill, named
for its captain, David Hill, one of the owners.

A rival ferry, apparently, was operating at Leavenworth in 1859,
W. S. Reyburn on April 4 paying $60 for a license. Just how long
this ferry was in existence has not been learned.83

On July 16, 1866, the Leavenworth and Missouri Bridge and Ferry
Company was incorporated, John C. Douglass,84 A. A. Higinbotham,
D. W. Eaves, Lucien Scott85 and S. J. Danah being the promoters.
The charter, granted without time limit, authorized the building of
a bridge or the operation of one or more steam ferries across the
Missouri river, at or near Leavenworth, and on the Missouri side
in the county of Platte, with principal office at Leavenworth. The
company had a capital stock of $200,000, and the privilege of in-
creasing it to $1,000,000. Shares were $10 each. The charter was
filed with the secretary of state July 18, 1866.86

Moving up the river to Fort Leavenworth, we come to the earliest
ferry in present Leavenworth county, which was inaugurated in
1829 to meet the needs of Cantonment Leavenworth, established
by the government in 1828. The following year, 1829, a military
road was cut out from Fort Leavenworth to Barry, in Clay county
(Missouri), and Zadoc Martin, a farmer of Clay county, was sta-
tioned on the east bank of Platte river to keep a government ferry.
Up to that time the men of Fort Leavenworth had used an old
mackinaw boat for crossing the Missouri, but "in 1829 the ferry
at the fort . . . was placed in the hands of Zadoc Martin. He
was a stout, muscular man, and commanded all about him with
despotic power." The work at Fort Leavenworth required the em-
ployment of great numbers of laborers, carpenters and masons, and
Mr. Martin did a large business at his ferries. The boats for the
ferries were made of hewed gunwales, and boards sawed by hand.87

This ferry at Cantonment Leavenworth was mentioned by Rev.
John Dunbar as early as 1835, when he was missionary to the
Pawnees.88 At that time there was a ferryhouse on the banks of
the Missouri, opposite Fort Leavenworth.89

83. Paxton, Annals of Platte County, Missouri, p. 277.

84. John C. Douglass, one of the pioneer attorneys and early settlers of Leavenworth, was
born in Greenfield, Ohio, December 13, 1824. He came to Kansas in 1856 to help make
Kansas a free state, and took part in many exciting engagements.

85. Lucien Scott was born in Illinois in 1835. He arrived in Kansas about 1857 and
that year engaged in the banking business, later becoming president of the Leavenworth First
National Bank.

86. Corporations, v. 1. pp. 197-199.

87. History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 912.

88. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 14, pp. 592, 595.

89. Ibid., v. 14, p. 692.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 23

In 1839 William Hague was granted a license to operate a ferry
at Fort Leavenworth.90

The first ferry above Fort Leavenworth probably ran from a
point on the Missouri, known as Pensineau's Trading House, across
the Missouri to a landing point about two miles below present
Weston and originally known as "Pensano's Landing." This loca-
tion, about 1840, became the town of Rialto. A ferry known as the
Rialto ferry was in active operation as early as 1854. On October
9, 1855, large numbers of Missourians made use of it, coming over
into Kansas territory to participate in the election of John W. Whit-
field as delegate to congress. This ferry was running as late as
1862.91

Robert Cain, living on Todd's creek,92 Platte county, Missouri,
operated a ferry to Fort Leavenworth in 1836. Mr. Cain, a veteran
of the War of 1812, went to Missouri in 1819, and to Platte in 1836,
before the Indian title to the lands was secured. He settled at the
fine spring at the crossing of Todd's creek, kept the ferry at the fort,
and opened a large prairie farm. He supplied the garrison with
provisions and stock, taking the contract to furnish supplies for the
men and animals, and became a great favorite for his honesty,
candor and generosity. No other name except that of Zadoc Martin
is so intimately connected with the early settlement of the Platte
country. He died September 14, 1868, on his farm in Platte county,
Missouri, and was buried on his farm.93

In October, 1840, John Boulware, of Platte City, contracted with
Platte county, Missouri, to run a free ferry at the foot of Main
street for twelve months at $250. He was an early resident of the
county, took charge of the "Issue House" in 1835, and sold goods
to the Indians and early settlers. He was appointed a major and
led a battalion to the Mormon War. For years he was a leader in
civil and military affairs.94 This ferry, over Platte river, enabled
residents of that village to reach Fort Leavenworth, which was
about nine and one-half miles to the west.

About four miles above Fort Leavenworth by the river was the
town of Rialto, Mo., about a mile below its rival, Weston. At
Rialto July 1, 1844, John B. Wells,95 a resident of Platte county,

90. Paxton, Annals of Platte County, Missouri.

91. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 424; Leavenworth Daily Conservative, Feb. 28, 1862;
History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 560.

92. Todd creek heads about nine miles east of East Leavenworth or City Point, and flowa
in a northeasterly direction into Smith's Fork, a tributary of the Platte river.

93. Paxton, Annals of Platte County, Missouri, pp. 16, 460.

94. Ibid., pp. 16, 38.

95. John B. Wells was born in Kentucky, November 16, 1800, and died near Weston,
February, 1890. He removed to Marion county, Missouri, in 1833, and to Platte in 1837.
His name is closely connected with the history of Weston. His steam ferry at Rialto was
the highway of immigration from 1854 to 1865. — Paxton, Annals of Platte County. Missourif
pp. 172. 913, 914.

24 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Missouri, was operating a ferry which at that time was one of the
few that served as a communication with Fort Leavenworth and
the Kickapoo Indian settlement to the north. Later Maj. John
Boulware and his son, William L. Boulware,96 became associated
with Mr. Wells in establishing the Rialto steam ferry between
Rialto, Mo., and Fort Leavenworth, which was said to have been
the main crossing for immigration in that section up to 1865.97

Following the death of his son, Maj. John Boulware apparently
retired from the firm within a year and Mr. Wells formed a partner-
ship with a man named Washburn, under the firm name of Wells
& Washburn. This firm carried an advertisement of their ferry
in the first number of the Kansas Weekly Herald, of Leavenworth,
September 15, 1854. It was as follows:

"To Kansas Immigrants.

"STEAM FERRYBOAT. The undersigned with pleasure announce to all persons
immigrating to Kansas, California, Oregon and Salt Lake City, that they have
purchased a new, safe and commodious steam ferryboat, to ply between
Weston and Fort Leavenworth. All persons who may wish to cross the Mis-
souri at this point, may rest assured that every exertion will be extended to
them to insure a speedy and safe transit across the river. Call and try us.

"WELLS AND WASHBURN."

Another mention of this ferry appeared in the Herald of June 7,
1856, as follows:

"WESTON STEAM FERRYBOAT. Messrs. Wells & Washburn have just brought
out a new and splendid steam ferryboat, the best on the Missouri river. Its
crossings will be one mile below Weston, at Rialto. It was built at Pitts-
burg [hi, and brought round for this and other places three hundred tons of
freight, mostly lumber. This boat is called the 'Tom Brierly,' after one of the
most popular and fast steamboat men on the river. It is 126 feet in length,
has three boilers, an engine eighteen inches in the clear, with a five-foot stroke,
and wheels that can knock all creation out of the river, and can make its
landings in from three to five minutes. The boat is large and roomy, and can
carry any amount of stock and wagons. Messrs Wells & Washburn deserve
great credit for getting such a magnificent ferryboat. Success to them.

"A Good Omen. — While lying at St. Louis, a swarm of bees settled on the
jackstaff of the boat, and Mr. Washburn immediately hived them, and they
are now at work on the bow of the boat, busily engaged in making honey to
sweeten the weary traveler on his pilgrimage to Kansas. The boat is bound
to succeed."

Messrs. Wells and Washburn had their misfortunes the same as
other ferrymen on the river. On Thursday afternoon, August 19,

96. William L. Boulware died August 8, 1853.

97. Paxton, Annals of Platte County, Missouri, pp. 62, 172, 913, 914; George J. Rems-
burg, letter to author, August, 1932.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 25

1858, their boat sank at the landing one mile below Weston. Ac-
cording to the Leavenworth Herald, of August 21, the boat was to be
raised soon, and another boat substituted while the other was gotten
into serviceable shape again.

According to George J. Remsburg, a former resident of Oak Mills,
Atchison county, and an authority on early historical matters of
that county, one John Gardiner, in 1844, established a ferry be-
tween Weston, Missouri, and Fort Leavenworth. How long this
ferry was in operation is not known.

In 1861 the legislature granted authority to James Davis to oper-
ate a ferry across the Missouri at a point on the west bank opposite
Kickapoo Island.98 The act included special privileges for one mile
above and two miles below said point." This ferry was probably
located about halfway between Fort Leavenworth military reserva-
tion and the town of Kickapoo, and was for the convenience of
Weston and Kickapoo.

Kickapoo City, seven miles above Weston, Missouri, was one of
the most important of the early settlements in Leavenworth county,
dating back to the time of the Kickapoo Indian occupancy. The
site of the town was rough and broken, and an unnatural one for
a city, and was almost inaccessible from the back country. The
town flourished from 1854 to 1856, and was a rival of Leavenworth.
It began to decline during the latter fifties, and by the latter seven-
ties contained but two or three houses. In early days mails were
brought over from Weston, and Kickapoo City for some time was
quite a distributing point for the postal service.100

On March 11, 1839, Isaac Ellis procured a license to operate a
ferry at Kickapoo. This ferry is shown on Hutawa's Map of the
Platte Country, Missouri, published in 1842, and was located about
three and one-half miles above Weston, and almost opposite a vil-
lage of Kickapoo Indians. Isaac Ellis was later associated with
the Burnes Bros, and John C. Ellis in the ferry business at this
point.101

98. Kickapoo Island probably received its name after the settlement of Kickapoo Indians
in that immediate vicinity in the early thirties. The island originally was about two and one-
half miles long east and west and one and one-fourth miles north and south at the widest
part, near the west end. A map of Leavenworth county in Evarts' Atlas, dated 1886, showed
the main channel of the Missouri river flowing to the east of the island. Floods since that
date have changed the course of the channel to the west of the island, and the island proper
has apparently become a part of the mainland to the east, but still subject to overflow dur-
ing high water. The island was situated in townships 7 and 8, range 22 east.

99. Laws, Private, 1861, pp. 38, 39.

100. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 459; Atlas of Leavenworth County, 1878, p. 7.

101. Paxton, Annals of Platte County, Missouri, p. 26. Gatewood, History of Clay and
Platte Counties, Missouri, p. 572.

26 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

In 1855 the legislature authorized Burnes Bros. & Co., composed
of Lewis Burnes,102 Daniel D. Burnes, James N. Burnes, John C.
Ellis and Isaac Ellis, to maintain a ferry over the Missouri river
at a point opposite the town of Kickapoo for a term of fifteen
years. The act specified they should have a landing on the south
side of the river upon land owned by the United States and occupied
and claimed, wholly or in part, by John C. Ellis and the Kickapoo
Town Association.103

The following advertisement regarding this ferry is enlightening
in that it states that at that time it was the only steam ferry on the
river from Atchison to far below the mouth of the Kaw:

"CROSSING AT KICKAPOO CITY.

"Our safe and commodious steam ferry, and the only steam ferry between
Atchison and Lexington, just from the ways and thoroughly renovated and
repaired, is making her regular crossings every half hour at Kickapoo. The
public may rely upon the most strict punctuality and regularity in her crossing.
The banks on both sides are good and accessible. The roads from Kickapoo
City to most points westward are now being much improved. With the rare
inducements now offered at Kickapoo, it has become the general crossing for
all the settlements on Stranger, Soldier and Grasshopper creeks.

"April 12, 1856. 31-tf.N* BURNES, BROTHERS & Co."

Steam was used on this ferry very shortly after it was established,
and during the county seat election of Leavenworth county, October
8, 1856, boats returning from Missouri brought many residents of
that state over to Kansas to vote. The company must have had
fairly good patronage, for in 1857 their boat crossed every thirty
minutes.105

In 1860 a charter was granted by the legislature to John Baker 106
to run a ferry across the Missouri river at the town of Kickapoo for
a period of five years, he to have exclusive privilege for a distance of
three miles up and down the river from said town of Kickapoo.107

At the bend above Kickapoo City a ferry was operated by William
Thompson, under a charter granted by the legislature of 1855. This
was close to the Atchison-Leavenworth boundary line and was the
most northern ferry in Leavenworth county.108

102. Lewis Burnes was from Missouri and in 1865 was 60 years of age. He apparently
was pretty well-to-do for that day, listing real estate valued at $15,000 and personal prop-
erty at $5,000. — Census, Kansas, 1865.

103. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 786.

104. Herald, Leavenworth, April 12, 1856.

105. Kansas Historical Collections, \. 13, p. 379; Atlas of Leavenworth County, p. 7.

106. John Baker came to Kansas in the year 1857, settling in Kickapoo township, Leaven-
worth county. He was a farmer and manufacturer of brooms. — Andreas, History of Kansas,
p. 459.

107. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, p. 283.

108. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 779.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 27

Lewis' Point was a location about three miles above Kickapoo
City and, according to George J. Remsburg, was near present Oak
Mills, Atchison county. Sheffield Ingalls' History of Atchison also
gives this location. This was about seven miles below the old town
of Sumner. Capt. Calvin Lewis had operated a crossing at this
place, known as Lewis' ferry, and in 1855 secured a charter from
the territorial legislature granting exclusive rights at this point and
for one mile up and one mile below for a period of ten years.109
This was in all probability the first ferry north of the Leavenworth-
Atchison county boundary line. This ferry served local needs only
and apparently did not cut much of a figure in the line of trans-
portation.

Nimrod Farley, a well-known character who resided in the Mis-
souri bottoms, was the proprietor of another early-day ferry, a
little farther north. Farley owned land on the Kansas side near the
present Oak Mills, and this furnished him a landing place on the
west side of the river. He was a brother of Josiah Farley, who laid
out the town of Farley, in Platte county, Mo., in 1850. Nimrod
Farley was granted a charter by the legislature of 1855 to operate
a ferry across the river from a point near latan, Mo., (formerly
known as Dougherty's landing), to the Kansas side, this privilege
being for a period of ten years.110 This ferry was one of a number
operating on the Missouri during the early days of Kansas, which
made a specialty of, and did a thriving business in, the transportation
of Missouri voters to Kansas to participate in the early elections.
The following advertisement of this ferry appeared in the Western
Argus, Wyandotte, of March 10, 1855:

"Election in Kansas — The Ferry That Never Stops. A report having gotten
out that one of our boats had been carried off by the ice, we take the liberty
of contradicting it. Ours is the only ferry that never stops. We keep two good
boats, and when one can't run the other can. All who wish to be in Kansas in
time to vote, go to latan, and you will not be disappointed, for old Nim is
always ready. (Signed) NIMROD FARLEY and J. G. M. BROWN."

Farley finally sold out to George McAdow, who continued the
business until the boat was destroyed by Jayhawkers early in the
Civil War.

Charles W. Rust, Atchison county pioneer and a former county
clerk of that county, now living at San Jose, Cal., in a letter dated
October 25, 1926, to George J. Remsburg, says:

"I remember old Nimrod well. He was a neighbor of ours in Missouri and

109. Ibid., p. 797.

110. Ibid., p. 776.

28 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was known as a doctor. He was about the hardest old sinner the latan
neighborhood turned out, and did a big business on election day in 1855, when
the Missourians polled 1,500 in favor of the proslavery candidate at Kickapoo
precinct."

In a letter of November 3, 1926, he writes:

"Old Nimrod was a great old joker. I remember one of his pull-offs was,
when he met a friend, the first question he would ask was, 'Have you got a
chew of tobacco?' No matter whether the reply was yes or no, old Nim
would yank a six-inch plug out of his pocket and say : 'Have a chaw.' "

(To be Continued in May Quarterly.)

The Indian Question in Congress
and in Kansas

MARVIN H. GARFIELD

FROM 1864 to 1870 few greater problems confronted congress and
the executive department than the complex Indian question.
Both departments of government were torn by conflicting forces,
one of which demanded that the Indian problem be settled by
peaceful methods, while the other could see no solution except by
the use of force. In the executive department the conflict raged be-
tween two subsidiary divisions, the Department of the Interior and
the War Department. Administration of Indian affairs was in the
hands of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department,
which had supervision over all Indian superintendents and agents,
including authority to distribute annuities. Whenever Indian hos-
tilities broke out, however, the War Department was compelled to
intervene until they could be put down. As a consequence, the au-
thority of the two departments overlapped and, therefore, clashed.
Military programs were constantly interfered with by the Indian
Bureau with disastrous results both to the military and to the
frontier settlements. On the other hand, the military people un-
doubtedly contributed to many unnecessary Indian wars. The War
Department desired to regain the control over Indian affairs which
it had exercised prior to 1841. The Indian Bureau, for various
reasons, both selfish and otherwise, refused to be transferred.

This interdepartmental war spread into congress where pressure
was brought to bear by friends of the War Department to bring
about the proposed transfer. Congress divided on the question.
Both senate and house hotly debated the proposition at intervals
over a period of several years, finally allowing the Interior Depart-
ment to retain the Indian Bureau. In general, the senate favored
the status quo, while the house constantly passed bills providing for
changing the location of the bureau.

Public opinion entered the contest, the East as a rule upholding
the policy of the Indian Bureau, while the West denounced it in the
strongest terms. Congressional legislation varied in accordance with
changing situations, but on the whole it was tempered more by the
peace party than by the war party. In pursuance of its policy to
make peace with the Indians, congress in 1867 created a peace com-
mission which attempted to settle the Indian problem on the plains.

(29)

30 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

No serious resistance, however, was offered to the War Department
when, in 1868-1869, it launched a decisive military campaign against
the Indians.

The Indian Bureau in 1865 had attempted to establish harmony
with the War Department by a division of authority. Comm. D. N.
Cooley issued a circular to all superintendents and agents announc-
ing that, in its relation with hostile Indians, the Interior Depart-
ment would subordinate its actions to the War Department. Agents,
however, were instructed to perform their regular official duties in
governing friendly Indians.1 Had this policy been carried out as
planned, much trouble might have been avoided.

The difficulty was that hostile Indians could seldom be distin-
guished from friendly Indians, due to the fact that the red men
were alternately warlike and peaceful. Thus in the Hancock war
of 1867 the military authorities assumed that the Indians were
hostile, whereas the Indian agents were positive of their friend-
liness. And Indian Bureau officials were quite critical of Gen.
W. S. Hancock and branded as a mistake his whole course of action.
Supt. Thomas Murphy, of the central superintendency, at the time
expressed a very decided wish that the military authorities would
leave the management of Indian affairs to the Indian agents.2

Again in 1868 trouble arose between the rival departments over
the distribution of arms and ammunition to the Indians. Interior
Department officials had authorized Col. W. H. Wyncoop to issue
the guns and bullets to the eager braves on that fateful August day
at Fort Larned.3 Soldiers hired by the War Department were then
forced to face the Interior Department's guns in the Indian cam-
paigns which ensued as a result of the Saline-Solomon raids in
Kansas.

After years of discord the War and Interior Departments finally
worked out a cooperative Indian policy. The Commissioner of
Indian Affairs in 1869 announced that a perfect accord had been
reached. The Indian policy for the future, as defined in the report,
provided for the location of Indians upon reservations. Reserva-
tion Indians were to be entirely under the supervision of the bureau
of Indian affairs. On the other hand, all Indian bands which re-
fused to come into their reservations should be subject to control of
the military authorities and treated as either friendly or hostile

1. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1865, p. iv.

2. Ibid., 1867, p. 292.

3. Ibid., 1868, p. 68.

GABFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 31

according to the situation.4 Since this policy provided a definite
basis for dividing the jurisdiction of the rival departments, it did
much to clarify the situation.

Congress, in attempting to analyze the Indian problem, created
in 1865 the Joint Special Committee on the Condition of the Indian
Tribes. The purpose of the act, as explained by its proponents
when first introduced as Senate Resolution 89, was to investigate the
alleged corruption of Indian agents and the alleged causing of un-
necessary Indian wars by military authorities.5 The Joint Special
Committee was authorized to sit during recess of congress and to
report its findings to congress at its next session. The complete
report of the committee was published in 1867. Its main decisions
were: (1) The Indians were rapidly decreasing in numbers, due
to disease, wars, cruel treatment by the whites, unwise governmental
policy and steady westward advance of the white man. (2) In a
large majority of cases Indian wars are caused by aggressions of
lawless white men. (3) Loss of hunting grounds and destruction of
game is a big cause for decay. (4) The Indian Bureau should
remain in the Department of the Interior. (5) In order that
abuses of Indian administration may be corrected the Indian lands
should be divided into five inspection districts with a board of in-
spection in each district. The board would be empowered to check
up on all questions of Indian administration and report at stated
intervals to congress.6

In order to put the ideas of the committee into legislation, Sen.
J. R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, chairman of both the Joint Special
Committee and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, intro-
duced Senate Bill 204, which provided for the annual inspection of
Indian affairs by five inspection boards, as heretofore mentioned.
After long debate the bill passed the senate on March 19, 1866, by
a vote of nineteen to sixteen.7 The house failed to take action on
the bill until the following session, when it amended by striking out
the entire contents of the senate bill and substituting the provision
that the Indian Bureau should be transferred to the War Depart-
ment. When the house amendment was returned to the senate for
concurrence it was decisively defeated.8 A deadlock ensued, for the
breaking of which conference committees were appointed from both

4. Ibid., 1869, p. 5.

5. Senate debate, 1865, Congressional Globe, 38 Cong., 2 sess., p. 327.

6. Senate Reports, 39 Cong., 2 sess., No. 156, pp. 1-10.

7. Senate debate, 1866, Congressional Globe, 39 Cong., 1 sess., p. 1492.

8. Ibid., 1867, 39 Cong., 2 sess., p. 1720.

32 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

houses. The joint committee met but failed to agree, so asked to
be discharged from further consideration of the bill.9

The senate attitude throughout this contest was hostile to the
proposal to transfer the Indian Bureau. During debate on the
house amendment Senator Doolittle stated that the committee on
Indian affairs of both senate and house and the Joint Special
Committee on the Condition of the Indian Tribes were all unanimous
in their desire to support the original bill, but were all unanimous
in their desire to defeat the house amendment.10

Congress' next attempt to carry out recommendations of the Joint
Special Committee took place in the special session of the fortieth
congress in the summer of 1867. The seriousness of the Indian
situation on the plains at the time was one of the reasons for the
calling of the special session. With the peace party dominant in
both houses, legislation was rushed through providing for the cre-
ation of a peace commission to make treaties with all the hostile
tribes between the Mississippi and the Rockies. The functions of
the peace commission, as stated in the act of July 20, 1867, were
as follows: (1) To restore peace upon the plains. (2) To secure
as far as possible the frontier settlements and the unimpeded right
of way for the Pacific railroads. (3) To recommend a permanent
Indian policy.

The commission accordingly went to the plains in the autumn of
1867 and concluded agreements with both the northern and southern
plains tribes.11 In its report to congress on January 7, 1868, the
peace commission recommended the following changes in Indian
policy: (1) Revision of laws governing relations of the two races.
(2) Indian affairs should not be transferred to the War Depart-
ment. A temporary transfer to the War Department of jurisdiction
over hostiles, however, was suggested. (3) Congress should get
rid of incompetent Indian officials. (4) A new department of In-
dian affairs should be created. (5) Territorial governors should
treat the Indians more fairly. (6) No governor or legislature in
either state or territory should be permitted to call out and equip
troops for the purpose of carrying on war with the Indians. (7)
Traders should all be required to receive permits from Indian
Bureau officers in order to enter the Indian trade. (8) New pro-
visions should be made which positively direct the military authori-

9. Ibid., p. 1923.

10. Ibid., p. 1712.

11 For detailed account of these treaties see Marvin H. Garfield, "Defense of the Kansas
Frontier, 1866-1867," Kansas Historical Quarterly, August, 1932.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 33

ties to remove white persons who persist in trespassing on Indian
reservations.12

Efforts by the enemies of the peace commission to dissolve it
failed. On the day that congress passed the act creating the com-
mission, a bill was introduced into the senate for its dissolution.
The senate killed the bill by referring it to the committee on In-
dian affairs.13 Apparently congress was in sympathy with the work
of the peace commission, because a bill appropriating $150,000 to
enable it to carry on its work passed in July, 1868, with little op-
position in either house.14

Numerous attempts were made to put through legislation which
would bring about the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War De-
partment. One of the first of these arose in the senate on May 16,

1866, when Sen. W. M. Stewart, of Nevada, introduced a bill for
that purpose. It was referred to the committee on Indian affairs
and promptly lost.15 Again, in the same year, the proposition was
submitted to the senate, this time as an amendment to the annual
Indian appropriation bill by Sen. John Sherman, of Ohio, chairman
of the senate finance committee and brother of Gen. W. T. Sherman.
A great debate took place between Sherman and Stewart on the one
side and Doolittle on the other. In the end Doolittle won out, and
the Indian Bureau for the time was saved from the transfer. The
senate rejected Sherman's amendment by a 21 to 12 vote.16 The
third and strongest attempt to bring about the transfer occurred in

1867, when the house of representatives amended Senate Bill 204
by inserting the well-known provision.17 This effort was also de-
feated by friends of the Indian Bureau in the senate.

Not to be discouraged by reverses the house, in December, 1868,
made another determined attempt to put across the transfer of the
bureau. James A. Garfield, of Ohio, chairman of the house mili-
tary committee, introduced a bill, H. R. 1482, for that purpose. Al-
though Windom, of Minnesota, a member of the house committee
on Indian affairs, made a valiant fight against the bill, he was out-
voted 116 to 33.18 When, however, the bill reached the senate it
was killed in the committee on Indian affairs.19 A final attempt

12. "Report of the Indian Peace Commission," January 7, 1868, in Report of the Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs, 1868, pp. 26-50.

13. Senate debate, 1868, Congressional Globe, 40 Cong., 2 sess., p. 1461.

14. Ibid., 40 Cone., 2 sess., pp. 3100, 3174, 3175, 3183, 3249, 3271, 3279, 3299, 3731.

15. Ibid., 1866, 39 Cong., 1 sess., p. 2613.

16. Ibid., pp. 3506, 3507, 3552-3559.

17. See previous reference to the house amendment.

18. House proceedings, 1868, Congressional Globe, 40 Cong., 3 sess., pp. 17-21.

19. Ibid., Senate debates, 1868-1869, 40 Cong., 3 sess., pp. 40-43, 663.

3—6617

34 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

failed in the house in January, 1869, when Gar-field's effort to amend
an appropriation bill by adding a section transferring the Indian
Bureau to the War Department, was ruled out of order.20 When
the appropriation bill was sent to the senate for approval, Senator
Stewart, of Nevada, amended it by adding a clause identical to that
offered by Garfield in the house. Stewart's amendment was lost by
a 36 to 9 vote, chiefly because it was regarded as inappropriate at the
time.21

This ended the efforts of the friends of the War Department. It
is clearly apparent by the debates and votes on these various bills
that the senate consistently maintained its defense of the Indian
Bureau. Both houses desired an improvement in Indian relations,
bureau. Both houses desired an improvement in Indian relations,
but could not become convinced that the removal of the Indian Bu-
reau from one department to another would appreciably improve
the situation.

From beginning to end of the great contest over Indian policy,
Kansas remained in the war party. Governor, state legislature,
press and public opinion united solidly in demanding a change in
Indian administration. The Kansas delegation in congress, there-
fore, was compelled to enter the fight on the side of its state. Kan-
sas was represented in the house during the period by Sidney Clarke,
of Lawrence, while Sens. S. C. Pomeroy and E. G. Ross were in the
upper chamber. Sen. J. H. Lane's death in 1866 occurred early in
the struggle; consequently the chief interest lies in the actions and
opinions of the other men mentioned.

Pomeroy, senior senator from Kansas, was the sole member of the
Kansas delegation who did not share the general views of his state
on the Indian question. In 1866, when the senate was debating the
house proposal to amend Senate Bill 204 by transferring the Indian
Bureau to the War Department, Pomeroy was decidedly opposed to
the transfer.22 In the course of his speech on the amendment he
stated that he was not prepared to turn out the army to exterminate
the Indians; furthermore he believed that white men precipitated
most Indian wars.23 When the house amendment came up for final
decision, Pomeroy voted against it.24

20. Ibid., House proceedings, 1869, 40 Cong., 3 sess., p. 880.

21. Ibid., Senate debate, 1869, 40 Cong., 3 sess., p. 1378.

22. See footnote No. 17.

23. Congressional Globe, Senate debate, 1867, 39 Cong., 2 sess., p. 1624.

24. Ibid., p. 1720.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 35

In the special session of 1867, when congress was considering Sen-
ate Bill 136 for the organization of the peace commission, Pomeroy
again ran counter to public opinion in his own state by favoring the
creation of the commission. While he believed it to be only a tem-
porary measure, he thought it was to the interest of the western
country to secure peace.25 The following season saw Pomeroy in-
troducing a bill to transfer the Indian Bureau to the War Depart-
ment by allowing the Freedman's Bureau to assume the duties of
the Indian Bureau.26 It is evident that Pomeroy had either changed
his mind on the Indian question or that he was trying to please his
constituency. The latter idea seems to be more plausible. This is
further carried out by the fact that the Kansas senator in 1869
voted against Senator Stewart's proposition to transfer the Indian
Bureau,27 and earlier in the session introduced a bill to provide for
the creation of a separate department of Indian affairs.28 It is most
probable that Pomeroy's personal opinion was unfavorable to the
war party, but that his position as a senator from Kansas required
him constantly to change his stand on the question.

The attitude of Senator Ross is not so difficult to define. Ross
was a personal friend of Gov. S. J. Crawford, received his ap-
pointment to the senate from Crawford, and maintained a fairly
consistent position as ardent advocate of frontier defense and enemy
of the Indian Bureau. Ross introduced numerous resolutions of
the Kansas state legislature into the senate.29 It was Ross to whom
Governor Crawford turned on June 29, 1867, after Gen. W. T. Sher-
man had rejected his offer of volunteer cavalry.30 Crawford poured
out his bitter story in its entirety and appealed to Ross to convince
congress that "there is no such thing as peace with the Indians ex-
cept by war." 31 In response to this appeal Senator Ross amended
the peace commission bill by a provision that the army should ac-
cept the services of mounted volunteers from states and territories
of the West in order to suppress Indian hostilities.32

In defense of his amendment Senator Ross argued that the peace

25. Ibid., 40 Cong., 1 sess., pp. 708, 709.

26. Ibid., 1868, 40 Cong., 2 sess., p. 3275.

27. Ibid., 1869, 40 Cong., 3 sess., p. 1378.

28. Ibid., 1868, p. 61.

29. A prominent example was the resolution urging congress to establish a military post
in northern Kansas between Fort Harker and Fort Kearney, Neb.

30. Garfield, op. cit.

31. "Indian Depredations" (Clippings), v. II, pp. 183-186, Kansas State Historical
Society.

32. See "Defense of the Kansas Frontier, 1864-1865," in Kansas Historical Quarterly,
February, 1932, p. 146.

36 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

commission bill made no provision for frontier defense, that Indian
depredations were increasing, that Kansas sought merely permission
to protect herself, that the first duty of the nation was to protect
the white race, and that war was the only method of bringing about
peace with the Indian. Ross condemned both the Easterner's view
of the Indian as a hero and the Westerner's idea that the Indian
was a devil incarnate. The conflict, he said, was one between civil-
ization and barbarism and that civilization must win.33

Senator Ross assumed a somewhat different position in a speech
at Lawrence, Kan., on November 5, 1867. Although condemning
the treaty system in general and the Medicine Lodge treaty in
particular, he did not advocate making peace by means of war.
Instead he suggested that the best possible solution for the Indian
problem was the gradual localization of Indians upon reservations.
To accomplish this end, the senator stated the government must
make a reasonable show of force. Military posts, he believed,
should be increased both in number and size of garrison. In con-
clusion, he said:

"After all, it is not so much the manner in which the peace of the plains
is to be secured, as the fact itself, in which the people of Kansas are most
interested. What we all most ardently desire is the immunity of our frontiers
from the disturbances and devastations which have so effectually retarded the
settlement and development of the West."34

Again in 1869 Senator Ross aided in the frontier defense of his
state. In the autumn of that year Indian depredations were renewed
in northwestern Kansas. Since the militia had been mustered out,
Gov. J. M. Harvey became apprehensive for the safety of the set-
tlers. Senator Ross accordingly was appealed to and secured the
promise of Sherman that United States troops would be sent to the
region.35

Of the entire Kansas delegation in congress, Representative
Clarke maintained the most consistent attitude. He never changed
his position of antagonism toward the peace party. When an Indian
appropriation bill was before the house, in 1868, Clarke opposed it
on the grounds that it provided for making appropriations to hostile
tribes.36 On March 3, 1868, he introduced a bill, H. R. 854, for the

33. Speech of the Hon. E. G. Ross in the senate, July 18, 1867, in "Kansas Collected
Speeches and Pamphlets," v. IX (compiled by the Kansas State Historical Society).

34. Kansas State Record, Topeka, November 6, 1867.

35. Senator Ross to Governor Harvey, including letter of Ross to Gen. J. M. Schofield
dated December 30, 1869, Adjutant General's Correspondence, 1869 (Kansas).

86. Congressional Globe, House proceedings, 1868, 40 Cong., 2 sess., p. 1424.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 37

dissolution of the peace commission. The bill was referred to the
committee on Indian affairs but was never acted upon.37

In 1869 Clarke agreed heartily with Garfield's efforts to get the
Indian Bureau into the War Department. He stated in debate that
public opinion in the West was almost unanimous in favor of the
proposed transfer.38 In a lengthy speech in support of Garfield's
measure Clarke expressed his views plainly. The Indian question,
he argued, was not a question of philanthropy, nor of laying the
blame for aggression upon either whites or Indians. It was, how-
ever, he stated, a question of practical administration, that civiliza-
tion had come in contact with the Indian, but that civilization would
march forward in spite of opposition. He, therefore, wanted civil-
ization aided instead of being hindered by congress.39

Although the votes and speeches of the Kansas delegation in con-
gress are a good indication of the Kansas attitude toward the Indian
question, a more thorough analysis can be obtained by turning to
the state itself. Executive and legislative acts, press comments, and
individual opinions best reflect what Kansas actually thought.

Previous chapters in this monograph have disclosed the attitude
of the governors of Kansas toward the entire Indian problem. Gov-
ernor Crawford, who held the post of chief executive from 1865 to
1868, inclusive, had very decided opinions, which may be summar-
ized as follows: (1) Every effort should be expended in defending
the state from Indians. (2) Indian uprisings should be put down by
the use of military force. (3) The wild tribes of Indians should be
conquered and driven from the state. (4) Reservation Indians in
eastern Kansas should be removed to Indian territory. (5) The
Indian Bureau should be transferred from the Interior Department
to the War Department. (6) Indian traders and agents should not
be allowed to sell arms and ammunition to the Indians.

Crawford's successor, Governor Harvey, entertained similar ideas.
In his message to the legislature in 1869 Harvey advocated: The
transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department; that congress
be urged to indemnify frontier settlers out of Indian annuities ; that
provision be made for the organization of two regiments of volunteer
militia for frontier defense.

The Kansas legislature gave both governors able support in their
efforts to obtain frontier protection and removal of the Indians. In

37. Ibid., p. 1631.

38. Ibid., House procesdings, 1869, 40 Cong., 3 sess., pp. 881, 882.

39. Ibid., 1868, p. 18.

38 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

January, 1865, a joint resolution passed both houses requesting the
War Department to place a sufficient military force in the hands of
Gen. S. R. Curtis to enable him to give ample protection to the
Kansas frontier and the Overland and Santa Fe routes. The reso-
lution also ordered the secretary of state to forward a copy of it
to the legislatures of the states of Missouri, Iowa, Nevada, and
California, and to the territories of Nebraska, Colorado, Montana,
Washington and Utah with the view of inducing the legislatures of
those states and territories to take similar action.40

In February, 1865, the legislature adopted House Concurrent
Resolution No. 20 which provided that congress be urged immedi-
ately to order the construction of a telegraph line from Fort Leav-
enworth to Fort Lyon via Forts Riley, Zarah and Lamed. The
purpose of the proposed line was to enable United States troops and
Kansas militia more easily to locate and punish Indian hostiles.
The resolution further provided that the governor forward copies
to the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, the
Secretary of the Interior, and each senator and representative in
congress.41 The proposed line was not built.

In 1867 the Kansas state legislature sent several concurrent reso-
lutions to congress in an effort to obtain greater frontier security.
The most prominent of these was a resolution requesting the Kansas
delegation in congress to urge upon the government the necessity
of promptly establishing a military post or permanent camp be-
tween Fort Kearney and Fort Harker. This resolution was tabled
in the senate on February 15, 1867, thus practically killing it.42

Col. J. H. Leavenworth, Indian agent for the Comanche and
Kiowa tribes, was especially unpopular with the Kansas legisla-
tors; consequently they petitioned congress for his removal. The
complete text of the resolution adopted on February 8, 1867, will
best convey the opinion the legislature held concerning Mr. Leav-
enworth.

"WHEREAS, It has come to the knowledge of the legislature of the State of
Kansas that Col. J. H. Leavenworth, present agent of certain hostile tribes
of Indians on the western and southwestern frontier of the State of Kansas,
is wholly incompetent to perform the duties thereof; and whereas the settlers
on said frontier are in imminent peril of their lives and property through
said incompetency ; and whereas, unless some competent person be appointed
in his stead friendly to the whites, with nerve to meet our present wants

40. House Journal, Kansas state legislature, 1865, p. 105.

41. Ibid., pp. 338, 339.

42. Senate Miscellaneous Documents, No. 26, 39 Cong., 2 seas.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 39

and emergency, our citizens will be butchered, as heretofore in detail;
Therefore,

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That the
said Congress, and especially our delegation therein, be earnestly requested to
see that said Leavenworth be removed, and a man substituted in his stead
who will use his best and honest endeavors, while protecting the interests of
the Indians, to save our citizens from slaughter." 43

Congress failed to heed this petition, also, so Mr. Leavenworth
continued in office.

The legislative session of 1869 not only sent many appeals to
congress for frontier protection, but passed a large number of state
laws on the subject. The Kansas delegation in congress was in-
structed to use its efforts to secure the passage through congress of
an act to enable the adjustment and payment by the United States
of claims of Kansas citizens. The claims in question were for
damages inflicted by Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche
Indians in 1864.44 Another resolution urged congress and the gen-
eral government to make a speedy appropriation for the relief of
Kansas citizens who had been victims of Indian depredations from
1861 to 1866.45 Both of these resolutions were referred to the com-
mittee on Indian affairs in the senate but failed to emerge. Congress
was also memorialized to transfer the Indian Bureau to the War
Department, Mr. Clarke, of Kansas, presenting to the house of
representatives the concurrent resolution of the state legislature.46

Legislative measures for frontier protection passed during the
1869 session dealt chiefly with the financing of military expedi-
tions of 1868. An act was passed providing for the issuance and
sale of $14,000 in state bonds to defray the expenses incurred by
the raising of the Nineteenth Kansas cavalry.47 Another act of
similar nature provided for the issuance of $75,000 in state bonds
for payment of all other military indebtedness of 1868. Especial-
ly did this apply to the expenses of raising and maintaining the
First frontier battalion.48 For future protection of the frontier
the legislature ordered that $100,000 of state bonds be issued and
sold to provide a state military fund.49.

In the session of 1870 the legislature again sent a memorial to
congress, the main points of which were an appeal to the govern-

43. Ibid., No. 34, 39 Cong., 2 sesa.

44. Ibid., No. 32, 40 Cong., 3 sess.

45. Ibid., No. 48, 40 Cong., 3 sess.

46. Congressional Globe, House proceedings, 1869, 40 Cong., 3 *ess., p. 681.

47. Laws of Kansas, 1869, pp. 46-48.

48. Ibid., pp. 38-41.

49. Ibid., pp. 42-44.

40 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ment to prevent repetition of the Indian outrages on Kansas set-
tlers and a protest against any reduction of the United States
army.50

In reading through the files of Kansas newspapers for the pe-
riod one is impressed by the unmistakable attitude of antagonism
which the press maintained toward the Indian, the Indian traders
and agents, and the Indian policy of the United States govern-
ment. Several representative articles chosen from a variety of
newspapers will indicate what the Kansas papers thought on the
Indian question. One editor during the Civil War demanded the
complete extermination of the plains Indians.51 Others approved
heartily of Col. John M. Chivington's method of dealing with
them.52 In 1866, when Maj. Gen. W. F. Cloud was contemplat-
ing a campaign against the Indians with Kansas militia, the Junc-
tion City Union commented in the following way:

"If the general has any compunctions of conscience in regard to 'playing
Sand Creek' upon them he had better not start. It is unfortunate for the
settlements that so many asses have existed as to make such a tremendous
howl, in the interests of thieving agents, because of Sand Creek whipping.
Had the effect of that not been spoiled, Indians would have been effectually
subdued for years." 53

Following some sarcastic comments about Indians indulging in
their "little innocent pastime of scalping," another editor made a
caustic reference to the United States military posts. The posts,
he declared, were of no protection whatever to travelers or settlers
and he stated that "the only purpose subserved by these orna-
mental appendages to the government seems to be the consump-
tion of poor commissary whiskey." 54

Epithets applied to the Indians by newspapers were numerous.
They varied from the slightly sarcastic references to "the noble red
man" and "Lo, the Poor Indian" to the more emphatic appellations
of "red devils," "hell hounds," and "sons of the Devil." Even the
reservation Indians in the eastern part of the state were not ex-
empt. An amusing yet contemptuous opinion of the Kaw Indians
is reproduced below:

"We have not seen the dusky forms of the noble red man of the Kaw
persuasion about our streets in the last two or three days. Doubtless those

50. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 23, Senate Journal, Kansas state legislature, 1870,
pp. 122-124, 259.

51. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 25, 1864.

52. Ibid., December 21, 1865, a reprint from the Denver Rocky Mountain News.

53. Editorial of August 4, 1866.

54. Daily Kansas State Record, Topeka, July 23, 1868.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 41

sweet-scented ones that were encamped near here have gone back to their
reservation. When we consider how efficient they were in 'gobbling up' the
putrescent animal and vegetable matter about the city, we almost regret
their departure.

"Now that these scavengers are gone, our city fathers should look to it
that some other means be employed to guard the health of our people." 55

Occasionally a Kansas paper took the part of the Indian. The
Kansas State Record in 1868 deplored the fact that people persisted
in getting up rumors of an Indian war when there was no occasion
for it. The editor admitted that more than half of the Indian out-
rages were caused in the first place by wrongs done to the Indian
by the white man.56 The same editor later in the year denied that
the majority of Indian wars were caused by the whites.57 A few
days subsequent to this, after riding on a train in the company of
Col. E. W. Wyncoop, Indian agent at Fort Larned, the editor pub-
lished an article in which he coincided with Wyncoop's views. Wyn-
coop had said that the military never punished the guilty Indians
but wreak their vengeance on the innocent; also that every treaty
made by the United States with the Indians was first broken by
the whites.58

Indian agents received their share of abuse at the hands of the
press. Colonel Leavenworth, of course, was the principal target at
which these literary shafts were aimed. A newspaper correspondent
writing from Fort Harker on July 10, 1867, handed the following
bouquet to the colonel :

"... the Indians evidently having either gone North, or to the vicinity
of Colonel Leavenworth 's headquarters, there to receive those presents that
tender-hearted functionary has recently obtained from the government for
distribution among the Lo family. It is the earnest wish of every person in
this section, so far as I can ascertain, that the Indians immediately after re-
ceiving their presents from Leavenworth will return the compliment by lift-
ing his hair."59

The Junction City Union in speaking of John Smith, an Indian
trader, was almost incoherent with rage because the said Smith
hobnobbed with congressional committees, professed horror at any
proposal to punish the Indians, yet grew rich by stealing from both
the government and Indians. The article advised the government

55. Ibid., June 25, 1868.

56. Ibid., June 3, 1868.

57. Ibid., November 22, 1868.

58. Ibid., November 28, 1868.

59. Leavenworth Daily Conservative^ July 12, 1867.

42 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to get rid of its thieving agents, interpreters and hangers-on if it
intended to solve the Indian question.60

Kansas editors especially resented the attitude of the eastern press
toward the people of their state. A common accusation of eastern
newspapers was that the people of Kansas desired an Indian war
for the sake of the contracts and profits which would accrue to the
locality in which military expeditions were organized and outfitted.
This was constantly denied with vehemence by the Kansas press.61
When a St. Louis paper, the Missouri Republican, quoted General
Sherman as saying that parties in Kansas wanted an Indian war,
the Leavenworth Conservative immediately published a statement
which not only denied the truth of the accusation but doubted that
Sherman ever said it.62 Following the Saline-Solomon raids of 1868
a Topeka journal expressed the views of Kansas in these words:

"We hope that Easterners will learn that Kansas citizens are not thieves,
constantly striving for an Indian war for the purpose of speculation; but that
the frontier settlers are constantly in the presence of a great danger so long as
the Indians are permitted to remain in or come into the state." 63

Kansas in general ridiculed the Easterner's ideas on the Indian
question. "Maudlin sentimentalists," "Eastern philanthropists,"
"Indian worshippers," and other similar epithets were hurled back
at those people in the East who advanced solutions for the great
racial problem. An eastern proposal to withdraw troops from the
plains in the fall of 1865 was regarded as absurd.64 Horace Greeley's
plan for putting the Indian to work raising cattle and sheep on the
plains was hailed with glee by a quick-witted Kansas editor who
observed that it was about as practical as going to the moon in a
balloon.65

Whenever the Indian Bureau received mention in a Kansas paper
it was only in the most scathing terms. The Leavenworth Daily
Conservative at one time described the "Indian Office" as being
nothing but a great buying and selling agency which paid tribute to
barbarism to compensate for damages done to civilization.66 The
same paper again alluded to the bureau as a reproach and a disgrace
to the nation and stated that the country looked upon it as a den of
robbers.67 The Conservative had previously adhered to the belief

60. Issue of August 19, 1865.

61. Editorial, Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 27, 1867.

62. Ibid., May 23, 1867.

63. Daily Kansas State Record, Topeka, August 23, 1868.

64. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, October 20, 1865.

65. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, February 19, 1867.

66. Ibid., July 11, 1867.

67. Ibid., February 13, 1867.

GARFIELD: THE INDIAN QUESTION 43

that the Indian Bureau should be transferred to the War Depart-
ment, but in 1867, when a suggestion had been made in Washington
to make the bureau an independent department, the Leavenworth
paper approved. Especially did the Conservative welcome that part
of the new plan which proposed consigning the wild Indians to the
War Department while the Indian Department supervised the civil-
ized tribes. "By all odds let the War Department have the uncivil-
ized Indians," it shouted.68

When the Indian Bureau in 1868 declared that Kansans were
greatly exaggerating reports of Indian raids the Kansas State
Record rose in anger and wrathfully retorted:

"The Indian Bureau will believe nothing till they obtain, through miles of
red tape a month later, an official report. We only hope that Governor Craw-
ford will put himself at the head of a band of our western men, follow the
Indians to their homes, and do his work a la Chivington. If he does he must
be sure to keep out of the way of United States officials; or, if necessary, fight
them." 69

Upon hearing of the senate confirmation of L. V. Bogy as com-
missioner of Indian affairs the Junction City Union vented its
opinion of the man. Among other things he was referred to as "one
of the most skulking and cowardly rebels of all wretches of the class
who ever cursed Missouri with the evil of their wicked lives." 70

The Kansas press was especially belligerent toward the peace
party in congress, who endeavored to settle the Indian troubles by
treaty instead of by force. The Kansas Daily Tribune advocated
a short residence upon the plains with the loss of a scalp as a sure
cure for the romantic ideas which the United States senators and
congressmen had formed in regard to "the dirty red devils." 71 The
White Cloud Chief, in reference to Gen. P. E. Connor's destruction
of an Arapahoe village, feared that Connor would "go overboard"
since a "sniffling congressional investigating committee will shortly
be after him to examine into and report upon this fiendish piece of
barbarism." 72

While a special session of congress in the summer of 1867 debated
the question of sending a peace commission to the plains, the news-
papers in Kansas were ridiculing its efforts. The way to make
peace, according to one editor, was by notifying the Indians that no
more treaties would be made and then removing the red men to res-

68. Ibid., October 15, 1867.

69. Issue of August 21, 1868.

70. Issue of March 16, 1867.

71. Issue of January 26, 1865.

72. Reprinted in the .Kansas Daily Tribune, October 4, 1865.

44 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ervations.73 Throughout the period spent by the peace commission
in Kansas in 1867, the Leavenworth Conservative printed sarcastic
articles, most of which applied the term "Full Moon Exercises" to
the treaty of Medicine Lodge.

Miscellaneous remarks of Kansas papers are worthy of note. The
report of the Joint Congressional Committee on the Condition of
the Indian Tribes was met by a storm of protest. The Atchison
Daily Free Press thought the report would "wonderfully please the
worshippers of the noble red man in the East/' but doubted if it
would find favor with the frontier people who were acquainted with
the facts in the case.74 The Junction City Union once went so far
as to declare that all treaty makers should be killed by Indians.75

To sum up the attitude of the newspapers of Kansas toward the
Indian a representative selection is quoted from one of the leading
journals:

"With our routes of travel closed; with our borders beleaguered by thou-
sands of these merciless devils whose natures are compounded of every essen-
tial diabolism of hell .... we present to the civilized world a picture of weak-
ness and vacillation, deliberately sacrificing men and women, one of whose
lives is worth more than the existence of all the Indians in America." 76

Lest it be thought that a few newspaper editors were dictating the
thinking of the people of Kansas, it is well to cite opinions of the
frontiersmen themselves. Citizens of Marion county first circulated
a petition for the removal of Colonel Leavenworth. The petition
was then indorsed by Governor Crawford and sent to the Secretary
of the Interior.77 Opinions expressed by the frontiersmen concern-
ing the Indians and Indian policy, while less polished, were just as
forceful as those of newspaper editors. The majority of the letters
sent by frontiersmen to the Kansas governors expressed hatred and
fear of the Indians, horror at the Indian Bureau's policy of arming
the red men, and disgust at the peace-treaty making, present-giving
system employed by the government.

Another expression of the people's attitude was the resolution
adopted by the Republican state convention at Topeka on Septem-
ber 9, 1868: "We demand in the name of our frontier settlers, that
the uncivilized Indians be driven from the state, and the civilized
tribes be speedily removed to the Indian country." 78

73. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 19, 1867.

74. Issue of January 7, 1868.

75. Issue of August 4, 1866.

76. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, August 11, 1867.

77. Correspondence of Kansas Governors, Crawford (Copy Book), p. 45, Archives, Kansas
State Historical Society. (Petition indorsed on January 31, 1867.)

78. Wilder, Annalt of Kansat, pp. 483-486.

County Seat Controversies in
Southwestern Kansas

HENRY F. MASON1

THE county seat struggles in the southwestern counties of Kansas
during the later eighties were but a particular phase of the gen-
eral town-building boom of that period. The peculiar features of
that singular phenomenon were perhaps more strikingly presented
in that longitude than farther east. The disproportion between
anticipation and realization was greater there than elsewhere, not
because speculative values rose higher, but because they fell fur-
ther. In other parts of the state the situation was the familiar
one of an era of abnormal activity, followed by one of correspond-
ing depression. While improvements were made and public ex-
penses incurred far in advance of existing needs, the movement
was, generally speaking, only premature. Conditions were present
which required only time to justify, perhaps, the wildest predic-
tions of the most enthusiastic optimist. But in the western end
of the state the fact was sadly otherwise. The vast tide of im-
migration which started in 1885 and overflowed the short-grass
prairies clear to the Colorado border and beyond was the result
of a belief that every quarter section represented a farm — 160 acres
of as good agricultural land as the sun ever shone upon, sufficiently
watered by nature's beneficence to produce crops year after year
with only such an occasional failure as might be looked for even
in the most favored region. This belief prevailed, notwithstand-
ing that earlier unsuccessful attempts at settlement seemed to
teach the contrary in unmistakable terms. It was urged that
drought was no more to be feared then than it had been a few
years before in eastern Kansas. It was said that the climate had
changed, that cultivation of the soil had favored the retention
of moisture and thereby increased evaporation, which in turn pro-
moted further precipitation. The expressive epigram of the time

1. Justice Henry Freeman Mason was born in Racine, Wis., February 17, 1860. He was
graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1881. In 1886 he came to Kansas and
opened a law office in Garden City. After serving two years as city attorney he was elected
county attorney of Finney county in 1889 and served four years. He represented the county
in the legislatures of 1899 and 1901, serving as chairman of the judiciary committee in the
latter year. In 1902 he was elected to the supreme court of Kansas and remained in that
body until his death on May 4, 1927. In 1919 he was awarded the degree of doctor of
laws by Washburn college. — Twenty-sixth Biennial Report. Kansas State Historical Society,
p. 63.

[The paper printed here was read a number of years ago by Justice Mason before the
Saturday Night Club of Topeka, without any thought of publication. It is published
through the courtesy of Mrs. Henry F. Mason, of Topeka.]

(45)

46 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was "the rain follows the plow." The theory that the general
enlargement of the crop area in the longitude of eastern Kansas
had tended gradually to push the eastern boundary of the semi-
arid belt farther west was at least entitled to serious considera-
tion. But it was soberly argued that the amount of sod newly
turned had within a twelve-month produced a revolution of physi-
cal conditions. This vast plain, that had dried and baked in the
winds and suns of centuries, had been here and there scratched
with the plow of the settler, and the idea was not too grotesque
for general acceptance that this infinitesimal disturbance of its
surface had worked a miracle worthy of omnipotence. The few
cattlemen who scoffed at the proposition were discredited as hav-
ing a manifest interest in discouraging immigration, in order that
they might continue to range their herds at will over this wide
expanse of priceless pasture. Schemes for irrigation were frowned
upon because it was thought that they would tend to frighten
timid investors by advertising a distrust of the sufficiency of the
natural rainfall to insure the rewards of husbandry.

This was the state of public opinion when occasion arose for
the organization of new counties carved out of the territory to
which these remarks apply. In a few of them there were towns
of such size and situation that opposition to their being made
county seats was so evidently hopeless that their designation as
such was acquiesced in by common consent. But in most cases
there was no one town having any apparent advantage in that
regard over others then existing or that might be established. In
a considerable number of instances there were no towns what-
ever, and the field was open to any handful of speculators to
acquire a site and enter the campaign with a reasonable prospect
of success. In such circumstances it was natural that there should
be many and vigorous controversies over the selection of county
seats, and that the value of the prizes at issue should be greatly
overestimated. As an illustration of this I recall that C. J. Jones,
who delighted in the sobriquet of "Buffalo Jones," on being re-
monstrated with for his recklessness in becoming involved in some
six or eight of these affairs, justified his course by saying that he
could afford to lose in all of them but one; that if in any single
instance the town which he was backing became the county seat
he and his associates would not only from their profits be able to
recoup their losses in all their unsuccessful efforts, but would have
enough left to make them independent for life.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 47

A problem that has received considerable attention and has
never been satisfactorily solved, is why the men who were engaged
in these contests, most of whom were of at least average standing
as citizens, and many of whom in all the ordinary relations of
life — social, political and commercial — were of exemplary con-
duct, were willing to lay aside every conscientious scruple and
to countenance, if not to indulge in, bribery, intimidation, ballot-
box stuffing, subornation of perjury, and kindred offenses in sup-
port of the prospects of the town of their choice. One reason, no
doubt, was that the belief that large financial interests were in-
volved tended to soothe the pricks of conscience. Another was
the development of a spirit of partisanship more violent than that
engendered by any but the bitterest of political struggles. Another
was a variation of the adage that the end justifies the means, ex-
pressed in the aphorism that it is necessary to fight the devil with
fire, it being said, and doubtless believed, that every villainy re-
sorted to was merely an offset to the unconscionable devices of
the opposition.

There was little in the means adopted to assist nature in secur-
ing results in these contests that had sufficient novelty to merit
special attention. The prevalent methods included the importa-
tion of illegal voters, direct and indirect bribery, stuffing of ballot
boxes, forging of election returns, and coercion of electors by ac-
tual or implied threats of violence into voting against their wishes
or remaining away from the polls. Quasi legal colonization schemes
were nearly universal. Additions to town sites were platted and
lots given to so-called actual settlers who would use them as the
bases of claims of residence until after the election. To provide
for the immediate needs of these pampered pioneers various de-
vices were employed. Public improvements, such as the building
of bridges and roads, were undertaken by county and township
boards, bonds were issued for such purposes, and the proceeds
were turned over to the campaign committee for use for the good
of the cause. A simpler device available to the faction having
control of the existing county government was to utilize it as a
warrant factory — turning out warrants nominally for legitimate
claims, such as the employment of attorneys, but really to swell
the corruption fund. These warrants, illegal and void in them-
selves, were later transmuted by the alchemy of refunding into
valid obligations of the municipalities issuing them. To these
practices is due the fact that many of the southwestern communi-

48 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ties are burdened with vast indebtedness but have no public build-
ings, roads, bridges or property of any kind to show for it.

In Gray county the candidacy of the town of Ingalls for the
county seat was due to the ambition of A. T. Soule,2 who had been
made a millionaire by the advertisement and sale of "Hop Bit-
ters," to have a county seat of his own as a sort of toy to beguile
his idle moments. As an aid to his project he built a railroad
from Dodge City to Montezuma which, for want of anything to
carry, was afterwards torn up, and the Eureka Irrigating Canal,
which was a great work of engineering and lacked only one thing
to make it a glittering success, namely, water. His efforts added
greatly to the circulating medium and raised the local per capita
distribution to an abnormal figure.

In Grant county the Ulysses people established a thoroughly
business-like system, by which voters were paid at the rate of ten
dollars apiece as they cast their ballots, the rights of each party to
the transaction being protected by appropriate checks and counter
checks. It seemed a perfectly fair method, for under it every one
received just what he bargained for, but it failed to meet the ap-
proval of the supreme court and the election was set aside on ac-
count of it.

In the mere matter of adding names to the voting lists and putting
corresponding ballots in the box no great amount of originality
was ordinarily shown. The election officers usually lacked even
imagination enough to invent fictitious names, but had recourse to
old city directories and to the pages of ancient and modern history.
In one instance, however, a degree of ingenuity in this regard was
exhibited that is perhaps worthy of mention. The election officers
carefully prepared a list of all the persons who had at some time
lived in the vicinity, but had moved away. They wrote their names
on the poll books as having voted, but in each instance made some
slight variation, such as the change of an initial. The beauty of
this method was that if in a contest it was claimed that a given
name was fictitious, evidence could be produced that its bearer
was known in the community. If, however, conclusive proof were
made that the particular person indicated did not vote, then at-
tention could be called to the fact that the name was not the same.

A great amount of litigation resulted from these controversies,
much of it being settled in the supreme court. The disputed ques-

2. Asa T. Soule of Rochester, N. Y., manufacturer and financier, was brought to Kansas
by J. W. and G. G. Gilbert. He died in 1893.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 49

tions were for the most part those of fact rather than of law, and
their decision contributed little to the development of our system
of jurisprudence. However, in Martin v. Ingham and State v. Mar-
tin, 38 Kan. 641, growing out of the contests in Grant and Hamilton
counties, the supreme court for the first time considered the doubt-
ful, difficult and interesting question of how far the judicial depart-
ment of the state government might interfere with the executive
branch, and held that the court had the power in certain cases to
control the action of the governor, either by mandamus or by in-
junction, although in particular instances it declined to do so. An-
other decision by which the literature of the law was enriched was
that rendered in State v. Commissioners of Seward County, 36 Kan.
236, where it was held with becoming caution that a secret canvass
of the vote cast at a county-seat election, made by two members of
the board of commissioners without notice to the third, or to anyone
else, held on the open prairie at three o'clock in the morning by
the light of the moon, without poll books, ballots or tally sheets,
and without any record being made at the time, was "not only ir-
regular, but invalid."

The most picturesque, if not the most effective, of the repre-
hensible campaign practices referred to was the employment of mer-
cenaries technically known as "killers." These were the real and
imitation "bad men" who frequented Dodge City. The purpose in
enlisting their services was in part, wherever practicable, to overawe
opposition by the mere terror inspired by their fearsome reputation,
and in part to have them in readiness for the carrying out of any
desperate project that might require physical courage and the utter
disregard of all restraints of the law. They formed a recognized
part of the machinery of the ordinary county seat fight. They
commanded good pay, were treated with the greatest deference, and
fairly lived in clover while the wars lasted. Their presumed value
was graduated by the nearness of their approach to the conventional
type of frontier ruffian — the "Alkali Ike" of the funny papers.
While they were all thugs, toughs, and sure-thing gamblers, only a
few of them had in fact done anything to earn the right to be con-
sidered dangerous characters. The rest were vain pretenders. Their
presence was believed to be, and doubtless was, a menace to the
peace of society, but in fact they did little to earn their wage and,
generally speaking, their part in the drama was confined to the
moral effect of their presence — the immoral effect, perhaps I should
say. It is true that one of them, while awaiting orders for active

4—6617

50 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

service, did shoot and kill an inoffensive citizen, and upon the ear-
lier reports of the affair it was assumed that the tragedy was the
outcome of an election fight, but it turned out that the killing
was entirely accidental — an unlooked-for and unpreventable casu-
alty, such as continually occur, which, however regrettable, afforded
no just ground for impugning the motives of the unfortunate in-
strument— the involuntary agent of an inscrutable Providence. It
seems that it had been his purpose, animated by a mere exuberance
of animal spirits, as a matter of pleasantry, to shoot a hole through
the hat of a bystander — a form of practical joke of high repute in
the cow-boy days. But through no fault of his own — probably by
reason of unsteadiness of nerve occasioned by an inferior quality
or an excessive quantity of liquor — the bullet ranged low and per-
forated the brain as well as the hat of the victim. In justice to
the survivor it must be said that he appreciated to the full' -his
error, regretted its distressing consequences, and made every repara-
tion in his power by tendering most ample apologies to the friends
and relatives of the dead man. Of course, this closed the incident.
What more could William Tell have done had his arrow been
similarly deflected?

There were undoubtedly times in the history of each one of these
controversies when conditions were ripe for physical encounters of
the most desperate character — when a slight disturbance might
have precipitated a general slaughter. There were times when
frightful consequences were narrowly averted. Looking back, even
after the few years that have passed, it is difficult to realize the
serious character of situations which in retrospect suggest comic
opera rather than tradgedy. One concrete instance may serve to
illustrate this. In Grant county the contending towns were Ulysses
and Appomattox. The former had the advantage of the earlier
start, the better location and the more abundant "sinews of war."
As the day of test drew near the confidence of its partisans increased
and the spirit of doubt was more manifest in the opposing camp. In
this situation a day or two before the election two of the leading
supporters of the claims of Appomattox — members of the town
company — conferred with the Ulysses managers and entered into a
written contract by the terms of which it was agreed, among other
things, first, that neither side should resort to bribery or any other
wrongful method to influence the result; and second, that upon
whichever banner victory might perch, the successful town com-
pany should reimburse its defeated rival for the expenses incurred

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 51

in the attempt to build up an opposition town, which should there-
upon be abandoned, all interests then to unite in the upbuilding of
the place selected as the county seat.

Upon its face this agreement was perfectly mutual and entirely
commendable. Its provisions were not intentionally made public
by the parties to it, perhaps through fear of misconstruction. But
in some way knowledge of its substance leaked out at Appomattox
shortly before the polls closed. In an atmosphere of suspicion and
distrust which was the usual accompaniment of such controversies,
it was not strange that the transaction should have been looked
upon as a selling out of the interests of the town — a giving up of
the fight by the managers in consideration of being themselves pro-
tected from loss. At all events that was the interpretation that was
placed upon it by many of the Appomattox boomers. A crowd col-
lected and the men accused of treachery were taken into custody
and placed under guard. It soon developed that upon the face of
the returns Ulysses had received a large majority of the votes cast
in the county. This intensified the ill feeling already existing. The
rougher element of the town's population, inflamed alike by the con-
templation of their real or imagined wrongs and by the indulgence in
frequent potations, clamored for summary vengeance and proposed
that the prisoners pay the penalty of their offending with their
lives. It required the utmost diplomacy on the part of the cooler
heads to prevent the immediate carrying out of this plan. A variety
of ingenious expedients were resorted to by them to give rise to
discussion and so gain delay. Matters remained in this condition
for over twenty-four hours, during every moment of which the lives
of the imprisoned men were in imminent peril. As the excitement
gradually subsided it became possible to consider proposals for ap-
peasing the wrath of the leaders of the mob. It was finally agreed
that the captives should be freed upon their making provision for
the repayment to their captors of the amounts the latter were said to
have expended in behalf of Appomattox in the course of the cam-
paign. A schedule of such amounts was accordingly prepared and
the prisoners, glad of relief upon any terms, drew checks upon their
home bank for their payment. Money was advanced upon a part of
the checks by the local bank, the funds were distributed and the
imprisonment ended. None of the checks were ever paid, but the
Appomattox bankers recovered judgment for such of them as they
had cashed. This episode doesn't sound very thrilling in the telling.
Perhaps this is due to a lack of graphic talent in the narrator. The

52 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

average reader of the newspaper refuses to become excited over the
familiar statement accompanying the report of some revolting
crime that "it is rumored that the perpetrator will be lynched if
caught." And it may be that in the case mentioned the danger of
violence was not so great as it seemed. Still, no doubt on this point
was ever entertained by those who were most directly concerned.

It was a noticeable feature of the turbulent times under con-
sideration that the expected catastrophe seldom or never hap-
pened. In spite of the constant preparation for battle, perhaps
because of it, the opposing forces seldom or never met in physical
strife. If human life was ever intentionally taken in the course of
a struggle for a point directly involved in any effort for the loca-
tion of a county seat, I do not know of it. The fight at Coronado
on February 27, 1887, in which three Leoti people were killed and
several others badly wounded, is usually accounted such a case,
but I think improperly so. While it was in a sense an outgrowth
of the ill feeling generated by the rivalry between the opposing
towns, it bore no direct relation to the issue between them. The
participants were not struggling to gain any advantage for their
locality. Of course there are two versions of the affair, and they
are so absolutely conflicting that it is a hopeless task for one
having no personal knowledge of its details to form a satisfactory
judgment as to the real facts. This much is obvious and undis-
puted— at a time when Coronado and Leoti were engaged in a
campaign preceding the selection of a county seat, and while the
excitement incident to such a situation was at fever heat, a party
of the adherents of Leoti went to Coronado, where a battle ensued
in which three of the visitors were killed outright and others were
badly wounded. This is the story as told by the Coronado people:
The Leoti party came to their town for the express purpose of
causing trouble; they were drunk, quarrelsome and abusive; they
visited upon inoffensive citizens all manner of indignities; they
forced them to dance for their amusement, promoting activity in
the exercise by firing bullets from their revolvers through the floor
near the feet of the performers. This conduct was borne by the
residents until endurance was no longer possible, when an effort
to stop it brought on a general engagement. The record of at
least one of the men killed — Jack Coulter — was such as to lend
plausibility to this tale. He was a cowboy who delighted to be
known as a desperate character and strove to live up to that repu-
tation. The local tradition is that his trigger finger continued to
twitch for half an hour after his death.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 53

Of course, the essential features of the Coronado version were
denied, but this important fact is beyond dispute — if the Leoti
folk came upon any legitimate errand whatever, it was not one
having any relation to the county seat matter. Whether the homi-
cides were felonious, justifiable or excusable, they were not com-
mitted in any effort to make Coronado the county seat, and were
only indirectly attributable to the rivalry between the towns. A
number of arrests were at once made, the militia being called out
to keep the peace. The defendants waived preliminary examina-
tion and were placed in charge of the sheriff of Finney county to
await trial. After a few days their restraint was only nominal.
In a short time they applied to the supreme court to be let to bail,
alleging that their waiver of examination had been due to fear of
violence. Upon a hearing in which the merits of the case were
pretty thoroughly gone into they were released upon bond. The
final disposition of the case was somewhat singular. The defend-
ants asked for a change of venue, upon the ground that a fair trial
could not be had in Wichita county. Over their protest the case
was transferred, not to another county of the judicial district, but
to a county situated in a different district. There they raised an
objection to being tried outside of the district where the homicide
was committed, which was held good by the district court and also
by the supreme court on appeal. This ended that prosecution, and
the whole matter having then become an old story no further ar-
rests were made.

A fatal shooting in Gray county would form an exception to the
statement made, but for the fact that it was said to be, and prob-
ably was, entirely accidental, in the sense that the person who fired
the shot had no purpose to injure the one who was killed. This was
the only occasion upon which the "Hessians" were called upon to
perform the peculiar services for which they were supposed to be
especially employed. The county seat was temporarily at Cimar-
ron. An Ingalls man had been elected county clerk. It was con-
ceived to be a brilliant stroke of strategy for him to proceed to Cim-
arron with sufficient assistance, take forcible possession of the rec-
ords of his office, and remove them to Ingalls. An expedition was
organized with this in view. A dray guarded by a select band of
ruffians was driven into Cimarron and up to the door of the court
house, where the work of loading up the archives was at once begun.
Perhaps if any considerable degree of tact had been employed no
physical resistance would have been made. The hireling assistants

54 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

had been sworn in as deputy sheriffs and were nominally acting in
that capacity. Had this pretense of legal procedure been kept up
it is possible that there would have been an effort to meet it only
by recourse to the machinery of the law. But the haste and lack
of ceremony with which the invasion was conducted stamped it as
a forcible ravishment rather than the peaceful assertion of a lawful
right. Before the spoliation of the office could be completed the
citizens of Cimarron had resorted to arms and opened up a lively
fire upon such of the invaders as were outside of the building, with
the result that, without stopping even to rescue two members of the
party who remained inside, the driver whipped up and made a quick
retreat back to Ingalls. The two thus abandoned took refuge in the
second story of the court house, where they remained at bay, re-
sponding by a desultory fire to the fusilade that continued for some
time from the street. It was in the course of this more or less aim-
less shooting that a peaceable resident of Cimarron, who was stand-
ing perhaps a hundred feet from the building, was killed. The two
prisoners were held in captivity until the next day, their captors in
the meantime, so it is said, making every effort to compass their
destruction. Their friends in Dodge City, learning of their desper-
ate plight, began preparations for a rescue party. But wiser coun-
sels prevailed and, chiefly through the intervention of residents ol
Ford county who had the confidence of the leaders of each faction,
peace was restored. In course of time, after the passions aroused
by the unfortunate occurrence had measurably subsided, the mem-
bers of the Ingalls party were brought to trial upon the charge of
murder, the attorney general conducting the prosecution. The re-
sult was an acquittal. While, of course, this was unsatisfactory to
the Cimarron element, it was recognized everywhere that the trial
had been a fair one, and the result was accepted as final and ac-
quiesced in with better grace than might reasonably have been ex-
pected.

But, although no lives were lost in the collision of the opposing
forces upon the direct issue of the location of any county seat of
southwest Kansas, there grew out of the Stevens county contest a
series of assassinations worthy of a Kentucky feud or a Sicilian
vendetta. In 1885 practically the first settlement in that county was
made at Hugoton, and plans were at once formed to make that place
the county seat. In the preliminary steps that were taken for the
speedy organization of the county with this in view, there is no
room for doubt that the grossest fraud was practiced. This, how-

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 55

ever, would probably have passed unchallenged but for the arrival
upon the scene of Sam Wood.3 He, with his friends, started the
rival town of Woodsdale, and in its interest began legal proceedings
to prevent the premature organization of the county. The Hugoton
people regarded him as an interloper, maliciously seeking to inter-
fere with what they considered their firmly established vested rights.

The first sensational incident, which was to be followed by a long
line of tragedies, was the kidnapping of Wood. To get rid of him
for the time being, until the pending efforts for effecting a temporary
county organization could be carried out, the Hugoton supporters
caused him, in August, 1886, to be arrested upon a warrant charging
him with libel. Bail was refused and he was placed in the charge
of several guards and taken out of the state and into what is now
Beaver county, Oklahoma. To account for his absence it was given
out that he had been induced by the payment of a sum of money to
abandon his fight and had gone into the territory on a hunting trip.
This report was not for a moment credited by his friends. A party
was organized to search for him. On their way south they found a
note secretly penciled by Wood and thrown upon the trail. Thus
assured that they were upon the right track, they increased their
speed and shortly overtook and surrounded Wood's captors, who
yielded to superior numbers and surrendered. The tables thus being
turned Wood organized a triumphal march to Garden City, meta-
phorically dragging his kidnappers at his chariot wheels. Civil and
criminal proceedings were begun against the Hugoton leaders upon
charges of conspiracy but were permitted to slumber and were
finally dismissed without trial.

The proceedings brought to prevent the organization of Stevens
county would probably have been successful but for a counter move-
ment. In the legislative session of 1887 an act was passed legalizing
the steps already taken, and the effect of the pending litigation was
thus evaded. The fight for the county seat then proceeded, Hugoton
being temporarily successful. The next disturbance grew out of an
election to vote bonds for a railroad which Woodsdale favored and
Hugoton opposed. In a meeting held in May, 1888, at a neutral
point — Voorhees — for the discussion of this issue, a minor alterca-
tion took place, in which Sam Robinson, the marshal of Hugoton,

3. Samuel Newitt Wood was born at Mount Gilead, Ohio, December 30, 1825, and re-
moved to Kansas in July, 1854. He settled on a claim near Lawrence and immediately be-
came an acknowledged leader of the free-state party. In 1859 Mr. Wood went to Chase
county, and was sent to the territorial legislature from there in 1860-1861. In 1861 he was
a member of the first state senate, and was four times a member of the state legislature.
Mr. Wood established the first newspapers at Cottonwood Falls and Council Grove, and two
newspapers in Woodsdale. He was killed on June 23, 1891.

56 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

assuming to act as a peace officer, struck the under sheriff with his
revolver. Nothing more serious took place at the time, but within
a few days a warrant was issued against Robinson, charging him
with assault and battery, and placed in the hands of Ed Short, the
marshal of Woodsdale, and a constable as well. Short proceeded to
Hugoton where he seems to have attempted to arrest Robinson. At
any rate, the two men engaged in a gun fight in which each emptied
his revolver without injury to either.

The railroad bond election had in the meantime been held, but the
vote had not been canvassed. There was a dispute as to the regu-
larity of the returns in one precinct, and it was felt that a conflict
could hardly be averted at the time of the canvass unless protection
should be afforded from the outside. The sheriff wired Gov. John A.
Martin asking that militia be sent to preserve the peace. Brig. Gen.
Murray Myers was at once sent to the scene of hostilities to examine
and report. He found each town a fortified camp, the inhabitants
fully aroused and ready and willing for a general engagement. Be-
lieving that bloodshed was imminent he brought on two companies
of militia and disarmed the belligerent forces. The canvass of the
election returns having been completed, the excitement having sub-
sided, and the intended arrest and prosecution of Robinson having
apparently been abandoned, the militia was withdrawn, having been
in camp from June 19 to June 24. In writing to Sam Wood as
mayor of Woodsdale, General Myers took occasion to comment upon
the unwisdom of the placing of the warrant for Robinson in the
hands of Short.

A month passed by without fresh incident and it might well have
been supposed that there was no danger of further trouble. But on
July 22 Short was at Voorhees and there learned that Robinson was
with a picnic party in the neutral strip. Returning to WToodsdale he
procured the assistance of several friends and started in pursuit of
him. The two parties came together, but Robinson mounted a race
horse and made a temporary escape. Short and his companions
followed and succeeded in surrounding Robinson, but feeling the
need of more help in effecting his capture sent to Woodsdale for
reinforcements. [John M.] Cross, the sheriff, with four others, re-
sponded to the call and started in search of Short but, not finding
him, stopped for the night at a haymaker's camp near WTild Horse
Lake, a depression in the prairie in which storm waters gathered.
In the meantime, Robinson's friends had reached Hugoton, organ-
ized a rescue party, and returned to the strip in quest of him. He,

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 57

having escaped the vigilance of Short, met and joined the rescuers.
Shortly afterwards they came upon the camp where Sheriff Cross
and his men were asleep. Then ensued what came to be known as
the Haymeadow Massacre, in which four of the Cross party were
killed and the fifth wounded and left for dead. According to the
Hugoton account, this was the result of a running fight, but by the
report of Herbert Tonney, the one member of the Woodsdale party
who survived, which was corroborated by the haymakers and seem-
ingly by all the known circumstances, the victims were taken by
surprise, captured, and shot down in cold blood. Nothing can be
said in extenuation of the act, yet it is but fair to add that the mur-
dered men were not clean handed. The encounter was primarily of
their own seeking, and in that sense they were the aggressors. They
had followed Robinson into the neutral strip with the unlawful
purpose of kidnapping him, for obviously the warrant in the hands
of Short conferred no authority to make an arrest outside of the
state. Moreover, apart from any technical consideration, the effort
to follow up the prosecution of Robinson lacked the appearance of
good faith, for if the interests of society were thought to require it,
the time to have undertaken it was while the militia were still on
the ground and the power of the state could have been had in sup-
port of any laudable endeavor to enforce the law.

The militia was again called out and the community practically
placed under martial law. Arrests were made and then the re-
markable fact was developed that apparently no court had juris-
diction of the crime. The territory within which it was committed,
popularly known as "No Man's Land," had seemingly been over-
looked in providing for the administration of justice in the federal
courts. Colonel Wood charged himself with the duty of bringing
the assassins of his associates to trial. He devised a reasonable
theory for finding jurisdiction in one of the federal courts of Texas.
It was not necessary to test that theory, for congress by new leg-
islation placed the jurisdiction there. In time a trial was had,
ending in a conviction. This result was due in a large degree to
the persistence and energy of Wood, acting as a voluntary as-
sistant to the prosecuting office. Upon review the jurisdiction of
the trial court was upheld, but a reversal was ordered by reason
of a manifest error which can only be accounted for by supposing
that the judgment of the attorneys in charge of the prosecution
was clouded by their zeal. At the time of the homicide the then

58 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

attorney general of the state, S. B. Bradford,4 made a personal
investigation of its circumstances, visiting for that purpose Stevens
county and the haymeadow camp, and getting all the information
possible at first hand. He made a written report of his conclusions
to the governor in which he expressed the unqualified opinion that
the killing was a deliberate murder. Mr. Bradford's term of of-
fice having expired, he was retained to assist in the defense. He
was not called as a witness by the defendants, having indeed no
such personal knowledge of the facts as to make him competent
to testify. But the prosecution called him for the government and
asked him if he had not made such an investigation and report as
those just described. He replied that he had, but that the report
was based upon hearsay evidence which he later discredited. Upon
this obviously insufficient foundation the prosecution introduced
in evidence the report to the governor made by Bradford as at-
torney general. Upon the hearing in the supreme court it was con-
fessed that this proceeding was error requiring a reversal and a
new trial was ordered. The attorney general of the United States
became convinced that the district attorney had at least lacked
discretion in the conduct of the case — that he had given too much
leeway to Colonel Wood in its management, and he was on that
account removed. Energetic and finally successful efforts were
then made to have the prosecution discontinued, and so far as
the courts were concerned the matter ended there.

The next personage to become involved in the imbroglio was
Theodosius Botkin.5 In 1889 six counties in the southwest corner
of the state, into only one of which a railroad ran, were erected into
a judicial district. Gov. [Lyman U.] Humphrey appointed Botkin
judge on the score of old personal friendship, in spite of protests
made on the ground of his well-known tendency to over indulgence
in drink. His election followed in the same year, Sam Wood being
one of his supporters. Botkin had been concerned in the county-
seat contest in the neighboring county of Seward, but was not di-
rectly involved in the Stevens county trouble. His unpleasant re-

4. Simeon Briggs Bradford was long prominent in Kansas politics. In 1875 he repre-
sented Osage county in the legislature and in 1880 was elected county attorney of Osage
county. He was elected attorney-general of the state in 1884 and was reflected in 1886. In
1898 he became a United States commissioner in the Indian territory. He died at Ardmore,
I. T., April 2, 1902.

5. Theodosius Botkin was born in Clarke county, Ohio, June 25, 1846. In 1865 he came
to Kansas, settling in Linn county. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and served as
probate judge of the county and police judge of Mound City. He was appointed judge of
the thirty-second district in March, 1889, and removed to Stevens county. He resigned this
judgeship October 11, 1892, and settled in Hutchinson. Reno county elected him to the state
legislature in 1896. In 1901 he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. He was serving as U. S.
consul at Campbellton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, when he died, May 27, 1918.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 59

lations with Wood began in 1890, either through Botkin's candidacy
for congress or through a disagreement in court, or through both of
these matters. Botkin was intolerant of opposition. Wood was, in
a way, rather easy-going but would fight and fight hard in self de-
fense. The character of the men was such that it was inevitable
that the feeling between them should become intensely bitter. Bot-
kin was a man of much native ability and good education. He was
a lawyer of no little strength. He understood legal principles and
knew how to apply them. Granting that he was not corrupt, and
even leaving out of account the fact that he was a drunkard and a
gambler, his administration of the judicial office was foredoomed to
failure. He was by temperament a partisan. He could scarcely
witness a dog fight without taking sides. He could not hear the
most ordinary law suit, even if disinterested at the start, without
becoming biased upon one side or the other. And as in each of the
counties composing his district the county seat controversies had
left bitter animosities, he straightway become involved in factional
quarrels.

Next to his instinct of partisanship Botkin's most unfortunate
characteristic was the extent to which he carried the doctrine of
judicial notice. The accepted formula is that courts will take
cognizance without proof of whatever is a matter of common knowl-
edge. Judge Botkin did not stop at this. He took notice not only
of all that was publicly known but of much that was only privately
suspected. If he failed to take official cognizance of everything that
occurred in his district the omission was more than compensated for
his taking judicial notice of much that never did occur. He was
continually making orders based upon what he himself stated to
be vague rumors. Upon such information he would order the
county attorney to institute prosecutions, arraign offenders before
himself to answer as for contempt, disbar attorneys, and imprison
citizens for what amounted to lese majesty. The newspaper man
who ventured any criticism of his conduct, on or off the bench, was
likely to be haled before him to answer for his temerity in a sum-
mary proceeding peculiar to that jurisdiction — a curious blend of
court martial, examination for contempt, and prosecution for crim-
inal libel. The lawyer who with reasonable vigor tried a case be-
fore him for a client with whom the judge was out of sympathy
was deemed to have achieved a triumph of forensic skill and diplo-
macy if he escaped being committed to the county jail.

Naturally enough Botkin soon reduced his district, already suf-

60 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ficiently distracted by the tumultuous confusions of local war, to a
state of anarchy. Yet, strange to say, he attracted adherents even
among some of the most respectable residents. In every community
there was a sharp division into factions. But this division was no
longer along county seat lines. It was into Botkin and anti-Botkin
parties. Sam Wood gradually came to be regarded as the anti-
Botkin leader, and against him were directed all the influences con-
trolled by Botkin. Attempts were made to arrest him at Topeka
upon charges lacking in any reasonable pretense of good faith — but,
as Wood no doubt conscientiously and not unreasonably believed,
for the purpose of taking him among his enemies with a view to his
assassination. Then came the session of the legislature of 1891,
Wood being officially clerk of the judiciary committee of the house
and actually the ruling spirit of that body, the majority of which
were populists, as he was. Botkin was impeached, and the impeach-
ment was tried by a senate all members of which, save two, were
Republicans. Although a majority voted for conviction, the require-
ment of a two-thirds vote to convict caused a failure of the prosecu-
tion. Botkin was acquitted but not vindicated.

Aside from the general accusations of drunkenness and petty
tyranny, the principal charge against him was based upon his con-
duct with reference to the finances of the city of Springfield. Bonds
of that municipality had been issued for the construction of water
works. The bonds had been sold and the proceeds partially ex-
pended for that purpose. Disputes arose with reference to the
validity of a part of the proceedings in relation to the matter. In
March, 1890, Judge Botkin made a written order reciting that com-
plaints of the conduct of the city council had come to his notice,
and that it had been represented to him that the county attorney
had refused to institute proceedings against them and requiring
that officer to do so at once or to show cause why his office should
not be declared vacant and he himself be attached for contempt.
Shortly after this the county attorney began an action to enjoin the
city officers from recognizing in any way the validity of the bonds
referred to. A temporary injunction was allowed. The city at the
time had on hand cash to the amount of about $7,500. According
to his own statement, Judge Botkin, having heard street talk to the
effect that his injunction might be disregarded, feared that this sum
would be improperly expended if vigorous measures were not taken
to prevent. He, therefore, upon his own motion made an order in
the pending action appointing a receiver to take charge of this fund.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 61

A few weeks later the action was dismissed, "with prejudice," and
the receiver was discharged, having in the meantime paid out with
the approval of the court over $5,250 for attorneys' fees for which
no visible services had been rendered either to the city or to the re-
ceiver. Such a transaction was obviously incapable of palliation or
excuse, but a number of senators justified their votes against con-
viction by attributing it to bad judgment, free from any wrongful
motive. Comment would be superfluous.

During the session of the legislature Wood had been arrested upon
a charge of bribery and had given bond for his appearance at the
term of court in Stevens county, which began June 23, 1891. About
the middle of the forenoon of that day Wood, accompanied by his
wife and a Mrs. Carpenter, drove into Hugoton and to the door of a
church where Judge Botkin was holding court. An adjournment was
taken until two o'clock just before Wood reached the building.
Wood entered it for the purpose of examining some records. While
he was inside the judge and most of the court attendants left. Jim
Brennan walked out at the front door and stood waiting until Wood
came out, when he pulled a revolver and shot him in the back.
Wood started to run around the corner of the building. Brennan
followed him and shot him again in the back. All this was in the
presence of Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Carpenter. A crowd gathered
quickly. Wood was carried into the church, where he died in a short
time. Brennan had been a witness for the defendants in the trial
of the haymeadow murderers, and his evidence had been sharply
criticised by Wood in his argument to the jury in that case. This
was given out as the occasion for the assassination. Personal en-
mity doubtless had a place in inspiring this atrocious murder, but
there were many circumstances that tended to lend probability to
the theory, which was generally accepted by Wood's friends, that it
was the result of a wide-spread conspiracy to which Botkin was
actively or passively a party. Brennan was taken into custody, but
only a half-hearted attempt was made to prosecute him. It was
realized that it was impossible to find a sufficient number of qualified
jurymen for the trial of the case in Stevens county. Only a few
hundred men were eligible for jury service there and these, almost
without exception, had been identified with one or the other of the
contending factions. But had the fact been otherwise, had the
county had a dense population of disinterested and dispassionate
citizens, the very publicity of the butchery would still, under the
curious application sometimes made of the law in this state, have

62 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

disqualified all of them that had sufficient intelligence to form an
opinion. After one or two futile attempts at a trial Brennan was
discharged.

In 1911 another effort was made to bring him to trial, the increase
in the population of Stevens county by immigration seeming to justify
a belief that a qualified jury could be obtained there. He was
arrested upon extradition papers in Oklahoma, but was released on
habeas corpus upon the ground that having submitted himself to
the process of the Kansas courts and been discharged he was not a
fugitive from justice. The soundness of the decision is open to
question, but it is not without support in the authorities.

The miscarriage of justice resulting from a failure to procure a
jury naturally added to the popular distrust of the machinery of
the law. It was believed by a large proportion, if not by the ma-
jority, of the people of the six counties composing the district that
the judge was capable of every crime in the calendar and guilty of
most of them, and that he was supported in his iniquity by the state
administration. It had been seen that murder could be done in his
district, almost in his presence, with impunity if not with judicial
sanction. A reign of terror followed. No man felt his life or his
property to be safe. No man dared appeal to the law for the
protection of either. Just what plots and counter-plots were formed
will probably be left to a later generation to discover. Rumors
were rife of oath-bound bands leagued for the destruction of Bot-
kin. In December, 1891, word was brought to him of a definite plan
to kill him while on his way to hold court at Springfield in the fol-
lowing month. It came through one who professed to have taken
part in the deliberation of the plotters. It received scant cre-
dence, partly because many similar reports had proved unfounded,
partly because of the emotional character of the informer. Never-
theless, it undoubtedly resulted in saving Botkin's life. On the 5th
of January, 1892, court was to be opened at Springfield. The judge
lived some three miles south of the town. By reason of the warn-
ing mentioned the sheriff with a posse was sent to reconnoiter the
route thither just about daybreak. From a ravine lying near the
road the party was fired upon and Sheriff [Sam] Dunn was killed.
The killing was not through mistake. Although it is beyond doubt
that Botkin was the victim primarily sought, Dunn himself was ex-
tremely obnoxious to the anti-Botkin element and was unquestion-
ably slain on that account. Other members of the party could
easily have been killed or captured, but were permitted to escape.

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 63

Botkin immediately turned his residence into a military camp.
Pickets were thrown out, arms accumulated and a state of siege
was established. All persons approaching were halted, examined
and, if it was thought advisable, searched. None was permitted
to pass the outposts except after giving a satisfactory account of
himself and his errand. Botkin wired the governor for assistance.
Militia was promptly sent to his relief. He cursed the authorities
for sending him soldiers instead of merely furnishing him with guns.
His conduct for a few days led those who saw him to entertain the
gravest doubts of his sanity. His words and actions were hysterical.
Yet there was method in his madness. After the presence of the
militia had apparently restored peace and removed the fear of fur-
ther violence, the officer in command suggested that as he was
there for the purpose of protecting the court, and as the protection
offered was ample, there was no reason why the business of the
term should not be proceeded with. But Botkin stubbornly refused
to open court and as stubbornly declined to give any reason for
delay. The reason which he afterwards assigned was this — a con-
test was pending for the office of sheriff; the candidate favored by
Botkin was the contestor, his opponent having received the certifi-
cate of election; but it was understood that a decision was shortly
to be rendered and that it would be in his favor. Judge Botkin's
purpose in postponing from day to day the opening of court, as ex-
pressed to his friends, was in order to give his candidate time to
get from the contest court a certificate of election in order that he
might be in a situation to proclaim the opening of the district court
and thereby obtain the benefit incident to being recognized as the
de facto sheriff.

Arrests were made of men supposed to have taken part in the
killing of Dunn, but the impossibility of obtaining a jury led to the
discontinuance of the proceedings. There are men still living in the
vicinity who avow personal knowledge that the purpose of the
ambuscade was to take the life of Botkin, who justify such purpose,
and are at little pains to deny their own participation in it. Botkin
came to Topeka shortly after the new homicide and, realizing that
he was generally felt to be in a large degree responsible for this and
other recent troubles, issued a formal statement justifying his acts,
which bore a distinct family resemblance to the traditional defense
made by Jim Lane to the charge of the murder of Jenkins. The
statement in type occupied two newspaper columns and was little

64 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

more than a labored attempt to prove that the widow of Sam Wood
was with the party that killed Dunn.

Whether through fear of a more successful attempt upon his life,
or by reason of pressure brought by his friends, Botkin concluded
to resign, delaying only until thirty days before election, in order
that his successor might hold for a year by appointment instead of
only until the next general election. He removed to Hutchinson and
was a member of the Kansas house of representatives in the session
of 1897. He seems to have been regarded by his colleagues in that
body as an elderly gentleman of mild manners and inoffensive dis-
position. How far the continuance of the condition of strife, dis-
order and crime throughout the district, which originated in the
county seat quarrels, was due to his personal influence can be judged
from this — from the hour of his retirement there has been no more
peaceable and law-abiding community in the state of Kansas or out
of it, than that of the old thirty-second district. There and in the
neighboring counties the passions excited in those troublous times
have passed away. There may still linger here and there traces of
the suspicion and hatred then engendered, but they are not obtruded.
The effect of the debauchery of the public conscience then accom-
plished may not have wholly disappeared, but its display is rare.

The era of turbulent strife ended as suddenly as it began. Where
the subsidence of the struggle found the county seat located other-
wise than in its natural place a change was later effected practically
without opposition. In Hamilton county at one time Coolidge,
Kendall and Syracuse each claimed to be the county seat, and each
maintained a full set of county officers and assumed to transact the
county business. One who wished to pay taxes, or to begin a law
suit, had to guess at his peril which was the de jure or the de facto
government. Syracuse, the central town, was obviously the only
place where the public would have been satisfied to have the county
seat permanently established, and there it was finally placed. In
Kearny county while the fever was raging Hartland succeeded in
winning the coveted prize from Lakin; but after conditions had
reverted to the normal a change was made by an overwhelming vote.
In Gray county Soule's money ravished the county seat for Ingalls.
In their haste to get it back the Cimarron people proceeded without
a strict regard for the legal requirements and omitted some of the
conditions precedent to a valid election. Nevertheless an election
was held and the records and offices were transferred in accordance
with the vote cast. The Ingalls contingent carried the matter to the

MASON: COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSIES 65

district court but were denied relief. On appeal the decision was
reversed, but in the meantime interest in the matter had become so
lax that no one ever undertook to follow it up, and Cimarron has
ever since remained the de facto county seat by mere common con-
sent, although de jure the title is doubtless still in Ingalls. In Seward
county Springfield won in the bitter fight there waged, but when
Liberal, from its position on the railroad, became the business center
of the county it was soon naturally and inevitably made the center
of government as well.

It is said that assassination never changed the course of history.
It did not do so in this case. Probably no single county seat in any
of the counties in the region referred to is now in a different place
from what it would have been had there been no boom, no frenzy
of town building, no controversy, no bribery, no frauds, no murder.
The losses of life and property incurred in the effort to influence
such locations were net. No tangible beneficial results to any one
remain to be placed against them. The outrages upon humanity
and decency were ineffectual, and this is fortunate, for it makes it
easier to regard the whole disgraceful episode as the hideous night-
mare that it was and to speed it on its way to oblivion.

5—6617

The Grass Wigwam at Wichita

BLISS ISELT

ON AN inaccessible island in the Little Arkansas river at Wichita
stands a conical, grass-thatched wigwam which, if situated in
a state that knows the value of advertising its points of historical
interest would attract many Kansans every year. Think of the
thousands upon thousands of picture post-cards which Kansas
visitors to other states send back home of such scenes as Plymouth
Rock, Molly Pitcher's Spring, Indian dwellings in New Mexico,
Arizona or California.

The Indian wigwam in Wichita is no less interesting than are
those of Utah and, situated as it is on an island with trees, could
be made very attractive. Historically it is of value because in such
a lodge dwelt the farmers of the Arkansas valley before the first
Spaniard or Frenchman came to the plains. Since no Indians other
than the Wichitas built exactly that type of lodge it is a rare
structure, there being only four or five remaining on the Wichita
lands near Anadarko, Okla.

The manner in which the Indians constructed the wigwam in
Wichita and their reason for building it show evidence of a deep
religious feeling and of a natural generosity little known.

The lodge came into existence as the result of a visit to the Indians
in June, 1924, by a group of Wichita citizens consisting of Col.
S. S. Carter, president of the Wichita Booster Club; William C.
Peacock, an old-time plainsman and scout who is adept in the
Indian sign language; Glen Douglas, one of F. W. Hockaday's
highway sign men; and myself. I was then a reporter for the
Wichita Beacon. At the suggestion of Peacock, who knew Indian
character well, we obtained a commission from Mayor Frank L.
Dunn, appointing us as ambassadors from the white city of Wichita
to the red brothers living on the banks of the Washita.

When this letter was read and translated to an assemblage of
Indians on the agency grounds near Anadarko, the old men, who
remembered Wichita as a village of grass houses, took us to their
homes, where they inquired about the town as it now appears.
Everything was done to show their appreciation of our friendly
visit. The aged chief Kiowa, who won his name in a war when he
single-handed brought in a captive Kiowa chief, took us inside his
grass lodge, where we were allowed to sit and look around while

(66)

ISELY: GRASS WIGWAM AT WICHITA 67

he visited a long time with Peacock in the sign language. He and
Peacock had been scouts together in the Indian campaign of 1874,
at which time the Wichitas fought on the side of the whites. Their
visit over, I chanced to remark to Peacock my surprise at the excel-
lence of the construction of Chief Kiowa's wigwam, which had been
standing for almost sixty years and appeared to be good for sixty
years more. Peacock repeated my remarks in sign talk. Where-
upon the old chief answered: "If you like it, you shall have one."

Several weeks later Mayor Dunn received a letter from the
Wichita Indian council, offering to come to Wichita and construct
a lodge. Mayor Dunn appointed Colonel Carter as chairman of a
committee to make arrangements. I was secretary. We soon
learned that we would have to pay the expense of the building,
not because the Wichitas wanted to make a profit, but because they
were too poor to buy the materials, pay for transportation of them-
selves and material to Wichita, and feed themselves during the ten
days necessary for the construction. In the first place, they speci-
fied that the piers of the lodge would have to be of cedar, and they
no longer had cedar on their lands. It had to be specially selected
cedar. Nothing shoddy was to go into the construction.

The committee obtained consent from the park board for con-
struction of the lodge on Mead island, an undeveloped wooded
tract of three acres belonging to the Wichita park system. It was
Colonel Carter's plan to surround the lodge with an Indian garden,
and he adopted a suggestion of Elmer T. Peterson, then editor of
the Beacon, now editor of Better Homes and Gardens, that the
lodge be roofed over with a glass house to insure its preservation
for posterity, when it would become more valuable than ever.
Colonel Carter also planned an Indian museum, where the curios
of the plains tribes might be preserved.

Unfortunately Colonel Carter died before the lodge was built,
and it would not have been completed had it not been for Mrs.
Fern Mead Jordan, widow of the pioneer for whom Mead island
is named. When the lodge was completed and a deficit remained,
she paid it out of her own pocket.

The Indians arrived late in May, 1927, headed by Sooka, a
woman, who, as a girl, had swung in the grape vines in what is
now Riverside Park, not far from where the lodge now stands.

Among the Wichitas, as among most Indians, the home belongs
to the woman. In case of divorce she throws the man's things out of
the lodge and she remains. Consequently, the women are the build-

68 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ers. Men accompanied the women as escorts and as assistants in
building, for among the modern Wichitas men work on the farms
and in house building after the manner of white men.

House building among the ancient Wichitas was a sacred thing,
for in a house children are born and grow to manhood and woman-
hood. For that reason when the first cedar pier was set, Sooka
bowed her head and in the Wichita tongue prayed to the Great
Spirit. It might be well to say that the majority of the modern
Wichitas are Christians, being members of the Baptist Church. I
do not know whether the Christianized Wichitas pray in building
their houses or not, but Sooka prayed after the custom of her
mothers.

Other cedar piers were set in a circle of twenty feet diameter.
Each pier had a crotched top, and across the crotches were laid
transverse beams on which rested long cedar saplings, reaching from
the ground upward, where they were gathered together at the top
of the cone-like house and lashed together. Over the framework was
laced a wattle work of willow, which was covered with a thatch of
long grass, laid in tiers, overlapping like shingles.

At the apex of the lodge was set the most important thing of all.
It was a five-pointed device, symbolical of the five fingers of the
hand, and consisting of pointed rods. The central rod was pointed
straight up to Man-Never-Known-on-Earth. The other four rods
were inclined toward the four winds of Heaven. This device en-
ables the four winds and Man-Never-Known-on-Earth to enter the
lodge and bestow their blesings on the people.

The lodge has two doors, one at the east, where the sun can peep in
in the morning to give his blessing, and one in the west where he can
look in before night to see that all is well. There also is an opening
at the south to serve as a window, where the sun can look in at noon.
Just east of the apex is a smoke hole. Under the smoke hole is a
circular excavation on the floor of the lodge, which is a fireplace.1

The construction over, Sooka struck a fire, and two meals were
cooked over the fireplace. The Indians spent one night in the lodge
so that is could be said that real Indians had slept there. The
lighting of the first fire was accompanied by prayer, so the Indians
later reported, but no white men were allowed to be present, al-
though Mrs. Jordan, being a woman and the widow of James R.

1. A picture of the lodge in Wichita, with the five-pointed device plainly showing, can
be seen on the frontispiece of Early Days in Kansas, by Bliss Isely, Wichita Board of Edu-
cation (Wichita Eagle Press, 1927). There is also a picture of Kiowa's wigwam on page 8.
See, also, Kansas Historical Collections, v. XVII, p. 520, for a brief story and picture.

ISELY: GRASS WIGWAM AT WICHITA 69

Mead, the old-time friend of the Wichitas, was welcome at any time.

Early travelers on the prairies were always glad to come to the
village of the Wichitas, for, unlike the teepee dwellers, the grass-
house dwellers were farmers, and in a grass lodge corn, beans and
pumpkins were served to the visitors, who welcomed a change from
a diet of nothing but buffalo meat.

Kiowa told me that visitors were always welcome at his mother's
lodge, and they were welcome to dip food out of the pot without in-
vitation. There was always food in the pot, and during green-corn
time there were roasting ears, protected by husks, baking in the
ashes. At harvest time pumpkins were cut round and round in a
long string and dried for winter use. They were hung from the un-
derside of the roof of the lodge by one end of the string. Corn also
was suspended from the roof by the husks, until the whole underside
of the roof was gaily festooned with corn, pumpkins and other pro-
visions.

Women took care of the crops, not because the men were lazy
but, as Kiowa explained, because reproduction is woman's work and
in the old days crops would not grow if men interfered. It was
man's place to bring home the meat, defend the village, break horses,
make saddles and shields and bows and arrows. Any one who scoffs
at Kiowa's theory that the men were not lazy had first better try-
to make a bow and arrow and fit the arrow with an arrow head.
While women did the field work, their house work was light. They
cooked but one meal a day and left the loaded pot near the fire
where anybody could help himself all day long if hungry. They
washed no dishes, laundered no clothes, sprinkled water on the floor
of the wigwam to settle the dust, and made no beds.

Night was the time for parties in which women danced with the
men. Kiowa said he never could recall when his mother worked
after dark, but his daughters, who now walk the white woman's
road, often work by lamplight.

What some authorities consider to be the earliest visit to the
Wichitas by white men was that of the Coronado expedition in 1541.
Pedro de Castaneda, historian of the expedition, wrote: "The
houses are round, without a wall, and they have one story like a
loft, under the roof, where they sleep and keep their belongings.
The roofs are of straw." 72

In 1601 Juan de Onate, first governor of New Mexico, visited the

2. George Parker Winship's translation of Castaneda's narrative, Fourteenth Annual Re-
port of the Bureau of Ethnology, v. 1, p. 528.

70 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Arkansas, presumably at the mouth of Cow creek or the Little Ar-
kansas. The people he found there are supposed to be the Wichitas,
from the description of their houses. He wrote :

"We came to a settlement containing more than twelve hundred houses, all
established along the bank of another good-sized river, which flowed into a
large one. They were all round, built of forked poles and bound with rods,
and on the outside covered to the ground with grass." 3

Continuing his description of their fields he wrote:
"We remained here for one day in this pleasant spot surrounded on all sides
by fields of maize and crops of the Indians. The stalks of the maize were as
high as that of New Spain and in many places higher. The land was so rich
that, having harvested the maize, a new growth of a span in height had sprung
up over a large portion of the same ground without any cultivation or labor
other than the removal of the weeds and the making of holes where they
planted the maize. There were many beans, some gourds, and between the
field some plum trees."4

Later the French left records of visits to the Wichitas, whom they
called the Pani Piques; Pani, because they were related to the Paw-
nees, and Piques, because they tattooed themselves like the Picts
of ancient Scotland.5 Wars with the Osages, who were supplied
with firearms by the French traders of St. Louis, forced the Pani
Piques south. This fact was recorded by Meriwether Lewis, the ex-
plorer, who obtained the information from his French guides. In
his discussion of the various branches of the Pawnees, he wrote in
his journal concerning the Pani Piques: "The fourth band originally
resided on the Kanzas and Arkansaw, but in their wars with the
Osages they were so often defeated that they at last retired to their
present position on Red river, where they form a tribe of four hun-
dred men." 6

The Wichitas were visited on Red river by the Dodge military ex-
pedition in 1835. George Catlin, the artist, who accompanied the
expedition, called them Pawnee Picts, and his description of them
is much like that by Onate 234 years previous. Says Catlin :

"To our very great surprise we have found these people cultivating quite
extensive fields of corn, pumpkins, melons, beans and squashes. So with
these aids and an abundant supply of buffalo meat they may be said to be
living well.

"We found here a very numerous village containing some five or six hun-
dred wigwams, all made of long prairie grass thatched over poles which are

3. H. E. Bolton (ed.) Juan de Onate's Expedition to the Arkansas, in Spanish Explora-
tion in the Southwest (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1916), p. 260.

4. Ibid., p. 261.

5. Frederick Webb Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, v. II, pp. 947, 948.

6. Meriwether Lewis, History of the Expeditions of Captains Lewis and Clark, reprinted
from edition of 1814 (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1903), p. 36.

ISELY: GRASS WIGWAM AT WICHITA 71

fastened in the ground and bent in at the tip, giving to them, in distance, the
appearance of straw bee hives." 7

In 1863, because they sided with the Union, the Wichita village
was destroyed by the Confederates and the fugitives returned to
their ancient habitat in Kansas, where James R. Mead first met
them on the site of Wichita, and where they promptly built a grass
village and surrounded it with gardens of corn, beans, squash and
melons.8

The government removed them to their present seat on the Wash-
ita in 1867, and the Wichita pioneers used the straw of their houses
for horse bedding and the cedar piers for fence posts.

For sixty years the grass lodges were unknown on the Arkansas,
until Sooka and her women rebuilt the one on Mead island. It is
to be hoped that Wichita will some day bring their historical treas-
ure out of hiding and put a bridge to Mead island so that her own
boys and girls and the visitors to the city can see the wigwam that
was erected by such reverent hands.

7. George Catlin, The North American Indiana (Leary, Stuart & Co., Philadelphia, 1913),
v. II, p. 79.

8. James R. Mead in Kansas Historical Collections, v. X, p. 10.

The Annual Meeting

THE fifty-seventh annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical
Society and the board of directors was held in the rooms of the
Society on October 18, 1932.

The meeting of the board of directors was called to order at 10
a. m., by the president, Justice John S. Dawson. The first business
was the reading of the annual report of the secretary.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, YEAR ENDING OCTOBER 18, 1932.

The past year has been one of continued growth and progress in all de-
partments of the Society. Accessions of manuscripts, documents, books and
relics have been large and of unusual interest and value. Especially note-
worthy is the marked increase in the number of persons who have used the
Society's collections. This may be because of unemployment or, as has been
suggested, because of the stimulated interest in public affairs which accom-
panies a national political campaign. During the year, however, there was a
material increase in the extent of newspaper publicity the Society's activities
received, both locally and throughout the state, and this doubtless attracted
many new patrons.

The secretary has been greatly assisted in the work of the year by the
president of the Society, Justice John S. Dawson, and by the executive com-
mittee. The executive committee has met regularly once a month, and all
matters of importance have been referred to it.

LIBRARY.

The library received over two thousand inquiries for information, mostly
regarding Kansas subjects or genealogy. These requests come from all parts
of the United States and are answered by letter or by the loan of duplicate
books or material compiled specifically for loan use. Many are from school
teachers and students. Some can be answered in a few minutes while others
often require hours of research. Writers of theses have used the library, the
newspaper section, and the manuscripts and archives departments for the
following subjects during the year: New England Emigrant Aid Company;
government regulation of business; survey of Portland cement industry in
Kansas; history of education in Rush county; history of education in Sumner
county; Kansas state documents; Kansas state constitution; library legislation
in Kansas; bank taxation; Mennonites; landmarks in Kansas; high-school
courses of study; development of Kansas government; history of school lands
in Kansas; history of municipal ownership of public utilities in Kansas;
history of the Robinson administration; the Progressive party in Kansas.

In addition, much use was made of the library by newspaper writers and
historians.

The constantly increasing demand for information and assistance often
makes it impossible for the library staff to handle the routine of library work
and cataloguing. Two additional catalogue clerks are needed to do the work

(72)

THE ANNUAL MEETING 73

efficiently. The Society possesses 15,000 pictures which should be sorted,
catalogued and filed. At present there is no workable index to this valuable
collection.

Accessions to the library proper and to the archives and newspaper sections
for the year ending June 30, 1932, were as follows:

Library :

Books (volumes) 841

Pamphlets 2,607

Newspapers and magazines (volumes) 932

Archives :

Separate manuscripts 64,582

Manuscript volumes 112

Maps 2

Maps, atlases and charts 94

Pictures 547

These accessions bring the totals in the possession of the Society, including
the museum, to the following figures:

Library, including books, pamphlets, bound newspapers and magazines, 340,627

Archives, separate manuscripts 912,281

Archives, manuscript volumes 26,653

Archives, maps 416

Maps, atlases and charts 10,145

Pictures 14,639

Museum relics and objects 32,529

Through the courtesy of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company the
Society is now receiving current telephone directories from all the company's
exchanges in Kansas. Next to the newspapers, these directories are the most
important contemporary record of each community. Efforts are also being
made to secure directories from the independent exchanges.

ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS.

Accessions of private manuscripts and documents have been among the
most important since the organization of the Society. The largest in point of
numbers is a collection of the letters and papers of the late Charles S. Gleed,
donated by his family. Mr. Gleed was president of the Southwestern Bell
Telephone Co., a director of the Santa Fe Railroad Co., and a leader in Kansas
affairs. This collection is an invaluable source record comprising over 25,000
pieces.

Another unique and valuable accession is a collection of the manuscripts,
maps and documents of Adolph Hunnius, donated by his son, Carl Hunnius,
of Leavenworth. Adolph Hunnius served in the Civil War and was employed
by the government as a map maker. He visited many sections of Kansas in an
early day. This collection contains numerous manuscript maps, some of which
have already thrown new light on early forts and trails. There are several
thousand pieces in this collection.

Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf, a director of the Society, gave a valuable collec-
tion of letters, manuscripts, pictures, books and relics. The three volumes
of correspondence include two on the Spanish-American war and one on the
European war. There are several albums of pictures showing American troops
in the Philippines, especially the Twentieth Kansas, of which General Metcalf
was colonel. There are hundreds of newspaper clippings in this collection.

74 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Recently General Metcalf also gave to the Society a fine library of books
on army manuals, tactics, etc. The relics include a Moro shield and spear,
two rifles and two saddles. One of the saddles was used by General Metcalf
during his service in the Philippines and the other is one which he owned and
which was used by General Funston.

Mrs. L. C. Schnacke, daughter of John Davis, former congressman and
editor at Junction City, donated fourteen volumes of indexed scrap books
which had been prepared by her father.

Walter E. Thiele, of Lawrence, gave a most interesting collection of
military records of the Nineteenth Kansas cavalry which had belonged to
Capt. John Q. A. Norton, of Company D. These include official documents
and correspondence.

During the year the Society has acquired several new John Brown letters.
The most interesting is an original letter which was written by John Brown
to his father in 1849. It is one of the earliest records of Brown's interest
in the negro question. Three photostatic copies of new John Brown letters,
written in the 50 's, were purchased. A photostatic copy of a bill of sale for
a horse which John Brown sold to the father of Sen. H. K. Lindsley, of
Wichita, was given to the Society by Mr. Lindsley.

These collections are the outstanding accessions, but are only a part of
those received this year.

Excellent progress has been made in the work of repairing and calendaring
manuscripts. Naturally but little headway can be made by two clerks on
the vast collections owned by the Society. It had been hoped that additional
clerks might be requested from the next session of the legislature, but in
view of the economic situation it was the opinion of the executive committee
and the secretary that it would not be good policy to request them at this
time and they were not included in the budget.

In the death of Esther Clark Hill the Society lost an invaluable assistant.
Mrs. Hill was not only a capable worker; she brought to her task a knowledge
and an intense love of Kansas which were a great asset to the department.

The largest accession to the archives came from the insurance department.
This was a collection of 62,000 manuscripts and 106 manuscript volumes of
annual statements. Five hundred manuscripts came from a former board of
managers of the state soldier's home and the Mother Bickerdyke home. The
most important accession during the year, in the archives department, was
the manuscript collection of Wm. I. R. Blackman, who came to Lawrence in
1854. It was given by his son, Maulsby W. Blackman, of Syracuse, N. Y.
This collection was received by the Society in 1930, but was not transferred
from the vault to the archives until 1932. The most valuable document in
this collection is the complete journal in original form of the Leaven worth
Constitutional Convention which met at Minneola March 23, 1858, and ad-
journed next day to convene at Leavenworth.

Second in importance is a corrected draft of the Wakarusa Treaty of Peace,
made December 8, 1855, by Gov. Wilson Shannon, Charles Robinson and
J. H. Lane. Three drafts of treaties had been made, the one by the free-state
men being accepted with slight changes.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 75

NEWSPAPER SECTION.

Readers in the newspaper section have noticeably increased in numbers
during the year. The demand for current issues especially has been greater.
Old files have been consulted by about the usual number of readers and
students of history.

The issues of 757 newspapers and periodicals, 89 being school and college
publications, were being received regularly on October 1. Of these 57 were
dailies, one triweekly, 13 semiweeklies, 520 weeklies, 19 fortnightlies, three
once every three weeks, 12 semimonthlies, 81 monthlies, 11 bimonthlies, 26
quarterlies, 11 occasionals, and three semiannuals. In the list were included
458 weekly community newspapers. On January 1 the Kansas newspaper
collection totaled 40,419 bound volumes.

Valuable out-of-state newspapers included in our files are still stacked on
benches in the basement awaiting shelving facilities. Territorial newspapers of
Oklahoma, and Boston newspapers contemporary with the New England
Emigrant Aid Company, are included in this collection. An appropriation is
being asked of the next legislature to care for these.

The 1932 annual List of Kansas Newspapers and Periodicals received by the
Kansas State Historical Society was published in June. The edition listed the
editors and publishers of 755 publications.

At the consolidation of the Chanute Daily Timesett with the Chanute
Tribune January 9, 1932, fifteen unbound volumes of the Timesett were
presented to the Society by John P. Harris and Charles F. Jones, editors of
the reorganized Tribune. A file of the Manhattan Kansas Farm Bureau
Bulletin from 1922 to 1928 was given the Society by R. C. Obrecht, of Topeka.

MUSEUM.

While the museum continues to be our most popular department with the
general public, the attendance for the year fell to 27,316, due to the fact that
it was closed for two months during the winter for repairs. The walls and
ceilings were repaired and painted and all exhibits, including over 600 portraits
and paintings, excepting only the Goss collection of birds, were taken down
and thoroughly cleaned. During the week of the fair the museum attracted
2,733 visitors.

The number of relics and museum objects accessioned during the year was
ninety-nine.

One of the most valuable accessions was the collection received from the
estate of lone D. Eastman, widow of the late Phil Eastman, of Topeka. This
bequest of colonial furniture included a grandfather clock, two Windsor chairs,
a wall cabinet, a mahogany dresser, a mahogany drop-leaf sewing table, a
mahogany writing desk, a marble-top walnut shaving stand, a brass door
knocker, an Austrian vase, and a large Wedgewood platter.

A wooden Indian was donated by Hedwig Wulke. A hand-written arithme-
tic begun in 1792 was donated by the daughter of Dr. G. H. Fitzgerald, Kelly,
Kan., and Mr. E. T. Fay, of Harris, Kan., added twenty-two specimens to the
collection of Indian artifacts previously donated by him.

Last winter the local newspapers announced that the Society was planning
to build a sod house in the museum. This story, which was picked up by
press associations and printed all over the country, invited old-timers to write

76 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to the Society and describe methods of construction. Over two hundred
letters were received.

KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY.

Four numbers of the new Quarterly have been issued and the fifth will be
ready when the index to the volume is completed. The first volume will con-
sist of the first five numbers, including the November, 1932, issue which will
contain the index. This was done so that a new volume will not begin in the
middle of the year; subsequent volumes will contain four numbers each.

The Quarterly has been successful beyond expectations. It has proved
popular with the members and has resulted in much favorable newspaper
publicity. Articles from each number have been reprinted, condensed or
commented upon by newspapers in all parts of the state. Much of the credit
for the high standard of the articles is due to Dr. James C. Malin, associate
professor of history at the University of Kansas and associate editor of the
Quarterly.

LOCAL AND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.

Since the last annual meeting two county historical societies have affiliated
themselves with the state Society by taking out life memberships. In addi-
tion, the Society has given assistance to the organizers of several other county
historical societies not yet affiliated. A special invitation to attend this annual
meeting was extended by the secretary to the officers of local and county so-
cieties. Several of these associate societies are doing excellent work in gath-
ering historical data and relics. The encouragement of these local societies is
an important part of the work of the state Society. It is obviously impossible
for the Society with its limited staff to secure and preserve the historical rec-
ords of the 105 counties. Only through active local societies can this be done.

SHAWNEE MISSION.

The old Methodist Shawnee Mission near Kansas City is the outstanding
historic site in Kansas and one of the finest in the Middle West. At the pres-
ent time only two of the large brick buildings are open to the public, and only
one of these is in a presentable condition. Eventually all three of these build-
ings should be restored as nearly as possible to their original condition. The
state architect estimates that it would require in the neighborhood of $25,000
to restore the north building, which is in the worst condition. The most in-
teresting of these buildings is the one known as the east building, and it is
now attracting hundreds of visitors. Last fall permission was given the Shaw-
nee Mission Indian Historical Society, a newly organized group in Johnson
county, to install a museum in the large downstairs room in this building.
The results rhave been surprising and most gratifying. Hundreds of relics
and museum objects, illustrative of the early life of the mission are now at-
tractively displayed. At a meeting attended by several hundred persons
which was held there on June 27, the museum was formally turned over to
the state Society. This museum has received much publicity in the Kansas
City and nearby papers and as a result thousands of readers have been told
of the importance of this early-day outpost of civilization in the history of
Kansas and the west.

Another local organization which has shown much interest in the mission

THE ANNUAL MEETING 77

is the Shawnee Mission Floral Club. This club at its own expense installed a
lily pool and rock garden. On April 3 this gift was formally presented to the
state. A Washington elm which was planted at the time was accepted on be-
half of the state by Gov. Harry H. Woodring, and the rock garden and lily
pool were accepted by the secretary of the Historical Society.

FIRST CAPITOL OF KANSAS.

The First Capitol building, on highway 40 near Fort Riley, continues to at-
tract many visitors. Despite the greatly decreased volume of tourist travel
the number of visitors has increased. For the year ending October 1, 1932,
there were 13,216 visitors as compared with 12,552 the preceding year.

GIREAU TRADING POST.

The untimely death on May 28, 1932, of John A. Hall, of Pleasanton, a di-
rector of the Society, delayed plans for the erection of a marker on the site of
the old Gireau Trading Post at the town of Trading Post, which he had
donated to the Society. This site marks the spot where Gireau traded with the
Indians in 1834; where General Scott erected defense barracks in 1842; and
where John Brown dated his famous Parallels, written in January, 1859. Last
month the secretary visited Mrs. Hall and Mr. Hall's two brothers and made
arrangements for the erection of a granite marker and the maintainence of the
site. This marker will be erected this month.

MARKING HISTORIC SITES.

This month the Historical Society and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce
are beginning a cooperative effort to compile a complete list of historic spots
in the state which are marked by tablet, statue, or otherwise. The only lists
now available are far from complete. The work of securing these lists from
local communities will be done by American Legion posts and Legion Auxiliary
Units, through the cooperation of the state department.
Respectfully submitted,

KIRKE MECHEM, Secretary.

Upon the conclusion of the reading of the report of the secretary
the president asked what disposition the board of directors wished
to make of it. On motion of Thomas A. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Grace
D. M. Wheeler, the report was approved and accepted.

The president then called for the reading of the report of the
treasurer of the Society, Mrs. Mary Embree, which follows:

REPORT OF THE TREASURER.
MEMBERSHIP FEE FUND.

Balance September 21, 1931, cash $1,173.90

Membership dues 235.67

Interest on liberty bonds 297 .50

Refund of money advanced for postage and expense money 122.50

Liberty bonds, at cost 5,911 .63

Total amount on hand. . $7,741 .20

78 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

EXPENDITURES TO AUGUST 17, 1932.

Traveling expenses $343.42

Subscriptions 97 . 45

Rent of safe deposit box 3.00

Printing and paper 29.23

Rental of chairs for annual meeting 4 . 00

Hussey Insurance Co., premium on bonds 10.00

Old letters of John Brown, picture, etc 110.00

Christmas gifts to janitors 13.50

Extra clerk hire 105.80

Filing record and registering deed 3 . 10

Repairs 7.20

Hauling mail 2.00

Flowers 10.50

Maps 7.00

Dues in Topeka Chamber of Commerce 25. 00

Office files 28.00

Refund on membership dues .50

Tax on checks .12

Money advanced for postage, etc 110.00

Total expenses $909 .82

Balance August 17, 1932 6,831.38

$7,741.20

Liberty bonds $5,911.63

Cash . 919.75

$6,831.38

JONATHAN PECKER BEQUEST FUND.

September 21, 1931 :

Balance $79.86

Interest 40.38

Total amount on hand $120.24

Expenditures :

Frank J. Wilder, New Hampshire books $89.60

August 17, 1932, balance 30.64

$120.24

JOHN BOOTH BEQUEST.

September 21, 1931 :

Balance $72.85

Interest 21.25

Balance $94.10

No expenditures.

THOMAS H. BOWLUS FUND.

$1,000, in form of liberty bond; the interest from which is deposited with
membership fee fund. Respectfully submitted,

MARY EMBREE, Treasurer.

On motion of John S. Dean, seconded by W. W. Denison, the
treasurer's report was approved.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 79

The report of the committee appointed by the executive commit-
tee to audit the books of the treasurer was read, as follows:

REPORT OP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

The committee appointed by the executive committee of the Historical
Society having examined the books of the treasurer and compared it with the
state accountant's audit report for the preceding fiscal year find that the same
agree in all respects and we therefore approve the above and foregoing treas-
urer's report as correct. EDWIN A. AUSTIN,

THOMAS AMORY LEE,

Committee.

On motion of Col. Sam F. Woolard, seconded by H. K. Lindsley,
the auditing committee's report was approved.

Mrs. Eliza E. Goodrich, secretary of the Wyandotte County His-
torical Society, asked permission to speak a few words on the work
of her society. She exhibited a photostatic copy of the Shawnee
Sun of 1841 and portraits of early settlers of Wyandotte county.

The report of the nominating committee was called for and was
read by Mrs. Henry F. Mason:

REPORT OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE.
To the Board of Directors, Kansas State Historical Society :

Your committee on nomination beg leave to submit the following report
for officers of the Kansas State Historical Society for the following year:
For president, Thomas Amory Lee, Topeka.
For first vice president, H. K. Lindsley, Wichita.
For second vice president, Thomas F. Doran, Topeka.
For secretary, Kirke Mechem, Topeka.
For treasurer, Mrs. Mary Embree, Topeka.

Respectfully submitted, MRS. HENRY F. MASON,

ISABELLE C. HARVEY,
E. E. KELLEY,
JAMES C. MALIN,
E. A. RYAN,

Committee.

Mrs. Flora R. Godsey, of Emporia, spoke of the secretary's pro-
posal to build a sod house in the museum and suggested that a log
cabin be erected to represent the eastern part of Kansas.

There being no further business for the Board of Directors, the
meeting adjourned.

80 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society con-
vened at two o'clock p. m: The meeting was called to order by
President Dawson.

The secretary read telegrams and letters from members who were
unable to be present.

President Dawson asked Thomas A. Lee to introduce Mr. Boyd
B. Stutler, of West Virginia. In presenting him Mr. Lee stated
that Mr. Stutler possessed probably the largest collection of John
Brown material in the country. Mr. Stutler said that having been
born not far from Harper's Ferry he had from boyhood been inter-
ested in John Brown, despite the local antipathy toward him, and
had begun at an early day to make a collection of material relating
to him. His collection comprises books, pamphlets, posters, por-
traits and other items. A bibliography containing over a thousand
titles which he has compiled will be printed by the New York City
public library. Upon the completion of Mr. Stutler's talk President
Dawson suggested that if he were in doubt where to place his
collection when he passed on, the Kansas State Historical Society
would be glad to act as its custodian.

President Dawson read a letter which had been written to him
by Judge C. E. Cory, of Fort Scott, a director of the Society, who
is at present living in Lake Charles, La., and requested the secre-
tary to write him expressing the regret of the members at his
absence.

The president then read his annual address:
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

If Herodotus was the Father of History, I presume I should greet you
representatives of the Kansas State Historical Society as the Sons and
Daughters of Herodotus. And this, with my very best bow, I now do.

History is an authentic record of what man has done. Arnold of Rugby
denned it as the biography of the commonwealth. Napoleon said that history
is a fable that people have agreed upon; but that satirical remark was clearly
erroneous, since what is not true is not history.

As a state historical society we are primarily concerned with the chronicles
of our own commonwealth, with the collection and preservation of data and
materials by which the story of its development can be set down in available
and enduring form. There is no more lasting public service a group of
scholarly men and women can render than that of preserving a state's history
for the instruction and future guidance of its citizens. Like the Scripture, a
state's history is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc-
tion in civic righteousness. No part of this state's educational program is more
worthy of public support than the activities of the Kansas State Historical

THE ANNUAL MEETING 81

Society. Kansas history is not confined to its mere provincial aspects. For
the greater part of one heroic generation Kansas supplied the stage and theme
for an all-engrossing national political drama whose acts and scenes were laid
hereabout — the rush from North and South to capture and hold this territory
for freedom or slavery; the border warfare which opened the "Irrepressible
Conflict"; the influx of the soldier settlers who staked out their homesteads
on the Kansas plains; the epic of the prairie trails to Santa Fe, to Oregon and
Pike's Peak; the building of the railroads, and the boom towns which sprang
up in their wake. Such dramatic incidents largely shaped our state's history
from the passage of the Squatter Sovereignty act of 1854 until the later
eighties, and their repercussions deeply affected the entire nation.

The moods and tenses of the people of Kansas should be interpreted in the
light of their colorful and dramatic background, having in mind what our
pioneer forbears strove for and endured and accomplished. And the Kansas
of to-morrow will be the product of all our yesterdays. Our state consciousness,
our temperamental, social and political attitudes, are our composite reaction to
the tribulations through which the Sunflower State has cleaved its way — not to
the stars, but in their direction — Ad astro, per aspera !

Yet the true historian has other obligations than that of formulating pleas-
ing encomiums to flatter our state pride. Lord Acton, a historian of the last
century, declared that in all the years he had devoted to historical research
and historical writing he had constantly striven to suppress the poet, the
patriot, the religious and political partisan, to sustain no cause, to write noth-
ing to gratify his own feelings or disclose his personal convictions. His stead-
fast attitude towards his work was to scrutinize, dissect his materials, and set
down the result. Nothing more. But such an attitude of neutrality is hardly
attainable by the average student of history; and possibly the voluminous
product of Lord Acton's pen is an accumulation of highly valuable materials
for the writing of history rather than history itself.

I think it not improper that historians should be partisans — honest, in-
formed partisans — but our partisan mood should follow and not precede our
research work. There is likely to be more vitality, more sustained interest, in
the literary work of an honest, informed partisan than in the colorless writing
of one whose entire attitude is that of studied detachment. The true student
of history pursues his researches in the scientific spirit. His work must be
systematized. The discovery, classification and preservation of historical data
constitute one important aspect of his work. Appraising the due weight and
significance to be given to such data is another great responsibility. Both
services are invaluable. History cannot be predicated on memory, folk lore
or tradition. It must rest on material proof. Documentary evidence is the
best and makes the largest contribution. Statutes, decisions of courts, files
of court proceedings, official reports, governors' messages, newspapers, busi-
ness records and personal correspondence of the long ago — all these supply
invaluable material when subjected to the appraising scrutiny of the trained
analyst. Biography, and especially autobiography, are highly serviceable
source books for the compilation of history. It has been truly said that the
life of every person contains the materials for an excellent story, if he has had
the good fortune to have a biographer. Poetry, the popular songs of past gen-

6-6617

82 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

erations, even the crude doggerel of the common people, contain much gold
of historic truth which the trained student can readily uncover. Ancient ruins,
coins, weapons, relics of all sorts yield a rich treasure of evidentiary data. In
the Field Museum in Chicago is a marvelous collection of dentists' tools, un-
earthed in Pompeii, which reveals what remarkable progress the dental art
had made in Italy before A. D. 79, when that city was destroyed. Many au-
thentic contributions to the history of other arts of surprising proportions have
been gleaned from similar sources. The antiquarian and archeologist bring to
light evidentiary materials for the composition of ancient and medieval his-
tory; and that history in turn teaches us to interpret the present and to fore-
cast the future. If and when we accumulate sufficient data concerning the na-
tions of antiquity to diagnose the causes of their decline and fall we shall
have progressed a long way towards the discovery of an antidote for the eco-
nomic and social diseases which produce the mortality of states and of peoples.

Whenever the evidentiary facts of history have been made available, its
composition will follow in due course. And of all who bear a hand in gathering
the evidentiary facts and materials for the writing of history, as well as of
those who do write it, and those who study it when written, it can justly be
said that they are of a royal and privileged race. Whereas the years of a man
are three score and ten, the years of the student of history are lengthened to
include all the authentic ages of the past ; and from the vantage point of such
disciplined breadth of view he acquires something of a philosopher's attitude
towards the present and a prophet's vision to anticipate the future.

The research worker and writer in the field of history must have aptitude
and industry and unqualified devotion to his subject. A man who finds history
tedious or uninteresting would better let it alone. Otherwise he is apt to
conclude that history is what Henry Ford swore it was, in his million-dollar
lawsuit with Aaron Shapiro.

Not only is a natural aptitude for the work of the historian necessary, but
the successful worker must be trained to it, either self-taught or school-
taught — trained in analysis of facts and their value, in the selection of the
relevant and elimination of the inconsequential, and in the matter of drawing
proper deductions from the systematized mass.

Within the half century which covers the period of my memory and ex-
perience, the student's approach to history has been greatly altered. The
value of its substantive matter has shifted completely. In my boyhood we
studied dates, battles, dynasties—

"First William the Norman,
Then William his son,
Henry, Stephen and Henry,
Then Richard and John. . ."

Of the people who supported those autocrats and of contemporary social
conditions we were taught very little. To this day I must admit I know a
good deal more about the half-mythical Siege of Troy and the "wrath of
Achilles" than I do about how common humanity lived and died during many
centuries prior to and succeeding the incidents embalmed in Homer's song.
In my youth school boys read much about Mirabeau and Danton, Robespierre
and Napoleon. But somehow our histories made no impression upon our
minds as to the causes of the sanguinary events which brought these personages

THE ANNUAL MEETING 83

into public view— the protracted growth of French absolutism, the hopeless
wretchedness of the French people. Of the reformers, philosophers and
writers who groped their way to the world-shaking climax of 1789, the hiitories
of fifty years ago placed before a college lad told next to nothing.

The modern historian has a far better sense of historic values. His chief
concern with the climaxes and cataclysms of history is to trace them to their
remote sources, to detect and reveal the causes which produce such conse-
quences. The past, its errors and successes, are lessons for guidance hi the
future. By such service as the painstaking historian alone can give, enlightened
citizenship and patriotic statesmanship can direct the course of history away
from the mistakes of the past into wiser channels, and thereby counteract
history's fateful tendency to repeat itself. In times of social unrest, when
economic and industrial conditions are abnormal, the lessons of history are
invaluable. Those lessons supply two prime services, at least: First, the
assurance that we always have won through such troublesome periods to better
conditions and easier times; and second, a guideboard showing how our
economic and industrial tribulations have been surmounted heretofore. History
is freighted with the experiences of peoples who have followed blind political
trails and espoused fallacious doctrines to their sorrow and misfortune. Stu-
dents of history cannot stress too strongly how wise and profitable it is for
people to be historically minded; how greatly the state can profit by the
lessons of experience. It is the historian's bounden obligation never to become
weary of well-doing ; he must patiently and steadfastly teach with tongue and
pen how imprudent it is to espouse proposed doctrines and policies without
consulting historic records to learn whether these have been tried before and
with what result of success or failure.

It is a curious social phenomenon that it is only on matters of public con-
cern that the lessons of experience are ignored. On any important legal
question the average man will engage the services of a lawyer who will make
an exhaustive examination of the pertinent decisions of the highest courts
before he will venture to advise his client or put his legal rights to the hazard
of a lawsuit. In any case of dangerous illness the course of treatment pre-
scribed by a consicentious physician is always the one which a studious exami-
nation of similar recorded cases suggests as most likely to effect a cure. But
in matters of economics, politics and government, inquiry is seldom made
whether a proposed expedient has ever been tried before. Even if it is a mere
commonplace fact of history that a suggested measure had been repeatedly
tried and had invariably failed it will be plausibly championed as if it were
the acme of political wisdom.

Why should not the great political parties establish research bureaus to
study proposed economic and political measures, and to have reports thereon
made at off seasons when no political compaigns are impending. If this coun-
try is to continue to be governed through the expediency of political parties
something of this kind will have to be undertaken. We cannot go on indefi-
nitely as we have been doing in recent years. It is absurd to suppose that the
grave and important economic and political problems of our national democ-
racy or of a single American commonwealth can be wisely solved by a plat-
form committee who are informally convened for a brief session in a hotel
bedroom on the night before a political convention.

84 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

When the American pioneers came over the Alleghanies into the woods and
prairies of the Middle West, governmental concerns and activities were at a
minimum. To the frontiersman who did not violate the sixth, seventh, and
eighth commandments, the government was a vague, impalpable thing with
which he had little or nothing to do except in time of war. That remote re-
lation of the common man to his government continued until so recent a time
that many of our citizens of middle life and older are still bewildered at
what has happened to the America of their youth. Now government is con-
cerned with a multitude of matters which were regarded as clearly outside
its legitimate scope a few decades ago. It is the plain duty of the historian
to interpret this disquieting growth of governmental activity. Much expansion
of government has been required to make our country as comfortable a place
for 125 million people to live in as it was for twenty, or forty, or sixty million
people, and while patriotic anxiety over our constantly expanding government
ought to slow down the enactment of more laws and police regulations, the
research student of history must confess that the tendency to curtail the peo-
ple's liberties and to increase the burdens of their government has never been
effectively and permanently checked among the nations and states of bygone
times. Whether it can be done without halting or crippling the progress of
civilization is a problem worthy of the most earnest solicitude of patriotic
men and women. As dutiful historians — like Clio, with her stylus — we will
faithfully record every worthwhile attempt at its solution.

Perhaps the most profound lesson which history has to teach is that noth-
ing in government or in the structure of society has happened by mere chance.
Our national and state constitutions were devised in travail of brain and pa-
triotism. The institutions of this fair state — its cities, churches, schools, and
business establishments — did not just grow like Topsy. They came about be-
cause two generations of men who preceded us labored unceasingly and pur-
posely to bring them into existence — not for themselves alone, nor for us their
children, but for many generations yet to come. A great and enduring com-
monwealth is not founded upon lands and goods but on the faith of its people
and in the genius of its institutions. Faith is the substance of things hoped
for. And a people can achieve only what they aspire to and work for and
pray for.

Kansas history should occupy a larger place in our system of education.
More local history needs to be written and preserved. There is an instruc-
tive lesson in the chronicles of every county, in every worth-while town, in
every worth-while public achievement. There are many Kansans still living
who were here in our day of small things. Almost every one of them has a
story which should be preserved. Not all of these stories need be printed.
Set down in typewriting and filed in the archives of this Society, they will
not be lost; and their value will be justly appraised by our research students
aa the years go by.

As members of the Kansas State Historical Society we have nothing to do
with mere boasting of our state's greatness. Like other patriotic folk we
have a just pride in its history; but none will more readily admit than we
that there are limitless stretches of social culture and of political progress yet
to be achieved by forward-looking men before our beloved Kansas accom-

THE ANNUAL MEETING 85

plishes its destiny, before it fulfills its motto, "To the Stars Through Diffi-
culties."

"Look backward, how much has been won;

Look forward, how much is yet to win.
The watches of the night are done;

The watches of the day begin."

Following the reading of his address the president called for the
report of the committee on nominations for directors of the Society,
which was read by the secretary as follows:

October 18, 1932.
To the Kansas State Historical Society:

Your committee on nominations make leave to submit the following report
and recommendations for directors of the Society for the year ending Oc-
tober, 1935:

Aitchison, R. T., Wichita. Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville.

Bowman, Noah L., Garnett. McLean, Milton R., Topeka.

Capper, Arthur, Topeka. McNeal, T. A., Topeka.

Cory, C. E., Fort Scott. Malin, James C., Lawrence.

Crosby, E. H., Topeka. Mason, Mrs. Henry F., Topeka.

Dawson, John S., Hill City. Morehouse, George P., Topeka.

Denison, W. W., Topeka. Plumb, George, Emporia.

Doerr, Mrs. Laura P. V., Larned. Raynesford, H. C., Ellis.

Doran, Thomas F., Topeka. Russell, W. J., Topeka.

Ellenbecker, John G., Marysville. Smith, Win. E., Wamego.

Harvey, Mrs. Sally, Topeka. Spratt, 0. M., Baxter Springs.

Hobble, Frank A., Dodge City. Stevens, Caroline F., Lawrence.

Hodder, F. H., Lawrence. Thompson, W. F., Topeka.

Hogin, John C., Belleville. Van Tuyl, Mrs. Effie H., Leavenworth.

Huggins, Wm. L., Emporia. Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton.

Humphrey, H. L., Abilene. Wilson, John H., Salina.

Johnston, Mrs. W. A., Topeka.

Respectfully submitted,

MBS. HENRY F. MASON,
ISABELLB C. HARVEY,
E. E. KELLEY,
JAMES C. MALIN,
E. A. RYAN,

Committee.

On motion of Colonel Woolard, seconded by General Metcalf , these
directors were unanimously elected for the term ending Oc-
tober, 1935.

The president called on Mrs. Frank Hardesty, president of the
Shawnee Mission Indian Historical Society, to read the annual
report of the work of her organization. In closing she read a poem
by Bernice G. Fraser on the Old Shawnee Mission. Mrs. Hardesty
then introduced Mrs. Edna Anderson, of Kansas City, Mo., who was

86 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

born at the mission and who is a daughter of Rev. Thomas John-
son, its founder. Mrs. Anderson expressed her appreciation for
the work of the State Society and the cooperation of the Shawnee
Mission Indian Historical Society.

Miss Edna Nyquist, secretary of the McPherson County Histori-
cal Society, was called upon and spoke briefly about the work being
done in that county.

Judge Dawson introduced the two members of the Grand Army
of the Republic who were present, J. W. Priddy, department adju-
tant, and Col. W. W. Denison, prefacing his introduction by calling
attention to the debt the Historical Society owes the G. A. R. for
the beautiful Memorial Building in which it is housed. Mr. Priddy
and Colonel Denison both responded with short talks.

President Dawson told of the work being done by the Society in
the preservation of old manuscripts and documents, and called upon
the secretary to explain the processes used. Mr. Mechem explained
that the repair work is based on the methods in use at the Library
of Congress and exhibited samples of old manuscripts in various
stages of repair.

H. C. Raynesford, of Ellis, a director of the Society, was asked
by the president to explain the work he has done in tracing the
Butterfield Overland Despatch road through Ellis and Trego coun-
ties, which was first surveyed by the government in the 1850's as
a mail line between Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. Mr.
Raynesford told how he had been assisted in this undertaking by
Mr. Charles A. Baugher, who was present at the meeting. He dis-
played a number of sections of detailed survey maps to illustrate
his talk, and explained some of the difficulties which arise due to
the fact that the old trails and station sites have been almost oblit-
erated. Mr. Raynesford stated that they expected to complete the
surveys to the western boundary of the state.

Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf called attention to the fact that the route
of the old Oregon trail can be seen in six places on highway number
40 between Topeka and Lawrence, and stated that more markings
should be erected on the old trail.

No further business being presented, the meeting adjourned.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 87

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

The afternoon meeting of the board of directors was called to
order by the president. The secretary read the names of life, hon-
orary and annual members to be elected by the board, as follows:

LIFE MEMBERS.

William A. Bailey, Kansas City, Kan. Frank T. Sullivan, Lawrence.

Dr. Loyal Davis, Chicago, 111. McPherson County Historical Society,
Jasper Younkin, Kansas City, Kan. McPherson.

Dr. Margaret Bostic, Topeka. Coburn Library, Colorado College,
Miss Kate Stephens, New York, N. Y. Colorado Springs.

Julius M. Liepman, Fort Scott. Kiowa County Historical Society,
Clarence Mershon, Oakley. Mullinville.

O. D. Sartin, Cedarvale.

ANNUAL MEMBERS.

Lucile Lukens, Lenora. Agnes Emery, Lawrence.

Mrs. Martha O. Colvin, Neosho, Mo. Salina Memorial Art Co., Salina.

HONORARY MEMBER.
Mrs. John A. Hall, Pleasanton.

On motion of Col. Sam F. Woolard, seconded by Thomas Amory
Lee, they were unanimously elected to membership.

The president called for a rereading of the report of the nominat-
ing committee for officers of the Society. On motion of Colonel
Woolard, seconded by Colonel Denison, the following officers were
elected :

For a one-year term: Thomas Amory Lee, president; H. K. Lindsley, first
vice president; T. F. Doran, second vice president;

For a two-year term: Kirke Mechem, secretary; Mrs. Mary Embree,
treasurer.

President Dawson called upon the newly elected president, Mr.
Thomas Amory Lee, who thanked the board and made a brief talk.

Sen. H. K. Lindsley, of Wichita, inquired if it is necessary for
newly elected members to wait for the annual meeting to ratify their
election before certificates of membership can be issued to them.
It was pointed out that the by-laws adopted the year previously
gave the power to ratify memberships and issue certificates to the
executive committee.

No further business being brought before the board the meeting
adjourned. KIRKE MECHEM, Secretary.

88

THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

DIRECTORS FOR YEAR
Beeks, Charles E., Baldwin.
Beezley, George F., Girard.
Bonebrake, Fred B., Topeka.
Bowlus, Thomas H., Tola.
Browne, Charles H., Horton.
Dean, John S., Topeka.
Embree, Mrs. Mary, Topeka.
Gray, John M., Kirwin.
Harger, Charles M., Abilene.
Harvey, Mrs. Isabelle C., Topeka.
Haucke, Frank, Council Grove.
Kagey, Charles L., Beloit.
Kinkel, John M., Topeka.
Lee, Thomas Amory, Topeka.
McFarland, Helen M., Topeka.
Malone, James, Topeka.
Mechem, Kirke, Topeka.

DIRECTORS FOR YEAR
Austin, E. A., Topeka.
Berryman, J. W., Ashland.
Brigham, Mrs. Lalla M.,

Council Grove.
Brooks, H. K., Topeka.
Bumgardner, Dr. Edward, Lawrence.
Curtis, Charles, Topeka.
Davis, John W., Dodge City.
Denious, Jess C., Dodge City.
Frizell, E. E., Larned.
Godsey, Mrs. Flora L, Emporia.
Hall, Mrs. Carrie A., Leavenworth.
Hamilton, Clad, Topeka.
Haskin, S. B., Olathe.
Hegler, Ben F., Wichita.
Jones, Horace, Lyons.
Kelley, E. E., Topeka.
Lillard, T. M., Topeka.

DIRECTORS FOR YEAR
Aitchison, R. T., Wichita.
Bowman, Noah L., Garnett.
Capper, Arthur, Topeka.
Cory, C. E., Fort Scott.
Crosby, E. H., Topeka.
Dawson, John S., Hill City.
Denison, W. W., Topeka.
Doerr, Mrs. Laura P. V., Larned.
Doran, Thomas F., Topeka.

ENDING OCTOBER, 1933.
Metcalf, Wilder S., Lawrence.
Morrison, T. F., Chanute.
Norris, Mrs. George, Arkansas City.
O'Neil, Ralph, Topeka.
Philip, Mrs. W. D., Hays.
Rankin, Robert C., Lawrence.
Ruppenthal, J. C., Russell.
Ryan, Ernest A., Topeka.
Sawtell, James H., Topeka.
Simons, W. C., Lawrence.
Soller, August, Washington.
Stanley, W. E., Wichita.
Stone, Robert, Topeka.
Trembly, W. B., Kansas City, Kan.
Walker, B. P., Osborne.
Woodward, Chester, Topeka.

ENDING OCTOBER, 1934.
Lindsley, H. K., Wichita.
McCarter, Mrs. Margaret Hill,

Topeka.

Mercer, J. H., Topeka.
Oliver, Hannah P., Lawrence.
Patrick, Mrs. Mae C., Satanta.
Reed, Clyde M., Parsons.
Rupp, Mrs. W. E., Hillsboro.
Scott, Charles F., lola.
Schultz, Floyd, Clay Center.
Shirer, H. L., Topeka.
Van De Mark, M. V. B., Concordia.
Van Petten, A. E., Topeka.
Wark, George H., Kansas City, Kan.
Wheeler, Mrs. B. R., Topeka.
Woolard, Sam F., Wichita.
Wooster, Lorraine E., Salina.

ENDING OCTOBER, 1935.
Knapp, Dallas W., Coffeyville.
Ellenbecker, John G., Marysville.
Harvey, Mrs. Sally, Topeka.
Hobble, Frank A., Dodge City.
Hodder, F. H., Lawrence.
Hogin, John C., Belleville.
Huggins, Wm. L., Emporia.
Humphrey, H. L., Abilene.
Johnston, Mrs. W. A., Topeka.

THE ANNUAL MEETING 89

McLean, Milton R., Topeka. Smith, Wm. E., Wamego.

McNeal, T. A., Topeka. Spratt, O. M., Baxter Springs.

Malin, James C., Lawrence. Stevens, Caroline F., Lawrence.

Mason, Mrs. Henry F., Topeka. Thompson, W. F., Topeka.

Morehouse, George P., Topeka. Van Tuyl, Mrs. Effie H.,
Plumb, George, Emporia. Leavenworth.

Raynesford, H. C., Ellis. Walker, Mrs. Ida M., Norton.

Russell, W. J., Topeka. Wilson, John H., Salina.

Recent Additions to the Library

Compiled by HELEN M. MCFARLAND, Librarian

OINCE the library is specialized, books which are purchased or re-
O ceived by gift generally fall into the following classes: the
Kansas library, including books by Kansans and books about Kan-
sas; the western section, covering explorations, overland journeys,
and tales of the early West; genealogy and local history, including
family histories, vital records, Revolutionary records, publications of
patriotic and hereditary societies, and state, county and town his-
tories; and books on the Indians of North America, United States
history and biography.

We are always interested in obtaining information about Kansas
authors and their work and shall consider it a great favor if our
readers will send us any information that will put us in touch with
local authors.

The following books have been added to the library from October
1, 1931, to October 1, 1932:

KANSAS.

BATES, GLEN CORA, Glowing Embers. Rifle, Colo., Press of the Rifle Telegram
[c. 1931].

BEEBE, CHARLES P., Kansas Facts. Vol. 3. Topeka, Beebe [c. 1931].

BELL, ARCH L., Who's Who in the Kansas Legislature; Session 1931. Great
Bend, Howell Printing Company, 1931.

BLANCHARD, LEOLA H., Conquest of Southwest Kansas. Wichita, Kan., Wichita
Eagle Press [c. 1931].

CLAYTON, CHARLES LINCOLN, God, Evolution and Mind Healing. Wellington,
Kan., The American School of Science and Religion, 1923.

COUNTS, GEORGE SYLVESTER, Dare the School Build a New Social Order? New
York, John Day [c. 1932].

Soviet Challenge to America. New York, John Day [c. 1931].

COUNTS, GEORGE SYLVESTER, tr., New Russia's Primer, by M. Ilin. The Story
of the Five Year Plan. Boston, Houghton [c. 1931].

COWAN, MRS. EDWINA EUNICE (ABBOTT), and Avis D. CARLSON, Bringing Up
Your Child; a Practical Manual. New York, Duffield & Company [c. 1930].

COWAN, MRS. EDWINA EUNICE (ABBOTT), and LAURA THORNBOROUGH, pseud.,
The Psychologist Keeps House. Minneapolis, Midwest Company, 1930.

CURROR, D., Scotch Enterprise in America. Mr. George Grant's Great Prop-
erty; Victoria in Kansas ... an Explanation to an Enquiring Scotch-
man Who Contemplated Emigration. Edinburgh, Colston, 1873.

DAVIDSON, CHARLES LOCK, Dilson's Key, by the Commodore. Wichita, Kan.,
The Goldsmith-Woolard Publishing Company, 1916.

DENTZER, PHYLLIS, Story of Abilene High School, 1880-1932. no impr.

DONEGHY, DAGMAR, The Border; a Missouri Saga. New York, W. Morrow &
Company, 1931.

(90)

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 91

DRISCOLL, CHARLES BENEDICT, Treasure Aboard. New York, Farrar and Rine-

hart [c. 1931].

EBLE, JESSIE G., The Red Trail. New York, H. Harrison [c. 1931].
EISELE, WILBERT EDWIN, The Real Wild Bill Hickock. Denver, Colo., W. H.

Andre, 1931.
ELLENBECKER, JOHN G., Oak Grove Massacre (Oak Grove, Nebraska) ; Indian

Raids on the Little Blue River in 1864' Marysville, Advocate-Democrat

[1926?].
ELLIOTT, R. S., Kansas Pacific Railway; Experiments in Cultivation on the

Western Plains. St. Louis, Levison & Blythe, 1872.

English Enterprise in America; Notes Addressed to Investors and Settlers Con-
cerning the Estate of Victoria (Ellis County, Kansas, U. /S.) Property of Mr.

George Grant. Edinburgh, John Lindsay, 1874.
FISHER, HUGH T., Communism in Soviet Russia; Its Challenge to Thinking

Americans. [Topeka, Kan.] Capper Printing Company [c. 1932].
FREDERICKSON, OTTO FROVIN, Liquor Question Among the Indian Tribes in

Kansas, 1804-1881. Lawrence, Kansas University, 1932.
FRENCH, LAURA MARGARET, History of Emporia and Lyon County. Emporia,

Kan., Emporia Gazette Print, 1929.
GERMAN, JOHN LUKE, The Ceaseless Circle; a Series of Sermons. New York,

Fleming H. Revell Company [c. 1931].

GRAY, GEORGE M., Fifty Years in Practice of Medicine, no impr.
HARRIS, DWIGHT THACHER, and CLIFFORD V. SOUDERS, Fifty Years of History;

Topeka Typographical Union No. 121. Topeka, Kan., Capper [c. 1932].
History of Southwest Kansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

Vol. 1, 1869-1931. n. p., Published by the Conference, n. d.
HOYT, CHARLES B., Story; History of Field Hospital 139 of Topeka, Kansas,

in the Great War, 1917-1918-1919. [Topeka, Jones & Birch, n. d.]
HUGHES, LANGSTON, Negro Mother, and Other Dramatic Recitations. New

York, Golden Stair Press [c. 1931].
INDEPENDENCE, FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Brief Historical Statement of the

Founding, Establishment and Accomplishments of Independence, Kansas,

and the First Christian Church. Independence, n. p., 1931.
ISELY, CHARLES C., Cast Out the Demon Depression. Dodge City, Kan.,

Wheat Belt Intelligence [c. 1932].

JACQUART, ROLLAND, Prairie Lore. Sublette, Kan., Sublette Monitor, 1931.
JENNINGS, P. J., Celestial Trails, a Story Written Exclusively for the Amateur

Astronomer and Those Who Love the Starry Nights. Kansas City, Mo.,

Burton Publishing Company [c. 1931].

KANSAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Organization Handbook; Tax Study in Thir-
teen Lessons, n. p. [c. 1932].
KANSAS STATE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, Fifty Years of History;

Kansas State Y. M. C. A., 1882-1932. no impr.
KARSNER, DAVID, Silver Dollar; the Story of the Tabors. New York, Covici,

Friede [c. 1932].
KESTING, CARMEA L., Repression, Plowing Time and Other Stones. Kansas

City, Mo., Burton Publishing Company [c. 1930].
LAKE, STUART N., Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal. Boston, Houghton Mifflin

Company, 1931.
LARKIN, MARGARET, Singing Cowboy, a Book of Western Songs. New York,

A. A. Knopf, 1931.

LONG, SIDNEY, The Cry of the Newsboy. Kansas City, Mo., Burton Publish-
ing Company [c. 1928].

92 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MALIN, JAMES CLAUDE, The Background of the First Bills to Establish a Bu-
reau of Markets, 1911-12. no impr.

Colonel Harvey and His Forty Thieves, no impr.

The United States After the World War. [Boston] Ginn & Company

[c. 1930].

MARCY, JAMES HORACE, Kansas Ballads. Kansas City, Mo., Burton Publishing
Company [c. 1927].

MONROE, DAY, Chicago Families; a Study of Unpublished Census Data. Chi-
cago, University of Chicago Press [c. 1932].

MOSHER, ORVILLE W., JR., Louis XI; King of France, as He Appears in History
and in Literature. Toulouse, Imprimerie et Librarie Edouard Privat, 1925.

NATION, MRS. CARRIE AMELIA (MOORE), Use and Need of the Life of Carry A.
Nation. Topeka, Kan., Steves, 1909.

New and Attractive Field for Emigrants; Important Information Concerning
the Best and Cheapest Farming Grazing Lands in Kansas, the Central State
of the U. S., viz., Victoria, no impr.

ORTON, ORPORIO L., Out Here in Kansas. Lawrence, Kan., The World Com-
pany, 1931.

Sunny Spots in the Sunny State. Lawrence, Kan., The World Com-
pany, 1932.

PICKRELL, ESTEL MARIE, The History of Van Huss District. Leon, Kan., Wil-
liam A. Sears, 1931.

PINET, FRANK L., A Sheaf of Tares, no impr.

PROCTER, ADDISON G., Lincoln and the Convention of 1860. Chicago, Chicago
Historical Society, 1918.

RANDOLPH, VANCE, The Ozarks; an American Survival of Primitive Society.
New York, The Vanguard Press [c. 1931].

ROBINSON, MAY GRIFFEE, Immortal Dream Dust, a Story of Pioneer Life on a
Kansas Homestead. Kansas City, Mo., Burton Publishing Company [c.
1931].

ROE, HERBERT N., and WILLIAM E. LANDERS, Ginger. Kansas City, Mo., Bur-
ton Publishing Company [c. 1927].

ST. MARYS, CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. Historical Sketch Com-
memorating the Golden Jubilee of the Third Parish Church Dedicated to
the Immaculate Conception, 1848, 1874, 1881, 1931. St. Marys, n. p., n. d.

SHELDON, CHARLES MONROE, He is Here. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1931.

SIMPSON, WILLIAM H., and CHARLES SUMNER GLEED, Expert in Friendliness;
an Appreciation. Chicago, n. p., 1931.

SLANE, C. P., Flashlights and Territorial Reminiscences of Kansas; in Verse.
Cincinnati, Editor Publishing Company, 1900.

SMITH, GEORGE T., Critique on Higher Criticism. Winfield, Kan., Industrial
Free Press, 1900.

SMITH, J. WESLEY, Life Story of J. Wesley Smith of Ottawa, Kansas, Written
in His Eighty-Ninth Year. Decatur, 111., Decatur Printing Company [c.
1930].

SMITH, LLOYD, The Paper Route; a Training for Any Business or Profession.
Kansas City, Mo., Burton Publishing Company [c. 1929].

SOUTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY [Directories of Various Kansas
Towns] .

THOMPSON, WALLACE, Greater America; an Interpretation of Latin America
in Relation to Anglo-Saxon America. New York, E. P. Dutton & Company
[c. 1932].

THORPE, MERLE, Organized Business Leadership. New York, Harper & Broth-
ers, 1931.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 93

TOPEKA HIGH SCHOOL, PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT, Sixty-two Years of History
in the Topeka High School, 1870-1932. Topeka, Kan., College Press, 1932.

WARD, MAT WILLIAMS, In Double Rhythm, Poems and Block Prints, n. p.,
1929.

That Perfect Figure; a Farce in Three Short Acts. Hutchinson, Kan.,

Prism Publishing Company, n. d.

WELLS, CARVETH, Kansas. Ponca City, Okla., Continental Oil Company [c.

1932.]
WHITE CHURCH COMMUNITY CHURCH, Centennial Celebration of the White

Church Mission at White Church, Kansas, May 29, 1932. no impr.
WINCH, FRANK, Thrilling Lives of Buffalo Bill, Colonel William F. Cody,

Last of the Great Scouts; and Pawnee Bill, Major Gordon W. Lillie, White

Chief of the Pawnees. New York, S. L. Parsons & Company [c. 1911].
WINROD, J. W., Redeeming the Years the Locust Hath Eaten. Wichita, Kan.,

Defender Publishing Company [c. 1932].
WOODMAN, HANNAH REA, General Marion's Company Dinner. Lockport, 111.,

Old Tower Press [c. 1932].

The Noahs Afloat; an Historical Romance. New York, Neale Publish-
ing Company, 1905.

The Open Road; a Book of Outcast Verse. Poughkeepsie, Priv. print

by the author, 1910.

Tumbleweed Poems. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., A. V. Haight Company

[c. 1909].

THE WEST.

AMBLER, CHARLES HENRY, History of Transportation in the Ohio Valley.

Glendale, Calif., The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1932.
BABB, THEODORE ADOLPHUS, In the Bosom of the Comanches. [Dallas] Press

of John F. Worley Printing Company [c. 1912].
BANDEL, EUGENE, Frontier Life in the Army, 1854-1861. Glendale, Calif., The

Arthur H. Clark Company, 1932.
BARKER, RUTH LAUGHLIN, Caballeros. New York, D. Appleton & Company,

1931.
BARNETT, JOEL, A Long Trip in a Prairie Schooner. Glendale, Calif., The

Arthur H. Clark Company [1928].
BOYNTON, PERCY HOLMES, Rediscovery of the Frontier. Chicago, University

of Chicago Press [c. 1931],
BRYCE, GEORGE, The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company.

London, S. Low, Marston & Company, 1900.
CAMPBELL, MALCOLM, Malcolm Campbell, Sheriff. Casper, Wyoming, Wyom-

ingana Inc. [c. 1932].
CHAPMAN, ARTHUR, Pony Express; the Record of a Romantic Adventure in

Business. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1932.

COOLIDGE, DANE, Fighting Men of the West. New York, E. P. Dutton & Com-
pany, Inc. [c. 1932].
DOBIE, JAMES FRANK, Coronado's Children. Dallas, The Southwest Press

[c. 1930].

On the Open Range. Dallas, The Southwest Press [c. 1931].

DODGE, GRENVILLE MELLEN, Paper Read Before the Society of the Army of the

Tennessee. . . . [Romantic Realities] New York, Styles & Cash, printers

1888.
GHENT, WILLIAM JAMES, The Early Far West; a Narrative Outline. New

York, Longmans, Green & Company, 1931.
HORN, HOSEA B., Horn's Overland Guide. New York, Published by J. H.

Colton, 1853.

94 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

HULBERT, ARCHER BUTLER, Forty-Niners. Boston, Little, Brown & Company,
1931.

JOHNSON, OVERTON, Route Across the Rocky Mountains. Reprinted from the
edition of 1846. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1932.

LAUT, AGNES CHRISTINA, Pilgrims of the Santa Fe. New York, Frederick A.
Stokes Company, 1931.

LEEPER, DAVID ROHRBR, The Argonauts of Forty-Nine. South Bend, Ind., J.
B. Stoll & Company, 1894.

LITTLE, JAMES A., From Kirkland to Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City, James
A. Little, Publisher, 1890.

MARQUIS, THOMAS BAILEY, A Warrior Who Fought Ouster. Minneapolis, The
Midwest Company, 1931.

MERKLEY, CHRISTOPHER, Biography of Christopher Merkley, Written by Him-
self. Salt Lake City, Parry, 1887.

NELSON, JOHN YOUNG, Fifty Years on the Trail, a True Story of Western Life,
by Harrington O'Reilly. New York, Warne & Company, 1889.

PARRISH, PHILIP H., Before the Covered Wagon. Portland, Oregon, Metropoli-
tan Press, 1931.

PETERS, DEWrrr CLINTON, Kit Carson's Life and Adventures. Hartford,
Conn., Dustin, Oilman & Company, 1874.

ROBINSON, JACOB S., Journal of the Santa Fe Expedition Under Colonel Doni-
phan. Reprinted from the edition of 1848. Princeton, Princeton University
Press, 1932.

SABIN, EDWIN LEGRAND, Building the Pacific Railway. Philadelphia, J. B. Lip-
pincott Company, 1919.

TALBOT, THEODORE, Journals of Theodore Talbot, 1848 and 1849-62. Portland,
Oregon, Metropolitan Press, 1931.

VILLARD, HENRY, The Past and Present of Pike's Peak Gold Regions. Re-
printed from the edition of 1860. Princeton, Princeton University Press,
1932.

WARE, JOSEPH E., The Emigrants' Guide to California. Reprinted from the
1849 edition. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1932.

WEBB, WALTER PRESCOTT, The Great Plains. [Boston] Ginn & Company
[c. 1931].

GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY.

ABERNETHY, THOMAS PERKINS, From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee.
Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1932.

ALDRICH, LEWIS CASS, ed., History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Syra-
cuse, New York, D. Mason & Company, 1887.

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC., New York, Epperson and Allied Families ;
Genealogical and Biographical. New York, American Historical Society,
1931.

ANDERSON, JOHN, Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Ham-
ilton; with Genealogical Memoirs of the Several Branches of the Family.
Edinburgh, Anderson, n. d.

ANTRIM, JOSHUA, History of Champaign and Logan Counties, From Their
First Settlement. Bellefontaine, O., Press Printing Company, 1872.

Archives of Maryland. Vols. 48-49. Baltimore, Maryland Historical Society,
1931-1932.

ARMSTRONG, ZELLA, History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Chattanooga, Tenn., The Lookout Publishing Company [c. 1931].

BARNEY, ELVIRA STEVENS, Stevens Genealogy, Embracing Branches of the Fam-
ily Descended from Puritan Ancestry. Salt Lake City, Skeleton Publishing
Company, 1907.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 95

BELL, CHARLES HENRY, History of the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire.
Exeter [Press of J. E. Farwell & Company, Boston], 1888.

The Exeter Quarter-Millennial. Exeter, News Letter Press, 1888.

BENEDICT, WILLIAM H., New Brunswick in History. New Brunswick, N. J.,

The Author, 1925.
BEST, FRANK EUGENE, comp., John Keep of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, 1660-

1676, and His Descendants. Chicago, Frank E. Best, 1899.
BINGHAM, ROBERT W., The Cradle of the Queen City; a History of Buffalo to
the Incorporation of the City. Buffalo, Buffalo Historical Society, 1931.
[Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, Vol. 31.]
Blair Magazine ; Official Bulletin of the Blair Society for Genealogical Research.

Vol. 1, Nos. 1-10. Erie, Pa., Society, 1925-1930.

BLAKE, FRANCIS EVERETT, Increase Blake of Boston, His Ancestors and De-
scendants. Boston [Press of David Clapp & Son] 1898.

BOSCAWEN, N. H., 150th Anniversary of the Settlement of Boscawen and Web-
ster, August 16, 1883. Concord, N. H., Printed by the Republican Press
Association, 1884.
BOUGHTON, JAMES, Bouton-Boughton Family; Descendants of John Bouton.

Albany, Munsell, 1890.
BOUTON, NATHANIEL, History of Concord from . . . 1725 to . . . 1853.

Concord, N. H., B. W. Sanborn, 1856.
BOYLESTON, EDWARD DUDLEY, comp., Historical Sketch of the Hillsborough

County Congresses. Amherst, N. H., Farmers' Cabinet Press, 1884.
BROOKHAVEN, N. Y., Records of the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County,
New York. Patchogue, N. Y., printed at the office of the Advance, 1880-
1893.

BULLARD, EDGAR JOHN, Bennett and Allied Families; Addenda to Bullard and
Allied Families. Detroit, E. J. Bullard, 1931.

Bullard and Allied Families. Detroit, E. J. Bullard, 1930.

Other Bullards, A Genealogy Supplementary to Bullard and Allied

Families. Port Austin^ Mich., E. J. Bullard, 1928.
BURKE, ARTHUR MEREDITH, The Prominent Families in the United States of

America. Vol. 1. London, Sackville Press, 1908.
BURNHAM, E. J., Some Early Chapters in Epsom's History. Manchester, N.

H., Gould, n. d.

BURNS, ANNIE WALKER, Kentucky Vital Records. [Record of Marriages in
Bourbon, Fayette, Franklin and Woodford Counties, Kentucky, to 1851.']
4 vols. no impr.

CANTRELL, MRS. EMMA MARIA HARRELL, comp., Annals of Christ Church Parish
of Little Rock, Arkansas, from A.D. 1839 to A.D. 1899. Little Rock, Arkan-
sas Democrat Company, 1900.

CHAMBERLAYNE, C. G., The Vestry Book of Stratton Major Parish, King and
Queen County, Virginia, 1729-1783. Richmond, Division of Purchase and
Printing, 1931.
CLARK, EDWARD STEPHENS, The Stephens Family with Collateral Branches.

San Francisco, Jos. Winterburn Company, 1892.
CLARKE, MAURICE D., Manchester: Brief Record of Its Past and a Picture of

Its Present. Manchester, N. H., J. B. Clark, 1875.

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE. CITY HISTORICAL COMMISSION. History of Con-
cord, New Hampshire, From Original Grant in 1725 to the Opening of the
Twentieth Century. [Concord, N. H., Rumford Press, 1903.]
CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Collections. Vol. 24. Hartford, Conn., pub-
lished by the Society, 1932.

96 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

County Court Note Book. Index, Vols. 7-9. no impr.

CURTIS, JONATHAN, Topographical and Historical Sketch of Epsom, New

Hampshire. Pittsfield, N. H., Analecta Publishing House, 1885.
DANIELS, GEORGE FISHER, Notes on a Franklin Branch of Daniell or Daniels

Family. Oxford, Mass., n. p., 1897.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, Lineage Books. Vols. 121-126.

Washington, D. C., 1931.
DAVIS, GEORGE LUCIEN, comp., Samuel Davis of Oxford, Massachusetts, and

Joseph Davis of Dudley, Massachusetts, and Their Descendants. North

Andover, Mass., Geo. L. Davis, 1884.
DENNY, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, comp., Genealogy of the Denny Family in

England and America. Leicester, Mass. [Worcester, Press of C. Hamilton]

1886.
DENSMORE, LYMAN WILLARD, Handbook of Hartwell Genealogy, 1636-1887*.

Boston, Geo. E. Crosby & Company, 1887.
DERBY, SAMUEL CARROLL, Early Dublin; a List of Revolutionary Soldiers of

Dublin, New Hampshire. Columbus, O. [Press of Spahr & Glenn] 1901.
DODGE, JACOB RICHARDS, Hillsborough County Records; a Glimpse of Business

and Resources of Thirty-one Towns. Nashua, N. H., Dodge & Noyes, 1853.
ELLIS, FRANKLIN, ed., History of Columbia County, New York. Philadelphia,

Everts & Ensign, 1878.
History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, L. H. Everts

& Company, 1882.
FAXON, FREDERICK WINTHROP, ed., Annual Magazine Subject-Index, 1930.

Boston, F. W. Faxon Company, 1931.
FELTON, CYRUS, A Genealogical History of the Felton Family. Marlborough,

Mass., Pratt Brothers, 1886.
FITTS, JAMES HILL, Historical Discourse Delivered at Centennial Anniversary

of the Congregational Church, Candia, New Hampshire, April 6, 1871.

Exeter, N. H., The News-Letter Press, 1903.
FULHAM, VOLNEY SEW ALL, The Fulham Genealogy with Index of Names and

Blanks for Records. Burlington [Vt.] Free Press Printing Company, 1910.
GARDNER, LILLIAN MAY (STICKNEY), and CHARLES MORRIS GARDNER, Gardner

History and Genealogy. Erie, Pa., Erie Printing Company [c. 1907],
GEROULD, SAMUEL L., The New England Meeting House with a History of the

Congregational Meeting Houses in Hollis, New Hampshire. Nashua, N. H.,

Telegraph Publishing Company, 1904.

HALL, JOHN, and SAMUEL CLARKSON, Memoirs of Matthew Clarkson of Phila-
delphia, 1735-1800 . . . and of His Brother, Gerardus Clarkson, 1737-

1790 . . . [Philadelphia, Thomson Printing Company] 1890.
Handbook of American Genealogy; edited by Frederick Adams Virkus. Vol. 1,

1932. n.p., Institute of American Genealogy [c. 1932].
HILL, JOHN BOYNTON, Proceedings of the Centennial Celebration of the 160th

Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Mason, New Hampshire.

Boston, Elliott, Thomes & Talbot, 1870.

History of Coles County, Illinois. Chicago, W. LeBaron, Jr., & Company, 1879.
History of Hancock County, Ohio. Chicago, Warner, Beers & Company, 1886.
HOPEWELL, N. J., Town Records of Hopewell, New Jersey. New York, Printed

by Little & Ives Company, 1931.
HUNT, JOHN EDDY, comp., The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago, Regan

Printing House, 1904.

HUNTING-TON, N. Y., FIRST CHURCH, Records of the First Church in Hunting-
ton, Long Island, 1723-1779. Huntington, N. Y., Printed for Moses L.

Scudder, 1899.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 97

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY, Publication Thirty-Eight; Transactions of
the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1931. Printed by authority
of the State of Illinois [1932].
JACOBUS, DONALD LINES, Index to Genealogical Periodicals. New Haven, Conn.,

D. L. Jacobus, 1932.
JONES, LEWIS HAMPTON, Captain Roger Jones of London and Virginia. Albany,

N. Y., J. Munsell's Sons, 1891.
JONES, NELSON E., Squirrel Hunters of Ohio; or Glimpses of Pioneer Life.

Cincinnati, The R. Clarke Company [c. 1897].
LANCASTER, N. H., 150th Anniversary of Lancaster, New Hampshire, 1764-1914.

[Lancaster, N. H.] The Committee [1914].

LANE, HANNAH ELIZABETH FERBIER, Thomas Ferrier and Some of His De-
scendants. Elkhorn, Wis., The Independent, 1906.

LAWRENCE, R. F., New Hampshire Churches; Comprising Histories of Congre-
gational and Presbyterian Churches in the State. Claremont, N. H., Power
Press, 1856.

LITTLE, HENRY OILMAN, HoUis [New Hampshire] Seventy Years Ago; Per-
sonal Recollections. Grinell, la., Ray & MacDonald, 1894.
LITTLETON, N. H., Chiswick, 1764. Apthorp, 1770. Littleton, 1784. Exercises
at the Centennial Celebration of the Incorporation of the Town of Littleton,
July 4th, 1884. Concord, N. H., New Hampshire Democratic Press Com-
pany, 1887.
LIVERMORE, ARTHUR, Seventy Years Ago; Reminiscences of Haverill Corner.

Woodsville, N. H., News Print, 1902.

LIVINGSTON, W. W., Historical Discourse Delivered in the Congregational

Church, Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Peterboro, N. H., Transcript Office, 1896.

McCALL, ETTIE TIDWELL, comp., McCall-Tidwell and Allied Families. Atlanta,

Ga., The Author, 1931.

MCLEAN, ANGUS WILTON, Public Papers and Letters of Angus Wilton McLean,
Governor of North Carolina, 1925-1929. [Raleigh, Presses of Edwards &
Broughton Company] 1931.

MANCHESTER, N. H., Semi-Centennial of the City of Manchester, New Hamp-
shire, September 6, 7, 8, 9, 1896. Manchester, N. H., The John B. Clarke
Company, 1897.

MARSH, Lucius BOLLES, and HARRIET F. PARKER, Bronsdon and Box Families;
Robert Bronsdon, Merchant . . . and John Box, Ropemaker. Lynn,
Mass., The Nichols Press, 1902.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Proceedings. Vol. 63. Boston, Society,

1931.

MAYER, FRANK BLACKWELL, With Pen and Pencil on the Frontier in 1851 ; the
Diary and Sketches of Frank Blackwell Mayer. St. Paul, Minnesota His-
torical Society, 1932.
MELLISH, J. H., Historical Address on the 160th Anniversary of Kindgston.

Providence, Providence Press, 1876.

MISSOURI VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, World War Soldier Dead; Memorial.
Kansas City, Mo., Kellogg-Baxter Printing Company, 1926. (Annals of
Kansas City, Mo., Vol. 2, No. 1.)
MOIR, ALEXANDER L., Moir Genealogy and Collateral Lines with Historical

Notes. [Lowell, Mass., The Author, c. 1913.]

MORRIS, TYLER SEYMOUR, Ephraim and Pamela (Converse) Morris, Their An-
cestors and Descendants. Chicago, n. p., 1894.

MORRISON, LEONARD ALLISON, Supplement to History of Windham in New
Hampshire. Boston, Damrell & Upham, 1892.

7-6617

98 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

MUNSELL, JOEL, Annals of Albany. 10 vols. Albany, N. Y., Joel Munsell,

1850-59.

NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, Grave-
stone Inscriptions. Cambridge, Riverside Press, 1913.
New Hampshire Annual Register and United States Calendar, 1823, 1827, 1849,

1853,1889. Concord [1823-1889]. [Publisher varies.]
New Jersey Archives, First Series, Vol. 34. Abstract of Wills, 1771-1780, Vol. 5,

Trenton, N. J., MacCrellish & Quigley Company, 1931.
PALMER, LEWIS, A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of John and Mary

Palmer, of Concord, Chester (Now Delaware) County, Pennsylvania. Phila-
delphia, J. B. Lippincott & Company, 1875.
PARKER, FRANCIS J., Genealogy of the Ainsworth Families in America. Boston,

Printed for the Compiler, 1894.
PERRIN, WILLIAM HENRY, ed., History of Effingham County, Illinois. Chicago,

O. L. Baskin & Company, 1883.
PLEASANT, HAZEN HAYES, History of Crawford County, Indiana. Glendale,

Calif., The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1926.
PRICE, EBENEZER, A Chronological Register of Boscawen, in the County of

Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, from the First Settlement of the

Town to 1820. Concord, Printed by J. B. Moore, 1823.
PRINGLE, JAMES ROBERT, History of the Town and City of Gloucester, Cape

Ann, Massachusetts. Gloucester, Mass., The Author, 1892.
READ, BENJAMSIN, History of Swanzey, New Hampshire, from 1734-1890.

Salem, Mass., The Salem Press, 1892.
REID, WILLIAM MAXWELL, The Mohawk Valley, Its Legends and Its History.

New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1901.
REMICK, OLIVER PHILBRICK, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned

Officers and Enlisted Men of Kittery and Elliot, Maine. Boston, A. Mudge

&Son [1901].
RICE, FRANKLIN PIERCE, New Hampshire Lake Region Inscriptions. Worcester,

Mass., F. P. Rice, 1900.
ROADS, SAMUEL, JR., History and Traditions of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Boston, Houghton, Osgood & Company, 1880.
ROBINSON, C. E., A Concise History of the United Society of Believers Called

the Shakers. East Canterbury, N. H., n. p. [c. 1893].
SCHAEFER, JOSEPH, The Wisconsin Lead Region. Madison, State Historical

Society of Wisconsin, 1932.
SHOTWELL, RANDOLPH ABBOTT, The Papers of R. A. Shotwell. Vol. 2. Raleigh,

North Carolina Historical Commission, 1931.
SNOW, EDWIN HORTON, The William Snow Family. Providence, Snow & Farn-

ham, 1908.
SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS, Mayflower Index, compiled and edited

for the General Society of Mayflower Descendants by William Alexander

McAustan, Historian General. 2 vols. [Boston] The General Society of

Mayflower Descendants, 1932.
SPOFFORD, CHARLES BYRON, comp., Inscriptions from the Ancient Gravestones

of Acworth, New Hampshire. [Claremont, N. H., Priv. print., 1908.]
SULLIVAN, JOHN, Letters and Papers. 2 vols. Concord, N. H., New Hampshire

Historical Society, 1930-1931.
THOMPSON, MARY PICKERING, Landmarks in Ancient Dover, New Hampshire.

Durham, N. H. [Concord Republican Press Association] 1892.
TORRENCE CLAYTON, comp., Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800.

Richmond, Va., The William Byrd Press, Inc. [1931].

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 99

TOWER, CHARLEMAGNE, Tower Genealogy, an Account of the Descendants of
John Tower, of Hingham, Massachusetts. Cambridge, J. Wilson & Son,
1891.

TREADWAY, OSWELL GARLAND, Edward Treadway and His Descendants, 1784-
1859. Chicago, n. p., 1931.

VANDERSLJCE, HOWARD, and HOWARD NORMAN MONNETT, comp., Vanderslice and
Allied Families. [Los Angeles, Printed by Neuner Corporation, c. 1931.]

VAUGHAN, CHARLES WOODWARD, The Illustrated Laconian. [Laconia, N. H.]
L. B. Martin, 1899.

VIRGINIA. COUNCIL OF STATE, Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia.
2 vols. Richmond, Division of Purchase and Printing, 1931-1932.

WATTE, Ons FREDERICK REED, History of the Town of Claremont, New Hamp-
shire. Manchester, N. H., Printed by the John B. Clarke Company, 1895.

WATLAND, JOHN WALKER, The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of
Virginia. Charlottesville, Va., The Author, 1907.

WEAVER, GUSTINE COURSON, Welch and Allied Families. Cincinnati, Powell &
White [c. 1932].

WHEELER, EDMUND, Croyden, New Hampshire, 1866. Proceedings at the Cen-
tennial Celebration, June 13, 1866. Claremont, N. H., The Claremont Manu-
facturing Company, 1867.

WHITCHER, WILLIAM FREDERICK, Some Things About Coventry-Benton, New
Hampshire. Woodsville, N. H., News Print, 1905.

WHITON, JOHN MILTON, History of the Town of Antrim, New Hampshire, for
a period of One Century; from 1744-1&44- Concord, N. H., Press of Mc-
Farland & Jenks [1852].

WHITTEMORE, HENRY, comp., Our Colonial Ancestors and their Descendants.
Watertown, N. Y., Printed by the Hungerford-Holbrook Company, 1902.

WINSLOW, ELLEN GOODE, History of Perquimans County [North Carolina].
Raleigh, N. C., Edwards & Broughton, 1931.

GENERAL.

ADAMS, JAMES TRUSLOW, Epic of America. Boston, Little, Brown & Company,

1931.
ALLEN, FREDERICK LEWIS, Only Yesterday; an Informal History of the Nine-

teen-Twenties. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1931.
ALLSOPP, FREDERICK WILLIAM, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas. [New York]

The Grolier Society, 1931.
Americana Annual; an Encyclopedia of Current Events, 1932. New York,

Americana Corporation, 1932.
AYER, N. W., Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals. Philadelphia, N. W.

Ayer & Son, Inc., 1932.
BLACK ELK, Ogalala Indian, Black Elk Speaks; Being the Life Story of a Holy

Man of the Ogalala Sioux as Told to John G. Neihardt. . . . New York,

W. Morrow & Company, 1932.
BLACK HAWK, Sauk Chief, Life of Black Hawk, Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak.

Reprint. Iowa City, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1932.
BLEGEN, THEODORE C., Norwegian Migration to America, 1825-1860. Norfield,

Minn., Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1931.
CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SURVEY COMMISSION, California County Boundaries.

Berkeley, California Historical Survey Commission, 1923.
CAREY, FRED, Mayor Jim. Omaha, Omaha Printing Company, 1930.
CHAMPLAIN, SAMUEL DE, Works of Samuel de Champlain. Vol. 4. Toronto,

Champlain Society, 1932. [Publications of the Champlain Society].
Dictionary of American Biography. Vols. 8 and 9. New York, Scribner's, 1932.

100 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ELLIOT, CHARLES, Indian Missionary Reminiscences, Principally of the Wyan-
dot Nation. New York, Published by Lane and Scott, 1850.

Freeport's Lincoln. Exercises Attendant upon the Unveiling of a Statue of
Abraham Lincoln; Freeport, Illinois, August 27, 1929. Freeport, 111., W. T.
Rawleigh, 1930.

George Henry Backer; a Biographical Sketch. New York, American Historical
Society, Inc., 1931.

Guide to Historical Literature. New York, Macmillan, 1931.

HACKER, Louis M., The United States Since 1865. New York, F. S. Crofts &
Company, 1932.

HAGEDORN, HERMANN, Leonard Wood, a Biography. 2 vols. New York, Har-
per & Brothers, 1931.

HERGESHEIMER, JOSEPH, Sheridan; a Military Narrative. Boston, Houghton

Mifflin Company, 1931.

HERTZ, EMANUEL, Abraham Lincoln; a New Portrait. New York, H. Live-
right Company [c. 1931].
HICKS, JOHN DONALD, Populist Revolt; a History of the Farmers' Alliance

and the People's Party. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press

[c. 1931].
HUGHES, RUPERT, George Washington, the Rebel and the Patriot, 1762-1777.

New York, Morrow, 1927.
George Washington, the Savior of the States, 1777-1781. New York,

Morrow, 1930.
JAMES, MARQUIS, The Raven; a Biography of Sam Houston. Indianapolis,

Bobbs-Merrill Company [c. 1929].
JAMESON, J. FRANKLIN, Dictionary of United States History. Philadelphia,

Historical Publishing Company, 1931.

LORD, RUSSELL, Men of Earth. London, Longmans, Green & Company, 1931.
MOORE, WILLIAM EMMETT, United States Official Pictures of the World War.

4 vols. Washington, D. C., Army & Navy Union, n. d.
National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. 21. New York, James T.

White & Company, 1931.
The New Century Dictionary of the English Language, edited by HULBERT G.

EMERY and KATHERINE G. BREWSTER. 2 vols. New York, Century Company

[c. 1931].
The New International Year Book; a Compendium of the World's Progress for

the Year 1931. New York, Funk & Wagnalls, 1932.
New York Times Index, a Master Key to the News; Annual Cumulative

Volume, Year 1931. New York, New York Times Company [1932].
NICHOLS, ROY FRANKLIN, Franklin Pierce; Young Hickory of the Granite

Hills. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931.
PALMER, FREDERICK, Newton D. Baker; America at War. New York, Dodd,

Mead & Company, 1931.
PERSHING, JOHN JOSEPH, My Experiences in the World War. New York,

Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1931.
SEARS, Louis MARTIN, George Washington. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell

Company [c. 1932].

SIMPSON, SIR GEORGE, Fur Trade and Empire; George Simpson's Journal; Re-
marks Connected with the Fur Trade in the Course of a Voyage From

York Factory to Fort George and Back to York Factory, 1824-1825. . . .

Cambridge. Harvard University Press, 1931. [Harvard Historical Studies,

Vol.31].
STECK, FRANCIS BORGIA, The Jolliet-Marquette Expedition, 1673. Glendale,

Calif., The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1928.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY 101

TARAVAL, SIGISMUNDO, The Indian Uprising in Lower California, 17S4-17S7.
Los Angeles, Quivira Society, 1931. [Quivira Society Publications, Vol. 2].

THORSMARK, THORA, George Washington. Chicago, Scott, Foresman & Com-
pany [c. 1931].

TURNBULL, ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, Commodore David Porter, 1780-1843. New
York, Century Company [c. 1929].

WHITELOCK, WILLIAM, The Life and Times of John Jay. New York, Dodd,
Mead & Company, 1887.

Who's Who Among North American Authors. Vol. 5, 1931-1932. Los Angeles,
Golden Syndicate Publishing Company [c. 1931].

WISE, JENNINGS CROPPER, The Red Man in the New World Drama. Wash-
ington, D. C., W. F. Roberts Company [c. 1931].

World Almanac and Book of Facts for 1982. New York, New York World-
Telegram, 1932.

Kansas History as Published in the State Press

"Memories of Early Days," by H. P. Tripp, has been published
in the Waldo Advocate in its issues of January 18, February 29,
April 11 and December 5, 1932.

The pioneering experiences of a pastor of the Swedish Lutheran
church at Mariadahl were recounted in a letter from the minister,
Dr. J. Seleen, published in the Rooks County Record, Stockton,
August 18, 1932. The article was reprinted from the Mariadahl
Messenger, Cleburne.

"Scott County Historical Society Notes," a column appearing in
The Scott County Record and The News Chronicle, Scott City, fea-
tured "The Smoky Hill Cattle Pool," August 25; "Dull Knife's
Raid in 1878," by George W. Brown, a scout, September 15-
October 20; "A Page Prom the Notebook of a Buffalo Hunter," by
Rosa B. Dickhut, and biographical sketches of Mr. and Mrs. E. E.
Coffin, in November, and a letter from a buffalo hunter which told
of the naming of White Woman creek, December 8.

Names of 140 Gove county persons over seventy years of age
were published by the Republican-Gazette, Gove City, September
8, 1932.

"Echoes of the Old Dewey Trial," was a feature of the Norton
Champion, September 15, 1932. The article gave the story of the
Chauncey E. Dewey and Alpheus Berry feud famous in early north-
west Kansas history.

The history of Barclay, Osage county, was briefly reviewed in
The Osage County Journal, Osage City, September 21, 1932. John
M. Wetherall, of Philadelphia, was the first settler.

Names of old settlers registering at Oakley's forty-seventh birth-
day anniversary celebration and historical notes taken at the gath-
ering were published in the Oakley Graphic, September 23, 1932.

Dave D. Leahy's "Random Recollections of Other Days" column
appearing in the Wichita Sunday Eagle included articles on the
following subjects: The organization of the Twentieth Kansas
regiment, from an interview with John Quick, September 25, 1932;
"Chalk" Beeson and the buffalo -hunt of Grand Duke Alexis, Oc-

(102)

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 103

tober 2; Eugene Ware, October 9, and memories of a corner grocery
store in Caldwell, October 23.

"Sixty Years of Life at Logan, Kansas" was the title of a feature
story published in the Logan Republican in its issue of September

29, October 20, November 10 and 24, 1932.

Two meteors which fell in Washington county in 1890 were re-
called by the Washington County Register, Washington, September

30, 1932. The larger stone weighed 188 pounds. Names of the
Civil War veterans attending an 1888 reunion in the Washington
armory building were listed in this issue.

An article entitled "Kansas — the Nation's Bread Basket," by
Larry Freeman, was published in The Highway Traveler (Cleve-
land, Ohio), in its issue of October-November, 1932. The story of
Kansas wheat was briefly reviewed.

A brief history of the Bluff City Methodist Episcopal church, by
E. E. Elliott, was published in the Anthony Times, October 4, 1932,
and the Anthony Republican, October 6. The church was organized
in 1891 by Rev. Charles Brown, of Freeport.

On the fortieth anniversary of the famous Dalton raid on Coffey-
ville the Daily Journal, of October 5, 1932, published a two-page
illustrated review of the event. The eye-witness account of Ida
Gibbs-Jones, as written forty years afterward, was an added fea-
ture.

"Medicine Lodge Looks Back Sixty-five Years to the Ending of
the Indian Wars," was the title of an illustrated article in the Kan-
sas City (Mo.) Times, October 5, 1932.

The Pioneer Kansan Club of Morris county held its fourth annual
meeting in Council Grove, October 6, 1932. Thomas F. Doran,
Topeka, a former resident, was a speaker. Names of members pres-
ent were published in the Council Grove Press, October 6, and the
White City Register, October 13.

Settlement of a New Haven colony in Smith county was described
by A. T. Gledhill, of Los Angeles, Calif., in the Smith County Pio-
neer, Smith Center, October 6, 1932. Mr. Gledhill was a member of
the company settling in Kansas in 1871. "Sod Shanty Days," as
reviewed by Roy Clough, was another feature of the same issue.

The fiftieth anniversary of Charles F. Scott's editorship of the

104 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

lola Daily Register was observed October 6, 1932, with a special his-
torical edition prepared by the Register's staff.

An 1886 map of Lincoln county inspired The Lincoln County
News, Lincoln, to reminisce in its issue of October 6, 1932. The
county at that time had one railroad and four more had been sur-
veyed.

Early Wallace county history as prepared by R. F. Brock has
been headlined in The Western Times, Sharon Springs, as follows:
"Some Facts and History of Pioneer Days in Wallace County,"
October 6; "Fort Wallace and Other Historical Events of Inter-
est," October 13 and 27; "Interesting Facts of Early Days in Wal-
lace County," November 10; "Moving of the County Seat to Sharon
Springs from Wallace," November 17; "George M. DeTilla writes
of His Early-day Experiences," November 24, and "How Cheyenne
Wells Received Its Name — Early Newspapers," December 15.

Old trails of Pratt county were discussed by the Pratt Daily
Tribune, October 7, 1932. It was thought by the Tribune that the
Medicine Lodge peace treaty commissioners passed close to Pratt
in going to the treaty grounds in 1867. The article was reprinted
in The Barber County Index, Medicine Lodge, on October 13.

A Grant County Historical Day was observed October 8 in
Ulysses. Names of registered old settlers were published in the
Grant County Republican, October 13, and the Grant County New
Era, October 14.

"Ghosts Haunt Wichita's First Jail," by Mary Moore, was the
title of an illustrated feature article appearing in the Wichita
Beacon, October 9, 1932.

A brief resume of Indian activities in Kansas leading up to the
Medicine Lodge treaty of 1867 was written by Paul I. Wellman for
the Wichita Sunday Eagle, October 9, 1932.

"Prairie schooner" days were recalled by Mrs. James Allen
Throop for the Washington County Register, Washington, October
14, 1932. Mrs. Throop and her husband homesteaded a farm in
Coleman township near where the Throop church, schoolhouse and
store now stand.

Old records revealing the early history of Lowman Memorial
Methodist Episcopal church, Topeka, were reviewed recently in
preparation for the forty-seventh anniversary of the church which

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 105

was held during the week starting October 16, 1932. A brief his-
torical sketch was published in the Topeka Daily Capital, October
15, 1932. Rev. J. D. Foresman was the first minister of the church.

"Savage Altars," a historical novel of Indian strife and adventure
in 1840, by Paul I. and Manly Wade Wellman, began as a weekly
serial in the Wichita Sunday Eagle with its issue of October 16, 1932.

"The Story of Kansas," by Milton Tabor, is a regular Monday
feature of the Topeka Daily Capital. The series, which it was an-
nounced will cover Kansas history from the beginning, started with
the issue of October 17, 1932.

A brief chronology of the Larned Tiller and Toiler was published
in its issue of October 20, 1932. The newspaper was established
under its present name in Larned in 1891, having been moved there
from Bluff ton, Ind.

A two-column "History of Chisholm Trail," by Sam P. Ridings,
of Medford, Okla., was published in the Caldwell Daily Messenger,
October 21, 1932.

Wichita's first telephone exchange and a newspaper history of
the city were features of the 24-page fiftieth anniversary edition of
the Wichita Democrat, issued October 22, 1932.

Indian Hill, three miles southeast of Hartford, is said to be the
site of a bloody encounter between the Pawnee and Osage Indians,
which occurred in the early 40's. The prevalence of this belief led
the Emporia Gazette, October 22, 1932, to review the story.

The reminiscences of Charles Isaacson as written and read by a
daughter, Mrs. Joseph Johnson, for a meeting of the Scandia Parent
Teachers' Association, was published in the Scandia Journal, Oc-
tober 27, 1932. Mr. Isaacson homesteaded in Republic county.

Everest newspaper history was reviewed by E. J. Patch of Wash-
ington, D. C., in the Everest Enterprise, October 27, 1932. Mr.
Patch edited the Everest Reflector in 1884.

The seventieth anniversary of the Irving First Presbyterian
church was observed October 23, 1932. Rev. Charles Parker was
the first pastor. Historical notes of the gathering were published
by the Irving Leader in its issues of October 28 and November 4.

A brief history of the Wichita Indians, from whom the city of
Wichita derived its name, was written by Victor Murdock for the
Wichita Evening Eagle, November 1, 1932.

106 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The three-year Hamilton county seat fight between Kendall and
Syracuse was described in the Dodge City Daily Globe, November
3, 1932. The article was republished in the Syracuse Journal, No-
vember 11.

An eight-page illustrated Cheyenne county historical supplement
was published by the Bird City Times, November 3, 1932. Past and
present Bird City, a history of the Evergreen United Brethren
church, the first wedding and the christening of the World War
ship Bird City, were recalled. Sketches and experiences of pioneers
included the following names: W. W. Shahan, Mrs. E. J. Sheldon,
Ida Howell Henry, Maggie Howell Ramsey, R. S. Thompson, Fred
D. Cram, Henry H. Eads, Rollie M. Eads, J. Oliver, Irving Ander-
son, H. B. Bear, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stanley, Charles E. Curry,
Mrs. Alma (Slifer) Kilmer, Carrie E. Johnson, Mrs. Ida L. Taylor,
Pat McCloskey, Dr. and Mrs. G. R. Pegg, Dore Lockard and Lou
M. Benson.

Sixty-three years of Washington Presbyterian church history
were reviewed by the Washington County Register, November 4,
1932. The church was established October 31, 1869, by Rev. Ed-
ward Cooper and Rev. W. G. Thomas with fifteen members en-
rolled.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Walnut Baptist church was cele-
brated October 30, 1932. A history of the organization was pub-
lished in the Walnut Eagle in its issue of November 4 and 11.

Brief historical sketches of the first church building, first mill and
first bank in Seneca were published in a ''Here and There" column
in the Seneca Courier-Tribune, November 7, 1932.

Tribute to the Grinnell family, publishers of the Americus Greet-
ing which recently celebrated its forty-second birthday, was given
by the Emporia Times, in its issue of November 10, 1932. The
Grinnells have owned the newspaper thirty-seven years.

Wichita's first social event was recorded by Victor Murdock in
the Wichita Evening Eagle, November 14, 1932, after an interview
with Syl. Dunkin, who walked to Wichita from Emporia in March,
1871. On arriving in the new city Mr. Dunkin was given food
which had been left over from a quilting party held the day before
— and that party was Wichita's first society news, wrote Mr. Mur-
dock.

The sixtieth anniversary of the Winfield First Christian church

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 107

was observed November 16-20, 1932. It was organized September
22, 1872, under the direction of the Rev. James Irvin. Historical
notes of the church were published in the Winfield Independent-
Record and Courier.

W. V. Jackson, pioneer homesteader of Comanche county, wrote
of a journey forty-three years ago over the southwest prairies in a
covered wagon, for the Hutchinson Herald, November 17, 1932.

Pres. U. S. Grant was among a group of notables registering in
1871 at the Ames Hotel in Wamego, according to the Times of
November 17, 1932. The yellowed pages of the hotel register also
revealed the names of Henry Ward Beecher, Frank P. Arbuckle,
the coffee merchant, and John Jacob Astor.

Wichita's first ferry and bridge across the Arkansas river were de-
scribed by Victor Murdock in the Wichita Evening Eagle, Novem-
ber 17, 1932. The ferry went into operation in May, 1871, and
was supplanted by the bridge a year later.

The early history of the Fredonia Christian church, prepared by
0. B. Griffin, was published in the Daily Herald, November 19,
1932, as a feature of the anniversary services of the church. The
church was organized in the summer of 1871.

A column sketch of Gov. James M. Harvey, who settled in Riley
county in 1859, was published by the Manhattan Mercury, Novem-
ber 23, and the Manhattan Republic, December 1. The sketch was
prepared and read by Emma Harvey, a daughter, at a recent meet-
ing of the Riley County Historical Society.

John R. Bowersox, pioneer Republic county resident, told of his
Civil War experiences in the Scandia Journal, November 24, 1932.
Mr. Bowersox took part in the siege of Corinth.

A two-column history of the Russell city library, as given by
J. C. Ruppenthal at a Rotary Club luncheon, was published in
The Russell County News, Russell, November 24, 1932.

The life story of Capt. W. S. Tough, famous Union raider, was
reviewed by Manly Wade Wellman in the Wichita Sunday Eagle,
November 27, 1932. Captain Tough was with General Blunt at the
battles of Cane Hill, Ark., and Baxter Springs, where Blunt's body-
guard was massacred by Quantrill. The reminiscences of A. H.
McCormick, early resident of Augusta, as told to Helen Haines, was
another historical feature of this issue of the Eagle.

108 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

A brief history of the Billard mill, later known as the Central
mill, Topeka, was published in the Daily Capital, November 27,
1932. Jules B. Billard, owner of the mill, was formerly mayor of
Topeka.

The Harmony Presbyterian church, west of Wichita, celebrated
its fiftieth anniversary November 27, 1932. A brief history of the
organization was published in the Wichita Morning Eagle, Novem-
ber 29, 1932.

A four-page historical supplement devoted to Wakeeney and
Trego county was published by the Hays Daily News, November
30, 1932. The organization of the county and its school system,
the origin of the name Wakeeney and a condensed history of the
county by A. S. Peacock, were features of the edition.

The seventy-fifth birthday anniversary of the Burlingame Baptist
church was celebrated November 24-27, 1932. The church was
established August 6, 1857, at the home of Miss Helen Tisdale. A
history of the organization was reviewed in the Enterprise-Chronicle,
December 1, 1932, and on December 8 a history prepared and read
by Mrs. E. M. Deming at the golden anniversary was republished.

A brief newspaper history of Protection was published by the
Post, December 1, 1932, commemorating its twenty-fifth birthday.
The Post was first published by J. A. and Claude Wood in Decem-
ber, 1907.

The fiftieth charter anniversary of the First Christian church,
Sedan, was observed November 27, 1932. A brief history of the
organization was published in the Sedan Times-Star, December 1.
The congregation was informally organized in 1876, but was not
chartered until 1882.

A short history of the St. John Auxiliary of the Woman's Home
Missionary Society, by Mrs. Ruth Oden, was published in the St.
John Weekly News, December 1, 1932.

Frazer hall, University of Kansas, was the subject of a historical
sketch appearing in the University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, De-
cember 2, 1932. The "New University" building or Frazer hall,
was first used sixty years ago.

Two other Kansas towns have had the name of Pittsburg, ac-
cording to an article appearing in the Pittsburg Headlight, Decem-
ber 7, 1932. One, now extinct, was in Pottawatomie county opposite

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 109

Manhattan, and the other was in Mitchell county, the latter being
renamed Tipton. An illustrated history of the Pottawatomie county
Pittsburg was published in the Westmoreland Recorder, Decem-
ber 1.

The Alton Methodist church observed its fiftieth anniversary,
December 1-4, 1932. The church was organized in 1882 by Rev.
W. A. Saville. Names of other pastors were included in a brief his-
tory of the organization published in the Alton Empire, December 8.

Justice W. W. Harvey, of the Kansas supreme court, was the
principal speaker at the annual dinner of the Shawnee County Old
Settlers' Association held in Topeka, December 10, 1932. A list of
persons present at the reunion was published in the State Journal,
December 10.

"Frontier Cheer Distinguished First Wichita Yuletide," was the
title of a feature article published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle,
December 11, 1932. A cottonwood was used as a Christmas tree,
and gifts were simple homemade articles. Meat for the feast con-
sisted of buffalo, prairie chickens, quail and venison.

Present-day employment of prominent State House reporters of
yesteryear were reviewed by Burt Brown in a Topeka State Journal
feature published December 14, 1932.

"Early Christmas Celebrations in Northwest Butler County,"
was the title of a half-page feature article published in the Potwin
Ledger, December 15, 1932. J. M. Worley, the contributor, was
Potwin's first editor. He arrived in the city in November, 1887,
and founded the Messenger, January 1, 1888.

"Two Legislators of Old Top' Days Still Are Active," was the
title of an Associated Press news story appearing in the Topeka
Daily Capital, December 19, 1932. Reps. W. H. Ryan, Girard,
and James F. Malin, Lewis, are veterans of the nineties reflected
to the 1933 legislature.

Kansas Historical Notes

Salina will celebrate its seventy-fifth birthday anniversary in
March, 1932. The Saline County Native Daughters have voted
to erect a marker to the pioneers, and will also publish a history of
the Salina schools, written by the late Jennie V. Bartlett, pioneer
teacher.

Celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the
Friends Kansas yearly meeting and of the building of the old
Quaker meeting house in Lawrence was observed October 6, 1932,
in conjunction with a meeting of the 1932 Friends yearly meeting.

The annual meeting of the Dickinson County Historical Society
was held at Abilene, October 11, 1932. Kirke Mechem, secretary
of the Kansas State Historical Society, discussed the work of the
state organization.

Dr. W. A. Sharp, a Topeka Baptist minister, delivered the dedi-
catory address for the boulder marking the site of the old Potta-
watomie Indian mission school on the Wanamaker school grounds
west of Topeka, October 21, 1932. Thomas Amory Lee, president
of the Kansas State Historical Society, Kirke Mechem, secretary
of the society, and Dave Wallace, gave short talks. The monument
was erected by the Topeka chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution.

A pioneer monument was unveiled in Denison circle, Manhattan,
by the Riley County Historical Society, November 12, 1932. A
tribute to Dr. Joseph Denison, first president of Bluemont college
(now Kansas State College) , and to other pioneers was paid by Dr.
J. T. Willard, vice president of the college, at the dedicatory serv-
ices.

The National Old Trails Road Association has asked cities and
counties along the route of the Santa Fe trail in northeast Kansas
to assist it in marking the trail on U. S. Highway No. 50, which
follows in the general direction of the famous road.

A new Pawnee Indian house location was reported discovered
near Scandia, recently. Scrapers, flints and pottery have been un-
covered.

Rush county old settlers met at Rush Center, October 19, 1932;

(110)

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 111

Dickinson county old settlers convened in Enterprise, October 20,
and Clark county pioneers met at Ashland, November 17, for an-
nual reunions.

14-6617

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

Volume II Number 2

May, 1933

PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT

B. P. WALKER. STATt PRINTER

TOPEKA 1933

14-7572

Contributors

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical
Society.

CORA DOLBEE is a member of the department of English at the Uni-
versity of Kansas, Lawrence.

GENEVIEVE YOST is a member of the staff of the Kansas State His-
torical Society.

NOTE. — Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order
without regard to their importance.

Ferries in Kansas

Part 1 — Missouri Rivei — Continued
GEORGE A. ROOT

TJORT WILLIAMS was the next settlement above latan. The
Jl town was incorporated by the legislature of 1855,111 and was lo-
cated about two miles northwest of present Oak Mills and about
eight miles below Atchison, at a big bend in the river,112 which has
since disappeared. A hand ferry had been established to this point
from the Missouri side about 1854, by Jake Yunt, who did quite a
thriving business. This primitive mode of transportation soon gave
way to steam in order to keep up with the rush of settlers. The town
never attained any great size, but was quite well known over the
country, its ferry no doubt being accountable for this. It "had its
town bullies, and fights were of frequent occurrence. ... It was
common for farmers to go to Port Williams every Saturday after-
noon to witness the fights and drunks."113 According to W. J.
Bailey, the place was probably named for William Johnson, owner
of the claim and cabin called "Fort Williams," and called Port
Williams after steam boats and ferryboats began to land.

In all probability the earliest ferrying carried on in territory em-
braced in present Kansas, of which there is written or printed record,
was begun in the fall of 1818. In October of that year the first
United States military post west of the mouth of the Kaw river was
established on an island in the Missouri river a few miles below
present Atchison. This island was given the name "Isle au Vache"
by the French and was known to Americans and traders as "Cow
Island." The following year the Long Expedition spent some time
on this island. Keel boats, first brought up the Missouri river with
supplies for the new outpost known as "Cantonment Martin," were
the crafts made use of by the garrison stationed there for the better
part of a year. The post was located on the upper part of the island
about opposite latan, Mo., and probably on the west side of the

111. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 823.

112. A map of Atchison county, published in the First Biennial Report of the State
Board of Agriculture, 1877-'78, p. 100, shows the large bend of the Missouri. Before 1908
the river had cut through on the Kansas side, almost eliminating the bend and bringing the
channel of the river through the southeastern part of the county.— Ogle, Atlas of Atchison
County, 1908.

118. Ingalls, History of Atchison County, pp. 100, 101.

(115)

116 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

island, that site being selected on account of the abundance of large
timber close by.114

Sumner, about five miles up the river from Port Williams, had
the next ferry. This town, not far from Cow Island, was located at
a point on the river known as the "Grand Detour" to the French
trappers, and was laid out by free-state men, becoming a rival of
Atchison. During its palmy days Sumner had a daily newspaper
and a number of commodious buildings. John J. Ingalls, of Atchi-
son, was numbered among its residents during its infancy. During
the early sixties the town began to decline, its population drifted
away, and many years ago the last vestige of the town disappeared.
Prior to 1858 Sumner depended on the ferries of neighboring towns,
but that year Messrs. J. W. Morris, Cyrus F. Currier and Samuel
Harsh were granted a twenty-year license for a ferry across the
Missouri at this point. The act also prescribed that no other ferry
should be established within two miles of the present limits of the
city. The following rates were made a part of the law:

Each foot passenger, 10 cents.

Each horse, mare, gelding, mule or ass, with or without rider, 25 cents.

Each two-horse team, or one yoke of oxen, loaded or unloaded, with
driver, 75 cents.

Each additional horse or ox, 10 cents.

Each single horse and carriage, 50 cents.

Cattle, except those attached to wagons or sleds, 15 cents.

Swine or sheep, 5 cents.115

This ferryboat plied between Sumner, Atchison and the Missouri
side, enjoyed a good patronage during the first few years, and prob-
ably lasted about as long as the town.

Atchison, three miles above Sumner, was a natural trade terminal.
Roads radiated from there to the north, west and south. One led
to Doniphan, one to Hiawatha, one to Leavenworth. Others led to
Monrovia, Grasshopper Falls, Pardee, Indianola, Tonganoxie, Law-
rence, Lecompton, and Superior, in Weller (now Osage) county. It-
was the starting point for the Pony Express during most of the
time of its existence. The Holladay Overland Stage line and the
Butterfield Overland Despatch had headquarters here and ran their
stage lines from this place. During the latter fifties and the early
sixties an immense freighting business was carried on from this
point, and the ferries did their full share in bringing outfits and
freight across the river for transportation to the far West. Some

114. Letters of John O'Fallen to Gen. T. A. Smith, dated October 18, 1818, January 8,
and July 7, 1819, from copies of original MSS. in Missouri State Historical Society, Columbia.

115. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 67, 68.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 117

idea of this freighting business, the firms engaged, numbers of men
and stock employed and pounds of merchandise transported, may be
gleaned from the following in the Atchison Union of July 23, 1859:
"D. W. Adams & Co., 709 wagons, 900 men, 6,429 oxen, 41 horses,
627 mules, 3,019,950 Ibs. merchandise. A. S. Parker & Co., 245
wagons, 268 men, 2,806 oxen, 1,000,140 Ibs. merchandise."

The ferries had no opposition in local river trade until 1875, when
the bridge across the Missouri was opened for traffic.

George M. Million started a ferry opposite Atchison about 1850.
He was of German descent, and had formerly lived in Cole county,
Missouri. As early as 1841 he had occupied the present site of East
Atchison as a farm, in the vicinity of Rushville. At that time the
bottom land east of Atchison was covered with tall rushes and was
known as Rush Bottom. During winter Million cut wood which he
hauled to the river bank and sold to steamboats in summer. Two
miles above Million's place was "Manley's landing," where freight
for Rushville was loaded. Million accumulated money and in the
late forties operated a store, trading with the Indians for furs. Dur-
ing the California gold rush his ferry did a thriving business with
the emigrants. In May, 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill
passed, and Kansas was thrown open for settlement, Million
"squatted" on the present townsite of Atchison, building a log
shanty. Later he sold his squatter right to the Atchison Town
Company. Million's flatboat ferry was followed by Port Lamb's
horsepower ferry.116

George M. Million, Lewis Burnes, Daniel D. Burnes, James N.
Burnes,117 and Calvin Burnes were granted a charter by the legis-
lature of 1855 to maintain a ferry at Atchison over the Missouri
river, and have exclusive privileges for a period of twenty-five
years.118 The landing place on the Kansas side was at the foot of
Atchison street. After obtaining their charter the company executed
a bond for $1,000 for the faithful performance of duties. Rates of
ferriage adopted were:

Two-horse wagon, or wagon and one yoke of oxen (loaded), $1.
Same, empty, 75 cents.

116. Atchison Daily Globe, July 16, 1894.

117. The Burnes family was one of the prominent and wealthy families of Missouri.
James Nelson Burnes, one of the incorporators of the Atchison ferry, was a native of Marion
county, Indiana, where he was born August 22, 1827. He was a lawyer, capitalist and a
Democrat. He was a "booster" in his community. He financed and built the Chicago &
Northwestern railway from Eldon, Iowa, to Leavenworth and Atchison in 1870-71, and dur-
ing the same years he started construction of railroad bridges across the Missouri river at
both places. In 1873 he removed to St. Joseph. He was elected to congress in 1882, and
while serving his fourth term, while on the floor of the house, was stricken with paralysis,
his death occurring January 25, 1889.

118. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 376.

118 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

One additional pair of horses, or oxen, 25 cents.

Loose cattle or oxen, 10 cents per head.

Sheep and hogs, 5 cents per head.

Foot passengers, 10 cents.

One horse and buggy or other vehicle, 50 cents.

Two-horse carriage or buggy, 75 cents.

A man named Alcorn was operating a horse ferryboat on the Mis-
souri at Atchison in 1856, and the Challisses, who were operating a
rival ferry and boat called the Red Rover at this date, purchased
a three-fourths interest of Alcorn, paying $1,600 for his franchise,
and took over the business.119 In 1857 William L. Challiss, Luther
C. Challiss and William E. Gaylord took over the franchise and
license of the Atchison steam ferry. The following advertisement of
the new ferry firm appeared in the Atchison Champion early in June :

"To KANSAS EMIGRANTS: The Atchison Steam Ferry is now in full oper-
ation. Having received our new commodious boat, we are fully prepared to
cross wagons, horses, cattle, footmen, etc., at any time without delay.

"Atchison being situated in Kansas on the great western bend of the Mis-
souri river opposite Bloomington, Buchanan county, Missouri, is the best
crossing, the nearest and most convenient point to all the territory north of
the Kansas river. Persons going to the southern part of the territory will
also find it the best place to cross the Missouri.

"The country surrounding cannot be surpassed, and the outlets leading to
and from Atchison to any point in the territory, are better and nearer than
from any other point. It is due west of Hannibal, on the parallel line running
through the center of Kansas, bordering on the Missouri river, and is the
most adjacent point to the fertile country on the Stranger, Grasshopper,
Vermillion, Big Blue, and Kansas rivers. It is the best starting point for all
emigrants, to California, Oregon and Salt Lake; the great government road
from Fort Leavenworth running only four miles west of the town.

"The boat being new, and built after the most approved model, capable of
carrying 150 head of cattle at a crossing, together with our determination to
give it strict attention, persons may depend on being accommodated at all
times.

"Atchison, June 1, 1857. W. L. CHALLISS & Co., Proprietors."

There appear to have been some complaints against the original
proprietors of this ferry, and the county commissioners attempted to
pass a resolution forfeiting their license. The proprietors objected
on the ground that as they had received their charter from the
legislature it was not at all probable that the court of commissioners
could take it away. The ferry under different management con-
tinued in operation until the magnificent railroad bridge was built
across the Missouri in 1875, when the old gave way to the new order

119. Atchison Daily Globe, July 16, 1894.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 119

of things. This ferry had been in operation before Atchison was
laid out.120

The following regarding the Atchison ferry is condensed from an
account in the Atchison Daily Globe of July 16, 1894:

"In the fall of 1856 Doctor Challiss went to Evansville, Ind., and contracted
for the building of a steam ferryboat. This was completed in November and
started for Atchison. In December it was frozen up in the Missouri river at
Carrollton, Mo., and left in charge of a watchman. The crew was made up of
old acquaintances of Doctor Challiss in New Jersey, and these he brought to
Atchison in two stage coaches hired for the purpose.

"On February 7 of the following year Doctor Challiss started down the
river on horseback after his boat, accompanied by George M. Million, Granville
Morrow and John Cafferty. There had been a thaw, and a rise in the river,
and when the men reached the vicinity of Carrollton they learned that the
boat had gone adrift. They followed it down the river, hearing of it oc-
casionally, and finally came up with it in sight of Arrow Rock. The boat had
grounded on a bar, and a man was in possession claiming salvage. Doctor
Challiss caught the man off the boat, took possession, and settled with him for
$25. A story was circulated that there had been smallpox on the boat, and
it narrowly escaped burning at the hands of people living in the vicinity.

"Doctor Challiss went on down the river, and met his family at St. Louis.
When the steamer on which they were passengers reached Arrow Rock, the
captain was induced to pull the ferry boat off the sand bar, and within four
days it arrived in Atchison. This boat was named The Ida, for Doctor
Challiss' oldest daughter, who became the wife of John A. Martin, editor of
the Atchison Champion, colonel of the Eighth Kansas regiment, and governor
of the state for two terms. The Ida was brought up the river by George
Million and Granville Morrow, pilots, and John Cafferty, engineer.

"Granville Morrow was the captain when it began making regular trips as
a ferry, receiving $50 a month. During the last years of his service he received
$125 a month. The ferry business was very profitable; a hundred dollars a
day was no unusual income.

"In 1860 Doctor Challiss built a larger ferry at Brownsville, Pa., and called
it the J. G. Morrow. When it arrived at Atchison the government pressed it
into service and sent it to Yankton with Indian supplies. "Bill" Reed was
pilot and Doctor Challiss captain. A quick trip was made to within seventy
miles of Yankton, where the pilot ran the boat into a snag, and sunk it. The
boat cost $25,000, and nothing was saved but the machinery. This was after-
wards placed in the ferry S. C. Pomeroy, which was operated there until the
bridge was completed. . . . After this the S. C. Pomeroy was taken to
Kansas City, where it sank during a storm."

Samuel C. Pomeroy owned a one-quarter interest in the J. G.
Morrow and S. C. Pomeroy and the wreck of the Morrow cost him
$5,000.

The ferryboat Ida hauled the locomotive "Albany" across the

120. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 876.

120 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Missouri river in April, 1860. This engine was to be used on the
Marysville or Palmetto & Roseport railroad, the first railroad to be
built west of the Missouri river. On May 23, 1861, the Ida was
reported to have arrived at Leavenworth, bringing the Atchison
military company, "All Hazard," which immediately went into
encampment at that place. During the early days of the Civil
War a close watch was kept on those leaving Atchison on ferryboats.
Those departing without permission were arrested. The Ida was
taken to Leavenworth on completion of the Atchison bridge, and was
in service there many years.121

The steamboat William Osborn, used for a ferryboat at Atchison
in 1866, was built at Brownsville, Pa., and reached Atchison May
9, 1866, with 150 tons of rails for the Atchison & Pike's Peak
railroad. It took forty-four days to make the trip from Brownsville
to Atchison.122

Henry J. Adams, son of Franklin G. Adams, a resident of early
Atchison, recalls the ferry operating there during his early boyhood
days. In a statement written at request of the author, he says:

"I well remember the old steamboat ferry at Atchison in the late sixties.
My young mother, Harriet Elizabeth Adams, usually did her morning shop-
ping at the wagon market on the south side of Commercial street, about where
the Byram hotel stands. If the ferryboat was about to land, we children used
to clamor to be taken down to the 'levee,' or boat landing, to witness the
wagon teams, horsemen and live stock scramble down the gang plank from
the boat to the sloping stone coping which continued up from the water's
edge to the Commercial street level. Then it was an exciting performance to
see the transfer mule and his heavily loaded dray scramble up this incline.
If the mule made a slip everyone was in luck if the load in going back
landed against the boat railing. If the dray did not so land, the poor mule
was likely to provide a feast for the big river catfish.

"My recollection is that the usual ferryboat was nearly all deck and built
a little wider in proportion than the usual river boat, and surrounded with
a stout railing, tall enough to hold a horse and tight enough to keep in a
bunch of shoats. Towards the middle, extending back, was the engine house
and office, with room on the deck in front for three teams to stand side by
side crosswise of the deck, with room for cattle and horses, or a wagon or
two, in the space along the side of the engine room. The Missourians supplied
our village market with much of the fruit and vegetables. They drove up
from an early boat to the market and backed their wagons against the street
side, made their teams comfortable, and were ready to wait on the trade
with anything from live chickens to sweet potatoes, apples or pawpaws."

The next ferry up the river was at Doniphan, about three miles

121. Atchison Daily Globe, July 16, 1894; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 12, p. 38;
v. 14, p. 140.

122. Kansas Historical Collection*, v. 9, p. 512.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 121

above Atchison. The town was organized in 1854 and located on
the site of an ancient Kansas Indian village, where Bourgmont, the
French explorer, established his headquarters in 1724. A trading
post on the opposite side of the river had been established some
years earlier by Joseph Utt, and this may have influenced him in
selecting this point for a town. During its palmy days Doniphan
had a population of about 1,000, had a weekly newspaper, and was
quite an important political center, being midway between the
mouth of the Kansas river and the Kansas-Nebraska boundary line.
The Leavenworth Herald of March 13, 1858, in speaking of Doni-
phan and its surroundings said: "Smith's bar lies one mile above
the town and extends completely across the river, which makes
Doniphan the head of navigation for heavy-draught steamers. There
are four natural roads leading out into the surrounding country.
.-.- . . A steam ferry has been provided for." The territorial legis-
lature of 1855 passed an act providing for the location of a road
from Doniphan to Kelly's ferry, in the northeast part of the
county.123

For some time in the 1850's John Landis124 operated a ferry be-
tween Doniphan and Rushville, Mo. In 1855 he was granted a
charter by the territorial legislature to operate a ferry on the Mis-
souri with a landing place on the west side at the town of Doni-
phan. The charter granted exclusive privileges within the limits
of the town as far as the claim of said lands extended.125 This
ferry, according to the Leavenworth Herald, March 3, 1855, "had
a good ferryboat."

Landis' ferry operated between Doniphan and Rushville, Mo.,
before the above charter was granted, and according to one of the
territorial papers, had a good ferryboat.126

Palermo is about five miles above Geary City and fifteen miles
above Doniphan, at the mouth of Wolf creek. The town was estab-
lished in 1854-1855, and boasted one early-day paper — the Palermo
Leader, founded in 1858.

Two ferries for the new town were authorized by the legislature
of 1855. One charter was granted to Loren S. Meeker, Richard

123. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 976.

124. John Landis was a native of Kentucky, born in 1827. He moved to the Platte
Purchase in Missouri in 1842, and in 1854 to Doniphan county. Later he removed to Norton
county, where he was shot and mortally wounded by one of a band of regulars and died
two days later. — Lockard, History of Norton County, Kansas, pp. 87-41.

125. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 789; George J. Remsburg, letter to author.

126. Herald, Leavenworth, March 16, 1855 ; George J. Remsburg, letter to author.

122 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Hubble and John W. Mockbee for a term of fifteen years,127 and the
other charter to John Stearwalt, his heirs or assigns, to keep a ferry
across the Missouri river opposite Palermo for a period of twenty
years.128 The above ferries were to be regulated by Doniphan
county, were for local needs only, and may not have lasted long.

Two years later the legislature of 1857 authorized F. M. Mahan
and Job V. Kimber to operate a ferry across the Missouri river from
Palermo for the term of fifteen years. Ferry charges were fixed
by the county court of Doniphan county, and any charge made or
extorted more than the rates fixed by the court was to create a for-
feiture of all their privileges under the act.129

The next year Barney H. York, George K. Sabin and Frederick
W. Emery, members of the Palermo City Company, were given
authority by the legislature of 1858 to operate a ferry across the
Missouri river at the city of Palermo for twenty years. Their
charter provided that no other company should establish a ferry
within two miles of the present limits of the city of Palermo, and
also listed rates of ferriage as follows:

Single passengers, 10 cents.

Each horseman, 25 cents.

Two-horse or ox team loaded, $1.25.

Two-horse team or ox team, unloaded, $1.

One-horse carriage or buggy, 50 cents.

Each additional horse, mule, ass, ox, cow or calf, 15 cents.

Each score of sheep or swine, $1.

Lumber, $1.50 per 1,000 feet.

All other articles 10 cents per 100 Ibs.

Persons crossing at night may be charged double fare.130

St. Joseph was about eight miles above Palermo by the river. As
early as 1826 Joseph Robidoux, of the infant village, of St. Joseph,
had a flatboat ferry in operation, for the convenience of his em-
ployees as well as for the Indians who wished to visit his trading
house to swap pelts and robes for various commodities kept by the
trader. "The landing on his (east) side was about where Francis
street struck the river, and the road led from there southwest to
the agency ford of the Platte river, where it forked, one branch
leading to Liberty, Clay county, and the other to the Grand-river
country."131

127. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 780.

128. Ibid., p. 781.

129. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 160.

130. Ibid., 1858, pp. 65, 66.

131. History of Buchanan County and St. Joseph, Mo., (Cris L. Rutt, compiler), p. 79.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 123

St. Joseph was one of the most convenient towns on the Missouri
river for the departure of overland emigration and traffic, and for
a number of years following the discovery of gold in California the
city and ferries did a big business. Beginning with the spring of
1849 the rush for California began. There was one continuous line
of wagons from east to west, as far as the eye could reach, moving
steadily forward. Some wagons were drawn by cows; other gold
seekers were afoot, taking their worldly goods in handcarts. There
were two ferries at St. Joseph at this time, and they must have been
kept busy. This rush continued unabated until about the first of
June, 1850, when it eased up a little, although belated gold hunters
passed through for months afterward. St. Joseph offered advantages
to the emigrant and adventurer which no other river town possessed.
Prices were a trifle lower than charged at Independence at the time
and this must have had its influence in deciding whether to start
westward from St. Joseph or Independence.

"During two and one-half months, from April 1 to June 15, 1849, the num-
ber of wagons that crossed there was 1,508, and averaging four men to a wagon
would make 6,032. At Duncan's ferry, four miles above St. Joseph, 685 wagons
crossed; at Bontown, Savannah and the ferries as far as the Bluffs, 2,000.
This is a total of 4,193 wagons. About 10,000 crossed at Independence, making
a total of 27,000 persons. There were about eight mules or oxen to each
wagon, giving a total of 37,544 head of stock." 132

A California-bound emigrant in 1852 describes crossing the Mis-
souri at St. Joseph during early May. He had arrived at that
point the evening before.

". . . We soon unloaded our goods and camped upon the plain just below
the town. The whole neighborhood for miles around was full of emigrants,
tents here and tents there, the white covers of wagons and tents looked as
though they had been prepared for a grand army. And indeed they had
been, for here were armies of men, with a goodly sprinkle of women and chil-
dren. The city of St. Joe is much the gainer by the emigration. Thousands
of dollars are spent here annually by those who cross the plains, it being one
of the principal points where the emigration leaves the river. We here bought
one yoke of oxen, a span of mules, and many other 'fixins/ and made prepa-
ration for starting over the plains. There were hundreds of wagons waiting
their turn for crossing the Missouri, and there were several boats busy, and
among them a steam ferryboat. But their capacity for carrying all the custom
that presented itself was too small, and as a consequence there were many
teams ahead of us in their turn.

"We supposed ourselves now ready for the trip and did not wish to remain
any longer than possible ; were in quite a hurry to get off. After casting about

182. Ibid., p. 87; History of Buchanan County, Missouri, pp. 202, 208, 208.

124 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

endeavoring to see what was best, by accident came across a small flat [boat]
which the owner was willing to hire, as he said, on reasonable terms. We got
the boat, and now commenced the tug of war. 'Twas not Greek meets Greek,
but the strife lay between the Saxon and the mule, for as fast as we got one
devilish brute on board and our attention drawn towards another, the first
would jump overboard and swim ashore, to the great delight of the many who
were looking on. After several turns of the kind, and finding that we ad-
vanced but slowly in our endeavors to freight the boat by the single addition,
we concluded to drive them all in together 'pell-mell.' In this we succeeded
admirably, for in they went, and we put up the bars to keep them there. A
shout of victory followed the putting up of the railing. A victory was gained
over the stubborn mule, and the order given to cast off, but before the order
could be executed, the fiends in mule shape took it into their heads to all
look over the same side of the boat, and at the same time, and the result was
the careening of the boat so much to one side that it scared the little devils
themselves, and they all, as with a common consent, leaped overboard again.
Three times three cheers were given by the crowd. So much fun could not
pass unnoticed, or without applause. Finally the mules were got on board and
secured in proper places, the lines cast off, and the riffle made. This was our
first trip. The next the oxen were to be ferried. We had had so much trouble
with the mules that it was but reasonable to expect a quiet time with our
cattle. In this, however, we were disappointed, for the oxen seemed to have
caught the disaffection from the mule, and were, if possible, more stubborn
than the sulkiest of them all. How, or what length of time it took us to get
the horned tribe on board my memory does not now serve me. Suffice it to
say that we got them all on board and landed them safely in the Indian terri-
tory of Nebraska. The balance of our party was soon got over and we en-
camped for the day to 'fix up things' — for here is a general camping ground
for emigrants and as it is upon the verge of civilization, anything forgotten
can be obtained by recrossing the river, which privilege we availed ourselves
of until we supposed everything that was in anyway necessary to our journey
was got."*33

Julius C. Robidoux had the first licensed ferry in Buchanan
county,134 Missouri, across the Missouri river at Rattlesnake Hills,
in or near present St. Joseph of to-day. This license, issued May 7,
1839, cost eight dollars, one-half being for state purposes and the
balance to the county. The county court fixed ferriage charges as
follows :

For each fourwheeled carriage drawn by four horses, oxen or other ani-

mals, SI. 50.
For each two-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses, oxen or other ani-

mals, $1.

For each man and horse, or mule, 25 cents.
For each footman, 12% cents.

133. Copy of manuscript of John H. Clark, in possession of author.

134. History of Buchanan County, Missouri, p. 167.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 125

For each led horse, mule, or ass, 12% cents.

For each head of cattle, 10 cents.

For each head of hogs or sheep, 3 cents.

Ebenezer Blackiston established a ferry at St. Joseph in the early
1850's, but as the history of his enterprise is so closely interwoven
with that of the town of Elwood it is given later on. Other ferries
no doubt operated from St. Joseph, but data concerning them have
not been located by the writer.

The Wathena Reporter, August 15, 1867, contained the following:

"The St. Joseph and Elwood Ferry Company have received from the city

council of St. Joseph, the exclusive enjoyment, for three years, of the right

to transport passengers, vehicles, &c., across the river to Elwood in Kansas.

The following is the tariff to be charged by the company :

Foot passengers, 5 cents.

Man and horse, 20 cents.

Led horse and stock, same as now established.

Other horses and vehicles, 50 cents.

Hucksters, 50 cents.

Other two-horse vehicles, 75 cents.

Four-horse vehicles, $1."

St. Joseph and Elwood were the greatest terminal points in their
section, and their ferries did an immense volume of business up to
the time of the completion of the railroad bridge across the river
from Elwood. This bridge was started in July, 1871, and opened
for traffic May 20, 1873.

Elwood, the first town above St. Joseph, and distant about one
mile by river, was laid out as Roseport in 1856, the name being
changed to Elwood the next year in compliment to John B. Elwood.
The site of the town had long been the landing place of ferries
operated from St. Joseph. The town at one time threatened to be-
come a rival of St. Joseph, and had a population of about 2,000.
It was a good outfitting point for traders and trappers, and was the
starting point in Kansas of the east end of the California road, and
the first station of the Pony Express on the west side of the Missouri
river. It was the most natural terminal point in northeast Kansas,
and roads radiated from there to the principal towns in that section.
The St. Joseph, Atchison & Lecompton stage line passed through
the town and reached Wathena, Palermo, Geary City, Doniphan,
Atchison, Winchester, Hickory Point and Lecompton, connecting at
Lecompton with lines to Topeka, Grasshopper Falls, Fort Riley,
Lawrence, Kansas City, and at St. Joseph with the railroad for the
east.135 St. Joseph men had faith in the future of Elwood and

135. Elwood Free Press, July 30, 1857.

126 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

organized a company to build a railroad to connect Elwood with
Marysville. Work started in 1859, and ten or a dozen miles were
graded. Six miles of track was laid, and the first locomotive — "The
Albany," used from Boston to the Missouri, was landed at the
Elwood ferry on April 23, 1860, by the ferryboat Ida, and was pulled
up the bank by enthusiastic citizens. The next day a half dozen
flat cars were brought across the river and the opening of the first
section of the first railroad in Kansas was celebrated.136

In the fall of 1852 Henry Thompson established a trading post
on the west bank of the Missouri, opposite St. Joseph, operating a
ferry for his own convenience, and profit in addition. In 1855 the
territorial legislature granted a fifteen-year charter for his ferry. In
1856 the Roseport Town Company, consisting of Richard Rose and
a few St. Joseph capitalists, bought 160 acres of land of Thompson
for about $10,000 and laid out the town of Roseport. How long
Thompson operated his ferry has not been learned by the writer.137

Capt. Ebenezer Blackiston, of St. Joseph, also ran one of the
earliest ferries to this point, operating a large flatboat which was
worked by hand. In 1852 a steam ferryboat called the Tidy Adala
was substituted for the old primitive affair. This boat is mentioned
a number of times in the Elwood papers between 1857 and 1861.

By 1855 Blackiston had formed a partnership with one Robert
Jessee, a prominent resident of Buchanan county, who had served
as one of the county judges from 1850-1852. With the meeting of
the first territorial legislature Messrs. Jessee and Blackiston applied
for a charter for a ferry and were granted privileges for a landing on
the Kansas side on land owned by Blackiston, and to employ the use
of a steamboat or flatboats.188

In 1857 Blackiston contracted for the building of a new ferry-
boat to take the place of the Tidy (as it was called for short), in
order to accommodate the demands of the public as his ferry was
then said to be crossing more than all other ferries put together.139
In 1858 the Pike's Peak travel was at its height and the ferry did a
rushing business, carrying hundreds of wagons across. This year
Blackiston advertised that his new steam ferryboat would carry
twelve or fifteen wagons at a load, and loose cattle in proportion;
that it was capable of making the trip in two minutes. The landing

136. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 12, p. 88.

137. Cray's Doniphan County History, p. 23; General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp.
787-789.

188. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 798.
139. Elwood Free Press, November 5, 1857.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 127

was at the foot of Francis street.140 By the last of June, 1859, the
rush was over, Blackiston reporting about forty teams a day, with
an average of five persons to a team crossing at that time, this
making 200 arrivals daily.141

Blackiston was the leading spirit in the ferry business out of St.
Joseph and to Elwood, and in 1859 he and his associates were
granted a new charter by the legislature for the Elwood ferry. The
following year that body amended his charter as follows:

"That Ebenezer Blackiston, his successors or assigns, shall not be compelled
to land their boats at any point above Second street, of said city of Elwood, and
they shall not, at any time during running hours, which shall be from sunrise
till dark, tie longer at said landing than ten minutes, unless necessarily de-
tained in receiving or discharging freight or passengers, or from unavoidable
causes.""*

The Tidy was now getting old and out of date, and about the
middle of the year was retired from regular service. The Free Press
of July 30 stated that the little craft was fairly engaged in the wood
and lumber trade. "This week she cleared on the first trip, con-
suming only a single day, $90. She will be a great assistance to the
river trade in this vicinity. Success to the Tidy." Just how long
the boat ran we are unable to say. The next mention of the Tidy
is the following from the Free Press, of September 29, 1860:

"Eight years ago the Tidy Adala steam ferryboat of 'ever so many' horse-
power, puffed majestically up the Missouri river, and took its place in the
great transit route between St. Joseph and the east end of the California
road, Capt. Ebenezer Blackiston commanding. Old inhabitants say that the
citizens of St. Joseph were frantic with joy at her arrival, and smiled with
grim content on the old flatboat which had 'chassezed' across the Big Muddy
to the entire satisfaction and the profit of Ebenezer for years before. But
every dog must have its day, and the principle applies equally to ferryboats.
For years the Tidy stood up to its 'regular' work, and puffed and blowed like
a land speculator, crossing and recrossing our raging waters. She was well
stoked, carefully piloted and had a good horseshoe nailed on her stubby bow.
But, though horseshoes can beat witches, they stand scarcely the slightest
show against the snaggy perils of our river navigation. The Tidy got rusty
and old, and old-fashioned for the fastidious tastes of later days, and was a
year since relieved from service by a large craft, with a big engine and two
smokestacks, rejoicing in the name of Ebenezer. Since then the Tidy has
been rather a loose character, engaging in all manner of desultory service.
She grew old and decrepit, and a week since while being hauled on a dry
dock obstinately broke her cables, slipped back into her muddy element, and
rolled over, a poor, miserable, wrecked one-horse ferryboat. We are sorry for

140. Ibid., June 5, 1858.

141. Ibid., June 25, 1859.

142. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, pp. 279, 280.

128 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the Tidy. She had done good service, and much. She bore on her decks the
explorers — God — 'Em — (the reader will fill in) who first found the site of
our city, and founded its present greatness, and she has been too closely
identified with us to escape with a less obituary. May she rest in peace."

No doubt there were other ferries operating from St. Joseph to
the Kansas shore at this time close enough to afford lively competi-
tion for his ferry, for Blackiston advertised in a local paper that the
St. Joseph and Elwood ferry had reduced ferriage rates to half price
as follows:

Footmen, 5 cents.

One horse or mule, 15 cents.

One yoke of oxen, 15 cents.

One yoke of oxen and wagon, 40 cents.

Loose cattle, each 7*£ cents.

He also called attention to the fact that this was the largest and
best boat ever in use on the Missouri river for ferry purposes, and
made trips once in fifteen minutes from sunrise to sunset.143

In 1859 the Elwood city authorities became alarmed at the in-
roads the Missouri was making on the city's water front and took
steps to curb this erosion. Two large piers or jetties were built
out into the river to deflect the current away from the bank, which
was thought sufficient to prevent further trouble. This year Elwood
received quite an addition to its population, many of the wage-
earning classes living in St. Joseph removed to Elwood, attracted
by cheaper rents and lower taxes. The Free Press of October 8
said:

"If the ferry ran earlier in the morning and later in the evening, a majority
of the mechanics of St. Joseph would live on this side of the river. Enough
have already come to occupy every dwelling that could be obtained. Of the
fifty dwellings put up this year, not one is now vacant. Several more are
going up, but not enough to begin to meet the demand."

The wisdom of requiring the ferry to remedy the hours of arrival
and departure finally roused the city council to action, and an
ordinance was passed, late in October, regulating the ferry, and
"provided that the ferryboat shall leave for its first trip at G1/^
o'clock in the morning and leaving St. Joseph on its last return trip
at 7 o'clock in the evening . . ." Whether the ferry proprietors
eventually complied with the provisions of the ordinance we have
no knowledge, but the following in the Free Press of November 12
indicated it was not very rigidly observed: "The 'time table' con-
tained in the ordinance we published last week suited the owner of

143. Elwood Free Press, June 29, 1859.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 129

the ferry and a majority of the council. The people might be still
better suited if the ferry left the river bank at the time indicated."
This ferry had the distinction of crossing one visitor in 1859 who
later became a world-wide figure — Abraham Lincoln, then on a visit
to Kansas during his first campaign for the presidency. Hon. D.
W. Wilder, in a letter to the secretary of the Kansas State Historical
Society, dated December 3, 1902, stated that Abraham Lincoln,
Mark W. Delahay and he, who were in St. Joseph at the time, "all
sat in the dirt waiting for the ferryboat." They crossed the river
and that evening Mr. Lincoln spoke to an audience packed in the
dining room of the hotel at Elwood and spent the night in the town.
In 1860 from fifteen to twenty teams a day crossed the river at
this ferry during June. About 400 Mormons arrived in St. Joseph
the latter part of the month, on their way to Salt Lake City, all
having to be ferried across the river.144 There was much immigra-
tion to Pike's Peak and the regions farther west. This was the
year of the great drought and the ferry crossed many large droves
of stock which were being rushed to market daily owing to a scarcity
of feed, prompting a local paper to remark: "At this rate there
will be corn enough to feed all we have left." The same authority
stated that "A herd of 500 cattle crossed the ferry on Thursday,
going east. One got his leg fast in the apron of the boat, fell over-
board and could not be extricated. The ferrymen were finally
obliged to cut off his leg with an ax, and the poor ox paddled ashore
and was soon made beef."145

The winter of 1860-'61 closed leaving the ferryboat in rather a
dangerous position. As the ice cracked up in February a sudden
rise lifted the boat out into deep water, broke its moorings and
carried it down stream to a point below the wreck of the Gaines.
Mr. Blackiston, after some effort and trouble, got it back to its
place in safety.146 The boat was somewhat damaged and required
about a couple of weeks of repairing before it was got into running
order. During this interim the primitive flatboat was made use of.
The Free Press of March 2 no doubt voiced the sentiment of the
people when it said: "We doubt not that everyone will be rejoiced
at bidding adieu to the old flatboat and skiff. A number one ferry-
boat is a little ahead of an old scow, or even the ancient Tidy Adala
— peace to its ashes."

144. Ibid., June 80, 1860.

145. Ibid., October 27, 1860.

146. Ibid., February 16, 1861.

9—7572

130 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Early in the spring that year the streets teemed with emigrants
and freighters, some of whom were bound for the interior of the
territory and others for Pike's Peak. Freighting to Denver in-
creased, the streets being filled with ''prairie schooners, all heavily
laden, and destined for Colorado. Emigration, however, was not
as heavy as the previous year."147

In the latter part of July, following, there was a change in owner-
ship in this ferry. A poster announced that it would henceforth be
under the superintendence and direction of Wilson & Co. A mention
of the change in proprietorship in a local paper stated that the
"Wilson is of the A. Beattie & Co. banking house, and the company,
we presume, is the old proprietor. May it benefit by the change."

In 1862 the Ebenezer was taken over by the military authorities
and converted into a gunboat. 148

Lack of data regarding subsequent ownership of this ferry pre-
vents giving a complete history. A St. Joseph paper in August,
1866, stated that—

"Capt. William Ellsworth, of the St. Joseph and Elwood ferry, carried across
the river on Thursday afternoon 863 head of cattle, and reports that there is
still a large herd, in number over 850, in the corral awaiting transportation
across. The business of this line has been very large during the past four
weeks — about 5,000 cattle being transported across the river at that point." 149

Records of the Elwood Ferry showed that 8,000 head of cattle
were ferried across the Missouri river in about sixty days during
June, July and August, 186.6.150

Just how late the St. Joseph & Elwood ferry operated we have
not discovered, but probably it ran up to the time of the bridging
of the Missouri. The following from the Wathena Reporter of
August 15, 1867, is the last mention we have found of this notable
ferry:

"The St. Joseph & Elwood Ferry Company have received from the city
council of St. Joseph the exclusive enjoyment, for three years, of the right
to transport passengers, vehicles, etc., across the river to Elwood, in Kansas.
The following is the tariff to be charged by the company:
Foot passengers, 5 cents.
Man and horse, 20 cents.

Led horse and stock, same as now established.
Other horses and vehicles, 50 cents.

147. Ibid., April 13, 27, 1861.

148. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, p. 301.

149. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, August 19, 1866, citing the St. Joseph Herald.

150. Ibid., August 24, 1866.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 131

Hucksters, 50 cents.

Other two-horse vehicles, 75 cents.

Four-horse vehicles, $1."

Elwood possibly had two ferries that operated in 1858. That
year D. S. Lusk, the Elwood Town Company, and their associates,
were authorized to operate a ferry at the city of Elwood and oppo-
site or nearly opposite the city of St. Joseph, Mo., for a period of
twenty years. No other ferry was to be permitted within one mile
of the city limits of Elwood. As no further mention has been found
of this enterprise, it is more than likely it was not a very long-lived
concern.151

Wathena landing, approximately three miles above Elwood, prob-
ably was the location of the next ferry to the north, though
definite information is lacking. On January 26, 1867, William H.
Smallwood,152 W. B. Craig, William P. Black, G. W. Barr, W. M.
Ferguson and William H. Bush were granted a charter for the
Wathena & St. Joseph Ferry Company. According to the charter
it was proposed to run a ferry on the Missouri river commencing at
the northwest limits of the franchise or charter granted to Ebenezer
Blackiston by the legislature of 1859, and amended in 1860, which
granted privileges between Elwood and St. Joseph. The new fran-
chise was to extend up the river to the north line of fractional
sec. 15, T. 3, R. 22, in Doniphan county, and the company was to
run a ferry across the river starting at a point between said bounds
and landing at or near St. Joseph. The company was capitalized
at $20,000, shares $100 each ; the principal office being at Wathena.
This charter was filed with the secretary of state January 31, 1867.153

The Troy Reporter early in February, 1867, stated: "We under-
stand a ferry is to be established the coming season from Wathena
landing to St. Joseph." This ferry, according to Frank G. Drenning,
a Topekan and former resident of Wathena, was in operation during
the early nineties.

According to the History of Buchanan County, Missouri, Dun-
can's ferry was located about four miles above St. Joseph. No fur-
ther mention of this ferry has been located by the writer.

Whitehead, about two miles north of Wathena landing, had the
next ferry. James R. Whitehead had been a trader at that point

151. Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 60.

152. William H. Smallwood was born in Kentucky in 1841 and came to Kansas in 1854.
He was secretary of state from 1871-1875. He removed to Duluth, Minn., where he died
in 1919.

153. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 282, 283; v. 2, p. 12.

132 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

before the settlement of the territory. Later a town sprang up,
named for Mr. Whitehead, which was incorporated in 1855. That
year the legislature granted him a license to operate a ferry with
landing at the town and exclusive rights for a mile above and a
mile below the town.154 In 1859 the name of the town was changed
to Bellemont, though there was some talk of giving it the name of
Oxford.155 The town has long since disappeared, and a map of that
locality thirty years later marks the location as "Belmont Bend."

On July 2, 1855, the Kansas Free State, Lawrence, published a list
of post routes recently established in the territory, one of which
ran from Whitehead to Highland, Iowa Point and on to Story's
Landing on the Missouri river, a distance of forty miles.

Just how long Mr. Whitehead operated the boat we are unable
to state. Joseph Penney, a young man, became a subsequent owner
of the ferry and business. Early in March, 1860, he had the mis-
fortune to lose his boat while on a trip up the river. The Elwood
Free Press of March 17, that year, gives the following account of
the accident:

"Bellemont Ferryboat. — About a week since the St. Joseph and Bellemont
ferryboat struck a snag in the bend of the river above Bellemont. Her speed
forced her high on the snag and so firmly that all efforts to float her were in
vain. Since that time the river has fallen considerably, and though well
sparred, she hogs badly and it is thought will be a total loss. She is partly
insured. The boat is, we learn, now owned by Joseph Penney, Esq., an enter-
prising man and a gentleman, to whom the loss will prove a severe one."

Whether Mr. Penney salvaged the boat or not we have not dis-
covered. At any rate, he was operating a boat during the following
fall.

Misfortune seemed to pursue the proprietor, for the following year
he met with another accident. The Free Press of August 10, 1861,
printed the following:

"The ferryboat recently plying between St. Joseph and Bellemont was lost
on Monday last. She had not been running since last fall, and was lying
at our levee for repairs. While the boat hands were at dinner some person
entered her hold and tore away the copper cylinder of her well hole, allowing
a large body of water immediately to rush in. When the crew returned she
had so far settled that water was pouring in through her dry seams. The
Elwood ferryboat attempted to drag out and drop her on a bar in shoal
water, but when she reached the current of the stream she became unmanage-
able and soon sank. She now lies in about fifty feet of water, in the middle

154. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 778.

155. Elwood Free Press , June 25, 1859.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 133

of the current. The boat will be a total loss — no insurance. She was owned
by Joseph Penney, Esq., and valued at ten thousand dollars."

The Belmont Kansas Steam Ferry Company was granted au-
thority by the legislature of 1868 to run a ferry from Bellemont to
Frenchville, Buchanan county, Mo., for a period of twenty years.
This company was capitalized at $5,000 with fifty shares of $100
each. Francis Lajoie, Louis Weiscamp, A. J. Haskell, Constant
Fourier and John Gerardy were the incorporators.156 A second
charter was granted the above company February 10, 1870, by
the secretary of state.157 Whether this ferry operated continuously
during the succeeding years we are unable to state, no further
mention having been located.

Early in February, 1881, the Bellemont Ferry and Transfer Com-
pany was granted a 21-year charter by the secretary of state to
maintain a ferry and railroad transfer across the Missouri river
at Bellemont, for the purpose of transferring railroad cars and
engines, wagons, teams, stock, footmen and general merchandise.
The limits and boundaries of their grant commenced where the
line north of sec. 15, T. 3, R. 22 E., in Doniphan county, intersects
the Missouri river, and thence down the right or west bank of the
river for four miles. The principal office was to be at Bellemont.
The lands and property owned by the company was listed as worth
$25,000, with capital stock at $25,000, in fifty shares of $500 each.
Robert Tracy, D. C. Sinclair, S. N. Johnson, Joseph Hayton, all
of Troy, Kan., and Obe Craig, St. Joseph, Mo., were the incorpo-
rators. Their charter was signed February 7, 1881, and filed with
the secretary of state, February 8, 1881.

The next town on the Missouri above Bellemont was Boston,
Mo.158 At this point Peter S. Roberts was authorized by the legis-
lature of 1855 to keep a ferry opposite the town of Boston for a term
of fifteen years.159 This location was about ten or eleven miles
above Whitehead (Bellemont) and near present Amazonia, Mo.

Another ferry was started on the Kansas side of the river in 1867
in this vicinity, which is in the northeast corner of Burr Oak town-
ship, Doniphan county. On February 11, that year, J. W. Young,

156. General Revised Statutes, Kansas, 1868, chapter 23.

157. Corporations, v. 2, p. 292.

158. "The town of Boston was located in Andrew county, Missouri, in Lincoln township,
and was first laid out in 1842 on the Missouri river by William Caples and his brother.
The town was platted in 1849 under the name of Nodaway City. In 1851 the name of
Nodaway City was officially changed to Boston, to correspond to the name of the post office
which had been established some time previous under that name." — History of Andrew and
De Kalb Counties, Missouri, 1888, pp. 171-174.

159. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 784.

134 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

John Hutchinson, 16° Thomas B. Ree, F. Garner, and H. Lyday
formed a corporation known as the Columbus 161 & Amazonia 162
Ferry Company, for the purpose of operating a ferry on the Mis-
souri river, commencing at the boat landing opposite the town of
Columbus and extending down the Missouri river to the lower end
of Sand Slue Island, their ferry to run across the river starting at a
point within said bounds and to have a landing at or near the town
of Amazonia in Missouri. The capital stock of the company was
$5,000, divided into five shares, and the principal office of the com-
pany was to be at Columbus, Doniphan county. This charter was
filed with the secretary of state, March 29, 1867. 163 Mrs. Mary M.
Holston, of Burr Oak township, wrote of her experiences in Doni-
phan county for the Troy Chiej, in 1916, stating that her father on
March 1, 1855, crossed the Missouri river at Amazonia on a flatboat
steered with oars.

Kelley's ferry was probably the next crossing point above Colum-
bus, and, according to Geo. J. Remsburg, was operating in the fifties.
This ferry was located at the upper end of Burr Oak bottom, in the
northwest corner of Burr Oak township, about ten miles northeast
of Troy and seven miles west of Amazonia. A territorial road was
established from the town of Doniphan to this point in 1855. 164

Iowa Point, about fourteen miles up the river from Amazonia,
was the next point of crossing. In 1855 John S. Pemberton and
Harvey W. Foreman165 were authorized by the territorial legisla-
ture to keep a ferry across the Missouri river and have a landing
on the west side on land reserved and secured to the board of foreign
missions of the Presbyterian Church by a treaty with the Iowa In-
dians. This reservation had been purchased by John S. Pemberton
and Harvey W. Foreman, and they laid off the town of Iowa Point.
Their ferry was to have exclusive privileges on the river for a dis-
tance of one mile up and one mile down from the town of Iowa
Point. 166

160. John Hutchinson was a native of Vermont, born in 1830. He came to Kansas in
1854, and later was appointed secretary of Dakota territory. He removed to Chicago, and
died in 1887.

161. Columbus City, Doniphan county, incorporated 1858, by Thomas McCulloch, Henry
Wilson, Robert Hays and nine others. Named for Columbus McCulloch, son of Thos.
McCulloch. This site was on sees. 20, 21, T. 2, R. 22, Burr Oak township, twelve miles north
of Troy, and once boasted a population of 300.— Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 325 ; Andreas, His-
tory of Kansas, p. 473; Holland, Directory of Kansas, 1866.

162. Amazonia, Mo., was laid out in 1857, adjoining Nodaway City on the east, the two
eventually becoming one town.

163. Corporations, v. 1, p. 813.

164. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 976.

165. Harvey W. Foreman was employed in the Indian Service as farmer for the Sac and
Fox Indians on their reserve during the 1850's and 1860's.

166. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 782.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 135

In 1858 a ferry company was organized at Iowa Point, with H.
Foreman as president, and a steam ferry was put in operation
on the Missouri river. At this time Iowa Point was the second
largest city in the territory and led its rival, Leavenworth, in a
business point of view. Several wholesale houses were in operation,
and their sales extended to points more than one hundred miles
away, a long distance in those days. The town built up rapidly.
A brickyard was started by Joseph Selecman, and brick was substi-
tuted for wood in almost all buildings erected from that time on.
With the breaking out of the war and the starting of towns farther
back from the river, the town began to decline, and when in 1862
the great fire destroyed the best part of the town, its fate was
sealed. 167

Another ferry was projected for Iowa Point in 1858, the legisla-
ture that year authorizing W. D. Beeler, C. M. Williams,168 William
B. Barr and R. M. Williams 169 to operate a ferry across the Mis-
souri river at the town for a term of fifteen years, and with privilege
of an exclusive landing place for one mile up and one mile down the
river. 17° The company operated under the name of the Iowa Point
Steam Ferry Company and in 1860 had its charter amended by the
legislature by striking out the word "steamboat" and inserting the
words "steam or flatboats" so as to read as follows: "The said com-
pany shall have power to purchase and run steam or flatboats, at
Iowa Point," etc. m Further history of this enterprise has not been
located.

The next ferry above Iowa Point was on Rush Island, about three
miles up the river. The legislature of 1860 authorized John H. Utt
and W. D. Beeler 172 to keep a ferry across the Missouri river, at
a point on Rush Island, opposite Forest City, Mo., with the privilege
of landing on the main shore above said island, in Doniphan county.

167. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 490.

168. C. M. Williams came to Kansas in 1855 when he was nineteen, settling at Leaven-
worth. He worked for a time on a ferry on the Missouri, running from Weston, Mo.

169. R. M. Williams was a native of Ohio, born in 1829. He removed to Kansas in
1854, settling at White Cloud. He served several times in the legislature.

170. Laws, Kansas, 1858, p. 62.

171. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, pp. 280, 281 ; Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 490.

172. Wm. D. Beeler was one of the earliest settlers in Kansas. He was born in Ohio,
but was reared in Indiana. He removed to Missouri when but a young man, locating at
Greene City, near Springfield, where he married. He once held the office of sheriff of Holt
county. Early in 1855 he went to Iowa Point, where in connection with C. M. and R. M.
Williams he established a store under the firm name of W. D. Beeler & Co. In the fall of
1858 they closed their store at Iowa Point and removed to White Cloud. Mr. Beeler was a
member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention in 1858, and in 1861 served one term
as sheriff of Doniphan county. He then returned to his farm, and later was engaged in the
sawmill business in White Cloud. He died March 14, 1870.

136 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

No other ferry was to be established within one mile of the above-
named points. Rates of ferriage as established by the act were:

Two-horse or ox team loaded, $1.

Same, unloaded, 75 cents.

One-horse buggy or carriage, 50 cents.

Each additional horse, mule, ass, ox, cow, or calf, 15 cents.

Each score of swine or sheep, $1.

Each sheep or swine less than one score, 10 cents each.

Freight — merchandise or lumber, not in teams, loaded and unloaded by
the owner thereof, at the following rates; lumber, $1.50 per 1,000 feet.
All other articles, 10 cents per 100 Ibs.

Persons crossing at night may be charged double fare.173

No further mention of this ferry has been found.

By the provisions of a treaty concluded at Fort Leavenworth,
September 17, 1836, between the United States and the lowas, Sacs
and Foxes, and other allied tribes, the Sacs and Foxes and lowas
were settled on their new reservation west of the Missouri river in
what is now Doniphan county, Kansas. Among other items promised
these Indians, the government agreed "to furnish them with one
ferryboat." 174 As those Indians were settled on their new reserva-
tion within the next twelve months, it is likely their ferryboat was
put in operation during the year 1837.

White Cloud, about seven miles up the river from Iowa Point,
boasted one of the few steam ferryboats on the Missouri in Kansas,
and one of the best of its class along the river. On April 18, 1858,
Joshua Taylor purchased a small side-wheel steamer and started
from Wellsville, Ohio, with the intention of establishing a ferry at
White Cloud. His arrival at that point on June 3 was greeted by
the firing of anvils by an enthusiastic crowd and a reception on the
levee. Mr. Taylor shortly formed a partnership with J. W. Moore,
naming their ferry the White Cloud Steam Ferry and their boat
the White Cloud. During the immigration to Pike's Peak and the
far West their ferry enjoyed a good business. Following the drouth
of 1860 this patronage must have fallen off considerably, for during
August, 1861, the proprietors made a special effort to encourage
passage over their ferry, offering to cross all teams going from
Kansas to Missouri to mill and returning, at a considerable re-
duction from usual rates, if paid in cash ; or, they offered to receive
flour in payment at the regular ferriage rates, figuring the farmers
would be the gainers by availing themselves of this chance. Messrs.
Taylor and Moore operated the boat until the spring of 1862, when

173. Laws, Private, Kansas, 1860, pp. 280, 281.

174. Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, v. 2, pp. 468, 469.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 137

they sold it to Ozias Bailey,175 who ran it until 1867, when it met
with an accident common to all Missouri river boats, and was so
badly wrecked as to render it unfit for further service. Mr. Bailey
had formed a partnership with C. W. Noyes, and in May, 1868,
Messrs. Bailey and Noyes built a new boat, giving it the same name
as its predecessor.176

Another reorganization of the ferry must have taken place early
in 1870, when the White Cloud Steam Ferry Company was granted
a charter, M. L. Noble, C. W. Noyes, J. W. Moore, George L. Moore
and D. M. Emerson being incorporators. The company was capital-
ized at $20,000, shares numbering twenty in all. The corporation
was to exist for twenty years, with principal office at White Cloud.
Steam was to be the motive power of the new ferry, which was to
operate between the city of White Cloud and the opposite shore or
bank of the Missouri river, in Holt county, Mo. This charter
was filed with the secretary of state, February 3, 1870.177 Some
time in May, 1871, John H. Lynds 178 bought a one-fourth interest
in the ferry and took charge of it. In 1874 a new company wag
organized. On January 30 that year C. W. Noyes, J. W. Moore,
John H. Lynds, D. M. Emerson and Daniel Todd became incorpo-
rators of the White Cloud City Ferry Company. The new com-
pany was capitalized at $10,000, divided into ten shares. Steam
was to be used, and the charter was to run for twenty years. This
charter was filed with the secretary of state February 2, 1874.179
In the fall of 1878 Mr. Lynds sold a one-half interest — he having
previously bought from time to time the remaining interests — to
David Bailey. In 1881 Mr. Lynds bought back his one-half in-
terest, thus making him sole owner. In all Mr. Lynds was con-
nected with the White Cloud ferry for forty-one years, retiring

175. Ozias Bailey was born in Salem, N. H., in 1810. He came to Kansas in 1856 and
settled at White Cloud in 1857, and was elected president of the White Cloud Trust Land
Company. For several years he was engaged in the mercantile business. Mr. Bailey was
one of the public-spirited citizens of the town. — Weekly Kansas Chief, Troy, April 6, 1916.

176. Weekly Kansas Chief, Troy, May 5, 1932.

177. Corporations, v. 2, p. 257.

178. John H. Lynds was born in 1844, in Illinois, and came to Kansas in 1857, locat-
ing at White Cloud. In 1862 he went to St. Louis and engaged in steamboating, chiefly on
the lower river. He gradually worked his way up to a good position on the boat. On a
voyage down the river, between St. Louis and Cairo, the steamer caught fire and burned to
the water's edge, many lives being lost. He saved himself by clinging to a floating wheel-
barrow, by which he reached shore. He is probably the only man on record who wheeled
himself from the middle of the Mississippi river on a wheelbarrow. He soon after abandoned
the river, and returned to White Cloud, where he engaged in the livery business. In 1871
he bought from Noyes & Moore a one -fourth interest in their White Cloud ferryboat, and
their entire interest later. In 1887 he built a ferryboat at Jeffersonville, Ind., called the
Roy Lynds, and after running it for two years sold it to parties at Lexington, Mo., and
then built at White Cloud, the Harry Lynds, which is the ferryboat now running. — Kanaas
Weekly Chief, Troy, November 23, 1893.

179. Corporations, v. 5, p. 527.

138 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

from the business in 1912, when his boat, the Harry Lynds, struck
a snag and went to the bottom. This ferry has had a long and
interesting history and this sketch no doubt has failed to note all
the changes in ownership up to the time the last boat operated from
White Cloud. The following-named boats (perhaps others) saw
active service during the life of this ferry: The White Cloud, Roy
Lynds, Winona, Harry Lynds, White Cloud Belle, Jewell, Nancy
Lee.180

A flatboat ferry was operated at White Cloud for a number of
years by a Tennesseean named Stonecyphers.181

A letter from Firth Dodd, editor of the White Cloud Globe, of
July 23, 1932, regarding ferries of White Cloud, says:

"The last ferryboat to be operated here is now piled up on the river bank,
where it was pushed out of the water by an unusually heavy run of big ice
when the river broke up in the spring, three or four years ago. It was the
Nancy Lee, owned and operated by Joe Gormley, and brought here from Rulo,
Neb. It is now a wreck, with the engine and everything taken off. Before that
Gormley operated the Jewell, a boat rebuilt by George Nuzum and operated by
him until his death. The first Jewell came down the river owned by a man
named Lemon. He operated it here during the World War.

"The reason there is no boat here now is because of a drainage ditch across
the river in the Missouri bottom. This ditch empties into the river a mile
or two below here. When it rains the lower end of the ditch overflows, flood-
ing the bottom land opposite this town. Roads become impassable and this
has put the ferry business 'on the bum' as far as we are concerned. There are
no roads on the other side passable in wet weather. This traffic now goes to
Rulo, Neb., which is near the head of the drainage ditch and consequently
does not come in the flooded district. The farmers on the lower ends of this
ditch suffer greatly. Respectfully, FIRTH DODD."

"P. S. Gormley lives here now."

Since receiving the above letter, White Cloud has secured a new
ferry. The new enterprise was projected about the middle of Octo-
ber, 1932, by Henry L. Olson. The boat, called the Betty L, was
built in Omaha last June. It is 24 feet wide, 65 feet long, and pow-
ered by a modern gasoline motor. It carries seven cars at a time.
A new gravel road leads to the river, and the landing at White
Cloud is at the stockyards landing. The landing on the opposite
side of the river, which had to be constructed, is but one mile from
the highway. The Globe-Tribune, of October 20, says this is the
best ferry White Cloud ever had.

This is the last ferry location on the Missouri river before reach-
ing the Nebraska-Kansas boundary line.

180. Weekly Kansas Chief, Troy, illustrated Doniphan County, April 16, 1915, p. 112.

181. Gray's Doniphan County History, p. 37.

The First Book on Kansas

The Story of Edward Everett Hale's "Kanzas and Nebraska"
CORA DOLBEB

OF THE numerous publications occasioned by the Kansas-Ne-
braska act, and the westward movement it instigated, the first,
the most authoritative, and the longest was the 256-page study,
Kanzas and Nebraska, by Edward Everett Hale, compiled in the
summer of 1854, and published September 28, 1854, by Phillips,
Sampson & Co., Boston.1 The first extant allusion to the book
occurs in an advertisement in the Boston Evening Transcript, July
11, 1854:

KANSAS AND NEBRASKA

In Press

THE
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

OP
THE TERRITORIES OF KANSAS AND NEBRASKA

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF

THE NATIVE TRIBES

AND

The Emigration now in progress thither
with a map

Prepared with the assistance of the officers of

The Emigrant Aid Society,

From unpublished documents, and from the travels
of the French voyagers Lewis and Clarke, Pike, Long,
Bonneville, Fremont, Emory, Abert, Stevens and others.

BY EDWARD S. HALE*

To be comprised in one volume, duodecimo, and
published under the sanction of the Emigrant Aid
Society.

The work will be issued in August.
Price, in muslin, 75 cents; in paper covers, 56 cts.

Orders from the Trade respectfully solicited.

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & Co.
Publishers.

1. Daily Tribune, New York, September 26, 1854. Adv.

2. Edward S. Hale is a misprint, of course, for Edward E. Hale.

(139)

140 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

On the following day, July 12, M. D. Phillips,3 of Messrs. Phillips,
Sampson & Co., wrote Mr. Hale of the business arrangement, in
reply to an earlier offer by him.4
11 Rev. E. E.Hale:

"DEAR SIR — We'll do the Nebraska. The illness of our Mr. Sampson & the
financial storm now passing over the country has compelled some delay in
replying to you. You speak of a specific sum for the M. S. — map & copy-
right— or of a 15 per cent on the retail price of the work.

"This we infer is optional with us. — Before making our election, we shall of
course want your terms — i. e., the price for the outright purchase. — When you
give us this we'll advise you of our decision at once.

"We announced it in the Ev'g — Transcript today & shall tomorrow do the
same all over the Northern creation. — It must be in two kinds of binding-
cloth & paper. — Cloth for the thoughtful house reader & paper for those
residing in cars. — (Without any joking, though — what myriads of 'young
America' literally live in these fair carriages.) These are the emigrating men,
and the men at any rate to help swell the great aggregate of emigrating en-
thusiasm,— and the boys must run through all the cars with them.

"It can be stereotyped in 10 or 15 days if you will always be at home &
read the proof in the ev'g & let me return it in the morning — They can do
about 25 pp. a day — f& this would do it in 10 days.

"We agree with you that it sh'd be out at once, — and we ought to have
the map Lithographing now. Truly yours, PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & Co."

The extent of the "northern creation," as far as we have evidence
in Kansas to-day, did not reach beyond New York and Washington.
The advertisement, just as it appeared in the Boston Transcript,
was published in the Boston Commonwealth, July 18-20, 22, 24, 25,
27 and 28; in the New York Daily Tribune, July 15, 22 and 29; and
in the National Era, Washington, D. C., July 27, August 3, 10, 17
and 24. In all contemporary newspapers and magazines Messrs.
Phillips, Sampson & Co. advertised their publications extensively,
but the issues of the papers named are the only places in which the
writer has found notice of Kanzas and Nebraska in the summer of
1854.

The immediate occasion of Mr. Rale's undertaking the book is
not a matter of available record. The question of slavery had long
interested him. A northerner in fact and in sympathy, he had been
in Washington during the winter of 1844-1845, as minister of the

3. The letter of July 12 bears the company signature, "Phillips, Sampson & Co." only;
but it is in the handwriting of the letter of August 21, 1855, bearing the personal signa-
ture of M. D. Phillips.

4. Correspondence of Edward Everett Hale in Archives Department, Kansas State His-
torical Society, Topeka.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 141

Unitarian Church,5 and witnessed the procedure of congress for the
annexation of Texas by joint resolution. In anger he had gone
back to Boston on March 3, 1845, to carry out what he believed
to be the true policy of the Northern states.6 He gave his first days
there to the writing of "an eager appeal for the immediate settle-
ment of Texas from the Northern states," calling the sixteen-page
pamphlet How to Conquer Texas before Texas Conquers Us. Al-
though no one outside the circle of his immediate friends and the
proof readers ever read the pamphlet, published at his own cost,
and no man went or proposed to go to Texas as a result of his effort,
Mr. Hale was convinced of the wisdom of his proposed solution for
the social condition of the time.

A sermon, Christian Duty to Emigrants, delivered by Mr. Hale
before the Boston Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, May 9,
1852, also emphasized the need for some agency to care for and
place properly the foreign emigrants as they reached the shores of
the United States.7

"We do not ask alms for them. God has provided the western prairie,
white with the harvest, waiting for them to reap it. He has reared the forest
which will build their cheerful cabins; it waits for them to fell it. If only
from the shore where they landed, to the earth begging them to subdue it;
or to the wheels which will rust, if they do not attend them; or to the waters
which fall idly, if they do not labor with them; if only between that supply
and this demand, you will come in between to lead the laborer to the har-
vest! . . . We ask you to treat them as accessions, to an amount incal-
culable, to the country's wealth . . . while these strangers bring to the
country all their manly strength, of which other nations have taken the
cost of maturing."

In 1852, the sermon stated, the annual emigration numbered about
400. In New York there was only a labor exchange or an intelli-
gence office to care for the emigrants; in Boston the business was
handled by the city and the state administrations. Although the
sermon was addressed to a society for the prevention of pauperism,
the speaker believed the direct danger of undirected emigration was
not so much of pauperism as of enlarging too fast the body of mere
muscular laborers in the United States, and he showed, by specific

5. Mr. Hale ministered to this church from October 1, 1844, to March 8, 1845. He was
invited to remain there as permanent minister, but "I knew perfectly well that there was to
be a gulf of fire between the North and the South before things went much further; and I
really distrusted my own capacity at the age of twenty-three to build a bridge which should
take us over." He left the day before Mr. Folk's inauguration, "too angry to be willing to
stay." — E. E. Hale, Memories of a Hundred Years, v. II, pp. 142, 145.

6. Ibid., pp. 151, 153.

7. Sermon in files of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Copy used here.

142 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

illustration, how through guidance skilled labor could be supplied
to existent need.

Not only on the question of slavery, then, but on the question of
emigration, too, Mr. Hale had already entertained definite ideas
for nine years, when, in the spring of 1854, people of the North be-
came widely interested in colonizing the new territories with free
men,8 and Eli Thayer, founder of Mt. Oread Institute for Young
Ladies and a member of the legislature for the city of Worcester,
called upon the legislature of Massachusetts in March to organize
the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company.9

"It was a plan which proposed to meet the South on its own terms,
familiarly known as 'squatter sovereignty/ It authorized a capital of five
million dollars in establishing settlements at the West. The charter was
rushed through both houses of the legislature at once, and was signed by
Governor Washburn on the 26th day of April, 1854. ... On the 4th of
May the petitioners accepted the charter. . . .

"Mr. Eli Thayer was a near neighbor of mine in Worcester, and as soon
as I knew of his prompt and wise movement I went over to see him, showed
him my Texas pamphlet, and told him I was ready to take hold anywhere.
He was very glad to have a man Friday so near at hand. There was enough
for all of us to do. We called meetings in all available places, and went to
speak or sent speakers wherever we were called for."

That is Mr. Kale's own story of his first association with the Emi-
grant Aid Movement, as he published it in 1902. A letter from
Mr. Thayer to Mr. Hale, written from Oread, May 3, 1854, de-
scribes his first assigned duty.10

"There is an Emigrant Convention in the city to-day at which I expected
to be present for the purpose of unfolding (by request) the purposes of the
Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. My health is such that I do not
dare to venture out in such weather and therefore wish that you would appear
for me. If you can do so, I will inform you of what it was my purpose to
speak. The explanation requisite must not occupy more than fifteen minutes."

To this letter, in Mr. Thayer's own illegible handwriting, is at-
tached a note in Mr. Bale's plain script, January 8, 1889.

"This letter . . . relates to the first meeting of emigrants for Kansas in
the spring of 1854. I went and gave them their encouragement and instruction.
It was in the town hall of Worcester. There were perhaps a hundred people —
all or mostly over."

The Daily Spy carried an account, a column and a quarter in
length, of the meeting, attended by delegations from numerous

8. The Daily Spy, Worcester, Mass., March 13, 27, 1854. Photoatatic copy used.

9. Hale, Edward Everett, Memories of a Hundred Years, v. II, pp. 154, 155.

10. Correspondence of Edward Everett Hale.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 143

towns, within a radius of one hundred miles.11 Approximately half
of the report reviewed Mr. Kale's exposition of the proposed plans
of operation of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, to be
organized on the morrow, and the delegates' satisfaction in the plans.
The meeting, however, was not the first meeting of emigrants in the
spring of 1854, as Mr. Kale's note of January 8, 1889, states.12 The
convention of May 3 was but an adjourned meeting of an earlier
convention called in March for April 18 and held on that day in the
police court room in Worcester with forty or fifty delegates in
attendance, representing twenty towns in Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut.13 At least one preliminary meeting had
preceded the meeting of April 18.14 Mr. Thayer's letter of May 3
is, nevertheless, the earliest record preserved, among the official
papers of the Emigrant Aid Companies, of the work of the company
with emigrants. The convention of April 18 had passed resolutions
rejoicing in the proposed incorporation of an "Emigrant's Aid
Society" and agreeing to encourage every feasible plan "for the
establishment of the institutions of freedom and the prohibition of
slavery in the national domain."15

Mr. Thayer, in writing in 1889 of the formation of the company,
noted the same enthusiasm in Mr. Hale that Mr. Kale's own state-
ments show.16

"Indeed the very first man to express confidence in its success and his own
readiness to work for it with all his might, was Rev. Edward Everett Hale,
one of the signers of the protest [of the clergy to congress]. True to his
pledge, he immediately began to write a book minutely describing the terri-
tories of Kansas and Nebraska, showing their many attractions, the way to
reach them, and enumerating the Emigrant Aid Companies already formed."

The protest of the clergy to congress, March 1, 1854, against re-
peal of the compromise, had been signed by three thousand clergy-
men of New England, of whom Mr. Hale had been one. If, as Mr.
Thayer suggested, Mr. Hale in his book was following out his pledge
made there — the protest had ended ". . . and your protestants,
as in duty bound, will ever pray," — his affiliation with the move-
ment began two months before the Emigrant Aid Company was
chartered, and the immediate occasion of the book, Kanzas and
Nebraska, was the fulfillment of that pledge.

11. The Daily Spy, Worcester, Mass., May 4, 1854.

12. A later article will develop the background of this movement more fully.

13. The Daily Spy, Worcester, Mass., March 21, April 19, 1854.

14. Ibid., March 24, 1854.

15. Ibid., April 19, 1854.

16. Thayer, Eli, A History of the Kansas Crusade (Harper, 1889), pp. 124, 125.

144 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Other evidences of his interest in the political situation of the
territories and in the emigration thither were continual in his cor-
respondence of the spring. To his brother Nathan he wrote on
March 17 of being "much riled at Douglas's language regarding me
among others"; on March 22 and 25 to his father and his brother
Charles, of a "stereotyped map of Nebraska, etc.," in the New York
Independent, he would like his father to print in the Boston Ad-
vertiser; on April 5, to his father, of an article on emigration to
Kansas, with quotations from John M. Forbes, for publication in
the Advertiser; on May 11, again to his father, urging the father's
attendance at the meeting of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Com-
pany on the morrow at Revere House to arrange subscriptions to
stock, outlining some of the proposed policies of the company, and
concluding, "I think I have never had anything so much at heart
before."17 In June he was the recipient of letters about the same
general question from Edward Everett, who was friendly to the
cause but reluctant to enter actively into its support because of
his years;18 and from Charles W. Elliott in New York three letters
about the charter in New York and Connecticut and meetings for
Mr. Thayer to address in Hartford, New Haven, and Springfield.19
His mind had no rest from thought of emigration westward and its
importance; no time to make record of the exact origin of concep-
tion and plan for his extensive study of the newly organized terri-
tories that was to constitute his book.

Although the different publications of the advertisement, from
July 11 to August 24, stated the book was "in press," remarks in
the text itself indicate Mr. Hale did most, if not all, of the actual
writing in August. On two widely separated pages, namely pages
18 and 129, he says he is writing on August 1, 1854.20 The manu-
script shows that the pages of this portion were prepared con-
secutively in the numbered order.21 Since the physical feat alone
of putting one hundred and eleven pages of this book on paper in

17. Hale, Edward E., Jr., The Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale (Little, Brown
& Co., 1917), v. I, pp. 250-254.

18. Ibid., pp. 251, 252.

19. Correspondence of Edward Everett Hale.

20. Hale, Edward Everett, Kanzas and Nebraska (Phillips, Sampson A Co., Boston,
1854), pp. 18, 129.

21. The manuscript of Kanzas and Nebraska, almost in entirety, was in the collection of
Massachusetts and New England Emigrant Aid Company papers sent to the Kansas State
Historical Society at Topeka by the family of Edward Everett Hale, and is now on file there.
The manuscript of chapters I-VII is complete with the exception of pp. 230-232, being in
the book pp. 147, 148. The manuscript paging for chapter IX follows a different order, being
numbered b9-b!8, which corresponds to pp. 219-232 of the book. Page blO is gone, but for
it is substituted a 10-page report of "Eli Thayer for the committee," covering pp. 220-229
of the book. For the first 3^4 pages and the last fourteen of the book there is no manuscript
at all.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 145

a single day would have been impossible, the reader concludes that
"August 1" is not an exact date in the second entry, but an approxi-
mate date chosen for general reference. The date of the preface,
written apparently after the book itself was complete, was August
21, allowing twenty days for the composition of the book. Accord-
ing to Mr. Rale's own computation, in a letter to his brother Charles,
August 10, 1854, he spent far fewer than twenty days at the task:
"I have not written to Boston this week because I was writing
Kanzas at the rate of forty-three pages a day and dreaded the sight
of pen and ink."22

Edward E. Hale, Jr., in editing this letter, added the explanation
that "Kanzas at the rate of forty-three pages a day" meant the
book Kanzas and Nebraska. In the manuscript of Kanzas and
Nebraska there were altogether 335 pages ; all of chapter VIII, with
the exception of the headings given to the different sections, was a
printed copy of the Kansas and Nebraska bill. In a few other places
clippings furnished the copy of quoted passages. Most of the manu-
script, however, is in Mr. Hale's own handwriting. At his own
declared rate he should have completed the book before August 10,
if the "forty-three page" days were successive days.

But what is Kanzas and Nebraska that its author could have
compiled it so fast? The printed title page explains in part:

KANZAS AND NEBRASKA:
THE

HISTORY, GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS,
AND POLITICAL POSITION OF THOSE TERRITORIES;

AN ACCOUNT OF THE

EMIGRANT AID COMPANIES

AND

DIRECTIONS TO EMIGRANTS

BY

EDWARD E. HALE

WITH AN

ORIGINAL MAP FROM THE LATEST AUTHORITIES.

This title page apparently evolved with the book from a plan
that itself took shape as the author assembled his material. The

22. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, p. 255.

10—7572

146 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

first draft, as it was preserved in the manuscript, described the
book thus:

KANSAS AND NEBRASKA

The History, & Geography of These territories;
with some account of the native tribes, — cli-
mate and natural production.

From original documents in possession of the

EMIGRANT AID COMPANY

and from the travels of the French Voyagers, Lewis & Clarke,
Pike, Long, Fremont, Emery, Abert & Bonneville, Abert,
Fremont, Emory, Abert and Others. [Names set in italics
were marked out in original manuscript.]

Mr. Kale's idea at first of the inclusions of his study was as un-
certain as the order of the names of his authorities. Here he would
draw from the documents in possession of the Emigrant Aid Com-
pany, presumably of Massachusetts, but at the time he did not plan
to give an account of its work. In another draft of the page, also
with the manuscript, he planned an account of the "emigration
now in progress" to the territories, to be "prepared with the assist-
ance of the officers of the Emigrant Aid Company."

The history, the geography, and the map were common to all three
versions. Although the Emigrant Aid movement had recognition
in each, it was not until the printed version appeared that the
nature and purpose of that recognition were evident. First the Emi-
grant Aid Company, evidently of Massachusetts, was to allow the
author use of its original documents on the territories; second, its
officers were to assist; but third and finally, the author was himself
to give an account, not of one company, but of the companies, and
also to include directions to emigrants. The "Emigrant Aid Com-
panies" of this last draft included, besides the company of Massa-
chusetts, the Emigrant Aid Company of New York and Connecticut,
referred to in the letters of Chas. W. Elliott to Mr. Hale, June 5
and 27 and July 5, 1854,23 and organized July 18, 1854,24 and to
the Union Emigration Society of Washington, D. C., organized "by
such members of congress and citizens generally as were opposed to
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and to the opening of
Nebraska and Kanzas to the introduction of slavery." 25 One of
the author's last additions to his plan was presentation of the
political position of the territories; and as his book progressed he

23. Vide ante footnote 19.

24. Hale, E. E., Kansas and Nebraska, p. 230.

25. Ibid., p. 231.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 147

no doubt found that he had consulted too many sources to give
credit to all on the title page, and therefore transferred to the
preface such assembled acknowledgments of authorities as he chose
to make. The last form of the page omitted all mention of the
native tribes, given prominent position among the first topics to
be treated, yet the book itself gave ample space to their history and
political position in the territories.

Although the book consists of nine chapters, the subjects it dis-
cusses group themselves under five headings: history, geography,
development, political position, and emigration. In a sense the
whole book is but a history of the section opened as the territories
of Kansas and Nebraska on May 30, 1854 ; but the first two chapters
treat particularly of the earliest explorations and of the tribes of
Indians dwelling there, both those called "native" and those known
to have been immigrants.

In a seven-page chapter Mr. Hale first traces briefly the dis-
covery of the regions now under discussion; he cites the reports of
Father Marquette and Father Dablon of the expedition of 1670-
1673, as it appears in Shea's History of the Mississippi. The expe-
dition of La Salle in 1681 and 1682 he reviews in the words of
Father Membre and the continuation of the journey to the Cana-
dian frontier after 1687 by six of La Salle's party, in the words of
Father Douay, both also quoted in Shea's history. He analyzes
the claims of La Hontan in 1689 to his discoveries along the Mis-
souri. To the French scheme of 1717 for emigration and explora-
tion he attributes the discovery of Kansas. From the time the
French officer, M. Dutisne, reached the Osage villages, in 1719, he
"was exploring the territory of Kanzas." 26 Mr. Hale fails to cite
the special sources used in his account of the French expedition.

The forty-three page discussion of the Indian tribes that had
occupied the territories since the region was known to man gives
bare facts of name, origin, history, language, habits and state of
civilization. It elaborates a little more in reviewing the smaller
tribes removed thither by governmental treaties. It then launches
into somewhat detailed accounts of the characteristics of the tribes
whose position at the time offered anything of special interest, be-
ginning with those in the northern part of Nebraska and speaking
in succession of those farther south. It gives a summary, "anything
but agreeable," of their long and indolent careers of poverty and
misery, and remarks that the only success of the Indian agencies

26. Ibid., p. 16.

148 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

has been in breaking up the tribe system entirely and substituting
the labor and responsibilities of civilized men. It includes general
estimates of the population of the tribes, and ends with a statement
of the Indian lands recently opened for settlement by treaties just
made with the Omahas, Ottoes and Missourias, Sacs and Foxes of
the Missouri, Kickapoos, lowas, Delawares, Weas, and Pianka-
shaws.27 In his preface Mr. Hale stated that the sources of this
sketch of the Indian tribes were the treatise of Mr. Gallatin, the
spirited sketches of Mr. Catlin, the journal of Mr. Parkman, and the
notices of travelers.28 Most of the text is a paraphrase or summary
of the subject without exact references to special sources. Once, in
the middle of the chapter, a three-and-one-half-page quotation of
a visit to the "Ogillalah" lodges is attributed to Mr. Parkman. The
long account of the Mandans, he says, is mostly digested from Mr.
Catlin's narrative;29 and he supports the contention of their possible
Welsh origin by citation of Southey's preface to his poem Madoc.80
Mr. Gallatin is his chief authority on language;31 but on the vo-
cabulary of the Dacotahs he cites the study of the Rev. S. R.
Riggs.32 He refers to the reports of the superintendents of the
missions, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Meeker, and he alludes to the
opinion of three agents by name, Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Robinson, and
Mr. Manypenny.

Chapters III and IV discuss the geographical and physical char-
acteristics of the two territories, the one being devoted theoretically,
as the titles would indicate, to Nebraska and the other to Kansas.
As matter of fact most of the first chapter does describe Nebraska,
there being but one or two parts of the account that include Kansas
or a part of it; but the second chapter, two and one-half times as
long as the first, treats as frequently of some part of Nebraska
as of Kansas and often considers the two together. Mr. Hale had
never visited the region.33 He was therefore dependent for his in-
formation upon the writings of the travelers and explorers who
had; and their accounts had been made before the vast region was
divided into two territories.34 They had treated the territories as

27. Ibid., pp. 59, 60.

28. Ibid., p. V.

29. Ibid., p. 48.

80. Ibid., pp. 81, 48.

81. Ibid., p. 81.

82. Ibid., p. 48.

83. Twenty-five years later Mr. Hale visited Kansas. The Life and Letters of Edward
Everett Hale, by Edward E. Hale, Jr., vol. II, p. 283, includes a letter by Mr. Hale to Mrs.
Hale, written from Lawrence, Kan., September 12, 1879.

84. For the boundaries of the two territories as divided by the congressional act of May
30, 1854, see the map used by Mr. Hale in Kanzas and Nebraska.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 149

one, and he, in citing and quoting them as authorities, travels back
and forth with them constantly from one territory to the other.
The section of Nebraska that he treats of along with Kansas is
for the most part, moreover, the section lying south of the Platte
river, a section many of the features of which are similar to the
features of northern Kansas. The courses of their rivers, the divides
between them, the valleys along them, the elevations and the de-
pressions, the soil and its geological formation, the vegetation and
the crops, the native animals and the chances for domestic suste-
nance are all matters the numerous explorers had noted, and Mr.
Hale uses some one's observations on every point once or several
times in the course of the two chapters. In each he is lavish with
quotations and almost always here he is careful to cite his authori-
ties.

In the chapter on Nebraska he gives credit to Lewis and Clark,
Governor Stevens, Captain Bonneville as edited by Irving, Major
Cross, Colonel Fremont, a nameless but "intelligent writer in the
New York Tribune" of no date, the Reverend Mr. Parker, who in
1835 described the Nebraska prairie, and a nameless explorer and
writer of a private letter noting the firs and pines of the upper
Platte. With one exception the authorities for all borrowed material
of this chapter are evident to the reader, though three of them are
nameless, and the reference source of only one is cited; the excep-
tion is the umnentioned author of a one-and-three-quarter-page
description of a journey into Nebraska from Council Bluffs.85
From the paper and type of the clipping attached to the manuscript
copy of the chapter the reader suspects it, too, came from the New
York Tribune in which the article of the "intelligent writer" above
appeared, but he cannot be positive.

So, in the beginning of the next chapter, when Mr. Hale refers
vaguely to "the writer already quoted," the reader finds himself
asking "but which writer?" For the most part, however, Mr. Hale
gives authority for all his material here, yet he seldom cites the ex-
act source where he found it. Colonel Fremont is his most constant
reference, and he quotes him again and again in passages from one
to four pages long; of the forty-eight pages in the chapter, virtually
twenty-four consist of scattered accounts from Colonel Fremont's
official reports. Parkman's travels contribute a sketch of the Ar-
kansas, near Pueblo, and a description of the basin of the Kansas.
Colonel Emory is another reference on the Arkansas and on trees

35. Hale, E. E., Kamas and Nebraska, pp. 70, 71; MS., p. 125%.

150 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in eastern Kansas. As authorities on geology Colonels Fremont and
Emory share honors with a Professor James, a Prof. James Hall,
Captain Stansbury, Jessup's MS. Report, and Long's Expedition,
vol. I, pp. 137-139. Private letters contribute fascinating pictures,
especially of the valley of the Kansas — no one called the river "the
Kaw" then. Among these writers were Father Duerinck,36 super-
intendent of the Catholic Mission among the Pottawatomies ; a
nameless person from Indiana; another nameless person, "a gentle-
man" who had written his impressions on July 6, 1854, and who
was probably Dr. Charles Robinson; and again a nameless person,
"a most intelligent gentleman who has traveled over all parts of
America," who quotes entries from his diary of 1849 enroute to
California, and who, from this description and from the more tell-
tale evidence of the back of the printed clipping of his letter at-
tached to the manuscript copy of the book, was most likely Dr.
Robinson also.87

Chapters III and IV that thus describe the natural features of
Nebraska and Kansas are the most readable chapters in the book.
They make the most complete pictures. They seem, as one lays the
book aside, to have been the best written. Yet in them is little
original composition, no original observation, and only the original
thought necessary to link together nicely recorded impressions of
other persons who have been and seen for themselves. In selection
at least the author has been the artist here.

Although on August 1, 1854, the proffered date of composition of
Kanzas and Nebraska, Mr. Hale asserts there was nothing deserving
the name of a town in either state, he devotes a short chapter,
chapter V, to stations, military, trading, and missionary posts, and
the projected cities in Nebraska and Kansas. He locates each place,
gives its history, and tells something of its known purpose and use.
The statements are meager but informative. Colonel Fremont is his
acknowledged authority on Fort Kearney, supplemented by "the
return of last autumn," the return evidently being a government
report. A letter of the spring, of no given authorship, furnishes a
page and one-half of quoted description of Fort Leavenworth. A
government report of the winter before provides a page quotation

36. Father Duerinck, S. J. Mr. Hale refers to him as "Mr. Duerinck."

37. Hale, E. E., Kanzas and Nebraska. Back of MS. page 197; the back of the news-
paper clipping bearing this letter on the front, says: "The following letters . . . copied
from the Worcester Spy, are said to be from the pen of Dr. Charles Robinson, of Fitchburg,
who visited the territories in 1849." It seems quite probable, though of course not certain,
that the letter quoted is one of this group. In the spring and early summer of 1854, Doctor
Robinson was in Kansas in the interests of the Emigrant Aid Company and in 1849 he had
crossed the region on his way to California.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 151

on the development of Fort Riley. The author cites no sources for
his knowledge of the other forts, the post offices, the stations (or
stopping places), and the missions. Obviously they have been the
letters and the reports of explorers, however, that he has had oppor-
tunity to read.

Chapter VI is a general survey of routes of travel through the
region. It is both a history and an exposition of recommendations.
It reviews all the courses of all the known explorers, compares them
as to nature and use, and evaluates their importance. Regarding
"the territory of Kanzas, from its position," as "the great geo-
graphical center of the internal commerce of the United States,"38
Mr. Hale pronounces the emigrant track along the valley of the
Nebraska and through the "South Pass" to Oregon and California
and the Santa Fe trail to New Mexico the greatest; and he indicates
that "it is by some modification of the one or the other that almost
all the projects for a Pacific railroad propose to cross the conti-
nent."39 He tells with care just where each route touches Kansas
and suggests different approaches in each territory to the emigrant
route along the Nebraska. The sources of his information are again
numerous, including Gregg in his Commerce of the Prairies, Colonel
Fremont, Lieutenant Emory, Captain Stansbury, and the Secretary
of War. Virtually half the chapter consists of quotations, three and
one-half pages being taken from the last report of the Secretary of
War, the same from Lieutenant Emory, and two pages from Lieu-
tenant Fremont and Captain Stansbury, each. Though the sources
are several, Mr. Hale admits their insufficiency to help him do more
than "hazard a guess" as to the greater feasibility of one course or
a part of a course over another.

Chapter VII, which reviews the political history of the region
now to be organized as territories, is the most spirited portion of the
book. The opening statements suggest the vein of the author's treat-
ment.40

"Up to the summer of 1854, Kanzas and Nebraska have had no civilized
residents, except the soldiers sent to keep the Indian tribes in order, the mis-
sionaries sent to convert them, the traders who bought furs of them, and those
of the natives who may be considered to have attained some measure of civili-
zation from their connection with the whites. For a region that has had so
little practical connection with the political arrangements of civilized states,
this immense territory has had a political history singularly varied."

88. Hale, E. E., Kanzas and Nebraska, p. 139.

39. Ibid., p. 141.

40. Ibid., p. 162.

152 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mr. Hale passes over the early political history in rapid survey,
devoting brief paragraphs to the sovereignty of France, of Spain, of
France in turn. Purchase by the United States and subsequent
division and organization occupy two more paragraphs. The expe-
ditions of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806, of Lieutenant Pike in 1806,
and of Major Long in 1820, crowd another half page. At the be-
ginning of the fourth page Missouri is seeking admission to the
Union and Mr. Hale's creative hour is come. Visiting the copious
contemporary files in the library of the Antiquarian Society for
materials upon "the great Missouri debate," he steeped himself in
the political lore and enthusiasm of 1818-1820, and returned to his
manuscript to revive the period in spirit and in fact. He tells one
story of Southern pride, another of Northern hardness. He repro-
duces Mr. Otis' wit. He laments the failure to preserve all speeches,
especially of Clay. He cites arguments; he quotes clever addresses
and equally clever replies. Seventeen pages in all he devotes to the
"misery debate." The account is very readable and marks the cli-
max of the chapter in interest.

Mr. Hale's purpose, as he says twice, is to show how alike were
the times, the questions at issue, and the arguments of 1818-1820
and 1853-1854. In his own time it has so often been said that the
excitement on the question regarding slavery in Nebraska and Kan-
sas is unparalleled; it is his purpose to show "how precisely appro-
priate the various speeches preserved are to the recent discussion."41
Then and now the same type of "incidents occurred every day which
showed the deep-seated excitement and irritation of the public mind
at the North and at the South."42 He sees only two important differ-
ences between the principles advocated then and those so recently
upheld. First, no Southern statesman then attempted the defense
of slavery as a permanent institution. Second, opponents of the
extension of slavery then interpreted article I, section 9, of the con-
stitution, to oppose emigration of slaves from state to state.43 His
review closes with quotation of the Missouri Compromise, provision
for settlement of the territory north of 36° 30' in the Louisiana pur-
chase, not included in the state of Missouri.

The chapter notes the terms of the boundary treaty with Spain,
saying that inspection of the map will show that some parts of
Kansas have since been added under the arrangements by which

41. Ibid., p. 170.

42. Ibid., p. 166.

43. Ibid., pp. 170, 171.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 153

the United States acquired Texas and New Mexico (if his allusion
here is to his own accompanying map, the parts referred to are in-
cluded but not indicated). He regards as remarkable the act of
June 7, 1836, by which the triangle between the Missouri and the
west line of the state of Missouri was ceded to that state, the act
passing congress without any opposition, though it was a distinct
violation — and the first violation — of the compromise. He makes
rapid survey of government removal of Indians east of the Missis-
sippi to the land west, supplementing the long account of the Indian
tribes in chapter II. In the last seven and one-half pages he relates
compactly the later history of the Nebraska bill, summarizing mo-
tions and dates from its introduction in the senate December 14,
1853, to its passage in the modified form of the Kansas and Ne-
braska bill May 25, 1854, and its signature by the President May
30. His own statement best explains his cursory treatment of the
bill:

"Its general character and many of its details are too familiar to readers of
the present day to need repetition now, and a proper account of it for the
pages of history would require more space, and a closer analysis of the motives
and actions of living men, than can properly be given to such matters in this
work."**

Why he fails to trace the evolution of the bill is not suggested;
he must have known of the proposals for territorial disposal of
slavery that had occupied congress at intervals since 1820, and he
probably knew of the earlier bills for organization of Nebraska that
had been before congress from 1844 to February 2-March 3 of 1854.
Nor was he unaware of the plans for building a railway to the
Pacific — in chapter VI he had reviewed proposed routes — and in
comment elsewhere45 he indicated he realized the commercial ad-
vantages of such enterprise, even using it as argument for the settle-
ment of lands in Kansas contiguous to the route.46 Like many
others of his contemporaries he apparently did not recognize "the
commanding influence of the railway plan over the establishment
of territorial government."47 It seems a little odd now that to one
of Mr. Hale's discernment the political significance of this move-
ment was not at once evident; in congress it was a dominant mo-
tive,48 although it was, of course, kept out of the discussion and so

44. Ibid., p. 185.

45. Hale, Edward E., Memories of a Hundred Years, v. II, pp. 115, 116.

46. Hale, Edward E., Kanzat and Nebraska, p. 237.

47. Beveridge, Albert J., Abraham Lincoln (Houghton, 1928), v. II, pp. 168-171.

48. Hodder, Frank Heywood, "The Railroad Background of the Kansas -Nebraska Act,"
Mississippi Valley Historical Review, v. XII, No. 1 (June, 1925).

154 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

out of common public attention. The press, however, in the East
and the Middle West, made emphatic note of it from time to time.
Mr. Hale was quite as concerned in providing for emigrants west-
ward as in securing to freedom the land they should there occupy,
and he recognized the importance of railroads in the development
of their new communities, but neither in 1854 nor in any other year
of his long life did he allude to the railway issue as a political factor
in the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

Chapter VIII consists of an "accurate copy" of the bill itself,
published here because "so few have read 'the Nebraska act' of
which so many have talked."49 The source of the accurate copy is
not clear in the manuscript, where we find a printed version of the
bill, exclusive of sections 19-36. In the manuscript of Kanzas and
Nebraska the bill is cut apart by sections and pasted to sheets of
letter paper. Apparently Mr. Hale had some trouble in procuring
the bill, for on August 10 he wrote to Nathan as follows:50

"I cannot get the Nebraska Act, but have a clue to that National Era which
I am to have to-day. I am sick of the whole thing, and it really seems as if
my hand quailed at writing."

The "whole thing" of which he is "sick" is his task of rapid
composition, evidently, and not the bill. All he wrote in this
chapter were the headings he supplied for the different sections,
each being labeled by the topic it treated. Sections 19-36, in-
clusive, treating of the organization of the territory of Kansas,
were omitted, "being word for word the same as sections two to
seventeen," which outlined the organization of Nebraska. The
source of the printed copy of the bill in the manuscript is not
available now. The print and the paper are not the print and the
paper used by the National Era of 1854. The copy evidently was
furnished by Nathan and is so alluded to among chapter divisions
and paging notes of the manuscript, including the substitute sections
of the bill quoted in chapter VII.

In his preface Mr. Hale suggests that he included chapter IX
on emigration to give such hints to emigrants as would aid them
in the immediate settlement of Kanzas.51 The chapter does give
such hints, but to the later student of Kansas history it furnishes
more significant matter in its review of emigration and its exposition
of motive and plan of the emigrant aid companies. The belief

49. Hale, Edward E., Kanzas and Nebraska, p. IV.

60. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. 1, p. 255.

51. Hale, Edward E., Kanzas and Nebraska, p. IV.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 155

commonly held almost from the first seems to have been that the
companies operating in Kansas had but one or possibly two pur-
poses. The one, that of keeping Kansas free, was popularly repeated
and generally supposed to be the primary purpose. The other,
that of money making, has been the suggestion of students quick to
question altruism, and the implication has always been that such
motive of gain was neither admitted nor legitimate. Mr. Hale's
treatment does not disavow either motive but presents each in a
new light in relation to the general cause of emigration with which,
as he understands, the very idea of slavery is incompatible.

Occasioned equally by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and
by the need of organization of western emigration, his discussion
emphasizes the advantages of Kansas as an emigrant center. He
points out the natural attractions of the territory, the fertility of its
soil, the nature and the value of its crops, its natural resources, its
water power, its contiguity to all overland routes, and its con-
sequent ready market; all these are greatly in its favor, but most
of all is the situation that will draw across its boundaries whatever
roads are built westward. Along through routes of travel emigrants
ever settle and make their homes.

Reasons for organizing emigration to this favored central terri-
tory, he says, have been two: first, to secure to Kansas a fair
proportion of western emigration, to secure for the principle of
"squatter sovereignty" a fair trial, and to make sure that the
institutions of both territories be digested by settlers of every
class; second, the need "on pure grounds of humanity" to provide
for the immense pilgrimage from Europe, hitherto uncared for. Both
considerations, Mr. Hale asserts, guided Mr. Thayer to seek a
charter for the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. The report
of the committee submitted by Mr. Thayer and printed in the
midst of this discussion by Mr. Hale indicates that in return for its
service to emigrants, the company would have two rewards — the
one in the high satisfaction of having become founders of a state;
the other in sharing in "an investment which promises large returns
at no distant day."52 Since time has revealed that the investment

52. Although this report bears the signature, "Eli Thayer, for the committee," it was the
work of Mr. Hale. In a letter to his father, May 11, 1854, he says: "Mr. Bullock, Mr.
Thayer, and I were requested to draw up the Corporator's address to the public, which I
have just now been putting in form." — In the Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, by
Edward E. Hale^ Jr., v. I, p. 253. In 1897, Mr. Hale said again: "This report of the Erni-
grant Aid Company was drawn by myself. I had the advantage of the fullest conference with
Mr. Thayer, and it is evident that I used his brief above in the preparation of the report."
— Edward Everett Hale, in New England in the Colonization of Kansas, a reprint of Chap-
ter XI of The New England States, p. 84. (The "brief" by Mr. Thayer was some hastily-
thrown -together suggestions. The committee to make the report consisted of Eli Thayer,
Alexander H. Bullock, E. E. Hale of Worcester, Richard Hildreth and Otis Clapp of Boston. —
Kamas and Nebraska, p. 220.)

156 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

yielded no returns in kind, and present-day scholarship has been
inclined to discredit the claim of the emigrant aid companies to a
rank of importance in the founding of the state, it is interesting
now to have these original avowals of purpose and frank admissions
of anticipated rewards.

Although both Mr. Hale and the committee name the securing
of a fair trial for freedom in Kansas as their first motive, and place
their trust in the character of Northern and of foreign emigration
as their last assurance of success, each gives equal consideration to
the commercial advantages, for both the emigrants and the company.
Each presentation recognizes the particular needs of the great foreign
emigration that neither the United States government nor any other
established agency is prepared to meet. In proposing to provide for
it, both Mr. Hale and the committee are guided by altruistic and
business motives. Each has long desired to protect the European
immigrant after his arrival, and if in the proposed plan the company
makes capital of the recognized need, it is at the same time financing
the undertaking itself in a way that to each seems both legitimate
and praiseworthy. The material aid the companies would be able
to render both northern and foreign immigrants makes up the bulk
of the discussion, and the service they may incidentally render the
cause of freedom in Kansas slips into secondary consideration.

The motives had evidently borne about the same relationship to
each other in Mr. Hale's mind from the first. On May 11, 1854,
in writing to his father to ask him to attend the meeting of the
corporators of the company on the morrow, to arrange subscriptions
to stock, he had indicated his attitude.53

"It is no mere charity scheme, but one in which business men, I think, will
interest themselves. . . . They want to secure your hearty cooperation if
the scheme pleases for an examination, and I think would be glad to make you
President of the Company.

"You know how it has interested me as the means of helping these Irish
and German people west without suffering.

"There are two hundred thousand of them and others going west this sum-
mer. If twenty thousand only of them go into Kansas, that is made a free
state forever. . . .

"I think I have never had anything so much at heart, and I only wish I
were a business man that I might move in it openly."

As noted before, Mr. Hale's first hope of insuring political free-
dom to western territories through northern immigration dated back
to 1845. His proposal then for the more southern territory was not

53. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letter* of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, pp. 252-258.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 157

essentially different from the later plan for Kansas. The motive
and the means were the same; the emphasis, in 1845, however, was
upon the motive and in 1854 upon the means. The earlier study
evolved a theory; the later offered a practicable, working plan.fi4

As chapter IV is the most readable and chapter VII, in part, the
most spirited, chapter IX is the most original, being entirely Mr.
Rale's own composition. Even the ten-page report, submitted by
"Eli Thayer, for the Committee," was Mr. Kale's own work.55 The
only "hints" to emigrants the chapter includes are the directions of
this report.56 A brief account of the work of the company as finally
organized under private articles of corporation follows.57 Plans for
the Emigrant Aid Company of New York and Connecticut, with
Eli Thayer as president, were said to be similar. The chapter
outlines the work of the numerous "leagues" auxiliary to the com-
panies, describes the nature of the service of the Union Emigration
Society of Washington, and tells of the rapid and extensive emigra-
tion into the territory independent of any organization. It inter-
prets the congressional act of 1854 to establish "the offices of sur-
veyor-general of New Mexico, Kanzas and Nebraska." It indi-
cates the variety of occupations people may hope to find in the
territories, recommends the westward route through Alton or St.
Louis, and suggests the nature of educational and religious institu-
tions to be established by the emigrants themselves. The last sec-
tion is a kind of glorification of the opportunity Kansas offers to
the emigrant, both native and foreign, to work, and so is a glorifica-
tion of the cause of freedom he has opportunity there to serve, end-
ing with prophecy of victory. It is a dignified and coherent exposi-
tion of the eastern plan for settlement of the territory of Kansas.

The frontispiece of the book is a "map of Kanzas and Nebraska
from the original surveys, drawn and engraved for Hale's History.
Boston. Published by Phillips, Sampson & Company, 1854." The
first extant correspondence about Kanzas and Nebraska alluded

64. Writing long afterward of his interest in the annexation of Texas, Mr. Hale still
had faith in the desirable effect of his theory, could it have been tried: "How certain it is
that if the wave of free emigration could have been turned into Texas then, evils untold
of would have been prevented. On the other hand, I am afraid it is as certain that human
slavery would not have been abolished in the older states for another generation." — Hale,
Edward Everett, Memories of a Hundred Years, v. II, p. 152.

65. Vide ante, footnote 52.

66. Appendix A, pp. 249-250 of Kanzas and Nebraska, consists of a copy of the con-
stitution of the Worcester county Kansas league which supplements these directions.

57. Hale, Edward Everett, Kanzas and Nebraska, p. 229. Since the provisions of the
charter did not satisfy all parties interested, the company organized under private articles of
association, June 13, 1854, and functioned ao until March, 1855, when the New England
Emigrant Aid Company received its charter and absorbed the private company The Wor-
cester Spy, June 14, 1854, described the association as "a private company" organized "under
joint articles," the property of the company to be "vested in three trustees who shall hold
the same as joint tenants, subject to all the trusts and provisions of these articles "

158 THE KANSAS HISTOEICAL QUARTERLY

to the map; "we ought to have the map lithographing now," Mr.
Phillips wrote Mr. Hale on July 12.58 On August 4 the publishers
addressed the author again, saying, "with this you will receive 2d
proof of map."59 The title page described the map as "an original
map from the latest authorities." In the preface Mr. Hale vouched
once more for its authenticity: "The map is accurate as far as
may be with our present knowledge of the country. It is compiled
from more than twenty of the recent surveys made by govern-
ment."60 There is no available record now as to who drew the map.
Neither the original sketch from which the engraving was made
and which is now preserved with the manuscript of the book, nor
the reproduction in the front of the book bears any identifying
mark of the artist. W. C. Sharp, of Boston, was the lithographer.

Mr. Hale had been interested in the geography of the region
prior to the compilation of the book about it. On March 22 and
March 25 he had written his father and his brother Charles re-
spectively of a good stereotyped "map of Nebraska, etc.," which had
appeared in the Independent and of which the management would
sell the block for two dollars. He then commissioned his brother
to buy the block for his father to use in the Boston Advertiser
along "with an article which I am to write on the present position
of the question." 61 He had no doubt the map was accurate.

The map in The Independent was a "map of the states and terri-
tories in their relation to slavery."62 It was drawn by George
Colton. It showed in white the states in which slavery was pro-
hibited by fundamental law; in black lines, the states in which
slavery was fully recognized; in shaded lines, the territories where
the question of slavery or free soil was yet an open one. The map
made a most effective visual appeal. It revealed the extent of the
question more graphically than any description in words; yet the
accompanying legend defining the boundaries of the territory as
outlined in Douglas' second bill also made colorful portrayal of the
country involved, emphasized its important geographic relation to
the rest of the states, and compared the anticipated dangers of the
introduction of slavery into these newly organized territories with
the effects of the institution in the states where it had become fully
recognized. Although the map was of general nature, it was accurate,

58. Vide ante, p. 140.

59. Letter of Phillips, Sampson & Co. to Edward Everett Hale, in the correspondence of
Edward Everett Hale.

60. Hale, E. E., Kanzas and Nebraska, p. V.

61. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, pp. 250, 251.

62. The Independent, New York, March 16, 1854. Photostatic copy used.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 159

as the legend asserted, with the exception that the southern boundary
of Kansas was placed at 36° 30', whereas the second Douglas bill
had fixed the line at latitude 37°.

Just what the sources were for Mr. Hale's own map is now some-
thing of a puzzle. He preserved no record of the "more than twenty
recent surveys by government." Interpretation of his phrase would
seem at first to depend upon the qualifying "recent." The surveys
that were most deserving of the attribute, however, those authorized
by congress in the amendment to the army appropriation bill for
1853-1854 as additional sections 10 and II,63 were not begun until
the spring of 1853, and were not fully reported upon and officially
published until 1855.64 First instructions to the leaders of each of
the four expeditions conducting these surveys called for reports to
be laid before congress the first Monday of February, 1854. Com-
plete reports of all four surveys were delayed, but Gov. 1. 1. Stevens,
exploring the route near the forty-seventh and forty-ninth parallels,
Capt. A. W. Whipple, the route near the thirty-fifth parallel, and
Lieut. R. S. Williamson, the route near the Sierra Nevada and Coast
range, all made preliminary reports that were published in house
document 129, 33d congress, first session. These copies of the pre-
liminary reports, however, issued in 1854, probably appeared too
late for Mr. Hale's topographer to have used them in published
form.65 They must have been available to him,66 nevertheless, else
he could not have included in his map, as he does, the entire line of
the Stevens survey for a Pacific railroad route, 1853. The Secretary
of War, Jefferson Davis, had himself made a review of the under-
takings in a senate document, December 1, 1853 ;67 but his account
was brief and general, giving a sketch of the country to be explored,
evaluating information already obtained to determine the routes to
follow, and noting the instructions to each officer in charge of an
expedition. It gave none of the results, though, of the surveys, but

63. Congressional Globe, 32 Cong., 2 sess., 1852-1853, pp. 798, 799.

64. Pacific Railroad Reports, Senate Exec. Docs., 33 Cong., 2 sess., No. 78, vols. I -XII.

65. The title page of the four volumes of this document bears the publication date of

1854. In the text of volume I, however, appears a letter bearing the date of February 27,

1855, indicating the volumes were not ready for circulation until 1855, too late to have been
used for the Hale book.

66. The National Intelligencer for Monday, February 6, 1854, noted in the senate pro-
ceedings of the day that "the president of the senate laid before the body a communication
from the Secretary of War transmitting copies of all reports of engineers and other persona
employed ... to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from
the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, which was ordered to be printed and referred to a
select committee." In brackets there followed an explanation, evidently from the communica-
tion itself, of the incomplete and partial nature of the reports and the consequent impossibility
of judging the relative merits of the different routes. This form of the report may have been
accessible to Mr. Hale and his topographer.

67. Senate Documents, 33 Cong., 1 sess., pt. II, pp. 16-28.

160 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

with it Mr. Hale was familiar, for in his text he quotes verbatim two
passages of the report68 and elsewhere notes the order of the Sec-
retary of War to Captain Gunnison to explore the region of Colonel
Fremont's expedition of 1848-1849.69 In April of 1854 Governor
Stevens was in Washington to make his report in person to the Sec-
retary of War.70 The information of that report Mr. Kale's topog-
rapher must have seen, but how is not now clear.

If the adjective "recent" be given loose interpretation, and if the
topographer had access to the official government files in Washing-
ton, he could have consulted "more than twenty surveys" in making
the map for Kanzas and Nebraska. In the period the territory had
been known to white men, there had been a few more than twenty
official surveys. In a Memoir to accompany the map of the territory
of the United States from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean,
Lieut. Gouverneur K. Warren, of the Corps of Topographical En-
gineers, U. S. A., in 1859, made "a brief account of each of the ex-
ploring expeditions since A. D. .1800," with a description of accom-
panying maps when maps were made.71 Study of the memoir
reveals the possible sources used. Since from the first of these
explorers Mr. Hale draws subject matter for his discussion, it seems
not at all unlikely that his topographer drew from them, too, or at
least consulted them, in making the map. Indeed he must needs
have seen not only the first map but well-nigh all the other maps
between it and his own to have had a total of "more than twenty"
government surveys for authority.

The Memoir compiled by Lieutenant Warren was not published
until 1859. On March 1, 1858, however, in the preface, the author
tells that his "work has been in progress during the past four years,"
so that it is possible the maker of the Hale map had the benefit of
some of Lieutenant Warren's criticisms of the different maps. In his
preface Lieutenant Warren pointed out that "the maps used in the
compilation have been mostly made from reconnaissances, and but
few possess very great accuracy. The geographical positions are
therefore rarely determined absolutely, or even relatively, with
certainty, and new surveys are constantly making slight changes

68. Pages 17-18 of Secretary Davis' report, Senate Documents, 83 Cong., 1 sess., part II,
appears in Mr. Bale's Kanzas and Nebraska as pp. 142-145.

69. Cf. Secretary Davis' report above, p. 20, and Mr. Hale's Kanzas and Nebraska,
p. 151.

70. Albright, George Leslie, Official Explorations for Pacific Railroad, 1853-1855 (Uni-
versity of California Press, Berkeley, 1921), p. 78.

71. Warren, Lieut. Gouverneur K., Memoir, to accompany the map of the territory of
the United States from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, to accompany the reports
of explorations and surveys for a railroad route, War Department, 1859.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 161

necessary." 72 In the text he pointed out the mistaken trends of
mountain ranges and river sources in the map of Lewis and Clark;
the elementary but basic principles of topography and hydrography
of Humboldt's map of Spain; incorrect river sources and singular
representations of mountains in Rector's and Roberdeau's map,
described, nevertheless, as "the most correct map of the country
now extant"; the confusion of the Canadian and the Red river and
the first right representation of the Black Hills of Nebraska as a
north and south range by Major Long; the elaborateness but lack of
topographical skill in the work of J. C. Brown; the correct repre-
sentation of the hydrography of the region west of the Rocky Moun-
tains, although the geographical positions are not accurate, in the
maps of Captain Bonneville; the wrong location of the union of the
Cimarron river with the Arkansas near Fort Atkinson, in the map
of Lieutenant Steen; the representation of New Orleans and St.
Louis as both being in longitude 90° 25', in the topographical bureau
map by W. Hood; the value of the survey of C. Dimmick between
Old Fort Scott and Fort Smith, never replaced to date ; the erroneous
listing of the Bitter Root as a source of the Salmon river, in the
map of Captain Hood; the use of the barometer to determine the
elevation of interior country by Mr. Nicollet, making his map "one
of the greatest contributions ... to American geography" ; the
usefulness of the map in Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies; the value
to travelers in spite of its inaccurate geographical positions, of the
map by Charles Preuss in 1846 of the Fremont route from Missouri
to Oregon, 1843-1844; the tracing in the map of Captain Pope of a
tributary of the Arkansas, probably the Big Sandy, to the source
formerly attributed to the Smoky Hill Fork; the similarity of the
routes of Messrs. Beale and Heap, Captain Gunnison, and Colonel
Fremont (1853-1854) ; and the availability to J. R. Bartlett of the
observations of the United States and Mexican Boundary Commis-
sion in the making of his map of 1850-1853.

Any or all of this criticism may have been available to the maker
of the Hale map; the points of it, at least, for the most part the
maker heeded. The Black Hills in the map are a north and south
range; the Big Sandy is a tributary of the Arkansas, and the Cimar-
ron joins the Arkansas east and south of Fort Atkinson. Although
the map shows only the Fremont route for a Pacific railroad, the
text discusses the mountain passes explored by Colonel Fremont

72. Ibid., preface.
11—7572

162 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and Captain Gunnison and describes the recommendation of each.73
The portion of southwestern Kansas bounded on the east by 100°
west longitude, on the south by 37° north latitude to the 103d
meridian, thence west to the Rocky Mountain range by about 38°
north latitude, on the west by the Rocky Mountain range, and on
the north by the south bank of the Arkansas, the Hale map places
within the boundary of Kansas in accordance with the findings of
the United States and Mexican boundary commission and the terms
of acquisition of Texas and New Mexico.

The reason for the inclusion of the Fremont route for a Pacific
railroad instead of the Gunnison and for labeling it the Fremont
route was probably the availability of some accounts of the Fremont
expedition. On June 13, 1854, Colonel Fremont wrote a letter to
the editors of The National Intelligencer "communicating some gen-
eral results of his recent winter expedition across the Rocky Moun-
tains for the survey of a route for a railroad to the Pacific."74 This
report he offered in anticipation of a fuller report with maps and
illustrations which it would necessarily require some months to pre-
pare. The eastern part of this route extended from the mouth of
the Kansas river on the Missouri frontier to the valley of Parowan
at the foot of the Wahsatch mountains, between latitudes 38° and
39°. Having been over this route from Sierra Blanca to the Mis-
souri frontier four times before, he summarized the features and
connected the expedition with the route explored in 1848-1849 from
the mouth of the Kansas river to the valley of San Luis. From the
Sierra Blanca to the Grand river the routes of Colonel Fremont and
Captain Gunnison were nearly identical ; from the latter point Col-
onel Fremont, in 1853 and 1854, continued farther south.75 The map
of the official explorations for Pacific railroads by George Leslie Al-
bright shows that the Fremont route from Fort Riley to the Fremont
route pass, south and a little west of Pueblo, was almost the same as
that of Gunnison in 1853, from Fort Riley, through Bent's Fort to
Fort Massachusetts.76 Mr. Albright also traces the history of Colonel
Fremont's different explorations of the railroad route.77 The third
Fremont expedition, he says, was, according to Thwaites in his Rocky

73. Hale, Edward Everett, Kanzas and Nebraska, pp. 151, 152. The findings of Cap-
tain Gunnison were evidently known in detail to Mr. Hale, although he notes the fact that
Lieutenant Beckwith's report of the expedition had not been published.

74. This letter was reprinted as Miscellaneous House Document, No. 8, 83 Cong., 2 sess.
(1855.)

75. Warren, Lieut. Gouverneur K., Memoir, p. 75.

76. Albright, George Leslie, Official Explorations for Pacific Railroads.

77. Ibid., p. 39, footnote.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 163

Mountain Explorations, page 239, for the purpose of finding the
shortest and best route for a railroad to San Francisco Bay ; if it was
for such purpose, Mr. Albright adds, it was under the private instruc-
tions of his father-in-law, Senator Benton. His fourth expedition,
1848-1849, primarily for the exploration of a central route, and also
without government support, had failed in the San Juan mountains
in Colorado. After the government surveys were ordered in 1853,
Fremont in August, with funds of his own and Senator Benton's,
planned a fifth expedition to complete the objects of the former.
Mrs. Fremont, in her Memoir XV, says it had been intended her
husband should lead one of the government surveys of 1853, but as
no name appeared in the bill, the Secretary of War appointed Gun-
nison. Some of the Fremont reports were given government publi-
cation.78 On the fifth expedition F. W. Egloffstein was the topog-
rapher as far as the Mormon settlement.79 Because of this govern-
ment aid and government recognition given the Fremont explora-
tions, they no doubt seemed themselves to be official, and were so
regarded by Mr. Hale and his topographer.

In spite of its dependence upon the numerous authoritative
sources, the Hale map, which is itself merely an outline map, has
many inaccuracies, owing in part at least to the inaccuracies of
the sources. The most conspicuous are the courses of the mountain
ranges. From 45° north latitude the entire Rocky range follows a
slightly northeastern course; only the chief range is indicated, and
it is confined to 112°-111° longitude instead of being shown from
118°-110° as it should be. Fremont's Peak, located almost rightly
near parallel 43° and meridian 110°, is placed in the main range
instead of in the Wind River mountains where it belongs, the main
range here being given too northwesterly a line; and the Wind River
mountains, which are a northwesterly range parallel with the main
range between latitudes 42°-44° in longitude 109°-110°, are on this
map a west and east to northeasterly range between latitudes 43°
and 44° in longitude 104°-109°, being confused apparently with the
Sweetwater range. Although the Black Hills follow a north and
south line, they extend from about latitude 44° to 54°, whereas they
are a short range reaching from about latitude 44° to 45° 30'. The

78. The expedition of 1842 appeared as Senate Document, No. 243, 27 Cong., 8 sess. ; the
second, as Senate Document, No. 174, 28 Cong., 2 sess. ; the third, as Miscellaneous Senate
Document, No. 148, 30 Cong., 1 sess. ; the map of Charles Preuss, 1846, of this third
Fremont expedition from Missouri to Oregon, as House Committee Report, No. 145, 80 Cong.,
2 Bess. ; the fifth as represented in footnote 74, and the fourth was connected with the fifth.

79. Mr. Egloffstein joined Lieutenant Beckwith in 1854 to aid in his explorations alone
latitude 41°.

164 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

topography of the rest of this northwestern region that in 1854 was
a part of the Nebraska territory, is even more uncertain. No others
of the numerous mountain ranges are represented on the map at all.

The rivers follow curious courses. The Big Horn, which is given
approximately correct headwaters in the Wind River mountains, is
made the chief source of the Yellowstone river on the map; and the
Wind river, which is now known to flow in a southeasterly course
into the Big Horn, follows, on the map, a northeasterly course into
the Little Big Horn. The headwaters of the Missouri are in north
latitude 44° and 45°, longitude 109° to 112°, instead of latitude
45° and 46°, longitude 111° to 114°; and Great Falls is in latitude
48° and longitude 110°, whereas it belongs in latitude 47° 30' and
longitude 111° 30'. The union, however, of the Yellowstone and the
Milk river with the Missouri is approximately right. The Bitter
Root river is not named on the Hale map and perhaps not shown, but
the Salmon river to the west of the mountain range is made to abut
the range on the west directly west of an unnamed river abutting it
on the east so that it seems probable the Hale map followed here
the erroneous idea of Captain Hood that the Bitter Root was a
source of the Salmon.

In southeastern Nebraska and in Kansas geographical positions
are much more accurate on the Hale map. Rivers and forts are
about the only markings. The more important rivers have about
the same headwaters and the same courses as in modern maps. A
few exceptions are noticeable. The Little Nemaha, which follows a
course markedly southeasterly, and the Great Nemaha, which after
the union of its two forks is also southeasterly, follow on the Hale
map courses almost due east. Although in the text, in a passage
quoted from an unnamed source,80 "the Republican and the Smoky
Hill forks are said to take their rise in the Rocky Mountains and
unite to form the Kanzas river in almost latitude 39° and longitude
96°," the map reveals the rise of each in the plains east of the moun-
tain range and the union in latitude 39° and longitude 97°. The
Arkansas, which crosses the southern line of the state just east of
longitude 97° crosses on the Hale Map, at a point just west of 96°.
The Cimarron, which unites with the Arkansas in latitude 36°, lon-
gitude 96° 15', unites, on the Hale map, in latitude 38°, longitude 97°
30'. This point, although 200 miles east of Fort Atkinson, may be
the union marked in the map of Lieutenant Steen and noted by

80. Hale, Edward Everett, Kanzas and Nebraska, p. 86.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 165

Lieutenant Warren as wrong. The right location of the union is
more nearly 300 miles southeast of the fort.

Mr. Hale was probably more aware of the meagerness of his map
than of its inaccuracies. In interpreting the rights of settlers he
alluded to the law providing for the survey of Kansas and Nebraska
that had passed congress late in the session of 1854 but which would
"scarcely begin before late in the fall of 1854."81 That survey, had
it already been made and its results been available, would have
enabled him to locate on his map some of the places and streams he
talked about but did not represent — Elm Grove, Council Grove,
Walnut Creek post office, Big Timbers, Great Bend, Wolf river, the
Little Blue, Grand Island, Bijou, the Vermillion, and the various
Indian missions. One other provision of the map, that of leaving
five inches of blank paper on the end bound in the book, making the
entire map visible when open, no matter at what page the book
itself may be open, is the most convenient feature of the map.

A point of relatively small importance but of considerable in-
terest to Mr. Hale in the publication of his book was his chosen
spelling of Kanzas. The first allusion to it occurs in a letter to his
brother Charles, without exact date, but belonging to the early sum-
mer of 1854 :82

"We have canvassed that and still spell it with a 'z.' I think you will find
that the territory of Arkansas was organized under that spelling, but the
public changed the matter before it was a State."

On August 18 Mr. Hale wrote his brother Charles on the matter
a second time.83

"I will write an article explaining why I spell Kanzas with a z. Will you
print it and give a general order to spell so. I will make the Register, and I
think the Tribune ; my book will spell so, and, I hope the Emigrant Company.
I hope it is not too- late to change it, or rather to settle it."

In the preface to Kanzas and Nebraska Mr. Hale explains his choice
as a matter of accuracy.84

"In that view I have held to the spelling of Kanzas, of most of the travelers
and of the Indians department, in preference to Kansas, the more fashionable
spelling of a few weeks past. There is no doubt that the z best expresses the
sound, that it has been almost universally used till lately, and that it is
still used by those most familiar with the tribe and the river which have,
time immemorial, borne this name. Kanzas, too, will soon be a state. Its
name then will, at best, too much resemble the name of Arkansas, which was,

81. Ibid., pp. 235, 236.

82. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, p. 264.

83. Ibid., p. 260.

84. Hale, Edward Everett, Kanzas and Nebraska, p. V.

166 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

in fact, derived from it.85 To keep them by one letter more apart is to gain
something."

In the text, discussing the Indians in the territory, Mr. Hale
tells more of the origin of the different forms of the name.86

"Around the fork3 of the Kanzas river, is the hunting ground of the Kanzas
tribe, from whom this river and territory have their names. This name ia
spelled by different writers in many different ways. Cansas, Conzas, Konsas,
Kansas, and Kanzas, are the most frequent."

Mr. Hale's reasoning was sound enough, but the public did not
accept and follow his chosen spelling at all generally. By late
autumn he felt it necessary to secure aid if he would establish his
chosen way as custom. To G. W. Brown he wrote both of the
tendency of the day and in fuller explanation of his own usage:87

"I hope I am not too late to beg you to turn a cold shoulder on the care-
less fashion of spelling Kanzas with an s after the n, which I see is coming
into vogue. It is all wrong. A Boston paper to-day says that Kanzas is an
abbreviation of Arkansas. This is preposterous. Let us take for our new
state high ground from the very beginning, as it is the true ground. The
Arkansas Indians broke off from the Kanzas Indians but a few years before
the French first explored the valley of the Mississippi. They enlarged our
name. We never took theirs nor the fag end of it. Kanzas has an antiquity
and may as well claim it.

"The earliest history of Louisiana, in French, spells the name Canchez —
giving the sound in question the very hardest sound of which the French
language is capable."

Before Mr. Brown published the letter in the Herald of Freedom,
January 6, 1855, he had written "Friend Hale" on December 27,
1854, of the already accepted western spelling with the s.88

"I regret that I had not received your letter in time for publication,89 but
it now is quite unseasonable.

"The spelling of Kansas seems to have become almost established by
usage, and I think it would be impossible in the West to change it now. All
the papers in the territory, with the many along the border to which my at-
tention has been called, are in the habit of spelling it with an s. Congress
sent out the bill in the same form, and for me to attempt a change — although
convinced of the force of your argument — would seem wholly impracticable.
I shall give the public the benefit of your ideas on this matter."

When on January 6, in the first issue of his paper thereafter, Mr.
Brown did give the public opportunity to read Mr. Hale's views,
he added his own editorial comment.

85. Ibid., p. 67: "The Arkansaw Indians, an offshoot from the Kanzaa, struck the
French as such fine men, that they called them 'les Beaux Hommes,' supposing that to be
the meaning of their name."

86. Ibid., p. 52.

87. Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, January 6, 1855.

88. In correspondence of Edward Everett Hale among the official papers of the Emigrant
Aid Company.

89. In an earlier issue of the Herald of Freedom.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 167

"The argument of our friend sustains his position as to the spelling of
Kansas; and yet the popular will has charge of the matter so fully that it
appears to be beyond the power of the literati to change the result. Congress
in the enrollment of our territorial bill, set an example which has been fol-
lowed by the different heads of departments, and the newspaper press — with
very rare exceptions — in all parts of the country. The five presses in the
territory are also with the majority, and the orthography of Kansas at this
time seems as firmly established as that of any state in the Union."

So apparently it was, although a few eastern publications con-
tinued to spell the name with a z into 1856. The Quarterly Journal
of the American Unitarian Association abandoned it after the an-
nual report of the treasurer, May 27, 1856. The Boston Transcript
and the Daily Chronicle used it into the summer and the Springfield
Republican continued it into the fall. Many of the contemporary
publishers, even when writing of Kanzas and Nebraska, referred to
it always as Kansas and Nebraska. Mr. Hale himself had some
difficulty in remembering to use his preferred spelling in the book,
as the manuscript reveals. Frequently he had to change the s to
a z ; the first two drafts of the title page even read Kansas and Ne-
braska. To the modern casual reader the spelling of the name is
the most noticeable and most memorable feature of the book.

Such in summary-review is Kanzas and Nebraska that its author
compiled at the rate of forty-three pages a day. His son described
it, in 1917, as "little more than a compilation;"90 and to the modern
reader so indeed it seems and is; a compilation, moreover, in which
some of the signs of haste are obvious. Attached to the book, for
instance, in a separate Appendix B, is a six-page description of the
valleys of Smoky Hill and the Kansas rivers in the form of a letter
from George S. Park, published by the Emigrant Aid Company too
late to be given a place in the text. Its full subject matter would
have been an addition to the text, chapter IV, on the geography of
Kansas, but it would have been somewhat out of proportion even to
the other long quotations already incorporated in the text. More
deliberate preparation of the manuscript would have permitted a di-
gest or summary treatment of the substance. All the way through
the text as it stands there is too continuous dependence upon quota-
tion as it is, too little of the author's own explanation in proportion.

Comparison of the printed pages with the manuscript reveals more
evidences of haste. Written for the most part in Mr. Hale's own
clear and meticulous script, on letter paper of two sizes, it was,
nevertheless, clean, easily read copy for the printers to follow. Evi-

90. Hale, Edward K, Jr., The Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, p. 258.

168 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dently, though, it was his first copy and the changes he had found
necessary were made on the manuscript there. Pages 17 and 18, for
instance, of the manuscript, page 17 of the book, were crossed out,
and rewritten as they now appear in the printed text. All of page 14
of the manuscript, page 11 of the book, was scratched out and re-
written on the back of the same sheet. Now and then additional
passages or whole paragraphs were written on the backs of sheets
and marked for insertion in the text; such passages are found in the
manuscript, page 241, and in the book as the last paragraph of page
152 ; in the manuscript, page 288, and in the book the middle para-
graph of page 183. Sometimes longer extra insertions were marked
by half numbers, as 114y2, 123y2, 125%, 126%, 185%, and 220%, to
care for additional material ; corresponding to these numbers in order
are the following book pages where they belong: 60, 66-67, 70-71,
72, 117-118, and 180. Manuscript page 178 carried an insertion of
six pages numbered Al to A6, covering pages 106-109 of the book.
The manuscript is written on one side of the sheet only, with three
exceptions : page 274 of the manuscript is found on the back of page
273, 279 on the back of 278, and 283 on the back of 282. These
passages, appearing in the printed book, from page 174 through
180, belong in the chapter on political history and consist of quota-
tions and Mr. Bale's own summaries of political happenings.

Extensive changes in the printed book from the manuscript read-
ings are few. The chief occurs toward the end of chapter II, where
in the manuscript in a different handwriting, with the initials "N.
H. Jr." attached, three footnotes are supplied. In the manuscript
these appear on pages 96, 108, and 114%-115, corresponding to
pages 50, 56, and 60 of the book respectively. The initials are evi-
dently those of Nathan Hale, an older brother of Edward Everett
Hale, who probably read proof and who procured for his brother the
copy of the Kansas-Nebraska bill used in chapter VIII. The book
retains only the footnote of "N. H. Jr." on page 56— "as this book
is passing through the press, it is understood that these treaties have
been ratified" — but it omits his personal notation, "Here I inserted
footnote. N. H. Jr." Page 115 of the manuscript ends, "It is prob-
able that these treaties will be ratified before this book is published."
Attached is a footnote by Mr. Hale himself which reads, "Here I
said, in text, 'it is understood that these treaties were ratified by the
senate at the close of the session just finished, although the official
promulgation had not been made when this sheet was prepared for
publication.' " This note, in different-colored ink, was probably

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS

169

added to the manuscript long after the book was printed, for on page
60, where the passage occurs, there is no footnote in either Mr.
Kale's or his brother's writing. Incorporated in the printed text,
however, without any explanation at all, is all of the sentence above
beginning with "It is understood. . . ." The statement, thus
couched as the proof was read, became the new conclusion of chap-
ter II.

Occasionally there were changes in sentence construction. In the
manuscript of the preface, sentence 2 of paragraph 5 embraced by use
of participial phrases what now appears in three sentences. In the
manuscript, page 90, there was a penciled insertion of "Missouri" at
the end of a sentence which in the book, page 51, line 5, became "and
west of the Missouri." A sentence on manuscript pages 126-126%
reading, "The French name La Platte was given it to designate its
French name, La Platte, from its great width," was corrected and
shortened in the book, page 72, line 6, to "The French name La
Platte designates its great width." The clause, "so immense is the
extent of the prairie country," of the manuscript, page 128, became
in the book, page 73, "so immense is the prairie country."

Usually the differences between the manuscript and the book
readings were briefer and less troublesome, but they were sufficient
in number to have added to the bill for author's corrections :
MANUSCRIPT READINGS.
Page.

Preface — state
8—1681 and 2

69—150 feet
68 — connexions
85—2250 souls

120— North East

138— Kansas

148— Vol. I, pp. 137. 8. 9

160— smoky Hill . . . Kansas

165— Eastern Spurs

185— Desert

228— Lt. Fremont

241 — traders route

265-Mr. King's speech. ... It

contains . . .
b 11— Mr. Mons. H. Grinnell

BOOK READINGS.
Page.
IV— states

11—1681 and 1682

37— one hundred and fifty

37 — connections

44 — two thousand two hundred
and fifty souls

64 — north-east

80 — Kanzas

90-Vol. I, pp. 137-139

9&-£moky Hill . . . Kanzas

99 — eastern spurs
112— desert
146 — Lieut. Fremont
152 — traders' route
16&-Mr. King's speeches. . . .

They contain . . .
229-Mr. J. M. S. Williams

50]

51 1

91 f and

99J

170 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Besides these lesser changes were a few of mechanical nature such
as the insertion of quotation marks on page 92 of the book, omitted
from page 153 of the manuscript ; and the making of new paragraph
divisions, as on page 72 of the book which printed as two paragraphs
what appeared in the manuscript, page 126% as one; or as on page
163 of the book, which did the same for material placed in one
paragraph in the manuscript, page 256; or as on page 81 of the
book, which united in one paragraph what constituted two in the
manuscript, page 139. For the omission of quotation marks in the
book from page 139, paragraph 2, through page 138 and from page
140, paragraph 2, around material which in the manuscript, pages
218 and 220% respectively, is obviously taken bodily from a news-
paper, there is no explanation in either manuscript or book.

Although Kanzas and Nebraska is "little more than a compila-
tion," the compilation was itself no small feat for two summer
months. Begun some time after the publisher's agreement of July
12, the book was in press by September 20 91 and was published on
September 28. Collection of materials from the many different
sources was itself something of a task; selection and arrangement
of them required care; and the copying of virtually all of them in
longhand was a nervous as well as a physical strain. Though Mr.
Hale may have "written" at the rate of forty-three pages a day,
he could not have kept up the speed many consecutive days unless,
of course, he had selected and arranged all his material in advance,
but that he could hardly have done. The presentation does not
suggest such foresight. His letters and manuscript notes, moreover,
record some of his difficulties in procuring materials. The small
letter sheets he used for much of the manuscript permitted a greater
output for those parts than for others of the 335 pages. Cessation
in August of most of the advertisements of the book, begun so
prematurely by Phillips, Sampson & Company on July 11, suggests
unexpected delay.

Not until late September was the advertising revived. Then on
September 26 the New York Daily Tribune carried again the ad-
vertisement of July, with the additional line, "Published This Day,
Sept. 28," and with the price of the paper-bound copy given as 50
instead of 56 cents. On September 27 the Boston Evening Telegraph
repeated the form of the Commonwealth advertisement of July. On
September 30 and October 2, G. S. Wells, a bookseller of New York,

91. Evening Transcript, Boston, September 20, 1854.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 171

advertised Kansas and Nebraska in the New York Tribune, and on
October 12, 19 and 26 in the National Era in Washington. In
Worcester the review of the book in The Daily Spy, September 26,
said the book was for sale at William Allen's bookstore, but it was
not advertised then or later among Allen's new books. On September
27 John Keith & Company, also of Worcester, however, listed it in
their Bulletin of New Books in The Daily Spy, and from September
29 through November 28 they carried the title among their regularly
advertised books in the same paper. Although in July the publishers
spoke of announcing the book "all over the northern creation," their
advertising of September, when the book was ready for circulation,
seems to have been considerably curtailed. The only elaborate ad-
vertisement the writer has found was that of the Boston Evening
Telegraph, October 7 and 14, 1854. Four and three-quarters inches
long, in heavy black type, somewhat exclamatory in form, and
markedly antislavery in tone, it was conspicuous among book an-
nouncements of the day.

WHICH SHALL WIN

The intense interest felt throughout

the country with regard to the settlement of

our youngest territories

KANSAS

AND NEBRASKA!

Has already begun to be manifest in the tide
of emigration settling westward. The fair, virgin
soil is free to all, and the hardy pioneers are
to bear on their shoulders the destinies of those
embryo states. Throughout the

NORTHERN HIVE

Which is again to swarm with thousands
of gold gleaning bees, there is already the
bustle of preparation.

To meet the universal demand for reliable
information respecting the geography, climate,
soil, and probable productions of the new
territories, a volume has been prepared by

REV. EDWARD E. HALE,

containing all that is desirable to be known.

It is accompanied by an accurate and comprehensive

Map of the Territories.
This work, so opportune, so complete, has
been received with uncommon favor.

172 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The whole of the first edition was

exhausted on the very day of the publication, without
supplying all the advance orders received.
New edition nearly ready.
Price in muslin 75 cents; in paper 50 cents.

The sponsor of this propaganda-colored venture is unknown, for
it did not bear the name of publisher or dealer or friend. It is of
interest, though, as indicating that the advance advertisements of
the book had brought the desired sales. Statement of Charles Hale
in a letter to his sister Susan, September 24, 1854, substantiates this
suggestion:92 "I suppose you know Edward's book is published, and
the whole first edition sold at once with good promise of continued
demand."

One other advertisement of the book followed, that of November
4, evidently in the Boston Journal, just after the new edition was
published. Matter-of-fact in nature and modest in tone, it, too,
appeared without the name of the sponsor, who, nevertheless, de-
scribed the book as invaluable to persons desiring the latest infor-
mation upon Kansas derived especially from "the correspondence
of the Emigrant Aid Society" and having an accurate map.

The first review of Kanzas and Nebraska seems to have appeared
in the Daily Advertiser, managed and edited by the Hale family.93
Who wrote the review, copied by the Evening Transcript, September
20, 1854, the papers do not reveal.94

"It appears to us well adapted to that object [of giving authentic in-
formation on the territories] by combining in a narrow compass, and in a
tangible shape, a great amount of information scattered through many, many
volumes of travels and documents, and placing it before the reader in a
methodical form."

In a letter from Edward Everett Hale to his brother Charles,
September 20, 1854, the day of the Transcript reprint, responsibility
for the review is placed upon the brother:95 "I am heartily obliged
for the notice of Kanzas; whether I ever see the book itself seems
more doubtful." The book itself did not appear officially for eight
more days.96

92. Letter from "Charlie" to "Susie" September 24, 1854, in correspondence of Edward
Everett Hale.

93. The Daily Advertiser, Boston, published by Nathan Hale, Sr., had in the late spring
of 1854 been taken over by two of his sons, Charles and Edward Everett. Charles became
the managing editor and Edward Everett helped on the editorial page. — Cf. Life and Letters
of Edward Everett Hale, by Edward E. Hale, Jr., v. I, p. 254.

94. Evening Transcript, Boston, September 20, 1854.

95. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, p. 260.

96. Vide footnote 92. The letter from Charlie to Susie, September 24, said the "book is
published." The word "published" here appears to have been a mistake for "printed." Since
the New York Tribune of September 26 gave the date of publication as September 28, the
writer of this article supposes the publishers did not release the book for circulation until
the latter date.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 173

On September 26 and 27, respectively, the editors of The Daily
Spy and the editor of The Daily Transcript of Worcester, Edward
Everett Bale's home town, had seen advance copies of the book.
The Daily Spy reviewed the contents and said that the book ad-
mirably supplied the need of a complete history of the territories.
It also commended the author.97

"Mr. Hale is a clear, judicious, and practical writer, and is admirably fitted,
by his experience and the constitution of his mind, to write just the book
needed by those who intend to settle in the territories. We heartily com-
mend his book to the public."

The editor of The Daily Transcript singled out the instructions
to emigrants as the best that had yet appeared.98

"It reflects great credit upon the author, by the patient and thorough in-
vestigation which marks the various researches, and the authentic sources, from
which he has drawn such abundant material, render the work of double inter-
est and of more especial value."

The New York Tribune analyzed the method more.99

"Mr. Hale, whose taste and ability for statistical and historical research are
well known to the community in which he resides, has made an assiduous
study of everything relating to the history, geographical and physical charac-
teristics, and political position of Kansas and Nebraska, and has here set forth
the fruits of his labors in a compact and readable form."

The Atlaswo and The Congregationalist,101 like the other papers,
noted the seasonableness of the book and emphasized its value to
emigrants to the new territories. Putnam's Monthly said it was
"not a political tract but a practical work on the geography, his-
tory, and resources of the new Canaans of our confederacy . . .
full and reliable."102 The Quarterly Journal of the American Uni-
tarian Association considered the singular nature of the task of
writing such a work.103

"It is no small service to a good cause to supply, at a few weeks' notice, a
valuable book, which exactly meets a pressing exigency; and it is a proof of
no small courage, industry, and command of resources, to be able to render
that service with promptitude and ability. Great credit is due, on both
accounts, to the author of this book, who has done much to give immediate
impetus to a noble cause of philanthropy."

Northern reviewers were all in praise, in a moderate but sincere tone.

97. The Daily Spy, Worcester, Mass., September 26, 1854. Copy used.

98. The Daily Transcript, Worcester, September 27, 1854.

99. The Daily Tribune, New York, October 8, 1854.

100. The Atlas, Boston, October 17, 1854.

101. The Congregationalist, Boston, October 27, 1854.

102. Putnam's Monthly (November, 1854), v. IV, p. 564.

103. Quarterly Journal, American Unitarian Association (January 1, 1855), v. II, pp.

174 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

From Washington came critical comment in lighter vein, playing
upon the commonly heard names of Kansas and Nebraska.104

"If there be any faith due to the proverb that 'a hair of the same dog cures
his bite,' those who have had their nervous excitabilities worn down and their
sense of hearing deadened by the daily repetition of those names for almost
a year — soft and sweet and euphonious though they be — will find a pleasant
recuperative remedy by taking up this volume. In it they will see these twin
sisters of the West with new faces, with features not so harsh and repulsive
as they appeared in the paintings exhibited at the Capitol during the last
session by the rough speechifying limners of that ilk. Here the coloring is
drawn from nature, not from distorted imagination. Their prairie oceans, their
beautiful streams, their shady forests, and savage denizens, and wild herds
are all fairly depicted. Nor is the darker side of the picture hidden from
view. The arid plains, where neither tree, nor shrub, nor blade of grass for
hundreds of acres, can find soil enough to sustain a root; where no water
bubbles up to greet the eye of the thirsty emigrant; where no fuel can be
found to light the fire by which to prepare his daily food; where neither rock
nor hillside shade invites him to repose his wearied limbs; all these, too, are
delineated with the pencil of truth.

"Mr. Hale has honestly compiled his history from the most reliable sources
extant. Indeed we believe he has not failed to consult every traveler who
has ever written a line upon the subject of that extensive region of our
country. . . .

"With all his predilections for that particular ism to which he confesses
himself attached, Mr. Hale has managed to make this chapter on political his-
tory of the new territories extremely interesting. He has hunted up many
anecdotes from the molding documents of a past generation, which revive in
our memories many agreeable and some unpleasant incidents, but has fairly
stated the sayings and doings of the most conspicuous actors and speakers
on both sides of the vexed question, the 'misery debate/ as the wags called
it, of 1820."

Weary of endless ill-judged comment that as propaganda had un-
derestimated or overestimated the features of the territories, the
reviewer of the National Intelligencer wrote appreciatively of Mr.
Kale's study. Of the reviews discovered his is the only one that
seems to have been deliberately designed for Southern as well as
Northern readers.

In Kansas there was no recognition of the book until the spring
of 1855. On February 10, under a column heading "General In-
telligence," excerpts were made in the Herald of Freedom "from
'Kansas and Nebraska' by E. D. Hale." The source, of course, was
Kanzas and Nebraska by E. E. Hale. The parts copied were taken
from chapter VI, "Routes of Travel . . . The Pacific Railroad

104. National Intelligencer, Washington, December 20, 1854.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 175

. . . Navigable Rivers."105 On April 21, quite as though the
copy of the book had just arrived, the editor of this same paper,
under the title, "History of Kansas," acknowledged receipt of "the
nicely bound volume" of Kanzas and Nebraska with which, "through
the politeness of Rev. E. E. Hale, of Worcester, Mass., we are
favored."106

"As the pioneer history of the great West, abounding with a vast amount
of matter which is very difficult to procure through any other channel, it will
be a standard work, and invaluable to the future historian of Kansas. The
volume contains many inaccuracies, of course, as is the case with all new
publications of a similar character; but these will be readily corrected by the
intelligent reader, and a revised volume will add many important incidents
which have transpired subsequent to its original preparation. The map, which
at present is a mere outline, will be dotted with towns, villages, and cities.
We hope friend Hale will pay Kansas a visit during the present season, and
prepare a new volume for publication. Another work of the kind is much
needed."

The criticism in this review is the most adverse published com-
ment upon the book by contemporary writers the author of this
article has found. In Kansas, in proximity to the contemporary
facts, inaccuracies were apparent, but the editor did not take the
trouble to note them. What interested him more was having the
history of Kansas, subsequent to its organization as a territory, in-
cluded in a new edition of this first "history" of the prospective
state. Of so little impress was the criticism, however, that the New
Haven Daily Palladium, in noting the review, said, "The Herald
certifies to the merits of Rev. E. E. Hale's . . . Kanzas and
Nebraska;"107 Kansas was too remote from Connecticut for errors
to be visible.

One other contemporary article, that of The Methodist Quarterly
Review, said that the information was general rather than special,
but added that "a minute knowledge of the country has yet to be
acquired."108 This review also frankly hoped that the book might
"contribute its share to nullify the plan of the present American
government to spread slavery over the vast territory, covered by
what is known as the 'Nebraska Bill.' "

105. The passages copied were from pp. 139-141, 145, 146, 148, 149, 151-153, and
156-161.

106. Herald of Freedom, April 21, 1855. Attempts had been made to get the book to
Kansas before. G. W. Brown had ordered a copy from Boston in the fall but it was stolen
en route.- Mr. Hale had evidently announced he was sending a copy, for on December 27
Mr. Brown wrote him, "The Desc. of Kansas and Nebraska has not been received. Should
have been glad to acknowledge receipt of copy." — Letter of G. W. Brown to E. E. Hale, De-
cember 27, 1854, in correspondence of Edward Everett Hale.

107. Daily Palladium, New Haven, Conn., May 7, 1855.

108. Methodist Quarterly Review, 4th series (January, 1855), v. VII, p. 135.

176 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The only specific adverse criticism of Mr. Hale's work that sur-
vives occurred in a letter of Charles H. Branscombe, one of the
Kansas agents for the Emigrant Aid Company, to Mr. Hale, Feb-
ruary 2, 1855. 109 A long twenty-five-page article on the significance
of the Emigrant Aid Movement, written by Charles Wentworth
Upham and published in the North American Review, January,
1855, had praised Kanzas and Nebraska as a source book for the
emigrant and attributed credit for conception of the whole emigra-
tion enterprise to Mr. Hale.110

"It is natural that Mr. Hale should have had his attention specially called
to this subject. The Kanzas and Nebraska emigration movement is the ful-
fillment and realization of one of his early and cherished visions. He tried
to save Texas to freedom by the same instrumentality, and urged an organ-
ized emigration to that region in a pamphlet entitled, A Tract for the Day:
How to Conquer Texas, before Texas Conquers Us — published in 1845."

The Upham article in the Review then praised Mr. Thayer for his
part in the movement, making use, partly in paraphrase and partly
in quotation, of an account in the London Times and of other ma-
terial from another unnamed source. The sketch gave a colorful
picture of Mr. Thayer "to whose energy, enthusiasm, and powers
this emigration movement is mainly owing, and by whom it is in
great measure superintended and conducted."

This division of credit between the two men is the point to which
Mr. Branscombe takes exception in his letter.

"I have been much surprised in reading your work on Kansas and Nebraska,
and also in reading Mr. Upham 's review of it, that neither has awarded to Mr.
Thayer the honor of having originated the plan of organized emigration
which is efficiently used by the Emigrant Aid Company.

"Your book seems to make Mr. Thayer secondary and subordinate to a
general public sentiment, and Mr. Upham makes him secondary and subor-
dinate to yourself in this movement.

"Now in relation to the first position, that of the book. I know it to be
incorrect, for I know that it has been a gigantic work on the part of Mr.
Thayer to arouse public sentiment and to guide it into the line of practical
action. . . . Mr. Thayer has been and now is the caput acque princeps of
all efficient action in the premises.

"Now in relation to the other point. Will you be so kind as to inform me,
whether you as the review claims, are the originator of this plan of organized
emigration or of any plan. I am aware you wrote a tract advocating emigra-
tion to Texas, but did you originate and develop any plan? Are you the
author of the Stock Co.? of the Leagues? of the officer of Master of Emigra-

109. Letter of Charles H. Branscombe to Edward Everett Hale, February 2, 1855, in
correspondence of Edward Everett Hale.

110. North American Review (January, 1855), v. 80, pp. 91-116. The article as printed
is unsigned, but a letter from Virginia Barney, assistant editor of the North American Re-
view, to the writer of this review, May 21, 1932, states that the author was Mr. Upham.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 177

tion? of one or all of these or of none of them? If you are rightfully in the
position, which works of an enduring character assign to you, then Mr. Thayer
does you an injustice by not disclaiming the honor given him in the daily and
weekly papers and the conversation of the people. . . .

"Your reviewer denies Mr. Thayer the honor emphatically — but gives him
credit for energy and perseverance as a subaltern. In this extract from the
London Times he omits the part which makes Mr. Thayer the leader of the
movement."

Mr. Branscombe wrote his letter from Boston, where he then was
in the interests of the Emigrant Aid Company. Mr. Hale's reply
to him is not extant. On the following day, February 3, however,
Mr. Hale, in Worcester, addressed a communication to the editor
of the North American Review, disclaiming all credit for originating
the movement. The letter was published later as a "note to article
VI of the January number." m

"DEAR SIR — The honor for originating the plan for emigration to the West,
with the view of saving Kanzas and the new Western states from the worst
of evils, is one which will yet be regarded as among the most distinguished
honors of this time. As your pages will be resorted to as history, I am anxious
to put on record there the title of Mr. Eli Thayer to all this honor. He con-
ceived the scheme, he arranged the working details of it, and by his compre-
hension and ingenious combinations so adjusted it, in the beginning, that to
practical men it has always seemed an eminently practical affair.

"This statement is due from me, because, in your kind notice of my book
on Kanzas, there is an expression from which a careless reader might suppose
that Mr. Thayer was working out suggestions of mine. Every one who knows
the facts would ridicule this idea. I published in 1845 a pamphlet on Emigra-
tion to Texas, which no one read, and I could not induce any one to consider
the idea. It contained no plan of operation. Although I never abandoned the
fundamental idea of that pamphlet, I made no suggestion for carrying it out
last year. Nor had I any plan to propose. Mr. Thayer had never seen nor
heard of my pamphlet when he originated what I have no claim to — the
comprehensive scheme, only now beginning to be realized, for organizing
Western emigration."

Mr. Thayer may or may not have been disturbed himself by the
implied division of credit for the plan; no positive statement of
either attitude has come into the writer's hands. In 1889, in a
History of the Kansas Crusade, when Mr. Thayer praised Mr. Hale
for his early confidence in the undertaking and his willingness to
work for it, he of course was indirectly assigning Mr. Hale a
secondary place in the development of the plan.112 At the same time,
Mr. Hale, in his introduction to the book, surrendered again all

111. North American Review (April, 1855), v. 80, p. 548.

112. Vide ante, p. 143.

12—7572

178 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

credit to Mr. Thayer: 113 "I should be sorry not to say, on all
occasions, that to him the work owed its success and the nation
owes all that grew from that success."

The success of Kanzas and Nebraska was measured in two ways
by contemporaries. For the publishers it was a financial failure;
for the emigrant aid companies it was a practical help. The cor-
respondence extant does not indicate the size of either printing of
the book, but it does reveal the effects of the sale. In July, 1854,
Mr. Hale had offered to sell the manuscript outright for $300 or to
take a fifteen per cent royalty on the retail price of the work.114
Phillips, Sampson & Company would have accepted the first terms
save for the recommendation of Mr. Phillips.115

"My sole reason for resisting it was not for us — but because I really thought
that there hung around it one of those chances that I did not want to see you
throw away for so small a sum. ... I did not make this ruling until Mr.
Sampson told me he was satisfied we sh'd sell anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000
copies."

That the sale fell far short of even the lower figure of the estimate
is evident in the $218 royalties the company paid Mr. Hale in
August, 1855. The letters between Mr. Phillips and Mr. Hale at
the time indicate the sum was figured on the basis of ten per cent
instead of fifteen per cent.

Both the author and the publishers had overestimated "the public
interest in that new world." Neither had considered the cost of ex-
tensive advertising. Issuing the book shortly after two far more
popular titles,116 the firm found itself under the high pressure of ad-
vertising from Maine to Kansas. Although Mr. Sampson had early
begun to say, "If we advertise this so, we can't pay over 10 per cent,"
Mr. Phillips had asserted Mr. Hale would be reasonable about the
matter and procrastinated in telling him "under the notion that the
sale would come out strong enough to justify such an after con-
sideration. But the sequel is as it is and it can't be any tizzer." Mr.
Phillips assumed all blame, even for the small sale, but Mr. Hale
was disappointed, saying he would not have put the time and work
into the book for the $218 had he foreseen the slight interest in the
new territories. Under a false impression about the amount of the

113. Hale, Edward Everett, introduction to A History of the Kansas Crusade, by Eli
Thayer, p. XI.

114. Letters from M. D. Phillips to Edward Everett Hale, July 12, 1854; August 21,
1855, in correspondence of Edward Everett Hale.

115. Ibid. Letter of August 21, 1855.

116. These titles were Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; and
History of Cuba, by Maturin M. Ballou.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 179

loss on the book, Mr. Hale took the $108117 difference between ten
and fifteen per cent philosophically, volunteering to share the loss
equally with the publishers. Afterwards Mr. Phillips went over the
books again and found the loss of the company to be more than
$300, which the company, however, assumed without complaint as a
risk of trade.118

Although within the year the promulgators recognized Kanzas and
Nebraska as a commercial failure, they regarded it from the be-
ginning as first authority on both the territories and the Emigrant
Aid Company. It was at once a history and a geography and a book
of directions for Kansas and prospective Kansans. Mr. Thayer
wrote that "the several hundred of the different kinds of societies,
leagues, committees, and companies in the free states" kept it as "an
invaluable handbook for emigrants. ... It was of great service
in our efforts to arouse the public to the importance of organized
emigration."119 The day after the official publication, September 28,
1854, Doctor Webb submitted to the publishers an order from the
German Kansas Settlers Association of Cincinnati, Ohio, for several
copies.120 Records of publishers and booksellers are not available
to show the number of copies sold. Comments in advertisements
and early reviews to the effect that the first edition was exhausted
were probably references to printings rather than editions. There
could hardly have been need of a second edition. The only person
who wrote of the possibility was G. W. Brown, editor of the Herald
of Freedom, of Lawrence. To western readers, with the scene of its
setting at their doorsteps, Kanzas and Nebraska had shortcomings
not obvious elsewhere. Although the publishers boasted of announc-
ing it "all over the northern creation," the book probably found its
greatest number of readers in the East, where interest in the emigra-
tion movement was most manifest. There people talked about it
and its subject matter; there reviewers wrote of it; there its author
was known. Those who had already come West found the terri-
tories themselves all around them a more urgent and more authentic
source of information and thought. The last of the business corre-

117. The figure, $108, is evidently a mistake for $109, which would have been the
exact amount of the extra five per cent royalty of the original plan.

118. The Herald of Freedom, October 15, 1859, noted Phillips, Sampson & Company had
recently failed with an indebtedness of $240,000.

119. Thayer, Eli, A History of the Kansas Crusade, Its Friends and Its Foes, pp. 124,
125. Because of this official use of the book by the Emigrant Aid Company, it subsequently
came to be regarded as a publication of the company; cf. Albert J. Beveridge's Abraham
Lincoln, v. II, p. 300, footnote.

120. Webb, Thos. H., Letter of September 29, 1854, to Albert Oestreicher, in Letters
(Letter Press copies) of Emigrant Aid Company.

180 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

spondence preserved was Mr. Phillips' letter of August 21, but not
until December 18, 1855, did Mr. Hale find himself free of matters
relative to the book. On that day he wrote to his brother Charles,
"I have swept Kanzas off my table completely."121

Copies of the book are easily available to-day. Second-hand book
dealers list them at nominal prices. Only last year a friend picked
up a copy in Bridgeport, Conn., for 10 cents. In Kansas now the
book seems to be known little more than in the year of publication.
Only a few of the older libraries have it, and frequently the older of
the old settlers say they have never heard of it. Kanzas and Ne-
braska was, nevertheless, the first and the most authoritative of the
numerous books upon the new territory.

In 1917 Edward E. Hale, Jr., suggested the manner of his father's
gathering of the material for Kanzas and Nebraska.122

"He read for it, or remembered, not only the account of Father Marquette
and La Salle, but accounts much more recent and full of the charm of current
interest. . . . Even nowadays Kanzas and Nebraska is an interesting
book, because it is so full of the intense feeling of the day."

The latter chapters of the book do reflect the feeling of the day ;
but they and all the others in the hastily prepared composition pre-
sent more the subject matter that provoked the thought and stirred
the feeling of the day. To anyone examining the book now Mr. Hale
appears to have read for it and quoted far more than he drew from
memory and paraphrased. His method, however, was in part that of
the historian, in part that of the writer of popular appeal. He sought
authority and usually gave due credit where he could; yet in his
selection of materials, he seems to have chosen more to appeal to
the reader than to treat his subject thoroughly. The copy for
Kanzas and Nebraska was prepared so quickly that Mr. Hale prob-
ably gave little thought to the method he pursued, yet it illustrates
well two contradictory inclinations, that his son relates, guided him
most of his life.

"He sometimes thought that he was meant to be an historical student
rather than anything else . . . and he always had some sort of historical
work on his hands. . . . The two historical principles which appear to
have been most important in guiding his work seem, if not contradictory, at
least hard to combine. One was . . . the importance of studying the
original sources. The other . . . was the importance of being interesting
to all sorts of people. This was most natural. We can hardly imagine such

121. Hale, Edward E., Jr., Life and Letters of Edward Everett Hale, v. I, p. 265.

122. Ibid., p. 258.

DOLBEE: FIRST BOOK ON KANSAS 181

a man studying the original sources without regard to people's getting the
advantage of his studies. ... A history had to be founded on the original
sources, he held; but then, also, it had to be interesting, or it might as well
not be at all."

In his numerous direct quotations in Kanzas and Nebraska, Mr.
Hale brought his sources to his very reader, but he also chose those
quotations to interest as well as inform his reader.

History of Lynchings in Kansas

GENEVIEVB YOST

ON April 18, 1932, Kansas was shocked by the lynching of Robert
Read, in Rawlins county. Not since April 19, 1920, twelve
years before, when Albert Evans was hanged at Mulberry, Craw-
ford county, had there been a lynching in Kansas.

The newspapers, in reporting the story, desired a list of previous
lynchings in the state, and a record of about fifty was very hur-
riedly compiled in the library of the Kansas State Historical Society.
This list, when published, aroused the interest of papers and in-
dividuals and brought in additional items. The Russell Record
headed a front-page story in the following issue of its paper with
the line, "Hey! Russell had a lynching, too." *• Interest grew until
it was decided to prepare a list of lynchings in Kansas which should
be as complete as possible. Such a list is valuable, not merely for
its numbers and dates, but, as this paper shows, because it reflects
certain phases of the economic, social, and industrial development
and growth of the state.

This list has been compiled through histories, newspapers, recol-
lections of early settlers, and associations interested in the subject,
including the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America,
the National Association of Advancement for Colored People, the
Tuskegee Institute, and the Southern Commission on the Study of
Lynching. While these institutions are interested mainly from the
standpoint of race prejudice, they have contributed valuable as-
sistance. All accounts, whenever possible, have been checked by
contemporary newspapers as a final authority.

While this list is presented as being complete as possible, there
probably occurred some not mentioned. Rumors and vague ac-
counts of about two dozen not listed were found, but the informa-
tion of time or place was indefinite. There is no reason to doubt
that most of them did take place, but not enough data is available
at present to warrant their inclusion in this list.

The lynch law, popularly spoken of as Judge Lynch, is the name
for irregular punishment, especially capital, inflicted by private
individuals independently of legal authorities. The working defi-
nition which compilers of lynching records have generally used is

1. Russell Record, April 21, 1932.

(182)

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 183

that "lynching has to do with individuals supplanting the law and
acting in defiance of the law." 2 On this basis the general practice
of compilers of lynching records has been not to include in such
records persons put to death in what are commonly designated as
riots. In a riot there occurs promiscuous killing of individuals, and
in a lynching particular individuals are seized and put to death for
alleged specified offenses. By the laws of some states a minimum
of three persons may constitute a mob; by others, five.

The Kansas statutes have several definitions of a mob. Three
persons may constitute an unlawful assembly. "If three or more
persons shall assemble together with intent to do any unlawful act
with force and violence against the person or property of an-
other. . ." 3

It requires five persons to constitute a mob for whose actions a
city may be held legally responsible. Since 1868 cities have been
liable for damages in consequence of the action of mobs within
their corporate limits. In 1923 the legislature added a clause de-
fining this mob: "Provided, however, that the number of persons
that shall constitute a mob under this act shall be five or more." 4

In the section which defines lynchings the number is not stated.
"That any collection of individuals assembled for an unlawful
purpose, intending to injure any person by violence, and without
authority of law, shall for the purpose of this act be regarded as
a mob." 5

The origin of the use of the word lynching to denote summary
justice at the hands of a mob or an improvised tribunal is obscure.
By some it is said to be from James Lynch Fitz-Stephen, warden
of Galway, Ireland, who, about 1526, sentenced his son to death
for murder, and to prevent a rescue by a mob executed him with his
own hands without due process of law. By others the term is said
to have had its origin in Virginia, where a farmer named Charles
Lynch took his own way of obtaining redress for a theft by catch-
ing the culprit, tying him to a tree and flogging him. The popular
conception of lynching and the method most often chosen is hanging,
called in the vernacular a "necktie party," but it is not so limited.
Offenders have been shot, beaten to death and burned at the stake
with the same intention and the same result.

2. F. C. C. C. A., Law and the Mob (1925), p. 5.

3. General Statutes, Kansas, 1868, ch. 31, sec. 268.

4. Laws,. Kansas, 1923, ch. 79, sec. 1.
6. Laws, Kansas, 1923, ch. 221, sec. 1.

184 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The history of lynchings in the early days of Kansas must neces-
sarily remain incomplete. We may suppose that it was as common,
if not more so, in the first periods of the territory and state as
later, and unfortunately complete records of these times are lack-
ing. We look to the newspapers for such things, and while we find
early papers in the eastern section of Kansas, they did not follow
the people quite so rapidly to the western part of the state. Even
the papers which existed could not collect news from so large an
area as we of to-day expect. Communication was slow and uncer-
tain, and many lynchings were not heard of three or four counties
away. Sometimes rumors drifted over and we find a statement like
this: "A gentleman from Franklin county said eleven horses were
stolen, six men arrested, two shot, two hung and two dismissed."6
One might be reasonably certain that a lynching of some sort had
occurred. Many an article in a good county history and many a
reminiscence by a pioneer starts thus: "Back in the 70's . . ."

This vagueness is due partly to inability to get the facts, and is
partly because a lynching did not cause so much consternation then
as it does now. Lynchings were more common, the people accepted
them as necessary punishments, and they were not impressed so
forcibly on the mind and conscience as to-day. It is quite probable
that many a person forfeited his life to a self -detailed jury, if not
to a frenzied mob, whose death was never in any way recorded.

In some instances the criminal himself preferred that he go un-
named. One thief, when shot and dying, refused to give any infor-
mation about himself, saying he came from a good family and
preferred not to have the name degraded. 7 In Johnson county
"one unlucky thief lies two feet below the surface on Tommy hawk
creek, whose name, place of residence and all else concerning him
are unknown unless he gave such particulars to his executioners and,
if so, they never told. As nothing concerning him was divulged for
several years, the poor rascal's friends, if he had any, must have
wondered not a little as to what had become of him. Another un-
lucky soul disappeared in the same vicinity in similar style, but
his executioners were so reticent that no particulars could ever be
obtained." 8 Concerning the first man mentioned, the Olathe Mirror
says: "It is rumored in town last Saturday that a horse thief had
been caught and hung out on Tommyhawk creek. We can gather

6. Lawrence Tribune, June 18, 1864.

7. Horse thief shot in Wabaunsee county, Dec. 15, 1862. — Kansas State Journal, Law-
rence, December 25, 1862.

8. Heisler & Smith, Johnson County Atlas (1874), p. 34.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 185

nothing definite about the matter." 9 It was not always possible
for the newspapers to give full information concerning a lynching,
even though they desired to do so.

It is sometimes difficult to tell when a lynching is a lynching.
Often a "neck-tie party" was accompanied by an impromptu court
which considered itself, and was considered by the community,
legal. In Coffey county "a mob held trial and asked those in favor
of death to pass to the right of the building and those against to
the left. Nine-tenths went to the right." 10 In Atchison in April,
1863, a mob took possession of the jail and courthouse for a week;
they held court and tried each prisoner, with four or five lynchings
as the result.11 The people banded themselves into vigilance com-
mittees for the protection of themselves and their property, and
death punishment by these committees was seldom considered il-
legal. In those days the squatters' courts were as much respected
and as effective as the government courts.

In the days of the 1860's the slavery agitation made the difference
between a lynching and a legal hanging quite often a matter of per-
sonal opinion and party affiliation. The Civil War in Kansas was
characterized by guerrilla and bushwhacker warfare, and a hanging
considered legal by one side was lynching by the other; accounts
of this time depend upon which record or newspaper one reads.
According to the accepted definition many of the massacres and
murders perpetrated on the border of the state might be called
lynchings. When a group of proslavery men massacred a free-state
man they acted in accord with the sentiment of at least part of the
town, who might call it supplanting the law, while the free-state
men considered it acting in defiance of the law. John Brown's
massacre of the Doyle family on June 24, 1856, fulfills the techni-
cal requirements of a lynching; it consisted of more than five people,
and he considered it punishment for the sacking of Lawrence on
May 21 by the proslavery element. But it would be difficult for
any nonpartisan person now to consider any act of John Brown's
a lynching. The Marais des Cygnes massacre on May 19, 1858,
when five men near Trading Post, Linn county, were taken to a
ravine and murdered is in the same class of border warfare. Neither
side could be said to represent the sentiment of the community as

9. Olathe Mirror, May 81, 1866.

10. Burlington Republican, December 14, 1908.

11. Kansas City Journal, March, 1902; "Atchison County Clippings" (compiled by Kan-
sas State Historical Society), v. 4, p. 50.

186 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

a whole, and both sides were inflamed by the hatred of the Border
war.

An incident which illustrates the difficulty of distinguishing be-
tween lynchings and murder was the hanging on November 12, 1860,
of Russell Hinds, a farmer living near Pleasanton, Linn county, who
returned a runaway slave to his master in Missouri. Dr. C. R.
Jennison, heading a party of free-state men, arrested him, quickly
convened a court, sentenced and hanged him for this offense. It
would be difficult to convince any southerner that this was a lynch-
ing and not a murder.12

On July 10, 1860, L. D. Moore was one of a party who lynched
Hugh Carlin, a horse thief. On November 16, 1860, Jennison, with
twenty-five men entered Moore's house and shot him in retaliation.13
This incident satisfies the definition of lynching, but it probably
savors more of guerrilla warfare.

A recent account of an event of the war would call the following
a lynching: "Col. C. R. Jennison, later in command of the fifteenth
Kansas, captured Samuel Scott, one of the most notorious pro-
slavery ruffians. Scott was hanged without ceremony, and his fate
met with the approval of free-state leaders." 14 While the free-
state leaders considered it a lynching, very probably the proslavery
faction called it murder or, at least, border warfare.

This doubtful status of lynchings during the Civil War period is
shown very plainly by the contrasting opinions in a letter written
at the time of a hanging and those in later accounts of the same
event. On February 5, 1860, John R. Guthrie was hanged at Maple-
ton, Bourbon county. In the manuscript collection of the Kansas
State Historical Society is a letter written by Alpheus H. Tanner
which gives an interesting account of the affair.15

"Mapleton, K. T., Feb. 12, 1860.

"My DEAR PARENTS: . . . Last Sunday night about 1 o'clock a man named
John R. Guthrie was hanged about a mile and a half from here on the top
of what is known as Tigret Mound. He was left suspended until Monday
eve. His corpse was in plain sight from here as he hung. The proslavery's
hung him for an alleged crime of horse stealing. They arrested him without
authority or shadow of law and never gave him even a mock trial, as has

12. Tabor, "This Day in Kansas History" (volume bound by Kansas State Historical
Society), p. 132; Leavenworth Times, February 12, 1928, in "Crimes and Criminals Clip-
pings" (Kansas State Historical Society), v. 2, pp. 295, 296.

13. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1070.

14. Tabor, "This Day in Kansas History," p. 132.

15. Alpheus Hiram Tanner was born in Ruggles, Ohio, July 28, 1836. He came to Kan-
sas in 1857, living first in Pleasanton. In 1918 he lived on a farm in Bourbon county on the
Osage river, near Mapleton.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 187

generally been the case. The country is again in commotion. I know not what
will be the result, the probability is that unless Montgomery takes the field
again it will soon blow over and give them a chance to hang the next ones
that gets in their way. . . — A. H. T."

An account of this same event, as written in 1932 by C. E. Cory
to the Historical Society, describes him as a horse thief:

"I know a story I think worth preserving of a Bourbon county execution
without benefit of clergy, but it was not a lynching. I have had the story from
a lot of people, including two eyewitnesses — not participants, of course. (?)
Away back in the later territorial days, when Bourbon county was in the
'region beyant the law/ a young man named Guthrie was caught up near
Mapleton riding somebody else's horse. Everybody knows that at that time
in those parts, horse stealing and nigger chasing and homicide were offenses
in a class by themselves. The hard-headed and hard-fisted farmers there-
abouts gathered in a hurry. But there were no courts that they respected
or had reason to respect. What to do?

"Just across the river south of Mapleton in the Little Osage bottom is a
little round hill about three hundred feet high shaped almost exactly like
an overturned soup bowl. They adjourned to the top of that hill. There
they elected a judge and a sheriff and a prosecuting attorney. They selected
a jury and tried their man, who admitted his guilt. After the verdict and
the proper sentence, the sheriff had no place to keep the man, so he executed
the sentence at once by hanging him to the limb of a jack oak tree nearby.
His body was buried where it was cut down. It is there yet.

"From what I have been told I am quite satisfied that that trial was quite
as regular and formal as many cases in the regular courts of that day, though
not sanctioned by the law.

"By the way, that hill is the same 'pretty little hill' where Lieut. Zebulon
M. Pike ate the fried venison steak that September morning in 1806, as he
notes in his journal. It is still called Guthrie mountain, and is one of the
real beauty spots of old Bourbon." 16

With such conflicting accounts, who, seventy-two years after the
event, shall dare to say whether this lynching was the justifiable
punishment of a horse thief or the fate of a victim of border war-
fare?

While it is difficult to decide whether some of the events are lynch-
ings or murders, there are a few which may be classed as lynchings
and charged to border warfare. In Lawrence on August 22, 1863,
the day after the Quantrill raid, Thomas Corlew was tried by a
lynch court on the charge of having been a spy and hanged in a

16. Letter from C. E. Cory, June 31, 1932. Extract from Expeditions of Zebulon M,
Pike (1895), v. 2, p. 396: "In about five miles we struck a beautiful hill, which bears south
on the prairie; its elevation I suppose to be 100 feet. From its summit the view is sublime
to the east and southeast. We waited on this hill to breakfast and had to send two miles for
water. Killed a deer on the rise, which was soon roasting: before the fire . . ." A footnote
to this edition says, "Camp is in Bourbon county, somewhere in the vicinity of Xenia, Zenia,
or Hay, a small place near a branch of the Little Osage."

188 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

barn near the City Hotel at the north end of Massachusetts street.
Mr. James C. Horton17 wrote concerning the event:

"I was there during the whole proceeding and went to one or two parties
whom I thought might stop it, but to no avail. My recollection is that the
jury did not find any evidence against him and so reported. His hanging
was perhaps a natural outcome of the excited state of public feeling at that
time, as Corlew was a Missourian and was said to have been acting with the
proslavery men in 1856, but I think that many people in Lawrence regretted
the occurrence and in ordinary, quiet times no such termination of a trial,
even by a lyn-ch court, would have been permitted."18

Since it is difficult to classify the massacres and murders of this
period in a nonpartisan manner, most of them have been omitted
from this list. The few which are given here as accepted lynchings
are recorded as being caused by border warfare.

The guerrilla style of warfare of some of the authorized regi-
ments on the border gave rise to groups of robbers and bushwhack-
ers who carried on private enterprise under the anonymity em-
ployed by armies of both sides. The "Red Legs," organized by a
group of men who did not wish to submit to the routine of the regu-
lar army, were employed in scouting, dispatch carrying and guiding
and wore, as a distinguishing mark, leggings of red morocco. The
desperadoes of the country soon learned to wear red leggings so that
the blame for their depredations might be avoided. Owing to re-
peated complaints of this nature the organization was soon dissolved.
Whenever possible distinction has been made between the legitimate
forces of warfare and the thieves and bushwhackers operating under
their name. Killing of disguised desperadoes has been considered
lynching.

While extrajudicial punishment has been common in all countries
and states, it has features which are sectional. This border war-
fare constituted a feature peculiar to Kansas and a few other states,
since not every state was divided into factions with such intensive
fighting within its borders. Because our states did not pass through
the stages of their development at the same time, it is impossible to
compare them by years. When Judge Lynch held court in Cali-
fornia, in the stirring days of 1849, the eastern section of the coun-
try had passed through its formative period and was well organized.

But lynching was practically unheard of in New England at any

17. James Clark Horton was born at Ballston Spa, New York, May 15, 1837; came to
Kansas and settled at Lawrence in March, 1857. He served in the house of representatives in
1874 and in the senate in 1875 and 1876. In 1878 he moved to Kansas City, where he died
May 14, 1907.

18. James C. Horton, Kansas City, to Hon. George W. Martin, Kansas State Historical
Society, May 22, 1905. Letter, in MSS. of Kansas State Historical Society.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 189

time in its history, so far as its records show. The Chicago Tribune
of April 6, 1931, makes this assertion: "States which have never
had a recorded lynching include Connecticut, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont." The Federal Council of
Churches of Christ in America limits it further: "There are only
four — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont
— where such an atrocity has not been recorded for any community
in the commonwealth. In four others — Connecticut, Maine, New
Jersey and Utah — there has been no recorded lynching since 1889." 19
Walter White, secretary of the National Association for Advance-
ment of Colored People, also says: "Only four states of the Union
have never been stained by a lynching — Massachusetts, Rhode Is-
land, New Hampshire and Vermont." 20 Thus the escutcheon of
two-thirds of New England, and New England only, is entirely
clear. The Lawrence Western Home Journal of 1882 reprints a
comment of the Chicago Inter-Ocean on an article on mob law
written by Professor David Swing: "The slightest regard of crime
throughout this country is alarming, and the professor's conclusion
that in a few more years lynching will probably be the fashion in
all the states west of New England rings like a prophecy." 21 Evi-
dently, even in 1882, New England was considered immune from
the epidemic.

Such a record must have a reason, and we find possible causes
in several conditions. New England had few reasons for lynchings.
Of the three main causes — murder, rape and robbery — two scarcely
existed in New England as known in other sections. Rape by the
negroes of the South and horse stealing in the West were two prob-
lems that New England did not have to deal with, so there remains
only murder. The lives of the people in New England were plain
and simple and ordered by rule and regulation. The settlements
were close together, agriculture demanded only small farms and the
people, recently come from a thickly-settled old country, desired
contact with neighbors both for company and for protection. Many
of the early settlements were made by well-organized companies
under leaders and officers who, in many cases, supervised personal
conduct to a minute detail. Few criminals escaped legal punish-
ment. Justice was more surely pronounced and administered, and
the people looked to the officials for punishment, having faith that

19. Mob Murder in America (1923), pamphlet, p. 5.

20. White, Rope and Faggot (1919), p. 230.

21. Lawrence Western Home Journal, May 25, 1882.

190 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it would be forthcoming. Religion played its part, for the church
was a strong influence in civil government, in making laws and in
meting out punishment.

A large percentage of the New England settlers had come from
England where lynchings occurred very seldom. At the time of a
lynching in Leavenworth in 1902, this comparison was part of an
editorial in the Review of Reviews: "But if the Leavenworth lynch-
ing had occurred in England, the ringleaders would certainly have
been hanged and probably a hundred others put in prison for life,
while the authorities who failed to take due precautions to guard
their prisoner would not have escaped lightly." 22

The attitude of England toward lynchings is again expressed by
a letter signed "R. H.," written from England and published in the
Junction City Union in 1867:

"In the most recent of the papers you have sent me, I have seen with pain
the account of the application of lynch law to colored persons who were in
prison. The only pleasant part of the matter is the shame and indignation that
you and others in your state have for the violation of law. In our country, I
am sorry to say, that any accounts of this kind from America are hailed with
delight by a section of our people, as if they indicated essential feebleness and
failure of republican institutions."23

In the apprehension, prosecution, and punishment of criminals
these early New Englanders found their chief source of diversion
and amusement. They did not believe in lonely captivity but in
public obloquy for criminals. The most exciting and stirring emo-
tions in their lives came through these public exhibitions.24 Sen-
tences of whipping were usually to be carried out "on the next
lecture day" when the crowd gathered. Such an attitude produced
the stocks, pillories, whipping posts and ducking stools. The quick,
effective lynching provided none of the exhibition of punishment
as this section of the country wanted it.

The Southern states, of course, bear the unenviable record for
lynchings, in the past and present alike, due to racial conflict. After
the abolition of slavery it became an unwritten law in the South
to punish by mob rule negroes charged with rape or assault or with
the murder of a white person, and the custom is hard to forget. The
study of lynchings in the United States to-day is chiefly concerned
with the Southern states.

22. Review of Reviews, v. 23 (March, 1901), p. 263.

23. "R. H." letter headed Wigan, England, July 22, 1867, published in Junction City
Union, August 17, 1867. R. H. is probably Richard J. Hinton, a free-state pioneer of Kansas
and friend of John Brown. According to a biography by W. E. Connelley, in Kansas His-
torical Collections, v. 7, p. 491, "some years after the close of the war he went on extensive
travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa . . . commissioner of emigration in Europe, 1867."

24. Earle, Stage Coach and Tavern Days (1900), p. 214.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 191

Aside from the South, it was in the West that lynchings flourished,
and Kansas was of the early West. This West had a reputation for
lawlessness that was, at least in part, deserved. This was partly
because of the social conditions which prevailed during the period
of development, and partly because many of the laws were not
made for the existing geographical conditions and were unsuitable
for them.

The nature of the country made settlements few and far between.
In the early period the restraint of law could not make itself felt in
the rarefied population. Territory extended faster than did effective
government organization for the punishment of offenders, and men
learned to mete it out themselves. Each man had to make his own
law because there was no other to make it. It was but a step to
individual enforcement of laws and punishment of offenders. The
population had a high percentage of criminals who had fled from
justice in other sections. Two lynched in Kansas for horse steal-
ing were identified as sons of an ex-governor of Illinois, according
to a Kansas City newspaper of 1910.25

Perhaps the fact that human life was not considered very valu-
able made it hard to convict a man for murder, while at the same
time it made the taking of life in punishment more casual. Men
went armed and moved over vast areas with other armed men, and
among them the six-shooter was the final decision in an argument.
While the tales of "shoothV Dodge" and the rip-roaring cowboys
who fired on any provocation doubtless exaggerate the number of
men who lie on various Boot Hills, there can be no question that
the continuous dangerous existence developed callousness to the
taking of life. Under such conditions homicide did not entail the
stigma that more thickly settled regions associated with it. Men
were equal and each was his own defender. His survival imposed
upon him certain obligations which, if he were a man, he would ac-
cept. Murder was too harsh a word for the final settling of an
argument by gun play, but lynching was not too severe for offend-
ers against the code of laws the men of the West respected.

Added to the lawlessness of the criminal code which grew out of
the social conditions in the early days was a general disregard for
civil laws which were wholly inapplicable and unsuited to the West.
Congress passed laws which the settlers could not enforce in the
prairie country, such as the water law, prohibiting all diversion of

25. Clipping, marked only "Kansas City, Oct. 1910," in "Sumner County Clippings"
(compiled by Kansas State Historical Society), v. 1, p. 287.

192 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

water from a stream, making irrigation impossible; and the timber
act, granting land free on condition that the grantee grow forests
on it. When men could not abide by a civil law they came to lose
respect for it, and this disrespect influenced their attitude toward
other restraining factors, such as criminal and social laws.

The West was turbulent in the early days because there was no
law. It was lawless in the later period because the laws were un-
suited to the needs and conditions of the country.26

The following study of the records of lynchings in Kansas from
1856 to 1932 reveals some interesting facts concerning prevalence
and causes. These figures as here tabulated show the greatest
number in 1860-1870, the period of the opening and early develop-
ment of the state. In the decade of 1850 much of Kansas was still
unsettled country, and in the fringe of settlements on the eastern
border was a pioneer life of which we have now only a few con-
temporary records. In proportion to the population there was prob-
ably as much summary punishment of criminals as in later periods.
The decade of 1860 saw the beginning of statehood with its civil
laws and increased population. Emigrants from the north and south
brought the Civil War, which produced the border warfare respon-
sible for much of the lawlessness. More newspapers were printed
and saved to give us a record of the time. From 1870 there was
a steady decline in the number of lynchings for each ten-year pe-
riod until 1900, when it remains at one for each decade after that,
if we may suppose that the allotted lynching for 1930-1940 has
already been produced in 1932. The number was still large in 1870,
and would probably be larger if all of the records had been pre-
served, for that was the period of the cattleman in Kansas, and
horses and cattle were favorite plunder for thieves and desperadoes.
This was also the period in which men were hanged, but not always
lynched, by the vigilantes, as will be discussed later. The gradual
decline was due to a change in social conditions and the incoming
civilization.

Decade starting ....

. . . 1850

I860 1870

1880 1890 1900 1910 1920

1930 Total

Horse stealing

13

54 26

93

Cattle stealing

. . . 1

1 ....

2

Murder

2

23 13

21 14 3 1

77

Rape

7

3 2 1 1

1 15

Robbery

2

7

4

13

Border warfare

2

2

Misc. & unknown

1

2

1

4

Total 19 96 39 29 16 4 l

26. Webb, Great Plains (1931), pp. 498-500.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 193

As we see, the crime in the West and in Kansas which most
often brought lynching as a swift retribution was horse stealing.
What the negro problem was to the South as a cause for lynching,
horse stealing was to the West. One almost receives the impres-
sion that it was the principal industry of some communities. Prob-
ably it was a southern sympathizer who said that if the pedigrees
of the horses on the eastern line could be given, most of them would
say "out of Missouri by Jennison." Concerning Johnson county it
was written: "In the line of farmers bordering on Indian creek it
was estimated that no less than sixty horses, besides many head of
cattle, were stolen one summer, and the proportion was nearly the
same throughout the county." 27 An account of the breaking up
of horse thieves in eastern Kansas says: "The line of operations
extended from Kansas City to Omaha and perhaps beyond, with
the stations in between for concealing horses." 28 Organizations
were formed for protection, such as the Wild Cat Horse Guards,
organized April 21, 1877, in Nemaha county. The members were
owners of horses and mules, who had their animals appraised and
enrolled, and if stolen received two-thirds of the appraised value
from the company.

The National Anti-Horse-Thief Association, organized in Mis-
souri in 1854, had more need of activity in Kansas than any other
state. In 1911 over half of its 40,000 membership was in Kansas,
the other half being divided among seven other states. At least
three Kansans have been national presidents, and the News, a paper
authorized by the Kansas division in 1901 and published at St.
Paul, by W. W. Graves, was made the organ of the national society
in 1902.

The situation occupied even the attention of the executive office,
and in 1863 this message was issued by Gov. Thomas Carney:

"State of Kansas, Exec. Dept.,

"Topeka, July 29, 1863.

"The condition of Kansas, in one respect, is to be deplored. I mean the
prevalence of robberies, and the too great disregard of law. This condition
results, as I believe, not from, any want of power to enforce the civil law,
but from a want of what I may term central sources of information and
[from] disconcerted action.

"... The stealing of horses and other stock, though not so universally
prevalent as formerly, is, I regret to say, still common in nearly all parts of

27. Heisler & Smith, Johnson County Atlas (1874), p. 20.

28. Junction City Union, August 15, 1868.

ia-7572

194 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the state; and what is more unfortunate, the difficulty of detecting the rob-
beries and arresting or subjecting the thieves to punishment is equally common.

"This may be accounted for, in part, by the fact that, in sparsely settled
communities, horse thieves may perpetrate what would seem the most daring
acts and enjoy comparative immunity from punishment, because they have
concert among themselves, while the losers and local authorities have no
such concert. . . .

"Every county has its sheriff. Suppose it were made the duty of such
sheriff to furnish detailed information of the robbery so made (that is, of
horses, their size, color, etc., and so of cattle and other property) to the
sheriffs and local authorities of the central points, by the most speedy means
of conveyance, mail or otherwise. ... A concert of action like this on the
part of the sheriffs of the different counties, aided by those who suffer, would
go far, in my judgment, towards correcting the evil under which Kansas now
suffers. . . .

"Were the legislature in session I should most earnestly recommend to that
body the passage of a law making it the duty of the sheriffs of the different
counties to furnish such information, with a suitable reward for such service.
The effect of this would be to secure what we now so much need — concert
of action against thieves and robbers. As it is, I would earnestly urge the
sheriffs and the people of the several counties to adopt and enforce this policy
as alike essential to private interests and the public good.

— "THOMAS CARNEY/' 29

That there was an effort made to punish theft of live stock by
legal proceedings is shown in the first territorial statutes of 1855:
"Persons convicted of grand larceny shall be punished in the follow-
ing cases, as follows: First, for stealing a horse, mare, gelding, colt,
filly, mule or ass, by confinement and hard labor, not exceeding
seven years." 30 This was enacted again as a part of the criminal
code by the session of 1859. 31 In 1870 this law was rewritten to in-
clude "neat cattle," an indication of the growth of the cattle in-
dustry on the plains. 32 An amendment in 1920 shoved horses to
second place and introduced a new clause in first place providing
for "the stealing of any automobile, not less than five years and
not more than fifteen years," 33 indicating that the horse was no
longer supreme.

While some horse thieves were brought to justice, many were not
treated so kindly. For a horse thief there were seldom any extenu-
ating circumstances and little time for explanation or prayer. Per-
haps there were more attempts to steal a man's horse than there

29. Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, July 30, 1863.

80. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, ch. 49, sec. 31.

81. Laws, Kansas, 1859, ch. 28, sec. 73.
32. Laws, Kansas, 1870, ch. 62, sec. 1.
83. Laws, Kansas, 1920, ch. 38, sec. 2.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 195

were to steal his property or his life, for the cowboy and the pioneer
valued their horses as they did their lives. Often, indeed, a man's
horse meant his life. To the settler the horse was communication,
transportation, and escape from danger, as well as his means of
livelihood. When the horse and man first became associated to-
gether in Europe years ago there arose two traditions of horseman-
ship or horse culture — the one, that of a settled people with whom
horses were but one of the incidents of life; and the other, the tra-
dition of the nomadic people to whom horses were vital. Both
traditions found their way to America and each its appropriate en-
vironment. The "civilized" culture came through Europe to England
and found lodgment in the English colonies of the Atlantic coast;
the nomadic horse culture came from the Asiatic steppes to Arabia,
across northern Africa to Spain, and with the Spaniards to the pam-
pas of South America and up to the plains of the United States.34

Kansas, though settled in great part by people from New England,
was so influenced by her location in the great plains that her use of
the horse was of the second class. In the pioneer days settlements
were few and distances between them were great. The telephone
was not invented until 1876, wireless telegraphy and the radio were
undreamed of; the horse was the primary means of communication
and as such was glorified in the dashing Pony Express. Transpor-
tation was by horseback or by open or covered wagons drawn by
horses. While automobiles have now replaced the horse to a great-
extent in all phases of work and pleasure and even pushed it from
first place in the laws, no thief yet is recorded as being lynched for
stealing the family Ford, or even the Rolls Royce, although in 1915
the Anti-Horse-Thief Association extended its protection to owners
of automobiles as well as of horses.

On April 28, 1860, the first railroad touched Kansas soil35 at
Elwood, but not for many years could it take the place of the horse
in transportation over the whole state. For both short and long dis-
tances, work and pleasure, the horse was supreme. In addition to
being communication and transportation the horse also meant pro-
tection. The plains Indians were mounted, and to combat them the
pioneer must be as well mounted. It is interesting that these were
the only mounted Indians in the whole history of the moving Ameri-
can frontier, whether English or Spanish. The records of the wood-
land region do not reveal that the Indians who fired the cabins and

34. Webb, Great American Plains (1931), p. 56.

35. Elwood and Marysville railroad.

196 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

scalped the settlers were horse Indians. In the forest region the
Indian went on foot, protected by the forests and the thick under-
brush. In the West the open country and the horse gave the Indian
the ability to strike suddenly and get away quickly, and either to
follow and fight, or to flee, the settler must needs be mounted also.
Thus was brought into being a new method of warfare known as
"Indian fighting." 36

The horse was more important as a means of livelihood in Kansas
than it was in the East. The great extent of level surface, the
treeless land, and the subhumid climate changed the agriculture of
small farms of the East to large stock-grazing and extensive wheat
ranches of the West, and for these industries the horse was indis-
pensable. Wheat was cultivated by horses, not by tractor. Cattle
drives, round-ups, and herding — all parts of the cattle business to
which horses were as essential as cattle — are well-known and popu-
lar subjects of fact and fiction to-day. A cowboy's pride, and often
his wealth, was centered in his horse, and the attachment between
the two was great. Considering the value of the horse to the early
settler it is not surprising that men flared to anger quicker and
dealt punishment more unhesitatingly and harshly to a thief of
horses than to a thief of life or property.

Horses and cattle were the property of which the westerner
could most easily be robbed. It is rather curious that the number
of lynchings for cattle stealing is so small, for we know that cattle
rustlers were a menace in the West. Only four lynchings for such
robbery are recorded in this list, and two of those were men hanged
in 1866 for cattle stealing and murder combined.37 In April, 1863,
thirty-four cattle were stolen in Butler county and driven 150
miles to Lawrence. Even the Indians hired to track them lost
the trail at various places. When caught, the thief was put in
jail.38 Yet a man might be lynched for stealing only one horse.
A cow thief was not nearly so bad in public estimation, for where
a horse was life itself to the plainsman, a cow was merely prop-
erty. And in cattle ownership the code of the West made a
strange distinction between a cow and a maverick which the East
could never understand. A branded cow was the private property
of the man whose brand it bore; a maverick was public property
and belonged to the man who could brand it first. The fact that

36. Webb, Great American Plains (1931), p. 58.

37. Joe and Sam Tippe, cattle robbery of Ralph Warner and murder of John L. Shannon,
on April 29, 1866.

38. Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, April 23, 1863.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 197

the maverick was the calf of the branded cow did not affect the
situation very much, especially in the early days. There were few
cattlemen who did not brand mavericks, but no cattleman considered
himself a thief for having done so. Perhaps the distinction also
made it hard to determine and prove a man a cattle thief.39

Nevertheless, many organized bands of cattle thieves were pun-
ished, and many were instances in which the hanging was not con-
sidered a lynching. When rustling of both cattle and horses began
seriously to threaten the profits of the cattle business, and when
men discovered that the law was unable to cope with the situation,
the vigilantes of the range appeared. These were bands of citizens
organized to prevent the commission of crime, or to deal summary
punishment in instances where the civil and lawfully constituted
authorities seemed powerless to enforce the law. These alert, swift-
riding posses gave a first offender a sharp warning to quit the coun-
try; on the second offense they hanged him to the nearest tree or
shot him down if he pulled his gun.

These vigilance committees were bold with their punishment,
and even issued warnings of their intentions in the newspapers:
"Hunters may fire the grass on the Cherokee Strip, on the Kansas
line, if they choose, but the cattlemen intend to hang all who do
so." 40 During the Butler county war, which was a specific drive
against horse thieves in Butler county, in 1870, the writer of a
Butler county history recollects that an article appeared in the
Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, stating that: ". . . the horse
thieves then infesting that country, and their friends, must go.
That they had killed four on November 4th, and four on December
4th, and that they proposed to kill four on the 4th of every month
thereafter until all were gone, and that any attempt to prosecute
them therefor, meant death." 41 This was signed, "798 Vigilantes."

These protective associations of cattlemen and of other groups
were not authorized by the statute books, but so dependent were
the citizens upon them that many death punishments they inflicted
were hardly considered lynchings and so often escaped the records
as such.

The vigilantes of 1860 have their present-day parallel in the
county vigilance committees maintained primarily for bank robbery.
They spring from the same causes as those of old — the inadequacy
of the protective law and officers. The sheriff's authority is limited

39. Webb, Great American Plains (1931), p. 498.

40. Breeder's Gazette, Chicago, December 22, 1881, p. 82.

41. V. P. Mooney, History of Butler County (1916), p. 258.

198 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

to his own county; his facilities of men, money and time are often
inadequate, and he has had to call upon private citizens to aid him
in detection, pursuit and capture of criminals. Out of this situa-
tion has grown the vigilance committees of the present, which were
planned at a meeting of fourteen state bank associations of the
central states, including Kansas. They are organized and managed
locally according to varied local conditions, but sponsored by the
protective department of the Kansas State Bankers Association ac-
cording to one central plan. In Kansas the number has grown from
one in 1925 to ninety-five in 1932. They existed at one time in
103 of the 105 counties, with a total state membership of 3,900.
Each consists of from fifteen to one hundred men, with an average
of thirty in a county and are selected by the sheriff and bank officials
and appointed by the sheriff for his term of office. The expenses,
arms, ammunition, training and operation are financed by the banks ;
the men receive no salary. They are issued commissions as special
deputy sheriffs. While the law recognizes only one kind of deputy
sheriff and these are given the regular commission, they have an
oral agreement that they are to act only in case of a major crime
and are considered "special" deputies. They have the full authority
of any deputy under the law. In pursuing a criminal the sheriff
shoots only as a last resort and then at his own discretion and on
his own responsibility. These special deputies have the same re-
sponsibility in bringing in a prisoner. They are bonded to the ex-
tent of $7,500 against damages ordered by a court incurred in pur-
suit of their duty.

Any killing of a criminal by these committees could not be con-
sidered lynching. They differ from their earlier counterpart in two
ways: they are entirely legal and nonsecretive. Although they are
committees of citizens banded together for protection, as were the
others, their legal authority and sanction come in the clause which
permits a sheriff to commission deputies to aid him. While the
status of the old vigilantes might vary, some being more legally
organized than others, the status of these is the same over the state,
since they are under one central plan. The former were often secret
organizations; the latter are not, desiring all the publicity possible.
They hold annual shoots in September at Fort Riley when they
meet for practice and discussion. They are the old vigilantes with
the veneer of legality necessitated by the advance of civilization.42

42. Information supplied by W. W. Bowman, president, Kansas State Bankers Associa-
tion, and Neill Rahn, formerly chief of the protective division and head of the state vigilance
organization.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 199

When conditions of the country eliminated horse stealing, as it
did very definitely about 1877, murder was left as the main cause
for lynching, and it holds first place continuously thereafter.
Throughout the time from 1877 on, murder has produced over twice
as many lynchings as other causes combined. Several cases which
have been listed here under murder also include other crimes. Many
cases have been accompanied by robbery, rape or torture, and the
combination particularly incensed the people. They have been
classed here with murder, as being the most hideous of the crimes.

Rape, which holds third place in Kansas as a cause for lynching,
brings in the race problem, as here the ratio of negroes to whites
is four to one. Again we find the number highest in the period
of 1860, with only one less in the 1870's. In 1860-1870 five negroes
and one white man were lynched for rape; in 1870-1880 one negro
and five whites, the latter committing robbery and attempting
murder. The seven men from 1880-1930 lynched for rape have been
negroes, but in 1932 the victim again was a white man.

Of the entire number of lynchings only thirty-eight have been of
negroes, with the ratio increasing in the later years. In the early
days, when horse stealing caused most of the punishment, the negro
population was not very great, and those who were here owned or
could own very little property. The negro exodus from the South
into Kansas from 1878 to 1882 increased the percentage in popula-
tion, and their recognition as citizens established also their right to
break the criminal and civil laws. In 1899 a negro mob lynched
one of their own race for murder, when Charles Williams, a negro,
was lynched by his people in Galena, April 27, 1899. The records
also include a Mexican and an Indian. But the negroes form such a
small percentage of the total lynched, a ratio of one negro to four
and one-half whites, that the race problem cannot be considered an
especially important factor in the state.

The statistics for the United States show that women have been
lynched, but none has been found for Kansas. The White Pine Cone
of Colorado, for January 25, 1884, contained this item: "Not many
years ago a man and woman were arrested for murder in Lawrence
and hanged from the Kansas river bridge. The woman showed more
courage and shoved the man off and then jumped herself." No more
information about this was found, and "not many years ago" was
considered too indefinite for inclusion here, so Kansas as yet has no
recorded lynching of women to her discredit.

Robbery holds fourth place, and there are comparatively few

200 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cases where a man was lynched for robbery alone. Many of the
cases have been accompanied by attempted murder, attempted rape,
or torture, or were the culmination of a series of crimes which incited
the wrath of the community. The most recent lynching for robbery
occurred in 1884, when four men were killed following a bank rob-
bery in Medicine Lodge. In addition to this crime these men had
the reputations and records of desperadoes, although one — Henry
Brown — after a career with Billy the Kid, was marshal at Caldwell,
and another — Ben Wheeler — was his assistant.

One of the most prevalent crimes of to-day has as yet caused no
lynchings. It is due more to our changing ideas of punishment and
advance in civilization that we have not lynched bank robbers than
it is to any scarcity of them. In numbers they seem to have taken
the place of the horse thieves of the 1860?s ; and as has been stated,
these are the two major crimes which have necessitated vigilance
committees. The vigilantes disbanded after the cattle days were
over and were remembered only in legend and fiction until called
into being recently for this other crime which promises to become as
serious as horse stealing was. While bank robbery is so extensive,
we have not yet dealt with the bandits by lynching, so as a source
of crime it does not appear in this list.

These four are practically the only causes which have evoked
lynchings in Kansas. Two deaths during the Civil War times have
been recorded here as lynchings and attributed to border warfare.
Three have had to be listed with reason unknown. The only avail-
able account of the lynchings of two negroes in Wyandotte in 1866
gave no reason but simply stated that they were taken "from the
calaboose and shot." 43

Doubtlessly, men were sometimes hanged when their guilt was
not clearly established— one of the greatest dangers of, and argu-
ments against, lynching. Mob action is usually inspired by emo-
tional frenzy rather than calm reason and does not stop to weigh
the evidence. A negro shot a Mr. Cox in Atchison in 1870, and a
mob headed by Mike Clare hanged him. "Cox recovered and some
believe the shooting was accidental. Clare left town and never
came back." 44

There are also cases in which foul play has been disguised by
the appearance of a lynching. Thomas Reynolds was found hanged
in Geary county in August, 1868, with this note pinned to his cloth-

43. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1232.

44. Atchison Daily Globe, July 11, 1929.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 201

ing, "Beware, horse thieves, we know you now." He was not con-
sidered a suspicious character by his community and at the time of
his death was known to have had money with him, so it was thought
possible that he was robbed and murdered.45 In December, 1885,
in Caldwell, Sumner county, Frank Noyes, white, was found hanged,
with a note in his pocket which accused him of house burning. It
was known that he had several hundred dollars and public opinion
was that he had been robbed and hanged as a blind. The jury gave
a verdict of "hanged by unknown parties." 46

But in most instances there was no doubt that the right person
was hanged, and in two cases the lynched man's victim even came
to life to accuse him. Teahan shot Conklin while both were riding
from Wyandotte to Kansas City, Mo. "Conklin put spurs to his
horse and reached Kansas City without further harm and was cared
for at the Gilliss Hotel." He returned to accuse Teahan, who was
hanged.47 In Leavenworth, in 1857, "Baize and Squarles slugged
him (Stephens) , robbed him and then threw him into the river for
dead, but he came to, swam ashore, reported the incident to the po-
lice and had the men arrested, so there was no doubt as to their
guilt."48 The narrator of this lynching continues: "A funny little
incident happened in connection with this affair. An Irishman was
put in jail for getting drunk, and when the mob gathered and broke
into the jail the Irishman became frightened and began to cry out,
'Faith, men! I am not the monP and kept on repeating it. Judge
Samuel D. Lecompte made a speech trying to disperse the mob, but
to no avail." 49

There have been a few instances where a criminal was strung up
to be hanged and then released, though usually a determined and
infuriated mob brooked no interference. In Lyon county a crowd
met the sheriff at Rock Creek and took from him his German
prisoner charged with murder of an Irishman. They were hanging
him when the limb of the tree broke, letting him fall to the ground.
The sheriff plead his case so well that the mob released the prisoner
and the sheriff continued with him on his way to jail.50

What did the people of the state as a whole think of the practice
of lynching? If we may believe the newspapers as reflecting the at-

45. Junction City Union, August 29, 1863.

46. Freeman, Incidental History of Southern Kansas and the Indian Territory (1892),
p. 384.

47. Wyandotte Gazette, December 23, 1865.

48. Frank M. Gable, Leavenworth Times, February 9, 1919.

49. Ibid.

50. Kansas State (Journal, Lawrence, May 15, 1862.

202 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

titude of the people we receive the impression that, while they de-
plored lynching as an evil, they considered it a necessary evil. One
of the earliest contemporary accounts is the article concerning
Squarles and Baize in which the Elwood Advertiser says: "Though
summary justice was meted out to the wretches, yet public opinion
sanctions it as a necessity, and will effectually strike terror into the
hearts of the many similar gangs who infest that city." 51 In 1865
the Wyandotte Gazette parries the responsibility: "It is only when
the laws of the land utterly fail to protect life and property that the
people can be justified in taking the punishment of criminals into
their own hands. Whether that time has arrived in Wyandotte is
a question the people must decide for themselves." 52

"We have no censure to make in this particular case, but trust
nothing of the like will become common." 53

"We deplore mob law under all circumstances, but if there ever
was a case that was justifiable this is one of them." 54

"While the mob spirit, therefore, is to be condemned in unstinted
terms, the lesson which its prevalence prevails is that the laws on
our statute books must be more rigorously, more certainly, more
severely executed." 55

We find such statements in the early years. They condemn the
method, but hope for some good as a result.

How different is the comment of the Olathe Mirror in 1916.
"Johnson county and Olathe feels its shame. It will take decades
and decades — maybe never — to erase the blot put upon us by the
exhibition of mob violence . . . Johnson county sorrows to-day and
will for years to come over the shadow cast on her fair name." 56

In 1920 the Mulberry News is not quite so penitent. "The
majority of the people of Mulberry do not approve of what hap-
pened here Monday. . . . Yes, it is regrettable . . . but surely it
was justifiable." 57

In 1932 we have this attitude: "While the offense committed was
a most dastardly crime, mob lynching cannot be countenanced, and
every effort will be made to discover and prosecute the members
of the mob. For a mob to take the punishment out of the hands

51. Elwood Advertiser, August 5, 1857.

52. Wyandotte Gazette, December 23, 1865.

53. Seneca Mirror, April 6, 1877.

54. Lawrence Western Home Journal, June 15, 1882.

55. Wellingtonian, Wellington, September 18, 1884.

56. Olathe Mirror, September 28, 1916.

57. Mulberry News, April 23, 1920.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 203

of the constituted authorities results in a breakdown of govern-
ment, and it cannot and will not be permitted to go unpunished in
Kansas." 58

In these statements is shown the changing attitude of the people.
The social conditions which produced lynchings produced also a
tolerance for them, and both vanished together. The extension of
civil authority into the territory provided punishment of criminals,
and its enforcement gave the people confidence to rely upon it. We
like to think, also, that an advancing civilization yielded some in-
fluence against the practice. To a state which does not sanction
capital punishment, death penalty by an extrajudicial method
should be especially abhorrent. That which should not be done
by legal action of a jury is worse when due to the frenzy of a mob.

Often there was at least a coroner's verdict, if not a jury's ver-
dict, though some, we may believe, had not the formality of either.
Usually the coroner reported that the victim "came to his death at
the hands of unknown parties." One even went so far as to say,
with what could hardly have been unconscious humor, "came to
his death by strangulation, through his own exertions and assistance
of parties unknown."59 The coroner gave a verdict of suicide for
the death of Newton Walters, in Columbus, in 1895, but he was
thought to have been lynched for murder.60 In 1866, in Nemaha
county, one horse thief was shot while attempting to escape, and
another was caught and hanged. The newspapers reported "both
lost their lives by accident." 61 Quite often there was no action
against the crowd. The community, if not actually approving of
individuals who took retribution into their own hands, at least de-
clined to interfere.

When there was disapproval against the action, punishment of
the mob usually went no farther than the verdict of the coroner
or the jury. Rarely was there conviction or punishment of persons
who participated in lynchings, owing largely to the sympathy of
the jurors for their action. The vigilance committees, who con-
cealed neither their actions nor their membership, acted with the
backing of public opinion if not legal sanction. The members of
a mob were seldom known or admitted, and no one wanted to know.
Quite often the majority of the people of a community participated.

58. Atwood Citizen-Patriot, April 29, 1932.

59. Ellsworth Reporter, January 5, 1882.

60. Topeka Capital, April 4, 1895.

61. Atchison Free Press, March 24, 1866.

204 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

In the lynching of Bob Scrugg for murder, at Oak Mills in 1877,
the "justice of the peace was one of the posse." 62 At the lynching
of a gang of five who attempted robbery, murder and rape in Ladore,
1870, it was said that "three hundred of the best citizens par-
ticipated." 63

It is not surprising that citizens seemed to find immediate lynch-
ing more effective than court trial. Of four of the Netawaka gang
of horse thieves operating in Nemaha county in 1877, the Seneca
Courier says: "Manley was hung; Rourke plead guilty; Brown ran
away, and Harl stood trial and is cleared." 64 Harl was tried in
Atchison and acquitted. "The verdict seemed to give universal
satisfaction and it is the general opinion that certainly the citizens
of Nemaha county can have no reasons to find any fault with the
verdict of the jury or the decision of the court." 65 But the citizens
of Nemaha county did seem to find fault with the verdict. On
March 29, the same paper remarked: "Since Harl was cleared
we are ready to believe anything in the O'Brien horse-stealing
case."66 And on May 17: ". . . the horse-stealing case went
wrong-end to." 67

"Within the last eight years there have been something like
twenty murders committed in this county, and in no case has the
guilty party been punished by due process of law." 68 This editorial
concerning Wyandotte county in 1866 does not indicate confidence
in punishment by court procedure.

Lack of respect for the courts and the juries is not even thinly
disguised by the Junction City Union in 1868, in reporting the in-
vestigation of the lynching of Thomas Reynolds, which was re-
ported at first in only a six-inch space. There was some indica-
tion of foul play in his lynching, and the coroner's jury dragged
through several months.

"One man arrested for lynching Reynolds dismissed without provocation." 69
"Coroner's jury met last Monday to inquire into the death of Reynolds who,
it appears, died some time in the history of Davis county. We understand
it adjourned to meet again. We would suggest to the commissioners that
they employ this outfit by the year." 70 "The inquisition met last Thursday.

62. Atchison Daily Globe, August 21, 1917.

63. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 826.

64. Seneca Courier, May 17, 1878.

65. Atchison Patriot, quoted in Seneca Courier, March 15, 1878.

66. Seneca Courier, March 29, 1878.

67. Ibid., May 17, 1878.

68. Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, April 21, 1866.

69. Junction City Union, September 19, 1868.
70. Ibid.., October 3, 1868.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 205

We could not find out what they done [sic] but learn they made no verdict.
We would suggest that these owls (we allude to their wisdom) be employed
to find out what became of our Democrat party . . ."71 "The long agony
is over. The mountain labored and brought forth a small sized rat. We
publish below the verdict of the coroner's jury in case of Thomas Reynolds,
deceased. The coroner's bill of costs came before the county commissioners
on Thursday. It charges for seventeen days of actual service. A stupendous
bundle of manuscript accompanied the verdict. This was the testimony and
as it was taken in secret a great curiosity was evinced to see it. Portions of
it are rich and entirely street gossip in its character. The question which
bothered the commissioners was whether the bills should be paid, or how
much of them. The final decision of the jury was that he was found suspended
to the limb of a tree by part of his bridle rein, by some person or persons
unknown to the jury." 72

One would not believe that the Junction City Union had much
respect for the coroner's jury.

Growing public sentiment against lynching was evidenced by acts
of the legislature of 1903. Before this time there had been no legis-
lation concerning lynching. Prompted, perhaps, by the lynching in
Leavenworth in 1901 and by one in Pittsburg in 1902, the legislature
of 1903 passed the following laws, as measures to prevent further
occurrences:

"MoB AND LYNCHING DEFINED: AIDING OR ABETTING LYNCHING. That any
collection of individuals assembled for an unlawful purpose, intending to injure
any person by violence, and without authority of law, shall for the purpose of
this act be regarded as a mob, and any act of violence exercised by such mob
upon the body of any person shall constitute the crime of lynching, when such
act or acts of violence result in death; and any person who participates in or
aids or abets such lynching, upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in the
state prison for not more than five years or during life, in the discretion of
the jury.

"ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT IN LYNCHING. Every person who shall, after
the commission of the crime of lynching, harbor, conceal or assist any member
of such mob who participates in or who aids or abets such crime, with the
intent that he shall escape detention, arrest, capture, or punishment, shall be
deemed to be and shall be an accessory after the fact, and may be charged,
tried and convicted and punished though such member be neither charged,
tried nor convicted, and upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in the
state prison not more than twenty-one years nor less than two years.

"PROSECUTION OF LYNCHING OFFENDERS. Any person accused of the crime
of lynching or as an accessory after the fact may be prosecuted in the courts
of this state by information filed and signed by the prosecuting attorney or
attorney-general, based upon the affidavit of some competent and reputable
person.

71. Ibid., November 7, 1868.

72. Ibid., January 9, 1869.

206 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"JURISDICTION OF COURTS IN LYNCHING CASES. In case any persons shall
come together in any county in this state for the purpose of proceeding to
another county of the state with the view of lynching any person, or in any
case any person or persons shall purchase or procure any rope, weapon, or
other instrument in one county for the purpose of being used in lynching any
person in another county, such crime of lynching, if committed, shall be and
constitute a continuous offense from the time of its original inception as afore-
said ; and the courts of any county in which such overt act has been committed
shall have jurisdiction over the person of any member of the mob committing
such overt act, and such person may be prosecuted in such county and pun-
ished for murder the same as if the lynching had occurred therein.

"LIABILITY OF SHERIFF WHEN PRISONER TAKEN AND LYNCHED. If any person
shall be taken from the hands of a sheriff or his deputy having such person in
custody and shall be lynched, it shall be evidence of failure on the part of such
sheriff to do his duty, and his office shall thereby and thereat immediately be
vacated, and the coroner shall immediately succeed to and perform the duties
of sheriff until the successor of such sheriff shall have been duly appointed,
pursuant to existing law providing for the filling of vacancies in such office,
and such sheriff shall not thereafter be eligible to either election or reappoint-
ment to the office of sheriff: Provided, however, That such former sheriff may,
within ten days after such lynching occurs, file with the governor his petition
for reinstatement to the office of sheriff, and shall give ten days' notice of the
filing of such petition to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which such
lynching occurred and also to the attorney-general. If the governor, upon
hearing the evidence and argument, if any, presented, shall find that such
sheriff used reasonable effort to protect the life of such prisoner and performed
the duties required of him by existing laws respecting the protection of pris-
oners, then such governor shall reinstate such sheriff in his office and shall issue
to him a certificate of reinstatement, the same to be effective on the day of
such order of reinstatement, and the decision of such governor shall be final." 73

Other sections of this article provide for assistance of the sheriff
by bystanders; the removal of the prisoner to state prison or re-
formatory; and the aid of the militia.

Since the legislature seemed to realize that the sheriff and his
deputies usually were powerless before a mob, it made the second
clause of section 1007 a loophole providing for his reinstatement
by the governor, if justified after an examination, and in the lynch-
ings which have occurred since then the sheriff has been returned
to office immediately. In a case in 1916 "friends got busy in his be-
half and after four days had elapsed he was reinstated." 74 In
1932 he "filed his petition and after a secret court behind closed
doors the governor reinstated him." 75

Several states have enacted laws designed to suppress lynchings.

73. Revised Statutes, Kansas, 1923, ch. 21, art. 10, sees. 1003-1007.

74. Olathe Mirror, September 28, 1916.

75. Atwood Citizen-Patriot, April 21, 1932.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 207

In Kentucky "the penalty for lynching shall be confinement or life
imprisonment. The penalty for attempted lynching shall be con-
finement in the penitentiary for not less than two years nor more
than twenty-one years." It also provides for the removal of a
culpable officer, as do Indiana and Florida. North Carolina permits
the judge of the court issuing the indictment to transfer trial of the
case to another court without preliminary appearance of the de-
fendant before him, which allows the accused to be taken into an-
other court for safe-keeping and to be tried there without danger of
being mobbed. Minnesota and Ohio have drastic penalties for
lynchers and to prevent lynchings. West Virginia and South Caro-
lina give representatives of the person put to death the right to sue
in the courts for damages against the county in which the lynching
took place, the maximum amount in West Virginia being $5,000.

As administration of the criminal law is in the hands of the
several states the federal government cannot deal with the partici-
pators of a lynching unless it occurs on government reservations.
Efforts to secure enactment of federal legislation upon the subject
resulted in the passage by the house of representatives on January
26, 1922, by a vote of 230 to 119, a bill that was known as the Dyer
antilynching bill, introduced by the republican representative,
Leonidas Carstarphen Dyer, from Missouri. This provided that
culpable state officers and members of lynching mobs should be tried
in federal courts upon the failure of state courts to act, with sen-
tences of fines or imprisonment; it forbade and penalized any inter-
ference with an officer protecting a prisoner from lynching ; it penal-
ized an official who failed to do his duty in preventing a lynching;
and it penalized a county or counties which failed to use all rea-
sonable effort to protect citizens against mob violence, to the ex-
tent of $10,000 recoverable in a federal court. There was much dis-
sension over the constitutionality of the bill, on the point of usurpa-
tion of state rights by the federal government, but the supreme
court was never called upon to decide. A debate before the com-
mittee on the judiciary, house of representatives, gave both argu-
ments :

"There can be no question that the denial to persons of a class of the
equal protection of the laws by officers of or under the state, charged with
their equal enforcement, is the act of the state, and that the failure of the
state through its officers to give the equal protection of its laws to a class
must justify the intervention of the United States under the fourteenth amend-
ment to carry out its guaranty of equal protection. . . . We hold it to be
incontrovertible principle that the government of the United States may by

208 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

means of physical force, exercised through its official agents, execute on every
foot of American- soil the powers and functions that belong to it."

The minority report set forth the unconstitutionality of the law:

"This proposed intervention of the federal government directed against
local power, supplanting and superseding the sovereignty of the states, would
tend to destroy that sense of local responsibility for the protection of person
and property and the administration of justice, from which sense of local
responsibility alone protection and governmental efficiency can be secured
among free peoples. ... As a precedent, this bill, establishing the principles
which it embodies and the congressional powers which it assumes to obtain,
would strip the states of every element of sovereign power, control, and final
responsibility for the personal and property protection of its citizens, and
would all but complete the reduction of the states to a condition of govern-
mental vassalage awaiting only the full exercise of the congressional powers
established."*™

Thus the growing attitude against lynching in Kansas was part
of the trend over the whole country. While the newspapers re-
vealed it in their editorial opinions, they also reflected it in their
treatment and presentation in the news columns. In the territorial
days and even in 1870 a lynching might be told in four or five inches
on the back page of the paper. When Johnson and Craig were
lynched in Ellsworth in 1867, the nearest newspaper, the Junction
City Union, in Davis (Geary) county, told the story in five lines.77
The same paper in 1868 gave six inches without headlines, on an in-
side page, to the lynching of Thomas Reynolds in its own county.78
In April, 1869, the Leavenworth Times and Conservative, a four-
page daily, related the lynching of George Thompson, in its own
city, in twelve inches on the back page. In 1874 the Wellington
Press, a weekly, told the story of the lynching of four men in
six inches, though devoting two columns to the chase and arrest of
the same and another gang of horse thieves.79 By 1916 a lynching
had reached the front page, with the Olathe Mirror giving two col-
umns to a news article and editorial.80 Two and a half columns on
the front page were given to a lynching by the Mulberry News on
April 23, 1920. By 1932 the event was blazoned in a full-page head-
line used by the Atwood Citizen-Patriot to start a front-page
double-column story which was continued in one and a half columns
on the fourth page. From five lines in the local news in 1867 the

76. M. N. Work, Law vs. The Mob, 1925, pp. 4, 5.

77. Junction City Union, October 5, 1867.

78. Ibid., August 29, 1868.

79. Wellington Press, July 30, 1874.

80. Olathe Mirror, September 28, 1916.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 209

newspaper space-value of a lynching has grown to a full front-page
headline and double column in 1932.

Why were lynchings in the early days dismissed with a sentence
or two? We find this especially true in the papers of the 1860's
when men were hanged for horse stealing. Hanging a horse thief
seemed to be a rather matter-of-fact incident, a punishment which
a man should expect if he were caught in that vocation. They were
often desperadoes with other crimes on their records, and the coun-
try as a whole desired to be rid of them, even by drastic measures.
Often, too, they were men who had come to the West alone and did
not leave families to create sympathy. When horse stealing dis-
appeared in the Ws, with it went an attitude toward lynching
which had approached nonchalance. In the following decades when
a greater percentage of lynchings were for murder, the murder plus
the hanging aroused stronger sentiment. The growing civilization
which made lynchings less common at the same time gave them
more news value.

It is also in great part due to the changing styles of journalism
that a lynching now is given in many more words and details. The
early newspapers contained very little local news, most of the space
being filled with advertisements, "telegraphic" national news, and
clipped matter. An issue of the Leavenworth Daily Conservative
for June 10, 1862, contained sixteen columns of advertisements,
four and one-half on the front page; six and one-half columns of
national and telegraphic news; and one and a half columns of local
news — a percentage of six and one-fourth for local news. While
the early papers might have Associated Press facilities, organized
in 1865, to give them national news, communication among their
neighboring counties was slower and less certain, and the "local
items" and "personal news" which fill our town weeklies and even
city dailies were not the fashion in newspaper circles. They filled
the front page with plate or advertisements and put local news on
the inside or back page. Practically nothing rated headlines, be-
cause headlines were not used. The papers of the middle and late
1800's were dignified in appearance. The papers of to-day reflect
the era which produces them. These "ballyhoo years," as Frederick
L. Allen calls them in his Only Yesterday, have produced the
publicity agents with their knack of associating their cause or
product with whatever happens to be in the public mind at the time,
and of concentrating upon one tune at a time.

14—7572

210 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"They discovered — the successful tabloids were daily teaching them — that
the public tended to become excited about one thing at a time. Newspaper
owners and editors found that where a Dayton trial or a Vestris disaster took
place they sold more papers if they gave it all they had — their star reporters,
their front-page display, and the bulk of their space. They took full advan-
tage of this discovery. . . Syndicate managers and writers, advertisers,
press agents, radio broadcasters, all were aware that mention of the leading
event of the day, whatever it might be, was the key to public interest. The
result was that when something happened which promised to appeal to the
popular mind, one had it hurled at one in huge headlines, waded through
page after page of syndicated discussion . . . was reminded of it again
and again in the outpouring of publicity-seeking orators and preachers, saw
pictures of it in the Sunday papers and in the movies, and (unless one was
a perverse individualist) enjoyed the sensation of vibrating to the same chord
which thrilled a vast populace."81

While Allen was writing of the large dailies, the small-town
weeklies have been influenced in proportion by this trend toward
sensationalism, and have tended to play up an important event in
headlines and details. The decline of lynchings and a growing intol-
erance for them, together with a different journalistic style, are
responsible for the changed attitude and presentation by the news-
papers.

Figures on lynchings in the United States for the years 1882-1927
show that Kansas ranked 18th of all states, with fifty-five to her
discredit.82 Chronological tables in the appendix say fifty-one
occurred before 1904, four from 1904 to 1908, one from 1909 to 1913,
one from 1914 to 1918 and two from 1919 to 1923.83 The Southern
Commission on the Study of Lynching in their pamphlet, Lynch-
ings and What They Mean (1931), indicate on a map that eight
lynchings occurred in Kansas from 1900 to 1931 — two in Bourbon
county, two in Crawford county, one each in Johnson, Leavenworth,
Shawnee and Stafford counties. That they have not given names
and dates in each case makes it more difficult to check.

Some of those given by other associations have been omitted
from this list as incorrect, since no accounts of them were found in
contemporary local newspapers. As an example, the Tuskegee
Institute lists a Doctor Herman, negro, lynched in Topeka on
May 13, 1901, for "race prejudice." The Topeka Capital for that
week indicates that Doctor Herman left town but was not lynched.
They also list an unnamed white man lynched in Stafford, Stafford
county, on May 8, 1919, which the local newspapers fail to record.

81. F. L. Allen, Only Yesterday (1931), pp. 189, 190.

82. White, Rope and Faggot (1929), p. 239.

83. Ibid., p. 255.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 211

Three, giving information of date and name, but with place un-
known, have been omitted. So these figures will differ from those
compiled for the state by other associations, perhaps being fewer,
but with the hope of being accurate and authentic.

Several associations, mainly in the South, are making active
campaigns against lynching, stressing additional legislation for the
protection of prisoners, more certain punishment of criminals,
methods of preventing and dispersing mobs, efforts to secure court
trials and convictions of participants in mobs, and the growth of
public opinion against lynchings through churches, educational in-
stitutions and the press.

There has been a notable decrease, with occasional exceptions,
in the number of persons lynched since the turn of the century.
While the number is declining in the United States as a whole, it
is doing so more rapidly in some states, including Kansas, than in
others. Northern and Western states have almost completely aban-
doned lynching since the passing of frontier conditions. Only the
Southern states more or less regularly resort to the practice. Per-
haps if data for later years only were considered, Kansas would
rank better than eighteenth among the states.

LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS, 1850-1932.

(Giving date, name, place and alleged crime.)
1850-1859

1. In 1850's Six horse thieves. Rising Sun, Douglas county.

Horse stealing.

2. Dec., 1856 Partridge ; unknown man. On Pottawatomie

creek, southeastern Kansas. Robbery.

3. Aug. 1, 1857 Baize; Squarles. Leavenworth, Leavenworth

county. Murder.

4. 1858 Shaw; Johnson. Island in Marais des Cygnes

river (Franklin county). Horse stealing.

5. Spring, 1858 Theodore Royer. Shannon, Anderson county.

Horse stealing.

6. Apr., 1858 Clay well. Burlington, Coffee county. Horse

stealing.

7. Aug. 5, 1859 John Squires. Leavenworth, Leavenworth county.

Horse stealing.

8. Aug. 12, 1859 Wilson. Atchison, Atchison county. Horse steal-

ing.

Moore, Ely, Jr., "Story of Lecompton" in Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11, p. 478.

Leavenworth Herald, December 6, 1856.

Elwood Weekly Advertiser, August 6, 1857.

Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 605.

Johnson, W. A., History of Anderson County (1877), pp. 114, 115.

Burlington Republican, December 14, 1908.

Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, August 6, 1859.

Ibid., August 13, 1859.

212 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

1860-1869

Sa. Nov., 1859 William Hugh. Emporia, Lyon county. Cause

unknown.

86. Nov., 1859 Price. Hulls Grove, Jefferson county. Cattle steal-
ing.

8c. Dec. 27, 1859 A. F. Bishop. 110, Osage county. Horse stealing.

1860

9. Feb. 5, 1860 John R. Guthrie. Mapleton, Bourbon county

Horse stealing.

9a. June 9, 1860 John Johnson. Black Jack, Douglas county.

Horse stealing.

10. July 10, 1860 Hugh Carlin. Bourbon county. Horse stealing.

10a. July 28, 1860 Joseph Gilliford. Council Grove, Morris county.

Horse stealing.
1861

11. Mar. 27, 1861 Isaac Edwards. Topeka, Shawnee county. Mur-

der of an Indian.

12. May, 1862 Mexican. Lyon county. Horse stealing.

13. June 9, 1862 Two soldiers: 2d Ohio cavalry and 10th Kansas.

Marmaton, Bourbon county. Rape.

14. Oct. 1, 1862 Jack Dixon; Stephen Branch. Manhattan, Riley

county. Horse stealing.

15. Dec. 15, 1862 C. Mincer edicts Charles Spencer; unknown horse

thief. Wabaunsee county. Horse stealing.
186$

16. May 18-23, 1863 Alexander Brewer; William Sterling; Porter Ster-

ling; Daniel Mooney; Henry (Pony) Mc-
Cartney; Edward Gilbert. Atchison, Atchi-
son county. Robbery and torture.

17. June 3, 1863 James Melvin; William Cannon. Highland, Don-

iphan county. Horse stealing.

18. July 26, 1863 Scranton. Manhattan, Riley county. Horse steal-

ing.

19. Aug. 22, 1863 Thomas Corlew. Lawrence, Douglas county.

Border warfare.

8c. Topeka State Record, Nov. 5, 1859.
86. Ibid., Nov. 12, 1859.
8c. Ibid., Jan. 7, 1860.

9. A. H. T. [Tanner], letter to parents, February 12, 1860, from Mapleton, K T.
(Manuscript in Kansas State Historical Society vault.)

9a. Topeka State Record, June 9, 1860.

10. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1070.
10a. Topeka State Record, July 28, 1860.

11. Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, March 28, 1861.

12. Ibid., July 10, 1862.

13. Leavenworth Conservative, June 12, 1862 ; Junction City Union, June 1, 1862.

14. Manhattan Express, October 4, 1862.

16. Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, December 25, 1862.

16. Atchison Daily Champion, May 23, 1863.

17. Kansas Chief, White Cloud, June 4, 1863.

18. Topeka State Record, August 5, 1863.

19. James C. Horton, letter written May 22, 1905, in Kansas City, Mo., to G. W.
Martin. (MS. in Kansas State Historical Society.)

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 213

1864

20. 1864 Warren, negro. Garnett, Anderson county. Mur-

der.

21. Feb., 1864 Stevens; Stevens' son. Stanton, Miami county.

Horse stealing.

22. Feb., 1864 Stevens' son. Ohio City, Franklin county. Horse

stealing.

23. Feb., 1864 Five horse thieves. Jefferson county. Horse

stealing.

24. May, 1864 E. H. Wetherell. Riley county. Cattle stealing.

25. June 16, 1864 James Stevenson; Charles Wilson. Stanton, Mi-

ami county. Horse stealing.

26. June, 1864 Two horse thieves. Franklin county. Horse steal-

ing.

27. Aug. 14, 1864 George D. Bennett. Wathena, Doniphan county.

Horse stealing.

28. Oct. 8, 1864 Goisney. Marysville, Marshall county. Murder.

1865

29. Feb. 27, 1865 Miles N. Carter. Seneca, Nemaha county. Mur-

der,

30. April, 1865 William Bledsoe; Jacob Bledsoe. Greenwood

county. Horse stealing.

31. Dec., 1865 Walker. Oketo, Marshall county. Robbery.

32. Dec. 18, 1865 John Tehan Bartholomew. Wyandotte, Wyan-

dotte county. Murder.

33. Dec. 26, 1865 Carl Eden. Holton, Jackson county. Border

warfare.
1866

34. 1865-1866 Two negroes. Wyandotte, Wyandotte county.

Unknown.

35. Jan. 16, 1866 Thomas McElroy. Marysville, Marshall county.

Murder.

36. Mar., 1866 Two horse thieves. Nemaha county. Horse

stealing.

37. Mar., 1866 Howard; Howard. Spring river (county un-

known). Horse stealing.

20. Johnson, History of Anderson County (1877), p. 120.

21. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 606.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Junction City Union, May 14, 1864; Manhattan Independent, May 23, 1864.

25. Lawrence Tribune, June 17, 1864.

26. Ibid., June 18, 1864.

27. "Illustrated Doniphan County," supplement to Weekly Kansas Chief, Troy, April 6,
1916, p. 233.

28. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 918; Forter, History of Marshall County
(1917), p. 435.

29. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 945.

30. Ibid., p. 1119.

31. Atchison Daily Free Press, January 8, 1866.
82. Wyandotte Gazette, December 23, 1865.

33. Atchison Free Press, February 3, 1866.

34. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1232; Wyandotte Gazette, April 21, 1866.

35. Atchison Free Press, January 22, 1866.
86. Ibid, March 24, 1866.

37. Wyandotte Gazette, March 24, 1866.

214 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

1866

38. Mar. 7, 1866 Strong; horse thief. Ft. Scott, Bourbon county.

Horse stealing.

39. Apr., 1866 Two horse thieves. Humboldt, Allen county.

Horse stealing.

40. Apr. 13, 1866 Newt Morrison. Wyandotte, Wyandotte county.

Murder.

41. Apr. 29, 1866 Joe Tippie; Sam Tippie. Monmouth, Crawford

county. Murder.

42. May, 1866 Gulp. On Verdigris river, Wilson county. Horse

stealing.

43. May 1, 1866 Charles Quinn. Leaven worth, Leavenworth coun-

ty. Murder.

44. May 13, 1866 Peter Baysinger. Monticello, Johnson county.

Horse stealing.

45. May 26, 1866 Horse thief. Tomahawk creek, Johnson county.

Horse stealing.

46. June, 1866 John House; H. Long; Billy Jones. Pleasant

Grove, Greenwood county. Horse stealing.

47. Summer, 1866 Elias Foster. Mound City, Linn county. Murder.

1867

48. Feb., 1867 Wm. P. Myers; James Myers; George Myers;

Edwards; Gillett. Baxter Springs, Cherokee
county. Horse stealing.

49. Feb. 3, 1867 Jack McDowell. Morris county. Horse stealing.

50. Mar. 21, 1867 Eli Mackey, negro; Jackson Mackey, negro;

Harry Van, negro. Ft. Scott, Bourbon county.
Murder and robbery.

51. May 29, 1867 John Moran, negro; Daniel Moran, negro; John

McGorman, negro. Bartlett's mill, Geary
county. Rape.

52. June 13, 1867 Daniel Webster, negro; Tom Van Buren, negro.

Wyandotte, Wyandotte county. Murder.

53. June 13, 1867 Negro. Shawneetown, Johnson county. Rape.

54. Oct. 3, 1867 Charlie Johnson; Charlie Craig. Ellsworth, Ells-

worth county. Horse stealing.

38. Atchison Free Press, March 10, 1866.

39. Atchison Weekly Free Press, May 12, 1866.

40. Wyandotte Gazette, April 21, 1866.

41. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1119.

42. Atchison Weekly Free Press, May 19, 1866.

43. Leavenworth Conservative, May 2, 1866.

44. Olathe Mirror, May 17, 1866.

45. Ibid., May 31, 1866; Heisler & Smith, Johnson County Atlas (1874), p. 34.

46. Leavenworth Conservative, June 8, 1866.

47. Mitchell, History of Linn County (1928), p. 327.

48. Junction City Union, February 16, 1867.

49. Leavenworth Conservative, February 7, 1867.

50. Wyandotte Gazette, March 30, 1867.

51. Junction City Union, June 1, 1867.

52. Wyandotte Gazette, June 22, 1867.

53. Ibid., June 22, 1867 ; Olathe Mirror, June 20, 1867.

54. Junction City Union, October 5, 1867.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 215

1868

55. "Latter part of 1868".. Indian half-breed. Chetopa, Labette county.

Murder.

66. Aug. 22, 1868 Thomas Reynolds. Geary county. Horse steal-

ing.

67. Dec. 14, 1868.." Negro. Ellsworth, Ellsworth county. Rape.

1869

58. 1869 Three negroes, 38th infantry. Ft. Hays, Ellis

county. Murder.

59. Apr. 29, 1869 George Thompson. Leavenworth, Leavenworth

county. Murder.

60. May 5, 1869 Enoch Reynolds. Sheridan, Sheridan county.

Murder.

61. May 12, 1869 Fitzpatrick. Ellsworth, Ellsworth county. Mur-

der.

62. June, 1869 Tesse; Clark Odell. Shawnee, Johnson county.

Horse stealing.

63. June 7, 1869 C. H. Houston. Wyandotte county. Horse steal-

ing.

64. June 26, 1869 William Beagle. Shawnee, Johnson county. Horse

stealing.
1870

65. 1870 John Pierce. Jacksonville, Neosho county. Mur-

der.

65a. Jan. 4, 1870 George Johnson, negro. Atchison, Atchison

county. Murder.

66. May 11, 1870 William Ryan; Patrick Starr; Patsey Riley;

Richard Pitkin; Alexander Matthews. Ladore,
Neosho county. Murder and rape.

67. May 19, 1870 Two horse thieves. Sedgwick county. Horse

stealing.

68. June 27^ 1870 E. G. Dalson. lola, Allen county. Murder.

69. Aug. 6, 1870 John Sanderson. Junction City, Geary county.

Horse stealing.

70. Nov. 9, 1870 George Booth; James Smith; Jack Corbin; Lewis

Booth. Douglas, Butler county. Horse steal-
ing.

55. Case, History of Labette County (1901), p. 68.

56. Junction City Union, August 29, 1868.

57. Ibid., December 19, 1868.

58. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1292.

59. Leavenworth Times and Conservative, April 30, 1869.

60. Junction City Union, May 8, 1869.

61. Ibid., May 15, 1869.

62. Heisler & Smith, Johnson County Atlas (1874), p. 34.

63. Wyandotte Gazette, June 12, 1869.

64. Wyandotte Gazette, July 3, 1869.

65. Case, History of Labette County (1901), p. 68.
65a. Atchison Champion and Press, January 8, 1870.

66. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 826.

67. Junction City Union, May 21, 1870.

68. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 670.

69. Junction City Union, August 13, 1870.

70. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1431; Wabaunsee County Herald, Alma,
December 8, 1870.

216 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

71. Dec. 1, 1870 .......... Mike Dray; Dr. Morris; Dr. Morris' son; Wil-

liam Quimby. Douglass, Butler county. Horse
stealing.
1871

72. 1871 ................. Jake Hanes; Guy Whitmore. Salem, Jewell

county. Horse stealing.
1872

73. Apr. 11, 1872 .......... McCarty. Sumner county. Murder.

74. Aug. 15, 1872 .......... B. W. Harwood. Labette county. Murder.

1873

75. May-June, 1873 ...... Cross. Norton county. Horse stealing.

75a. Aug. 23, 1873 .......... Three negroes. Elgin, Chautauqua county. Horse

stealing.

76. Sept. 1873 ............ John Keller. LaCygne, Linn county. Murder.

76a. Nov., 1873 ........... Unknown. Fort Scott, Bourbon county. Horse

stealing.
1874

77. July 28, 1874 .......... Tom Smith. Wellington, Sumner county. Horse

stealing.

78. July 29, 1874 .......... Bill Brooks; Chas. (L. B.) Hasbrook; Charlie

Smith. Wellington, Sumner county. Horse
stealing.

79. Aug. 19, 1874 .......... L. L. Oliver. Caldwell, Sumner county. Murder.

1876

80. June 5, 1876 .......... Number unknown. Rossville, Shawnee county.

Horse stealing.
1877

81. Mar. 31, 1877 ......... Charley Manley. Granada, Nemaha county.

Horse stealing.

82. Aug. 20, 1877 .......... Bob Scruggs. Oak Mills, Atchison county. Mur-

der.

83. Nov., 1877 ........... Horse thief. On Osage creek, Bourbon county.

Horse stealing.
1882

84. Jan. 2, 1882 ........... W. E. Graham. Ellsworth, Ellsworth county.

Murder.

71. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1431.

72. Ibid., p. 967.

73. Ibid., p. 1495.

74. Case, History of Labette County (1901), p. 69.

75. Andreas, History of Kansas (1883), p. 1063.
75o. Junction City Union, August 30, 1873.

76. Border Sentinel, Mound City, September 19, 1873.
76a. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, November 16, 1873.

77. Wellington Press, July 30, 1874.

78. Ibid.

79. Ibid., September 3, 1874.

80. Topeka Commonwealth, June 14, 1876.

81. Seneca Mirror, April 6, 1877.

82. Atchison Daily Champion, August 21, 1877.

83. Fort Scott Weekly Monitor, November 8, 1877.

84. Ellsworth Reporter, January 6, 1882.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 217

1882

85. Apr. 13, 1882 Thomas Wooton. Wakeeney, Trego county.

Murder.

86. June 14, 1882 Isaac Kind, negro; Pete Vinegar, negro; Geo.

Robertson, negro. Lawrence-, Douglas county.
Murder.
1883

87. Feb. 1, 1883 Charles Cobb. Winfield, Cowley county. Mur-

der.

88. Feb. 9, 1883 Henry Smith, negro. Paola, Miami county.

Rape.
1884

89. Mar. 21, 1884 Samuel Frayer. Marysville, Marshall county.

Murder.

90. May 1, 1884 Henry Brown; Billie Smith; John Wesley; Ben

Wheeler. Medicine Lodge, Barber county.
Robbery.

91. Sept. 14, 1884 Frank Jones. Wellington, Sumner county. Mur-

der.
1885

92. Mar. 19, 1885 Frank Bonham. Independence, Montgomery

county. Murder.

93. Apr. 30, 1885 George Mack. Great Bend, Barton county. Mur-

der.

94. July 6, 1885 John Lawrence, negro. Girard, Crawford county.

Rape.

95. Dec. 8, 1885 Frank Noyes. Caldwell, Sumner county. House

burning.
1886

96. Apr. 23, 1886 Henry Weaver; Oliver Weaver; Philip Weaver.

Anthony, Harper county. Murder.

97. May 10, 1886 Francis Lyle. Prescott, Linn county. Murder.

98. Nov. 9, 1886 Samuel Purple. Jetmore, Hodgman county. Mur-

der.
1887

99. Jan. 30, 1887 Richard Wood, negro. Leaven worth, Leaven-

worth county. Rape.
1888

100. June 27, 1888 John Rigsby, negro; Wiley Lee, negro. Chetopa,

Labette county. Murder.

85. Wakeeney World, April 15, 1882.

86. Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence, June 14, 1882.

87. Cowley County Telegram, Winfield, February 8, 1883.

88. Ibid., February 15, 1883.

89. Marshall County News, MarysvUle, March 28, 1884.

90. Medicine Lodge Cresset, May 1, 1884.

91. Wellingtonian, Wellington, September 18, 1884.

92. Independence Star and Kansan, March 20, 1885.

93. Great Bend Register, May 7, 1885.

94. Girard Press, July 9, 1885.

95. Freeman, History of Southern Kansas (1892), p. 381.

96. Harper Sentinel, April 24, 1886.

97. Linn County Clarion, Mound City, May 14, 1886.

98. Jetmore Reveille, November 10, 1886.

99. Leavenworth Times f January 30, 1887.

100. Chetopa Democrat , June 29, 1888.

218 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

1888

101. June 27, 1888 Wallace Mitchell. Syracuse, Hamilton county.

Murder.

102. June 28, 1888 Chubb McCarthy. Minneapolis, Ottawa county.

Murder.
1889

103. June 4, 1889 Pat Cleary. Lincoln, Lincoln county. Murder.

104. June 4, 1889 Nat Oliphant. Topeka, Shawnee county. Mur-

der.

105. Sept. 14, 1892 Hugh Henry, negro. Lamed, Pawnee county.

Rape.

106. Nov. 29, 1892 Commodore True, negro. Hiawatha, Brown coun-

ty. Murder.
1893

107. Apr. 20, 1893 Dana Adams, negro. Salina, Saline county. Mur-

der.

108. Aug. 20, 1893 Silas Wilson, negro. Millwood, Leavenworth

county. Rape.
1894

109. Jan. 14, 1894 J. Green Burton; John Gay; William Gay. Rus-

sell, Russell county. Murder.

110. Apr. 23, 1894 Jeff Tuggle, negro. Cherokee, Crawford county.

Murder.

111. May 8, 1894 Lewis McKindley; W. McKindley. Sharon

Springs, Wallace county. Murder.

112. May 12, 1894 George Rose. Cottonwood Falls, Chase county.

Murder.
1895

113. Apr. 3, 1895 Newton Walters. Columbus, Cherokee county.

Murder.
1898

114. June 13, 1898 John Becker. Great Bend, Barton county. Mur-

der.
1899

115. Mar. 28, 1899 Henry Sanderson. Holton, Jackson county. Mur-

der.

116. Apr. 27, 1899 Charles Williams, negro. Galena, Cherokee

county. Murder.

117. Nov. 2, 1899 Wells, negro. Columbus, Cherokee county. Mur-

der.

101. Syracuse Democrat Principle, June 28, 1888.

102. Chetopa Democrat, July 6, 1888.

103. Kansas City Times, June 5, 1889.

104. Ibid.

105. Lamed Weekly Chronoscope, September 16, 1892.

106. Ruley, History of Brown County, (n. d.), p. 234.

107. Salina Herald, April 21, 1893.

108. Leavenworth Times, August 22, 1893.

109. Russell Record, April 21, 1932.

110. Weir Journal, April 27, 1894.

111. Peoples Voice, Wellington, May 11, 1894.

112. Chase County Leader, Cottonwood Falls, May 17, 1894.

113. Topeka Capital, April 4, 1895.

114. Barton County Democrat, Great Bend, June 16, 1898.

115. Holton Recorder, March 30, 1899.

116. Columbus Advocate, April 27, 1894.

117. Ibid., November 2, 1899.

YOST: LYNCHINGS IN KANSAS 219

1900

118. Jan. 20, 1900 Ed Meeks; George Meeks. Ft. Scott, Bourbon

county. Murder.
1901

119. Jan. 15, 1901 Fred Alexander, negro. Leavenworth, Leaven-

worth county. Rape.
1902

120. Dec. 25, 1902 Mont Godley, negro. Pittsburg, Crawford coun-

ty. Murder.
1916

121. Sept. 21, 1916 Bert Dudley. Olathe, Johnson county. Murder.

1920

122. Apr. 19, 1920 Albert Evans, negro. Mulberry, Crawford county.

Rape.
1932
123* Apr. 19, 1932 Richard Read. Atwood, Rawlins county. Rape.

118. Fort Scott Weekly Tribune, January 25, 1899.

119. Topeka Capital, January 25, 1901.

120. Pittsburg Headlight, December 26, 1902.

121. Topeka Journal, September 21, 1916.

122. Mulberry News, April 23, 1920.

123. Topeka Capital, April 18, 1932.

* These figures are footnote numbers and not total lynchings. See page 192
for totals.

Kansas History as Published
in the State Press

Fifty-years-ago items published regularly in the Osborne County
Farmer, Osborne, under the heading "Ancient History in Osborne,"
are annotated by the editor and related with present-day facts.

The "History of White Cloud/' by Mrs. M. E. Zimmerman, was
published weekly in the White Cloud Globe-Tribune, commencing
with its issue of January 30, 1931. The series ran, with a few omis-
sions, until the middle of 1932.

A brief historical sketch of Wabaunsee and a cut of the old stone
church which was built in 1861 were published in the August, 1932,
issue of the Wabaunsee County Truth, Wabaunsee. Succeeding is-
sues printed biographical sketches of pioneers and located points of
interest on a city map of 1872.

Letters and interviews relating the experiences of old settlers of
Cheyenne county have provided the Bird City Times with news
items for a regular weekly feature under the heading, "Old Timer's
Column." The series started with the issue of December 15, 1932.

The story of three pioneers who settled in Crawford county in
1868 was told by two descendants in the Pittsburg Headlight, De-
cember 20, 1932. The men, John Waggoner, Stephen Alberty and
E. B. Holden, journeyed overland from Holla, Mo., and took up
their claims near the present town of Chicopee.

Butler county in 1869 was described by W. F. McGinnis, Sr., a
pioneer, in a two-column article in The Butler County News, El
Dorado, December 23, 1932. Other reminiscences of Mr. McGinnis
were continued in succeeding issues.

The forty-fifth anniversary of the Padonia Methodist church was
celebrated January 1, 1933. A history of the church appeared in
the Hiawatha Daily World, January 4, 1933.

"Early Days of Baldwin Territory Are Recounted by Old Set-
tler," was the title of a front-page feature article published in the
Baldwin Ledger, January 5, 1933. Joseph Dexter, of Oak Valley,
was the narrator. He came to Kansas from Illinois in June, 1855,
and witnessed the burning of Lawrence in 1856 and in 1863. His
father was a captain under Jim Lane.

(220)

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 221

A history of Sedgwick county, by Asa F. Rankin, is being pub-
lished in the Clearwater News. The chapters and dates of publica-
tion are "Explorers," in the issue of January 5, 1933 ; "How Wichita
Was Named," January 19, and "Old Boom Days Exciting Era,"
February 9.

"Scott County Historical Society Notes," regularly printed in
The News Chronicle, Scott City, featured the first schools in Scott
county, January 5, 1933; "District No. 9, the Old Friend School,"
by Matilda Freed, January 12 and 19; "The Texas Cattle Trails of
Western Kansas," by J. W. Chaffin, January 26 ; the first deaths in
Scott City, February 2; "Saddle-Days Souvenirs," from the narra-
tive of Frank Murphy, who herded cattle over the Chisholm and
Texas trails, a reprint from Touring Topics (Calif.), February 9
and 23; Pueblo Indian ruins in Scott county, March 2; "Kansas
Prairie Fires," by J. W. Chaffin, March 9 and 16; Henry Hubbell,
famous artist, who was an early-day sign painter in Scott City,
March 23. Another article of historical interest published in The
Scott County Record, Scott City, February 16, and not included in
the News Chronicle series, is "Notes Concerning Early Days in
Scott County by the Render Family."

The Southwest Historical Society of Dodge City recently com-
piled a resume of sixteen Indian battles that were fought in western
Kansas and vicinity during its early history. The list was pub-
lished in the Dodge City Daily Globe, January 6, 1933.

Historical places of interest in Kansas were reviewed in three
articles published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, January 8, 15 and
22, 1933. Brief paragraphs describing the famous Kansas land-
marks were printed.

Christ's Lutheran church, four miles north of Gaylord, observed
its fiftieth anniversary January 15, 1933. A history of the organiza-
tion was published in the Athol-Gay lord-Cedar Review, January 11.
Rev. F. Schedtler was the first pastor.

Franklin Playter, 91, for many years a resident of Crawford
county, at Girard and Pittsburg, died at his home southwest of
Galena on January 11, 1933. The Pittsburg Sun of January 12 con-
tained an obituary of Mr. Playter and stated that he platted and
named Pittsburg and erected the first business building on the town-
site.

222 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Some of the early business enterprises of Summerfield were named
in the fifty-sixth anniversary edition of the Summerfield Sun, Janu-
ary 12, 1933.

Frank L. Randolph's experiences in early-day Potwin were re-
lated in the Potwin Ledger, January 12, 1933. Mr. Randolph, who
now resides in California, lived in Potwin from 1881 to 1888.

The sixtieth anniversary of the Winfield Daily Courier was ob-
served January 13, 1933, with the issuance of a 24-page illustrated
historical edition. Notes on the founding and incorporation of
Winfield, history of the city's newspapers, a review of the first
churches, first marriage, etc., the organization of a grange in the
South Bend area, and a reproduction of a page of the first issue of
the Courier which was dated January 11, 1873, were high-lights of
the edition.

Official records of Hamilton county provide C. W. Noell, register
of deeds, with source material for a series of historical articles
which are being published in the Syracuse Journal. Mr. Noell wrote
of the organization of the county in the issue of January 13, 1933;
early towns of the county were located and described, January 27,
and the county seat war was discussed, February 24 and March 17.

The Baker Orange, student publication of Baker University,
Baldwin, is publishing historical articles in observance of the sev-
enty-fifth anniversary of the granting of the charter to the univer-
sity. The series started with the issue of January 16, 1933.

Judge J. C. Ruppenthal, in his "Rustlings" column which has
been published weekly in several western Kansas newspapers for
the past few years, has contributed historical notes of considerable
value to the state. In his column of January 18, 1933, he inquired
for more information about a Mr. Matthews who was reputed to be
the first permanent settler on Coal creek, Russell county, in 1869.
He was answered in the Wilson World, January 25, by William
Gaines, who recalled E. W. Matthews and the operation of his lime
kilns in 1870.

Historical notes published in the Seneca Courier-Tribune include
the origin of the name "Turkey" creek, by Joe Rilinger, January 19,
1933, and the location of the old townsite of Pacific City, by J. L.
Firkins, February 20.

Kansas Historical Notes

Newly elected officers of the Kansas History Teachers' Associa-
tion which met at the Pittsburg Kansas State Teachers College
March 25, 1933, are: F. H. Hodder, Kansas University, president;
S. A. Johnson, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, vice presi-
dent; Fred L. Parrish, Kansas State College, Manhattan, secretary-
treasurer, and Edwin McRaynolds, Coffeyville Junior College, mem-
ber of the executive committee. Hodder succeeds 0. F. Grubbs of
the Pittsburg college as president.

At the December, 1932, election of the Cowley County Historical
Society the following officers were reflected: Mrs. J. P. Baden,
president; A. M. Rehwinkel, vice president; Mrs. Alfred Diescher,
treasurer, and E. A. Wolfram, secretary and curator. The society
was organized October 26, 1931, and reported thirty members en-
rolled at the close of 1932. A list of the year's accessions was pub-
lished in the Winfield Daily Courier, December 13.

The Kiowa County Historical Society has 236 members enrolled
on its scroll of charter members. The organization has placed a
show case in the lobby of the courthouse at Greensburg for museum
pieces.

Edna Nyquist, secretary of the McPherson County Historical and
Archeological Society, has compiled a 184-page book entitled Pio-
neer Life and Lore of McPherson County, Kansas. The Democrat-
Opinion Press, McPherson, was the publisher.

A Douglas County Historical Society was organized at Lawrence
in March, 1933.

The Kansas Magazine was revived for the third time on January
29, 1933, with a notable array of Kansas authors, poets and artists
contributing. R. I. Thackrey, editor, hopes to publish it annually.
The magazine was established in January, 1872, under the editor-
ship of Capt. Henry King and James W. Steele, with subsequent
revivals in 1886, 1909 and again in 1933.

A testimonial dinner was given March 1, 1933, at Douglass, in
honor of J. M. Satterthwaite, publisher of the Douglass Tribune.
Mr. Satterthwaite, who was a member of the Kansas legislature
for sixteen years, has just completed a half century as editor of the

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224 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Tribune. Prominent Kansas editors and state leaders were in at-
tendance.

Kirke Mechem, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society,
addressed the Women's Civic Center Club of Hutchinson, January
27, 1933, on the work of the Society.

The fourth annual Kansas Day reunion of the Cheyenne County
Pioneers of Kansas was held at Bird City, January 29, 1933.

Markers were erected in Council Grove and Dodge City February
22, 1933, locating the National Old Trails route which follows the
general direction of the Santa Fe trail through Kansas. The route
runs as U. S. highway 50 and 50N from Kansas City to Larned, as
Kansas highway 37 from Larned to Kinsley, as U. S. highway 50S
from Kinsley through Dodge City to Garden City, and as U. S.
highway 50 to La Junta, Colo.

The Bethany College museum has been reassembled on the first
floor of the Main building in Lindsborg. Formerly the collection
was scattered in various buildings over the campus. Indian relics
and fossils, representative of western Kansas "finds," are among
the collections on display. Dr. J. A. Udden was the founder of the
museum.

A private collection of southwestern historical relics is being
brought together by Merritt and Otero Beeson at the Merritt Beeson
home in Dodge City.

The road leading to the summit of Coronado Heights, three miles
northwest of Lindsborg, has been improved this winter. The Linds-
borg Historical Society is the lease-holder of this historic site
thought to have been visited by Coronado.

14-7572

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

Volume II Number 3

August, 1933

PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT

W. C. AUSTIN, STATE PRINTER

TOPEKA 1933

14-8677

Contributors

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society.

KIRKE MECHEM is editor of the Kansas Historical Quarterly and secretary of
the Kansas State Historical Society.

WILLIAM HENRY SEARS was appointed brigadier general of the Kansas Na-
tional Guard by Gov. L. D. Lewelling in 1893. He lives in Lawrence, Kan.

NOTE. — Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without re-
gard to their importance.

Two Minute Books of Kansas Missions
in the Forties

I. INTRODUCTION

IF the church records here reproduced have no other significance
they prove that keeping the red man in the straight and narrow
path was a most arduous task in Kansas a hundred years ago. In
the continuous effort of the mission fathers to fit an almost puri-
tanical shoe to those restless feet there is something of pathos; and
in the naivete of their accounts of the attempt there is, let it be
said respectfully, also something of unintentional humor.

When, for example, a solemn entry reads, "Enquiry was then
made as to the general appearance of religion in Mr. Towsey and a
general expression was that he was a disgrace to the church," there
certainly can be no irreverence in a smile. Or when a committee is
"appointed to labor with Jonas Littleman, and Sally Konkapot, it
being understood that their conduct had been unbecoming a pro-
fession of godliness" ; or when "Bro T Hendric and H Skeekett re-
fuse to be reconsiled with the church unless the missionaries cease
to visit it," the decorum of religion surely may unbend for the
moment in the presence of a more human emotion.

Although there are lighter moments for the readers of these
minutes, the workers who penned them were painstakingly serious.
The first set was recorded in one of the lined blank books of the
period, 7% by 12 inches, bound in heavy paper, now brown and
brittle with age; the second consists of eight leaves which have been
torn from a ruled account book of approximately the same size.
Both were written carefully in ink. It will at once be apparent
that these church clerks were sometimes stronger in faith than
orthography, for the originals, now preserved in the archives of the
Kansas State Historical Society, have been copied exactly and are
here presented without correction in either spelling or punctuation.

The date of the first entry in the earlier book is April 5, 1841,
This is ten years after the establishment of the first Baptist mission
to the Shawanoe Indians in Kansas, which the records of the
American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions show was in 1831.1
The mission was located "three miles west of Missouri and about
eight south of the Missouri river" in a tract of land granted to the

1. Baptist Missionary Magazine, v. XVI, p. 50.

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228 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Shawanoes, or Shawnees, by the terms of a treaty made at St. Louis,
November 7, 1825. To this remote outpost came a small band of
workers under the leadership of Johnston Lykins and his wife. In
1833 activities were extended, and a mission station was established
for the Delawares 2 "north of the Kansas river near its junction with
the Missouri." 3 Ira D. Blanchard, who had some knowledge of the
Delaware language, was employed as a teacher, and in 1835 was
appointed a missionary to the tribe.

In January, 1840, Blanchard reported to the Baptist Board of
Foreign Missions, "Our mission affairs were never so prosperous
before. Our meetings are full. Last Sabbath all could not find
seats. . . . Our school is full, so that we have been obliged to
refuse many applications the last four weeks. Our present number
is 16." 4 In March of 1841 he writes that the Delaware chiefs oppose
the gospel so that few or none attend religious worship, except those
who are pious. "There is, nevertheless," he says, "the fullest evi-
dence that the Lord is owning our unworthy efforts. Four are now
waiting an opportunity of publicly avowing their faith in Christ
and we have reason to hope that several more are not far from the
kingdom of God." 5

Records indicate that until this time, 1841, religious work among
the Delawares had been carried on under the direction of the mission
at Shawanoe. It is somewhat difficult, after nearly a hundred years,
to follow the lines of demarcation between group activities, especially
in view of the rather loose application of terms. Study of the records
leads to the conclusion that a group numbering twenty-six, including
Blanchard and his wife and Sylvia Case, a teacher, originally
organized as the Delaware branch of the Shawanoe mission, desired
to form a separate church. A letter from F. Barker, preacher at
Shawanoe, to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, dated at

2. The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory, pub-
lished, by Isaac McCoy, January 1, 1835, states that the Baptist mission for the Delawares
was commenced in 1832. A Baptist missionary, Charles E. Wilson, spent a few weeks among
them in the autumn of that year. However, entries in McCoy's private journal, owned by
the Kansas State Historical Society, indicate that work among the Delawares was not in-
stituted until 1833. McCoy writes, on February 12, 1833 : "I have recently conferred with
Mr. Lykins, and we have agreed, the Lord willing, to institute preaching and a school among
the Delawares. A Mr. Blanchard has spent nearly a year and a half among them on his own
resources, in the study of their language. . . . Mr. Lykins and he expect to visit those
Indians in the course of a few days in order to a commencement of operations." On Feb. 26,
1833, he writes: "On Saturday, Sunday and Monday last Mr. Lykins and Mr. French made
a visit to the Delawares, some 13 miles from the Shawanoe mission House, with a view of in-
stituting preaching among them and the establishing of a school among them. They report
the prospect as favorable, and Mr. Lykins has written the Board, proposing to hire a school
teacher. . . ."

3. Baptist Missionary Magazine, v. XVIII, p. 139.

4. Ibid., v. XX, p. 127.

5. Ibid., v. XXI, p. 173.

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 229

Shawanoe, Indian territory, July 9, 1841, contains the following
item:

"April 5. I have just returned from the Delaware station, (br. Blanchard's,)
where I assisted in organizing a church, according to previous arrangement. It
was a solemn service; in one sense painful, to have our brethren separated
from us; in another sense pleasing, as we hope it will be for the advancement
of the cause, and for our mutual good ; and we know that in every important
sense we yet are one. After service we proceeded to the water side. Three
were baptized; two of them members of br. Blanchard's school."6

In the journal of Jotham Meeker 7 appear entries for June 3 and 4
as follows:

"3. The church met for business. Two of Br. Blanchard's scholars, Stock-
bridges, related their Christian experiences, and were received by the church for
baptism. Br. Pratt8 was appointed ch. Clerk, who wrote a letter of dismission
for the members residing north of the Kanzas. One brother made a good deal
of difficulty. May the Lord forgive him. 4. Lord's day. The brethren and
Sisters who were yesterday dismissed were organized into a separate church.
Br. Barker preached the sermon, and I gave the charge and prayer. A Dela-
ware man then related his Christian experience. I preached from 'The Lord's
portion is his people.' Br. Barker then baptized the three candidates in the
Kanzas river, I gave the right hand of fellowship; after which Br. B. and I
administered the Lord's supper."

Thus the new church got under way. The following records of
the organization show that faith was weak at times, and temptation
strong, but zeal burned like a bright white flame.

6. Ibid., v. XXI, p. 283.

7. Jotham Meeker, missionary-printer, came to the Shawanoe Mission in 1833, bringing a
printing press on which were printed, subsequently, many small books containing hymns, selec-
tions from the Scriptures, and religious works, translated into Indian languages by Meeker
and other missionaries. He removed to the country of the Ottawas in 1837 and founded a
mission on the Marais des Cygnes river where the town of Ottawa now stands. His journal,
owned by the Historical Society, covers a period of twenty-three years, 1832-1855.

8. John Gill Pratt was employed by the Baptist Missionary Society for work in the
Indian territory immediately upon his graduation from Andover in 1836. In March, 1837, he
married Olivia Evans, and two weeks later the couple left Boston for the territory, where
they were to labor among the Shawanoes at the Shawanoe Baptist mission. They arrived
May 11. Pratt had learned the trade of printing at the University Press, Cambridge, Mass.,
and on his arrival at Shawanoe took charge of the printing office. Pratt went to the Stock -
bridge Indians in 1844 and in 1848 took charge of the Delaware Baptist mission. He later
acted as United States Indian agent to the Delawares.

230 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

II. CHURCH BOOK

Church Book

or
Book of records for the

Baptist Church

Constituted at the Delaware Bap. Mission
April 5th 1841

Breathren being presant from abroad on Saturday the third of
April 1841 the subject of our separate organization was brought
before us unitedly After much consultation it seemed that no rea-
sonable objection could be presented against our proceeding in the
matter without further delay The following letter of dismission be-
ing received was laid before the whole for further consideration

Delaware Bap Mission April 4 1841

At a meeting of the Potawatomie Baptist mission church held at
the Ottawa Baptist mission Breathren & Sister Thomas T Hendrick
Robert Konkaput Cornelius Charles Jonas Konkaput Henry Skeikett
Cornelius Hendrick John W. Newcum, Hannah Konkaput Susan
Hendrick, Dolly Doxtator, Cathorine Konkaput Phebe Skeikett
Mary Hendrick, Sally Konkaput Mary Charles Mary Ann Doxtator
Timoty Towsey Elisabeth Towsy Ira D. Blanchard Mary W Blanch-
ard Sylvia Case, Hopehelase, Charles Joneycake, Rahpateetanksee,
Betsy Hill Kliskoqha Betsy Zeigleer, Esther Fergusson asked to
be dismissed for the purpose of forming themselves into a church
of the same faith & order And whereas the church granted this
request this is to certify that when such organization shall take
place they will be no longer considered as members with us

In behalf of the Church

J. G. Pratt Clk

Also Brother Blanchard, Newcum, and Skeikett Having been
apointed for that purpose reported the follow preamble constitution
and covenent

Declaration
Of our views of Divine truth.

1st We believe

The Bible is true, that it contains the whole of God's revealed will,
that it was written by men divinely inspired, that it is a perfect
rule of faith and practice, and that it is the only guide through

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 231

this world of sorrow to the right hand of God where there are
pleasures forever-more.

2nd We believe

in the existence of but one God, that He is the Creator and preserver
of the universe, that all things are and were created for the glory
of his name, that He only is worthy of adoration or worship, that
he is revealed under the personal and relative distinction of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, equel in every divine perfection but perform-
ing distinct yet harmonious offices in the glorious work of man's
redemption.

3d We believe

that man was created Holy, that he fell from that state by willful
transgression of a Law of his maker; that in consequence of which
all mankind are sinners; not by constraint, but willingly, being by
nature destitute of all good and inclined to all evil; therefore justly
under the curse of the Law for sin, subject of death, and all other
miseries, spiritual, temporal and eternal.

4th We believe

that to redeem man from this curse, was the errand upon which the
son of God appeared in our lower world, that for our sakes he
became a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, that he tasted
death for every man, and thereby made an atonement for the sins
of the whole world; that repentence, faith and obedience are the
terms of his salvation.

5th We believe

that a congregation of baptized believers, who are associated by
covenant, living in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing
its ordinances, governed by its rules and exercising the gifts, rights
and privileges invested in them by Christ, to be a Christian Church.

6th We believe

Christian baptism to be the immersion of a believer in water in the
name of the Father the Son, and the Holy Ghost that it is pre-
requisit to the privileges of a Church relation, and the Lord's supper.
And that it is the imperative duty of all believers to be baptized.

7th We believe

that none ever have been or will be made partakers of the benefits
of Christ's Spiritual kingdom, but those who are chosen in him unto
salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth.

232 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

8th We believe

that nothing can separate real believers from the love of God, that
a persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which dis-
tinguishes them from superficial professors, that a special providence
watches over them, and that they are and will be kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation.

9th We believe

that the end of all things is at hand, that Christ is again to appear
upon earth, that he is to be the Judge of the quick and the dead,
and that an awful separation will then take place, a sentence of
eternal condemnation will be awarded [?] to all whose robes are
not washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb While they
who have made Christ their Savior and friend by repentence, faith
and obedience will be welcomed to all the Joys of Heaven, from
whence they shall no more go out forever. Even so come Lord.
Jesus Come quickly Amen.

Covenant

In the presence of God Angels and one another we do sollemnly
Covenant in the strength of our divine Master that we will exercise
a mutual care, as members one of another, to promote the growth of
the whole body in Christian knowledge, holiness and comfort; to
the end that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of
God — That to promote and secure this object, we will uphold the
public worship of God and the ordinance of his house; and hold
constant communion with each other therein, that we will cheer-
fully contribute of our property for the support of the poor and do
all that lies conveniently in our power, for the encouragement of a
faithful ministry among us.

That we will not omit closet and family religion at home, nor
allow ourselves in the too common neglect of the great duty of
religiously training our children and those under our care, with
a view to the service of Christ and the enjoyment of Heaven. That
we will walk circumspectly before the world, in no way upholding
or giving countenance to any of these things named by the Apostle
in Gal. 5: 19-21. That we will conscienciously abstain from the
use of all intoxicating liquors as a beverage, endeavoring so to
recommend the religion of Christ by our lives as to win souls to
him, remembering that God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but
the power of love and of a sound mind; that we are the light of the
world, the salt of the earth, a city set on a hill that can not be hid —

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 233

That we will frequently exhort, and if occasion shall require, admon-
ish one another according to Matt. 18 — in the spirit of meekness,
considering ourselves lest we also be tempted remembering that as
in baptism we have been buried with Christ & raised again in his
likeness, there is henceforth a special obligation in us to walk in
newness of life.

At our first Church and Covenant meeting after our organization
as a separate body of believers in Christ from the Potawatomie
Baptist Mission Church, held on the 24th of April 1841, at the
house of Brother Thomas T. Hendrick in the Mohekunnuk Settle-
ment Ind. Ter. Brother Blanchard opened the meeting by prayer,
and other usual exercises that are generally required under such
circumstances.

Proposition was brought forward, and laid before the brethren
and sisters, for their consideration, which was that this Church
ought to bear some certain name, under which it might be known
and distinguished, the brethren unanimously voted that it should
ever hereafter be called Deleware and Mohegan Baptist Mission
Church

The next thing that was done at the said meeting, the said Church
nominated and appointed Brothers Jonas Konkapot and brother
Charles Jonycake to wait upon brother Towsey, to exhort and
admonish him, for disorderly walk as a Christian ; and for neglecting
his duty generally, in not attending to the ordinances of the Church
of Christ, particularly in the branch to which he professes to be-
long, and that they shall be called upon to report at our next
Church meeting.

The Brethren of this Church further agreed that they would
patiently wait a little longer upon brother Pah-pa-ta-tauk-thy, be-
fore they would conclude to excommunicate him from this Church.

Resolution was taken by the brethren and sisters of this Church,
that for the future, their church meetings should be held on Saturday
previous to the last Sunday of each month.

Another resolution was taken by this Church, that no members
of other denominations, should be received without giving a previous
notice to the Church, to which they belong.

J. M. Newcom. (Church Clerk)

At a Church and Covenant meeting held at Brother Blanchard's
house this 29th of May 1841, by the brethren & sisters of the said
Mohegan and Deleware Baptist Mission Church, agreed unani-

234 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

mously by the brethren of this church, that Pau-pa-ta-tauk-tha be
excommunicated from the Fellowship of this Church, and that he
shall be notified of this dismission and that it is for his disorderly

behaviour as a Christian and member of this church The

Committee brother Jonas Konkapot and brother Charles Joney
Cake, having heretofore been duly appointed by this Church to go
and labour with brother Timothy Towsey, brought report to the
Church at this meeting and stated that the said Timothy Towsey
complained and found fault which was that a certain brother who
had brought complaint before the Church against him had not taken
the legal step agreeable to the gospel, and that in consequence of
this failure, he declared to the said Committee that all their labour
should be in vain and that his standing in the Church as a member
should still remain as good and permanent as ever and that all their

labour should be in vain further resolution was taken by this

Church, that the said Committee shall continue to stand as Com-
mittee in this case till the next Church meeting, and brother Blanch-
ard was appointed additionaly to be one of the said Committee and
to perform the duty that was required of them by the said Church
and to make a report to the Church at the next Church meeting.

The constitution having been approved and adopted Bro Barker
on Lord's day morning delivered an appropriate address to us from
Ex The Lord said unto Moses why cryest thou unto me say

unto the children of Israel that they go forward after which

Bro Meeker gave to us the charge and right hand of fellowship —

Bro John W Newcom was then unanomosly chosen to make record
of the for going and to act as Clk of the Church while we shall sit
in church capacity —

Bro J Meeker was invited to sit as moderator — Oportunity be-
ing given James Jack came before us requesting baptism and mem-
bership. We heard from him the reason of the hope that was in
him and voted that he be received by us

Bro Blanchard moved & Bro Skeekett seconed that the church
meet at Bro Thomas Hendricks on Saturday before the last Lords
day in the presant Month —

The congregation having again collected bro Meeker addressed
us upon the care of God over his people

We then repaired to the Kanzas and waited upon the candidates
for baptism viz James Jack George W Hendrick Nancy Anthony the
two latter having been received by us before organization while
siting in capacity of P. B. M. Church right hand of fellowship
was given them in behalf of the church by Bro. Meeker

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 235

This being done we came round the table of our crusified but
risen Lord

By candle light held a special church prayer meeting in

which we trust the Lord was truly with us

At a Church meeting held at the House of Brother Charles Joney
Cake by the brethren and sisters of the Deleware and Mohegan
Baptist Mission this 27th day of June 1841, enquiries were made,
concerning the labour of the sd. Committee, and they reported that
the said Towsey had reconciled his brother, and had settled the
difficulty which had heretofore existed [between] them. The report
was accepted by the Church as a satisfactory report.

Church Meeting
June 27 1841

Meeting opened with prayer by br Barker The committee ap-
pointed to labor with br Towsey reported that br Newcom & br
Towsey had come to an understandin betwean themselves — and the
committee were discharged

No other business being before the church oportunity was given
for any one to tell us of their desire to follow the Savior. Jane
wife of our Br Charles Joney Cake presented a letter of recomenda-
tion from the Delaware methodest class & related to us the ground
of her hope in Christ, we were all satisfyed of her interest in his
atonement and voted that she be received for baptism Lords day.
28th After religios exursize repared to the water Intimation being
there given that others were present who wished to follow in all the
Lords appointed ways The Church waited to hear from them. John
Connor & his wife presented themselves for Baptism Their relation
being satisfacory the vote was unanimos for their reception The
three candidates were then baptised by Br Barker We then as-
sembled round the table of our Lord and commemorated his dying
love

Church Meeting
July 23 1841
at Mohegan

Meeting opened with singing and prayer — Resolved that a com-
mittee of reconsilation be apointed to endeavor to harmonize any
feelings of differance that may have grown out of a late neighbor-
hood disturbanc occasioned by a vicious young man belonging to
this place and that the committee consist of the following brethren
Blanchard Newcom & Joney Cake & Corneleus Hendrick And Sisters
Zeegler Towsey Ferguson & Mary Hendrick

236 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Opertunity being given four related to us their love to christ
and wish to be Baptised (Viz) Weh-hen-che-skondase Luttia-hing
(Jones) John Hendrick & wife

No administrator being presant meeting adjourned to meett at the
Mission 2 weeks from to morrow

Adjourned Meeting
Aug 8 1841
at the Mission

The case of Brethern Cornelius Charles & Jonas Konkaput was
brought before us Both had been guilty of intoxication the former
was presant & made confession to us — but it was thought that the
honor of the cause required their suspension the latter to be re-
quested to appear at our next meeting Both were suspended from
communion and all other church privaleges Three of the candi-
dates for baptism only were presant (Jones being detained by
sickness) they were waited upon by br Barker After which the
Lords Supper was administered to us The season was rendered
peculiarly sollem by the recent death of Br Robert Konkaput —

Church Meeting
Aug 28 1841
at the Mission

But few of the brethren being present it was proposed that attend
to our church business tomorrow

Lords day after religious worship a door was opened for reception
of members Sally Jonney Cake came befor us we herd her tell of
her love to the Savior Resolved unanimosly that she be redemed

Jonas Konkaput came before us and made his humble confession.

Church meeting
Oct 1841
at Stock

The committee appointed July 23 reported that the matter for
which they were appointed were settled and were discharged

Communion dispensed with no administrator being present

Church Meeting

Nov 1841

at bro Charles,

The weather exceeding inclemont and but few of the breathren
present Solomon Journey cake appeared before the church preying
for baptism No administrator being present no action was taken
on the subject. Communion also dispensed with for the same reason

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 237

Church Meeting
Dec 25 1841
at Mohegan

Meeting as usual opened by singing and prayer, bro Jonas
Konkaputs case again came before us after again hearing from him
It was unanimously agreed that he be restored to church privalages.
The church being informed that br When-ge-skon-dase had been
guilty of intoxication he was suspended from church privaleges and
brothers Charles Journey Cake and Newcom were apointed to wait
on him previous to our next meeting Communion again dispensed
with because no administrator was present

Church Meeting
May 28 1842
at Mohegan

Meeting as usual opened with singing and prayer Breathren and
Sister from abroad were invited to a full participation in the priva-
leges and duties of the meeting.

The case of brother Cornelius Charles who was suspended at the
August meeting for intoxication was again brought before us. After
again hearing from him on the subject and his deep repentance being
manifest uppon the motion of bro Newcom seconed by bro Konkaput
it was unanimously agreed that he be restored to his former stand-
ing in the church

Br Newcom asked leave to call the attention of the church to an
affair that was settled at the church meeting June 27 1841 and gave
briefly his reason for so doing which were satisfactory. Br Blanch-
ard requested that before the church proceede to examine the case
br Pratt be requested to fill his place as moderator which was
granted, Br Pratt in the chair the case proceeded Br Blanchard
stated that he had been with three others of the breathren to see
br Towsey and that he had refused to hear anything from them and
that he had cited him to appear at the meeting to answer to charges
that would there be brought against him to which he returned
nothing but raling. Br Newcom was then asked for proof of the
statements he had made br Cornelius Hendrick stated that Mr
Towsey had told him previous to the settlement that br Newcom
had made conffession and that was the way the difficulty was now
being disposed His wife Sister Mary H. stated that she was
present and heard Mr Towsey make the fore going statements
Sister Betsey Zeeglear stated that Mr Towsey said in her presence

238 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

that Mr Newcom had written to br Blanchard and had carryed his
own communication to him and got the matter hushed because he
was affraid to have it go any farther. All this was at utter variance
with the facts known to the committee Enquiry was then made
as to the general appearance of religion in Mr Towsey, a general
expression was that he was a disgrace [to the] church, that he was
in constant habbit of lying and that he is and has been a sower of
discord — Br Henry Skeekett motioned that the matter be postponed,
got no second, br Jonas Konkakaput motioned that he be excluded
without delay aleging as his reason that the church had already
tolerated the case to its disgrace Br Cornelius Hendrick seconded
the motion br H. Skeekett stated that the matter had got to a high
pitch and that he should now be compled to come to the point said
that things were charged upon Mr Towsey that were false that he
had sought out one certain thing and it was not true Not saying
what it was he was asked if the thing to which he alluded had been
spoken of in the trial, He replied, "it has not The vote was then
taken shall Timothy Towsey be excluded Afirmative eleven Nega-
tive five three of the five afterwards expressed approbation of this
decision
Meeting adjourned by prayer

June 25 1842

Church met at
the Mission

Opened by singing and prayer. No business being before the
church spent the evening in conferance singing and prayer

July 30 1842
Church Meeting
at br Charleses

Church met at bro Charleses according to appointment No busi-
ness transacted much sympathetic feeling manifested in our con-
ferance

Aug 27 1842
at Stockbridge

The church met at the time appointed — a division seems to be
forming in our ranks which threatens much injury to the church
After prayer it was agreed to spend a season in humileation and
prayer before God in view of our condition

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 239

Sept 24 1842
Church meeting
at the Mission

Meeting opened as usual with singing and prayer Few of the
breathren presant Peter Hopehelase & John Jonney Cake pre-
sented themselves for membership the former was received and Bapt

Oct Meeting and
Nov " Passed
our bro Blanch ard
being absent

Dec 24 1842
Church met
at the Mission

Had a precious season of conferance and prayer. Those breath-
eren who have not been carried away by our trials seem to be much
humbled and well prepared for spiritual food Communion on Lords
day

Jany 28 1843
at bro Charleses
Church Meeting

No business being before us spent the time in devotional exersize

Communion on Lords day

Feb 25 1843
Church Met
at Stockbridge

Opened by singing and prayer. The subject of our division came
before the church. Breathren Barker & Pratt being present they
were invited to a full participation in the meeting.

After much consultation Breathren Blanchard Barker & Pratt were
appointed to look after these difficulties and to report to morrow

Lords day 26

The committee of yesterday made the follow [ing] report as the
result of their efforts

They have succeeded in reconsiling Cathorin Lyttleman and Mary
Chemawkun to each other the former expressing herself satisfied
with the confessions of the latter

Bro T Hendric and H Skeekett refuse to be reconsiled with the
church unless the missionaries cease to visit it These terms were

240 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

unanimously rejected by the Stockbridge breathren Br Cornelius
Charles motioned that these two breathren be suspended and also
the wife of the former she occupying the same ground The motion
prevaled and the three were suspended.

The committee were not discharged but requested to continue
labor

March 28
Church Met
at the Mission

Opened as usual by singing and prayer

The committee appointed at our last meeting beged further
oportunity which was granted

No other business being before us spent the evening in devotional
exercise Communion on Lords day

Apl 29 1843

Church Meetin

at the Mission

by consent of the members

Singing and prayers The committee still asked indulgence which
was granted

Oportunity being given Isaac Skeekett and George Washington
presented themselves for membership Being satisfied with their
relation both were received and baptised

Communion on Lords day

May 28 1843
Church Meeting
at Stockbridge

The committee reported that they had continued their efforts
without success No action of the church was taken

Bro Jonas Konkaput made confession of his having again been
over come by intemperance He was requested keep back from
the communion till the church should be more entirely satisfyed of
his repentance

June 24 1843
Church Meeting
at the Mission

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 241

Church meeting
at the Mission
Nov 18 1843

Meeting opened with singing and prayer. The breatheren from
aboroad invited to full participation in the meeting Referance.

The committee appointed Feb. 25, 1843 were called upon for a
final repor[t] Br Pratt from the committee stated the result of
their protracted labors.

The church called for any information that any of the breathren
or sister might be in possession of in the case, all the individual
statements were corroberative of report of the committee That no
hope remained of reclaiming the suspended members Br. Jonas
Konkaput moved, "that the three suspended members (viz) Thomas
Hendrick and wife and Henry Skeekett be excluded" Seconded by
Br. Newcomb

Unanumously voted that they be excluded. Br Newcomb mo-
tioned that a committee be appointed to search out any breathren
or sisters that may have become alienated from us Seconded by
Br Cornelius Chemawkun unanumously voted in the affirmative
Committee to consist of sisters Mary Chemawkun Sylvia Case and
[illegible] Breathren Blanchard Pratt and Barker

Adjourned till evening

Evening meeting opened, singing prayer Br Cornelius Charles
came before the church with confession for drunkenness. Subject
waved till candlelight.

At candle light church resumed the case of br Charles confession.
Motion by br Newcomb seconded by br Jamas Konkaput that the
church forgive br Charles and accept his confession Vote carried
unanumous

Br. Blanchard moved that br James Jack be suspended from the
privaleges of the church seconded by br Newcomb voted unanumous
A committee to wait upon him to consist of brothrs Blanchard &

Joneycake and Newcomb Br Barker presented the subject

of Br Blanchards ordaination which was unanimously approved
Covanant was read, and some remarks, and the meeting closed with
devotional exursises singing prayer itc
Lords day 19

Br's Pratt and Blanchard were ordained

Sermon by br Barker prayer and charge by Br Meeker Right-
hand-of-fellowship by Br Barker.

Communion at the close of the exursises
16—8677

242 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Church Meeting
At Stockbridge
Dec 30 1843

Meeting opened by singing and prayer Report of [ committee 1
called for Committee appointed to labor with br. Jim Jack were
not ready to report — Continued till next meeting

Br Pratt from the committee of enquiry reported labor with
Washington Hendrick Without any satisfaction Motion by Br
Cornelius Chemawkun to exclude seconded by br. G. Konkaput
Vote in the affirmative unanimously prevailed Sister Case from the
committee reported having vis[it]ed Sisters Doxtater & Catherine
Kankaput & Skeekett Church were satisfied with the intelegence
from Sister Doxtater — so far as it extended but the committee were
requested to continue labor — Motion Made by br. J. W- Newcomb
that Phebe Skeekett [sentence unfinished] Seconded by br Cornelius
Chemawkun. Affirmative unanimously prevailed and she is excluded

The case of Sister Catharine Konkaput was considered as satis-
factory after hearing from her in person, None of the Committees
were discharged Sister Blanchard added to the committee of sisters

Saturday 28 1844
Church Meeting
At the Mission

Meeting opened as usual by singing and prayer. Brother Cornelius
Chemaukun presented a petition from six of the breathren and
Sisters at Stockbridge praying for a dismis[sion] for the purpose of
organising into a distinct church of the same faith and order viz
Jonas Konkaput Cornelius Chemawkun, Hannah Kunkaput Sally
Konkaput, Katharine Konkaput Mary A Chemawkun Request
unanimously granted.

No further business being before us spent the evening in devo-
tional exersize

III. INTRODUCTION

First mention of the Stockbridge Indians in the territory west of
the Mississippi appears in reports of the Baptist Board of Foreign
Missions in the Baptist Missionary Magazine for the year 1840. The
item is as follows:

"On the 6th of December [1839] a party of Stockbridge Indians from Winne-
bago Lake (Wisconsin territory,) arrived, with the design of making the Dela-
ware country their future home. The Dela wares have acceeded to the propo-
sition, and have located them below Fort Leavenworth. From eight to ten of
these, including the principal chief, are expected to join the Delaware church,

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 243

two of whom have not before made a profession of faith in Christ. The native
assistant is to labor among this tribe."

In the report for 1843 appears the statement that Mr. and Mrs.
J. G. Pratt have been authorized to remove to Stockbridge, at the
earnest and repeated solicitation of the Indians of that place. "He
[Pratt] has," reads the report, "for some time, regularly ministered
to them every alternate Sabbath. He will take the press with him;
the Stockbridges gladly engaging to aid in the erection of a printing-
office, school-house, etc., to the utmost of their ability." Some
difficulties for the Stockbridges arose over the "singular alienation
of the Delaware chiefs" and Mr. Pratt was prevented from locating
among them for a time, but troubles were adjusted and mission
buildings were commenced in the autumn of 1844. The following
records, copied verbatim, show activities of the Stockbridge Baptist
Mission Church constituted April 13th, 1845 :

IV. CHURCH BOOK
RECORDS

The Stockbridge Baptist Mission Church, was organized, April
13th 1845. Present at the time, Brethren Jotham Meeker, Francis
Barker, & Ira D. Blanchard.

At a meeting of members for organization previous to organiza-
tion it was voted to adopt as ours the "Declaration of Faith," and
"Covenant," as prepared by the Committee of the New Hampshire
Baptist Convention.

At a meeting of the Church June 8, it was voted that the Church
meet for Conference and Business on the 2d Saturday of each month.

Voted also to adopt the following Resolutions — Resolved — That
we consider the habit of using intoxicating liquors, as a drink, to
be sinful; and leads to fearful consequences, as the scriptures de-
clare, no "drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven." We will
abstain from the use of any, & all intoxicating drinks; — and con-
sider those under censure of the Church, who use, or become
intoxicated in the use of them.

Resolved — That we consider Marriage an ordinance of Heaven,
and require all persons (members of the Church,) expecting to enter
that relation, to be publicly united, according to the usual manner
of performing that ceremony among professed Christians.

In consequence of sickness, and the absence of most of the mem-
bers, no meeting of the Church occurred after the above date until

244 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

January 25th, 46 when a meeting was held at the House of Bro
Jonas Konkapot — at which time Bro. Cornelius Charles from the
Delaware Baptist Church, John G. Pratt, and Mrs. Olivia E. Pratt
from the Putawatomie Baptist Church, presented Letters, and were
received as members of this Church. J. G. Pratt Pastor

February 7th Church met at the House of Sister Hannah Konka-
pot, at which time Levi Konkapot and Jacob Littleman related their
religious exercises, and requested admission to the Church. Voted
to meet Feb 14th to decide on their Reception. — Adjourned —

February 14th Church met according to adjournment at the
house of Pastor. After further hearing the above named individuals,
and also listening to Mrs Josephine Littleman — It was voted,
unanimously — that they be received as candidates for Baptis[m|
and membership. After prayer Adjournment —

Sabbath Afternoon Feb 15th these persons were all baptized, in
presence of a solemn and interested congregation.

March 7, 1846 Church met at the House of J. G. Pratt Door
being opened for the reception of member [s] Mr. Joseph Henry
Killbuck, and his wife; Eli Hendrick and his wife; and the widow
Lydia Konkapot, related their religious exercises and were received
as Candidates for Baptism and Membership. Mr. Thomas T.
Hendrick, made formal confession of error, asked the privilege of
a union with us. Church requested him to wait until another meet-
ing to which he consented — Adjourned —

Sabbath morning March 8 the individuals received above were all
Baptized; and in the evening, received the right hand of fellowship
After which Church Commemorated the Suffering of our Savior,
enjoying much of his presence, and much rejoicing in his favor.

April Church met at the House of Bro. Jonas Konkapot. After
religious exercises voted to appoint second Sabbath in May as a
season of religious worship, and to invite the Christian friends from
Shawanoe and Delaware to be present

Also voted that at our meeting for business next week we will
elect a brother to act for us as our Deacon.

Adjourned by prayer —

J. G. Pratt

Pastor

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 245

April

At an adjourned meeting held at the house of Bro. Thomas
Hendrick, it was unanimously voted that Bro. Eli Hendrick be
appointed to fill the office of Deacon of this Church —

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt, Pastor
May

Church met at Meeting House. No Business time spent in
Religious exercises.

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt, Pastor
June

Church met at Meeting House —

Business — Bro. Cornelius Chemaukun, having been reported to
have violated the rule of Christian conduct was, after having been
labored with suspended from Church privileges — He however ac-
knowledging his impropriety and hoping before long to be again
restored to fellowship —

Religious exercises followed —
Adjourned

J. G. Pratt, Pastor
July

Church met at Jonas Konkapot's

Business — Voted to appoint Bro. Jacob Littleman Interpreter.
Religious exercises followed —

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt, Pastor-
Church Meeting March 14,— 1846

The services being opened by prayer and Singing — The case of
Mr Thomas T. Hendrick was taken up, and he was received.
Church Spent remainder of the evening in devotional exercises —

Adjourned —

J. G. Pratt, Pastor
August 22

Church Met at Meeting House

Business of the meeting to receive such persons as might be pre-
pared, and were desirous of joining. After prayer — door being
opened for such to speak, four individuals, manifested their wish
to become members of the Church — viz
Jonas Littleman, Abigail H. Killbuck —

246 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Church after careful examination voted unanimously to re-
ceive them

The day following, being Sabbath, the above mentioned in-
dividuals were all Baptized, in presence of a numerous and solemn
congregation. In the evening, the Lords Supper was administered,
during which all seemed to enjoy a large measure of the Spirit's
influence. There had been with us for several days, many dear
brethren & Sisters from other Churches whose presence and exhorta-
tion had greatly encouraged and strengthened us The evening
closed the Series of meeting [s] and it was indeed a precious and
refreshing season, spent with evident toke[n] of divine favor, and
presence of his Holy Spirit — and will not soon be forgotte[n]

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt
Pastor
Church Meeting Sept. 12, 1846—

At this meeting Mrs Lucy Konkapot related to the Church her
religious exercises; and requested the privilege of becoming a mem-
ber of it — After proper consideration Church voted to receive her as
a candidate for baptism and membership — Mrs Phebe Skigget was
also received. On the following morning, Prudence Quinney, mani-
fested to the Church while met for public worship a desire to unite,
she was received; after which the ordinance of Baptism was ad-
ministered to the two candidates —

Adjourned J. G. Pratt

Pastor
Church Meeting Oct 9, 1846.

At this meeting, Church voted to remove the censure resting upon
Bro. Cornelius Chemaukun, and restore him again to all the privi-
leges of the Church.

After the evening had been spent in religious exercises, Mrs.
Abigail Hendrick, with much feeling stated her convictions of duty
to unite with the Church if thought worthy — she was received as a
candidate for Baptism & membership.

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt

Pastor

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 247

Nov. 7, 1846—

Church meeting at meeting house.

At this meeting two persons were dropped from fellowship, on
account of improper conduct. Other business was introduced but
deferred until a future meeting. The names of the two persons
dropped were

J. G. Pratt

Pastor —
Church Meeting Dec. 12, 1846—

Meeting opened as usual by prayer. The time was spent in con-
versation on several points of business, none in shape to be recorded
was attended to — Spent a season in religious conference having ref-
erence to the sacrament to be administered to-morrow (sabbath) —

Adjourned J. G. Pratt

Pastor —
Church Meeting Jan. 9 1847

Meeting opened by prayer. It was resolved at this meeting that
it was inexpedient to bear longer with Brethren Jonas Konkapot,
and Cornelius Charles, and that the hand of fellowship be con-
sidered as withdrawn from them — in consequence of improper con-
du[ct].

A Committee consisting of Brethren Jacob Littleman, & Levi
Konkapot be appointed to labor with Jonas Littleman, and Sally
Konkapot, it being understood that their conduct had been un-
becoming a profession of Godliness.

Miss Jemima Dockstater related to the Church her religious
feelings, and expressed confidence in Christ, and asked for ad-
mission to the privileges of membership; which, after careful ex-
amination was voted, in her behalf after she shall have been
baptized —

Adjourned

J. G. Pratt

Pastor —
Church Meeting, Feb. 24, 1846

Meeting opened, as usual by prayer After which, business being
introduced, Bro. Jacob Littlemen from a committee reported that
three persons with whom they had labored were obstinate in wicked
ways and requested to be released from their connection with the
Church — The hand of fellowship was by unanimous vote accord-
ingly withdrawn from Jonas Littleman — Sally Konkapot, and
Lydia Konkapot.

248 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mr. Benjamin Towsy expressed to the Church an interest in
religious truth, an intention [to] forsake sinful ways — an interest
in a Saviour, and a desire to become a member with us of the
Church of Christ — After careful examination he was unanimously
received, as a candidate for Baptism & Membership.

J. G. Pratt
Pastor —

Note — On the following Sabbath Feb 28, Miss Doxstater, & Mr.
Towsy were Baptised — and in the evening of the same day —
Church celebrated the communion of the Lord's Supper —

J. G. P.
Church Meeting, March 13, 1847

At this meeting Church voted to withdraw the hand of fellow-
ship from Cornelius Chemaukun, and to suspend from Church
privileges his wife Mary C. for alleged improper conduct, —

Meeting adjourned,

J. G. Pratt
Pastor.
Church Meeting April 10, 1847

Time spent wholly in religious conference, there being no busi-
ness.

J. G. Pratt
Pastor.
Church Meeting May 8, 1847

Church meeting at the house of Hannah Konkapot — At this
meeting the church voted unanimously to Withdraw fellowship
from all persons previously suspended for immoral conduct. They
are therefore no longer regarded as under the watch — care and
countenance of the Church — Religious Conference followed

Adjourned —

J. G. Pratt
Pastor
Church Meeting June 12, 1847

At the house of Sister Hannah Konkapot— Church voted to ex-
clude Prudence Quinney for grossly immoral conduct — Spent re-
mainder of the evening in religious Conference.

Adjourned — J. G. Pratt

Pastor

MINUTE BOOKS OF KANSAS MISSIONS 249

Church Meeting July 1849

At the house of Hannah Konkapot Time spent in Devotional
exercises —

Adjourned J. G. Pratt

Pastor
Church Meeting August 1847

At the house of the Pastor This meeting being on Sabbath
evening was preparative for the Lords Supper which was imme-
diately after administered

J. G. Pratt
Pastor
Church Meeting Sept 1847

At the house of the Pastor At this meeting Benjamin Towsy —
and Phoebe skigget were excluded, for the sin of drunkenness — De-
votional exercises followed. J. G. Pratt

Pastor
Church Meeting Oct. 1847

At the house of Hannah Konkapot. No business — time spent
in religious exercises

J. G. Pratt—
Pastor—
Nov. & Dec — Meetings omitted.

Church meeting, Jan. 1848

At this meeting Cornelius Charles, was restored to the fellowship
of the Church. Mrs. Susan Charles was also restored, (formerly
member of Delaware Baptist Church.)

Adjourned —

John G. Pratt

Pastor
Feb— 1848

At this meeting no special business was transacted. Time spent
in devotional exercises preparatory to the administration of the
Lord's Supper on the Sabbath immediately following.

Adjourned.

J. G. Pratt
Pastor

No meeting was held at Stockbridge, until August 1, when the
Church voted to disband & become merged in the Mission Church
at Delaware; which was accordingly done at a meeting held at
Delaware, Aug. 12; 13; 1848.

J. G. Pratt.

250

THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This church having met with a severe visitation,9 and parted
with its former Pastor, was re-organized on the 12th of Aug. 1848.
In doing this it was found necessary to enroll such names only as
were known to be in good standing in this and the disbanded
Church at Stockbridge. This step became the more important as
the book containing record of the Delaware Church, appeared either
to have been mutilated or intentionally neglected, as no entries ap-
peared to have been made for several years. The list of members
immediately following contains only such names of persons as are
known to be in good standing in both Churches at time of re-
organization.

List of Church Members
As revised August 12th, 1848

1848
August 29

John G. Pratt— Pastor
Olivia E. Pratt^-
Charles Johnycake Deceas'd

Sally Johnycake

Jane Johnycake Deceas'd

Betsy Zeigler Deceased

Francis Pokelas
Ar-nark-tun-dut
Excluded Wul-lun-da-nat-o'kwa

Eunice Eaton Ex.

Hannah Konkapot
Susan Charles
Cornelius Charles
Eli Hendrick

Sally Hendrick 1849

f Joseph Killbuck August 1

His wife
Abigail Killbuck

Deceased
Deceas'd

Dropped

William Kaleb
Jenny Kaleb
James Rain
Susan Killbuck
Jacob Littleman
Hipelas

Hannah Hipelas
Macharch

Hipelas

Nancy Konkapot
Louisa Littleman
Mrs. Job Skicket
Cousin of Charles

Johnycake
E. S. Morse

9. The nature of this visitation is not disclosed by the church records.

Ferries in Kansas

Part II — Kansas River
GEORGE A. ROOT

THE Kansas river, the principal stream originating within the
state, has a history dating back considerably more than 200
years. The river derives its name from the Kanza or Kaw Indians
who resided near its mouth and along its course from time immemo-
rial. It is formed by the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill
rivers, which unite at a point near Junction City. From there it
flows in an easterly direction for about 240 miles to mingle its murky
waters with that of the "Great Muddy," or Missouri.

This stream has been given various names by explorers and early
map makers. One of the earliest references to the river was by
Antonio de Herrary Tordesilla, historiographer to the King of Spain.
Marquette mentions the Kanza in 1673. John Senex's map of Lou-
isiana and of the Mississippi river, in 1719, calls it the "Great River
of Cansez." D'Anville's map of 1732 calls it the River des Padoucas
and Kansas. DuPratz's map of Louisiana, 1757, calls it the River
of the Cansez, while a map of British and French settlements in
North America, published in 1758, gives the stream the name of
Padoucas river.1

There is much fiction in early accounts of the river, one authority
recording that it had been ascended for a distance of 900 miles, while
an equally unreliable historian asserted that it was navigable for a
like distance.

The valley of the Kansas had long been a highway to the buffalo
hunting grounds on the great plains and to the mountains beyond.
The Chouteaus and other early traders among the Indians had posts
along the stream, and trappers and hunters used its waters to raft
their pelts to markets on the Missouri river.

Thomas Say, of Long's expedition, Lieut. J. W. Abert, Col. John
C. Fremont and others started up the Kaw valley on exploring ex-
peditions to the far West. The earliest and perhaps the greatest tide
of emigration to Oregon and California passed up the Kaw valley
on the first leg of the journey. The river was only fordable during
periods when there was a scarcity of rain, and for this reason ferries
were a necessity and were established at an early date along its

1. Names from old maps and volumes in Kansas State Historical Society.

(251)

252 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

course. Being located at easily accessible points on the river, they
became deciding factors in the location of territorial and state roads
which were established by early legislatures.

The earliest Kansas law regarding ferries was passed by the legis-
lature of 1855, and was designated as chapter 71. This act provided
that no person should keep a ferry without a license, and that the
county clerk should issue licenses, etc.2

Ferrying on the Kansas river dates back something over 100 years.
Beginning with a ferry established within the limits of present Wy-
andotte county, the first ferry encountered above the mouth of
the river was the one inaugurated by the Wyandott Nation, and
was known as the Wyandott National Ferry. These Indians in
1843 purchased lands on the north side of the Kansas river, ex-
tending westward from its confluence with the Missouri, from their
relatives the Delawares. Being hedged in, so to speak, by the two
rivers, a ferry was put into operation, for their convenience, just
above the mouth of the Kaw. Here a flatboat, operated by a cable
and capable of transporting one wagon and team at a time, was the
equipment first used by this ferry, while a small cabin was erected on
the bank of the river as a shelter for the ferryman. The exact date
when this enterprise went into operation and the name of the ferry-
man who first had charge of the boat have not been learned. How-
ever, the journals of Gov. William Walker throw considerable light
on early ferry matters, there being numerous references to the sub-
ject. The following are extracts from the journal* entries:

"Jan. 27, 1846. Attended Council to-day but done very little of important
business. Agreed to employ Tall Charles another year to keep the ferry.

"Feb. 10, 1846. Paid Tall Charles, ferryman, $45, leaving him a balance due
him for 1845 of $55.00.

"July 7, 1846. C. G. G. and Peter Buck arraigned for violently taking the
ferry boat from her moorings in the absence of the ferryman ; the former fined
$5 and latter $2.50.

"May 8, 1847. Attended the sale at the council room of the goods, chattels
and effects of Nofat, deceased. Bought nothing. The company then proceeded
to the ferry, hauled out and turned upside down the old boat for repairs. G. A.
and myself assorted our lumber.

"Dec. 27, 1847. . . . Went to H. Jaquis's and spent a part of the day, the
election of a ferryman being the principal topic of conversation, the candidates
are D. Young, Tall Charles, Charles Split-The-Logs.

"Dec. 28, 1847. Council met at James Washington's. Proceeded to the
election of a ferryman, and resulted in the election of D. Young.

2. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 362-364.

* Nebraska State Historical Society Collections, 2d Ser., v. 8.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 253

"Jan. 17, 1848. No ferrying, the river being frozen over.

"May 3, 1848. . . . Settled with M. Goodyear for lumber got for the
use of the ferry by the council, $27.50.

"June 4, 1848. Mrs. Wtalker] and Sophia state that on their return from
K[ansas City] they found at the ferry a dozen or more people waiting to cross,
and among them was John Charloe, very drunk, and had been severely beat.

"Dec. 12, 1848. At 2 o'clock the joint meeting proceeded to ballot for a
ferryman. After several ballots all the candidates were dropped except D.
Young and Tall Charles and the final ballots on these two stood thus: D.
Young, 16; Tall Charles, 7. Majority, 9 votes. Adjourned.

"July 28, 1849. . . . Attended a special election of ferryman, vice D.
Young resigned ; and George Steel was elected.

"Nov. 17, 1850. To-day the council and legislative committee met in joint
session to elect ferryman for the year 1851 . . . when Isaac Brown was
duly elected.

"Feb. 18, 1851. The Kansas river has about run dry; there not being water
enough to float the ferry boat, and consequently no ferrying.

"In the evening learned that the ferry was now passable.

"Dec. 14, 1852. . . . Attended the joint meeting of the council and legis-
lative committee and elected Nicholas Cotter ferryman for 1853.

"Mch. 9, 1853. Sent Dudley to Ktansas City], who shortly afterwards re-
turned and reported that the ice above the ferry had broken loose and stove in
the ferry boat and carried her off down the river, with a negro on board.

"May 26, 1853. Diable. Those drunken vagabondish ferrymen have lost the
ferry boat. They say some one or two broke the lock last night and took the
boat, no one knows where. This is provoking. The rascals have been drunk
and lost the boat themselves. Now we have another embargo.

"May 29, 1853. Our ferry boat was found and recovered near Randolph.

"Dec. 20, 1853. Harriet and Baptiste set out for Kansas, but on arriving at
the ferry found the floating ice so thick and running so rapidly the ferry boat
could not cross. So they gave it up and came home. Mr. Dofflemeyer then
proposed to Harriet that if she would go back with him, as he wanted to go
•ver, he would venture with the ferry boat, and make the attempt to cross.
They went and succeeded in crossing.

"June 5, 1854. Lost our ferry boat again.

"June 17, 1854. Heard of the recovery of the ferry boat.

"June 21, 1854. We have had no mail for nearly two weeks for the want of
a boat to cross the river. Although the boat was caught at Richfield, about
forty miles from here, yet our worthless council and still more worthless ferry-
man take no steps towards getting it bro't up again. A pretty set of fellows
to want to maintain a separate government."

The above is the last entry in the Walker journals regarding the
Wyandotte ferry. The record book of the Wyandotte Indian coun-
cil, 1855 to 1871, contains several mentions of the ferry, concluding
with its sale in 1856. There is a hiatus of a little more than a year

254 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

between the last ferry item date in Walker's journal and the first
similar one in the Wyandotte records, which follows:

"Nov. 9, 1855. The council paid Adam Brown one hundred and eighty dol-
lars for acting as ferryman for nine months.

"Nov. 13 to 22, 1855. Ferry expenses to Joel Walker, $79.00. Ferry expenses
to Northrup & Chick, $22.15. John D. Brown for repairs on ferry house, $35.00.

"Nov. 3, 1856. Silas Armstrong hire of flat boat, paid $61.50. Thomas Smart
for crying of ferry sale (paid) Silas Armstrong, $5.00. National ferryman, J. H.
Cotter, paid, $199.54.

"Wyandott Council 1st Sept.
"Wyandott Council. 1856.

"Convened this day, present Geo. I. Clark, Silas Armstrong, John D. Brown,
John Hicks & Peter D. Clark.

"The commissioners met the council this day and the chiefs and commis-
sioners ordered the four acres of ground attached to the ferry3 to be surveyed
and to be sold to the highest bidder on Monday the fifteenth (15th) day of
the present month according to treaty of 31st January, 1856.

"Amount of Sam Parsons (surveying) account $586.68.

"R. ROBITAILLE, Clerk. GEO. I. CLABK, Principal Chief."

"Wyandott Council, 15 September, 1856.

"The Wyandotts council convened this day according to adjournment, full
board of chiefs present, Geo. I. Clark presiding. In accordance with an article
in the treaty between the U. S. government and Wyandott Indians in date of
31st January, 1855, and according to advertisements affixed in three public
places in Wyandott, was sold the four acres of land attached to the Wyandott
ferry, this day and adjudged to Isaiah Walker, the highest bidder, for the sum
of seven thousand dollars, payable one-half, say three thousand five hundred
($3,500) dollars, payable on the thirty-first of next October, and the other half,
say three thousand five hundred ($3,500) dollars, payable one year from said
31st October next without interest, and Charles B. Garrett becomes his security
for the full fillment of the conditions of the sale. A plat of said lot of land has
been made by Lot Coffman, Esq., one of the commissioners.

"There being no further business the Council have adjourned to the October
next. GEO. I. CLARK, Principal Chief.4

"R. ROBITAILLE, Clerk."

Another early mention of this ferry dating back to 1846 is the fol-
lowing by Louis H. Gerrard, in his Wa-to-yah, page 2:

"The Wyandotte is the nearest Indian tribe to Kansas [City]; and, one
afternoon, Mr. Drinker and myself visited the agent, Doctor Hewitt. A walk
of a mile, through woods on the river bank, brought us to the mouth of the
Kansas, or Kaw, river, a stream ferried by a tall, good specimen of a full-
blood Wyandotte, who received the toll with a look as if to say, 'Your money's

3. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 15, map facing p. 158.

4. Wyandotte Indian Council Records, 1855-1871, MSS., pp. 41, 42.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 255

no account, and I've a mind to toss you in the river for offering it'; our at-
tempts at conversation failed."

In 1857 the ferry crossed the Kaw at a point near the cable line
bridge of later date. It is said that toll charges for this year
amounted to $7,000 for crossing, and that charges were not exhor-
bitant, but reasonable. This ferry continued to be used until 1863.
when a pontoon bridge was built across the river near its mouth.5

A Kansan who used this ferry many years ago, wrote:

"We crossed the Kaw at Wyandotte. In those days there were no bridges,
so we had to ferry over on one of those flat-bottomed scows such as are in
use to-day for carrying sand from the steam dredges in the Missouri and Kan-
sas rivers. A heavy cable was stretched across the river on which ran two
pulleys from which ropes were attached to each end of the boat. When the
ferryman was ready to start he wound the rear rope so as to head the boat
up stream and the current would propel the boat to the opposite shore. This
was a slow process, as only one team at a time could be carried, but was the
best we could do in the Far West of fifty years ago."6

Just what disposition Isaiah Walker made of his ferry has not
been learned. However, an advertisement in the Western Argus, of
Wyandotte, April 7, 1860, stated that the ferry was running, Isaiah
Walker & Co. being proprietors.

Mr. K. L. Browne, of Kansas City, Kan., in a letter to the author,
dated July 12, 1932, stated that "Jack Beaton was the recognized
operator of the ferry. He was not an Indian. Afterwards he went
west with Tom Parks, who was killed by the Indians during the
building of the Union Pacific railroad."

The following items relating to Wyandotte county ferry matters
are extracts from the minute book of the city fathers of the City of
Wyandotte :

"Oct. 12, 1856: Mr. Glick, on behalf of Mr. Steavens, made application for
the payment by the town of the amount due him for services performed as
ferryman on the free ferry across the Kansas river, he being unable to collect
the same from the citizens by whom it was agreed to be paid. Petition laid
on the table.

"July 14, 1859 : Petition of L. Meyer and other merchants and business men
of the city requesting the board to levy a tax on the steam ferry boat "Lizzie,"
or any other ferry boat running regularly between this city and Kansas City.
Tabled.

"November 15, 1859: Resolved that Messrs. Walker, Judd and His Honor
the Mayor, be appointed a committee to confer with Wm. H. Irwin & Co. with
a view of establishing a ferry across the Missouri river.

5. Godspeed's History of Wyandotte County, pp. 359, 361.

6. Charles Raber, "Personal Recollections," in Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16, p. 316.

256 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"November 19, 1859: The committee appointed to confer with Wm. H.
Irwin & Co. with regard to the ferry across the Missouri river reported that
they had submitted the proposition of the board to Mr. Irwin which was that
Wm. H. Irwin & Co. was to establish the ferry within thirty days after the
18th day of January, A.D. 1860 and to pay to the city ten per cent of the
profits of said ferry and that Wm. H. Irwin & Co. accepted said proposition.
On motion of Mr. White the report was received and the committee discharged.
Whereupon it was on motion,

"Resolved, That the mayor be instructed to complete the contract between
Wm. H. Irwin & Co. and the city with regard to the ferry across the Missouri
river and submit the same to a vote of the people at an election to be held
for that purpose on the 6th day of December, 1859.

[No record of an election in the minute book.]

"November 24, 1859: An article of agreement between the city of Wyan-
dotte and Wm. H. Irwin & Co. was presented and ordered placed on file.

"November 24, 1859: A petition signed by Silas Armstrong, David E. James
and William Wear, his attorney, for ferry privileges across the Kansas river was
presented and read, whereupon on motion of Mr. Overton it was

"Resolved, That we hereby grant unto the Kansas River Ferry Company
the privilege of moving their present rope ferry to or near the mouth of the
Kansas river and grant unto them the privilege of landing at said point with a
flat boat for the term of three years from the present time. Said ferry to be
moved within twenty days from the present time.

"November 25, 1859: The mayor stated that the object of calling the meet-
ing to be his veto of a bill passed on the previous day granting the privilege
to the Kansas River Ferry Company the right to land on the Wyandott side
at the foot of Minnesota avenue for the period of three years, and gave as his
reasons for vetoing the same that from information he had derived since that
the city had no rights themselves to a landing at that point and that they were
giving away private property which they had no right to do and as the resolu-
tion now stood he could not approve it.

"November 29, 1859: Petition of J. M. Funk and others for certain ferry
privileges to be granted to the Kansas River Ferry Company was brought be-
fore the meeting. Whereupon Mr. Overton moved that the company be al-
lowed the privilege of landing on the levee on the Kansas river belonging to
the city for the term of three years. Motion lost a majority of the whole
board needed to carry over the mayor's veto.

"February 28, 1860: Petition of R. W. Clark, J. M. Funk, et al for ferry
landing at the mouth of the Kansas river. On motion the above petition was
referred to committee on ordinances with instructions to report at next meet-
ing an ordinance in compliance with said petition.

"March 6, 1860: Committee on ordinances reported ordinance 20 relating
to ferry landing on Kansas river. Upon the final passage was passed unani-
mously.

[Ordinance cannot be found.]

"April 10, 1860: Petition of Wm. H. Irwin for extension of time on ferry
contract presented. On motion the time on said contract was extended from
May 1, 1860, until May first, 1875.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 257

"April 17, 1860: On motion Gen. W. H. Irwin was granted until the first
of June, A. D., 1860, to procure ferry boat."

The Wyandotte City Ferry Company, operated by Silas Arm-
strong and associates, was granted a charter by the legislature of
1858 to operate a ferry across the Missouri river, with privilege of
landing on either bank of the Kansas river within one-eighth of a
mile above its mouth.7 Two years later this company was granted
additional rights and privileges when the city council passed the
following:

"ORDINANCE No. 37.

"An ordinance granting Silas Armstrong, or his assigns, the privilege of landing
a ferry boat on Kansas river.

"Be it Ordained by the mayor and aldermen of the city of Wyandotte,
to- wit :

"Section 1. That Silas Armstrong or his heirs and assigns, if they have the
lawful right to keep a public ferry across the Kansas river, at or near its
mouth, shall have all the right this city has to grant, to a landing of their
ferry boat at any place where any of the streets or avenues of this city, now
made open, by any ordinance of this city, or resolution or motion, strikes or
extends to the said river, for a period of three years from this date, unless the
said place where said boat shall be located shall be wanted before that time
for the purpose of constructing a bridge over said river at that point.

"Approved, Dec. 5, 1860. GEO. RUSSELL, Mayor.

"Attest: THOMAS J. DARLING, City Clerk."8

Willie Willis was granted a charter by the board of county com-
missioners of Johnson county, at a called meeting April 10, 1858, for
a ferry on the Kansas river near the mouth of the stream and oppo-
site the city of Wyandotte for the term of twelve months. This li-
cense cost Mr. Willis $75, and he was authorized to collect the fol-
lowing rates of ferriage: Each footman, 10 cents; man and horse,
15 cents ; loose horses, 10 cents ; cattle, 10 cents each ; buggy and one
horse, 25 cents; two-horse wagon and horses, 50 cents; each addi-
tional horse, 10 cents.9

The next ferry upstream was about three miles from Wyandotte.
This was known as the Santa Fe road ferry and was started in 1857
by Wyandotte interests in an effort to attract trade to that city from
territory south of the Kansas river. In order to do this it was
necessary to establish a free ferry and open a road from Wyandotte
to the river. The point selected for the ferry was on the SE% of
S. 20, T. 11, R. 25, the road crossing the river a few rods below

7. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 70, 71.

8. Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, December 8, 1860.

9. Johnson county, Commissioners Proceedings, 1858, p. 12.

17—8677 /

258 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the Argentine bridge of the 1930's, and continuing on to Shawnee,
in Johnson county, where it connected with the old Santa Fe trail.
This road did not receive official recognition until October 27, 1859,
when it was regularly laid out and designated on the official plat as
the "Santa Fe road." It reached the Kaw where Nineteenth street,
Kansas City, now meets the river.10 This ferry soon gave way to a
toll bridge.

At the 1858 session of the territorial legislature a company desig-
nated as the Wyandotte Bridge Company applied for a charter for a
bridge across the Kansas river at a point not closer than two, nor
more than six, miles from the mouth of that stream. One section of
the act authorized and empowered the company to establish and
maintain a free ferry across the river at or near the point selected
for the erection of the bridge,11 which was built that year.

Wyandotte was a natural center for roads from all directions. A
road to the west from Wyandotte connected with the Fort Leaven-
worth-Fort Gibson road ; one to the south connected with the Santa
Fe road ; another to the west intersected the Fort Leavenworth-Fort
Riley road. These were the more important ones. Another, estab-
lished in 1855, which ran from the Wyandotte ferry across the Kan-
sas river, passing Joel Walker's, Charles Garrett's and Noah Zaines'
claims and on to the Parkville ferry, was made a territorial road ; 12
another, established the same time, ran from Wyandotte, via Jack-
sonville, to Ozawkie, the act requiring the commissioners who laid
out the road to erect "finger boards" along the route where neces-
sary.13 Another ran to Quindaro, Leavenworth and Atchison;14
another to Mound City, via the Wyandotte bridge, Aubrey, New
Lancaster and Ballard's ford,15 and still another from Wyandotte,
via Shawneetown, New Lancaster, Trading Post, Potosi and Barnes-
ville, to Fort Scott, following the old military road as nearly as prac-
ticable.16

Up to 1858 the ferries took care of the commerce and traffic over
these routes. By that time those of vision could see that bridges
must supplant the ferries. That year a charter was secured from the
legislature by the Wyandotte Bridge Company for a bridge over the

10. County clerk, Wyandotte county, Road Record A, p. 4.

11. Private Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 48-50.

12. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 972.

13. Ibid., pp. 978-979.

14. Laws, Kansas, I860, p. 588.

15. Ibid., 1861, p. 249.

16. Ibid., 1865, p. 144.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 259

Kaw river, to be located within one mile from the mouth and which
should not impede free navigation of the river.17 During the Civil
War period there was not much bridge construction, and the toll
bridges and ferries had things pretty much their own way.

After the close of the War the era of bridge building in Wyandotte
commenced. On August 1, 1865, the Wyandotte Bridge and Ferry
Company applied for a charter, which was issued, granting them the
right of constructing and establishing one or more bridges or ferries,
or both, over the Kansas river between the mouth of the river and
the western boundary of the county, and also of operating a ferry
or bridge in the Missouri river and opposite to and across the mouth
of the Kansas river. This charter was filed with the secretary of
state, September 29, 1865.18

In 1866, 1867 and 1872 bridges were built at Wyandotte, and also
a number constructed later, no less than a dozen having been erected
across the Kaw river up to the 1930's.19

Above Armstrong's another ferry was started by Quindaro in-
terests and was known as the Eureka ferry, located on the SE^,
S. 18, T. 11, R. 25. This ferry was inaugurated in an effort to share
in the trade Wyandotte city was drawing from territory to the south
of the Kaw river. Both towns surveyed and opened up roads
through the Shawnee reservation. Committees were appointed by
the two towns to confer and fix upon a point where a joint ferry for
both could be established. The location suggested by Wyandotte
was rejected by Quindaro as being too far east, and the location
designated by Quindaro was rejected as being too far west. These
locations were about a mile apart, and compromise was wrong in
principle. This resulted in free ferries for both.20 Exact date of
starting the Eureka ferry has not been learned. On March 30, 1857,
Aaron W. Merrill and Abelard Guthrie entered. into the following
written agreement:

"This agreement the 30th day of March A. D. 1857, between Aaron W.
Merrill of the one part and Abelard Guthrey in behalf of the Quindaro Com-
pany of the other part, witnesseth: That the said Merrill in consideration of
the covenants hereinafter contained, covenants and agrees to and with the
said Guthrey for said Guthrey for said company, that he will keep the said
company's ferry, called "Eureka" ferry, lately established on the Kansas river
about four miles below Delaware ferry, and tow the said company's flat boat

17. Private Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 51-58.

18. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 44, 45, in Archives division, Kansas State Historical Society.

19. Ibid., pp. 67, 68; Wyandotte Gazette, 1866, 1867, 1868.

20. Kansas City Journal, February 17, 1882.

260 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

across and ferry over all the teams and wagons, horses, cattle and mules and
ferry across all persons coming to said ferry, and do all such ferrying free of
charge to the persons coming and requiring to be ferryed across said river.
And that he will at all times provide sufficient help to do such fenying of
persons, horses, cattle, mules, teams and wagons and goods in expeditious and
skillful manner, and that he will keep and protect the said companies boats
and keep them in good repair at his own expense, except extraordinary repairs
occasioned without his fault.

"And in consideration of the premices the said Guthrey promises and agrees
that the company will pay to said Merrill for such services as aforesaid the
sum of one hundred dollars per month so long as the said Merrill shall continue
to do such ferrying, and bestow the care on said companys boats and keeping
them in repair as aforesaid. The said Guthrey further agrees that the said
company will furnish the said Merrill the said boats, namely a flat boat and
a skiff in good repair. Also 2 picks and 2 shovels for the use of said ferry to
be kept and used by said Merrill and to be returned to said company when he
shall leave said ferry. The payments aforesaid to be made in cash every month.

"The said Merrill also agrees to cut out the road on the south side of the
river and make it good and convenient for teams to pass up and down from
the river to the bluff and bridge the stream in the ravine, and also on the north
side up to where the ravine crosses the road and to make a bridge over the
stream if needed.

"Either party to have the privilege to rescind this contract and agreement
at the end of month by giving one week's previous notice to the other party
of the intention to rescind said agreement.

"In witness whereof the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals the
day and year first aforesaid in presence of

"ABELARD GUTHREY
"A. W. MERRILL."

On April 14, 1859, Merrill brought suit in the district court of the
third judicial district in and for the Territory of Kansas, Wyandotte
county, against Charles Robinson, Abelard Guthrie and Samuel N.
Simpson under the name of the Quindaro Company, setting up this
contract, alleging that he worked seven months thereunder and that
he was paid but $348.20, leaving a balance due him of $357.80. The
case is No. 24 on the Wyandotte county dockets.

The defendants answered claiming nonperformance on the part
of Merrill and alleging that he neglected the business, failed to have
sufficient help, did not cut out the roads, and that he charged, col-
lected and pocketed monies from those who used the ferry, for all
of which they asked damages of Merrill.

It took six years to bring the case to trial, but on October 2, 1865,
a jury trial was had, seven witnesses were sworn, and the plaintiff
was given a judgment against Guthrie of $630.24. Guthrie appealed
to the supreme court, where the case was reversed and sent back for

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 261

a new trial.21 October 8, 1867, the case was dismissed without
prejudice and an execution issued against Merrill for costs.

In the spring and summer of 1857 the people of Quindaro built a
road to Lawrence, laid out one to Osawatomie, and established a
free ferry at what is now John H. Matton's place, with a view of
competing for the wholesale trade of the territory ; 22 another ran to
Salina, via Lawrence and Topeka ; 23 another was laid out in 1860
and ran to Shawnee,24 and another was laid out leading from Quin-
daro across Wyandotte county to the Kansas river. This was known
as the Madison Corvett road, and the road plat on file in the Wyan-
dotte county clerk's office shows it crossing the Kansas river in the
SE^ of S. 18, T. 11, R. 25, at a point designated on the map as
"the old ferry." This would be the location of the Eureka ferry,
out of which grew the lawsuit with Abelard Guthrie for wages.

The Quindaro and Shawnee Bridge and Road Company was
granted a charter by the legislature of 1860 to construct a bridge
across the Kansas river at or near the crossing of the territorial road,
located, or to be located, under an act to establish certain territorial
roads, approved February 7, 1859; also to open and improve said
territorial road by planking, macadamizing or turnpiking the same.
Capital stock of the company was placed at $70,000, with shares
$25 each. Construction work on the bridge was to begin within two
years, and completion of the bridge was limited to five years. The
company was authorized to establish and maintain a ferry across
the Kansas river at or near the point selected for the erection of
the bridge, and for that purpose was authorized to receive gifts,
grants and donations from individuals or corporations. The act
also provided that, upon the application of twenty persons living
along the line of the territorial road, the commissioners should cause
a strip of land to be laid off, not exceeding five miles in width, the
road running as near as possible through the center of this strip.
The commissioners were also instructed to have the proposition sub-
mitted to a vote of the taxpayers who resided on said strip, to as-
certain their stand on the proposed subscription to the capital stock
of the company, those living on the north side of the Kaw voting at
Quindaro, while those to the south of the river voted at Shawnee-
town. If a majority of taxpayers voted in favor of the subscription,

21. Abelard Guthrie vs. Aaron W. Merrill, 4 Kansas 159.

22. Wyandotte Herald, July 6, 1876.

23. Laws, Kansas, 1860, p. 585.

24. Ibid., 1860, p. 588.

262 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the board was authorized to levy a tax and issue bonds payable in
ten years, bearing interest not to exceed ten per cent yearly. The
last section of the act provided that when the bonds should be is-
sued by the commissioners, the owners of the said real property so
taxed should be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of a
stockholder, for every twenty-five dollars so levied; and as fast as
any taxpayer should pay the sum of twenty-five dollars he should
have issued to him a certificate of a share in the company.25 It
would be interesting to know the result of this road building project.
Wyandotte newspapers in the Historical Society's collection for this
period are not complete, and no mention of this election has been
found.

The next ferry up stream was the Chouteau ferry. Just when this
enterprise was started and its exact location have not been learned.
In 1820 Francis and Cyprian Chouteau built a trading house near
present Bonner Springs, known as the "four houses." Some years
later, about 1825, they built new trading posts farther down the
river for the purpose of trading with the Delawares and Shawnees.
This new location was said by various authorities to be from four
to ten miles from the mouth of the Kansas, these extremes of dis-
tance being reckoned by following the river or taking the most
direct route by land. This site, however, was near and opposite the
Indian village of Secondine, and present town of Muncie, but was on
the south side of the river 26 and, according to Grant W. Harrington,
has been "definitely located on S. 13, T. 11, R. 24, directly north of
the town of Turner. John C. Fremont outfitted here in 1842 for his
first exploring trip to the west." Franklin G. Adams, first secretary
of the Kansas State Historical Society, in 1880 had an interview with
Frederick Chouteau, who said that the trading houses were on the
north side of the river.27 Another authority, John C. McCoy, an old
resident of Johnson county, Kansas, and later of Jackson county,
Missouri, who, with his father, the Rev. Isaac McCoy, and other
members of the McCoy family, surveyed many of the Indian reser-
vations in Kansas and Oklahoma, places the trading houses on the
south side of the river. Mr. McCoy in 1830 surveyed the western
boundary of the Delaware reservation, stating that the survey was

25. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 25-29. "County Clerk's record of Wyandotte county
for this period not preserved. No record of an election. Road plat book fails to show any
such road. Think it fell by the wayside." — Note of Grant W. Harrington to author, May
26, 1933.

26. R. I. Holcombe, History of Vernon County, Mo., p. 164 ; Andreas, History of Kansas,
p. 1254.

27. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, p. 425.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 263

begun on September 6 and completed late that year. He wrote:
"Our party started from Fayette, Mo. ... We passed up to
Chouteau's trading house on the south side of the Kansas river and,
crossing there, passed on to Fort Leavenworth." 28

Grant W. Harrington, of Kansas City, states that Charles Carpen-
ter, an old resident of Wyandotte county, related to him that his
parents in 1857 started from Wyandotte to Lawrence by boat, and
that their boat grounded at Chouteau's ferry. Passengers were then
obliged to leave the boat and complete their journey overland.

Unfortunately the history of this ferry has not been preserved.
Aside from an occasional mention nothing else has been found. It
is likely the ferry was operated at or near this trading house, and
for that reason it is included here. In 1862 several members of the
Chouteau family obtained a charter for a ferry to be located in the
neighborhood of present Bonner Springs, the history of which will
be found in its proper place in this article. In view of this new
Chouteau ferry location it is likely the ferry near Muncie was aban-
doned.

In 1867 another ferry was established in this immediate vicinity,
being located somewhere between the mouth of Muncie creek and a
point due east from the town of Muncie. On June 8 of that year
John Smith, William Rutledge, William Rawson, William J. Gault,
Jeremiah H. Materson and Charles S. Glick were granted a charter
under the name of the Muncie Ferry Company. This ferry was de-
scribed as being on the "land of John Smith on the Kansas river,
opposite sections 14 and 15, T. 11, R. 25 east." [Error as to range;
should be 24.] Capital stock of the company was placed at $500,
with shares $25 each. The principal office of the company was to be
at the town of Muncie. This charter was filed with the secretary of
state June 12, 1867.29 No further mention of this enterprise has
been located.

According to Grant W. Harrington old settlers recall that a rock
landing was made for this ferry, and that the road leading down
to it was known as the "Ferry road." Old residents of Wyandotte
county say that the north and south road between sections 14 and
15, T. 11, R. 24, which now stops at highway 32, formerly extended
south between sections 22 and 23 to the Kansas river to a ferry
where the Shawnee Indians crossed, and that it was known as the
"Shawnee ferry." This would bring it into the NW% of S. 23, T.

28. Ibid., v. 5, p. 802.

29. Corporations, v. 1, p. 350.

264 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

11, R. 24. Nothing has been found in print or on the maps to verify
this.30

The Grinter ferry, about eight and one-half miles west of the
Kansas-Missouri boundary, was the next above Muncie. This was
the earliest ferry established on the Kansas river. Moses Grinter,
according to an account of a Grinter reunion,31 came to Kansas
in 1828, and served for a time in the regular army at Cantonment
Leavenworth. He was then appointed to operate a ferryboat across
the Kansas river to provide a crossing for a military road to run
from Cantonment Leavenworth to Fort Gibson. He arrived at his
destination, the Indian village of Secondine, in January, 1831, se-
lected a suitable location and started a rope ferry on the NW^ S.
28, T. 11, R. 24, near the eastern edge of the Delaware reservation as
established after the coming of the Wyandottes. No complete scale
of ferry charges has been located for this crossing. However, Mary
Walton Blanchard, wife of Ira D. Blanchard, in charge of the Dela-
ware Baptist mission, under date of December 11, 1836, wrote: "We
are 16 miles from Shawnee and the Kaw is % mile wide between us
and the feriage for a single person 50 cents and for a wagon 2
dollars." 32

In a letter of Rev. Isaac McCoy, in the Kansas State Historical
Society archives, dated at Shawnee, Jackson county, Missouri,
July 22, 1833, and addressed to Rev. Dr. Bolles, corresponding
secretary and treasurer of the Baptist mission board, at Boston,
is mention of a ferry of the Delawares, as follows:

"... A week ago yesterday I had expected to Baptize a Delaware at
the Delaware Settlements, but I previously sickened and have been two weeks
confined to my bed. After I was attacked with sickness we designed that Bro
Burch should administer baptism, but the landing near us of a S. boat with
Cholera on it so alarmed the Delawares, that they removed their ferry boat
to prevent travellers from crossing to them. . . ."

The above item probably refers either to Grinter 's or Toley's
ferry.

The first location of the Shawnee Methodist mission was about
three miles to the east, while the Delaware council house and
Delaware mission were about one and one-half miles to the north.
Grinter built a log cabin on the bank of the river, having cultivated
lands in sections 20 and 21, a few rods to the north of the ferry.
A few years later he married Ann Marshall, a Delaware woman.

30. Grant W. Harrington, statement, February, 1933.

31. Kansas City Times, September 26, 1932.

32. Pratt MSS., Kansas State Historical Society.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 265

They raised a family of ten children, all of whom were born in this
home. Moses Grinter was a native of Ohio, born about 1805,
coming to this country from Kentucky when about 23 years
of age.33 He died June 12, 1878, and is buried at Grinter chapel,
about three miles north of the ferry.

Delaware crossing was a noted one in preterritorial and territorial
times, and was known under various names, such as Grinter's ferry,
Military ferry, Delaware crossing, Secondine crossing, etc. Early
military expeditions from Fort Leavenworth to Forts Gibson and
Scott crossed the Kaw at this place, as did countless others along
the old Santa Fe trail from Leavenworth to military posts and to
points in the mountains.34 A post office had been established at
this point in 1849, with James Findley as postmaster. He was
still in charge in 1854. There were two or three trading posts there
at this time, also a government blacksmith shop for the Indians.
Isaac Munday was in charge of this work, having been employed
as blacksmith for the Indians as early as 1843, first at the Fort
Leavenworth agency and later at the Kansas agency.35

Up to 1842 the ferry was reached by Indian trails from both sides
of the river, but that year a military road was laid out from Fort
Leavenworth to the newly established Fort Scott. The road leading
to the old Grinter ferry site is now known as the Defries road, and
the old crossing can be reached by following highway 32 about a
mile west of Muncie to its junction with the Defries road. Up the
hill about one-fourth of a mile and on the west side of the Defries
road is the old brick home of the Grinters. Mrs. H. C. Kirby, last
surviving member of the Grinter family, definitely located the old
ferry site. "The landing was right down there," she said, pointing
to the right of the intersection of the Defries road with highway
32. "The blacksmith shop and the stores were on this side of the
ravine. On the other side of the ravine was the Indian village of
Secondine." 36

A plat of Shawnee lands of T. 11, R. 24, shows a road running
from Grinter's ferry to the southwest across S. 29, crossing the NW
corner of S. 32, the NE corner of S. 31, and connecting in that
corner with a road reaching Toley's ferry.

In 1855 the territorial legislature established a road from West-

33. Census, Wyandotte county, 1860, p. 48, in Archives division, Kansas State Historical
Society, lists Moses Grinter as 55 years of age, born in Ohio.

34. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 7, pp. 203, 559, 573.

35. New York Tribune, June 28, 1854; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 1-2, p. 253, v. 16,
pp. 728, 829, 831, 832.

36. Interview with Mrs. H. C. Kirby by Grant W. Harrington.

266 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

port, Mo., via Captain Joseph Parks',37 and the Shawnee manual
labor school, to intersect the Fort Leavenworth road north of and
near the Quaker mission farm by way of James Findley's to the
Grinter crossing.38

Percival G. Lowe, in his Five Years a Dragoon, relates many in-
teresting incidents in connection with this old ferry.

Toley's ferry was the next one above Grinter's and about two
miles distant. Just when this ferry started has not been learned,
but it must have been soon after the arrival of the Delawares.
Troops for the Mexican war crossed there in 1846. The ferry in
1854 was located on the SE% S. 31, T. 11, R. 24, as shown on a
plat of Shawnee Indian lands. The landing on the south side of
the river was on land owned by the Toley family, while the landing
on the opposite side of the river was on the same quarter section.
Toley,39 who operated the ferry, was a Shawnee Indian, and said to
be quite intelligent. He was a leader in his neighborhood and was
a member of Pascal Fish's church. Other members of the Toley
family owned land about twenty-five miles farther west, in present
Jefferson county. Henry Tiblow owned land less than three-fourths
of a mile north of the ferry, and a north and south road running
directly east of his farm led directly to the ferry.40

The following, written by a member of Doniphan's expedition,
1846, probably refers to this ferry:

"The Shawnee and Delaware tribes of Indians have settled here. The
Shawnees have fine farms, and are quite civilized people; the Delawares are a
little behind them. Both tribes speak the English language more or less.
They keep a ferry boat here, in which we crossed the river. The keeper of the
boat said he had made four hundred dollars this season by the crossing of
emigrants bound to Oregon. We purchased a beef steer of them for four
dollars, paying for it ourselves, for Uncle Sam finds us no beef." 41

A later mention of this ferry is found in the diary of Hugh
Campbell,42 for 1857, who was a member of Col. Joseph E. John-
ston's staff in surveying the southern boundary of Kansas, which
relates having crossed the river on Toley's ferry.

37. Chief Joseph Parks was a member of the Shawnee tribe. He was once a resident
of Michigan and is said to have enjoyed the confidence of Gen. Lewis Cass. In 1854 he owned
land in the Shawnee reservation, described as the north half and the southeast quarter of
S. 27, T. 11, R. 25. His name is included in a list of voters of Johnson county for 1857. His
death occurred early in 1860, according to the Topeka State Record, February 25, of that year.

38. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 973, 974.

39. This name is spelled variously, as Tola, Tula, Toola, Tooley, Toley, Tuley, etc.

40. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, pp. 251, 255, 259; Shawnee Indian Reservation
Lands in Kansas, Treaty of 1854, Plat of T. 11, R. 24.

41. Jacob S. Robinson, A Journal of the Santa Fe Expedition under Colonel Doniphan,
p. 3.

42. Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 1, p. 108.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 267

The following advertisement appeared in the Kansas Weekly
Herald, Leavenworth, early in May, 1857, and ran for several
months :

"TOOLEY'S FERRY
On the Kansas River,
And nearest route from Leavenworth to
Westport, and to the Shawnee Lands

On Cedar and Mill Creeks

"There is now in operation a good ferry boat at Tooley's, on the Kansas
river, with attentive hands to cross persons with safety and promptness. A
good boat will always be kept and no pains spared to accommodate the public.
All persons crossing the Kansas river to or from the Shawnee lands, or from
Westport and Kansas City to Leavenworth City and the northern portions of
Kansas, will find this ferry the very best and nearest route.
"May 2, 1857."

Johnson county granted a license to this ferry in 1858, charging
$60 a year for the privilege.43

In 1859 Charles Toley received from the legislature a charter
for a ferry at or near the east line of S. 32, T. 11, R. 24, with
privileges for a mile on each side of section 32, for a period of twenty
years. A plat of Shawnee reservation lands of 1854 shows Toley's
ferry location in the SE% S. 31, T. 11, R. 24, the south landing
being on land of Martha Toley. This site is about two and one-
third miles above Grinter's. Mr. Toley in 1854 owned land in the
NWi/i of S. 32, bordering the river on the south, and William
Toley had land in the NE quarter of same section. The nearest
point to the river from the east line of this section is fully a third
of a mile. Toley apparently, was seeking a new location by 1859
and must have moved his boats something over a mile down stream.

Theodore Garrett and forty others petitioned for a county road
from Silas Armstrong's to a point near Delaware ferry, and thence
by the nearest and best route to Toley 's ferry. This petition was
approved by the county commissioners, viewers were appointed
and the road laid out. The field notes of this survey give distances
by poles and claims, and this would indicate that at this time the
"Toley" ferry was not over three-fourths of a mile above the Dela-
ware or Grinter ferry.44 No further history of this ferry has been
located.

Keeler's ferry, about three-fourths of a mile above the location
of Toley's ferry in 1854, was the next crossing on the river. In
1860 the legislature granted Charles G. Keeler authority to main-

43. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, 1858, p. 28.

44. Road Records, Wyandotte county.

268 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tain a ferry on the Kaw river where the range line divides ranges
23 and 24. This location is about one and one-half miles southeast
of present Edwardsville, in Johnson county, and immediately north
of the junction of the Southern Kansas branch and the main line
of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. This act granted
special privileges for one mile up and one mile down the river at
this point for a period of ten years.45 No further history located.
In 1858 I. May and fifty-five others presented a petition to the
county commissioners of Johnson county asking that a license be
granted to William Chouteau to run a ferry boat on the Kaw river,
at or near the place known as Chouteau's ferry, and also asking
that a road be opened from Olathe to the ferry, via Monticello, and
that the road be continued on to Leavenworth city. Another peti-
tion was presented at this time by Jonathan Gore and thirty-seven
others, asking that a license be granted to W. W. Cook to establish
a ferry at the same point. After hearing the evidence it was moved
that Mr. Chouteau and Mr. Cook should each choose a representa-
tive, these two to choose a third person, all three to examine the
case and, if necessary, call to their assistance a surveyor, providing
the interested parties agree to pay all costs, the said three parties
to report to the board at its next regular term. It was moved that
Mr. Chouteau be requested to get a license to run his ferry for
three months, conditioned that if the case be decided against him
that Cook shall refund to Chouteau a sum equivalent to what he
paid for the remaining part of the term for which he procured a
license. This Mr. Chouteau did, his license for the three months
costing him $12.50.46 Under date of September 2, following, the
committee to whom was referred the petitions of W. W. Cook and
Francis Chouteau, asking for ferry licenses, made through Mr.
Holmes the following report:

"Your committee appointed by the board of county supervisors of Johnson
county, K. T., at Shawnee, on the 1st and 2nd days of July, 1858, on two
separate petitions of Wm. W. Cook and Francis Chouteau, each asking for a
license to keep a ferry on the Kaw river at the same place.

"Report that after an examination of the lines of the lands of each of the
aforesaid parties to the ferry landing on the south side of the river that in their
judgment Francis Chouteau has decidedly the better right to the ferry privilege
at said point. Signed this 2nd day of Sept. 1858.

"WM. HOLMES,

"R. H. WILLIAMS,

"J. D. ALLEN, per WM. HOLMES. "**

45. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, p. 272.

46. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, 1858, pp. 25, 27, 28.

47. Ibid., p. 47.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 269

Mr. Cook evidently was persistent, for in February, 1859, a peti-
tion signed by A. Williams and fifty -two others was presented to
the county commissioners asking that a license be granted to W.
W. Cook to keep a ferry on the Kansas river on sections 34 and 35,
T. 11, R. 23. This petition being considered by the board, the same
was granted, the fee for a license put at $50 per annum by the
board, and a license was granted Mr. Cook for three months from
the 22nd of February, 1859.48

On March 15, following, R. H. Williams presented a petition
from John Toler, asking that the license granted to W. W. Cook
to run a ferry on the Kansas river, at or near sections 34 and 35,
T. 11, R. 23, which license was granted on the 21st of February
last, may be rescinded and the license granted to him. A petition
was also presented by W. W. Cook asking that the license granted
him might be continued. The bond of said Cook was also pre-
sented and approved by the board, and the petitions having been
considered by the board were, on motion of Mr. Storrs, laid on the
table.49

On April 26, 1859, Francis Chouteau petitioned for a license to
operate a ferry across the Kansas river north of Monticello. His
petition was considered by the board, and on motion of Mr. Ma-
haffie it was ordered that the board appoint a committee to investi-
gate the right of the ferry privilege, the committee to consist of
three persons. This committee was authorized to employ the county
surveyor and to meet on the ground on the 25th day of May, 1859,
and be sworn in before entering upon their duties.50 The report of
the committee was spread upon the record.

To ascertain to whom a certain ferry known as Chouteau's ferry
belonged, in short, whose land the road intersects the Kansas river
at that place, the Committee set out its survey and then found
that the road beaten from Olathe via Monticello to this ferry was
three roads on the southwest quarter of S. 35 that lays on the river
and so found for Chouteau. The board approved the report and
granted to Chouteau a license to run a ferry on the said ferry
privilege, and that he pay back to Cook the rate for the unexpired
term of his license.51

The Chouteaus apparently sold or leased their ferry late in 1860,
for on November 1 Stephen S. Stuart was granted a license for a

48. Ibid., p. 102.

49. Ibid., p. 116.

50. Ibid., p. 138.

51. Ibid., p. 147.

270 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ferry at this crossing for twelve months dating from that time.52
Stuart was in charge at this place in 1863, and in his application the
ferriage rates established were as follows: For each footman, 20
cents; man and horse, 50 cents; 1 horse wagon or buggy, 80 cents; 2
horses and wagon, $1 ; 3 horses and wagon, $1.30; 2 yoke of oxen and
wagon, $1.50; each additional span of horses or oxen, 50 cents;
mules or cattle per head, 20 cents; sheep or swine per head, 10
cents.53

This ferry was in operation in 1864, for which year they paid a
$40 license fee to Johnson county.54

On December 23, 1862, Frederick Chouteau,55 William Chouteau,
Benjamin I. Chouteau, Francis Chouteau and John M. Owens56
formed a corporation known as the Chouteau Ferry Company. The
company was capitalized at $1,000, with shares at $20 each. The
act stated that the ferry was to be located on the state road leading
from Leavenworth to Fort Scott, where the same crossed the river
at the NE*4 of S. 35, T. 11, R. 23, of Johnson county, and is shown
in Heisler & Smith's Atlas, page 8. This point is about three and
one-half miles north of Monticello, and about one-half mile south
of present Edwardsville, at what was called the Chouteau ferry.
The south landing was on land owned in fee simple by Frederick
Chouteau, and the landing on the opposite side of the river was on
Delaware land. This charter was filed with the secretary of state
January 8, 1863.57 On May 15, 1863, the company filed with the
state an amended charter, identical with the first, with the addition
of Talbert Kelley as one of the incorporators.58

An advertisement of this company appeared in the Leavenworth
Daily Conservative, May 14, 1863, and mentioned that "the boat
at Chouteau's ferry is now in good order and ready at all times
to attend promptly to the wants of the traveling public." Just
how long the Chouteau ferry operated has not been learned, but it is
probable it ceased operations or was sold to other parties before the
spring of 1867.

Frank L. Chouteau, resident of Monticello township, Monticello

52. Ibid., p. 225.

53. Ibid., Book B, p. 30.

54. Ibid., p. 108.

55. F. Chouteau, age 55, farmer, owner of real estate valued at $59,000, personal prop-
erty, $8,000, born in Missouri, is listed in the census of Johnson county, Kansas, 1865, p. 130.

56. John Owens was a white man who married a Delaware wife, and was adopted into
the tribe. "Wild Bill" Hickok made his home with the Owens. — Heisler & Smith, Atlas of
Johnson County, Kansas, p. 10.

57. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 204, 205.

58. Ibid., v. 1, p. 5.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 271

post office, Johnson county, is listed in the census of 1865, Johnson
county, page 76, as a ferry proprietor. He was 24 years of age,
listed as Indian by adoption, owned real estate valued at $350 and
personal property worth $400. He was a native of Kansas, was
married and had one child, one year of age.

"Road Record A," page 216, county clerk's office, Wyandotte
county, gives a plat of the "Kouns road," which runs into Edwards-
ville from the north and extends south a half mile to the Kansas
river at a point marked "Ferry." This is in the NE% of 35-11-23.
Later the "G. W. Galloway road" was laid out. It starts at the
same point which it designates as the "Chouteau Ferry." In the
petition asking for this road it is asked to have it start from "the
Shoto ferry" on the Kansas river.59

On March 25, 1867, the Campbell Ferry Company was chartered,
D. G. Campbell, J. H. Gamble, L. S. Coney, A. J. Campbell and
Jonathan Gore being incorporators. The principal office of the
company was at Monticello, Johnson county, and the ferry was
to operate across the Kansas river at a place known as Chouteau's
ferry, being at a point where the public highway leading from
Monticello to Leavenworth City crosses the river, the exact location
being described as the NE1^ of SW%, S. 35, T. 11, R. 23E. The
capital stock was $500, in five shares of $100 each. This location
on the north side of the river is less than one-fourth of a mile south
of present Edwardsville.60

Less than a mile upstream was the site of the next ferry. As
early as 1859 an effort was made to secure a ferry opposite Monti-
cello. That year R. W. Catherson and ninety others petitioned the
legislature for a ferry across the Kansas river.61 Apparently no
ferry was established at that time. On January 19, 1863, a charter
was secured by the Monticello Ferry Company, the incorporators
being Stephen S. Stuart, Jacob Trembly,62 Sam Garrett,63 Uriah
Garrett and Elias Garrett. Capital stock of the company was
$5,000, divided into fifty shares. The company proposed to estab-
lish a ferry at S. 34, T. 11, R. 23E., for the town of Monticello. This
charter was filed with the secretary of state January 24, 1863.64

59. Wyandotte county clerk, Road Records, v. B, p. 62; v. C, p. 89.

60. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 314, 815.

61. House Journal, Kansas, 1859, p. 150.

62. Jacob Trembly, in 1874, owned land in S. 83, T. 11, R. 22, in Leavenworth county.

63. Sam Garrett, of Monticello township, was a white man, proslavery in sentiment,
who married a Shawnee wife and was adopted into the tribe.— Heisler & Smith, Atlcu of
Johnson County, pp. 13, 44.

64. Corporations, v. 1, p. 2.

272 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The corporation was reorganized late in 1864, to operate "as where
the first franchise stated." Uriah and Elias Garrett, of the first
organization, were succeeded by A. B. Bartlett and John K. Hale.
Capital stock was reduced to $1,200, with shares $20 each. The
new charter was filed with the secretary of state, December 24,
1864.65 February 2, 1866 this company filed with the secretary of
state a copy of resolutions of the company, defining boundaries of
operation and giving the location of their ferry as being at or near
the center of S. 32, T. 11, R. 23E., and claiming privileges one mile
each way from center of section 32. It was signed by John K. Hale,
secretary of Monticello Ferry Company.66

A state road was established in 1865 from Olathe, following the
county road to Monticello, thence on said road to the Kansas river,
and crossing at or near the center of S. 32, T. 11, R. 23E.; thence
following as near as practicable what is known as Waite's survey,
to the city of Leavenworth.67

Henry Tiblow operated a ferry at a point opposite the station of
Tiblow, being on S. 32, T. 11, R. 23.68 Perl W. Morgan, in his
History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, page 320, in speaking of
the village of Tiblow, now Bonner Springs, says: "For many years
a ferry was operated by Henry Tiblow, a club-footed Indian and
official interpreter for the United States. He lived in a log cabin
which still stands on the west side of the city."

On September 5, 1863, Jacob Trembly and Stephen S. Stuart were
issued a license, good for three months, for a ferry at this location,
they paying for the privilege at the rate of $40 a year. They were
operating in 1866. Their scale of ferriage charges for 1864 were as
follows: Man and horse, 25 cents; 1 horse wagon or buggy, 40
cents; 2 horse wagon or yoke of oxen and wagon, 50 cents; 4 horse
wagon or two yoke of oxen and wagon, 75 cents; Additional yoke
of cattle or span of horses, 25 cents ; 3 horse wagon, 65 cents ; Loose
horses, mules or cattle, per head, 10 cents ; Sheep or swine per head,
5 cents. Each footman, 10 cents.69

In 1869 Thomas Dunfree and W. B. White were granted a license
to operate the ferry at Tiblow station, where the Olathe and Leaven-
worth road crosses the river, paying $10 for the privilege. Mr.

65. Ibid., v. 1, pp. 90, 91.

66. Ibid., v. 1, pp. 90, 91.

67. Laws, Kansas, 1865, p. 143.

68. Heisler & Smith's Atlas of Johnson County, p. 8, shows this ferry.

69. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, Book B, pp. 62, 84, 228.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 273

White apparently was in charge of the ferry from 1870 on, his last
license being paid up to April 9, 1874.70

Journal C, "Commissioners Proceedings of Wyandotte County,"
page 12, date of March 7, 1870, recites: "The board granted a ferry
license to Wm. B. White to run a ferry across the Kansas river at
Tiblow station, said White having given a sufficient bond to the
state of Kansas, for one year from Feb. 1, 1870, which was filed."

Again on, page 89, under date of March 8, 1871, the following
appears: "W. B. White was granted a ferry license to run a ferry
at Tiblow station for one year from March 6, A. D., 1871, said White
having given a good and sufficient bond to the county for the faith-
ful discharge of his duties as ferryman."

The above two entries are the only records that can be found of
the granting of ferry licenses over the Kansas river by Wyandotte
county. Evidently 1871 saw the last of the public ferries across
that stream in this county.71

As Leavenworth county embraced all territory included in present
Wyandotte county up to the year 1859, it is likely other licenses
for Kansas river ferries were issued by Leavenworth for Wyandotte
county enterprises.

A member of the Tiblow family owned land in S. 31, T. 11, R. 24.
His land is shown on a map of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western
railroad and its connections in the Delaware reserve, which also
shows a wagon road connecting with Leavenworth and Wyandotte.
The Wyandotte Gazette of May 30, 1873, mentions that the ferry
at Tiblow was still in operation.

Isaac Parrish,72 who owned land on the opposite side of the river
and a short distance upstream from present Bonner Springs, was
granted authority by the legislature of 1857 to establish a ferry
across the Kansas river, at the crossing of the territorial road from
Leavenworth to Peoria, in Franklin county. Steam was proposed

70. Ibid., Book B, pp. 401, 489; Book C, p. 306.

71. Letter of Grant W. Harrington to author, Feb. 10, 1933; Kansas Historical Collec-
tions, v. 7, p. 476.

72. Isaac Parrish was a proslavery resident of Monticello township, Johnson county. He
was born in Virginia, and lived in Ohio and Missouri before coming West. After coming to
the Indian country he was employed at the Shawnee Methodist mission for a number of years.
He married a Shawnee woman and was adopted into the tribe. The census of Johnson county,
1865, lists him as 45 years of age, Indian by adoption, farmer, owner of real estate listed
at $11,520, and personal property worth $2,845. His wife was named Virginia, aged 32,
Indian, born in Kansas, and their family consisted of five children. The plat of Shawnee
reservation land for T. 12, R. 23, shows land owned by Isaac and Asenath Parrish in the
N% of S. 5. The Parrish ferry was located about one-half mile north. The "Telegraph
road" from Fort Scott to Fort Leavenworth was about one mile east of Monticello, crossed
the east % of S. 5 and ran on to the river. When the Shawnees removed to Indian territory,
Isaac Parrish with his family removed and made their home with the tribe. — Heisler & Smith's
Atlas of Johnson County, p. 11; census, Johnson county, 1865, p. 78; Plat of Shawnee reser-
vation lands in Kansas.

18—8677

274 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

as the propelling power, but the act provided that a flat boat might
be substituted when the business did not justify the use of steam.
This crossing was near the center of S. 32, T. 11, R. 23E.73

On December 29, 1863, the Parrish Ferry Company74 was in-
corporated, its projectors being Henry D. Smith,75 Henry Tiblow,
Isaac Parrish, Charles B. Garrett and Sam. Parsons. They were
authorized to establish a ferry across the Kansas river, commencing
at a point six chains above the center of S. 32, T. 11, R. 23. The
landing on the south side of the river was on land owned by the
incorporators, who had written consent of owners for landing on the
north side. This location is in present Bonner Springs, on highway
7, and close to where the Leavenworth & Northwestern railroad
crosses the river.

On January 5, 1866, Isaac Parrish, president of the Parrish Ferry
Company, petitioned for a ferry license, which was not granted, it
being within the bounds of an established ferry.76

The next ferry above the Parrish ferry was at the town of De Soto,
about six and one-half miles distant. At this point a twenty-year
license for a ferry was granted by the legislature of 1858 to G. W.
Hutchison, J. A. Finley, Brinton W. Woodward, D. W. Weir, A. D.
Searl, James F. Legate, Henry Campbell, E. S. Lowman and Warren
Kimball. Rates of ferriage prescribed by the act were as follows:
Man and horse, 50 cents; one horse and carriage or wagon, 75 cents;
two horses and carriage or wagon, $1.00; four horses and carriage or
wagon, $1.25. Provided, the company may by by-laws, provide an
addition to the above rates of not to exceed 50 per cent.77

In 1858 the operator of the ferry at De Soto, for some reason or
other, refused to take out a license. The sheriff of Johnson county
was sent by the county commisioners to collect the fee, threatening
to take legal steps to collect in case of refusal, yet promising to
forgive all if the ferry owner took out his license and paid for such
expense as the county had already been put to.78 Evidently the
operator refused to comply with the instructions of the commis-
sioners, for Mr. R. Potter was instructed to make complaint and
start an action against him in the name of the board.79

73. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 165.

74. Corporations, v. 1, p. 10 ; Shawnee Indian reservation lands in Kansas, treaty of 1854,
plat of T. 11, R. 23E., in archives of Kansas State Historical Society.

75. Henry Smith was born in Madison county, Kentucky, in March, 1819. He settled on
Mill creek, present Johnson county, April 20, 1842. He was a resident of Lawrence in 1879.

76. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, Book B, p. 185.

77. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 54, 55.

78. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, 1858, p. 36.

79. Ibid., p. 49.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 275

A Mr. R. Potter, of Lexington, owned a ferry, which must have
been at De Soto, as Lexington was several miles from the river. He
applied to the commissioners of Johnson county for a ferry license,
which was issued, costing him at the rate of $20 yearly. The com-
missioners fixed the rates of ferriage to be charged by all ferries
operating in the county after July 1, 1858, as follows: Each foot-
man, 10 cents; man and horse, 25 cents; loose oxen, cows, mules
and horses, each 10 cents; loose swine and sheep, 5 cents; horse and
buggy, 35 cents; two horses or ox wagon, 50 cents; and for each
additional horse or ox attached to the team, 10 cents. For govern-
ment trains drawn by six mules, $1.30 each.80

R. Potter's name does not appear in the early census returns of
Lexington township.

Two years later the legislature of 1860 granted another ferry
charter for De Soto, the incorporators including six of the nine
incorporators of 1858, with the addition of J. A. Triley and Paul R.
Brooks.81 Rates of ferriage prescribed by the new act were identical
with those of the act of 1858.82 Whether the second company ever
functioned we have no knowledge, but there seems to be a shadow
of doubt, for the legislature of 1861 granted a fifteen-year franchise
for a ferry at this town to Warren Kimball and George W. Fraim,83
with exclusive rights for two miles up and two miles down the river.84
This firm probably made a "go" of it this time. Two years later,
in 1863, troops of a Kansas company under Capt. William Larimer
crossed the river here while on their way to Camp Williams, near
Fort Scott, and other camps, a rope ferry being in operation at
this time.85

On January 2, 1863, the De Soto Bridge Company was chartered
for the purpose of bridging the Kaw at that point, but no bridge
was built at that time. The next effort to obtain a bridge was made
in 1867 by a joint stock company, known as the Leavenworth,
De Soto and Fort Scott Bridge Company, which eventually built a
Howe truss structure.86

On November 19, 1858, a petition signed by W. Christison and

80. Ibid., pp. 28, 29.

81. Brooks was for many years a prominent resident of Lawrence.

82. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 267, 269.

83. Geo. W. Fraim, is listed as ferryman, he being 26, native of Michigan, and owning
real estate worth $250 and personal property worth $600. — Census, Johnson county, 1860,
p. 21.

84. Laws, Kansas, 1861, p. 33.

85. Biography of William Larimer, p. 211.

86. Corporations, v. 1, p. 3; Leavenworth Daily Conservative, Jan. 1, 1867; Olathe
Mirror, Sept. 1, 1867.

276 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

twenty-six others was presented to the Johnson county board asking
that a license be granted to Galatia Sprague, William Brown and
Jesse Hodges to keep a ferry across the Kansas river at or near
where the range line between Ranges 21 and 22 crosses the river.
This petition was considered by the board and allowed.87 This
ferry location is about three miles upstream from De Soto. No
further history located.

Pascal Fish's ferry was the next beyond De Soto, about nine miles
by the Kansas river and seven by land. This was one of the early
ferries on the river, being in operation when the Mexican War broke
out. In 1846 a portion of Doniphan's expedition to Mexico crossed
the river over this ferry. Lieut. J. W. Abert, that year, set out from
Fort Leavenworth for a reconnaissance to San Diego and made his
"Camp 4" at the ferry. Under date of June 29, 1846 he wrote:

"In the river we found two large flatboats or scows, manned by Shawnee
Indians, dressed in bright colored shirts, with shawls around their heads. The
current of the river was very rapid, so that it required the greatest exertions on
the part of our ferrymen to prevent the boats from being swept far downstream.
We landed just at the mouth of the Wakaroosa creek. Here there is no per-
ceptible current; the creek is fourteen feet deep, while the river does not aver-
age more than 5 feet; and in some places is quite shoal.

"It was nearly 10 o'clock before all our company had crossed and was so
dark that we could scarcely see to arrange our camp; so we lay down on the
river bank and sent our horses out on the prairies to grass. We finished our
supper at 12 o'clock and lay down again to sleep; but, worn out as we were,
the mosquitoes showed us no compassion, and large hooting owls (bubo vir-
gimanus), as if to condole with us, commenced a serenade.

"The pure cold water of the Wakaroosa looked so inviting that some of us
could not refrain from plunging beneath its crystal surface ; one of the flatboats
forming a convenient place from which to spring. . . ." 88

Fish was a cousin to Tecumseh and the Prophet. He lived about
a mile south of the river, on a road leading to Westport, Mo., and
kept a tavern, located near the center of S. 8, T. 13, R. 23.89

In 1856 an association of Germans was organized at Chicago,
under the name of the Neuer Ansiediungs Verein, for the purpose
of making a settlement in the great west. In March, 1857, a loca-
tion committee selected the site of Eudora. A tract of 800 acres
was secured from the Shawnees, through Pascal Fish, their chief,
who was to receive every alternate lot. The townsite laid off was

87. Johnson County, Commissioners Proceedings, 1858, p. 88.

88. Emory, Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri to
San Diego in California, pp. 389, 390.

89. Connelley, Doniphan's Expedition, p. 142; J. Cooper Stuck's map of Douglas county,
Kansas Territory, 1857.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 277

named Eudora, in honor of the chief's daughter. The first house on
the townsite was built by Mr. Fish, who ran a hotel known as the
"Fish house". Eudora became an incorporated town February 8,
1859.90

This ferry was in operation at Eudora during the fifties and
sixties. Two ferrymen were employed, one named George Brown.
The other, whose name has not been learned, kept a liquor shop
and was indicted by federal authorities for selling liquor to Shawnee
Indians in violation of United States laws.91

The Fish family must have continued the ferry business, for in
1860 Charles Fish was granted a five-year license by the legislature
to operate a ferry which was to be located at or near the mouth of
the Wakarusa, with exclusive privileges for a distance of one mile
up and one mile down the river.92 The precise location of the ferry
was on S. 4, T. 13, R. 21 E, at or very close to present Eudora. In
1864 a state road was established from Eudora, running in a
northerly direction so as to intersect the road leading from Law-
rence to Leavenworth at the nearest and most practicable point
on the road; and, also, a road from Eudora, running south to in-
tersect the Santa Fe road at Black Jack.93 Another road was laid
out from Eudora running south to the Santa Fe trail at or near
Black Jack; another ran north from the Eudora ferry landing on
the north side of the river, to intersect the Pacific railroad at the
nearest and most practicable point,94 and another road started from
the Santa Fe road, near Black Jack, thence north through Eudora,
crossing the river at Eudora ferry, thence north to the Lawrence
and Leavenworth road, on the most practicable route.95

A bridge across the Wakarusa, finished early in May, 1861,
diverted much travel and traffic to the Fish ferry, where it crossed
the river. This bridge, about 160 feet in length, was said to be the
best and only really substantial bridge in the county at the time.

A charter was granted the Nevada City Town Company 96 by the
legislature of 1858 to operate a ferry across the Kansas river, with
special privileges for a period of ten years. Nevada was a post office
early in 1856, P. H. McGee being postmaster. Beers' Atlas of

90. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 353.

91. Original documents, Archives division, Kansas State Historical Society.

92. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, p. 276.

93. General Laws, Kansas, 1861, p. 31.

94. Laws, Kansas, 1864, p. 204; Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 353.

95. Laws, Kansas, 1866, p. 226.

96. Ibid., 1858, p. 57.

278 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Douglas County, 1873, shows one J. McGhee owned lands bordering
on the Kansas river in the SE*4 of S. 31, T. 12, R. 21. The
census of Douglas county, 1859, lists three members of the McGhee
family as settling in that locality in May, 1855, there being a total
of twelve in family of J. McGhee, five being minors. These Mc-
Ghees were from Pennsylvania and Illinois, J. McGee being listed
as 64 and native of Ireland. His real estate was listed for $5,000,
and personal property at $300.97 The ferry site was on the McGhee
land, and the embryo town of Nevada, which never was more than
a post office, was located at the same place. It was an intermediate
point on a post route running from Leavenworth to the Sac and
Fox Agency.98

In 1855 the legislature passed an act naming commissioners to
view, locate, and establish a territorial road from Leavenworth, by
way of Franklin, to Bernard's store.99 Bernard kept a store in
Franklin county and traded with the Sacs and Foxes and other
Indians in that neighborhood. A town sprang up at that location,
called St. Bernard, which was at or near the site of Centropolis of
later date.

Two years later the legislature of 1857 granted John M. Wallace
a fifteen year privilege to operate a ferry on the Kansas river at
the point where the above-named road crossed. The ferry was to
be located within a mile of the crossing above mentioned, and
ferriage rates were prescribed as follows: Foot passengers, 10 cents
each; horse, mule, mare, gelding, ass, without a rider, 10 cents;
with rider, 25 cents; two-horse team, loaded or unloaded, 75 cents;
single horse carriage, 50 cents; each additional cow or ox, 15 cents;
each swine or sheep, 5 cents ; for all freight of lumber, merchandise,
or other articles, not in teams, at the following rates: For each 1,000
feet of lumber, $1 per 1,000 feet; for all other articles 5 cents [per
100 Ibs.]

The act provided that the above rates should be amended by any
succeeding legislature.100 Exact location of this ferry has not been
learned, but in all probability it crossed the river at a point about
north of old town of Franklin, or slightly east. Franklin was laid
out in 1855 or 1856 and was located on S. 10, T. 13, R. 20, about
three miles southeast of Lawrence of that day and slightly north of

97. Census, Douglas county, 1859, MSS., 1860, pp. 48, 52.

98. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 58; Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, Feb. 16, 1856.

99. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 965.

100. Laws, Kansas, 1857, pp. 162, 163.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 279

the Wakarusa. A territorial fight, known as the "Battle of Frank-
lin," occurred in this locality on the night of June 3, 1856.101

The next ferry up the river was "at or near the east line of Lot
2, S. 24, T. 12, R. 20 E." In 1858 William Burtzer received a
charter from the legislature to operate a ferry at this point, with
special privileges within one-half mile on each side for a period of
twenty years.102 This location is not over one mile from the south-
west corner of Leavenworth county, about two miles from Lawrence
of that day, and approximately six or seven miles above Eudora.
Perhaps this ferry site may be the location of the crossing for the
road which ran from Leavenworth to Bernard's store, via Franklin.

Lawrence, distant about two miles from Burtzer's location, had the
next ferry. John Baldwin in 1855 was granted authority by the leg-
islature to maintain a ferry within the city, with exclusive rights for
two miles from the town, for a period of fifteen years.103 This was
one of the noted ferries on the river, and during the time it ran did
a thriving business. John J. Ingalls, of Atchison, who had occasion
to cross the river at Lawrence while it was in use, has described it
as a "swing ferry."

The following advertisement, the first of this ferry, appeared in
the Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, June 2, 1855:

"JOHN BALDWIN, FERRYMAN,

Has just completed his new ferryboat and holds himself in readiness to take
passengers and teams over the Kansas river, opposite Lawrence, at all hours,
on application, at the usual prices."

Another advertisement of this ferry appeared in a rival paper:

"BALDWIN'S FERRY

"Crossing the Kansas River at Lawrence

"The undersigned, having built a good and substantial ferryboat, would
inform the traveling public, that they are prepared to carry over all passengers
and teams who may desire to cross at this point. Travelers wishing to visit
Lawrence from Leavenworth, Parkville or any other point on the Missouri
river, need not be under the inconvenience as heretofore, of going out of the
way, to cross at the Tecumseh, or Delaware ferries. We will always be at our
post and ready to wait on all who may need our services.

"WM. N. and JOHN BALDWIN." 104

A notice of this ferry given on the editorial page of the same issue
of the Free State, says:

"Messrs. Baldwins have spared no pains to make their boat a substantial

101. Kansas Historical Collection*, v. 8, p. 313.

102. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 59, 60.

103. General Statutes, Kansas, 1865, p. 778.

104. Kansas Free State, Lawrence, June 4, 1855.

280 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and safe one. It is what has been greatly needed, as persons desiring to cross
the river at this place with teams, have been compelled, until now, to go 20
miles above or 30 miles below. As Leavenworth on the Missouri and Lawrence
in the interior, are the most noted towns in the territory, it is highly important,
for the interest of both, and the convenience of the traveling public, that there
should be a direct communication between them. The ferry at this place is one
important step towards this, and we hope that the next one will be to make
a better and more direct road to Leavenworth."

During 1855 C. W. Babcock entered into partnership with Bald-
win, this arrangement lasting about two years. The management
of the ferry, however, was left to Baldwin.105

Robert Morris Peck, "Recollections of Early Times in Kansas
Territory," in Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, p. 506, says:

"We crossed the Kaw river at Lawrence on Baldwin's ferry, a rickety flat-
boat, without guard or railing, capable of holding only one six-mule team, and
pulled back and forth by means of a rope stretched between trees on opposite
banks. The soldier men facetiously called it Baldwin's 'steam' ferry. The
ferryman carried his 'steam' in a gallon jug; and our fellows 'did not do a
thing' to that jug but drink all the whiskey and refill the jug with muddy Kaw
river water while the old man was busy pulling the leaky old tub across. I
expect Baldwin made some pious remarks about 'soger men' the next time he
hooked his bill over the muzzle of that jug to take another 'snort,' but we
didn't stay to hear his discourse."

Col. P. G. Lowe, of Leavenworth, in his Five Years a Dragoon,
describes the Baldwin ferry as a flatboat run by pulleys on a rope
stretched across the river and fastened to a tree on either side and
propelled by the force of the current. He wrote:

"The boat was not large enough to hold a wagon and six mules, so the
leaders were detached from the team and led around to a shallow ford higher
up the stream where one might cross on horseback or with loose animals, but
could not cross wagons. A Frenchman, married to a Delaware woman and
living with the Delaware Indians on the north side of the river, built a boat
and stretched a rope; and when I came along one day he met me two miles
north of the ferry and wanted me to cross some of my wagons on his boat. I
galloped on and found that he had made a good road and had a good boat
that would carry a wagon and six-mule team, with room to spare ; so I divided
the train, going to the new ferry, about 40 rods below the old one myself with
Mr. Lanter, an assistant wagonmaster, while Mr. Beery went to the old ferry.
Just as the first wagon got on the ferry, I noticed that the old boat was on the
south side and Beery was calling the ferryman. As we were about shoving
off, the man who ran the old ferry called to me not to attempt to cross wagons
on that [the new] ferry, if I did, he would cut the rope and send me down
the river; and suiting the action to the word, he caught up an axe and started
at a run for the big cottonwood tree where the rope was fastened. We were
now in the stream and rapidly nearing the south bank. Standing on the front

105. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 326.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 281

of the boat with pistol ready, I warned him to stop, and if he attempted to
cut the rope, I would surely kill him. The boat landed and he stopped within
10 feet of the tree. I ordered him back to his boat, at the same time asking
him what he meant. He declared that the Frenchman had no charter to run
a boat, hence no right, while he had a charter from the territorial legislature
for fifteen years. On the other hand, the Frenchman claimed that the Dela-
wares owned the land on the north side, and had just as much right to land
on the south side without any charter as the other fellow had to land on the
Delaware reservation, over which he claimed the legislature had no jurisdiction.
I ended the controversy by telling the Frenchman to cross all the wagons he
could, and that I would protect him. I told the old ferryman to get his boat in
motion quickly or I would run it with my own men, and that the ferry which
crossed the most wagons would get the most money. ... I had the
teamster of the first wagon drive close to the tree and told him to shoot anyone
attempting to approach it. ... Then I got aboard the old ferry and gave
the ferryman one more chance to run his own boat, and just as I was about
to let go, he and his man jumped on. He was sulky and threatened to report
me to Colonel Cooke at Lecompton. I cut him off short with the answer that

I did not care a what he did, so that he lost no time with the ferry;

and I told Beery to push things with the new ferry, while I stayed with the
old one. All worked with a will, but the old ferry lost two trips to start with,
and in the end the new ferry had six wagons the most. All, more than 70
wagons, were crossed in time to camp south of town before dark; whereas,
without the new ferry half of them would have camped in the bottom north
of the river. ... I crossed many times afterwards, and each ferry worked
its best for the most money. The Frenchman generally captured the best of
it by two or three wagons. The Frenchman kept the approach to his ferry in
perfect shape so that there would be no delays, and the old ferryman kept up
the competition— result, a great saving in time and talk."

The following, found among the papers of the Kansas State
Central Committee, a free state organization, and turned over to
the Kansas State Historical Society by James Blood, probably is a
bill of the Lawrence ferry for services. It was included in a bundle
of accounts marked "not allowed":

Lawrence, August 26th, 1856.
War Department Dr. J. DeWitt

Aug. 26th To horseman at 20cts $8 .40

Aug. 28 Horseman 88 at 20 cts 17.60

Aug. 29 and 30 and 31 162 horseman 32.40

Sept. 2 and 3th 200 footman at 10 cts 20.00

Sept. 5 and 6th 300 footman at 10 cts 30.00

Sept. 8th 52 horseman 10.40

Sept. 8th 4 wagons at 50 cts 02.00

Sept. 9th 19 footman at 5 cts 00.95

Sept. 9th 1 waggon at 50 cts 00.50

Sept. 10th 8 waggons at 50 cts 04.00

Sept. 10th 19 horseman at 20 cts 03.80

282 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Sept. llth 94 horseman at 20 cte 18.80

Sept. 12th 72 horseman at 20 cte 14.40

Sept. 12th 11 waggons at 50 cte 05.50

Sept. 13th 10 waggons at 50 cte 05.00

Sept. 13th 12 horseman at 20 cts 02 .40

Sept. 14th 11 horseman at 20 cte 02 . 20

Sept. 15th 1 waggon 9 horseman 02.30

Sept. 16th 19 horseman at 20 cte 03.80

Sept. 17th 27 horseman at 20 cte 05.40

Sept. 18th 1 waggon and 8 footman 00.90

$191.95

Lawrence was an important road center, and numerous state and
territorial highways either had their start from there or made the
town an intermediate point. The old Oregon and California road
passed through the county and city. The legislature of 1855 created
a territorial road which started from Leavenworth, via Lawrence
and on to Salem;106 another, authorized in 1857, ran from Lawrence,
via the Sac and Fox agency, to Burlington;107 another, established
in 1860, ran from Lawrence to Emporia via Clinton, Twin Mound
and Superior.108 Six roads were established by the legislature of
1861, as follows: one from Lawrence to Osawatomie; one from Law-
rence to Paola; one from Lawrence to Wyandotte, by way of Eu-
dora, DeSoto, Monticello and Shawnee; another from Lawrence
to the state line near West-port, Mo., via Franklin, Hesper and
Olathe; and another from Lawrence to Osage City, Garnett, lola
and Humboldt; and one from Lawrence to Hiawatha,109 this latter
road, however, not being located until 1863, when the commissioners
in charge of the work specified it was to run by way of Grasshopper
Falls, Muscotah, Oskaloosa and Kennekuk.110 A road from Law-
rence to Paola was made a state road in 1862.111 A number of
new roads were provided for in 1864 ; one from Lawrence to the north
line of Bourbon county, in direction of Fort Lincoln, Osawatomie and
Davis' Gap, near the Armstrong ford of Big Sugar creek and Mound
City; another from Lawrence, by way of Baldwin City, Ohio
City in Franklin county, to Garnett; another from Lawrence, via
Eudora and Olathe to the east line of Johnson county, opposite
Westport, Mo.; one from Lawrence to the north line of Bourbon

106. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 975.

107. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 168.

108. Ibid., 1860, p. 585.

109. Ibid., 1861, pp. 247-249.

110. Ibid., 1863, p. 88.

111. General Laws, Kansas, 1862, p. 798.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS

county by way of Ottawa Jones' and Dutch Henry's crossing; one
from Atchison, by Springdale, to Lawrence. The law specified that
these roads should be not less than 60 nor more than 100 feet in
width.112 In 1865 three more were established, one running from
Lawrence to Hiawatha; another from Lawrence to Neosho Rapids;
and the next one from Lawrence to Fort Scott, via the new bridge
on the Wakarusa, thence to New Haven, and crossing the Santa
Fe road on the east line of the farm of W. P. Ramsey, thence on
the east side of Ottawa creek, via Tomberlain's and Sower's, or as
near as practicable, and crossing Ottawa creek at Copple's ford,
thence on as straight a line as practicable to Ottawa, thence to
Garnett, thence to Mapleton and Fort Scott.113 In 1866 a road was
established from Lawrence, by way of Lecompton, to Tecumseh,
while another ran from Leavenworth, by way of Big Stranger bridge,
Berry's store on Tonganoxie creek and Nine Mile house on Ten
Mile creek, to Lawrence.114 This was practically the last of the
state roads laid out affecting Lawrence. There were many county
roads laid out from time to time, but space prevents mention of
them.

John C. Fremont passed through the site of Lawrence in the early
1840's. Capt. J. W. Gunnison also passed through on his ill-fated
expedition in 1853. Horace Greeley was also an early visitor, when
he came up the Kaw valley in 1859 on his westward journey. Albert
D. Richardson, a visitor in the territory in 1859, crossed the river
on the Baldwin ferry and gave an account of the crossing and an
illustration of the ferry, on page 35 of his book, Beyond the Mis-
sissippi.

Early in April, 1861, streams of emigrant wagons wended their
way through the city. They were usually loaded with the house-
hold goods of the family, sacks and boxes of grain and seed, and live
stock. As soon as spring had fairly arrived, from 30 to 100 teams
daily crossed at this ferry, many of them belonging to persons from
southern Kansas counties who were on their way to or from Leaven-
worth and, according to a local paper, this travel gave some idea
of the want of a bridge.115

While much trade reached Lawrence from surrounding territory
via Baldwin's ferry and roads much of the travel did not stop in
that city. An item from a Leavenworth paper copied into the

112. Laws, Kansas, 1864, pp. 204-209.

113. Ibid., 1865, pp. 140, 142, 148.

114. Ibid., 1866, pp. 224, 225, 227.

115. Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, April 11, May 9, 1861.

284 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Journal, of December 11, 1862, says: "The travel between here
and Lawrence was never so large as now. The receipts of the ferry
at that place sometimes reached seventy-five dollars a day. A
bridge there would add thousands upon thousands to our trade."

When ice broke up on the river each year that was an additional
hazard to be reckoned with. On February 15, 1862, ice went out
rather unexpectedly, and the ferry boat had a narrow escape from
sudden destruction. A wagon that had been partly run aboard was
destroyed by the rush of ice.116

The drouth of 1860 had its effect on the ferry business on the
Kansas river. The "June rise," which river men talked about, had
not manifested itself. During the early summer Indians who lived
along the river said that the river had never been lower than it
then was. Teams daily forded it a few rods above the ferry. The
following winter moving ice for a time suspended operations of the
ferry, much to the inconvenience of great numbers of teams en-
camped on the banks of the river. However, by hitching cattle to
the boat on each side of the river, crossing was resumed. The
operators of the ferry were frequently obliged to spend large sums
and much labor in opening a way through the ice. Early in 1861 a
local paper, in commenting on the situation, stated that few men
have any idea of the amount of travel over the ferry at that place.117

James Baldwin, son of the original owner of the ferry, became
one of the owners in the early Ws.118

Another ferry was projected for Lawrence early in 1861 when
Caleb S. Pratt and Horace L. Enos obtained a charter from the
legislature that year for the Lawrence Ferry Company. This act
granted charter rights for fourteen years for a ferry site and for
exclusive privileges for one mile up and one mile down the river.
They were also granted the right to construct as many roads or ways
to the ferry as was deemed necessary.119 No further history of this
ferry has been located.

The levee was a popular and convenient site and served the needs
of the community in other ways than strictly as a ferry landing.
The Journal, of June 12, 1862, contained the following: "Last
Sunday evening quite a number of our citizens assembled on the
levee to witness the immersion of a couple of colored persons. The
ceremony was well conducted and novel to many present."

116. Ibid., Feb. 19, 1862.

117. Ibid., 1861.

118. Ibid., May 7, 1863.

119. Laws, Kansas, 1861, pp. 36, 37

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 285

The first move for a bridge at Lawrence over the Kansas river
was in 1857, when the legislature granted a charter to the Lawrence
Bridge Company.120 No bridge was begun under this act. A new
charter was obtained in 1858, which was amended in 1859, but
nothing was done until 1863, when work started, and the bridge was
finished late that year.121

By the early 1870's there developed a strong sentiment for a free
bridge at Lawrence. The officers of the bridge company were asked
to sell but apparently turned a deaf ear to the proposition. The
income from tolls was evidently satisfactory to the bridge officials.

Dissatisfaction with the toll bridge grew as time passed, and in
1871 a steam ferry was put into operation to relieve the situation.
This boat went into service about June, 1871, and almost revolu-
tionized the transportation business at this point. Dr. Edward
Bumgardner, of Lawrence, in an article on Lawrence ferries pub-
lished in the Journal-World of May 30, 1933, has this to say of the
steam ferry:

"Dissatisfaction became so great [with the toll bridge] that the city em-
ployed James C. Wilson to operate a ferry in competition.

"Mr. Wilson had the first portable steam threshing-machine engine that had
been brought to this part of the state, and this was used to operate the ferry.
Two great cast iron wheels were made at the Kimball Bros. Iron Foundry.
These wheels, placed on opposite sides of the river, acted as pulleys to carry a
continuous wire cable to which the ferryboat was attached. The toll in the
ferry was fixed at 25 cents for a round trip, while the bridge company charged
25 cents each way. This ferry was satisfactory for a time, though Mr. Wilson
had a serious accident in operating it.

"Once, in 1871, the wheel on the south side of the river became loose on its
axle by the displacement of the key by which it was attached so that the cable
would not run. Mr. Wilson rearranged the wheel and drove the key to place so
as to make the wheel tight on the axle. At that moment his helper started the
engine and Mr. Wilson's right hand was instantly cut off by being caught be-
tween the wheel and the cable."

The two items following not only give additional information but
also furnish a graphic description of the new enterprise:

"The city of Lawrence has lately established a steam ferry which carries
passengers and freight free. The engine which drives the boat is stationary.
We do not understand the arrangements, but have been informed that the
power is applied by means of an endless chain. The Lawrence experiment is a
success. It has crossed six hundred teams in a single day. It carries six loaded
teams and any number of footmen at a trip, and makes the trip in two
minutes. This is much less time than it takes a team to walk across the bridge.

120. Ibid., 1857, p. 148.

121. Private Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 41, 42; 1859, p. 23; Kansas State Journal. Law-
rence, April 30, 1863.

286 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The cost of this ferry, exclusive of the franchise, was five thousand dollars."—
Alma Union, June 15, 1871.

"A small frame building on the left bank of the river containing a ten-horse
power portable engine, from the driving wheel of which runs a band which
passes over another wheel attached to a frame work. To this is also attached
a grooved wheel, five feet in diameter, over which passes an endless wire cable,
1,370 feet in length. This passes also through three upright standards of heavy
timber, at each end and in the middle, respectively, of the boat, on one side,
thence over a grooved wheel in a frame upon the opposite bank, similar to
that in the engine room. Upon a raised and covered platform on the boat
sits the pilot, with his hand upon a brake, with which, alternately, he firmly
holds the upper and lower strands of the wire cable, according to which side of
the river the boat is to be drawn ; this is the point of attachment of the mov-
ing force. A wave of the pilot's hand and the engineer turns on the steam, the
driving wheel of the engine, together with the cable upon the grooved wheels
on either bank, revolve and the boat shoots across the river in one minute, by
the watch, much faster than a team would ordinarily trot across the rival
bridge, if allowed to. The ferry will carry six heavy-loaded teams at a trip,
besides several foot passengers. It has carried 728 teams and 3,200 foot pas-
sengers during one day's operation. It has crossed the river in the short space
of forty seconds, although from one to one and one-half minutes is generally
consumed at a trip. It makes from 250 to 300 trips per day. The expense of
operating it, including the hire of three men, etc., is $12 per day. Kimball Bros.,
of this city, who are the inventors of this improved ferry, have applied for a
patent. . . ." — Lawrence Republican Journal, June 16, 1871.

This free ferry was cutting into the profits of the toll bridge
company and something had to be done about it. In 1872 the
bridge company obtained an injunction against the ferry, on the
ground that it was a "floating bridge." The bridge company in the
meantime had been obliged to reduce tolls to a minimum while the
ferry was in operation, but as soon as the injunction had been
obtained toll rates went back to former prices. The injunction suit
was finally tried and resulted in favor of the ferry. All this time
the campaign for a free bridge went steadily — if not merrily — on.
It became a political issue in the spring election of 1873. A local
paper, speaking of the toll bridge, said:

"It is an incubus that should have been removed years ago, and could have
been, and would have been, had it not been for the fact that the bridge com-
pany had too many advocates in the city council, and county boards. . . .
Public sentiment has been in favor of a free bridge for the past ten years, but
the bridge company have so manipulated those in authority that this sentiment
has not availed anything. . . . This monopoly ... is taking from
twenty to thirty thousand dollars out of our city every year, a good part of
which is invested in Chicago real estate."122

122. Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, April 4, 1873.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 287

This same authority exhorted the farmers and others who had
occasion to cross the river with teams to patronize the ferry, because
the charges were the same, and the ferry could not be run unless it
was better patronized. The ferry's prices had been met by the
bridge company, and it was presumed that in case the ferry was
discontinued the toll rates would be raised to the old figure.123

The steam ferry was doing a thriving business in the spring of
1873. A Mr. Morton had the contract for running it, and the follow-
ing rates charged by him for crossing were certainly attractive to
those having occasion to visit the opposite side of the river: 1 horse,
2% cents; 1 horse and vehicle, 5 cents; 2 horses and vehicle, 5
cents; 4 horses and vehicle, 7% cents. Foot passengers free. The
fact that the bridge company was obliged to meet this rate in order
to get any patronage 124 prompted a Marysville paper to remark
that the ferry was "playing smash with the bridge company." 123
Another item from the same source was to the effect that "Lawrence
is hot about her bridge affairs. She has a toll bridge that don't give
satisfaction, and therefore a ferry has been established to connect
her with the railroad on the north side of the Kaw." 126

The campaign of the Tribune for a free bridge brought on about
the hottest fight staged in that city up to that time, and a mayor
and council who, during the campaign, professed to be favorable
to the free bridge proposition had been elected. Their apparent
reluctance in taking action in the bridge controversy caused the
Lawrence people to regard them as more favorable to the bridge
company than to her own citizens. The Tribune asked why the
city attorney had not done his full duty in regard to the injunction
that had been obtained against the ferry, and added:

"It is a matter of surprise to us that any court could ever put on glasses with
magnifying power enough to magnify a ferry boat into a floating bridge. . . .
That floating-bridge dodge was pretty thin; but thick enough to put about
$20,000 of the people's money into the pockets of Babcock & Co. They can
well afford to pay damages, and the city should make them to do it." 12T

Within the next thirty days the Tribune suggested that the city
council should appoint a committee to examine the bridge, and if it
was found unsafe to have it condemned and abated as a common

123. Ibid

124. Ibid., March 22, 1873.

125. Marshall County News, Marysville, March 29, 1873.

126. Ibid., April 25, 1873.

127. Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, April 9, 1873.

288 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

nuisance or have the approaches to it closed up so as to protect the
lives and property of the unsuspecting crossers.128

In the meantime the bridge company made an offer to sell the
structure to the city, but at a price which the Tribune thought be-
yond its physical value, and this provoked a charge that the com-
pany was trying to sell the city a "rotten old structure" for three
or four times what it was worth.129

Late in May, 1873, the ferry was put out of commission by flood
wood that came down the river as the result of a heavy rain on the
night of May 20. Driftwood in such quantity lodged against the
ferry cable that it was broken, and that route "closed for repairs,
leaving no choice but to hazard crossing over on that rotten old
bridge and pay the old prices for the risk incurred." 18°

Acting on the Tribune's suggestion, a committee had been ap-
pointed to investigate the condition of the bridge, and at a special
meeting of the council it reported that the bridge was unsafe.131
A few days later the council notified the bridge company of the
findings of the committee. Notices were at once posted at each end
of the bridge, warning the public of its condition, but as the ferry
had been temporarily put out of commission, traffic across the bridge
went ahead unabated.132

Meetings were held to check the bridge situation up to the people,
and at one of these the bridge company wanted the council to take
the ferry off the river. This could not be done as the county com-
missioners had jurisdiction over that matter. Resolutions were
passed at this meeting against making any arrangements with the
bridge company by which tolls were to be collected ; and it was voted
that in case the company erected a new toll bridge and attempted
to collect tolls the mayor and councilmen should immediately make
the ferry free and run it until a free bridge could be had. This
meeting placed the valuation of the bridge at not to exceed
$15,000.133

The bridge company late in June issued a statement signed by
C. W. Babcock, secretary and treasurer of the Lawrence Bridge
Company, in which it was proposed to make the bridge free for foot
travel, free for all city business, free for all public occasions, and

128. Ibid., May 8, 1873.

129. Ibid., May 29, 1873.

130. Ibid., May 22, 1873.
181. Ibid., May 23, 1873.

132. Ibid., May 28, 1873.

133. Ibid., June 20, 1873.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 289

all public processions. Tolls on all wagons and buggy travel were
to be reduced to 10 cents. Tolls were to remain at that figure until
a final decision was rendered in the case then pending, (unless the
county attorney should unnecessarily delay), or until the city
should express a willingness to purchase the property at a fair
price.134

Desirous of quieting the public mind in regard to the condition of
the bridge, the company called in two engineers, one a Mr. Sneed,
of the Union Pacific railway, who made a thorough examination
of the structure, and pronounced it unsafe.135

During the summer, among other items printed about the old
bridge, were the following:

"Condemned the Second Time. — The elephant attached to Robinson's circus
could not be induced to cross the bridge. His keepers urged and scolded him,
but in spite of all their efforts he refused to trust himself on Babcock's bridge,
but went on the ferry readily. Mr. Robinson stated to some gentlemen in front
of the Eldridge House that it was the first time in ten years that the elephant
had refused to cross a bridge." — Daily Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, August 2,
1873.

"A flock of woodpeckers made a raid on the old Babcock bridge yesterday,
but after punching the timbers in all the ways they could, they gave it up in
disgust. They could not find what they were looking after — live grubs, the
timber was too rotten to afford life to them." — Daily Kansas Tribune, Law-
rence, August 29, 1873.

Early in September the company tacitly admitted the true con-
dition of the bridge, and set to work making substantial repairs.
A temporary bridge — pontoons — was constructed to serve travel
while repairs were being made. About this time the Tribune was
selected as the official city paper and, strange to say, the fight on
the old bridge company suddenly ceased, though the paper did
modestly claim the credit for having gotten the city the new struc-
ture.136 This temporary bridge was quite well patronized, and the
people were crossing nearly all the time.137

The bridge controversy came to an end in 1879, the supreme court
holding that the bridge company's charter had already expired and
that they had no further control over the bridge or highway. This
decision gave Lawrence the free bridge she had been wanting for
years.138

134. Ibid., June 28, 1873.

135. Ibid., June 29, 1873.
186. Ibid., October 1, 1873.

137. Ibid., October 30, 1873.

138. 22 Kansas Reports, pp. 438-443.

19—8677

290 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The following abridged account of Lawrence's last ferry is taken
from a story written by Dr. Edward Bumgardner of that city, and
published in the Lawrence Journal-World, May 30, 1933 :

"The last ferry across the river at Lawrence was an emergency service op-
erated by Gustave A. Graeber at the time of the 1903 flood, just thirty years
ago. In the latter part of May, 1903, the heavy rains all over the Kaw water-
shed had so swollen the tributary streams that the river reached the flood stage
about the 20th of the month and began overflowing the rich farm lands of the
Kaw valley.

"On May 30, Decoration Day, it seemed that the highest possible level of
water had been reached. The house of Will Parsons, a mail carrier, a quarter
of a mile up stream, had floated down the current, struck the bridge, carried
away a section, and interrupted communication between North Lawrence and
the main part of the city south of the river. A small building with a sign
announcing that it was the 'Salina Bakery' was stranded a short distance below
the dam. The Bowersock mill had collapsed and disappeared down stream
after sending up a great cloud of flour that covered with white a thousand
spectators who were standing near the south end of the wrecked bridge.

"Gustave A. Graeber had made that day in a row boat what he thought was
his last round trip to North Lawrence, and had gone home exhausted. No one
else in Lawrence was as familiar with the Kaw, and no one had watched the
development of this flood with more concern than 'Dolly' Graeber. He lived
at that time, as he still does, on the bank of the river at the north end of
Ohio street. The bank is rather high there, and Mr. Graeber's house stands
some 15 feet above the grade of the Santa Fe railroad track which runs along
the river between it and the Graeber home.

"To the astonishment of all and the dismay of many Lawrence people, the
river rose four feet more that Saturday night. Through the night rockets were
seen rising from an island in North Lawrence, the only spot not covered with
water, where an undetermined number of the population were assembled. On
Sunday morning above the roar of the raging waters the North Lawrence
church bells could be heard, not calling the people to worship, but tolling a
prolonged appeal for relief. Early in the morning 'Dolly' Graeber was be-
sieged by excited citizens urging him to do something for the marooned people
in North Lawrence. For awhile he demurred. . . . But, knowing that many
human lives were at stake, he could not resist continued appeals.

"He got into his little boat and pushed out into the water. . . . After a
hard struggle he reached the opposite shore and sized up the situation there.
Hundreds of homeless people were huddled together, frantic in their desire
to escape from their crowded and terrifying situation. So long as this was
impossible, food and clothing were in urgent demand, and everybody had a
message for some , relative or friend on the south side. After an hour's survey
of the situation, Mr. Graeber worked his boat up stream a short distance and
braved the foaming waters for the return trip, which he accomplished suc-
cessfully, landing near the Santa Fe depot, and reported to Mayor A. L. Selig
and other anxious citizens.

"Mr. Graeber's task was now only outlined. The people in North Lawrence
must be rescued as soon as possible, and in the meantime they must be pro-

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 291

vided with the necessities of life. It was before the days of electric and gaso-
line launches, but he thought of fixing up an antiquated launch which he owned
and which was provided with a one-cylinder steam engine. The engine had
never worked properly, but he determined to make it work now. As he was
starting on his first trip a poppet valve went bad, and the engine was useless.
A repair man, C. L. Rutter, quickly made a new valve and the engine began
to function.

"Accompanied by L. L. Phillips, Mr. Graeber now made a trip with a cargo
of food, wraps and medicines. This was the beginning of a service that he
rendered for six weeks, until the waters had subsided and other means of
crossing had been provided. A problem that had to be solved immediately was
the preservation of order in the flooded district and the protection of such
property as had not been destroyed by water.

"At the request of Mayor Selig, Company H of the First Kansas national
guards was ordered out by Governor Bailey, and Capt. F. B. Dodds and 48
men of this company were transported by Graeber to the north side where
they remained on duty for fifteen days.

"Government officials had been notified when the bridge went out, and a
company of army engineers at Fort Leavenworth was ordered across the
country with materials for constructing a pontoon bridge. They found it im-
possible to cross Mud creek for several days, so that they did not reach North
Lawrence until the 10th of June. One platoon made camp on the north side
of the river, while the remainder of the company were brought across in
Graeber 's launch and camped on the south side. On the third day after their
arrival they completed a swinging ferry which was operated daily from five
in the morning until one at night for about two months, until a Union Pacific
construction gang had made such temporary repairs on the bridge as to make
it passable.

"For full six weeks Mr. Graeber ran his launch as a ferry boat back and forth
every hour of the day. For two weeks he received nothing but the grateful
thanks of the people he served. During the additional four weeks he made a
charge of fifteen cents for each passenger that he carried. He kept count of
the passengers transported until the number exceeded 20,000, when he lost
count, but he says he is confident that he hauled at least 25,000 in the six
weeks; and during all that time he had no serious mishap. Several times there
were accidents impending that would have been fatal, but no passenger of his
was ever thrown into the water.

"On one occasion a sharp snag punctured the bottom of the boat, but it
broke off in such a way as to partially close the rent and keep the boat from
sinking immediately, and he reached shore with the boat nearly full of water.
Now, at the age of 79, Mr. Graeber looks back with satisfaction to the record
that he made thirty years ago without the loss of any passenger whose life was
placed in his hands."

Hugh Cameron had the next ferry above Lawrence. The legis-
lature of 1857 granted him a charter for a ferry across the Kansas
river opposite fractional E. % S. 14, T. 12, R. 19, with a ten-year
privilege of landing on the north side of the river on the Delaware

292 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

reserve.139 This ferry is shown on a map of Douglas county, Kan-
sas, by J. Cooper Stuck, for 1857, and was approximately two and
one-half miles up river from Lawrence. Cameron was a resident
of Douglas county for many years, and was known locally as "The
Kansas Hermit," this nickname having been given him for his
solitary mode of living. He was in the federal army during the
Civil War and had been brevetted brigadier general. He was a
strong advocate of prohibition and equal suffrage, and wrote some
of his views in verse. In his later life he was known for his many
eccentricities, one of which was having his sleeping quarters in a
long box which he had erected in the forks of a tree near his cabin.

The next ferry above Cameron's was John Harris', about five
miles above Lawrence. Harris was granted a charter for a ferry by
the legislature of 1860, the crossing to be located near the west line
of S. 2, T. 12, R. 19 E., in Jefferson county. This act granted ex-
clusive privileges for a distance of two miles on each side of S. 2
for a period of twenty years.140 The landing on the south side of
the river was a point slightly north and east of Horseshoe lake.
This lake was formerly a part of the main channel of the Kansas
river, which here made a big turn to the south and doubled back
to the north, forming the lake when high water in an early day
cut a new channel directly across the narrowest part of the loop,
leaving the old bed cut off. This body of water was given the name
of Lake View in modern times, and now belongs to a private club
which has made it one of the pleasure and fishing spots of eastern
Kansas. This ferry was located near another historic spot. The
Kaw Indian agency in 1827 was located on the north side of the
river opposite Horseshoe lake, near the village of Williamstown of
present day. Daniel Morgan Boone, farmer for the Kaw Indians,
had his farm close by.141

Douglas, two or three miles up the river, was the next point to
have a ferry. The town was incorporated by act of the territorial
legislature of 1855, John W. Reid, George W. Clarke, Chas. E.
Kearney, Edward C. McCarty, Paris Ellison and M. W. McGee
being its projectors.142

These men were also granted a twenty-year charter for a ferry
by the same legislature, with exclusive privileges for one mile up
from the town and down the river to the eastern line of the town of
Douglas.143

139. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 162. 140. Ibid., 1860, pp. 269, 270.

141. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, p. 302 ; v. 9, p. 321.

142. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 854. 143. Ibid., p. 778.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 293

This ferry, if operated at all, must have been discontinued within
a couple of years, for in 1858 Paris Ellison 144 was granted a charter
at this location for a ten-year period.

The charter members of the first ferry company, in all probability,
were proslavery men. M. W. McGee was a member of an early
family of Westport, Mo., and was a member of the first territorial
legislature. Geo. W. Clarke was an Indian agent, purser in the navy,
register of the Fort Scott land ofiice, and will be remembered by
Linn county citizens as the leader of a band which raided that
county. J. W. Reid was a proslavery man and was at the head of
the 400 Missourians at the Battle of Osawatomie. He was also
one of the generals in command of territorial militia when Lawrence
was threatened by the 2,700 Missourians in 1856.145

Douglas was about opposite the mouth of Grasshopper (Delaware)
river. A post ofiice had been established in March, 1855, which
also served Lecompton, Andrew McDonald being the first post-
master. In September the post office was removed to Lecompton,
its rival. A steam saw mill had been established by Messrs. Johns-
ton, McDonald and White at Douglas early in January, and ad-
vertised good native lumber, one-inch thick, at $3 per hundred. The
firm pointed out that this lumber could be rafted down the Kansas
river at nearly all seasons, and that they would run the mill day
and night, if necessary, to accommodate the public.146 Douglas re-
ceived two votes for territorial capital when the members of the
legislature were called on to make a selection. It received the votes
of Messrs. O. H. Brown and G. W. Ward. Brown was from Mary-
land, aged 34, single and proslavery in politics, while Ward was a
Kentuckian, aged 55, farmer, married, and also "sound on the
goose."147 The legislature this year ordered a territorial road laid
out from One Hundred and Ten to the town of Douglas, via Glen-
dale, and thence by the most practicable route to the most desirable
point on the road leading from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley.148

Douglas was one of three towns located between Horseshoe lake
and Lecompton, the others being Benicia and East Douglas, the
townsites almost adjoining. All three towns are shown on Whitman
& SearPs map of Kansas, 1856, but have long since disappeared.

(To be Continued in November Quarterly.)

144. Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 55, 56.

145. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, pp. 532, 533, 537.

146. Kansas Free State, Lawrence, June 4, 1855; Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 309,
310; Colton's Kansas and Nebraska, p. 75; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 3, p. 897; v.
7, p. 443.

147. Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, July 28, 1855.

148. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 972, 973.

The Bull Fight at Dodge

KIRKE MECHEM

THE first and with perhaps one exception the only real bull fight
ever held in the United States was staged at Dodge City on the
fourth and fifth of July, 1884.1 It was a genuine Spanish importa-
tion, via Mexico, featuring expert Mexican bull fighters and actual
swording of the bulls. In defiance of the nation-wide protest which
arose against this "barbarous celebration of our national holiday"
the Cowboy Capital, as was its habit in those days, presented the
spectacle as advertised and thumbed its nose at the clamor.

To A. B. Webster, a former mayor of Dodge City, goes credit for
the town's unique sporting venture. It was while struggling on the
horns of a dilemma presented by the necessity for concocting some-
thing new in the way of Fourth of July entertainment, that Webster
was prodded by his inspiration. After a moment's consideration
of the feasibility of the idea he made a hasty calculation of the
expense involved and with characteristic frontier promptitude set
out to sell his proposition to the town. Within an hour Dodge's
business men had subscribed and paid in over $3,000. By the end
of the following day the estimated budget of $10,000 had been
raised.2

1. Under Spanish rule there were many bullfights, bull-and-bear fights, and similar spec-
tacles in the Southwest. There are vague references to fights along the Texas and Louisiana
borders at a later period. Despite the opposition of humane societies there have since been
numerous attempts to introduce bull fighting in the United States. On July 31, 1880, a
Spaniard held a steer baiting in New York City, "when," according to the New York Semi-
Weekly Tribune, August 3, "Texas steers showed their docility and good breeding." Rubber
caps were fitted on the horns and the matadors were not permitted to harm the animals.
Henry Bergh, Jr., president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
attended and stopped further exhibitions. In 1895 managers of an exposition at Atlanta, Ga.,
sold a Mexican village concession in the knowledge that bull fighting would be the principal at-
traction. Protests brought about a cancellation, although, according to the New York Tribune,
October 9, 1895, bull fighters, bulls and horses were on their way from Mexico. Cripple Creek,
Colo., shares honors with Dodge City for the only fights where bulls were actually sworded,
so far as the writer has been able to discover. On August 24 and 25, 1895, three bulls were
killed in the ring in a particularly brutal manner, in the presence of excursion crowds from
Colorado Springs and Denver. Contrary to the procedure at Dodge City, no attempt, ap-
parently, was made to secure animals that would fight. Docile Hereford bulls were cut to
pieces trying to escape. (Denver Republican, August 26, 1895.) The Humane Society, much
criticised, later stopped a fight one of the same promoters attempted to hold in Denver.
At Omaha, Neb., on July 9, 1901, according to the New York Tribune of July 10, seven
thousand attended a bull fight, attracted by the goring of a matador the preceding day,
which, the Mexican fighters said, could have been prevented if they had not been prohibited
from harming the bulls. On November 27, 1902, unarmed Mexican matadors gave a "pleas-
ing" demonstration in Kansas City, Mo., following many protests. Kansas City Star articles
of that week indicate that these same fighters had appeared in Wichita, St.^Louis and other
cities. There are many references in more recent years to "mild," "modified," "mock," "bur-
lesque" and "bloodless" fights. (See New York Times: February 22, 1922; May 26, June
24, 29, August 17, 24, 1923; August 18, 19 and 20, 1924; February 24, 1925; January 4,
1926; and February 5, 1927.) In 1930 Sidney Franklin, famous American bull fighter, pro-
posed to stage a fight in Newark. Because of his prominence the proposal drew criticism
from all over the country and he was forced to give up the project. (New York Times,
November 21 to 25, 1930.)

2 Kansas Cowboy, Dodge City, July 12, 1884. In this issue the Cowboy reprinted
articles from the New York Herald and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, both papers having
sent special correspondents to report the fight.

(294)

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE

Webster and his associates in the project of course had no motive
other than a desire to make money. Certainly they would have
scouted the imputation that any Spanish innovation was necessary
to maintain Dodge City's notoriety as a two-gun metropolis. Yet,
whether they realized it or not, Dodge in 1884 stood in need of just
the sort of lurid publicity it immediately received when the bull
fight was announced. The days of its lusty youth were slipping
away, and the town was drifting perilously close to the shores of
respectability. True, it was still the home of Bat Masterson, then
advertised as the killer of thirty-two men, but the outside world
was gaining the impression that it had turned pacifistic.3 In spite
of its past reputation and the fact that it was still only a fringe on
the outskirts of civilization men were hinting openly that Dodge
wasn't as bad as it once had been. Mostly this was innuendo, but
a few Eastern correspondents were making copy of the gossip. In-
deed, in June of that year one of them boldly wrote :

"People in the East have formed the idea that Dodge is still the embodi-
ment of all the wickedness in the Southwest, and that it is dangerous for a
stranger to come into the town unless he has a strong bodyguard with him.
The impression, however, is a false one. Dodge is a rough frontier town, and
it is populated largely by rough people, but they are not at all vicious. They
are open-hearted and generous. I would have less fear of molestation in this
wild, western town than I would have on the side streets of Kansas City or
Chicago late in the evening.

"Dodge is a typical frontier town. Cowboys and cattle dealers constitute
the bulk of the population. Incidental to these are hosts of gamblers and
saloonists. The yearly 'round-up' has not yet been completed. In May the
cattlemen begin to drive in their cattle for the round-up, which lasts nearly
a month. The drive this year probably numbered 450,000 cattle. Of these
doubtless 100,000 will be shipped from here, the balance being driven on
further. Dodge is a lively business town. The amount of freight received
here over the railway is enormous, as this is the base of supplies for the im-
mense country of which this is the centre."4

This was the sort of publicity that had begun to undermine the
town's reputation. It was insidious, all this talk of cow hands and
round-ups in terms of big business. The glamour of the ranges was
fading, to be replaced by statistics. There were Kansas writers,
even, who used similar language. The Independent, of a town as
far west as McPherson, could say:

"Dodge City is not the town it used to be. A few years ago at early candle-
light nearly every saloon was turned into a public gambling or dance house.

3. In February, 1933, H. B. Bell, of Dodge City, and D. W. Barton, of Ingalls, who
knew Masterson well while he lived in Dodge City, both stated to the writer that Masterson
may have killed three men, but neither was certain of more than one.

4. Kansas Cowboy, July 12, 1884.

296 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The 'girls' came out from almost every nook and comer and solicited custom
with as much effrontery as the waiter girls do for their counters at a church
festival. It was trying on a man's virtue in those days. The cowboys, with a
revolver strapped upon each hip, swung these wicked beauties all night and
made the sleeping hours hideous with their profanity and vulgarity. This has
been stopped. No cowboy is allowed to carry weapons, few dance halls are al-
lowed to run, and gambling is only carried on in private quarters. The saloons
are yet running in defiance of law, but prosecutions are pending against all
of them." 5

No doubt this newspaper man believed he was doing the town a
service in thus calling attention to its conversion. As a matter of
fact he was unduly optimistic about these ordinances which the city
had recently acquired. Dodge had not reformed ; it was merely be-
coming conscious, occasionally, of its sins. The conservative
Eastern papers, for the most part, were under no illusions as to its
sanctity, and when the bull-fight story was released they lost no
opportunity to point a righteous finger at its iniquities.

The Cincinnati Enquirer, calling attention to the fact that Dodge
was distinguishing itself by introducing the Mexican "sport" to
American soil, stated that the town "was previously known to fame.
It is only a few weeks," it commented, "since the gamblers held
the place in a state of siege for a week. Some two years since
the town marshal was threatened with death. He telegraphed his
brother at Tombstone, 1,000 miles away, who rushed to his aid
by the first train. The two barricaded themselves on the public
square, and with Winchester rifles deliberately picked off their
enemies whenever they appeared. When the Santa Fe railroad was
first built through the place the festive sports used to amuse them-
selves by putting bullet holes through the tall hats of passengers
on the trains ; and even yet the depot platforms are decorated with
recumbent forms of dozens of frisky cowboys, sleeping off the effects
of the last night's debauch, each with his huge revolver and full
cartridge belt strapped around him. When the prohibition law
went into effect in other parts of the state, Dodge City defied the
authorities and the saloon keepers made up a purse and sent it to
the mayor with the legend: 'To be given to the widow of the first
man who informs against a saloon keeper.' That interesting town
might have sat for the original of John Phoenix's touching rural
picture :

5. The McPherson Independent, July 9, 1884. The Independent, however, held no brief
for Dodge City, for in its issue of July 2, 1884, it had reported: "At Dodge City last week
an employee of the Santa Fe road entered complaint against the saloon keepers. As a con-
sequence he got badly pounded, had one eye punched out, was arrested and fined $50 for
disturbing the peace, and while looking for a bondsman he was rotten egged. Dodge City is
the banner antiprohibition city of Kansas."

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 297

" 'All night long in this sweet little village,
You can hear the soft note of the pistol,
And the pleasant shriek of the victim.' "

No matter what might be said to the contrary, this, after all, was
Dodge of the Boot Hill as it still existed in popular imagination
and as it was pictured by most Eastern news writers at the time of
the bull fight. With some of the highlights toned down it was a
passably good portrait. Nevertheless, the very fact that Dodge
City's business men were willing to employ the spotlight in their
effort to capitalize the town's gaudy atmosphere indicates that the
"first fine, careless rapture" was passing. The Wild West show and
the rodeo, glorifying the American cowboy and commercializing
his exploits, were coming into their own.

That they were thus helping to officiate at the death of one era
and the birth of another Webster and his fellow promoters, how-
ever, were wholly unaware. With matadors to engage, bulls to
secure, and an arena to build there was no leisure for historical
speculation. In order to handle the business affairs of the venture
they organized the Dodge City Driving Park and Fair Association.
H. B. (Ham) Bell was elected president; D. M. Cockey, vice presi-
dent; J. S. Welch, secretary; and A. J. Anthony, treasurer. Web-
ster was made general manager.

The first and most important job of the association was to engage
"the genuine Spanish bull-fighters" who were to be the main feature
and principal drawing card. This Webster was fortunate enough
to do through a Scottish lawyer of Paso del Norte, one W. K.
Moore, of the firm of Moore & Sierra. Moore not only engaged
the troupe, but he came with them as their manager. Also he served
as press agent. In this capacity he apparently came in immediate
contact with the antagonism the fight had engendered, and one of
his first tasks was to pour oil on the troubled waters.

A perusal of some of the advance publicity Moore prepared in-
dicates how cannily he undertook to discredit charges that the fight
would be a cruel and brutal exhibition. An interesting example
is found in an interview which he gave to the Dodge City Kansas
Cowboy, wherein he compares bull-fighting favorably with prize-
fighting.

"Mr. Moore," said the Cowboy, "is a native of Scotland and has
lived in Paso del Norte ten years. He is a professor in one of the
Mexican colleges. He wishes to disabuse the prevailing opinion
in the minds of the American people as to the nature of a bull

298 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

fight. He says that fight is not the proper word; that athletic
exhibition would be more suitable. There is nothing barbarous
in the proceeding. The bulls are not tortured, the only weapons
of offense used by the men being small darts. The excitement and
interest in the 'sport' (as termed by the Mexicans) consist princi-
pally in witnessing the skill and dexterity of the men in evading
the assaults of the bull. Mr. Moore says it is an error to classify
it with pugilistic contests. The governor of Chihuahua is a bull-
fighter and can handle the lasso with as much skill as the most
accomplished cowboy." 6

Apparently, however, Moore was not always consulted by the
reporters. Contrasted with his assurance that the fight would be
a gentlemanly and harmless "athletic exhibition" is another news-
paper story stating that it was not unlikely that the fights of the
4th and 5th would result fatally to some of the matadors. This
was ballyhoo of the most modern and approved style. The man-
agers had advertised a blood-letting, and they knew what the
crowds expected. But they felt they must make some effort to dis-
credit the storm of disapproval their advertising had aroused else-
where. Reports were being circulated that Governor Glick intended
to stop the fight. This threatened to make serious inroads on the
crowds expected from the East. The management knew that Glick
proposed nothing of the sort, despite the pressure that was being
brought to bear on him. Glick had friends in Dodge, and they
reported the governor had said that if the fight could be held
at another time he would attend. But they were afraid that
promises of too much gore might prove to be a boomerang. There
was, of course, in addition the unverified rumor that the mayor
had received a telegram from the United States attorney's office
saying that bull fighting was against the law in the United States,
to which the mayor was said to have made the classic answer,
"Hell! Dodge City ain't in the United States!" But this, too, if
it occurred at all, was taken no more seriously than the Glick
rumors.

While it is doubtless true that there was no danger of Glick's
stopping the fight, he was subject to considerable criticism. Among
those who protested most volubly was Henry Bergh, Jr., of New
York. Bergh was president of the American Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals, and had had experience of bull
fights before. In August, 1880, he had succeeded in stopping a

6. Kansas Cowboy, July 12, 1884.

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 299

bull baiting exhibition in New York City promoted by one Angel
Fernandez.7

On the Fourth of July Bergh sent Glick the following telegram:

"In the name of humanity I appeal to you to prevent the con-
templated bull fight at Dodge City this day. Let not American
soil be polluted by such atrocities." 8

On July 7 Bergh followed this up with a long letter of protest to
the Governor:

"Sin: — While civilization is striving to extend its peaceful and benign in-
fluences over our prosperous and happy country, a spot within the boundries
of your state suddenly invites notice, where humanity and public decency have
been trampled under feet and the blood-red flag of barbarisim substituted in
their stead.

"Millions of our countrymen, learning through the Press that the birthday
of the nation, for the first time in its history, has been stained and disgraced
by a Spanish bullfight at Dodge City in the state of Kansas, will be reluctant
to believe the report. While the banner of our nation was being elevated in
every state, town and village in the land, amidst the thundering of artillery and
the shouts of a prosperous and patriotic people, Dodge City alone stands up
and announces to the world that henceforth the tastes and habits of the heathen
and the savage shall be inaugurated upon its soil.

"It requires no great stretch of fancy to imagine the solemn protest which
the founders of this great nation would offer could their voices, now silent in
death, be heard again. Perhaps it would resemble the following, in all respects,
except the feebleness of the language I employ:

" 'Fellow countrymen, after years of toil and suffering we acheieved national
independence for you and yours, along with an almost boundless domain
which seems to be the special abode of everything which a bounteous Provi-
dence can bestow upon its children. To-day, one hundred and eight years ago,
a government was declared whose principles are based on patriotism, humanity
and progress. Up to the present time no act of that government has, by its
own election, tarnished or subverted these heaven-born precepts.

" 'In face of all these blessings, and upon a day consecrated to freedom and
to progress, a portion of the young state of Kansas, ignoring all these benefits,
elects to cast its lot among those few ignorant and effete states remaining in
the world where a majority of the people still cling to the cruel and uncivilized
pastime which you have to-day transplanted to your own soil.'

"Such, I say, might be the remonstrance of those noble founders of the
republic who, dying, constituted yourselves and others the heirs of a nation,
whose resources are boundless, whose people are educated, and to whom the
ignorant and oppressed of the earth are looking for example and encourage-
ment.

"The same telegram which sends this humiliating announcement into every
home and schoolhouse in the land is intensified by the report, which it is sin-

7. See Footnote 1.

8. Telegram from Henry Bergh, Jr., New York City, to Gov. George W. Glick, July 4,
1884. — "Correspondence of Kansas Governors," Archives division, Kansas State Historical
Society.

300 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

cerely hoped is false, that your excellency has extended your official sanction
to this deed of retrogression, which strives to set back the hands of time to
that period of the past when human government was content to stand still
or move on only in the direction of cruelty, tyranny and superstition.

"That the rumor is as false as it is humiliating, is shared by every re-
spectable man and woman in the land, I am certain.

"Americans, like all other people, seek diversion and amusement, but they
are not willing to give over their country to the bloody and demoralizing
scenes of the bull ring, a pastime which has, more than any other cause, cor-
rupted and wasted the minds and energies of the Spanish race, until national
stagnation and degeneracy are recognized in their shrunken territory, and
loss of political influence in the councils of their sister states.

"In response to the universal sentiment of the people of thirty-eight states
of our beloved country, laws have been enacted within them, and Kansas
among the number, making cruelty to every living creature, however humble,
a crime. As an evidence of the sincerity of this sentiment, your excellency may
possibly remember the audacious attempt made a few years ago in this, the
greatest city of the republic, to establish the degrading spectacles to which I
refer, and how sternly and effectually it was rebuked and its authors sent back
to their foreign homes, fully assured that America is not the soil where so
foul and unhealthy a plant can flourish.

"The publication of the laws of Kansas, which I venture to here transcribe,
along with an expression of your excellency's condemnation to this stupendous
insult to your people and to every citizen of our country, would do honor to
the high position you occupy and perhaps serve to recall the people of Dodge
City back to that career of prosperity and power from which they have
thoughtlessly suffered themselves to be diverted.

"'Laws of Kansas, 1879, chapter 81, section 264: Every person who shall
maliciously or cruelly maim, beat or torture any horse, ox, or other cattle,
whether belonging to himself or another, shall on conviction be adjudged guilty
of a misdemeanor, and fined not exceeding fifty dollars.'

"I have the honor to be your excellency's most obedient servant,

"HENRY BEBGH,

"President of the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals." »

Governor Glick did not acknowledge this until a week later, and
then he put an exceedingly soft pedal on the affair:

"My Dear Sir:—

"Your letter of July 7th is at hand. The bull fight to which you refer was
rather a tame and insignificant affair, and while advertisements gave it some
importance it had little or no importance at Dodge City or any place else.
Your telegram in relation to the matter dated July 4th was received but not
until after the performance had taken place.

"I am, my dear sir,

"Your obedient servant." 10

9. Letter from Henry Bergh, Jr., New York City, to Gov. George W. Glick, July 7,
1884.— Ibid.

10. Letter from Gov. George W. Glick, July 14, 1884.— Ibid.

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 301

While Click seemingly was unmoved by these and other protests
and made no move to interfere, local opposition was not so easy to
ignore. In Dodge City itself there were many who did not relish
this new accession to the town's already lurid reputation. The
minister of one of the churches publicly prayed that Dodge City
might be relieved from this "stench in the nostrils of civilization."
Nor was criticism confined within the church; some business men,
even, while expecting to make money from the crowds, deplored
the notoriety which they felt would hinder the future growth of the
city.

However, neither Eastern sensibilities nor local delicacy weighed
heavily upon the conscience of the Cowboy Capital. For the most
part Dodge was enjoying the limelight without qualm or misgiving.
It gloried in its sanguine past and was in no hurry to succumb
to the soft amenities of civilization. It was getting a lot of fun
out of this bull fight. It talked much and loudly about what was
going to transpire, even though certain of its remarks were made
with tongue in cheek. In the matter of the bulls, especially, Dodge
injected a spirit of levity into the proceedings that would have been
incomprehensible to any Spanish community on the eve of a serious
bull fight.

These bulls the management had decided to secure locally. D.
W. (Doc) Barton, said to be the first man to drive a herd of cattle
from Texas to Dodge City, was given the contract. The grazing
grounds were full of Texas herds containing bulls about whose
fighting abilities and proclivities there was no question, and Barton's
instructions were to choose them for their ferocity without fear or
favor. Accordingly he combed the ranges with but one idea in
mind, and that was to round up the most agile and pugnacious
bovines the cattle country could produce. In the last week in June
he delivered the twelve of his selection at the arena corral.

The public excitement aroused by the arrival of the bulls was
exceeded only when the matadors put in their appearance a few days
later. The citizens of Dodge were livestock connoisseurs, and after
due inspection they were of unanimous opinion that these bulls
were decidedly ugly customers. "By nature," stated one observer,
"a Texas bull is all the time as mad as he can get." The mere
presence of onlookers "was enough to bring them pawing and plung-
ing against the corral fence till the boards bent like paper and the
braces creaked with the strain."

Describing these bulls the Ford County Globe said: "As some

302 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

of them are liable to be numbered with the dead before our next
issue, we deem it proper to give a short sketch of these noted ani-
mals, together with their pedigrees. These pedigrees are kindly
furnished by the famous bull raiser and breeder, Brother Barton,
of the great Arkansas river."11

Number 1 on the Globe's list was "Ringtailed Snorter, the oldest
and most noted of the twelve. He has been in twenty-seven differ-
ent fights, and always came off victor. Pedigree: Calved February
29, 1883; sire, Long-Horns; dam, All Fire, first of Great Fire, who
won big money in a freeze-out at Supply in 1882."

Iron Gall, Number 3, was "a famous catch-as-catch-can fighter,
and very bad when stirred up." Pedigree: Calved March 25,
1880; sire, Too-Much Gall; dam, Gall, by Gaily.

Of Klu Klux, Number 7, the Globe said, "He is a four year old,
and next to Ringtail Snorter is the oldest noted fighter that will
come to the front on next Friday. It is this animal that the bull
fighters most fear, having laid out his man in Old Mexico, while
playing 'four you see and one you don't/ Pedigree: Got by Frank,
out of Healy-Boy, who was given a commission in 1878 in the
Neutral Strip."

Number 8 was "Sheriff, an animal that was never tamed or
branded but showed good points in his past go-as-you-please fights
on the plains, and since then has captured several prizes in different
parts of the country."

Numbers 10, 11 and 12, were Rustler, Loco Jim, and Eat-Em-Up-
Richard, all two-year olds. "Boyce has been training Loco Jim for
the past month," the Globe reported, "and he will likely get away
with his man. These animals are all sired by Ringtail Snorter
and are the coming heroes of the day." The other entries were
Cowboy Killer, Lone Star, Long Branch, Opera, and Doc. It was
said of the latter, owned by and named for Doc Barton, that he was
"a splendid formed gentleman, with well-developed muscles, and
there is no doubt but that he will do good work."

This published list of the names and pedigrees of the bulls, con-
taining allusions to persons and incidents familiar to everyone in
the range country, was typical of the cow town's semihumorous
attitude toward its Spanish-Mexican entertainment. The cow hands
had respect for their bulls, and it tickled their fancy thus to dignify
them with proper names. There was considerable betting as to the
havoc the bulls would make among the matadors. Public sympathy

11. Ford County Globe, Dodge City, July 1, 1884.

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 303

was not wholly on the side of the bullfighters. While the cattlemen
had a certain admiration for anyone with the nerve to engage a
maddened bull on foot, they felt that their four-footed entries were
about to do battle for the honor of the cattle country and were en-
titled to proper recognition and support.

On the Sunday preceding the Fourth Manager Moore and the
matadors arrived in Dodge. Their appearance raised the town's
interest and excitement to a fever pitch. The skeptics were silenced ;
the promoters redoubled their optimistic preparations.

There were five of these bullfighters, all native Mexicans.12 The
chief matador was Capt. Gregorio Gallardo, a merchant tailor of
Chihuahua. Gallardo was billed as the most noted of all the noted
bullfighters of Old Mexico. Several Dodge City citizens remem-
bered his having killed bulls in a ring at Paso del Norte some years
before. He carried two swords, "used for dispatching purposes,"
with straight two-edged blades three feet in length. These, so
Moore said, were made at Toledo, Spain. One of them, he claimed,
was 150 years old and had been owned and used by Captain
Gallardo's great-grandfather, once a professional matador of high
degree in Spain.

The other members of the band were Evaristo A. Rivas, picador,
inspector of public works in the state of Chihuahua ; his son, Rodrigo
Rivas, an artist by profession ; Marco Moya, a professional musician
from Huejuequillo; and Juan Herrerra, a musician from Aldama.

The newspapers, especially, waxed enthusiastic over the arrival
of "the matadors. They were described in phrases worthy the
ingenuity of the most up-to-date sports propagandist. "They are a
fierce lot," exclaimed one writer, "and fear is an unknown sensation
to them. They have followed this avocation from boyhood. They
have had many narrow escapes from death and have been seriously
wounded at times. They understand that the people want an excit-
ing and dangerous fight, and they are ready to satisfy them.
Some day, they all feel, they will come to their death in the bull
pit, but they like the life and would not be satisfied to leave it.
Yet they are as intelligent a party of men as any person would
wish to meet. Their all-redeeming trait is that they cannot be
forced to drink a drop of strong liquor."

This last touch may have been inspired by Manager Moore. In
his efforts to give a tone of respectability to an affair which its
critics stigmatized as a return to barbarism, Moore continued to

12. Kansas Cowboy, July 12, 1884.

304 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

lay as much emphasis on the reputations his charges bore as ex-
emplary citizens as he did on their records in the bull ring. Possibly
he still questioned the reception Dodge would accord after so much
talk of gore.

On the morning of the Fourth, however, any fears Moore may
have had were set at rest. Before ten o'clock it was evident that
the fight would be a financial success. As the town filled up it
made a bizarre and colorful spectacle. Cowboys from every section
of the Southwest were on hand, armed and spurred, and tanned by
the prairie sun and wind, prepared to crowd enough excitement into
the two days to last through the next six months of monotony.
They had money to spend, and they had no difficulty in finding
places to spend it. Dance halls filled with girls and gaming places
sprinkled with gamblers were running full blast. The saloons were
doing a capacity business. In the Opera House, the Congress Hall,
the Long Branch, the Lone Star, and the Oasis, milling throngs of
cowmen rubbed elbows with the hundreds of visitors brought in by
the Santa Fe from the East. Correspondents for metropolitan news-
papers in search of atmosphere made the rounds and, if one may
judge from their stories, found no lack of copy.

By noon Dodge was jammed by eager crowds awaiting the ap-
pearance of the grand parade which was to mark the beginning of
festivities. Cow ponies lined the hitching racks along the streets
and were picketed in every available vacant lot. Shortly before
two o'clock Former Mayor and Manager Webster, with Manager
Moore of the matadors, led the procession to the fair grounds.
Behind them came the town dignitaries, followed by the famous
cowboy band. Then, to the delight of the spectators, the bull-
fighters passed in review. In their red jackets, blue tunics, white
stockings and small dainty slippers, they seemed, in the words of
a contemporary writer, "the perfection of litheness and quickness,
and were heartily applauded as their dark handsome faces looked
on the crowd gathered along the streets."

The arena, toward which all faces were turned after the parade,
lay on a tract of forty acres between the town and the Arkansas
river, which had been purchased and fenced by the association.
Facing a half-mile track, an amphitheater with a seating capacity
of four thousand had been erected. In front of the grandstand an
eight-foot fence enclosed the arena proper, which was one hundred
feet in diameter. At intervals along the fence eight light board
screens, or escapes, were provided, where the bull-fighters could

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 305

take refuge when too closely pressed. West of the arena was the
bull corral, connected with the main enclosure by a chute. Parallel
with this chute was a wider passage through which the bodies of
the victims would make their exit.

Before two o'clock the spectators began filing into the amphithea-
ter.18 At least a third of the crowd, estimated at 4,000, were women
and children. Since some of the ladies of the town were not re-
markable for their sanctity a deputy sheriff had been detailed to
draw a dividing line which should separate the demi monde from
their more respectable sisters. The name of the frontier St. Peter
assigned to this delicate task is lost to posterity, as are the social
reverberations which must have accompanied some of his decisions.
Immediately over the entrance gate the reporters and the band were
seated, and at both sides sections were reserved for Dodge's leading
citizens and their families. Opposite sat the cowboys and their
ladies. The ambition of every cowpuncher, one writer reported,
seemed to be to get a big fat girl and a high seat at the same time.
"The wait before the appearance of the first bull," he wrote, "was
filled with chaffing and calling of the usual kind, variegated with
music by the cowboy band."

At half past two the work of driving the bulls from the corral
into the pens opening on the arena was begun by Mr. Chappell,
track horseman and tournament rider. He was assisted by bull-
fighter Juan Herrerra, who wielded a red mantle when the animals
proved unusually refractory. When the bulls were safely penned
the tips of their horns were sawed off and the ends rasped smooth.

At 3:40 a bugle sounded the signal for the grand entry. Amid
the enthusiastic cheers of the multitude the matadors and picadors,
four afoot and one mounted, came into the arena. They had
changed into their fighting costumes and their parade had all the
color of a pageant. Gallardo was magnificent in a scarlet tunic
and knee breeches, with a green sash and sable trimmings. Rivas
was attired in a yellow tunic trimmed with red, yellow knee
breeches, and a white cap surmounted by a pair of horns. The
other two matadors were dressed in red and blue. The picador
wore ordinary cowboy clothes. They circled the arena, made their
obeisance to the officials, and awaited the appearance of the first
bull.

13. The description here given is a composite of contemporaneous newspaper accounts.
The reporters did not see the action in the ring with the same eyes, any more than do our
modern sports broadcasters. Newspapers used were: Kansas Cowboy, July 12, 1884, in
which the New York Herald and the St. Louis Globe- Democrat stories were reprinted; the
Dodge City Democrat, July 6, 1884 ; and the Ford County Globe, July 8, 1884.

20-8677

306 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The bugle sounded again and the first bull bounded into view of
the crowd. He was a red, fierce-looking brute, and full of fight.
As he passed through the door two decorated barbs were thrown
into his neck, just below each horn. Infuriated by the darts, he
charged madly at his tormentors. Gallardo attracted his attention
and began to play him. Again and again, encouraged by the roars
of the crowd, he drew the charges of the bull and deftly swerved him
from his course with his mantle, escaping the rake of the horns by
inches. After several of these preliminary passes Gallardo took
refuge behind one of the escapes. The bull made a complete circle
of the enclosure, then halted defiantly in the center of the ring and
pawed the ground, covering himself with clouds of dust.

The other fighters now approached to display their skill. As they
closed in the bull rushed, but the savage thrust of his horns met only
thin air, and another festooned dart hung from his shoulders. Time
and again he wheeled and charged, until his back and sides were
decorated with a floating sea of colored streamers that reached
from his horns to the end of his tail. The cow punchers forgot their
girls and even the best citizens stood and applauded. The matadors
were in their glory. Here was an animal worthy of their mettle;
one that gave them an opportunity to exhibit all the tricks of their
profession.

This bull was played for thirty minutes before he tired. Then
Mr. Chappell was called on to lasso the bull and take him out.
When the animal had been roped, the cow hands, anxious for a dis-
play of their own technique, set up a cry for Chappell to throw the
brute. This he attempted to do, but the bull was too strong for him,
and it was all he could do to pull the maddened animal into the
chute. Here the bull made a desperate rush at Chappell, grazing
his horse, and broke loose. Finally he was tied and restored to
the pen, furious but unharmed.

When the second bull was released the spectators anticipated
another display of brute ferocity and human agility. But they
were disappointed; this bull proved to be a coward and ran from
his assailants, and was soon driven out. The third was little better,
merely providing some exercise for the fighters after they had
covered his sides with darts. The fourth also had to be dismissed.
The fifth had even fewer fighting qualities than his predecessors.
He became entangled in one of the escapes and was whipped out
by a cowboy who sat in the first row of seats, to the derisive
laughter of the onlookers.

MECHEM: THE BULL FIGHT AT DODGE 307

By this time the crowd wanted more action and began demanding
that the first bull be returned. It had been announced that the
last bull of the day would be put to the sword by Gallardo, and
the cowboys wanted to see this highly advertised maneuver executed
on an animal worthy of the swordsman's skill. Accordingly, the
fighting red bull was lassoed and pulled back into the arena.

When Gallardo reentered the enclosure and the spectators saw
him take the Toledo sword which was passed down by Manager
Moore they understood that the most exciting episode of the drama
was at hand. They were aware that Gallardo must repeatedly
attract the rushes of the bull until the precise opening for the death
thrust presented itself. This lightning thrust, as they knew, must
be accomplished by one stroke made from directly in front of the
animal as it charged, and must result in a clean-cut and instant
death.

When the bull caught sight of the matador, therefore, a hush of
anticipation fell upon the noisy crowd. As if it appreciated its
perilous situation the brute charged at once and with redoubled
fury. With a graceful sweep of his cape Gallardo deflected the
animal's first rush safely past his side. The bull wheeled and flung
himself again at the matador. Once more his horns found nothing
more substantial than the elusive cape. Repeatedly he returned
to the attack and Gallardo 's escapes grew narrower and narrower.
Then, suddenly, the crowd gasped in dismay and jumped to its feet.
Gallardo was down. For an instant it seemed the fight was about
to end in tragedy. But fortunately the accident had occurred at the
entrance to one of the established escapes. At the moment when
it appeared to the crowd that Gallardo was caught between the
bull's horns and the high board fence he threw himself lengthwise
on the ground at the animal's feet and crawled to safety behind the
guard. The bull charged on the light boarding of the screen and
almost tore it down; then, meeting no active resistance, backed
angrily away.

Although Gallardo had received a slight bruise on his left thigh
he immediately stepped into the open to renew the encounter. Bow-
ing gracefully to acknowledge the plaudits of the spectators he
signaled the band to resume the music for the swording. Then,
with a pardonable touch of bravado, he slowly began walking
directly toward the bull. Through bloodshot eyes and with lowered
head the brute watched him approach. When the matador was
almost upon him the bull charged. Poised, and with sword balanced

308 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

for the thrust, Gallardo waited, but at the last possible instant, not
finding the opening he desired, was forced to deflect the bull's rush
with his sweeping cape. Twice more he parried the furious on-
slaughts. But at the fourth attack came the opportunity he sought.
Swiftly the blade struck home, bent, and then penetrated to the
vital spot. The bull staggered a pace or two, stumbled to his
knees, and then sank to the ground.

"Thus," reported the Ford County Globe, "ended the first day's
bull fight in Dodge City, and for all we know the first fight on Amer-
ican soil. The second day's fighting, with the exception of the
killing of the last animal in the ring, was more interesting than the
first. . . . The matadors showed to the people of America what
bull fighting really was. No one could see it and go away saying
that it was not a genuine bull fight. It was not that tortuous or
inhuman punishment inflicted upon wild animals as the term 'bull
fighting' would seem to imply, save and except the single animal
that was killed. The punishment, tortures or cruelty was even less
than that inflicted upon animals in the branding pen."

In the face of strictures by an unsympathetic press, both in
Kansas and the East, the Globe's statement expresses the reaction
of Dodge City's citizens to their first and only bull fight. What the
more inarticulate cowboys thought of this Spanish entertainment
can only be a matter of conjecture. That they enjoyed themselves
may be surmised from a news item which appeared in the Lamed
Optic a few days after the fight :

"Quite a number of our boys visited Dodge last week to see the
bull fight. Some of them returned looking as though they had had
a personal encounter with the animals."14

14. The Lamed Optic, July 11, 1884.

The Robinson Rifles

GEN. WM. H. SEARS

IN 1887-1890 I was one of the instructors at the Lawrence Business
College; also a part owner of the school. I organized a military
department and had a large company of uniformed men, all students
of the school. Taking advantage of a provision of the Kansas mili-
tary law, I induced the governor to commission me as captain of
the company as an independent company of the Kansas reserve
militia and named the company "The Robinson Rifles," in honor
of Ex-Governor Charles Robinson. When formally notified of this
Governor Robinson presented the company with a beautiful silk
banner; on one side being the flag of the United States and on the
other the great seal of Kansas with the name of the company on it.
This flag cost $165, and the governor presented it to the company
with appropriate ceremonies and speeches. This company became
the best military organization in the state of Kansas. I secured
arms from the state for the company, and we were regularly in-
spected with the regular national guard companies. We secured
the use of the armory used by the Usher Guards, or Company H
of the National Guard, and drilled there regularly every afternoon
at 4 o'clock.

On one occasion the company marched from Lawrence to the home
of Ex-Governor Charles Robinson, five miles northeast of Lawrence,
followed by all the girl students in the Business College in express
wagons, and there on the governor's farm we had target shooting and
a picnic dinner. After the dinner we engaged in a sham battle on
the lawn while the governor and his wife sat on the porch of their
home and witnessed it.

When the legislature met in 1893 the Populist party, in combina-
tion with the Democrats, controlled the state senate, and the newly
elected governor was a Populist — L. D. Lewelling, of Wichita.1 The
house was claimed by both the Republicans and the Populists; but
the Republican secretary of state certified that the Republicans had
a majority of ten, while the Populists proclaimed they had a ma-
jority of ten. When the new legislature met two rival houses were
organized in the hall of the house of representatives. Douglas, of
Wichita, was elected speaker of the Republican house, and Duns-

1. See, also, J. Ware Butterfield's "The Legislative War of 1893; Inside, Outside, and
Back Again," in Kansas Historical Collections, v. VII, pp. 453-458, and W. P. Harrington's
"The Populist Party in Kansas," ibid., v. XVI, pp. 403-450.

(309)

310 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

more, of Thayer, was elected speaker by the Populists. For two
weeks these rival houses conducted legislation, each ignoring the
other; the two speakers sitting side by side at the speaker's stand.
Finally the Populists took possession of the house and barred the
doors so the Republicans could not get in. Then on the morning of
February 15, 1893, the Republican house, headed by their speaker,
Mr. Douglas, and their sergeants at arms, broke down the door of
the hall of the house of representatives with a sledge hammer and
rushing in they forcibly ejected all the Populists. Immediately
Governor Lewelling ordered the National Guard to come to Topeka
and declared martial law. National guardsmen were placed at every
entrance to the capitol and no one was permitted to enter without a
pass signed by the adjutant general, Col. H. H. Artz, who, of course,
was a Populist.

When the news came to Lawrence that the Governor had called
for troops and declared martial law, I sent him the following tele-
gram: "I am competent to handle a company of troops or a larger
body of men and I would be glad to organize a company and come
to Topeka to help you uphold the constitution and the laws and to
preserve order." In anticipation of a favorable reply, I assembled
in my law office a few of my friends. At nine o'clock that night I
received the following telegram from Topeka: "Come up with the
boys in the morning. — L. D. Lewelling, Governor."

I immediately sent my friends out all over town to solicit recruits
for my company, and by 11 o'clock I had 61 men enlisted. These
were assembled in Jeffersonian Hall, on Eighth street on the south
side near New Hampshire, the next morning at eight o'clock. There
I lined up my company and asked all who had seen military service
to take one step to the front. More than half of the men stepped
forward. Then I formed the company in sets of fours; numbers 1
and 4 being the well-drilled men, and numbers 2 and 3, the undrilled
men. I soon learned that the Santa Fe train for Topeka was two
hours late; therefore, I had about three hours to train the men in
the most important movements.

In the meantime the news got out in town that I was organizing a
company to go to Topeka. Men who were opposed to my movement
went to the Santa Fe ticket agent and asked him to refuse to sell me
and my company tickets for Topeka. He at once declined and said
that it was his duty to sell to everybody; then this self-appointed
committee went to Bud Hindman, the sheriff of Douglas county, and
asked him to organize a force of deputy sheriffs and put me and my

SEARS: THE ROBINSON RIFLES 311

company under arrest and confine us in the Douglas county jail.
The sheriff declined to act. Then this committee telephoned to Geo.
T. Nicholson, general passenger agent for the Santa Fe railroad at
Topeka and asked him to instruct the Santa Fe agent at Lawrence
not to sell us tickets. Again a refusal was made. Then this com-
mittee telephoned to Mr. Douglas, speaker of the Republican house,
with the result that he ordered 300 of his 600 armed sergeants at
arms to proceed to the Santa Fe depot in Topeka and arrest my
company when it arrived, and put it in the Shawnee county jail.

About nine o'clock, while drilling my company, Governor Lewel-
ling called me on the long-distance telephone and asked me if I
had organized a company and if I would bring it to Topeka. I
told him my company was organized and I was drilling it, and
would come to Topeka on the train which was two hours late.
I said that his telegram, under the constitution and laws of Kansas,
was equivalent to a commission and that he had full power to
authorize me to organize a company, but that I wanted him to
have a commission made out for me dated February 15, and de-
livered to me when I arrived in Topeka. I also asked him to in-
struct his ordnance sergeant to have uniforms, arms, and belts
filled with cartridges laid out for me in the arsenal ready for my
company when it arrived. All this the governor promised to at-
tend to promptly.

I resumed drilling my company until about 10 o'clock, when
again Governor Lewelling called me on the telephone. This time
he told me that his spies had reported that the Douglas house had
sent 300 armed deputies to the Santa Fe station in Topeka to arrest
the members of my company and put them in the Shawnee county
jail, and asked me, "How are you going to get here?" I told the
governor not to worry, that I would be there.

After this conversation with the governor I continued to drill
my company until it was time to go to the train. We marched to
the Santa Fe depot and there I purchased tickets for Topeka for
all my men. After boarding the train I called my officers around
me: George 0. Foster, now registrar at the University of Kansas,
first lieutenant; my brother, Clarence H. Sears, second lieutenant;
Frank 0. Hellstrom, orderly sergeant; J. E. Miles, of Atchison,
second sergeant; Percy Daniels, Girard (son of the Populist lieu-
tenant governor of Kansas, Col. Percy Daniels, of the Seventh
Rhode Island artillery in the Civil War), third sergeant; Otis S.
Allen, fourth sergeant, and Wm. T. Dias, of Jefferson county, whose

312 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

father was one of Stonewall Jackson's foot cavalry, fifth sergeant.
I repeated to these men what the governor had told me over the
telephone. I assigned to each of these officers a proportionate
number of the company, then I went through the train and in-
structed each man to obey his immediate officer until further orders.

As the train was approaching Topeka, I had the officers assemble
their squads on the steps of the long train on both sides of it, and
when they were about a quarter of a mile from the station in
Topeka they jumped off the train. Each officer took his squad
by a different street and they walked in scattered formation, like
civilians, and all assembled, at the same moment, at the west end
of the city library building, which stood in the northeast corner
of the capitol grounds. When the train arrived in Topeka, the
platform was packed with armed deputy sergeants at arms. I
went out of the front door of the smoker on the left side of the
train, ran around the engine and took a hack for the capitol. For
a fee of one dollar the hackman drove his team at a gallop all the
way. On arriving at the National Guard line that surrounded the
capitol, I was admitted by the officer of the day on my commission
signed by Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey, as captain of the Robinson
Rifles, and still good under the constitution and laws of the state
for eighteen months. I immediately reported to the governor in
his office, informing him that my company would be ready for duty
in thirty minutes. I then went into the adjutant general's office, put
on my uniform, sword and revolver and ran to the city library build-
ing. There my company was just forming. We crossed the capitol
grounds from the library building to the arsenal at double time. In
less than thirty minutes we were uniformed, rifles loaded and bayo-
nets fixed, and immediately marched to the governor's office. I
formed my company in the hall in front of the executive offices and
there Governor Lewelling received it and complimented the men
upon their loyalty to duty and to the state, and said that he would
have quarters assigned to us in the building in a few minutes.

While waiting to be assigned to quarters, a young man approached
me wearing a red badge and inquired if this was the Lawrence com-
pany. I replied in the affirmative. He then said, "Come this way
with your company." I believed he was a messenger from the
governor. The executive offices, at that time, were in the east
wing of the capitol. I followed the messenger with my company
through the corridor and the rotunda until we reached the great
stairway going up to the hall of the house of representatives. At

SEAKS: THE ROBINSON RIFLES 313

that time I really did not know where I was, as I had not visited
the capitol for several years. We found the stairway barricaded
with great telephone poles, the ends of the two lower ones separated
from the wall on the stairs by about three feet. Our guide passed
through this opening and we followed him in single file. Suddenly
we found ourselves in front of the door of the lobby leading into
the hall of the house of representatives. There I was confronted by
Col. D. R. Anthony, of Leavenworth, Speaker pro tern. Hoch, after-
wards governor, and Commissioner Green of the supreme court.
Colonel Anthony said to me, "What company is this?" "This is the
Robinson Rifles, independent company of the Kansas Reserve
militia/' I replied. Colonel Anthony then asked, "By what au-
thority do you come here?" I replied, "By the authority of L. D.
Lewelling, governor of Kansas." At this statement, the men con-
fronting me and others who had assembled with them, seemed to
be much excited. At that moment my orderly sergeant, Frank 0.
Hellstrom, whispered in my ear: "Captain Sears, this is the Douglas
house, for God's sake let's get out of here!" Immediately I gave
the order, "Company, about face! Forward, march!" The com-
pany, in reverse order, went rapidly down the stairs in single file
and in a few minutes we were again lined up in front of the gover-
nor's office. The members of my company felt that this was a very
narrow escape from capture by the 600 armed deputies of the
Douglas house.

Very soon after this incident my company was assigned quarters
in the corridor below the executive offices, the supreme court being
on the south side and the state library on the north. Here I formed
my company in line of masses four deep with the lieutenants in the
rear, and addressed the men in these words: "If any members of
this company feel that they have joined it under a misapprehension
and would like to be released, I say to you now that you can step
out of the ranks, go to the arsenal and leave your uniforms and
arms there and go home. I guarantee no member of this company
will ever criticize you for thus resigning, and not one of us will ever
call you a coward. I await your decision." The men stood tense
and silent for more than a minute. Not one of the company left
the ranks; then my brother, Clarence, the second lieutenant, said
in a deep voice: "Not a damn man!" This sententious, and slightly
profane, statement brought a storm of cheers from the men and all
pounded the floor with the butts of their rifles. Indeed, the cheering

314 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and pounding of rifles made so much noise that the governor sent
messengers to find out what was the matter.

At this point I must explain that five of my company of sixty-one
men failed to appear for muster in Jeffersonian hall that morning.
I never saw them to know them afterwards. Of the remaining
fifty-six men, six were Prohibitionists, twenty-four were Repub-
licans, and twenty-six were Democrats.

After the cheering subsided, I said, "I am proud of this company,
and I shall now administer to you the most solemn oath ever ad-
ministered to man, and that is the military oath." Every man
raised his right hand and I read the oath to them and they all
assented to it. Then I said to them: "I received an order from
Governor Lewelling to bring this company to Topeka to assist him
in upholding the constitution and laws of this state and in preserving
order. He has given me a commission as captain of this company,
dated yesterday; therefore, my authority is complete, under the
constitution and laws of this state. I shall obey every lawful order
given me by the governor, and I expect this company to obey my
orders. You are now soldiers, and it is not for you to question the
reason for orders; as Tennyson said in his famous poem, The Charge
of the Light Brigade/

" 'Theirs' not to make reply,
Theirs' not to reason why,
Theirs' but to do and die.' "

Following this brief address, the first platoon of my company,
under Lieut. George 0. Foster, remained in quarters; the second
platoon, under Second Lieut. Clarence H. Sears, was assigned to
protect the arsenal. On arriving at the arsenal Lieutenant Sears
brought out the Gatling gun, which was a machine gun, and put an
old sergeant of the regular army, who was in his platoon, in charge
of it. I instructed Lieutenant Sears that if the great mob assembled
in the streets, made an attack, he should turn this Gatling gun on
the mob and instruct his men to act as sharp shooters and shoot
only the men who had guns in their hands and were firing. My
instructions were that not a shot must be fired by my men unless
they were fired upon first.

The morning of the 17th I was made officer of the day and was
in charge of the guard line. Early in the forenoon I was standing
on the east steps of the capitol when a rush was made on the guard
line. One of the guards was Coryell Faulkner. His father was a
Civil War veteran, and at this time was superintendent of the

SEARS: THE ROBINSON RIFLES 315

soldiers' orphans' home at Atchison. When the rush came, Faulkner
ordered "halt" three times, but the attackers refused to obey and
Faulkner leveled his rifle at them and pulled the trigger. The
cartridge failed to explode. Afterwards I took the rifle from Faulk-
ner's hands, a breech-loading Springfield, threw up the breech block
and ejected the cartridge. An examination showed that the firing
pin was bent so it did not hit the cap, and therefore the cartridge
failed to explode. I said to Faulkner, "Did you attempt to fire on
that mob?" Faulkner replied; "I was graduated from the military
school at Mexico, Mo., and I was taught to order halt three times
and if the order was not obeyed, to fire. I ordered halt three times
and the mob failed to stop, so I pulled the trigger." I was deeply
moved and shocked by Faulkner's statement, for I realized that if
one shot was fired into that mob, which was composed of thousands
of people crowding the streets near the capitol, a great battle would
have been precipitated and no doubt hundreds would have been
killed and wounded.

A few days after the "Topeka War" was over, I sat at a marble
table in the parlor of the old Button house, in Topeka. Around
this table sat Walter Costigan, editor of the Ottawa Journal; State
Senators Baldwin and John W. Leedy, afterwards governor, and the
famous Populist orator, Mrs. Mary Ellen Lease. I told the story
of the rush on the guard line and exhibited the cartridge. All of
them examined it. As Mrs. Lease held it in her hands, she said,
"Because of this courageous, soldierly act of Coryell Faulkner, his
father shall remain as superintendent of the soldiers' orphans' home
at Atchison." That night there was a conference of prominent
state leaders with Governor Lewelling in the parlor of the l^hroop
hotel in Topeka. I came in a little late and the governor called
me to him and gave me a seat beside him on a sofa. He im-
mediately turned and put his hand on my knee and said, "Here is
a young man that saved me from humiliation and disgrace, and
possible assassination." For the second time I exhibited the cart-
ridge that failed to explode, and after all had examined it I presented
it to the governor. He accepted it and said, "I shall preserve this
cartridge as the most important exhibit of the 'Topeka War.' " I
have never seen this cartridge since.

To go back to the rush on the guard line, I must explain that I
ran to the quarters of the first platoon of my company, Lieutenant
Foster in command, and ordered him to move on a run with his men

316 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

with bayonets fixed and rifles loaded, to the first stairway west of
the governor's offices and head off the mob which was headed for
the hall of the house of representatives, every man loaded with
provisions to feed the starving members of the Douglas house and
the 600 deputy sergeants at arms. I accompanied Lieutenant Foster
and we succeeded in cutting off about half of the mob before they
got into the rotunda and pushed them back down the corridor past
the governor's offices and down the steps at the point of the bayonet
and on out into the street. All the time the line of bayonets was
pushing them back, this mob was shouting and swearing, with
white faces, but not one of them fired, though they were all armed
with revolvers and guns. They knew that one shot fired at my
company would release a storm of Springfield rifle bullets, and no
man had the nerve to fire.

The only person injured in the rush of the mob on the guard
lines was Doctor Pattee, who appeared to be near the guard line
when the rush came and was struck over the head with a revolver
and blood ran down his face. I witnessed this incident myself.
Doctor Pattee was then living in Topeka. He now lives in Lawrence,
and is the owner of the Pattee Theater building. I think he must
have been an innocent bystander at that time.

By this time the feeling had become so intense at Topeka, and
the partisan feeling and party lines were so tightly drawn, that the
leaders on both sides realized that a violent outbreak was imminent.
It was learned that many excursion trains were arriving in Topeka
loaded with armed Populists and Democrats. All available arms
and ammunition in every town in the state had been purchased by
the rival parties and it looked as though we might have civil war
at any moment. President Harrison wired the troops at Fort
Leavenworth and Fort Riley to be prepared to move on Topeka at
any moment. At this critical juncture, Col. 0. E. Learnard, of
Lawrence, then owner and publisher of the Lawrence Journal, now
the Journal-World, urged the leaders of both parties to send for Ex-
Governor Charles Robinson, the first governor of Kansas, then
living on his great farm five miles northeast of Lawrence. This was
done, and when the governor arrived a conference composed of the
leaders of both parties was held in the old Copeland hotel, one block
east of the capitol grounds. At this conference Governor Robinson
pointed out that the only way to prevent civil war and bloodshed,
which would be a lasting blight on the fair name of the state, was
for the rival parties to come to some agreement; in other words,

SEARS: THE ROBINSON RIFLES 317

make a treaty of peace. The governor suggested that both sides to
the conflict agree to submit the whole controversy that had divided
the house of representatives into two bodies to the supreme court
for decision, and that both sides must agree to abide by this decision,
whatever it might be. Governor Robinson's suggestion was adopted,
and immediately the governor's order declaring martial law was
recalled, and all the troops assembled were ordered home.

The adjutant general's office furnished me a transportation order,
and I returned to Lawrence with my company, after a four-days'
absence. When our train drew into the station at Lawrence I was
surprised to find an enormous crowd assembled there. I formed my
company in a hollow square on the platform and there we were
welcomed home by appropriate speeches. A large push truck was
used for a platform, and Jesse J. Dunn, of Garden City, a student
in the university, presided. Some years later Dunn was elected chief
justice of the supreme court of Oklahoma. Mr. Dunn introduced
Ex-Governor Charles Robinson and he made the principal speech
of welcome. He said, "Captain Sears, I charge you to preserve the
muster roll of this company, for it is a roll of honor. This com-
pany responded to a call of duty and assisted the governor of the
state in upholding the constitution and the laws and preserving order
at Topeka." In responding to the address of welcome by Governor
Robinson, I said, "I named this company the 'Robinson Rifles' in
honor of Charles Robinson, the first governor of Kansas. As meas-
ured by his achievements, he is the greatest man this state has pro-
duced. We feel signally honored to have the governor present at
our homecoming and are delighted with his words of welcome and
commendation.

"I hold in my hand a printed circular showing that last Friday
night a mass meeting was held at the armory in Lawrence, called
for the purpose of showing disapprobation of my action in enlisting
'irresponsible men and boys under the name of the "Robinson Rifles"
and taking them to Topeka to assist Governor Lewelling to trample
constitutional liberty under foot.' 'Irresponsible men and boys!'
Why, my friends, the best blood in the state flows in the veins of
the members of this company. I see before me George 0. Foster,
of the University; Otis S. Allen, whose father is one of the justices
of our supreme court; F. Percy Daniels, whose father was colonel
of the Seventh Rhode Island artillery during the Civil War and is
now lieutenant governor of Kansas; Fred A. Clarke, whose father
is a distinguished citizen of Kansas and served a term as sheriff of

318 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Douglas county; Charles Henry Lease, whose mother, Mary Ellen
Lease, is a famous orator and now president of the Kansas State
Board of Charities; and many other fine young men compose this
company. No partisan consideration marked the action of the
members of this company in joining it, because six members are
Prohibitionists; twenty-four are Republicans; and twenty-six are
Democrats. Good citizenship always rises above party considera-
tions or factions. I am proud of the loyalty and good discipline ex-
hibited by the members of this company, and I wish to say to Gov-
ernor Robinson that we will preserve this muster roll as a roll of
honor."

Headed by a band, I marched my company up town from the
station, followed by a vast procession of citizens from Douglas,
Jefferson, Leavenworth and Johnson counties. The sidewalks were
packed with people and many were on the roof tops and at the
windows. We marched into Jeffersonian Hall, and there I dismissed
the company.

While we were absent from the city I was subject to abusive state-
ments in the daily papers of the town, and for a time I suffered a
social and business boycott. To counteract this I wrote a brief
story in which I set forth the constitution and the military laws of
the state; the telegraphic order from the governor to organize the
company, and the commission I received from the governor as
captain. The law and the facts were with me, absolutely, and when
this story was published in the Lawrence Journal my old friends
began to come back to me, and many of them apologized for re-
fusing to recognize me or speak to me on the streets.

In recognition of my conduct in the Topeka legislative war,
Governor Lewelling appointed me brigadier general of the Kansas
National Guard, and before my term of service ended I was pro-
moted to senior brigadier in command of the National Guard of the
state.

I had grown up in the National Guard, had commanded two school
companies and the "Robinson Rifles" in the Business College, and
was also drill master of the Indian regiment at Haskell Institute
for two years. While in command of the National Guard I was
given a free hand by Governor Lewelling and put into effect the
following reforms:

1. I established a system of target practice; provided the non-
commissioned officers with target manuals and the commissioned
officers with copies of "Blunt's Target Practice." A great quantity

SEARS: THE ROBINSON RIFLES 319

of fixed ammunition had accumulated in the arsenal at Topeka, and
I shipped most of this out to the companies. Sharpshooter and
marksman badges were distributed to the men for efficiency at the
rifle ranges.

2. When I took command there were four regiments of infantry
in the state. I disbanded half of the companies and reorganized the
balance into two regiments. The allotment of military supplies from
the federal government was then sufficient to provide these two
regiments with everything they needed, including overcoats, blankets
and tents.

3. I organized a troop of cavalry, one platoon being at Lawrence,
and the other at Baldwin, and they met for drill, part of the time
at Lawrence, and part of the time at Baldwin, and when the weather
was good and the ground fit, the two platoons met at Vinland for
drill. The men furnished their own horses, for which a small
allowance was made to them.

4. I established engineer, hospital and signal corps, and when
these organizations were perfected the National Guard of Kansas
was a complete, independent military force, comprising all arms of
the service; for we had a battery of artillery with machine guns,
one section being at Wichita, and the other section at Topeka.

5. I organized a school for the officers, numbering 125 men, and
sent them to Fort Leavenworth with their tentage, blankets, fatigue
uniforms and arms, and there they were drilled by regular army
officers in the daytime and attended lectures given by army officers,
in Old Sherman Hall, at night. Seven army officers, who were
instructors in the post-graduate school at Fort Leavenworth, were
our instructors. We found at this school the largest military library
in the world, and we considered our instructors the best in the world.
Before we left this school, through the solicitation of army officers,
nearly every National Guard officer had subscribed to some military
magazine and had purchased important books on military science.
Some years later, while private secretary to Glara Barton, of the
Red Cross, and at that time a member of her family, it came to me
to entertain Lieut. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, and during our nearly two
hours conversation I told him about the school for National Guard
officers I had organized at Fort Leavenworth; whereupon General
Miles said, "General Sears, I didn't know you were the man that
organized that officer's school ; but I made the details of the officers
for your instructors. The regular army had been holding its right
hand out to the National Guard for many years in vain, and you

320 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

were the first one to start a movement to bring us together." The
Army and Navy Journal gave us a long story about the organiza-
tion of this school, and immediately I received letters from nearly
every adjutant general of the United States asking me for details
about the school, with the result that in a short time there were
National Guard officer schools organized in every state of the Union,
except Nevada.

6. There had been no encampments of the National Guard in
Kansas for seven years. The legislature had refused to appropriate
money for camps. But I found the money and reestablished them.
Each of the thirty-two companies in the National Guard were re-
ceiving annually $300 for contingent company expenses. The com-
pany at Hill City paid only one dollar per month for an armory, and
the captain had accumulated over $600 in the bank, which he later
returned to the state military fund. Other companies, that paid
little for armory rent, blew in the surplus on balls and parties. I
issued an order providing that each company would be paid the
actual cost for armories and other necessary expenses. In a short
time there was saved about $6,000, and to this was added some
$3,000 more from a military fund, and these funds were used for
reestablishing encampments. The officers and men served without
pay at the encampments, and the city that secured an encampment
furnished the wood for campfires, straw for the tents and, in one
case, the bread and beef also.

In recognition of my work for the National Guard I have been
accorded the honor of invitations to West Point commencements
ever since 1926 and have attended five of them.

The officer's school that I organized at Fort Leavenworth was
continued for four years prior to the war with Spain, with the result
that the Twentieth Kansas, in the Spanish American War, which
was composed largely of the officers and men of the two regiments
of the National Guard of Kansas, made a fine record in the Philip-
pines under the leadership of Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf and Gen.
Frederick Funston.

Kansas History as Published
in the State Press

Biographical sketches of Salina citizens have been published from
time to time in the Salina Journal under the heading, "Why I came
to Salina."

A Mennonite immigration in 1876 and the settlement established
in Harvey county were described by C. C. Regier in an article en-
titled, "An Immigrant Family of 1876," which appeared in Social
Science, Winfield, for July, 1932.

Short paragraphs on historical events of local and world-wide in-
terest are prepared by Dr. Edward Bumgardner, of Lawrence, for
regular publication in several newspapers of the Midwest under the
heading, "Homeopathic Doses of History." The Lawrence Daily
Journal-World, lola Daily Register, Holton Recorder and the Valley
Falls Vindicator are among the Kansas newspapers publishing the
series which started August 1, 1932.

A story of the pioneers of Lookout valley was published serially
in the Cedar Vale Messenger from November 8, 1932, to February
17, 1933. Pioneer reminiscences in this series were edited by 0. D.
Sartin.

Harvey county historical manuscripts, preserved by John C.
Nicholson, have been published from time to time in the Harvey
County News, Newton. Stories included in this series and their
authors, if known, are: "Early History of the Formation of the
County and Difficulties Encountered," Judge R. W. P. Muse, Janu-
ary 5, 1933; "Farming in the Early Seventies," John C. Johnston,
January 12; "Early Days of Harvey County and Newton," Febru-
ary 2; "Burrton Township," W. L. D. Daily, February 9, and "Tak-
ing Claims, Improving Land and Other Happenings in Highland
Township History," John C. Johnston, March 2.

"Wheat — the Crop of Early Centuries — Its Part in the County
and State Development," by Mary H. Wires, was published in the
Harvey County News, Newton, January 12, 1933.

A story of the founding of Victoria, Ellis county, and the intro-
duction of black Angus cattle into this country, written by Alvin
H. Sander, former editor of the Breeder's Gazette, was printed in
the Russell Record, January 19 and 26, 1933.

21—8677

(321)

322 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mrs. Margaret Steig, pioneer of Marshall county, was inter-
viewed by Byron E. Guise for the Marshall County News, Marys-
ville, January 20, 1933. Mrs. Steig came to Kansas in 1866 and
settled northeast of Oketo. Other articles of Kansas historical in-
terest appearing in this newspaper include a brief history of Blue
Rapids, March 10 ; the experiences of William Campbell, a pony ex-
press rider, March 17 ; a history of the Marietta Grain Co., reputed
to be the oldest cooperative grain organization in the state, March
24; the experiences of Hiram Lillibridge, Waterville pioneer, April
14; an interview with Mrs. A. J. Travelute, who has lived in Marys-
ville since 1860, April 28 ; the experiences of Ed Lally, June 2, and a
picture of the county sixty-six years ago as recalled by Mrs. Fred
Brucker, June 16.

A "History of Waldo M. E. Church," by Mary A. Jain, was pub-
lished in the Waldo Advocate, January 23 to February 6, 1933.
S. P. Lantz was superintendent of the first Sunday school.

The story of the naming of Wagon Bed Springs was related by
India H. Simmons in the Dodge City Daily Globe, January 25, 1933.
"When the Rails Pushed West," naming many early-day characters
and places figuring in the history of the Dodge City area, was an-
other of Mrs. Simmons' contributions to the Globe. It was pub-
lished in the issues of January 26 to 30.

Pioneers of Trego county were guests of the Wakeeney Locust
club at a Kansas Day program January 20, 1933. Names of a few
of these early-day settlers were published in the Western Kansas
World, January 26. Brief biographical sketches of pioneers who
still live in Trego county were printed in the issues of February 2
to March 9, and on February 23 over two columns were devoted to
the experiences of 0. A. Cortright.

The reminiscences of Mrs. E. 0. Brooks (Sarah White) , telling of
her capture by Indians in 1868, were published in The Kansas Op-
timist, Jamestown, January 26, 1933. The article was written by
Mrs. Carl Flitch, a daughter of Mrs. E. 0. Brooks, and was read at
a Jamestown Kansas Day program.

"Abram Brantley Holt, Nearly 86, Is Oldest Living Resident of
Leon," was the title of a feature article appearing in the Leon
News, January 27, 1933. Mr. Holt settled on Hickory creek in
1870.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 323

"Kansas Day, 1861-1933," was the subject of A. H. Harris' recol-
lections published in the Yates Center News, January 27, 1933.

Early-day experiences of B. S. Head were recounted in the Cedar
Vale Messenger, January 27, 1933. Mr. Head's father settled in
northeastern Kansas in the spring of 1855.

Cunningham's tornado of 1900 was described in the Cunningham
Clipper, in a special article appearing in its issues of January 27 to
February 17, 1933.

"Through the Years With Site of Old Wyandotte County Court-
house," was the title of an illustrated historical article featured in
the "Yearly Progress Edition" of the Kansas City Kansan, January
29, 1933.

Riley county in retrospect was the keynote of a pageant presented
as part of the Riley County Historical Society's Kansas Day pro-
gram, January 28, 1933. A list of the early settlers attending the
meeting was published in the Manhattan Morning Chronicle, Jan-
uary 29, and the Manhattan Republic, February 2.

A brief historical sketch of Omio, once a busy Jewell county city,
was published in the Topeka Daily Capital, January 30, 1933.
Omio was situated three miles south of Formoso.

The battle of Black Jack, which was described by Milton Tabor
in his "The Story of Kansas," printed in the Topeka Daily Capital,
January 30, 1933, led Asa F. Converse, in the Wellsville Globe,
February 23, to publish eye-witness accounts by Robert Pearson
and G. W. E. Griffith, participants in the battle.

John Starr Barnum, one of the three men who named Wichita,
died in California January 29, 1933. According to the Wichita
Eagle of January 31, Barnum, David Munger, the first postmaster,
and a harness maker by the name of Vigus, gave the city its name.

Biographical sketches of Wilson county pioneers are being pub-
lished from time to time in the Wilson County Citizen, Fredonia.
The articles, which have been prepared by Mrs. Belle C. Lyon,
mention the following citizens: Luther E. Greathouse, January 31,
1933; L. C. Collins, March 14; J. E. Daniel, April 4; J. W. Koonce,
April 14, and Mrs. Annie Barrett, May 19.

Horse thieves operating in southern Kansas and the Indian terri-
tory over a half century ago were recalled by Judge T. J. Dyer in

324 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the Alva (Okla.) Daily Record, January 31, February 1 and 2, 1933.
Judge Dyer with his family settled near Elgin in April, 1870.

A brief history of the Santa Fe railroad was published in The
Tiller and Toiler, Lamed, February 2, 1933. The city's early-day
fires were briefly reviewed also in this issue.

Sedgwick Congregational Church history was briefly sketched in
the Sedgwick Pantagraph, February 2, 1933.

"Kansas," an address by J. H. Andrews, given at a meeting of
the Humboldt Rotary Club, January 30, 1933, was published in the
Humboldt Union, February 2. Mr. Andrews, who came to Allen
county in 1867, related many of his early-day experiences.

"George Hunger Writes of Original Survey of Topeka and South-
western," was the title of a front-page feature printed in the Esk-
ridge Independent, February 2, 1933. Two surveys for the railroad
from Topeka to Council Grove were made.

Names of old settlers of Kansas, and particularly of Reno county,
who registered at the fourth annual Farm and Home Week held in
Hutchinson February 1 to 4, 1933, were published in the Hutchin-
son News and Herald in their issues of February 2, 3 and 4. The
four days of festivities are regularly sponsored by the Hutchinson
daily newspapers.

"Col. Asa Kinney and the Wisconsin Colony," by Margaret East-
land-Ruppenthal, was published in The Russell County News, Rus-
sell, February 2, 9 and 23, 1933.

Pioneer days along White Rock creek were described by Mrs.
Ellen M. Warren, of Courtland, in a series of articles printed in the
Belleville Telescope, February 2 and 23, March 9 and 23, 1933.
Andrew Glenn, a pioneer and member of the Excelsior colony, re-
viewed the history of that settlement for the Telescope, February
9 and 16.

A sixteen-page "Booster Edition" of the Leon News was edited by
the Leon Methodist Episcopal Church, February 3, 1933. Histories
of the various inter-societies of the church and letters from former
pastors and pioneers were featured.

A copy of the first issue of the Kansas Free State, which was pub-
lished in Lawrence in January, 1855, led a reporter to reminisce of
early-day Lawrence in the Daily Journal-World, February 4, 1933.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 325

Names of the known former students of Central Normal College,
which flourished at Great Bend until 1902, were listed in the Hois-
ington Dispatch, February 9, 1933. Preceding a reunion of these
former students, which was held at Great Bend June 10, a history of
the college, by Rev. W. A. Sharp, of Topeka, was published in the
Great Bend Tribune.

A letter from Wendell P. Hogue to Judge J. T. Cooper, of Fre-
donia, relating how the city looked to the writer in 1887 and 1888,
was published in the Wilson County Citizen, February 10, 1933.

The robbery of the Medicine Lodge bank, May 1, 1884, and the
part played by Caldwell "peace" officers were described in the Cald-
well Daily Messenger, February 16, 1933.

A letter from Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Brown to Mr. and Mrs. R. D.
Black of Summerfield, on the occasion of the Blacks' fiftieth wed-
ding anniversary, was published in the Summerfield Sun, February
16, 1933. The letter revealed many names and places of historical
interest in Marshall county.

Two members of the student body of eighteen which met for the
opening assembly exercises of the Emporia Kansas State Teachers
College (Kansas State Normal School) sixty-eight years ago are
still living, according to information brought out at the Founders'
day dinner, February 15, 1933. The Emporia Gazette of February
16, and the college Bulletin of February 17, printed historical notes
on the college brought out at the dinner.

Reminiscences of pioneer Washington county residents who at-
tended the courthouse corner-stone laying in 1886 appeared in the
Washington County Register, Washington, in its issues of February
24 to March 17, 1933, in conjunction with ceremonies held when the
corner stone for the new courthouse was laid March 11.

Panhandle cattle trails and their relation to Dodge City were dis-
cussed in two articles by A. W. Thompson, of Denver, Colo., pub-
lished in the Dodge City Daily Globe, February 25 and 27, by
courtesy of The Cattleman (Texas) and the Clayton (N. M.) News.
A map showing cattle ranches on the old Tascosa trail accompanied
the article.

"He helped to Haul the Guns to Defend Woodsdale From Attack,"
is the title of an article in the Hutchinson Herald of February 26,
1933, describing the activities of Arthur B. Campbell, of near Mos-
cow, in the Stevens county seat warfare.

326 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"Some Personal Glimpses of Early Kansas Editors," by William
Allen White, was a feature of the March, 1933, issue of The Kansas
Editor, published by the department of journalism of the University
of Kansas, at Lawrence.

French settlers were the first to locate in the vicinity of present-
day Burrton, according to historical records left by the late Judge
W. L. Daily, of Burrton. He found that a French colony of ten
families located on Turkey creek, in Alta township, in 1869. The
Hutchinson Herald printed a brief account of this settlement in its
issue of March 1, 1933.

"Pioneer Scraps," a column depicting the history of the founding
of Wichita, appeared serially in the Wichita (evening) Eagle from
March 1, to May 6, 1933. Mrs. George Whitney was the contributor.

Under the column heading "Early Day Recollections of Smith
County Pioneers," the Athol-Gaylord-Cedar Review commenced a
series of historical articles in its issue of March 1, 1933. Among the
pioneers contributing were: C. E. Walker, in the issues of March 1,
15, 29, April 19, May 24; C. A. Cowan, March 8, 22, April 26; J. S.
McDonald, April 5; Mrs. M. A. Gregg, May 10, and George L. Burr,
Sr., May 17.

Philip Budenbender's experiences as one of the earliest residents
of Spring Creek township, Pottawatomie county, were told in the
Westmoreland Recorder, March 2, 1933.

Cawker City newspaper history was reviewed by the Cawker City
Ledger, March 2, 1933. The Sentinel, founded in March, 1872, was
the city's first newspaper.

Early-day life in the Greenleaf community was described by
Anton Peterson in the Greenleaf Sentinel, March 2 to 16, 1933. Mr.
Peterson settled in Washington county in 1869.

The sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Christian Church
in Jewell was observed February 26, 1933. A brief history of the
church, which was read at the meeting by Mrs. Mary Rowe, a
charter member, was published in The Jewell County Republican,
March 3.

An interview with Judge W. P. Campbell, pioneer Wichitan, was
published in the Wichita Beacon, March 5, 1933. Judge Campbell,
who came to Kansas in 1869, compared the hardships of yesteryear
with those of to-day.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 327

"Comanche County Was Organized in a Fraud," was the title of
a story appearing in the Dodge City Daily Globe, March 7, 1933.
The article was inspired by an interview with F. A. Hobble.

A six-column history of Independence was featured in the sixty-
second anniversary edition of the South Kansas Tribune, Inde-
pendence, issued March 8, 1933. Walter Krone, WT. S. Sickels, Ly-
man U. Humphrey, W. R. Pratt, and Samuel Broughton, were among
the pioneers who contributed reminiscent letters commemorating the
occasion.

Newspaper history of Almena was reviewed by the Almena
Plaindealer, March 9, 1933, commemorating its forty-sixth birthday.

Filings of declaratory statements of intention to claim govern-
ment land for homesteads near Russell were discussed by Judge
J. C. Ruppenthal in The Russell County News, Russell, March 9,
23 and 30, 1933. The first filing recorded near Russell was made in
what is now Grant township in May, 1871.

Reminiscences of Sarah L. Jent as told to H. C. Jent were pub-
lished in the Cedar Vale Messenger, March 10, 1933. Mrs. Jent
settled near Elgin in 1878.

An old school-district treasurer's book for district 59, Washing-
ton county, formed the basis for a historical review in the Linn-
Palmer Record, March 10, 1933. Names of former officers, teachers,
and builders of school buildings were listed in the twenty-eight
year record. The first entry was that of February 24, 1872.

The history of McPherson county's oil and gas fields was pub-
lished by the McPherson Daily Republican in a special oil and gas
edition March 13, 1933. The discovery well was brought in Sep-
tember 9, 1926. A brief historical sketch of the county was also
featured in the edition.

"A Story of the Bender Tragedy," as written years ago by Charles
Yoe, was published in the South Kansas Tribune, Independence,
March 15, 1933.

Francis Henry Roberts' "Early Days in Oskaloosa" column in the
Oskaloosa Independent recalled the city's first remembered earth-
quake, in the issue of March 16, 1933. No special damage was done
except to chimneys.

Sketches of the lives of Republic county pioneers, events in the
early history of Republic City and county, history of the city's

328 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

newspapers with letters from former editors, and write-ups of the
churches and schools, were features of the sixteen-page fiftieth anni-
versary edition of the Republic City News, March 16, 1933. The
News was founded in March, 1883, by Charles H. Wolfe.

The establishment of Lawndale, southwest of the present town of
Cunningham, and an Indian scare of 1885, were described by Ed
Stone in the Cunningham Clipper through the issues of March 17
to April 21, 1933.

A history of the First Presbyterian church of Fairport was re-
viewed in the Paradise Farmer, March 20, 1933. The church edifice,
which was destroyed by lightning July 9, 1932, has been rebuilt, and
the new building was dedicated March 12. Rev. S. S. Wallen or-
ganized the church September 18, 1887.

Biographical sketches of Mr. and Mrs. David Greep, Kansas pio-
neers, were published in the Longford Leader, March 23, 1933.

"Some Early History About Tribune and Its First Church Or-
ganization," by Mrs. Sidney Simpson, was printed in the Greeley
County Republican, Tribune, March 23, 1933. Also, in its issues of
April 20 and 27, the Republican continued the church history of the
county with a detailed account written by T. P. Tucker, a pioneer.

A history of the Soldier Christian Church as read at the fiftieth
anniversary meeting March 26, 1933, was published in the Soldier
Clipper, March 29. The church was organized March 28, 1883, with
fourteen charter members.

History of the clock in Topeka's old post-office tower, by Dwight
Thacher Harris, appeared in the Topeka State Journal, March 27,
1933. It was installed February 28, 1884.

A column review of the activities of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Kansas territory was published in the Lawrence Daily
Journal-World, March 29, 1933. Rev. William A. Goode preached
the first sermon to the white settlers of the territory at Hickory
Point July 9, 1854, according to Dr. Edward Bumgardner, the con-
•tributor.

The fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Ash Rock Con-
gregational Church, Woodston, was observed March 26, 1933. The
Woodston Argus of March 30, printed a history of the organization.

Names of Pawnee county cattlemen who have registered cattle
brands with the county clerk were published in The Tiller and

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 329

Toiler, Lamed, March 30, 1933. V. F. Wyman registered the first
brand in the county, October 29, 1873.

The death of Mrs. Mary Durfey, widow of Jeff Durfey, March
23, 1933, was recorded by the Osborne County Farmer, Osborne,
March 30. The Durfeys, according to the Farmer, were the first
persons to be married in Osborne county.

"A Gawdy Picture Painted of Arkansas City in 1889," by D. F.
MacMartin, was the title of an article published in the Arkansas
City Daily Traveler, March 30, 1933. Mr. MacMartin made the
run into Old Oklahoma from Arkansas City in April, 1889.

The reminiscences of Charles H. Barber, as told to Charles Rose,
have appeared from time to time in the Almena Plaindealer. Mr.
Barber, who was a former government Indian scout, told of a buffalo
hunt with European nobility, in the issue of March 30, 1933 ; of an
Indian ambush near present Atwood in which he was wounded by an
arrow, in the April 20 number, and of the Pawnee Indian massacre
near present Trenton, Neb., in the June 22 issue.

"Some History of Early Jewell City Cemeteries," by Lillian For-
rest, was published in The Jewell County Republican, Jewell, March
31, 1933.

"Santa Fe's Early History a Story of Development," was the title
of an address given by W. E. Greene, chief clerk of the railroad's
Western division office, at Dodge City, recently. The address, which
was printed in the Dodge City Daily Globe, April 1, 1933, told of
the hurried construction through southwest Kansas to fulfill the land
grant stipulation and the later development to California and to
Chicago.

A history of the Grand Centre school, District No. 67, Osborne
county, from 1878 to 1888, by H. P. Tripp, was published in the
Waldo Advocate, April 3, 1933, and the Luray Herald, April 6. The
school district was organized in May, 1878. Ida Calkins was the
first teacher. The building of the log schoolhouse in this district was
described by Mr. Tripp in the Advocate, May 15, and the Herald,
May 18.

Topeka's oldest business firms were named by G. D. McClaskey
in the Topeka Daily Capital, April 4, 1933.

Early Clay county history was briefly reviewed in The Economist,
Clay Center, April 5, 1933.

330 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Biographies of Tom Lovewell, government scout, and E. D. Haney,
by Ella Morlan Warren, were published in the Belleville Telescope,
recently. The sketch of Mr. Lovewell appeared April 6 and 13,
1933, and that of Mr. Haney, May 4. Other pioneer sketches printed
in the Telescope, author not known, include: Sam Fisher, May 18,
and the Family of William Osborne, June 15.

Historical sketches of Glen Elder and Mitchell county in the early
1870's have been published in the Glen Elder Sentinel during the
past few months. The series of articles, written by Alonzo Pruitt,
appeared under the following titles: "Ancient Glen Elder History,"
April 6, 1933; "Glen Elder's Early Schools," April 20; "Early Day
Doctors in This Community," April 27; "Our Churches," May 18
and 25 ; "Personal Recollections of My Early Neighbors," May 25 ;
"When Kansas Was Young," June 1 and "Cereals and Fruits," June
15.

A historical sketch of Harmony Church, by Mrs. Marion Bolin,
was printed in the Leon News, April 7, 1933.

The history of the Kingman Journal was reviewed by the Journal
April 7, 1933, commemorating the start of its forty-fourth year. The
first issue appeared in April, 1890, with John A. Maxey as editor.

A brief history of the Methodist Southwest Kansas conference, by
Rev. S. M. Van Cleve, was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle,
April 9, 1933. Biographies of C. E. Williams, W. R. Rolingson,
Francis M. Romine, Samuel McKibben and Dudley D. Akin, five
pastors who were members of the conference at its inception and who
are still living, were included in this resume.

Maplehill's history was reviewed in the Kansas City (Mo.) Star,
April 9, 1933. The townsite was opened for settlement by George
A. Fowler in 1887.

Cowley county history was sketched by L. A. Millspaugh before a
meeting of the Cowley County Historical Society April 10, 1933. A
resume of his speech was published in the Winfield Daily Courier,
April 11.

A biography of "Mother" Bickerdyke, for whom the state insti-
tution at Ellsworth was named, was printed in the Ellsworth Mes-
senger, April 13, 1933. The Hays Daily News reprinted the article
in its April 21 issue.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 331

John H. DeVault, a pioneer Kansan, was the subject of a bio-
graphical sketch in The Scott County Record, Scott City, April 13
and 20, 1933. Martha Brock was the contributor.

"Back Trailing With Our Pioneer Women" was the title of a two-
column story appearing in the Cedar Vale Messenger, April 14, 1933,
in which the experiences of several Chautauqua county settlers were
recounted.

"Rolla Will Celebrate Town's Twentieth Anniversary This Year,"
was the title of a brief historical sketch of the city published in The
Morton County Farmer, Rolla, April 14, 1933.

A. P. Elder, a resident of Franklin county for seventy-five years,
was interviewed by W. E. Gilliland for the Ottawa Herald, April 15,
1933. In the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, of April 16, Mr. Elder re-
called Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, in 1863, which he witnessed
from a nearby hill.

A triple lynching in Anthony forty-seven years ago was recalled
by the Anthony Times, April 18, 1933.

A history of the Ladies Reading Club of Girard, by Mrs. Nora
Vincent, was published in the Girard Press, April 20, 1933. The
club was organized April 21, 1883. Mrs. Anna M. Leonard was the
founder.

The reminiscences of E. W. Voorhis, of Columbia, Mo., and J. L.
C. Wilson, of Washington, D. C., two Russell county pioneers, are
appearing serially in the Russell Record. Mr. Voorhis' sketches en-
titled "Those Golden Days When Russell Was Made," began with
the issue of April 20, 1933. "Way Back When," by Mr. Wilson,
commenced June 22.

Biographical sketches of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Sheeran, as told by
a relative, were published in the Chapman Advertiser, April 20, 1933.

The genealogy of the Gove family, a member of which was Capt.
Grenville L. Gove for whom Gove county was named, was reviewed
in the Republican-Gazette, Gove City, April 20, 1933.

"Still Register Cattle Brands in Ford County," the Dodge City
Daily Globe headlined in its issue of April 21, 1933. There are 455
different brands on record to date, says the Globe, with the first
registered in 1878 by Fulton and Stevens.

332 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

A discussion of the Hamilton county-seat troubles was continued
by C. W. Noell in the Syracuse Journal in its issues of April 21 and
June 23, 1933. Special significance was placed on the Coomes pre-
cinct election fraud in the issue of April 21.

'The story of a Real Pioneer of Southern Kansas/' was the title
of an article by Rev. Wm. Schaefers relating the reminiscences of
William Mies in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, April 23, 1933. Mr.
Mies came to Kansas in 1874, settling near Wichita.

Elkhart history was briefly reviewed in the Elkhart Tri-State
News, April 27, 1933. Elkhart was founded in the spring of 1913.

School history of Leon was traced in a twenty-page edition of the
Leon News published April 28, 1933. The newspaper was edited by
a high-school English class.

"The Story of the Old Home Town, Jewell City, Kansas/' a de-
tailed history compiled by Everett Palmer, is running serially in
The Jewell County Republican, starting with the issue of April 28,
1933. The Jewell City Town Co. was organized May 28, 1870.

"Carrying Old Glory to Kansas," a column relating the life of
Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, is appearing serially in the Wichita
(evening) Eagle, commencing with the issue of May 1, 1933.

"A Little History of the Early Days of Kansas," by J. L. Garrett,
of Dorrance, was printed in the Grainfield Cap Sheaf, May 5, 1933.
Mr. Garrett's family settled west of Wilson in 1872.

Dedicatory services for Walnut's new Methodist Episcopal church
building were held April 30, 1933. A history of the organization was
sketched in the Walnut Eagle, May 5, commemorating the event.

Early Toronto history was told in a letter from J. T. Cooper pub-
lished in the Toronto Republican, May 11, 1933. Mr. Cooper was
principal of the city's schools in 1892.

Dedicatory services for the rebuilt Presbyterian church in Lincoln
was held May 7, 1933. Both the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican and
The Lincoln County News, in their issues of May 11, printed his-
tories of the church in commemoration of the event. The Lincoln
congregation was organized in 1873.

"Kansas History and Horses," was the title of an article appearing
in the Beloit Gazette, May 17, 1933, extolling Kansas equines famous
in turf history.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 333

Historical facts about Norcatur were printed in the Norcatur Dis-
patch, May 18, 1933. The city was incorporated in October, 1901.

The sixtieth anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church of Hays
was observed May 27, 1933. The church was organized by Rev.
Timothy Hill and the first building was erected in 1879. Ministers
who have served the church since its founding were named in the
Hays Daily News, May 23.

A biographical sketch of Henry Sides, Civil War veteran and pio-
neer of Almena, was published in the Almena Plaindealer, May 25,
1933.

"Harvey County Pioneer Tells of Visit by the Notorious Jesse
James in Early Days," was the title of an article relating the ex-
periences of Nellie M. Young, of Halstead, printed in the Harvey
County News, Newton, May 25, 1933. The visit to the home of the
Youngs occurred in August, 1875.

Ferries operating across the Kansas river at Lawrence were dis-
cussed by Dr. Edward Bumgardner in the Lawrence Daily Journal-
World, May 30, 1933. Gustave A. Graeber operated the latest ferry
in the city as an emergency service during the flood of 1903.

Special historical articles commemorating the sixty-fifth anniver-
sary of the organization of Girard Town Co. by Dr. C. H. Strong
appeared in the Girard Press, June 1, 1933. Brief biographical
sketches of Dr. Strong, J. H. McCoy, W. S. Hitch, W. C. Veatch,
Dr. L. P. Adamson and Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Eldridge were features
of the edition.

Russell Congregational Church history was reviewed by Mrs.
Frances Dawson for a recent state church meeting and was pub-
lished in the Russell Record, June 1, 1933.

The Lewis High School commencement address delivered by Dr.
James C. Malin, May 24, 1933, ran serially in the Lewis Press, in its
issues of June 1 to July 6, inclusive. Dr. Malin's subject was "The
Evolution of a Rural Community — an Introduction to the History
of Wayne Township, Edwards County."

Early day postmasters in Mitchell county were named by A. B.
Adamson in the Beloit Daily Call, June 2, 1933.

A brief history of Iowa Point, important Kansas town during ter-
ritorial days, was published in the Kansas City (Mo.) Times, June
7, 1933.

334 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"Newspaper Files Reveal Interesting Story of Burlingame High
School Graduates," was the title of a feature article by Mrs. W.
G. Beale, appearing in The Enterprise-Chronicle, Burlingame, June
8, 1933. The first class was graduated in 1887.

"Early Wallace County, General Custer, and the Seventh Cav-
alry," from the reminiscences of Lewis C. Gandy, was the title of an
article published in The Western Times, Sharon Springs, June 8,
July 6 and 13, 1933.

"Local Man Bore Custer From Field at Little Big Horn," writes
The Tiller and Toiler, Lamed, June 8, 1933, in a feature story re-
lating the experiences of Charles W. Guernsey, who visited the Cus-
ter battlefield the morning after the fight.

"Missouri River Really the Kaw From Kansas City to St. Louis,"
was the report of a Kansas City (Mo.) Star representative after
interviewing U. S. army engineers. The story, which appeared June
9, 1933, stated that the Kaw is "the true river between Kansas City
and the Mississippi," and that "the Missouri, from a point in North
Dakota to Kansas City, probably is the 'newest' river in the United
States."

A brief illustrated history of St. John's Military Academy, of
Salina, was printed in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, June 11, 1933.
The academy was founded in 1887, largely through the efforts of
Bishop E. S. Thomas.

The sixtieth anniversary of the settlement of Sellens creek, near
Russell, was observed June 14, 1933. A brief description of the
caravan which left Kankakee, 111., in three wagons sixty years ago.
was published in the Russell Record, June 15, 1933.

A few of the pioneers settling in the vicinity of Geuda Springs
were named by George M. Bigger in his reminiscences published in
the Geuda Springs News, June 15, 1933.

The recent visit of J. J. Johnson to the Beloit Gazette's office led
the Gazette to reminisce on its early history in the issue of June 21,
1933. Mr. Johnson with A. B. Chaffee founded the Gazette in 1872.

A short history of Ionia, oldest God-child of Ionia, Mich., was
published in the Ionia Booster, June 23, 1933. The article was a
reprint from the Ionia (Mich.) Sentinel.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE KANSAS PRESS 335

A column history of the Walnut Christian Church appeared in the
Walnut Eagle, June 23, 1933. The church was organized in 1882
by J. Hennesy.

"Recall 1893 Rain Experiment," was the title of a brief article dis-
cussing the simultaneous firing-off of gunpowder in May, 1893, in
several southern Kansas cities in an effort to break the drouth, which
was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, June 25, 1933. Rain
came within a few hours, but meteorologists scoffed at the gun-
powder theory. Similar attempts at rainmaking in Pawnee county
were related by E. E. Frizell in The Tiller and Toiler, Lamed,
April 6.

To Rev. Isaac McCoy, early Baptist missionary, goes the credit
of launching and making a success of the movement that resulted in
the segregation of the Indians west of Missouri and Arkansas, ac-
cording to Maj. William W. Harris, writing in the Kansas City
(Mo.) Star, June 25, 1933. The movement resulted in the congres-
sional "Act of May 26, 1830," establishing what at that time was
believed to be the future, permanent abode of all North American
Indians then residing within our national boundaries.

Burial grounds near Waldo were described by H. P. Tripp in the
Waldo Advocate, June 26, 1933.

Kansas Historical Notes

A memorial tablet to Rev. Thomas Johnson, founder of the
Methodist Shawnee mission, was unveiled April 16, 1933, in Thomas
Johnson hall at the mission. Mrs. Edna Anderson, daughter of Rev.
Johnson, gave the tablet, and Thomas Amory Lee, president of the
Kansas State Historical Society, represented the state. The meet-
ing was conducted by the Shawnee Mission Indian Historical So-
ciety.

"The Relation of the Local Historical Society to the State His-
torical Society," was discussed by Kirke Mechem, secretary of the
Kansas State Historical Society, at a meeting of the Wyandotte
County Historical Society held at Kansas City, April 20, 1933.
Grant W. Harrington, of Kansas City, another speaker, read a
paper entitled "Before the Bridges Came," in which the evolution
of river crossing in Wyandotte county was reviewed.

Dudley T. Horton has compiled and published a booklet entitled
A History of Hopewell School (1932). Hopewell school is District
No. 114, Plevna, in Reno county.

The seventy-fifth anniversary of Highland University was ob-
served this year. Trustees were appointed and a charter was secured
from the territorial legislature of 1857-1858. Chief White Cloud, a
student of the Highland mission school from 1854 to 1857, was a
featured speaker during special commencement festivities com-
memorating the event.

Pioneer History of Kansas, 365 pages with illustrations, was re-
cently published by its author, Adolph Roenigk, of Lincoln. Much
of the book is concerned with the settlements along the Smoky, Solo-
mon, Saline and Republican rivers. The history was begun by John
C. Baird in 1908, who collected data for the first hundred pages, but
died before the work could be concluded. Mr. Roenigk, who had
contributed to Mr. Baird's researches, continued and finished the
book. W. K. Cone, Dr. N. C. Fancher, Theophilus Little, J. W.
Hopkins, Guy W. Von Shriltz, D. B. Long, Luther R. Johnson, Mar-
tin Hendrickson, Hercules H. Price, Ferdinand Erhardt, Clarence
Reckmeyer and Henry Benien were among the narrators.

The diary of Mark S. Davis, who made an overland journey from
Wabash, Ind., to Missouri and Kansas in 1868, was published in the
Indiana Magazine of History for March, 1933. Land claims were
located in Cherokee county by members of the party.

14-8677

THE

Kansas Historical
Quarterly

Volume II Number 4

November, 1933

PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT

W. C. AUSTIN. STATE PRINTER

TOPEKA 1933

15-1070

Contributors

DOUGLAS C. McMuBTRiE, of Chicago, is an authority on typography and the
history of printing.

GEORGE A. ROOT is curator of archives of the Kansas State Historical Society.
RUSSELL HICKMAN, a teacher, lives at La Porte, Ind.

FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER is head of the History Department at the Uni-
versity of Kansas, Lawrence.

NOTE. — Articles in the Quarterly appear in chronological order without re-
gard to their importance.

Kesttowi.

I I'A1,AKO \V AllOS'J'OTA iVAKOTE K I :<tBO.— WISICLUJI, 1*11.
J. LVKINS KIHTOK. NOVEMBER, isn. im-risr MINSK. \ PHI ss

SimviNMu KAKWA IVokiiMUttjf'Sakitncki " malikwa j»ak>we hoce hclipimilu' Manila
Ipalw qnvibakrare Kck<-«U>uuqpi.*.<O\vano- bdeoe; pfea&wi honmothvibc«eamimito-
>kt« rteketft&bitolapa. kwakwekcaphe kra- ' rfiakoce W4bajx> laniwawelecc.

lio\\a>« la{)\vij»\vi nnxvnkwa noko \%i!»a- Klatu- casr-laniwawcce ruhowa^-lajwi
rkcata. Skid ki'iiUalainiit.l -ipwi lio\vas<> h- liakoct''J'{}palauiuJikna \vis« Iiuwasc niul-
a. clu iia ii»an\\«- iam\va\\«'ua. iv&fatniakotfQ niafalainakuc*' otilalaniili'.

ICitivNeki-ati. Iliwokifiwr i Umc |>occ!akho skota, fljt;-

IJinakoif rukittmiioke c-ipainba. ciiona
F~ miti cinapoHo?

Siwimvikt^sukimeki laui^Hl palako kilakocc w« »vil<- ulupHtv<% koknaiiabi kt-
>earc Hisa1«jkc\ hoaoHokr miu. Mosiiixvi- cc \\;t\\< ^i'li'c mitt cjbibicikvbt'.
i!>ai»akociko Dvaco laniwawt'kc. lf<ni|>c- TT^.ior.i-t Uv\>%ii nahihvikj ocJcilikounl^,

k«' inilakho llowtisv naw«*kli«iid «-alMO- ^pttok \\ S% ^ii f n s« ti ok\vHM'»ni. 'uutiiicela-

\va\vtco Hlowaeilc. >kiii < ifik«' uicikoii- > ^vvilr liokralc.

kV«- niOisi nakou- \vo|H>ntni\vi. l''a\v« kif.t- Sikcatatiki pa

ko piese k«ili ncthvikc rono \M« ior«> u«»- kcalRinite obicil
i motake wu'ac* nuiftkwitoke. (.'u-ik^ p« i- Ni^i^w akiiilct kolikv laiiiwu\ve\va

oipotiikke coini cawrkiuikc upauake<*ike ,tanjilM'\\

pipainimkc. Kvkihik«-ak<- itntiflk wise - Halalniikt •<

liikwalamikwa TajKilaa'aiikua r?iei»AAvi- maro ^.Hait^nco'auti hotitiikiu.
, »tt iticnbnvbnke kfiifsctahawaiiaui. Ta- Wanitaljeti hocick'tkito*! of
' i>alaiualrk\va h< ui : ili\valaai s*»laniwa1?e I waki lapwiweiancs OIK

waiiakisroko kokwalikwiauwalaniwaWck* ;

Skiti iaiaiiiuowila. Smtmvike w^sekito- ^ i;t ir\ri:w\.

\v<»\vn, fhetta inaii\volaiitwa\v6wofi wch* I -"Eiiawajilv^ Tapalaiualikwa
uitiiianini j-awckitako, Pakctikke paJo- ! mfthe wwocS h«shite, chfefia nakoH' n»ah«
cehc \vatnitiweabak«'hi \vckf. hkwale. Chencf Tnpalamaiikw a oinolil-

Ivieiwckenii. [elawto m?le hkwale; wchwewece. Tn
pa mifi n»-faJa

. . ,.

Oi>4Ki:Kii.iH>:M \ !,vrwtwir.\\»: ' wvnwliicc li< -him In-. Tupulninaiikua
Sakim>i»ck^ ^Im^bsnwa kuikuk»>a>kr , ht>\vi clauo aokt: likuuwi \\i^h !iimabik«-
«r*tkowawa; pi«^fk\vi !iik\v%* ki^wewa •! vvaluia'kote^anwo \veiwhe; wise .btbioi-
\\iopaski woiko\va\v». « "|keik<Mn^k\^ Waki inakvnhwaiic nace-

Ilvvsk* sako 'I'ajiaiainaiikua mdU^ckcu f^ahe wcpipw»alecc wewivveikibkilelecc
aiua inacike clu-ua \vawa?iki\ i^pab-iotalafamihe; ksikca initi ociciiikotucke

" * ~

THE SHAWXEE SUN

The first newspaper published exclusively in an Indian language in the present
boundaries of the United States.

The Shawnee Sun

The First Indian-language Periodical Published in the United States
DOUGLAS C. McMuwraiB

AFTER Jotham Meeker had set up his press at the Shawanoe
Baptist mission in 1834, one of the most interesting things he
undertook to print was a small "newspaper" in the language of the
Shawnee Indians. This Shawnee Sun, to name it by the translation
of its Indian title, was the first periodical publication to be printed
in what is now Kansas, and the first in all the land to be printed
wholly in an Indian language.1

In his journal, which is preserved in the valuable collections of
the Kansas State Historical Society, Meeker recorded that he began
"setting types on the 1st No. of the Shawanoe Sun" on February 18,
1835.2 Composition continued on the two days following and was
finished on the 21st, when the pages were made up and proofs taken.
On the 23d the proof was read and the corrections made, and on the
24th the type was put in the press and printed. Thus we know
exactly the date of the erection of this rather interesting typographic
landmark.

This little paper began with monthly issues, the first being for
March, 1835. Meeker's journal records the issues of April, May
and June, after which there was a pause until October. Thereafter
the issues were rather irregular until April, 1837, which is the last
of which Meeker makes mention.3 In the summer of 1837, Meeker
moved from the Shawanoe mission to his new mission for the Ottawa
Indians, near the present city of Ottawa, Kan. The printing office
at Shawanoe was then turned over to John G. Pratt, who was
sent out from Massachusetts to continue the Shawanoe printing.

Pratt continued the Shawnee Sun, probably at irregular intervals.
However, it was suspended entirely for a little over a year in 1839-
1840, while Pratt was absent from Shawanoe on sick leave. It was
resumed again by 1841 (Pratt returned to the mission in November,
1840) , and the Baptist Missionary Magazine, organ of the Board of
Foreign Missions, mentions its continued publication up to 1844.

1. Isaac McCoy, History of Baptist Indian Missions (Washington, New York, and Utica,
1840), p. 486, says: "This was the first newspaper ever published exclusively in an Indian
language." The Cherokee Phoenix, begun at New Echota, Ga., in February, 1828, was partly
in Cherokee and partly in English.

2. Douglas C. McMurtrie and Albert H. Allen, Jotham Meeker, Pioneer Printer of Kansas
(Chicago, 1930), p. 59; and see, also, under "Siwinowe Kesibwi," on p. 140.

8. The Meeker journal records issues of the Sun (in addition to those mentioned) for
December, 1835, January, February, July, August and November, 1836, January, February
and April, 1837. In view of the care with which Meeker made a note of almost everything
he did, it is hardly possible that there were also other issues not mentioned in the journal.

(339)

340 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The editor of the Shawnee Sun throughout its life was Johnston
Lykins, another of the Baptist missionaries at Shawanoe, whose
special field of labor was with the Shawnees. Lykins, however, was
absent on sick leave in 1836 and did not return to duty until May,
1837 ,4 and during this interval it would appear that Meeker was the
editor as well as the printer of the little sheet. In fact, Meeker made
numerous entries in his journal which show that he devoted con-
siderable time to writing or translating articles for the Sun, either
alone, or with the help of Joseph Deshane, an interpreter, or with an
Indian named Blackfeather, who, on at least two occasions, is men-
tioned as a contributor to the paper. But Meeker was not only the
editor and the printer — he was also the inventor of a method by
which the sounds of the Shawnee language (and of several other
Indian languages) might be represented by the letters of the English
alphabet.

As a creator of orthographies for the languages of the natives,
Meeker was diligent and ingenious. He simply took the letters for
sounds that did not occur in the given Indian tongue and arbitrarily
assigned to them sounds that needed to be expressed.5 Thus, for
the Shawnee, he gave to b the sound of th in thin, and to i the sound
of a in far. As printed, the Indian title of the Shawnee Sun read
Siwinowe Kesibwi, which Isaac McCoy, in his account of the paper,
transliterated Shau-wau-nowe Kesauthwau — an approximation to
the sounds of the words. Crude as this system of "writing Indian"
may seem, it was practical, as the Indians, even adults, learned to
read by it, and even in some individual instances to write by it in
their own language.

The Shawnee Sun "circulated" among the Indians at and near the
mission settlement. On January 11, 1837, Meeker noted in his
journal that he had "distributed 100 copies of the Shawanoe Sun
among the Shawanoes." Presumably, copies were sent to the Baptist
Board of Foreign Missions, at Boston,6 and presumably copies were
given to the local Indian agent for forwarding to the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs, at Washington. But the little paper must have
been printed in a quite limited edition, possibly not more than one
hundred and fifty or two hundred copies to an issue.

4. McCoy, op. cit., p. 504.

5. For a more extended account of the Meeker orthographies, see McMurtrie and Allen,
op. cit., pp. 25-30, and McCoy, op. cit., pp. 471-476.

6. By 1837 the Board of Foreign Missions had adopted a rule that at least one copy of
everything printed at any of its missionary stations should be sent to the Board (Baptist
Missionary Magazine, v. 21, 1841, pp. 208-209). But the Board seems to have made no
provision that the material thus collected should be preserved.

McMuRTRiE: THE SHAWNEE SUN 341

It is easy to understand why copies of the Shawnee Sun have dis-
appeared. Indians in the days of the Shawanoe mission did not
preserve files of newspapers. If copies were sent to the Board of
Foreign Missions or to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, no im-
portance was attached to them; at least, no record of such copies
can now be found. Meeker himself made up two partial files; an
entry in his journal on December 12, 1836, reads "Examine all the
old Nos. of the Sun and bind two volumes of it." By that date, the
journal had recorded the printing of eleven issues of the paper. But
these two files seem not to have survived the vicissitudes of flood
and storm to which Meeker 's few earthly possessions were subjected.
We do not even know how many issues appeared. Meeker mentions
fourteen up to April, 1837, the last which he printed, and in a memo-
randum book kept by Johnston Lykins7 there is mention of an issue
in May, 1842. Of all the copies that were printed, one single, sol-
itary copy is known to have survived, and even that copy is not yet
securely rescued from oblivion.

The surviving copy of the Shawnee Sun is one of the issue for
November, 1841. At the time of the publication of our book on
Jotham Meeker, in the spring of 1930, Mr. Allen and I had tried in
vain to locate this copy. A reproduction of the first page had been
printed in the Kansas City (Kansas) Sun of Friday, February 18,
1898; the original had then just been presented to Mr. Emanuel F.
Heisler by Charles Bluejacket, a Shawnee chief then living in the
Indian territory. After that, the original vanished so far as avail-
able knowledge of it was concerned. The search was continued,
with the invaluable assistance of Mr. Purd B. Wright, librarian of
the public library of Kansas City, Mo., who finally found the long-
sought copy in March, 1930. This was unfortunately too late for in-
cluding a reproduction of it in the Meeker book, which was then
printed and in the bindery. But as no reproduction of this elusive
rarity has been published since thirty-five years ago, and as the
newspaper reproduction of it in 1898 is practically inaccessible,8
it seems quite in order to present it again, in order that the record
of this strange little paper may be preserved for at least another
generation.

The original of the copy, dated November, 1841, is now in the
possession of a member of the Heisler family, in Kansas City, Kan.
It consists of but two pages (one leaf) , but a divided word at the

7. Preserved in the collections of the Kansas State Historical Society.

8. The Kansas State Historical Society has two clippings of the newspaper reproduction,
but they are yellowing and becoming frail with age.

342 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

end of the second page makes it seem likely that there were four
pages in the paper as printed. The pages were numbered, the second
page of the existing copy being page 70. If this issue originally con-
sisted of four pages, it ran to page 72. If the pages were numbered
consecutively from the beginning of publication in 1836, and if each
issue consisted of four pages, the issue of November, 1841, would
have been the eighteenth issue. There is no volume number or
serial number on this issue.

The only English words in the two pages of the existing copy are
in the combined date line and imprint, which reads: "J. Lykins,
Editor. November, 1841. Baptist Mission Press." Not being
familiar with the Shawnee language, I am unable to give any ac-
count of the subject matter of the four principal articles on the two
pages, but my guess is that much of it consisted of didactic Baptist
theology. The page measures about 6% by 10% inches, with the
text in two 8%-inch columns containing 52 lines of pica type to the
full column. The printer, whose name does not appear, was un-
doubtedly John G. Pratt.

Attached to the unique copy of the Shawnee Sun here described is
a printed note which may be presented, by way of conclusion, be-
cause of its testimony to the difficulties under which the Baptist
Mission Press was conducted. It reads: "In the year 1838 there
were shipped from Boston via New Orleans to the Shawnee Baptist
mission in Kansas (about five miles west of Westport, Mo.) several
boxes of paper and printing material. These goods were addressed
to Westport Landing, which had not yet appeared upon the maps,
and as the forwarding agent at New Orleans did not know where
Westport Landing was located, he sent the goods to Fort Gibson, on
the Arkansas, in the Indian territory. The goods were returned to
New Orleans, and then sent up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers,
being more than a year on the way before Mr. Pratt received them.
This certificate is printed upon a part of the paper then and there
received. The paper is a coarse book paper, and was used in print-
ing books in eight [?] different dialects, for the Indians, viz., the
Otoe, Kaw, Potawatomie, Ottawa, Shawnee, Delaware and Miami
languages. A newspaper was also printed, the Sau-wa-noe Ke-saw-
thwa, 'the Shawnee Sun/ (the first paper ever printed in the terri-
tory . . . printed here from 1836 to 1842)." With this note is
attached a certificate, dated in June, 1897, signed by John G. Pratt,
to the effect that certificates of membership for the Wyandotte
County Historical Society were printed on sheets from that ship-
ment of paper made in 1838.

Ferries in Kansas
PART II— KANSAS RIVER— Continued

GEORGE A. ROOT

'TVHE next ferry up river was at a point called "Bald Eagle,"
•*• opposite present Lecompton and about two miles distant from
Douglas. At this point William K. Simmons, an old frontiersman
who had crossed the plains in 1852, returned and took up a claim
and started a ferry. His location had been named "Bald Eagle" on
account of a number of bald eagles which nested in the tall syca-
mores that grew on either side of the river at this point. He was
the first settler in the vicinity and made a living by fishing and
operating his ferry.149 This was the second ferry in operation within
the limits of present Douglas county.

Ely Moore, for many years a resident of Lecompton, in "The
Story of Lecompton," describes this early ferry. Arriving in that
vicinity in the early fifties and wishing to cross the river, he ap-
proached a wagon and made his wants known.

"The wagon boss pointed to a huge sycamore log some twenty feet long,
five feet in diameter with an excavation in the center five feet in length, three
feet wide and two feet deep, with a 4 x 6-inch scantling for a keel, remarking,
'Thar's the ferry and hyars the ferryman.' As I looked my doubts about cross-
ing on that log, he answered my looks by saying: 'Don't feel skeery, mister,
for she's as dry as a Missourian's throat and as safe as the American flag.' "

Simmons was a member of Lane's regiment in the Mexican War,
and had two honorable wounds in that struggle. Mr. Moore pays
him this tribute: "In many respects he was a remarkable man.
Even in the babyhood days of this city [Lecompton] when water-
and-milk was an expensive luxury and whiskey subject to call, he
refrained from its use, and no man ever heard him utter a profane
word. Poor Bill may be dead, but if he is, many a worse man is
living."150

Just how long Simmons operated his ferry at Bald Eagle has not
been learned. However, it probably was not later than 1857. The
following reference is from the Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth,
August 9, 1856. It was written by a member of the "twenty-seven
hundred" who came over from Missouri to assist in wiping out
Lawrence and is part of one of a series of articles describing his

149. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 851.

160. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11, pp. 466, 467.

(343)

344 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

experiences on the expedition. In "Notes to and from the Siege of
Lawrence," under date of May 18, 1856, this writer says:

"To-day we are to cross the Kaw river, and to get to Lecompton. An enor-
mous flatboat, seemingly large enough for another Noah's Ark, receives us on
board, bag and baggage. The baggage being packed on board upon our shoul-
ders, we are further convinced, to use rather a stale phrase, that 'Jordan is a
hard road to travel.' To get to the other side is now the difficulty. We all
work our passage, hauling ourselves along by an old rope and making about
half mile per hour. After keeping up this process until we are far above the
capitol, we strike out, and at the imminent risk of several of our men, strike
terra firma."

In 1857 Joseph Haddox laid out a town called Rising Sun, which
was located close to the ferry landing on Simmons' claim. This was
directly opposite Lecompton, the territorial capital. At the new
town, in 1857, Jerome Kunkel151 established a ferry.152 He received
a charter for his ferry in 1858 and also became a member of the
town company the same year. Rising Sun grew into a lively little
village and was the business point for the township for several
years. Upon the building of the Union Pacific Railroad up the
Kaw valley in 1865 and the establishment of Medina, a short dis-
tance away, its business was soon taken away by the new town.
Decline was slow but steady, and by 1883 every vestige of Rising
Sun had disappeared, and the site is now a cultivated field.153

In 1861 a state road was established from Rising Sun to Grass-
hopper Falls, on the west side of Grasshopper (now Delaware)
river. In 1863 this road was changed from a point where the road
crossed what was known as Spring branch, thence in a northwesterly
direction past the east line of Ephraim Bainter's land, thence north-
westerly and north, running through the center of sections 24 and 25,
T. 9, R. 17, to intersect the original survey at Tillotson's ford.154

Lecompton was located opposite Simmons' claim and was platted
in 1855, being named for Judge Samuel D. Lecompte, territorial
chief justice and president of the town company. Other members
of the Lecompton town company were: John A. Halderman, secre-
tary; Daniel Woodson, territorial secretary and several times acting
governor of the territory, who was treasurer; George W. Clarke,
Chauncey B. Donaldson and William K. Simmons.155 In 1855

151. The census of Jefferson county, Kentucky township, 1870, p. 12, lists Jerome Kunkel,
43, farmer, native of Pennsylvania, owner of real estate worth $3,000, personal property,
$1,000; wife Christina, born Pennsylvania, and three children, 9, 7, and an infant, all born
in Kansas.

152. Private Laws, Kansas, 1858, pp. 56, 57.

153. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 521. Personal interview with J. A. Brown, of Le-
compton, a resident of the town in 1857, and residing within the county most of the time
since.

154. Laws, Kansas, 1863, p. 87. 155. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 351.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 345

William K. Simmons, Wesley Garrett and Evan Todhunter were
granted a charter by the legislature to operate a ferry at the new
town of Lecompton. The act granted exclusive privileges up and
down the river for a mile each side of the landing, for a five year
period, but was in no wise to affect the rights and privileges granted
the Lecompton Bridge Company.156 This company never built a
bridge at Lecompton, but a bridge was built at this point by the
county during the nineties.

By 1860 Lecompton was without ferry accommodations. That
year Robert C. Bishop was authorized by the legislature to operate
a ferry across the Kansas river and have exclusive rights of landing
within the corporate limits of the city, and for one mile below the
eastern limit of the city on the south bank of the river and one mile
from and below the west bank of the Grasshopper river on the
north bank of the Kansas river.157 No further history of this ferry
has been located.

Owen Baughman is said to have operated a ferry at Lecompton
for a time shortly before the building of the bridge in the late 1890's.

J. A. Brown, of Lecompton, in an interview in May, 1932, said:

"Lecompton never had more than one ferry running at a time, from the time
of my arrival there in 1857. Jerome Kunkel was operating it at that date.
The next year his cousin, Charles Kunkel, was in charge. Jerome Kunkel had
been a captain in the army. William McKinney operated the ferry for Kunkel
for several years. A. K. Lowe and boys also had charge for awhile. The first
ferry was a rope ferry. Later a wire cable was stretched across the river. A
wheel ran on this cable, and the boat was so attached to the wheel that the
current of the river propelled the boat from one side of the river to the other,
with little or no effort on the part of the ferryman. The landing place on the
north side of the river was at a point just below the present wagon bridge
across the Kaw. On that side of the river, riprapping and other means had
been employed to confine the river channel, and there was a network of sunken
logs, brush, stone, etc., that limited the channel the ferryboat could operate in.
When the ferryboat reached that obstruction it was made fast and the cargo
discharged."

Kunkle's ferry operated until about 1876.

According to E. J. Hill, long a resident of Lecompton, William
M. McKinney operated the Lecompton ferry from about 1868 to
1870. About 1870 a company built a pontoon bridge to take the
place of the ferry. This pontoon was not a success, on account of
the swift current of the river, and in less than a year was dis-
continued.

156. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 780, 879.

157. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, p. 267.

346 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The late Albert R. Greene, a former resident of Lecompton,
operated the ferry there for about a year during the early 1890's.
The Greene home in Lecompton was about half a mile from the
river. A wire was strung from the ferry to the house, and when a
patron on the opposite side of the river wished to call the boat,
the wire was pulled, ringing a bell at the other end and summoning
the ferryman. Mr. Greene employed a man to run the ferry, who
operated the boat during the day, but was averse to running it after
dark, there being practically no business after dark. On several
occasions, however, Mr. Greene was routed out of bed along about
midnight to take the boat to the opposite side of the river to bring
back some belated individual. This happened once or twice too
often, so Mr. Greene retired from the ferrying business.158

Lecompton, probably because it was made the territorial seat
of government, was the starting point or terminus of more roads
than any other town in Kansas of its size. Two were authorized
by the legislature of 1855, one starting from a point above the town
of Franklin, on the California road, via the (Horseshoe) lake and
the shore of the Kansas river to Lecompton ; the other started from
Atchison, via Mount Pleasant and Hickory Point, to a point opposite
Lecompton.159 The legislature of 1857 was lavish authorizing no
less than ten roads, as follows: One from Lecompton to St.
Bernard, thence to the county seat of Franklin county, thence to
Pierce in Anderson county, thence to Cofachique, Allen county.160
Another ran from Wyandotte, by way of Secondine to Lecomp-
ton ; 161 another ran from Kickapoo to Lecompton ; 162 another ran
from Lecompton to Roseport, Doniphan county; 163 another ran
from Leavenworth to Lecompton, with a branch to Lawrence; 164
another from Atchison, via Mount Pleasant, to a point on the Kan-
sas river opposite Lecompton ; 165 another started from Lecompton,
via Paola, Paris and Miami to Barnesville on the Little Osage to
intersect the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Scott military road ; 166 an-
other ran from Atchison, via Wigglesworth's ford on Stranger creek,
to Lecompton ; 167 another ran from Prairie City to Lecompton, 168

158. Statement of Mrs. Lucy Greene (Henry F.) Mason.

159. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 952, 953, 962.

160. Laws, Kansas, 1857, p. 172.

161. Ibid., p. 176. 162. Ibid., p. 178.

163. Ibid., p. 181. 164. Ibid., pp. 181, 182.

165. Ibid., p. 182. 166. Ibid., p. 183.

167. Ibid., pp. 184, 185. 168. Ibid., pp. 185, 186.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 347

and another started from Lecompton, crossing the Kansas river,
running west to Calhoun and there forking, the left hand branch
running a west course and intersecting the military road from
Leavenworth to Fort Riley on the west of Indianola, and the right
hand fork running a northwest direction by way of Elk City to
Richmond, the county seat of Nemaha county.169

According to John McBee, of Topeka, who lived near Kaw City, a
few miles north of Grantville, in the late fifties, the settlers in that
vicinity traded at Lecompton, crossing the river on KunkeFs ferry.
After the building of the Union Pacific up the Kaw valley and the
starting of Medina, this trade went to Medina, which was some
miles closer. McBee says a ferry was also operated at Grantville
for a time during the sixties. This point is about 10 miles west of
old Bald Eagle or Rising Sun, as the town opposite Lecompton was
called.

Two attempts at securing a bridge for Lecompton were made dur-
ing the year 1865. On January 11, that year, the Lecompton Bridge
Company, composed of William Morrow, D. S. Mclntosh, L. Mc-
Arthur, F. F. Benner (?), William M. Nace, Wilson Shannon, Jr.,
and A. D. Graves (?), was granted a charter to build a bridge to
connect Lecompton and Rising Sun. Capital stock of the company
was placed at $100,000, with shares at $100 each. This charter was
filed with the secretary of state on January 12, 1865.170 Evidently
nothing was done by this company, and on August 14, the same year,
a new company, under the same name, was organized by L. Mc-
Arthur, D. S. Mclntosh, Allen Parish, A. W. Chenoweth, S. Weaver,
William M. Nace and William Weaver. Capital stock of the new
organization was reduced to $60,000, shares being $100 each. This
charter was not filed with the secretary of state until February 27,
1866, m and no bridge was built by the new company.

The next ferry site up the river was at Medina. On January 14,
1869, the county commissioners of Jefferson county issued a license
to Jerome Kunkel and Wales Saunders, on payment of a $10 fee.172

This ferry, designated as Saunder's ferry, on the Kansas river, one-
half mile southwest of Medina, is mentioned in connection with a
road to this point established about July 7, 1869.173

169. Ibid., pp. 187, 188.

170. Corporations, v. 1, p. 18.

171. Ibid., p. 70.

172. Jefferson County, Commissioners' Minute Book, 1863-69, p. 643.

173. County Clerk, Jefferson county, Journal B, p. 101.

348 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

In Book B, Proceedings Jefferson County Commissioners, pp. 176,
177, under date of December 6, 1869, is the following:

"Newman Ferry. — And now comes John Bouyer [?], Wales Saunders and
others of Kentucky township and present their written petition for the estab-
lishment of a ferry across the Kansas river one and a half miles above Medina
on the road from Newman to Big Springs which said petition is ordered filed
and the prayer of the said petitioner after having been duly considered by the
board and the board being fully satisfied thereof is granted, and it is ordered
by the board that the license for said ferry issue to the said John Bouyer and
Wales Saunders. And it is further ordered by the board that the said John
Bouyer & Wales Saunders pay . . . $10.00 for privilege . . . each year."

Ferry charges established by the board were: One two-horse
team, 25 cents; one horse and buggy, 20 cents; one man and horse,
15 cents ; one footman, 10 cents ; cattle per head, 05 cents ; sheep and
hogs, per head, 03 cents.

The next ferry on the river was at Tecumseh, about five miles
distant. In 1854 Thomas N. Stinson and J. K. Waysman estab-
lished a ferry at that point on the section line between Ranges 16
and 17 East. Stinson had been a trader at Uniontown, near the
western limit of present Shawnee county on the south side of the
Kansas river, since 1848, and when the territory was opened for
settlement had located a claim on the river about twenty miles
below on which he laid out the townsite of Tecumseh and started
a ferry. Stinson's house was located on an eminence overlooking
Calhoun Bluffs to the north of the river. A good road was con-
structed to the ferry landing and the enterprise was considered an
important one, the ferry being the principal crossing for the route
from Leavenworth to the Sac and Fox and other southern agencies.174
In 1855 Stinson was granted a twenty-year charter to maintain a
ferry at the new town, the law providing that if the county tribunal
failed to fix rates of ferriage the rates prevailing the previous year
should remain in force until changed by the county.175

The following advertisement of this ferry appeared in a Topeka
paper, and ran for months, this being copied from the Kansas
Tribune, Topeka, April 14, 1856:

"TECUMSEH FERRY — KANSAS RIVER

"The nearest and best route from Fort Leavenworth to Council Grove.

"This ferry is now open, and ready to cross teams, passengers and freight

at any hour. The ferryboat is large, entirely new, and built for this ferry.

The landings on both sides are excellent at all stages of water, and for

swimming cattle across is the best and safest place on the river. Emigrants

174. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 533.

175. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p. 776.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 349

and traders passing on the route between Fort Leavenworth and Council
Grove, will find this the shortest and easiest road; Tecumseh being on a direct
air line from Fort Leavenworth to Council Grove. It is nine miles from
the ferry to the intersection of the Great Military Road, on the north side of
the river. Teams leave the Military Road at Rock creek crossing, and thence
across the old Parkville crossing of Muddy creek. Distance from Rock creek
crossing to Muddy creek crossing, 7 miles; thence to the ferry 2 miles.
Tecumseh is on the direct road from Westport to California. Total distance
from Leavenworth to Tecumseh, 50 miles; thence to Council Grove, 65 miles;
excellent grazing near each landing place free of expense.

"Tecumseh, K. T., March 6, '55. "T. N. STINSON,

"J. K. WAYSMAN."

Ferry charges in force at this crossing in 1856 were: One wagon,
two horses, $1 ; each additional span of horses or yoke of cattle, 25
cents; loose cattle or horses, per head, 10 cents; one horse and
wagon, 75 cents; man and horse, 25 cents; foot passengers, 10 cents;
sheep and hogs, 5 cents each.176

James K. Waysman lived about two miles east of Tecumseh,
settling there in May, 1854. He rented the ferry owned by T. N.
Stinson and operated it. In 1856 the citizens of Tecumseh agreed
among themselves that they wouldn't take any sides in the terri-
torial troubles. Once when Mr. Waysman was absent from home,
one Donaldson came and took his ferryboat as far as Lecompton.
On his return Waysman followed down the river and found his
boat still at Lecompton, and brought it home at his own expense.
Sometime after Donaldson had taken the boat to Lecompton Mr.
Stinson went to Waysman and reported that some men had come
to him and asked if they might borrow the boat. Waysman told
him they could not have it. These men then went to Waysman
and asked to borrow it to take down stream, promising to protect
him from the incursions of Free State men if he would do so. Ways-
man declined, telling them they could not have the boat until they
put him out of the way, and further that he did not want their
protection.177

The Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, of August 4, 1855, had
a good write-up of the new town and its ferry. Among other things
it said:

". . . The channel runs on the south side of the bed, and the banks
and bottom of the river, along here, are rock; consequently free from all
danger of the bluffs ever washing off any. There are two good and easy slopes
down to the river, besides an excellent road cut and graded down to the ferry

176. Topeka State Journal, December 14, 1901.

177. Statement of James K. Waysman, dated Topeka, February, 1883. — MS. in Kansas
State Historical Society.

350 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

landing. The ferry is arranged with ropes and buoys, and is probably the best
and most certain on the river. The ferry boat is large, new, and capable of
crossing three teams and wagons at each trip. The steamboat landing is also
a good one, easily approached and perfectly safe from sand bar obstructions."

In 1858 and 1859 Achilles M. Jordan operated the Stinson ferry,
but whether as proprietor or for Stinson, we are unable to state.
Jordan was a native of Indiana, born in 1824. He came to Kansas
in 1855 and settled at Tecumseh. During the Civil War he was
employed by the government to purchase live stock for the Union
army. His death occurred at Fort Scott, October 9, 1864.178 The
census of 1860 lists him as a ferryman, 36 years of age, born,
Indiana; wife, Celia, 27, born, Kentucky; two children, born, Kan-
sas.179

Just how long Stinson operated his ferry we have been unable to
learn, for records of Shawnee county commissioners, prior to 1862,
cannot be located in the office of the county cjerk. However, in
1862 he signed as surety on a $500 bond with Remi H. Lecompte,180
who had secured a license for a ferry in that neighborhood.

Remi H. Lecompte's ferry, in all probability, succeeded Stinson's,
and operated from that location. On July 7, 1862, he received a
license to operate a ferry across the Kansas river with landing
privileges on lot 8 of the Kaw half breed lands on the north side of
the river, and on the road running from Topeka to Leavenworth.
Thomas N. Stinson was surety on his $500 bond required, which
was accepted by the county, July 12, 1862.181

Aside from the following complimentary notice of this ferry from
a Topeka paper, no mention other than those found in official
records has been found:

"Lecompte's ferry over the Kansas river, four miles below Topeka, is in
good running order, and is said by travelers to shorten the distance several
miles. Mr. Lecompte is an accommodating, gentlemanly man, and we are
glad to know that he is receiving a good share of the traveling custom." —
Topeka Weekly State Record, December 17, 1862.

The next year Mr. Lecompte was granted a license for a ferry,
the application having recited that the ferry was where the one
formerly owned by Updegraff and Brown was established, and
about one and one-half miles below the State Road ferry, owned

178. Information furnished by Vernon W. Wilson, Topeka, a relative.

179. Census, Shawnee county, 1860, pp. 65, 66.

180. Original bond in office of county clerk, Shawnee county, Kansas.

181. Ferry bonds, office Shawnee county clerk; Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, p. 19.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 351

and run by A. H. Lafon. His license was for one year, dating from
October 1, 1863, and was granted without a tax.182

In 1864 Lecompte had taken a partner in the ferry business, and
the two were granted a license. Following is a copy of the bond they
filed:

"Know all men by these presents: That we, L. McArthur, A. H. Case, E.L.
Wheeler, Derrick Updegraff as sureties for Remi H. Lecompte and James V.
Summers, do acknowledge ourselves to owe and be indebted to the state of
Kansas, in the sum of five hundred dollars, upon the following conditions
to wit:

"Whereas, Said Remi H. Lecompte and James V. Summers, are about to
start and run a ferry across the Kansas river between Shawnee and Jefferson
counties, at the place formerly known as the Updegraff ferry, and one and one-
half miles below the State Road ferry, kept by Harvey Lafon.

"Now, If said Remi H. Lecompte and James V. Summers shall faithfully
perform all duties required by law at such ferry, then this bond shall be void,
else remain hi full force . . .

"Given under our hands and seals this 29th day of August, A. D. 1864.

"L. McARTHUB (Seal)

"U. S. A. H. CASE (Seal)

25^ DERRICK UPDEGRAFF (Seal)

Rev. E. L. WHEELER (Seal)

Stmp. D. S. MUNGER (Seal)

"Approved August 29, 1864

"HmAM MCARTHUR, Co. Clerk"

By 1865 Tecumseh was probably without ferry accommodations.
Early in the spring the following petition was presented to the
Shawnee county officials:

"We, the undersigned petitioners of Tecumseh and vicinity, do pray the
county commissioners of Shawnee county Kansas to grant license to Ellie
Quiett and Hiram Chapman to have and to run a ferry across the Kansas
river at Tecumseh.

"Tecumseh, April 3, 1865.

"Signers' names:

"B. A. Murphy Ben Holzle

J. H. Murphy John N. Schmidt

Lewis Dearing P. D. Davis

J. C. Copeland G. B. McLee

Carl Casper H. H. Frizell

V. Martin Wm. M. Jordan"***
J. M. Reed

182. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, p. 77.

183. Original petition in office of county clerk, Shawnee county, Kansas.

352 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

This license was granted, and on May 18, following, Ellie Quiett184
and Hiram Chapman, principals, and Wm. M. Jordan and Wesley
Gregg, sureties, signed a bond for $1,000 to run a ferry at the town
of Tecumseh until the January, A. D., 1866, term of the board of
county commissioners.185

The next mention of this ferry is for the year 1871, at which time
Susan Quiett 186 made application to the board of county commis-
sioners of Jefferson county for a ferry license, which was granted
by the board. A bond of $100 was required and the license issued
upon payment of the clerk's fees.187 Shawnee county, however,
required a bond of $1,000, which was signed April 28, 1871, by
Susan Quiett as principal and J. P. Campbell as surety, for the
operation of this ferry for the year 1871, north of the town of
Tecumseh, and granting privileges for one-half a mile up and same
distance down from said point. Approved May 11, 1871, by P. I.
Bonebrake, county clerk.188

Ferry charges for the years 1872 and 1873 were identical and
were: two horses and wagon, 35 cents; one horse and wagon or
buggy, 25 cents; horse and rider, 15 cents; loose horses and cattle,
10 cents; sheep or hogs, 5 cents each.189

Susan Quiett operated the ferry at least until the close of 1873,
according to records in the Shawnee county clerk's office.190 After-
wards, Tecumseh, apparently, was once more without ferry facilities.
On April 12, 1876, H. E. Goodell and others, of Tecumseh, presented
a petition to the county commissioners, asking that T. F. Quiett be
allowed to maintain a ferry without paying the legal license fee.
The petition was rejected.191

"Ed" Taylor, aged 73, of Ozawkie, Jefferson county, has stated
that he crossed the Tecumseh ferry many times years ago when he
brought vegetables to Topeka to sell. This was about the year
1885.192 This would indicate that this ferry had been operated
more or less continuously for a period of over thirty years. Beer's
Atlas of Shawnee County, published in 1873, marks the ferry.

184. Census, Jefferson county, 1870, p. 7, lists E. Quiett, male, 61; real estate, $3,500;
personal property, $1,200; native of North Carolina.

185. Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, p. 139; original bond in office county clerk,
Shawnee county, Kansas.

186. Census, Jefferson county, 1870, p. 7, lists Susan Quiett as being 54 years of age;
born, Tennessee; five children, between the ages of 23 and 11 years.

187 Jefferson county, Proceedings Board of County Commissioners, February 7, 1871,

Book C, p. 227.

188. Original bond in office of county clerk, Shawnee county, Kansas.

189. County Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, p. 55, 199.

190. County Commissioners' Minute Book, B-C, p. 363 ; original bonds in same office.

191. Commissioners' Proceedings, Book E, p. 26.

192. Interview by Norman Niccum, of Ozawkie, April 29, 1933.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 353

The legislature which authorized the Tecumseh ferry also estab-
lished several territorial roads, one from Iowa Point to Eujatah to
run by way of Tecumseh, One Hundred and Ten, and Columbia;
another from Atchison, by way of Kickapoo, Leavenworth and
Hickory Point, to Tecumseh and on to the old Santa Fe road near
110 creek; another from Shawnee mission by way of William
Donaldson's, near Mill creek, by Blue Jacket's ferry on the Waka-
rusa, Big Springs to Tecumseh; and another from Willow Springs,
via Glendale, crossing Elk fork of Wakarusa, between claims of
Henry W. Frick, and Allen Pearson to the Kansas river at a point
above or at Tecumseh.193 In 1866 a state road was established from
Tecumseh, running south as near as practicable on the township
line between ranges 16 and 17, and connecting with the state road
leading to the Sac and Fox agency. William M. Jordan, Thomas
Maguire and John Ridgeway were commissioners appointed to lay
out and establish this road.194

A charter for a bridge at Tecumseh was passed by the legislature
of 1855 and approved August 30 that year, giving special privileges
to the Kansas River Bridge Company. Apparently little was done
until 1857, when the company began soliciting subscriptions for the
construction of a bridge. Advertisements of the enterprise named
E. Hoogland, of Tecumseh, as being a trustee of the company. On
commencement of work it was thought practicable to have teams
cross on a temporary bridge inside of sixty days. Early in July that
year the corner stone was laid. An iron bridge had been contracted
for at Cincinnati, and it was expected the new structure would be
completed with little delay. A territorial paper commenting on the
new enterprise said: "The Tecumseh bridge is expected to be com-
pleted by January 1, 1858. As it is the only bridge across the
Kansas river, its stock must prove a profitable investment." 195
After completion of one pier work on the bridge was suspended. In
1862 another effort was made to revive the bridge project. The
legislature granted a three-year extension of time beginning with
May 1, 1862, for the completion of the bridge,196 but it was never
built.

GoodelFs ferry,197 about a mile upstream, was the next one. This

193. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 945, 947, 954, 969.

194. Laws, Kansas, 1866, p. 224.

195. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, p 833 ; .Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth, March
28; September 26, October 3, 1857.

196. General Laws, Kansas, 1862, p. 116.

197. Beers' Atlas of Shawnee County, 1873, p. 54, shows a ferry at this point.

2&-1070

354 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was probably the successor to the Topeka and Perryville Ferry
Company, and was located at a point where the Goodell road
reached the river — this being between S. 25 and 36, T. 11, R. 16.
A license was granted to E. A. Goodell to operate a ferry at this
point from March 4, 1872, to March 4, 1873, on the payment of $10.
Ferriage charges authorized by the county were: two horses and
wagon, 25 cents; one horse and buggy, 25 cents; man and horse,
15 cents; footman, 10 cents; loose horses, mules and cattle, 10 cents
each ; hogs and sheep, 5 cents each.198

The Topeka and Perryville Ferry Company had a crossing on the
river less than one mile above Tecumseh. The company was
chartered March 18, 1871, E. A. Goodell, William P. Douthitt, C. C.
Howard, H. C. Beard and William H. Weymouth being the in-
corporators. The company was capitalized at $2,000, with shares
$100 each. This ferry was located at a point where the section
line between S. 25 and 36, in T. 11, R. 16, strikes the river in
Shawnee county, landing in Jefferson county opposite. Special
privileges were granted by the charter for one-half mile above and
one-half mile below said point. This charter was filed with the
secretary of state, March 20, 1871.199 The landing on the Shawnee
county side was on land owned by Goodell.

At a point two miles above Tecumseh, Derrick Updegraff was
granted authority by the legislature of 1860 to maintain a ferry
for a period of ten years, the act including special rights for one
mile up and one mile down the river.200 This ferry was on S. 23,
T. 11, R. 16, and is shown in Beers' Atlas of Shawnee County, 1873,
p. 54. Updegraff was one of the early settlers, locating at Tecumseh
in 1854.

Another ferry was started at the above location some years later.
On February 28, 1870, a charter was issued to the Topeka and
Grantville Ferry Company. Robert C. Love, John F. Center
(Carter?), John W. Norton, Harrison M. Knapp and J. B. Whittaker
were the incorporators. The principal office of the company had
not been decided on at the time the charter was issued, but probably
was at Topeka. The company was capitalized at $2,500, with
shares at $500 each. The company proposed to operate a ferry
over the Kansas river, the south landing to be in S. 23, T. 11, R. 16,
in Shawnee county, and on the north side of the river in S. 24, T. 11,
R. 16, in Jefferson county. Three directors were chosen for the

198. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, p. 47.

199. Corporations, v. 3, p. 214.

200. Laws, Kansas, 1860, p. 273.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 355

first year, including R. C. Love, John F. Carter and J. B. Whit-
taker.201 Two years later another charter was granted to the above-
named company, September 23, 1872. The new incorporators were
A. W. Knowles, William P. Douthitt, C. 0. Knowles, J. B. Whittaker
and Michael Voorhis. The capital stock of the new organization
was reduced to $2,000, with shares $100 each. The principal office
of the company was at the ferry crossing, which was at the point
where the state road from Leavenworth crossed the Kansas river.202

The above incorporators were Topeka and Shawnee county men
and prominent in early business circles. Whittaker was a civil
engineer and prepared an early plat of the city of Topeka.

The next ferry upstream was the State Road ferry, also known as
Lafon's ferry, having been established in 1862 by Alexander Harvey
Lafon,203 a resident of Jefferson county. This ferry crossed the
Kansas river at about S. 23, 24, T. 11, R. 16E. The following,
found among a packet of ferry bonds in the office of the Shawnee
county clerk, appears to be the earliest record of this ferry:

"To the Honorable County Board of Shawnee county, Kansas.

"The undersigned your petitioner would respectfully represent to your Hon.
body that the Leavenworth and Topeka road is now nearly ready for travel
from Leavenworth to the north bank of the Kansas river and will be com-
pleted at an early date. That the said road crosses the said river at a point
where there was not an established ferry. That your petitioner obtained a
license from the county board of Jefferson at Jts April 1862 term to open a
ferry at the said crossing, which ferry is now nearly ready for use, and as
the river at the said point forms the boundary line between the countys of
Shawnee and Jefferson it may be necessary for him to obtain a license from
each of the said counties.

"He therefore asks your Honors to grant him a ferry license for the said
point for the term of nine months from the issue thereof, and also as the
ferry may not be profitable he asks that he may be exempt from paying the
tax thereon until the amt. of crossing will justify.

"Respectfully submitted, A. H. LAFON."

"July 7th, 1862."

A second application for a license, bearing no date, but which
must have been for 1862, was presented to the county board, of
which the following is a copy:

"To the Board of County Commissioners in and for Shawnee County.

"Whereas Harvey La Fawn [Lafon] of Jefferson county Kansas has obtained
a license from said county of Jefferson to keep and maintain a ferry where the
state road from Leavenworth to Topeka crosses the Kaw or Kansas river and

201. Corporations, v. 2, p. 295.

202. Ibid., v. 4, p. 501.

203. Alexander Harvey Lafon was county surveyor of Jefferson county, 1868-1870.

356 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

whereas said Harvey LaFawn has a ferry in operation on the Kansas river
where said road crosses therefore the said Harvey LaFawn now makes appli-
cation to the Board of County Commissioners of Shawnee county Kansas for
a license to run and maintain a ferry in Shawnee county where the said state
road crosses the Kansas river for the space of one year.

"A. H. LAPON.

"Received since the establishment of said ferry in cash 35.15. in accounts
38.10."

Lafon was given a license the first year without the usual tax,
but was required to give a $1,000 bond, which was approved by the
county. This ferry existed for several years and was known as
the State Road ferry. Ferriage rates for 1864 were: Government
freight wagon, $1.25; 2 horses and wagon, 40 cents; 1 yoke oxen and
wagon, 40 cents; 1 horse and buggy, 35 cents; 2 horses and buggy,
50 cents; 4 horse stage, 40 cents; 2 horse stage, 25 cents; man and
horse, 25 cents; loose horses and cattle, each 10 cents; sheep and
hogs, each 5 cents; footman, 10 cents; each extra team, 15 cents.204

Ferriage rates for 1865 showed a slight change, as shown by this
schedule: Government and freight wagons, $1.25; 2 horse wagon
or buggy, 50 cents; 1 yoke of cattle and wagon, 50 cents; every
extra span of horses or yoke of cattle, 25 cents ; 1 horse and buggy,
35 cents ; 4 horse stage, 37 cents ; 2 horse stage, 25 cents ; loose cattle
and horses, each, and footman, 10 cents; sheep and hogs, each, 5
cents; for all crossing over and back the same day, half price;
ministers and priests when going to appointments, half price.205

Lafon's ferry, licensed till the first Monday in January, 1866,
apparently went out of business sometime in 1865, as no further
mention of its operation has been located.

A. C. Kurd's ferry succeeded the above, and was located at the
same place. He was born near Scipio, Alleghany county, N. Y.,
January 14, 1839. He came to Kansas in 1857, and for a few years
worked in a grist mill at Indianola. In August, 1862, he enlisted in
Company L, Fifth Kansas cavalry. After being mustered out of
service he returned to Shawnee county and bought the ferry across
the river on the Jefferson-Shawnee county line. He was connected
with the ferry for the next seven years, making his home in Jeffer-
son county and farming on the side in the meantime.206 Ferry
charges for the year 1867 were as follows: "Two horses and wagon,
25 cents ; for each additional team, 15 cents ; for horseman, 15 cents ;

204. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Records, Book A, pp. 83-84.

205. Ibid., Book A, p. 139.

206. Chapman Bros., Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson, Jefferson and Potta-
watomie counties, pp. 769-771; Corporations, v. 2, p. 327.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 357

freight wagon, $1.25; one horse and bug, 20 cents; loose horses and
cattel, per head, 10 cents; loose hogs and sheep, per head, 5 cents;
footman, 10 cents. But no more than the above fees as filed in the
foregoing," the commissioners cautioned in the records.207

In 1867 Jesse Enochs, a brother-in-law, appeared to have become
a partner, and bonds were filed for the years 1867 and 1868, men-
tioning Fitzsimmons Kurd and A. C. Kurd as proprietors. License
fees for these years were $10 each.208

The Hurds took out a license for 1869, but evidently there was
a change in proprietorship early that year, for A. C. Kurd and
Jesse Enochs filed a bond as principals with Shawnee county. A
$500 bond for the year 1870 was filed on January 1, A. D. Craigue
and E. P. Kellam being sureties.209 Their license this year was is-
sued on April 7.210

There was a reorganization of the business in the spring of 1870,
and Kurd incorporated his ferry under the name of the Leaven-
worth and Topeka State Road Ferry Company. The charter was
filed with the secretary of state April 5, 1870, naming A. C. Kurd,
Jesse Enochs, Jacob R. Bowes, John Enochs and James E. Greer as
incorporators. Capital stock was placed at $2,000, with shares $200
each. The ferry was to be located at a point known as Kurd's
ferry, in S. 24, T. 11, R. 16E., in Tecumseh township, with the
principal office of the company at the place where the ferry was
located.211

On April 7, 1870, Hurd and Company applied to Jefferson county
for their license, which cost $10, and specified that ferriage rates
were to remain the same as charged heretofore and fixed by the
county board.212

For some reason or other Mr. Hurd and Jesse Enochs, his brother-
in-law, applied to the legislature of 1871 for right to operate a ferry
across the Kansas river. This was House Bill No. 326, of that
session. The bill was referred to the committee on corporations,
which, after amending the measure, recommended its passage. It
failed to pass, dying on the calendar.213

The same year Hurd applied to Jefferson county for a license, and
the county board ordered the county clerk to issue it.214 The f ollow-

207. Jefferson county, Commissioners' Proceedings (first book), pp. 425, 426.

208. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, p. 866; Book B-C, p. 211.

209. Original bonds in office of county clerk, Shawnee county.

210. Jefferson county, Commissioners' Proceedings, April 7, 1870, Book C, p. 82.

211. Corporations, v. 2, p. 327.

212. Jefferson county, Commissioners' Proceedings, April 7, 1870, Book C, p. 82.

213. House Journal, Kansas, 1871.

214. Jefferson county, Commissioners' Proceedings, July 3, 1871, Book C, p. 825.

358 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ing year, 1872, Speer and Blanchard obtained a license to operate a
ferry at this location, stating that their ferry was "where the Kansas
river was crossed by the Leavenworth and Topeka state road, at
the same point where Hurd and Enochs ran a ferry during the year
1871." Their bond was filed with the clerk of Shawnee county.
Rates of ferriage were as follows: Two horses and wagon, 35 cents;
one horse, and wagon, 25 cents; horse and rider, 15 cents; loose
horses or cattle, 10 cents each; sheep or hogs, 5 cents each; footman,
10 cents.215

The following order was issued by the Shawnee county commis-
sioners in 1872: "Robert McCoy, ferry license at old Hurd ferry,
on Leavenworth and Topeka state road, $10, he to be allowed to
charge the same rates of ferriage as was granted to Hurd and
Blanchard. The order granting license to Speer and Blanchard is
hereby revoked. Done November 8, 1872." 216

The next spring Jesse Enochs, of Kaw township, Jefferson county,
obtained a ferry license dated April 8, 1873, for this same location,
giving a $1,000 bond. His ferriage rates were the same as prevailed
during the year 1871.217

Apparently the ferry business was abandoned at this point for
several years, the next permit being granted by Shawnee county in
1878, to Enochs and Jackson. They filed a bond for $400, which
was approved August 6, 1878.218 This probably was the last ferry-
ing done at this location.

The next ferry above was at the old town of Calhoun, about one
mile distant, the landing on the north side being on tract No. 7,
Kaw half breed lands, and on the south being on S. 23, T. 11, R. 16.
In 1857 James Kuykendall was authorized to maintain a ferry at
this town, with special privileges for one mile up and one mile down,
for a period of twenty years.219 Kuykendall must have retired
from the business within the next two years, as the ferry went into
other hands. James Kuykendall was a pioneer in county business in
old Calhoun county. He had held the office of sheriff of Platte
county, Missouri, for four years, had been probate judge for a
decade, and a public man generally. In Calhoun he was probate
judge, chairman of the board of county commissioners, register of
deeds, county clerk and prosecuting attorney.220

215. Original document in office of county clerk, Shawnee county.

216. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, p. 130.

217. Jefferson county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book D, p. 319.

218. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book E, pp. 375, 376.

219. Laws, Kansas, 1857, pp. 161, 162.

220. Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 1339.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 359

Kuykendall may have been looking forward to patronage for his
ferry, for in 1855 he, together with James Wilson221 and William
Christison, were commissioned to lay out a road from Delaware on
the Missouri river to Calhoun on the Kansas river. This road had
two branches, one terminating at Topeka, on the south side of the
river, the other continuing up the Kaw valley and intersecting the
military road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley, near the
Soldier-creek crossing, at Indianola.222 With all its advantages,
the Calhoun ferry landing on the south side of the river terminated
in an expanse of heavy river sand223 which must have been some-
what of a drawback.

Kuykendall retired from the ferry business probably late in 1858,
for the Topeka Tribune of April 28, 1859, stated that there were
several ferries in operation on the river to accommodate the travel
to the gold mines, one being at Calhoun Bluffs, and operated by
Robert Walker. The same issue contained the following "puff" of
this ferry: "Calhoun Ferry — We publish an advertisement for the
ferry. The proprietor, Mr. Walker, has fitted up a new boat and
promises to cross teams, etc., with safety and despatch. He will do
a good business as he understands the benefits arising from Printer's
Ink."

The advertisement referred to above follows :

"CALHOTTN FERRY
"ROBERT WALKER.

"The proprietor of the above named ferry takes this method to inform the
traveling public, that having built a new, large class boat, and gone to great
expense in grading down the landings, he is prepared to cross teams, droves
and travelers, &c. with greatest safety and dispatch, and at the lowest cus-
tomary rates.

"This ferry is situated on the shortest, best and most direct route from
Leavenworth, via Topeka, Council Grove to Santa Fe or the Pike's Peak gold
mines, and most of this travel is now crossing here. Persons teaming between
Leavenworth and Topeka will find this route five miles nearer, with better
road and accommodations than by way of Indianola, besides avoiding the
Soldier creek ford.

"Calhoun, April 21st, 185$— 42m3. ROBERT WALKRR."

The following year found Mr. Walker getting ready for travel.
A local Topeka paper said: "Robert Walker gives notice that he
has refitted his ferry at Calhoun, five miles east of Topeka, and
that teamsters to the river will save time and travel by going to
his ferry to cross. He has opened a house of entertainment, near

221. Wilson was an early sheriff of Calhoun county.

222. General Statutes, Kansas, 1855, pp. 962, 963.

223. Green, Report Smoky Hill Expedition, p. 8.

360 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

by, where he will rest the weary and feed the hungry. Try him. He
will do as he agrees." 224

The following advertisement appeared at the same time:

"Calhoun Ferry — Robert Walker would remind the traveling public that
he has refitted the above ferry in a most substantial manner, making it an
expeditious and safe crossing. The road to Leavenworth by this ferry is
shorter by several miles than any other, as well as better.

"I have also opened a house of entertainment on the north bank of the
river, known as the Calhoun House, where belated travelers can find every
accommodation and comfort which a Western hotel affords.

"Service prompt and charges moderate."225

The Calhoun ferry location apparently was not a profitable one,
and was probably abandoned by Mr. Walker after the season of
1862, as no further mention of it has been located other than this
bond, filed that year:

"Know all men by these presents that we G. P. Clark as principal and
Robert Walker as security are held and firmly bound unto the state of Kansas
in the sum of One Thousand Dollars lawful money of the United States to be
paid to the state of Kansas, for which payment well and truly to be made we
hereby bind ourselves our heirs executors and administrators firmly by these
presents. Sealed with our seals— dated the 10th day of May, A. D., 1862. The
condition of the above obligation is such that whereas the county clerk,
and clerk of the board of county commissioners of the county of Shawnee,
in vacation has granted to the said G. P. Clark a license 'to keep a ferry on
the Kansas river, at the crossing of the same near the town of Calhoun, in
Calhoun [now Shawnee] county' and state of Kansas, until the end of the
next term of said board of county commissioners. Now if the said G. P.
Clark shall faithfully perform the duties required by law at such ferry then
this obligation to be void, otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue.

"G. P. CLARK, (Seal)
"ROBERT WALKER (Seal)"

[Endorsed on back]— "Approved this 10 day of May A. D., 1862— HIRAM Mc-
ARTHUR County Clerk."226

In 1861 Robert Walker evidently was seeking a new location for
his ferry. That year he applied to the legislature for a charter for
a ferry to be located at or close to the mouth of Soldier creek,
over the Kansas river. This act granted special privileges for one
mile up and one mile down the river; was vetoed by the governor,
and was passed over his veto by both houses.221 This location is
near the "three bridges" over Soldier creek, two of which are rail-
road bridges, and just on the outskirts of North Topeka.

224. Kansas State Record, Topeka, April 7, 1860.

225. Ibid.

226. Original bond in office of county clerk, Shawnee county.

227. Private Laws, Kansas, 1861, pp. 35, 36.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 361

Following the granting of this charter, Walker made application
for a ferry license, his bond having been signed by Daniel Handley:

"To the Hon. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Shawnee :

"The petition of Robert Walker a resident of the county of Shawnee and
state of Kansas respectfully shows that the interests of the traveling public
require that a ferry should be kept at or near the mouth of Soldier creek across
the Kansas river and to the end that the public convenience may be sub-
served by the keeping of such ferry your petitioner prays your Honorable body
to grant him a license to keep a ferry for one year at the place aforesaid or
within one mile above or below the mouth of said Soldier creek.

"Topeka, July 23d, 1861. ROBERT WALKER." 228

On the granting of his application, Walker posted the following
rates of ferriage for the year beginning July 23, 1861: "Govern-
ment and freight wagons, $1.25; two-horse wagon or buggy, 50 cents;
one yoke of cattle and wagon, 50 cents; every extra span of horses
or yoke of cattle, 25 cents; one horse and buggy, 35 cents; four-
horse stages, 37 cents; two-horse stages, 25 cents; man and horse,
25 cents; loose cattle and horses, each, 10 cents; sheep and hogs,
each, 5 cents; footmen, 10 cents."229

By 1862 the Walker ferry had passed into the control of Joseph
Middaugh and Oren A. Curtis.

About the time the ferrying season of 1862 was approaching, the
ferry proprietors of Topeka and vicinity of Soldier creek must have
inspired the following petition which was presented to the county
board:

'To The Honorable The Board of County Commissioners of Shawnee County.
"The undersigned respectfully petition your honorable board that the rates
of ferriage for the coming year to be collected at the ferries across the Kansas
river near the mouth of Soldier creek and at the city of Topeka may be fixed
at the following rates to wit:

Government and Freight Wagons. $1 .25

Two Horse wagon or Buggy 50

One Yoke of Cattle & Wagon 50

Every extra span of horses or yoke of cattle 25

One Horse and Buggy 35

Four horse Stages 37

Two Horse Stages 25

Man & Horse 25

Loose Cattle & Horses, each & footman 10

Sheep and Hogs each 05

Ministers and Priests when going to appointment half price

"Your petitioners respectfully ask that this petition may receive at your
hands a favorable consideration.

228. Original document in office of county clerk, Shawnee county.

229. Ibid.

362

THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"And your petitioners will
"David Brockway

C. C. Whiting
J. M. Hamilton
W. S. Nichols
Jno. Martin
W. K. Elliott

D. H. Home
A. H. Case
John A. Ward
S. H. Fletcher
T. Gullett
John T. Morton
W. R. Brown

E. W. King
John T. Marrat
E. C. K. Garvey
H. M. Kitchen
J. A. Hickey

C. G. Cleland
W. McElheny
W. Young
Charles Engstrom
George Doane
Wm. Boyd

ever pray &c.

J. F. Cummings
Geo. B. Holmes
M. K. Smith
Joshua Knowles
Justus Brockway
John W. Farnsworth
John Ritchie
Nate Swan
G. G. Gage
J. B. Whitaker
Geo. O. Wilmarth
Geo. F. Boyd
Ross Burns
August Roberti
Morris Pickett
James R. Parker
J. F. Jenner
A. D. Craigue
H. H. Wilcox
R.M.Lowe [?]
John Young
Michael Green
Elijah Osterhout
Lorenz Pauly

A. L. Williams
M. G. Farnham
C. K. Gilchrist
W. B. Flanders
Jacob Smith
J. H. Defouri

C. H. Gibson
Paul R. Hubbard
F. Billings

D. N. Buffum
F. Durbin [?]
John J. Boyd
James A. Hunter
James Conwell
A. F. Neely

J. M. Kuykendall
Geo. W. Anderson

E. G. Moon
S. Hartman
Nelson Young
I. T. Vaughan
Geo. Ludington
S. E. Chure"230

The petition must have been successful, for the following order
was issued:

"It is hereby ordered by the board of county commissioners in and for
Shawnee County and state of Kansas that J. Middaugh and O. A. Curtice are
hereby granted a licence for a ferey at Topeka on the payment to the county
clerk the sum of fifteen dollars and they are hereby authorized to collect the
folowing charges for crosing :

Government freight wagon $1 .25

Two hoss Wagon 40 — Buggy, .50

One yoke of oxen and wagon

One hoss Buggy

Fore hoss Stage

two hoss Stage

man and hors

Loose bosses and Cattle
Sheep and hogs

.40 — Each extra team, .15
.35
.40
.25
.25
.10
.05
footman 10

"And the same license for the lower ferry comonly known as Walker's ferry
and also the same rates of ferrage for the said lower ferry for the space of
one year and no longer.

[Endorsed on back] "Approved Jan. 6, A.D. 1862, SAMUEL KOSIER,

Ch. Co. Bo." 231

280. Ibid.
231. Ibid.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 363

Little is known of the operation of this ferry, and aside from the
following complaint and the record of licenses and bonds, nothing
else has been located:

"County of Shawnee | "To the Hon. board of County Commissioners of

"State of Kansas j the above named county of Shawnee.

"Your petitioners would respectfully ask of your Hon. Court that the pro-
prietors and grantees of the ferry on the Topeka to Leavenworth road known
as the Curtis & Middaugh ferry — crossing the Kaw river about 2Vz miles below
the city of Topeka be compelled to put the same in a fit and proper condition
for travel.

"And would further state that the landings of said ferry are in an almost
impassable condition — to the great detriment of travellers — teamsters & the
public generally— and to the manifest injury of the interests of Shawnee co.—
all of which we most respectfully submit.
"Oct. 5th '63.

"John Armstrong Wm. Bivins Edward Bradshaw

Stephen Battey S. P. Thompson A. B. Gordon

J. N. Young James Fletcher James R. Palmer

Nate Swan J. C. Disney G. Billings

Chris Haynes H. A. Gale W. [?] S. Nichols"2^

Joseph Middaugh and 0. A. Curtis operated this ferry up to
1864.233 Beginning with 1865, William Curtis and Mr. Middaugh
became business associates in this ferry, applying for a license and
filing a bond for $1,000 for operating at this point.234

The next ferry up the river was located at the foot of Kansas
avenue, Topeka. Just when it was located at this point has not
been definitely ascertained, but it must have been close to the year
1860, which year 0. A. Curtis, father of former Vice President
Charles Curtis, was in charge. Mr. Curtis had previously been em-
ployed by the Papans to run their ferryboat. At this time there
was a large island in the center of the river on a line with Kansas
avenue. The ferry crossed just above this island. Later a pontoon
bridge succeeded the ferry, being anchored to trees on this island.

About one-half mile west of Kansas avenue was the original
location of the Papan ferry, variously stated to have been located
at the foot of Western avenue, or at the foot of Polk or Tyler streets.
However, there is evidence that some sort of a roadway ran to
the river close to the foot of Tyler, just immediately below the
present Rock Island Railway bridge, as the remains of an old
corduroy road show (1933) at this point in at least three separate
places. This old roadway was accidentally uncovered while excavat-

232. Ibid.

233. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, pp. 49, 83.

234. Original bond in office of county clerk, Shawnee county.

364 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ing for a large storm sewer which empties into the river at this point.
The old road had been covered with silt to a depth of several feet
in places, portions of it apparently having been destroyed by flood
or having been removed by other agencies. The Papans came into
present Soldier township in 1840, and in 1842 established a ferry,
the south landing of which was within the boundaries of the city
streets named above. At this time there was some travel between
Fort Leavenworth and Mexico and the Southwest — soldiers, trap-
pers, traders, surveyors, explorers, government officers and others —
enough to justify them in starting a ferry. They built a log house
on the river bank adjacent to their ferry and here they made their
home. The first boats operated by these pioneers were primitive
affairs, being fashioned from logs, hollowed out and known as "dug
outs," and propelled by long poles or oars.

One of the earliest mentions of this ferry is the following, written
in May, 1843, by one of a party of emigrants on the way to Oregon :

". . . We came to the edge of the Caw river. The river was considerably
swollen on account of recent rains. There were no boats and of course no
bridges then, but a Frenchman in the neighborhood had three dugouts made
of logs. These my father secured the next morning and with them made a
platform, fastening the dugouts about four feet apart, and on this very
primitive craft the wagons were one by one ferried across. The better part
of two days was spent in crossing the river . . . We rested a day at the
Caw river because the rains were so heavy, and about Friday we started on
again. . . . There were one hundred and twenty-seven wagons in our
company and something over four hundred and fifty souls." 235

Another with this expedition says: "We learn from Burnett, who
kept a brief journal of the trip, that his division 'on the 24th
[May] reached the Walcalusia [Wakarusa] river,' where he says:
'We let our wagons down the steep banks by ropes.' They reached
the Kansas river on the 26th and finished crossing it five days
later." 236

The year 1844 has gone down in history as the year of the big
flood in Kansas. That year the Kaw river valley for weeks was a
seething torrent. The river extended from bluff to bluff. Where
North Topeka now stands flood waters twenty feet deep or more
covered the land and swept the valley as far as eye could reach.
United States army engineers gathering data during 1933 for the
Kiro dam project have estimated that the flood of 1903 lacked
eight feet of attaining the height during the flood of 1844. — State-
ment of V. R. Parkhurst, Topeka civil engineer, to the author,

235. E. H. Lennox, Overland to Oregon, pp. 17, 18, 21.

236. Wm. A. Mowiy, Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon, p. 201.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 365

August 29, 1933. During the height of the flood, Major Cummings,
paymaster for the United States army, wishing to cross from the
south to the north side of the river, was rowed by an Indian from a
point about the corner of Topeka avenue and Second street, Topeka,
to the bluffs a mile or more beyond Soldier creek. One of the
Papans lived in a house just above the Kansas avenue bridge of
to-day. This house withstood the flood until the waters came under
the eaves, when it floated away. The river at this time cut a new
channel, making an island of the land on which the house stood.
During the flood their ferry outfit was swept away. The Papans
returned to their old home in Kansas City, where they remained
about two years, when they returned and reestablished their ferry.237

"The ferry was not always in one place. Year by year, as the river changed,
it would move up or down; wherever the banks made the best landing they
would move their boat, but always within a few rods of their homes. They
served the travelers who were going north and south on their way west, and
it was a good business, for they were usually in a hurry and were willing to
pay good prices to cross the yellow torrent. In those days the river was
larger than it is now and it was a hard and dangerous task to ford it any place.
Their boat was a crude affair, made of hand-hewn logs, with a guide rope to
keep it in place. The current helped it across, but most of the power was
furnished by sweeps and poles in the hands of the ferrymen and passengers,
who usually had to work, as well as pay their way across." 238

Joseph H. Ware, in The Emigrant's Guide to California, published
in 1849, says: "At the Kansas crossing, distance 100 miles, you will
find a ferry owned by two Indians (French Kaws). The charge for
crossing is one dollar for a wagon; horses or loose stock you can
swim across. About ten miles above there is a mission station by
the M. E. [Baptist?] Church where any blacksmith work can be
done, which accidents have made necessary."

From 1847 to 1853 the Papans did a flourishing business, as the
Orgeon and California travel was very heavy about this time. A
log house built by them in 1848 was standing, northwest of North
Topeka, during the middle 1870's.239 The Papans also operated a
toll bridge across Shunganunga creek, about three-fourths of a mile
east of the present Topeka Santa Fe depot. A large percentage of
the overland California traffic crossed over their bridge and ferry.240

In 1853 Papan's ferry was operating about a mile below the Kaw
Indian village of Fool Chief, which at that time was located in the
Kaw valley, between the river and Soldier creek, on the S. E. % of

237. W. W. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas, p. 7.

238. Topeka State Journal, August 29, 1929.

239. W. W. Cone, Historical Sketch of Shawnee County, Kansas, p. 7.

240. Topeka State Journal, December 3, 1893.

366 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

S. 16, T. 11, R. 15, a little over four miles west of the mouth of
Soldier creek.241

John E. Rastall, an old-time Kansan, crossed the Kaw on this
ferry during 1856, and described the incident in the old Kansas
Magazine, of Topeka, in its issue of January, 1873, as follows:

"The crossing of the Kaw (Kansas) river was infinitely quicker, safer and
more pleasant than that of the Missouri. The foresight of the citizens had
provided a long and strong wire cable which was stretched across, its south
end being fastened near what is now the foot of Polk street, in Topeka.
Attached to this wire was a flatboat, sufficiently large to carry a wagon and
two yoke of oxen, and similar in build to the one before mentioned. By
an ingenious contrivance, the boat, though without wheels, oars, or motive
power within itself, was self propelling. Upon the cable were two wheels, or
pulleys, through which were passed lines fastened to the boat. The line at
the bow, connecting it with the wheel on the cable, was somewhat shorter
than on the stern, so that the craft lay at an angle of forty-five degrees with
the rapid current of the stream. This current striking the side diagonally,
and passing around the stern, gave a forward motion to the boat, and the
wheels upon the cable acting freely, we soon slipped across to our destination,
Topeka— what there was of it."

Max Greene, in his The Kansas Region, published in the year
1856, describing ferries, had this to say of this early-day enterprise:

"Next is Pappan's ferry; with Pappan's house on the right, peeping cosily
out from its environment of trees. On the other side, an open plain uplifts
its garlands braided in the tall, rank grass that sways to the combing breeze.
Here is the eastern limit of the Pottawatomies, one hundred and fifteen miles
from the mouth of the river. Passing onward, broad wings of timber fold in
on both sides; with the southern bluffs looming up a hundred feet. The Great
Crossing is then reached, where there are three ferries. On the south bank is
a Pottawatomie village, with stores, a Baptist Mission and school. In this
field of labor, the agents of the church have been more successful than or-
dinary, and there are some children of the wild who have reason to bless their
efforts."

Just how late the Papans operated their ferry has not been
learned, but it must have been into the middle 1850's. They may
have operated more than one ferry, as contemporary accounts
mention them in widely separated places — several miles west of
Topeka, and also on the Anthony Ward farm adjoining Topeka, at
about the foot of Western avenue. This last location was a little
over one and a half miles south of the Indianola crossing of Soldier
creek on the Fort Leavenworth military road.242

Peter De Shattio, descendant of an old St. Louis family, who

241. Statement of Frederick Chouteau, in Kansas Historical Collections, v. 1-2, p. 287;
v. 8, p. 425. Statement of Fannie E. Cole, ibid., v. 9, p. 573.

242. Topeka State Journal, December 3, 1893.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 367

married Ann Davis, a free negro woman, at Uniontown, about 1848,
moved to the vicinity of present Topeka and took a claim lying
alongside the Kansas river. While living there De Shattio operated
the Papan ferry for a year or more. He later relinquished his claim
and took another to the southwest of the Topeka townsite, thinking
the city would be built there.

In 1885 Messrs. Martin and Coville243 were owners and operators
of the old ferry. On August 13, 1856, a wagon train of about 60
wagons, and followed by about 500 persons, arrived at the north
landing and were brought across. This train had started from
Milwaukee, Wis., on May 20, and continual accessions to it were
made in the territory through which it passed, until it became a
small-size army in itself.244 This was commonly known as "Lane's
Army of the North." Ferry charges as fixed by the commissioners
of Shawnee county for that year were: Two horses and one wagon,
$1 ; each additional span of horses or yoke of cattle, 25 cents ; loose
cattle or horses, per head, 10 cents; one horse and wagon, 75 cents;
man and horse, 25 cents ; foot passengers, 10 cents ; sheep and hogs,
per head, 5 cents.

By April, 1857, the ferry appears to have been in new hands. An
item in the Topeka Tribune, of April 13, stated that "Messrs.
Howard & Co. would start their ferry again for the season of 1857
near the place occupied last year."

P. I. Bonebrake, a resident of Shawnee county and for many years
a resident of Topeka, crossed the ferry in June, 1859. He and his
wife had arrived opposite Topeka, in what later became the town of
Eugene (now North Topeka). It was then a forest, inhabited by
French-Kaw half-breed Indians. The river was crossed by a rope
ferry operated by the Papans. At this time Topeka had about
600 people. The town was not inviting. A steamboat had just
passed up the river, laden with merchandise, and in going up had
severed the cable on which the ferry operated. As a consequence
he and Mrs. Bonebrake had to go into camp for three days to allow
the proprietor to procure another cable from Leavenworth. In the
meantime many teams and immigrants gathered in the bottom near
the river — Pike's Peak government trains, Kaw Indians, dogs, etc.,
all waiting to be crossed.245

243. H. C. Coville located in Mission township in December, 1854, settling on the S. E %
S. 27, T. 11, R. 15. He was killed during the Price raid, in 1864. — Cone, Historical Sketch
of Shawnee County, Kansas, p. 10.

244. Kansas Tribune, Topeka, August 18, 1856; Kansas Historical Collections, v. 15,
p. 592.

245. Condensed from a MS. in possession of Fred B. Bonebrake, Topeka.

368 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

There is some conflicting opinion as to the location of the Papan
ferry landing on the south side of the river. Their house was built
on the river bank in 1842 and it was swept away during the flood of
1844, leaving a large island in the river where the cabin stood.
Beers' Atlas of Shawnee County, 1873, shows this island as extend-
ing from Jackson westward to near Polk street — nearly five city
blocks in length. While some authorities give the Papan landing as
far west as Western avenue, there is a possibility it was located at
one time several blocks down stream. Former Vice President Curtis,
whose father took over the old Papan ferry, has written the follow-
ing regarding the location :

"WASHINGTON, D. C, September 16th, 1933.

"My Dear Root — I have your letter and was glad to hear from you. I
remember the old ferry boat quite well. We lived on Harrison street just a
block from the river and the landing on the North side was between Harrison
street and Topeka avenue. For years after the old pontoon bridge was built
the old ferry boat was on a little sand bar on the North side of the river.
I do not know what year the boat was first established, but Harvey [Henry?]
Worral made a painting of the ferry boat, the Pappan ferry, as it appeared
in 1854, entitled 'Where traffic between the East and the West crossed the
Kaw river in pioneer days.' I would not be surprised if you found this
painting in the Historical Society.

"After Grandfather Pappan gave up the ferry boat the charter or grant
was taken over by my father and Joseph Middaugh, and I understand Father
and Middaugh were operating the ferry boat when the pontoon bridge was
built.

"Sorry I cannot give you more information.

"With kindest regards, I am,

"Very truly yours, CHARLES CURTIS.

"George A. Root, Esq.,

"324 Lindenwood Avenue,

"Topeka, Kansas.

"P. S.— I think Mr. W., son and daughter still live in Topeka."

Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, was a dis-
tinguished visitor who crossed the ferry May 24, 1859, while on his
way west. He arrived in Topeka that day, made a speech, and
returned next morning to Indianola, to catch the stage running
west.246

Eighteen hundred and sixty will be remembered as the year of
the "drouth." According to the Topeka Tribune of May 5, "the
river at this place is extremely low, and it is with some difficulty
that the ferry boats make their regular trips." The same authority,
in issue of September 1 following, stated: "The river at Topeka is

246. Greeley, An Overland Journey, pp. 52, 54, 55.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 369

now extremely low — lower than it has been since the season of 1843,
according to Mr. Papan." At this time the ferry was operated from a
point near the foot of Western avenue, about one-half mile west of
Kansas avenue, Topeka.

A movement for a bridge at Topeka was started in 1856, and
on February 14, 1857, a charter for a structure across the Kaw was
obtained from the legislature. This was a pile bridge and opened
for travel on May 1, 1858. It was a great help to traffic while it
lasted, but its days were numbered. The month of July, 1858, was
a damp one in territory drained by the Kaw, and a rise in the river
said to be unequalled since the flood of 1844, followed. On the
morning of July 17, following, just about two and one-half months
after the opening of the bridge, it floated away, leaving four regi-
ments of United States soldiers, with a large baggage train, bound
for Fort Union, and several trains of Russell, Majors & Waddell,
stranded at the river, waiting to cross.247

Apparently nothing was done about rebuilding or repairing the
pile bridge built in 1858 until the following winter, when the officers
of the bridge company made an attempt to get the bridge in work-
ing order. The Topeka Tribune in January, 1859, printed the fol-
lowing, which depicted the situation at that time:

"THE TOPEKA BRIDGE

"Efforts are now being made to have this crossing of the Kansas river com-
pleted in two months from the present time. Mr. Gordon, the president of
the company, informed us that this could be done by building the bridge
from the island to the opposite side of the river, and running a ferry on this
side of the island until the whole length could be completed, which can be
done in about four months, with the present efficient corps of workers.
The timbers have been contracted for and men are busily engaged preparing
them for use. But a few months and we can again cross the river at Topeka —
on a bridge." — Topeka Tribune, copied in Kansas Press, Wathena, January 29,
1859.

This bridge was located at the foot of Kansas avenue and was
never rebuilt,248 so the old ferry, located on the island about one
block west, again came into its own.

The Topeka Tribune of September 30, following, stated there was
a good ferry at this place, but no bridge, but the rebuilding of one
was discussed. A new bridge appears to have been started late in
the fall. In the latter part of January, 1859, a local paper stated
that work on the new bridge was progressing at a good rate, and that

247. Giles, Thirty Years in Topeka, pp. 88-94.

248. Ibid., p. 96.

24—1070

370 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it was thought it would be completed in about four months. Mean-
time the ferries were worked feverishly. The Pike's Peak excite-
ment was at its height and travel through Topeka was increasing
daily. The Topeka Tribune, of April 7, 1859, stated that it was
estimated a thousand persons passed through the city for the gold
mines this date. A week later, it mentioned that "the ferries at
this place are kept running constantly to enable traders to get to
Leavenworth to obtain goods for the Pike's Peak trade."

Work was started on a pontoon bridge across the river at Topeka
late in the fall of 1859, which was ready for service early in January,
I860.249

Oren A. Curtis had worked for Papans on their ferry as early
as 1858, and the next year formed a partnership with S. L. Munger.
The following application was filed with the Shawnee County Com-
missioners :

"To the Hon. The County Supervisors of Shawnee County

"The undersigned Salmon L. Munger a citizen of the county of Shawnee
and O. A. Curtis a citizen of the county of Jackson, would respectfully petition
your honorable body to grant them a license to keep and run a ferry across
the Kaw river at the city of Topeka in said county of Shawnee for the term
of one year, & your petitioners will every pray &c.

"August 1, 1859. S. L. MUNGER & 0. A. CURTIS."

This partnership, apparently, did not last very long, for the
Topeka Tribune of December 17, following, stated that the ferry
was again in the hands of Mr. Curtis. It was said to be in good
order and that two boats were maintained.

The following advertisement appeared in the Topeka Tribune as
early as January 14, 1860, and ran for several weeks:

"TOPEKA FERRY!

"This first class ferry across the Kansas river, is again in the hands of the
subscriber, who is making quick trips with the greatest of safety. My boats
are good, and hands experienced. This is certainly the best and most reliable
ferry on the river. 0. A. CURTIS, Proprietor."

Later in 1860 Curtis formed a partnership with Joseph Middaugh
and they secured a charter from the territorial legislature granting
them authority to maintain a ferry for a period of five years. In
case the river should be bridged before five years, the charter was
to terminate when the bridge was built. No other ferry was to be
established or set up within two miles of the city. The company
was privileged to use steam, horse or flat boats as the wants of the

249. Topeka Tribune, November 5, 12, 1859; January, 1860.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 371

public demanded.250 The State Record of February 4, 1860, said
they had one boat running at that time.

The Topeka Tribune, of March 24, following, stated that "0. A.
Curtis is now in charge of the Topeka ferry. It is on the route from
Leavenworth to Topeka, Santa Fe and the gold mines." In the
issue of May 5, following, the Tribune pays Mr. Curtis the compli-
ment of saying that he "makes the best time of any ferryman upon
the river. Two boats are kept in use. They can put a government
train across in three hours' time." The same authority, in issue of
September 1, printed this item: "Ferry — Topeka. Mr. Curtis in-
forms us that he is bridging the river at this point, and if the dry
weather continues during the fall, the entire river will be bridged
excepting that part on which his ferry lies. The distance is very
short now on which he runs a boat. Curtis knows how to run a
ferry."

No record of their application for a license has been located, but
the following bond was filed with the county clerk:

"Know all men by these presents that I, Owen [Oren] A. Curtice [Curtis], of
Jackson, territory of Kansas, and Joseph Middaugh of Topeka, Shawnee
county, in said territory, both as principals, and Milton C. Dickey and H. G.
Young of said Topeka as sureties, are holden and stand firmly bound unto
any person who may become entitled thereto, & in the sum which the said
Curtice and Middaugh may become liable to pay according to the conditions
of these presents as follows, to wit: Whereas the said Curtice and Middaugh
have been authorized by act of the territorial legislature of the territory of
Kansas for the year A. D. 1860, to wit, an act entitled an 'Act to establish a ferry
at the city of Topeka' to establish and maintain a public ferry across the
Kansas river at the city of Topeka, now if the said Curtice and Middaugh
shall fully comply with and observe all the provisions of said act, then this
obligation shall be void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.

"Witness our hands and seals this 18th day of February A. D. 1860.

"Signed sealed and "OREN A. CURTIS (Seal)

Del'd in presence of JOSEPH MIDDAUGH (Seal)

Ed P. Kellam MILTON C. DICKEY (Seal)

J. Fin Hill H. A. YOUNG (Seal)

"Territory of Kansas, Shawnee County, ss.

"We the undersigned members of the board of supervisors of the aforesaid
county do hereby certify that the within bond signed by A. Curtice and
Joseph Middaugh as principal and M. C. Dickey and H. G. Young as sureties
is hereby approved and accepted. Witness our hands and seals the 20th day
of Feby., 1860.

"Attest G. W. SAPP, Clerk "A. H. HALE (Seal)

"By L. FARNSWORTH, Deputy H. M. MOORE (Seal)

S. R. CANNIFF (Seal)

"By C. D. BUSBY."

250. Private Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 273, 274.

372 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

No ferriage rates for 1860 have been located, but a printed schedule
for the next year is reproduced:

RATES

OF

FERRIACE

FOE THE TEAR 1861,

Government & Freight Wagons

Two-horse Wagon or Buggy, ,50

One yoke of Cattle & Wagon, ,5O

Every extra span of horses or yoke of cattle, ,25

One Horse & Buggy, ,35

Four-horse Stages, ,37

Two-horse Stages, ,25

Man & Horse, ,25

Loose Cattle & Horses, eaeh, ,1O

Sheep and Hogs, 5

Footmen, ,1O

J. MIDDAUGH.

O. A. CUBTIS.
H. C. Co veil, Chairman Co* Board.

-STATS KtCVKD'

Fac-simile of handbill (reduced about one-half from the original) advertising the Curtis-
Middaugh ferry at Topeka. O. A. Curtis was the father of former Vice President Charles
Curtis.

Rates for the next year were practically the same, a reduction of
ten cents for extra team being the only change in existing rates, but
"ministers one-half price when going to appointments" being added.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 373

Evidently some dissatisfaction regarding the bridge and ferry
situation in Topeka developed that fall and winter. The Tribune
of January 19, 1861, contained the following: "Ferry Meeting. —
We are requested to state that a meeting will be held in Museum
Hall, this evening, to take into consideration the state of the ferry
across the Kansas river at this place. Citizens are requested to
attend."

It would be interesting to know whether or not this called meet-
ing was held, and just what action, if any, was taken. As the
Tribune for the next several weeks contained no further mention of
the matter, the meeting apparently was a "fizzle."

On February 23, following, the Tribune had another mention of
the situation:

"A SHAME. — It is a shame upon our town that those persons who come
through here, from southern Kansas, for these relief goods, have to give away
one-fourth their load to pay the ferriage across the Kansas river; when it is a
fact that there are several hundred dollars in the hands of committeemen and
agents — belonging by rights to the county — living in our city, and which
means could not be better appropriated than by paying the ferry here for
those who have not the means. Some complain of Mr. Middaugh, the ferry-
man, because he will not take less than the regular fees. He should have a
fair price for his labor, and the money sent here from the East should go to
pay such bills.

"Since writing the above we understand that the Topeka relief committee
have generously undertaken to pay the ferriage of all teams sent for relief.
This is right. Now we know where a part of the money goes."

Middaugh and Curtis, in addition to operating the Topeka ferry,
also ran the old Walker ferry, as has been stated. These they
operated until 1864, their annual license for each costing $15, in
addition to a bond of $1,000. Ferriage charges had been changed
slightly by 1864; the cost of a horse and buggy ferried costing 30
cents, instead of 35 cents; a four-horse stage costing 60 cents, com-
pared to 40 cents; a two-horse stage costing 30 cents instead of 25
cents, and footmen 15 cents instead of 10 cents.251

On June 19, 1863, another effort was made to secure a bridge at
Topeka, and O. A. Curtis was one among the eleven who secured
a charter for the Shawnee Bridge Company.252 This company ac-
complished nothing. On July 30, 1864, another company, known as
the Topeka Bridge Company, received a charter from the state.253
This company met with no better success than its predecessor, and
on January 5, 1865, it applied for a new charter,254 which was
granted, and completed a pontoon bridge by October 18, following.

251. Shawnee county, Commissioners' Proceedings, Book A, p. 83.

252. Corporations, v. 1, p. 6. 253. Ibid., p. 12. 254. Ibid., p. 16.

374 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

"This bridge rested upon thirteen flat boats, each 15 x 25 feet, and
placed about fifty feet apart. The boats were held in place by a
wire cable stretched across the river. The pontoon occupied the
same place where the bridge of 1858 stood."255

The Kaw river apparently continued in a normal condition for
a number of years following the flood of 1858. The next mention
of flood waters in the stream at Topeka was the following in the
State Record of August 12, 1863: "The Kansas river has not been
so high for a great while as during the past week. There must have
been high raises on the Blue and Republican, as well as along the
Kaw valley to have caused such a rise. The mail due here Saturday
night did not get in till 2 p. m., Sunday, owing to ferrying on account
of high water."

High waters in the Kaw river were a menace early in the year
1867. The river then was higher than at any time since 1858, when
the pile bridge was swept away. The toll house, located on the
island to the west of Kansas avenue, was in danger. About the
eighth or ninth of February that section of the pontoon bridge to
the south of the island was swept away by the waters, a few of the
boats drifting as far as Lawrence, the remainder being caught and
secured at Lecompton. Following this mishap the bridge company
installed ferry boats which operated from the south shore to the end
of the pontoon bridge on the island, these being operated by Capt.
Daniel H. Home and his assistant, Tim Felton. In the meantime
Capt. 0. A. Curtis again began operating his ferry boat from his
location a few blocks above Kansas avenue.256 These boats made
trips across the raging waters when but few people had the hardi-
hood to undertake it. The bridge company had been doing a lucra-
tive business up to this time, and they lost no time in repairing the
damage, which was estimated at about $5,000.257 The missing boats
were eventually brought back and again put into service. In spite
of this handicap in the matter of transportation, the hotels of the
capital city did well.258 The Topeka Leader of March 14, 1867,
printed the following, which summed up the local situation pretty
accurately :

"The raging Kaw still continues master of the situation; apparently not
content with the victory gained over our pontoons, he summoned the aid of
the Northern King, and now carries on his ruffled bosom, huge masses of ice,
by which last piece of strategy he has completely circumvented the wiseacres

255. Giles, Thirty Years in Topeka, p. 98.

256. Topeka Tribune, February 15, 22, March 1, 1867.

257. Giles, Thirty Years in Topeka, p. 98.

258. Topeka Tribune, March 15, 1867.

ROOT: FERRIES IN KANSAS 375

who control the skiffs and attend to the mails, leaving the poor Topekaites to
realize the disadvantage under which they labor — cut off, as they are, from the
outer world.

"Vive La Kaw."

The inconvenience of being without the pontoon bridge prompted
a correspondent of the Tribune to ask: "Will the boat of bridges
never come back over the stormy water?"

Old residents of Topeka have said the pontoons would go out with
about every freshet in the river. This appeared to be the case early
in June, 1867, when a large excursion party arrived over the Kansas
Pacific Railroad for a visit to the capital city. The visitors landed
at Eugene (present North Topeka) on the 4th, but owing to a
break in the bridge, only a few of the party braved the angry
waters and crossed over to the city to spend the night.259

Operating the ferry or the bridge was not always a humdrum job.
Once in a while something unexpected happened to break the mo-
notony. The following, from the Topeka Leader, October 17, 1867,
is an illustration:

"Seventy-five Indians in the calaboose, in North Topeka, on Monday last.
They had been indulging in fire water pretty freely, and took charge of the
pontoon, allowing no one to cross. They were away up high on the war path;
one of them striking at the deputy marshal with a long knife, cut through his
coat, grazing the flesh. Each one of these copper-colored gentlemen was pro-
vided with a pocket pistol, holding from a half-pint to a quart each."

Early in March, 1866, those interested in the pontoon bridge or-
ganized a new company known as the Capital Bridge Company,
composed of Dr. D. W. Stormont, Joshua Knowles, S. D. Mac-
Donald, F. L. Crane, E. A. Goodell, William E. Bowker, Josiah M.
Cole, and John G. Otis. The purpose of this organization was to
build and operate bridges and ferries across the river at a point
where the section line between S. 29 and 30, T. 11, R. 16, strikes
the south bank of the Kansas river, or at any point on the river
within two miles above or below that point. This company was
capitalized at $60,000, with shares at $100 each. The charter was
filed with the secretary of state, March 8, 1866.260 This company
never built any bridge under this authority and may not have
operated a ferry at that point.

In 1869 the bridge company began work on a permanent structure
which was opened for traffic in the spring of 1870, after which the
Topeka ferries went out of business.

259. Topeka Leader, June 13, 1867.

260. Corporations, v. 1, pp. 76, 77.

376 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Topeka became an important road center after it had been chosen
as the future state capital. Even before that it was an important
location, being close to the old Oregon and California road on the
south side of the river which crossed on Papan's and Smith's ferries,
and being but a few miles from the old Fort Leavenworth to Fort
Riley military road. Beginning with 1860, the legislature of that
year laid out two roads that affected Topeka, one running from
Leavenworth, crossing Big Stranger below the mouth of Fall creek,
and on to Topeka261; another ran from Atchison to Superior, in
Osage county, via Valley Falls and Topeka.262 Five established
in 1861 ran from Topeka to Council Grove; from Topeka to the
Nebraska line, in direction of Salem, by way of Holton, Eureka,
Grenada and Capioma; from Topeka to Chelsea, via Auburn, Wil-
mington, Americus, Toledo and Cottonwood Falls; from Topeka to
Minneola, via Twin Mound; and from Leavenworth to Topeka, by
way of Oskaloosa.263 In 1862 one was laid out between Topeka
and Lecompton.264 In 1863 the state road from Topeka to Council
Grove was changed.265 Five were established in 1865, one running
from Topeka to Centropolis and thence to Ottawa ; one from Topeka,
on the line between ranges 15 and 16, as near as practicable, to
Henry Mitchell's farm on South Cedar creek, thence to Holton and
Wathena; one from Topeka to the Sac and Fox agency; one from
Topeka crossing the California road, as near as practicable to the
farm known as the Shields farm, and on to Clinton, Douglas county;
and one from the south side of Sixth avenue, west, in city of Topeka,
via Wabaunsee county and connecting with the Topeka and Council
Grove road.266 Others were established in 1866, one of which ran
from Topeka to One Hundred and Ten; another from a point near
the crossing of Buck creek, via the Union Pacific Railroad, in Jeffer-
son county, at or near the line between the townships of Kentucky
and Kaw, connecting with the state road running from the city of
Leavenworth, via Oskaloosa, to Topeka; another from the north
end of the bridge across the Kansas river at Topeka and intersecting
the state road from Topeka to Leavenworth, at or near the place
where said road crosses the Big Muddy. Oren A. Curtis, Joseph
Middaugh and J. M. Kuykendall were commissioners appointed to
establish this last named road.267 This was about the last of the
early state roads that affected Topeka.

(To be Continued in February Quarterly.)

261. Laws, Kansas, 1860, pp. 592, 593. 262. Ibid., pp. 584, 585.

263. Ibid., 1861, pp. 247, 248. 264. General Laws, Kansas, 1862, pp. 798, 799.

265. Laws, Kansas, 1863, pp. 84, 85. 266. Ibid., 1865, pp. 144-147.

267. Ibid., 1866, pp. 224, 226.

The Vegetarian and Octagon
Settlement Companies

RUSSELL HICKMAN

'TVHE American frontier has always been a fertile field for experi-
JL ment in social reform. From the time the "otherwise-minded"
enrolled under the standard of Roger Williams in Rhode Island until
the disappearance of the frontier toward the close of the nineteenth
century, the vacant lands to the westward gave new hopes to those
who wished to found a new society. Cheap land was a great boon to
those unemployed or not financially prosperous in the East, while
those who were merely discontented could always try a "new deal"
in the West. In a period of incubation of varicolored social theories
the frontier served both as a safety-valve for the East and as a con-
venient laboratory to put theory into actual practice, qualities which
a more established and crystallized society would have lacked.1

Vegetarianism dates back as far as the ancient religion of Hindu-
stan, and was advocated by Plato, Plutarch and other writers of
classical times. In Great Britain George Cheyne (1671-1743) was
one of the earliest pioneers of the movement, publishing his Essay on
Regimen in 1740. In 1811 appeared J. F. Newton's Return to Na-
ture, or Defense of Vegetable Regimen, and in 1847 the Vegetarian
Society was founded at Manchester. Eduard Baltzer (1818-1887)
was an early German pioneer, forming a vegetarian society at Nord-
hausen in 1868. Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), Charles Lane and
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) were leaders of the early move-
ment in the United States. In 1889 the Vegetarian Federal Union
was formed, an international federation of vegetarian organizations.2

Vegetarianism in the United States was one of the many changes
proposed in the reform movement of the thirties. Numerous co-
operative communities sprang up, inspired largely by a hatred
of industrialism, and a determination to return to more simple modes
of life.3 In the movement for reform of the American diet, opposing
its over-emphasis on meat and heavy foods, Sylvester Graham was
a leader. In 1830 he was named general agent of the Pennsylvania
Temperance Society. He studied human physiology, diet, and

1. Arthur Meier Schlesinger, in his New Viewpoints in American History (New York, 1926).
p. 215, appropriately quotes Lowell's essay on Thoreau, "Every possible form of intellectual
and physical dyspepsia brought forth its gospel." Even bran had its prophets, and hooks and
eyes their champions as a substitute for buttons.

2. Encyclopedia Americana, v. 27 (New York, Chicago, 1923), p. 720.

3. Dictionary of American Biography, v. I (New York, 1928), p. 139.

(377)

378 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

regimen during a period of lecturing, and in 1830-1831 delivered
lectures on these subjects in Philadelphia and New York, and later
up and down the Atlantic coast, Graham advocated the use of
bread at least twelve hours old, baked from whole wheat unbolted
and coarsely ground. He also proposed hard mattresses, open bed-
room windows, cold shower baths, vegetables, fresh fruits, rough
cereals, pure drinking water, and cheerfulness at meals. Graham
believed that all meats are less wholesome for humans than fruits,
grain and vegetables, that all condiments except salt should be
avoided, and that tea and coffee, as well as alcohol, deserve to be
shunned. Emerson dubbed him the "poet of bran bread and pump-
kins." 4 Yet despite all opposition, Graham flour appeared every-
where, and Graham boarding houses and restaurants sprang up. A
few years later, the famous transcendentalist and educational re-
former, Amos Bronson Alcott, proposed a cooperative vegetarian
colony. Alcott was a reformer par excellence, and was constantly in
attendance at reform meetings — anti-slavery, vegetarian, and tem-
perance. During the winter of 1843-1844 Alcott, with the cooper-
ation of Henry Wright, Charles Lane and his son William, worked
out a plan for Fruitlands, a cooperative vegeterian community.
Lane invested his entire savings in a tract near the village of
Harvard, Mass., and in June, 1844, the party moved to this location.5
Their organization was based on strictly vegetarian principles — no
flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, milk, cheese or butter. The experiment was
so radical that even the labor of horses was dispensed with, and only
the "aspiring" vegetables (those growing above ground) were eaten.
Unfortunately the crops were carelessly planted, and at harvest time
the men left to attend reform meetings. Mrs. Alcott and daughters
salvaged what was possible, but by winter the Lanes and Alcotts
were the sole remaining members of the community and were on
the verge of starvation. In January of the next year the experiment
was abandoned.6 In the later movement in this country Henry S.
Clubb (1827-19 — ?) was a leader. Clubb gave his philosophy a
wide currency in his later years, as president of the Vegetarian
Society of America (late 19th and early 20th centuries). He re-
garded vegetarianism as based upon Scriptural authority; the early

4. Ibid., v. 7 (New York, 1931), pp. 479-80. Also the Philadelphia Bulletin, quoted in
The Vegetarian and Our Fellow Creatures, September, 1902. The Graham Journal of Health
and Longevity appeared in the late thirties (David Campbell, editor), and in 1839 Graham
published his most ambitious work, Lectures on the Science of Human Life (2 vols., 1858).
Horace Greeley was a follower of Graham.

6. Lane wrote A Brief Practical Essay on the Vegetable Diet (1847).

6. Dictionary of American Biography, v. I, pp. 139-140. There is a very good account
here of Alcott's many reform theories. Fruitlands never numbered over eleven individuals.

HICKMAN : SETTLEMENT COMPANIES 379

Christian church he believed to have been vegetarian, but con-
sidered it corrupted by Constantine.7 Clubb, in particular, favored
suburban gardens and the colonization of vegetarians, as well as
undenominational schools and colleges, "away from the contamina-
tion of flesh, alcohol, and social vices. , . ." 8

The Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company was projected by
Henry S. Clubb in 1855, to establish a permanent home for vege-
tarians. It was hoped to bring together vegetarians of common
interests and aims; otherwise they, "solitary and alone in their
vegetarian practice, might sink into flesh-eating habits." 9 The first
meeting of the company was held in New York on May 16, 1855.
The joint-stock principle was adopted, with the aim of thereby ob-
taining the advantages of civilization for the settlers, including
agricultural implements and mills. Charles H. DeWolfe, of Phila-
delphia, gentleman, was made president. At the first meeting forty-
seven signed an agreement to emigrate, and twenty-six more in-
dicated that they would probably go, along with relatives and
friends. Their individual capital varied, it was reported, from $50
to $10,000.10 Dr. John McLauren was sent to Kansas to make a
favorable location for the colony, and appeared before the company
in January, 1856, advocating an octagon settlement near Fort Scott,
on the Neosho river. The organization of the company was then
completed by the adoption of a constitution, the preamble of which
provided :

"WHEREAS, The practice of vegetarian diet is best adapted to the develop-
ment of the highest and noblest principles of human nature, and the use of
the flesh of animals for food tends to the physical, moral, and intellectual
injury of mankind, and it is desirable that those person who believe in the
vegetarian principle should have every opportunity to live in accordance
therewith, and should unite in the formation of a company for the permanent
establishment, in some portion of this country, of a home where the slaughter
of animals for food shall be prohibited, and where the principle of the vege-
tarian diet can be fairly and fully tested, so as to demonstrate its ad-
vantages, . . ."ii

7. The Vegetarian Magazine, November, 1897. Other leaders of the movement, near the
turn of the century, include Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, the elder La Follette, and
Clarence Darrow of Chicago. The Seventh Day Adventists have espoused vegetarianism.

8. Ibid., February, 1900, p. 12. Concerning colonization, see below.

9. Henry S. Clubb, in Water-Cure Journal, clipped in the Lawrence Herald of Freedom,
April 28, 1855.

10. Life Illustrated of June 2, 1855. Quoted in Herald of Freedom of August 11. In
September of that year it was reported that 4,000 shares had been sold. To encourage sales,
the first payment was put as low as ten cents, and persons with no capital were advised they
could pay for their shares with labor.

11. Frank W. Blackmar, Kansas, A Cyclopedia of State History (two vols., Chicago, 1912),
v. 2, p. 842.

380 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

By establishing a permanent home for vegetarians, it was believed
that a program of concerted action could be followed, with a system
of direct healing, as well as permitting the practice of the vegetarian
principle. Members were required to be of good moral character,
not slaveholders, and applications had to be approved by the board
of directors.

The officials of the company immediately levied an assessment of
ten per cent (50 cents a share) , to provide a fund with which to erect
a saw mill and gristmill, purchase a stock of provisions, seed grain,
tents, utensils, etc. Each member was called on to pay $10 to this
fund of the company, the headquarters of which were at No. 308
Broadway, New York.12 Clubb announced that persons who be-
came members before the end of the month (January, 1856) would
be called founders, and would participate in the drawing of lots.13
The New York Tribune announced that the company then consisted
of about fifty families, with capital stock aggregating about $75,000.
The shareholders were one-third practical farmers, and two-thirds
mechanics and professional men — not a very promising proportion
for life on the frontier.14

The Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Company was the first to
adopt the Octagon plan of settlement, a scheme also formulated by
Henry S. Clubb.15 Membership in the company was limited to
vegetarians, and as a result their settlements would be of a re-
stricted nature. No doubt the promoters received applications from
many would-be settlers in Kansas who did not agree with this limi-
tation, but who were otherwise in sympathy with the objects of the
founders — opposition to slavery,16 and advocacy of a moral life.
Thus it would appear that by founding several settlements, vege-
tarian and nonvegetarian, the chance of success of the colonies and
of financial returns to the promoters would be considerably im-
proved.

Whatever their motives, Clubb and his colleagues decided to
organize a second company as a complement to the vegetarian or-

12. Ibid., p. 848.

13. Life Illustrated, clipped in Herald of Freedom, January 19, 1856.

14. New York Daily Tribune, January 21, 1856. A pertinent criticism leveled at Eastern
emigrants, including those of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, was their lack of
preparation for frontier life, in contrast to those from the Middle West.

15. See below for a description of this plan.

16. There was a large emigration to Kansas from the free states in 1856, despite the period
of "troubles," although the movement was far greater in 1857. A number of the groups
which came in the spring of 1856 were semimilitary in character, some even being hired to
fight for the cause of the South, others the North, as occasion might arise. The writer has
found no reason for believing that the two companies here discussed were in this category.

HICKMAN: SETTLEMENT COMPANIES 381

ganization, to be known as the Octagon Settlement Company.17
This company was to avoid the vegetarian limitation, but other-
wise was to greatly resemble its sister company. The Octagon com-
pany opened its books for subscriptions in February, 1856, and by
the end of the month had enough members to start one octagon
village of four miles square. It was hoped to form a city equal in
size to that of the Vegetarian company, on the Neosho, opposite its
predecessor.18 The officers of the vegetarian organization were also
to serve in the Octagon company, Charles H. DeWolfe being named
president, Dr. John McLauren, treasurer and pioneer in Kansas,
and Henry S. Clubb, secretary. An agent was named for Great
Britain (Robert T. Clubb), and another for New York City.19 The
constitution of the company declared the following objects:

"1. To form a union of persons of strict temperance principles, who, in
the admission of members, shall have a guaranty that they will be associated
with good society, and that their children will be educated under the most
favorable circumstances, and trained under good example.

"2. To commence a settlement in Kansas territory, for the pursuit of agri-
culture and such mechanic arts as may be advantageously introduced.

"3. To promote the enactment of good and righteous laws in that territory,
to uphold freedom, and to oppose slavery and oppression in every form."20

The promoters planned for their model community a "hydropathic
establishment, an agricultural college, a scientific institute, a mu-
seum of curiosities and mechanic arts, and common schools." 21 The
"hydropathic establishment," or water-cure project, occupied a
prominent place in the plans of the founders, several of whom be-
longed to the medical profession. Water-cure societies were then
being established in many places; one was organized at Lawrence
in March, 1855. They emphasized a "return to nature," with the
avoidance of drugs and patent medicines then so much advertised.
The constitution of the Lawrence society provided in its preamble,
"that hydropathy, including the hygienic agencies of water, air,
light, food, temperature, exercise, sleep, clothing, and the passions
in their various modifications, comprises a whole and ample Materia

17. The Vegetarian and Octagon Settlement Companies have a history so closely con-
nected, that it is at times difficult to distinguish between them. There are other examples of
parallel and interlocking companies in the territorial period ; the American Settlement Com-
pany and the New York Kanzas League is a case in point.

18. Document, The Octagon Settlement Company, Kanzas (N. Y., 1856), p. 8.

19. Ibid., p. 2.

20. Blackmar, Kansas, v. 2, p. 380.

21. Document, The Octagon Settlement Company, Kanzas, p. 4. Each member agreed to
abstain from intoxicating liquor. "Maine Law" men were prominent among the Eastern emi-
grants to Kansas territory.

382 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Medica, capable of producing all the really remedial effects possible
in all diseases . . ." 22

The octagon plan of settlement, adopted by both the Vegetarian
and Octagon companies, was a unique feature of the projects. Each
octagon-shaped settlement was to be of four square miles, or 2,560
acres. Upon this square a full-sized octagon was to be imposed,
whose eight segments were each to be divided into two farms of 102
acres each. Each of the sixteen farms would front upon the central
octagon of 208 acres, which was to be used for a common pasture or
park, and to be held by the trustees for the equal benefit of the
settlers. A communal life would be attained by placing each farm
house facing the central octagon, at whose central point an octagon
public building would be constructed, to serve as store, meeting-
house, school, and church. Of the four miles originally taken up,
the four corners still remaining outside the octagon settlement would
be used for woodland or grassland. It was planned to make four
of these octagon villages into a "city" of sixteen square miles, with
a square of 584 acres in the center, to be devoted to an agricultural
college and model farm.23

The octagon plan of settlement aimed to give the western settler
some of the advantages of the East, with the hope of avoiding the
hated isolation of the frontier. Each settler would live in a village,
enjoy the aid and protection of his comrades, and attain social and
educational advantages not otherwise possible. The literature of
the project stressed in particular the increase in property values
which would result from this form of settlement. In the hope that
the octagon village would become the center of a city, a detailed
plan was worked out to subdivide the farms into lots ; each was to be
divided into eight squares, of twenty lots each, varying in size from
the center.24 Each purchaser of a share in the company would pay
a dollar entrance fee, and an initial installment of ten cents upon
the five-dollar share, and could take not less than twenty nor
more than 240 shares.25 He was entitled to as many city lots as
he took shares. The company would pay $1.25 an acre to the gov-
ernment for its land, and all that it received above this would be

22. Constitution of Lawrence Hydropathic Hygienic Society, Herald of Freedom, March
31, 1855. A water-cure building was to be constructed upon a conveniently situated hill in
"Octagon City."

23. Document, The Octagon Settlement Company, Kanzas, pp. 5, 6. The frontispiece has
an elaborate illustration.

24. Ibid., p. 6.

25. Actual practice varied from the original plan, a fact which must be borne in mind in
considering the later history of the colonies. The technique of townsite promotion on the
Western frontier was an art hi itself, open to all possessed of a "gift of gab" and a native
shrewdness. Capital was not an initial necessity, as it would follow as a matter of course.

HICKMAN: SETTLEMENT COMPANIES 383

used for provisions, construction of streets, public schools, mills,
and stores. Profits from the mills would be divided among the
shareholders. The company would also obtain implements and
teams for every shareholder, and issue scrip for the use of its
settlers.26

In emigrating to the Kansas frontier, the Vegetarian and Octagon
Settlement Companies acted very much in unison. Doctor Mc-
Lauren, sent out by the Vegetarian company in the fall of 1855,
had already reported a favorable location on the Neosho. He now
also acted as treasurer and pioneer of the Octagon company with
headquarters at "Octagon City, via Fort Scott." A definite plan
of emigration was worked out, the octagon plan of settlement neces-
sitating the arrival of settlers in groups of sixteen, or multiples
thereof. Each group was to have a leader and a definite time and
place of departure, and a membership properly distributed among
the various professions. Both DeWolfe and Clubb were to serve
as heads of companies.27 The Vegetarian (or Octagon) company
was given rather wide publicity during the early months of 1856.
Late in March of that year a pioneer group, composed of members
of both companies, proceeded up the Missouri river, with two more
such parties to follow in April.28

On the first of May (1856) Clubb reported at length upon the
progress of the colony. The site selected was on the western bank
of the Neosho river, west of Fort Scott, and six miles south of the
present site of Humboldt. A tract of thirty-two square miles had
been obtained (eight octagons), including bottom land, prairie and
timber. A building was then being erected as a store and company
headquarters. From this eight avenues were then being laid out,
according to the octagon plan. The eight octagons were then being
surveyed. According to Clubb, the emigrants numbered nearly a
hundred persons, with twenty head of oxen, five or six horses, and
a grist mill. Vegetarian blacksmiths, farmers, and carpenters were
on the grounds.29 After the town of "Neosho City" was laid out,

26. Document, The Octagon Settlement Company, Kanzas, p. 6. The plan of the New
England Emigrant Aid Company was somewhat similar. They also hoped to plant centers
of Eastern culture in the wilderness and to profit by a rise in the value of their land holdings,
particularly town lots.

27. Ibid., p. 10. A detailed list of emigrants for the first company is given, classified ac-
cording to profession.

28. Daily Missouri Democrat, March 26, 1856. Clipped in "Webb Scrap Books" (Thomas
H. Webb, compiler), v. 10, p. 185. This collection contains a vast number of newspaper clip-
pings from all over the country, concerning the first years of Territorial Kansas, and is now in
the library of the Kansas State Historical Society.

29. Correspondence of Clubb, Herald of Freedom, May 3, 1856. Announcements of new
towns were frequent in the territorial papers, and were often highly laudatory, as a means of
advertisement. As a matter of fact, lack of capital prevented the settlement from being es-
tablished on the grand plan proposed.

384 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it appears to have enjoyed a transitory boom. Lots bought early
in May at premiums amounting to $40 were sold a few days later
at premiums amounting to $197.50. Emigrants were then arriving
from all directions; a majority came during April, May, and June.80

The project thus brilliantly begun ended in complete failure. It
appears certain that in order to gain settlers the promoters made
rash promises which could not be fulfilled. There was but one plow
in the whole establishment, although the officials had promised
implements and teams for every shareholder (i. e., settler) . Their
promise to construct a saw- and grist-mill also did not materialize.
One writer blames the promoters for "gross mismanagement," if not
something worse.31 The location of the colony was beset by mos-
quitoes, and chills and fever attacked the settlers.32 The "inexhaust-
ible" springs dried up, and the crops that were planted were raided
by neighboring Indians.33 Bitter disappointment and much suffering
resulted. As winter neared, all who could leave did so. There was
a heavy mortality among the children and older people. By the
following spring (1857) hardly a trace of the settlement remained,
although the stream along which the companies located is still known
as Vegetarian creek.34

Among the factors leading to the failure of the colony, the "high-
pressure salesmanship" tactics of the promoters appears to rank
first. Too many promises of paternalistic aid were made to the
settlers. The size of the farms (only 102 acres) may have dis-
couraged the emigrants,35 but most disappointing of all was the
failure to construct mills, and other promised features. The mem-
bership numbered many Easterners, who were not prepared for life
on the frontier, a significant fact accounting for the abandonment
of the colony. The charges, made by many of the settlers, of the
dishonesty of the promoters cannot be entirely proved. It appears,

30. Neosho City correspondence of May 12, of the Daily Missouri Republican, May 23,
1856. The St. Louis papers carried much news of the Kansas border. The above appears to
be a typical "boom" notice.

31. L. Wallace Duncan, History of Neosho and Wilson Counties, Kansas (Fort Scott,
1902), pp. 37-38. Clubb appears to have abandoned the Kansas experiment precipitately.
Yet, after leaving Kansas, he became acknowledged as the leader of vegetarianism in America.
He was quite young at the time of the Kansas venture.

32. Mrs. Miriam D. Colt, Went to Kansas, (Watertown, 1862), p. 88. June 26th entry:
"Several members of our company have suddenly been taken with the chills and fever."

33. Duncan, op. cit., p. 38. The colony was located near the boundary of the New York
Indian Reserve and the Osage reservation. Nominally it was not open for settlement. As far
as law and order went, this was somewhat of a "no man's land" at this time. The immedi-
ate locality was not surveyed until 1857 and 1858. Claim troubles were frequent, and "jay-
hawking" flourished.

34. Ibid., p. 38. Andreas, in his History of Kansas (Chicago, 1883), comments on page
668 that four settlers remained permanently — Charles Baland, Z. J. Wizner, and Watson and
S. J. Stewart. The same author has a brief biography of Samuel J. Stewart on page 675.
He served in the Free-State legislature of 1857, and took an active part in the Civil War.

35. Andreas remarks (p. 668) that the two Stewarts were so dissatisfied with the ar-
rangements that they located claims elsewhere.

HICKMAN: SETTLEMENT COMPANIES 385

however, that money was collected for the purpose of properly start-
ing the colony, which was not so used.86 Those who resorted to
Clubb for help were disappointed, as he had no money to refund.87
The later history of vegetarianism was more successful from the
standpoint of colonization. In 1890 Henry S. Clubb, then presi-
dent of the Vegetarian Society of America, became the editor of
Food, Home, and Garden, which in 1900 was united with the
Vegetarian Magazine, published by the Vegetarian company at
Chicago.38 Clubb was then very active in promoting vegetarian
colonies throughout the country and made personal tours to locate
favorable sites. The Vegetarian Magazine and its successor, The
Vegetarian and Our Fellow Creatures, published many accounts of
such colonies during the first quarter of the twentieth century. In
1920 the place of publication of this magazine itself was moved to
one of these colonies, in Idaho.89

86. Blackmar, Kansas, v. 2, p. 842.

37. August llth entry, Colt, Went to Kansas, p. 128: "My husband has been anxious to
see Mr. Clubb at his present abiding place, up on Stone creek . . . to see if he would re-
fund any of the money that he put into his hands. . . . Mr. Clubb had no money to
refund, but let us have some cornstarch, farina, a few dates, and a little pearled barley.
. < . . It is rumored that H. S. Clubb has resorted to his present abode, that he may make
his way quietly out of the territory. We can take advantage of no law to regain our money
paid to him for the company."

38. The Vegetarian Magazine, January, 1900, p. 12. Reverend Clubb was then also pastor
of the Bible Christian Church, Philadelphia. Besides promoting the vegetarian faith, the
Vegetarian comnany also sold various vegetarian products at that time: peanut butter, Kungh-
phy (a substitute for coffee), Vegetarian soap, Ko Nut (a butter made from cocoanut oil),
Graham flour, etc. Compare the Kellogg and other trade products of to-day. Vegetarianism
thus became highly capitalized.

89. Information from various numbers of The Vegetarian Magazine and its successors.
Vegetarianism in America was always closely allied with prohibition. Clubb was the author
in 1856 of The Maine Liquor Law (New York, 1856), a history of prohibition and its leading
advocate, Neal Dow. Clubb also wrote a serial "History of Vegetarianism," 1907. A like-
ness of Clubb appears in the frontispiece of the Vegetarian Magazine for February, 1900.
The John Crerar Library of Chicago has an incomplete file of the Vegetarian Magazine and
its successors. The Kansas State Historical Society has documents and other information
illustrative of the Kansas venture.

25—1070

The John Brown Pikes

FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER

THE most interesting of the John Brown relics are the pikes that
he intended to put in the hands of slaves. A pike consisted
of a two-edged blade, ten inches long, made from steel; a guard
five inches wide, made of malleable iron, attached by a ferrule,
also of malleable iron, to a handle six feet in length, made of ash.
They were obtained from Charles Blair, of Collinsville, Conn. When
the United States Senate appointed a committee, known from its
chairman, Sen. James M. Mason of Virginia, as the Mason Com-
mittee, to investigate the Harper's Ferry Invasion, Blair was sum-
moned to Washington and in his testimony gave a full account of
the making of the pikes.1 There is some account of the pikes in
the biographies of Brown by Sanborn2 and Villard3 and additional
data are contained in the letters of Blair to Brown in the archives
of the Kansas State Historical Society.

About the first of March, 1857, Brown spoke in Collinsville on the
subject of conditions in Kansas. The next morning he exhibited in
a local drug store some weapons that he had taken from Pate's band
at Black Jack. In showing a dirk he remarked that, if mounted on a
long handle, it would make a capital weapon with which the settlers
of Kansas could defend themselves against sudden attack. It was
Blair's recollection, three years after the event, that Brown then
turned to him, knowing he was a blacksmith, and asked what it
would cost to make five hundred or a thousand of them, and that he
replied that he would make five hundred for a dollar and a quarter
apiece, and a thousand for a dollar apiece. Sanborn represents that
the remark was made to H. N. Rust, with whom Brown was negotiat-
ing for the repair of some pistols sent from Kansas, and that Rust
later took up the matter with Blair. Some color is given to San-
born's version of the incident by the fact that two of Brown's later
communications to Blair were made through Rust.

Brown returned to Collinsville March 11 and arranged with Blair
to make a dozen sample pikes and send them to him at Springfield,
Mass. March 20 Blair wrote Brown that he would send the samples
on the following day. The ferrules, he wrote, were made of sheet

1. Senate Report, No. 278, 36th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 121-129. Serial No. 1040. Cited
hereafter as Mason Report.

2. F. B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown (Boston, 1885), pp. 375-378.

3. Oswald Garrison Villard, John Brown, A Biography Fifty Years After (Boston, 1910),
pp. 283-285, 400-401.

(386)

HODDER: THE JOHN BROWN PIKES 387

iron and were not satisfactory, but that it would cost more to make
them of malleable iron; that he would meet Brown in Hartford the
following week and settle upon the price. In a postscript Blair added
that if Brown wanted more, he could put the samples in with the
rest; if not, he could pay twelve dollars for them. Brown endorsed
the letter as answered March 23, probably writing that he would
come to Collinsville.

March 30 the contract for the pikes was signed at Collinsville.
Blair testified before the Mason Committee that it was drawn by
Brown, but the copy in the archives of the Kansas State Historical
Society is in Blair's handwriting.4 Brown may have made a rough
draft from which Blair made a copy. The contract provided that
Blair would furnish one thousand "spears" at one dollar apiece.
The spears were to be like the samples, except that the ferrules were
to be of malleable iron instead of sheet iron, and attached to the
handles by screws instead of being riveted, so that they could be
shipped separately. Brown paid $50 down and was to pay $500
within ten days and the remaining $450 within thirty days there-
after. The spears were to be finished by the first of July.

Brown paid the $50 down and a total of $350 within ten days, but
April 2 wrote Blair that he had been unable to make the further
payments required by the contract. Blair replied on the 15th that
he had not taken any further measures than to ascertain where he
could get the handles, ferrules, etc., and if Brown did not find it
convenient to raise the money for the thousand he would make
five hundred at the same rate. In his testimony before the Mason
Committee Blair thought that he had already bought the steel for
the blades and begun working on them, but from his contemporary
letter that appears not to have been the case. April 16 Brown sent
word through Rust that he hoped to have the money soon, and April
25 he sent Rust $200 for Blair with the message that "he need not
hurry out but five hundred of the articles" until he should hear from
him again.5 Blair acknowledged receipt of the $200 on the 27th
and said that he could "take along 500 of the articles" if desired,
but that he had ordered the handles for the whole number, and that
it was more convenient to get all the guards, ferrules and screws at
one time but that if it were not convenient for Brown to remit the
balance of the money before the first of July it would be just as
well if he would allow a corresponding length of time in which to
complete the contract.

4. Contract printed in Sanborn, p. 377.

5. Letters to Rust in Sanborn, p. 376.

388 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

May 7 Blair wrote Brown that he must wait three weeks for the
ferrules and some four weeks before the handles would be seasoned
sufficiently to set the ferrules ; that if the ferrules were put on before
the timber was properly seasoned they would be likely to work
loose; that the blades would be forged, tempered and ground, so
that it would take little time to finish them when the lumber was
right, and that he thought that they would be ready by the first of
July, but not as soon as first talked of. He added that he intended
to go to Iowa for a few weeks, but that the business would be at-
tended to in his absence by his son. He closed the letter to Brown
by "wishing him success in his enterprise," the only time he made
any comment in his letters upon the use to which the pikes were to
be put. To both letters Brown replied May 14 from Canastota to
the effect that Blair need not hurry the first five hundred until the
handles were properly seasoned or the remainder until he should
hear from him again.

Blair did not receive this letter until his return from Iowa.
August 27 he wrote Brown that he had commenced the whole
number of articles, that he had all the handles well seasoned, the
ferrules, guards, etc., but that not having heard anything further
from him, had let them rest. "I did not know," he wrote, "but
that things would take such a turn in Kansas that they would not
he needed." He added that he did not blame Brown, as he well
knew that "when a man is depending on the public for money he is
very likely to be disappointed," and that he need not give himself
any uneasiness about the affair, for if I go no further with them,
"I shall lose nothing, or but little." 6 September 11, and again
February 10 and March 11, 1858, Brown wrote explaining his
inability to make the payments called for by the contract. February
10, Blair had written Brown that he could not go on with the spears
unless assured of his money ; that he would let Brown have them if
he could get them finished elsewhere, but that he would prefer to
go on with them if some responsible parties would guarantee pay-
ment within three or four months.

Nothing more was done about the pikes for nearly fifteen
months. June 3, 1859, Brown unexpectedly appeared in Collinsville
and wanted the pikes finished. Blair protested that he regarded the
contract as forfeited, that he was busy with other things and could
not bother with them, and that as Kansas matters were settled they
would now be of no use. Brown replied that they might be of some
use, if they were finished up, that he could dispose of them in some

6. Printed in Sanborn, p. 378.

HODDER: THE JOHN BROWN PIKES 389

way, but, as they were, they were good for nothing. Blair finally
agreed that if Brown would pay the balance due he would get some-
one to finish the "goods." The next morning Brown paid $150, $50 in
bills and a check of Gerrit Smith's for $100, and three days later sent
a draft from Troy for the remaining $300. Blair secured a man by
the name of Hart to finish the pikes. The last of August he re-
ceived letters from Chambersburg, Pa., signed "I. Smith & Sons," 7
instructing him to send the "freight" to them at that place in care
of Oakes & Cauffman. At that time the railroads did no freight
business themselves, but that business was done by forwarding
companies owning private freight cars. Oakes & Cauffman was a
forwarding company. The blades, guards and ferrules were packed
in boxes and the handles were tied in bundles of twenty or twenty-
five and marked "fork handles." Blair testified that 954 were sent,
presumably in addition to the twelve samples originally made. He
also testified that he did not know where Chambersburg was, but
supposed that it was on the way to the West. A letter dated at
Chambersburg, September 15, also signed "I, Smith & Sons," ac-
knowledged their receipt. From Chambersburg they were trans-
ported in wagons to the Kennedy farm. Some of the pikes were
taken to Harper's Ferry October 16, the night of the raid. The
next morning all the material remaining at the farm was taken by
Cook, Tidd and Owen Brown to a country school house three miles
from Harper's Ferry on the Maryland side. When this was seized
483 pikes and 175 broken handles for pikes were found.8 The re-
maining pikes are supposed to have been distributed to slaves.

There is no means of ascertaining how many of the pikes have been
preserved, but probably a considerable number are still in existence.
There is one in the National Museum in Washington. There are
two in the museum of the Kansas State Historical Society, one with
the original handle and the other without a handle. They were pur-
chased in 1881 from J. Shaw Gallaher, of Charles Town, West Va.,
for $15 apiece, and were the first relics bought by the Society.
There is one in the historical collections of the University of Kansas.
It originally belonged to John S. Cunningham, a pay director in the
navy.9 By him it was given in 1885 to George Alfred Townsend,

7. Printed "J. Smith & Sons" in the Mason Report. The "J" should be "I." Brown
had assumed the name Isaac Smith.

8. Mason Report, pp. 51, 54-59. James Redpath, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown
(Boston, 1860), p. 269. Redpath gives the number of broken handles as 150, but the in-
ventory in the Mason Report gives 175.

9. John S. Cunningham was made purser in the navy in 1857, pay director in 1871, re-
tired in 1883, and died in 1894. He wrote Townsend in 1885 that he witnessed the execution
of John Brown, but the records of the Navy Department do not show that he was present in
an official capacity.

390 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

a noted journalist of that day. At Townsend's death in 1914 his
effects were sent to Boston for sale at auction, and this pike was
among the articles purchased by Charles L. Cooney, a local anti-
quarian dealer, by whom it was presented to the University of Kan-
sas in 1923. For the original handle a shorter one of oak had been
substituted.

A relic is of very little value unless it has some significance. The
pikes are important because the order for them is the first indica-
tion of Brown's intention to abandon the Kansas field and to revert
to his earlier plan of starting a slave insurrection in the South. The
civil war in Kansas in the summer of 1856 resulted in the victory of
the Free State men and amply proved their ability to defend them-
selves. Governor Geary arrived in Kansas in the fall of 1856, sup-
pressed the roving bands upon both sides, and established peace in
the territory. Brown went east in January of 1857 ostensibly to
raise funds for the defense of Kansas but really with other plans in
mind. He planned to bring his band together in the fall of 1857
at Tabor, in southwestern Iowa, where he had stored two hundred
Sharps rifles intended for Kansas, and he engaged an English ad-
venturer by the name of Forbes to give the men military instruction.
Toward the end of February, 1858, he communicated his plans
to Gerrit Smith and F. B. Sanborn at Gerrit Smith's home in Peter-
boro, N. Y., possibly omitting mention of Harper's Ferry as the
intended point of attack, and received from them their hearty ap-
proval.10 Soon afterward Brown and Forbes quarreled. Forbes
went east and betrayed Brown's plans to Seward, Henry Wilson,
Horace Greeley and others. May 24, Brown's backers — Gerrit
Smith, Howe, Parker, Stearns, Higginson and Sanborn — met in
Boston, decided that the execution of the attack must be postponed
in view of Forbes' disclosures and sent Brown to Kansas to divert
suspicion. It is scarcely possible that Brown, in spite of his pro-
fessions, ever intended to send the pikes to Kansas. They were not
suited to the kind of warfare waged in the territory, and pitchforks
would have afforded equally good protection to the lonely women
on the farms. On the other hand, they exactly suited his plan for
a slave insurrection. They could be had in large quantities for little
money, they required neither ammunition nor special skill in their
use and would be effective in hand-to-hand combat. In view of
their special importance in the development of Brown's plans, it is
perhaps worth while to have told their story in detail.

10. Ralph Volney Harlow, "Gerrit Smith and the John Brown Raid," in The American
Historical Review for October, 1932, v. 38, pp. 39-42.

Kansas History as Published
in the State Press

The diary of William Robinson, union soldier and an Ottawa
county pioneer, is being published serially in the Tescott News,
starting with its issue of June 9, 1932. The diary is the property
of a son, John Robinson, of Tescott.

Some of the interesting subjects discussed by W. F. McGinnis, Sr.,
in The Butler County News, El Dorado, during the past few months
were: "Horse Thieves and How They Worked in the Sixties,"
March 3 and 10, 1933; "Some of Butler County's Old Time Offi-
cers," March 17; "How We Got Our Freight Before We Had a
Railroad," April 7; "How We Got Our First Railroad," April 14;
"A Real Buffalo Hunt in Kansas in 1871," April 21 ; "Opening of
the Cherokee Strip, America's Greatest Horse Race," August 18;
"This is the Forty-fourth Anniversary of Butler County's First and
Last Kidnaping," September 8 to 29.

"Potter Memories," a column written by an early resident, is ap-
pearing from time to time in the Potter Kansan. The series started
with the issue of May 18, 1933.

"The History of Solomon," by Harriet Woolley, ran serially in
the Solomon Tribune from May 25 through the issue of June 15,
1933. The town company was platted in 1866 by Henry Whitley,
John Williamson and Luther Hall.

The history of the Prairie Vale Missionary Union was briefly
sketched in The Western Star, Coldwater, May 26, 1933.

A biographical sketch of the late Roy L. Bone, southern Kansas
cowboy who became a banker, was published in the Kansas City
(Mo.) Star, June 11, 1933.

Buffalo hunts in the 1870's were described recently by James
Smith, a southern Kansas pioneer, for a Chandler (Okla.) news-
paper. The story was condensed and reprinted in the Howard
Courant, June 15, 1933.

A list of the pioneer settlers buried in Crown Hill cemetery, near
Coldwater, was compiled for The Western Star, Coldwater, and was
published in its issue of June 16, 1933.

(391)

392 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

St. Paul Lutheran Church of Clay Center celebrated the twenty-
fifth anniversary of the dedication of its present church edifice,
June 25, 1933. Histories of the organization were published in the
Clay Center Economist, June 21, 1933, and the Clay Center Times,
June 22.

George A. Linn, Mrs. B. T. Frost and Mrs. Sarah E. Dooty
Strange, three pioneer Kansans, reminisced in the Neodesha Register
recently. Mr. Linn was interviewed for the June 22, 1933, issue;
Mrs. Frost wrote for the June 29 issue, and Mrs. Strange for the
issue of August 3.

An excursion to Leavenworth by a narrow gauge railroad was
briefly described by Mrs. Ella Fulton in the Winchester Star, June
30, 1933. A short history of Winchester was also included in this
issue.

"A Few Reminiscenses," a column conducted by H. V. Butcher,
ran serially in The Western Star, Coldwater, during July and
August, 1933.

"Strange Were the Happenings in Kansas When Polygamy Was
the Fad," was the title of a story depicting the life of an old Indian
chief Al-le-ga-wa-ho, which appeared in the Kansas City (Mo.)
Journal-Post, July 2, 1933.

"Historic Sites, Scenery, Found Throughout State," by Hugh
Amick, was the title of an article published in the "Vacation Num-
ber" of the Wichita Sunday Eagle, July 2, 1933.

Early-day Lawrence printers were named in a letter from W. J.
Flintom, of San Diego, Cal., which was printed in the Lawrence
Daily Journal-World, July 4, 1933. Mr. Flintom came to Kansas
from Vermont in 1869.

A history of the site of the Scott county state park, which was
given in an address to a recent bar association meeting in Scott
City, by R. D. Armstrong, Scott City attorney, was published in
the Dodge City Daily Globe, July 10, 1933.

Two letters recalling the visit of President R. B. Hayes to Neosho
Falls in 1879 were printed in the Neosho Falls Post, July 13, 1933.
Frank S. Denney and E. B. Moore were the contributors.

Former pastors and friends of the First Presbyterian Church of
Clay Center contributed special historical articles to the Clay
Center Times, July 13, 1933, recalling their connections with the

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 393

church. The occasion was the dedication of a new church building,
July 16. The Presbyterians first organized in Clay Center April 1,
1871.

The sixty-first anniversary of the Wichita Eagle was observed
July 16, 1933, with the issuance of a special illustrated historical
edition.

Early Irish settlers near Solomon were discussed in an article
printed in the Salina Journal, July 18, 1933. The story was based
on historical sketches of a similar nature appearing in the Salina
Rustler, April 13, 1895.

A jubilee commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the organiza-
tion of the Mission Covenant Church of Stotler was held July 16,
1933. A brief history of the church was published in The Journal-
Free Press, Osage City, July 19, and in the Topeka Daily Capital,
July 20.

Numerous fossil discoveries have been announced from northern
and western Kansas in recent years. An area of about seventy
square feet, containing over sixty tracks of four different species
of prehistoric animals, was recently found on the George Hrabik
farm near Sylvan Grove, according to the Sylvan Grove News, July
20, 1933. A Mr. Brandhorst and Dr. H. H. Lane, of Kansas Uni-
versity, are collaborating on the interpretation and description of
these tracks.

A brief sketch of the John W. Harding family, as prepared by
Mabel Harding, of San Diego, Calif., was printed in The Western
Star, Coldwater, July 21, 1933. Miss Harding also contributed a
column of reminiscences to the Star in -the August 18 issue.

A column entitled "Territorial Days in Oskaloosa," by Francis
Henry Roberts, started in the Oskaloosa Independent, July 27, 1933.
Mr. Roberts' recollections in a former column, "Early Days in Oska-
loosa," dated from the summer of 1862.

J. A. Comstock, early-day hotel clerk in Dodge City, wrote of his
experiences in that frontier town in the Dodge City Daily Globe,
July 28 and 29, 1933. Mr. Comstock, now of New York, came to
Dodge City in 1881.

An address, "A Half Century of Kansas Journalism," by Gomer
T. Davies, editor of the Concordia Kansan, was delivered at a
meeting of the Kansas Editorial Association in Topeka, June 10,

394 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

1933, and was published in the Topeka Pink Rag in its issues of
July 28 and August 4.

A brief biography of Col. S. S. Prouty, early Kansas newspaper-
man, was sketched in the Dodge City Daily Globe, August 1, 1933.

Some reminiscences of A. Canning, Kansas pioneer, were printed
in the Salina Journal, August 2, 1933. Mr. Canning's family came
to Kansas in 1859 and settled near Council Grove.

The killing of the last buffalo in Mitchell county was discussed
by Alonzo Pruitt in the Glen Elder Sentinel, August 3, 1933.

"Who's Who in Lucas," a series of articles relating the history
of the town's business concerns, is being published serially in the
Lucas Independent, commencing with the issue of August 9, 1933.

The Cloud county Indian raid in 1868, in which Sarah White was
kidnaped, was recalled by Victor Murdock in the Wichita (evening)
Eagle, August 14, 1933. Mr. Murdock interviewed William Elvin
White, a brother of the kidnaped girl, for the story.

Clifton High School's history was published in the Clifton News
in its issues of August 17, 24, and 31, 1933. The first school building
was erected prior to 1868, with George D. Seabury as the first
teacher.

"Minutes Disclose that 'Good Old Days' in the Schools Were
Anything But That," was the title of a brief presentation of the
problems of School District No. 4, of which Concordia is a large
part, in the 1870's. The article was printed in the Concordia
Blade-Empire, August 23, 1933.

The final installment of T. P. Tucker's "Early Day Church
History of Greeley County," was published in the Greeley County
Republican Tribune, August 24, 1933. Other installments were an-
nounced in the August issue of the Quarterly.

"Looking Backward — a History of Cuba From Old Newspaper
Files," compiled by Mr. and Mrs. L. Carpenter, appears from time
to time in the Cuba Tribune. The series started with the issue of
August 24, 1933.

The Anthony-Atwood battles were a spectacular part of Leaven-
worth county's early days, the Tonganoxie Mirror reported in its
issue of August 24, 1933. An account of the Douglass-Anthony suit,
in which John H. Atwood and D. R. Anthony, bitter political op-

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 395

ponents, were in the unique position of lawyer and client, was re-
printed from the Kansas City Star of December 8, 1915.

"Frontier Surveying During an Indian War," by E. C. Rice, was
the title of an article published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle,
August 27, 1933. Mr. Rice accompanied J. B. Wilcox, of Muscotah,
in the survey of some thirty townships on the Kansas-Colorado line.

Pioneers of Cherokee county having sixty years or more of resi-
dence in that county were named in the Columbus Daily Advocate,
August 30, 1933. Mrs. Sallie Crane compiled the list.

"A Tribute to the Pioneer Mothers of Central Kansas," by Will
Goodman, of Glendale, Calif., was published in The County Capital,
St. John, August 31, 1933.

Mulvane's first train was described in a three-column illus-
trated story appearing in the old settlers' edition of the Mulvane
News, August 31, 1933. The railroad line connected Wichita and
Winfield, and the official opening excursion train went through
Mulvane September 29, 1879.

"Early History of Mt. Ayr Friends Church," 1872-1933, by C.
E. Williams, was published in the Osborne County Farmer, Osborne,
August 31, 1933.

Special historical editions of the Olathe newspapers were issued
August 31, 1933, announcing the program for the thirty-sixth annual
reunion of Johnson county old settlers, held in Olathe, September 2.
Biographies of Harry King, Sr., Mrs. Louisa Keys, Mrs. Blanche
Jefferson, W. H. Harrison, and William Crandall; a history of De
Soto; and accounts of early explorers, the grasshopper invasion,
the organization of the county, Harmony school, and the Shawnee
mission, were contained in the August 31 issue of The Johnson
County Democrat. The following week both The Democrat and the
Olathe Mirror printed notes on the meeting and lists of the old
settlers who registered.

"Crossings and Fords — Blue Bridge Forerunners," an article by
Byron E. Guise, portraying the evolution in river crossing at Marys-
ville, was published in the Marshall County News, September 1,
1933. Marysville's first bridge was completed in 1864.

Reminiscences of early-day Kansas, by J. L. Garrett, were pub-
lished in the Bunkerhill Advertiser, September 7, 1933.

"Early Wallace County, General Custer, and the Seventh Cav-
alry," from the reminiscences of Lewis C. Gandy, was continued in

396 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Western Times, Sharon Springs, September 7 and 21, 1933.
Other installments were mentioned in the August issue of the
Quarterly.

A story entitled "Cattle Money," by McKinley W. Kreigh,
former overland stage mail carrier, of Syracuse, was published in
the Syracuse Journal, September 8, 1933. The article was reprinted
from the October Blue Book Magazine.

"Sockless" Jerry Simpson's visits to Dodge City in the 1890's were
recalled by Heinie Schmidt in a feature article printed in the Dodge
City Daily Globe, September 13, 1933.

Old settler editions of the Marion Review and Record appeared
recently, announcing the annual old settlers' picnic for Marion. The
Review of September 13, 1933, published articles entitled: "How Ed
Miller Died"; "History of the Florence Catholic Church," by Mrs.
E. H. Robison; "The Last Cheyenne Raid," by A. E. Case; "Some
Early Day History," by Mrs. Will Rupp, and "Reminiscences," by
R. C. Coble. The Record, on September 14, continued with "Jacob
Linn Brought First Load of Pine Lumber to Marion Centre," by
Mrs. L. E. Riggs; "Recounting Early Pioneers of the Oursler Neigh-
borhood," by Mrs. Chas. Locklin; "There Were Plenty of Thrills
for This Pioneer Marion Family," by Mrs. Frank Knode ; "A Hand-
shake That Was Friendly," by Al Nienstedt, and "There Was an
Early Day Postoffice at Oursler Station," by Mrs. N. J. Oursler.

A history of the Anthony Methodist Episcopal Church, which
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary September 17, 1933, was pub-
lished in the Anthony Republican, September 14. The first M. E.
church edifice built on the site of the present building was dedicated
on December 23, 1882, by Elder Cline.

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chepstow celebrated
the fiftieth anniversary of its organization, September 17, 1933. A
history of the church was printed in the Barnes Chief, September 14.

The Leavenworth Chronicle issued its annual "Fort Leavenworth
Edition," September 14, 1933. Notes on the founding of the fort
and the perils encountered by the early freighters, the founding of
the General Service School by Gen. W. T. Sherman in 1881, and a
roster of officers now attending the school, were features.

A log cabin which belonged to Henry McKenzie, who came to
Kansas in 1854, was believed by the late Gen. W. H. Sears to be the
oldest now in existence in Douglas county. A brief history of the

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 397

cabin was published in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World, Sep-
tember 14, 1933.

"Battle of Beecher Island Is Thrilling Story of Indian War," was
a Goodland Daily News headline for a feature article printed in its
issue of September 15, 1933. The story appeared on the anniver-
sary of its fight, which is annually commemorated with appropriate
ceremonies by the Beecher Island Memorial Association, on the
battleground, now a Colorado state park.

The history of Atlanta, Rice county, was briefly reviewed in the
Hutchinson Herald, September 15, 1933. The site of this one-time
county seat of Rice county is now a cornfield, the Herald reports.

"Dodge's First Dentist Was a Pistoleer," a two-column biography
of Dr. John H. Holliday, was printed in the Dodge City Daily
Globe, September 15, 1933. The story, which was written by Dr.
Frank A. Dunn, was a reprint from Oral Hygiene.

The lynching of Frank Jones in Wellington, September 14, 1884,
was recalled in the reminiscences of E. B. Roser appearing in the
Wellington Daily News, September 16, 1933.

The fortieth anniversary of the opening of the Cherokee outlet
led several Kansas pioneers to reminisce in their local newspapers
on their adventures in 1893. W. H. Nelson, Asa Dean and Joe
Harper were among those interviewed by the Arkansas City Daily
Traveler in its issue of September 16, 1933. The Caldwell Daily
Messenger of the same date devoted a column story to the run. An
illustrated feature story, "Fighting For a Claim in the Old Cherokee
Strip," by F. M. Gillett, was published in the Wichita Sunday Eagle,
September 17, and notes on the run by Victor Murdock appeared
in the Wichita (evening) Eagle, September 18.

Burlingame was named in honor of Anson Burlingame, an Ameri-
can, who was the first Chinese minister to the United States, the
Topeka Daily Capital recalled in its issue of September 17, 1933.
Burlingame was formerly known as Council City.

Cooking recipes used by Sara Robinson, wife of Charles Robin-
son, Kansas' first governor, were discussed by Sue Carmody Jones
in an article printed in the Kansas City Star, September 20, 1933.

An account of the founding of Fowler, contained in a letter from
Perry J. Wilden, of San Diego, Cal., was published in the Fowler
News, September 21, 1933.

398 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Mrs. Grace Bedell Billings, the woman who as a girl asked Abra-
ham Lincoln to wear whiskers, now lives at Delphos, the Hays Daily
News reported in its issue of September 21, 1933. Mrs. Kathryn
O'Loughlin McCarthy, who related the story to the News, has copies
of the letters written by Mrs. Billings and Lincoln.

A history of the Bethlehem Lutheran church and school, of Sylvan
Grove, was published in the Sylvan Grove News, September 21,
1933. The first religious service was held February 9, 1879.

Five Kansas officials were impeached during the first seventy
years of statehood, according to an Associated Press dispatch writ-
ten by Calvin Manon and released to its member newspapers Sep-
tember 22, 1933.

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, of Atchison, celebrated its sixty-
fifth birthday anniversary, September 24, 1933. A history of the
organization was published in the Atchison Daily Globe, Septem-
ber 22.

"How Two Eminent Kansans Were Elected to U. S. Senate," by
the late Gen. W. H. Sears, of Lawrence, was the title of an article
printed in the Topeka Daily Capital, September 24, 1933, concern-
ing the elections of John J. Ingalls and William A. Harris.

"Random Recollections of Other Days," by D. D. Leahy, pub-
lished in the Wichita Sunday Eagle, September 24, 1933, related
incidents in the lives of the late A. C. Jordan, former sergeant at
arms of the House of Representatives, and Mrs. Jerry Simpson.

A twenty-page special illustrated historical edition of the Coffey-
ville Daily Journal was issued September 25, 1933, announcing the
pioneer celebration to be held in Coffeyville, September 27. A de-
tailed account of the history of the city from the organization of
the town company by Col. John A. Coffey and others in August,
1869, to the present day; a brief history of Montgomery county,
and biographies of Daniel Wells, Capt. D. S. Elliott, Harry Lang,
Billie Breit, Jules Gillet, Chas. T. Carpenter, Hazzard W. Sear, Sr.,
and Owen T. Romig, Montgomery county pioneers, were features
of the edition.

Early Wilson county history was reviewed by Judge J. T. Cooper
before the Neodesha Rotary club, September 26, 1933. A summary
of the speech, together with a letter written by Gov. Samuel J.

KANSAS HISTORY IN THE STATE PRESS 399

Crawford in 1902 concerning Wilson county events, were published
in the Neodesha Register, September 28.

Gove county history was reviewed at an old settlers' meeting
held in Grainfield, September 20, 1933. The early history of Buf-
falo Park and the organization of the Smoky Hill Cattle Pool were
discussed in a write-up of the meeting printed in the Gove City
Republican-Gazette, September 28.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the present
Jetmore United Presbyterian Church was observed September 24,
1933. The Jetmore Republican of September 28 published a three-
column history of the church.

Spring Branch District School's history was sketched by Mrs.
Bessie Buchele in the Cedar Vale Messenger, September 29, 1933.
The first school house was built in 1876.

The reminiscences of Mrs. John Durfee, a member of the Syra-
cuse, N. Y., colony which settled in Kansas in March, 1873, were
published recently in the Syracuse (N. Y.) Times and were repub-
lished in the Syracuse (Kan.) Journal, September 29, 1933.

"Southern Negroes Once Sought 'Mecca' in Kansas," an illustrated
feature article on the colored settlements in Graham county, was
printed in the Wichita Beacon, October 1, 1933.

A brief history of the Christian Church in Kansas was sketched
in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler, October 2, 1933. Mt. Pleasant
church in Atchison county was the first Christian church in the
present boundaries of the state. It was organized in 1855.

The First Baptist church of Atchison celebrated its seventy-fifth
anniversary, October 4 to 8, 1933. A three-column history of the
church from April 24, 1858, the date of the first sermon preached
by a Baptist minister in Atchison, to the present day, was published
in the Atchison Daily Globe, October 3, 1933.

A history of the Topeka branch of the Women's Foreign Mis-
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from its or-
ganization in 1883 until the present time, was printed and distributed
at the fiftieth anniversay celebration of the organization held in
Topeka, October 5 to 8, 1933. Mrs. George W. Isham, of Evanston,
111., was the author.

Kansas Historical Notes

Kansas newspaper personalities, past and present, have been a
weekly broadcast feature of radio station KSAC, Manhattan, for
several months. Dr. C. E. Rogers, professor and head of the depart-
ment of journalism of Kansas State College, prepared and delivered
the series.

At a meeting of the McPherson County Historical Society, July
10, 1933, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
J. A. Spillman, of Roxbury, president; Alfred Bergin, Lindsborg,
first vice president; Warren Knaus, McPherson, second vice presi-
dent; Edna Nyquist, McPherson, secretary and treasurer; P. P.
Wedel, C. E. Lindell, J. J. Yoder, Carl Lindholm, Emil 0. Deere and
Mrs. F. J. Ehman, members of the board of directors.

White Rock community historical articles, written by Ella Morlan
Warren and published in the Belleville Telescope during the past
year, were recently collected and republished as a 45-page booklet
entitled White Rock Sketches.

At an old settlers' picnic conducted by the Kiowa County His-
torical Society August 18, 1933, the following officers were elected
for the coming year: J. A. Sherer, president, Mullinville; W. A.
Woodard, first vice president, Haviland; W. L. Fleener, Sr., second
vice president, Greensburg; B. Frank McQuey, third vice president,
Belvidere; Mrs. Benjamin 0. Weaver, secretary, Mullinville, and
Mrs. Charles T. Johnson, treasurer, Greensburg.

The memorial monument and tablet honoring Frederick Brown,
who was killed August 30, 1856, in the battle of Osawatomie, were
unveiled at the place of his death August 30, 1933. The tablet was
a bequest of Mrs. Charles S. Adair.

A monument dedicated to pioneer women was unveiled at the
Mt. Hope cemetery, Ellis, September 10, 1933. The memorial was
a gift of the Pioneer Woman's Association of Ellis.

The nineteenth annual reunion of the surviving members of the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer cavalry was held in
Topeka September 13, 1933. Officers of the organization are:
Frank M. Stahl, Burlingame, president; F. C. Munson, Savannah,
Mo., first vice president; H. L. Burgess, Olathe, second vice presi-
dent, and Mrs. Ella D. Shaul, Topeka, secretary-treasurer.

(400)

KANSAS HISTORICAL NOTES 401

Dedication services were held at the Vermillion river crossing
near Barrett, September 24, 1933, for an Oregon-trail marker erected
by the Arthur Barrett chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. R. M. Montgomery, Marysville, made the dedicatory
address.

Plans for enlarging and improving the Pike-Pawnee Indian vil-
lage site into a national park were presented to representatives of
the federal government at ceremonies held in the park September
29, 1933. Speakers of state and national note participated in the
varied program commemorating the lowering of the Spanish flag
and the raising of the United States flag by Lieut. Zebulon Mont-
gomery Pike in 1806.

A Sherman County Historical Association was organized recently
with the election of Jesse L. Teeters as president, and Dillman W.
Blackburn, as secretary-treasurer.

Numerous community picnics and old settlers' reunions have been
held in various parts of the state in recent months. Newspapers in
some of these localities issued special historical editions in conjunc-
tion with these meetings which warranted mention elsewhere in
these notes. Limited space, however, does not permit separate en-
tries for the majority; a list of communities sponsoring meetings,
and the dates, are appended for reference: Hazelton, June 2; Wich-
ita, June 3; Kinsley, June 8, 9; Manhattan, July 1; Green, July
27-29; Baldwin, August 3; Arcadia, August 3-5; Dighton, August
5; Topeka, August 5, September 11; Halstead, August 9, 10;
Lebanon, August 10-12; Jewell City, August 11, 12; Bunkerhill,
August 14-16; Leoti, August 15; Haskell-Finney counties, August

16, 17; Clyde, August 17; Deerfield, August 17; Nickerson, August

17, 18; Brookwood Park, Decatur county, August 18; Belvidere,
August 18; Mantey, August 19; Ottawa, August 20; Geuda Springs,
August 20; McPherson, August 23; Dispatch, August 23; Bucklin,
August 25; Sparks, August 25, 26; Oskaloosa, August 25, 26; Wa-
baunsee, August 27; Holton, August 30; Benedict, August 30, 31;
White Rock, August 31; Mulvane, August 31; Meade, August 31;
Howard, August 31; Columbus, September 1; Macksville, Septem-
ber 1; Ford, September 1; Olathe, September 2; Uniontown, Sep-
tember 2; Drury, September 4; Hanover, September 6, 7; Ashland,
September 7; Cherokee, September 7-9; Marion, September 14;
Lawrence, September 14; Enterprise, September 14; Stockton, Sep-

26—1070

402 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tember 14 ; Pratt, September 14 ; Oakley, September 15 ; Ohio town-
ship, Saline county, September 17; Grainfield, September 20;
Cherry vale, September 21 ; Fontana, September 21 ; Cimarron, Sep-
tember 23; Fall River, September 23; Norway, September 24; Dodge
City, September 27; Smith Center, September 27; Coffeyville, Sep-
tember 27; Potwin, September 28; Sedan, October 7, and Weir,
October 7.

Errata to Volume II

Page 18, line 19, read "In 1888."

Page 22, line 19, Cantonment Leavenworth was established in 1827.

Page 30, line 24, read "Col. E. W. Wyncoop."

Page 52, fifth line from bottom of the page, read "Charles Coulter."

Page 107, paragraph 2: Mr. Whitelaw Saunders of Lawrence, who viewed
the hotel registers through the courtesy of Mr. Ames, reports that none of
the signatures noted in this paragraph were authentic.

Page 110, line 2, read "March, 1933."

Page 182, lines 1 and 2, read "Richard Read."

Page 219, line numbered 123, read "April 17, 1932."

Page 252, line 22 : The Wyandotte National Ferry was in operation as early
as November, 1843. — See testimony of Charles B. Garrett before Judge Samuel
D. Lecompte of the First U. S. District Court, Lecompton, in 1857, MS. in
Archives division, Kansas State Historical Society.

Index to Volume II

Abert, Lieut. J. W 276

— went up Kaw Valley on exploring ex-
peditions 251

Acton, Lord, historian 81

Adair, Mrs. S. L., monument honoring
Frederick Brown, killed at Battle of

Osawatomie, given by 400

Adams, D. W. & Co., Atchison freighters, 117

Adams, Dana, lynched 218

Adams, Franklin G 120

— quoted 262

Adams, Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth (Frank-
lin G.) 120

Adams, Henry J., recollections of Atchi-
son ferry boat 120

Adamson, A. B 333

Adamson, Dr. L. P 333

Adkins, Wyatt, Boggs' ferry on land of . . 5

Aitchison, R. T 85, 88

Akin, Rev. Dudley D 330

"Albany," locomotive, ferried across Mis-
souri on steamboat Ida 119

used on El wood & Marysville rail-
road 126

Allen's Landing, on Missouri river 7

Alma Union, cited 285, 286

Almena, newspaper history of 327

Almena Plaindealer, cited 327, 329, 333

Alta township, Harvey county, French

settlement in 326

Alton Empire, cited 109

Alton Methodist Church, fiftieth anni-
versary of 109

Alva (Okla.) Daily Record, cited 324

Amazonia, Mo 133

— date of establishment 134

American Antiquarian Society, library

mentioned 152

American Baptist Board of Foreign Mis-

. sions 227-229

American Fur Company, expeditions of,

started from Allen's landing 7

American Historical Review, cited 390

American Legion 77

American Settlement Company 381

American Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals 294

—protests Dodge City bull fight 298-300

American State Papers, Military Affairs,

cited 15

American troops, in Philippines 73

American Unitarian Association, Quarterly

Journal of 173

Americus, on Topeka-Chelsea road 376

Americus Greeting, cited 106

Ames Hotel, Wamego 107,402

Amick, Hugh, mentioned 392

Anadarko, Okla., Wichita agency and

lands near QQ

Anderson, Mrs. Edna, born at Shawnee

mission 85, 86

— daughter of Rev. Thomas Johnson 336

Anderson, George W., Shawnee county. . . 362

Anderson, Irving 106

Anderson county, lynchings in 211, 213

Andrews, J. H 324

Anthony, A. J., treasurer Dodge City

Driving Park and Fair Association 297

Anthony, Col. Daniel R 313, 394

PAOB

Anthony, Nancy 234

Anthony, lynchings at 217, 831

Anthony Methodist Episcopal Church,

history of 396

Anthony Republican, cited 103 396

Anthony Times, cited 331

A. H. T. A., extended protection to

owners of automobiles as well as horses, 195

A. H. T. A. News, St. Paul, cited 193

Appomattox, boomers of 51

— contender for county seat of Grant

county 50, 6i

Arapahpe Indians, damages inflicted on

frontier citizens by 39

—village of, destroyed by Gen. P. E.

Connor 43

Arcadia, old settlers' reunion held at ... . 401

Argentine bridge 258

Arkansas, Indians segregated west of.'.*.'.' 335
Arkansas City, note on early history of, 329
Arkansas City Daily Traveler, cited... 329

A 1 T _,- 397' 3"

Arkansas Indians, mentioned 166

Arkansas river 5, 149, 161, 164, 304

— Pam Piques living on 70

— valley of ' QQ

— visited by Onate ....... 7o

Arms and ammunition, sale to Indians . .' * 37
Armstrong, Cyrus, biographical mention

of 9

Armstrong, John 363

Armstrong, R. D., Scott City attorney. .' .' 392

Armstrong Silas, ferry owner 9, 254, 256

. L. 257, 259, 267

Armstrong ford, Big Sugar creek 282

Army and Navy Journal, cited 320

Ar-nark-tun-dut, Indian, member Dela-

ware Baptist Church 250

Arrow Rock, Missouri river 119

Arty, Col. H. H., adjutant general of ' '

Kansas

310

Ash Rock Congregational Church, Woods-
ton, note on history of 328

Ashland, old settlers' reunion held at 410

Associated Press 209, 398

Atchison 26

— a natural trade terminal ...... .' . 116

— u • ^-azar<V military company 120

— bridge across Missouri river at 4, 120

— ferry, boat carried down Missouri river

during thaw 119

history of 119

rates of ferriage 117, us

— — Steam, advertisement of 118

— First Baptist Church, seventy-fifth

anniversary of 399

—freighting for West started from. ...'.'.' 8

— freighting business figures 117

—lynchings at 185, 211, 212, 215

— Missouri river bridge completed in 1875, 118

— —opened 117

— Missounans supplied much for early

markets of 210

— mob trials and lynchings at 185

— roads, leading to and from 116, 346

353, 376
— sixty-fifth anniversary of St. Mark's

Lutheran Church 393

— soldiers' orphans' home at 315

— territorial road to 258

Atchison & Pike's Peak railroad, rails for,

brought to Atchison by boat 120

(403)

404

GENERAL INDEX

Atchison Champion, quoted 118

Atchison Champion and Press, cited.... 215
Atchison county, lynchings in. . 212, 215, 216
Atchison Daily Champion, cited.... 212, 216

Atchison Daily Free Press, cited 44, 213

Atchison Daily Globe, cited 117-120

200, 204, 398, 399

Atchison Free Press, cited 203, 214

Atchison-Lawrence road 283

Atchison-Lecompton road 346

Atchison Patriot, cited 204

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway, 73, 268
290,304,310,311
— Dodge City cowboys shoot hats off

passengers of 296

— notes on early history of 324, 329

— Southern Kansas branch 268

Atchison Town Company, purchased

George M. Million's squatter right.... 117

Atchison Union, cited 117

Athol-Gaylord-Cedar Review, cited, 221, 326
Atlanta, Ga., bull fight scheduled for,

canceled 294

Atlanta, Ga., fight scheduled for, canceled, 294

field 397

Atlas, The, Boston, cited 173

Atwood, John H 394

Atwood, Indian ambush near 329

— lynching in 219

Atwood Citizen-Patriot, cited. . 203, 206, 208

Aubrey, road to 258

Auburn, on road from Topeka to Chelsea, 376

Austin, Edwin A 79, 88

Automobiles, punishment for theft of... 194
— replaced horses to great extent 195

B

Babcock & Co., Lawrence, bridge owned

by, declared unsafe 288, 289

— owner of toll bridge 285- 287

Babcock, C. W., ferry operator 280

— secretary and treasurer, Lawrence Bridge

Co 288, 289

Baden, Mrs. J. P., president Cowley

County Historical Society 223

Bailey, David, ferry operator 137

Bailey, Ozias, ferry operator, biographical

sketeh of 137

Bailey, William A 87

Bailey, Gov. Willis J 115

— orders out National Guard for flood

work 291

Bainter, Ephraim, road running by lands

of 344

Baird, John C., author 336

Baize, 202

— lynched for murder 211

Baker, John, biography mentioned 26

— ferry charter granted to 26

Baker Orange, Baldwin, cited 222

Baker University, seventy-fifth anniver-
sary of 222

Baland, Charles 384

Bald Eagle 347

— ferry at 343

— how name attached 343

Baldwin, J. A., state senator 315

Baldwin, James, ferry operator 284

Baldwin, John, ferry operator 279- 284

Baldwin, Wm. M., ferry operator. . . 279- 284
Baldwin, early days in vicinity of, men-
tioned 220

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

— platoon of cavalry organized at 319

— state road through 282

Baldwin's ferry, advertisements of 279

— description of 280, 281

— history of 279- 284

Baldwin Ledger, cited 220

Ballard's ford, road to 258

Ballot box, stuffing of, in county seat

elections 47

Baltzer, Eduard, German vegetarian ad-
vocate 377

Bank robbery, four men hanged at Medi-
cine Lodge for 200, 325

— not yet punished by lynching 200

Bankers, of Appomattox 51

Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, Bos-
ton 227-229, 339, 340

— reports of, quoted 242

Baptist church, modern Wichita Indians

members of 68

— seventy-fifth anniversary of Atchison

organization 399

Baptist Mission, near Topeka 365,366

Baptist Mission Press 342

Baptist Missionary Magazine, cited. . 228, 242

339- 341
Barber, Charles H., Indian scout, note

on reminiscences of 329

Barber county, lynchings in 217

Barber County Index, Medicine Lodge. . . 104
Barclay, Osage county, history of, men-
tioned 102

Barker, Francis, Baptist missionary, 228, 229
234-236, 239, 241
— at organization of Stockbridge Baptist

mission 243

Barnard, N. L., ferry incorporator 13

Barnes Chief, cited 396

Barnesville, on Little Osage river, road

from Lecompton to 346

— road from Wyandotte to 258

Barney, Virginia, assistant editor North

American Review 176

Barnum, John S*tarr, early Wichita resi-
dent 323

Barr, G. W., ferry operator 131

Barr, William B., ferry operator 135

Barrett, Mrs. Annie, biographical sketch

of 323

Barrett, Arthur, chapter D. A. R 401

Barrett, Oregon trail marker erected near, 401

Bartholomew, John Tehan, lynched 213

Bartlett, A. B., ferry operator 272

Bartlett, Jennie B., pioneer teacher, Salina, 110

Bartlett, J. R 161

Bartlett's Mill, Geary county, lynchings

at 214

Barton, Clara, head of the American Red

Cross 319

Barton, D. W., Ingalls, cattle herder, 295, 302
— secures Texas steers for Dodge City bull

fight 301

Barton county, lynching in 217, 218

Barton County Democrat, Great Bend.. 218

Battey, Stephen 363

Battle of Beecher Island 397

—Cane Hill, Ark 107

— Franklin 279

— Osawatomie 293

monument honoring Frederick Brown

killed at 400

Baugher, Chas. A., line of Butterfield
Overland Despatch being traced by ... 86

Baughman, Owen, ferry operator 345

Baxter Springs, lynchings at 214

— massacre of, mentioned 107

Baysinger, Peter, lynched 214

Beagle, William, lynched 215

Beale and Heap, exploring routes of,

mentioned 161

Beale, Mrs. W. G 334

Bear, H. B 106

Beard, H. C., ferry operator 354

Beaton, Jack, ferry operator 255

GENERAL INDEX

405

Beattie, A. & Co., banking house of 180

Beaver county, Okla.. S. N. Wood taken

to, by captors 55

Becker, John, lynched 218

Beckwith, Lieut. E. G., expedition of,

mentioned 162

Beecher Island, now a Colorado state

park 897

Beecher Island Memorial Association.... 397

Beeks, Chas. E 88

Beeler, Wm. D., ferry operator, bio-
graphical sketch 135

Beers, F. W., Atlas of Shawnee County,

Kansas, cited 368

— shows ferry locations 352, 354

Beery, Mr. , wagonmaster 280,281

Beeson, "Chalk," and buffalo hunt of

Grand Duke Alexis, mentioned 102

Beeson, Merritt, southwestern relics being

collected by 224

Beeson, Otero, southwestern relics being

collected by 224

Beezley, Geo. F 88

Bell, H. B., Dodge City, cited 295

— president Dodge City Driving Park

and Fair Assn 297

Bellemont, formerly called Whitehead... 132
Bellemont Ferry and Transfer Co.,

history of 133

— boat belonging to, sunk 132

Belleville Telescope, cited 324, 330, 400

Belmont Bend, on Missouri river 132

Belmont Kansas Steam Ferry Co., sketch

of 133

Beloit Daily Call, cited 333

Beloit Gazette, cited 332, 334

Belvidere, old settlers' reunion held at.. 401

Bender tragedy, note on story of 327

Benedict, old settlers' reunion held at... 401

Benicia, early townsite 293

Benien, Henry 336

Benner (?), F. F., Lecompton bridge in-

corporator 347

Bennett, George D., lynched 213

Benson, Lou M 106

Benton, Sen. Thos. H 163

Bent's Fort, mentioned 162

Bergh, Henry, Jr., president of the Ameri-
can Society for the Prevention of Cru-
elty to Animals 294

— cites Kansas humane law 300

— protests Dodge City bull fight 298-300

— stops steer baiting in New York 294

Bergin, Alfred, first vice president Mc-

Pherson County Historical Society 400

Bernard's store, Franklin county 278

Berry, , store of, on Tonganoxie

creek 283

Berry, Alpheus 102

Berry-Dewey feud, mentioned 102

Berry, J. A., ferry operator and pub-
lisher of Wyandotte Democrat 10

Berryman, J. W 88

Bethany College museum, Lindsborg 224

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Sylvan

Grove, note on history of 398

Better Homes and Gardens, Elmer T.

Peterson, editor 67

iBetty L. , ferryboat 138

Beveridge, Albert J., of Indiana 179

Bible Christian Church, Philadelphia,

Rev. Henry S. Clubb, pastor of 385

Bickerdyke, "Mother," biography of . . . 330

— Home named for 74

Big Blue river 118

Big Horn river 163

Big Muddy creek, crossing on 376

Big Sandy creek, tributary of Arkansas, 161
Big Springs, on road from Shawnee Mis-
sion to Tecumseh 353

PAGE

Big Springs, road to Newman from 348

Big Stranger creek 15

— bridge over 288

— crossing below mouth of Fall creek . . 876

Big Sugar creek, Armstrong ford 282

Big Timbers 165

Bigger, George M 334

Bijou creek 166

Billard, Jules B., mayor of Topeka 108

Billard mill, Topeka, mentioned 108

Billings, F., Shawnee county 362

Billings, G 363

Billings, Mrs. Grace Bedell, asked

Lincoln to wear whiskers 398

"Billy the Kid," desperado 200

Bird City 106

— Kansas Day reunion of Cheyenne county

pioneers held at 224

—World War ship named for 106

Bird City Times, cited 106, 220

Bishop, A. F., lynched 212

Bishop, Robert C., ferry operator 345

Bitter Root river 161 164

Bivins, Wm 363

Black, Mr. and Mrs. R. D 325

Black, William P., ferry operator 131

Black Hills, of Nebraska 161, 163

Black Jack 277

— battle of, described 323

weapons taken by Brown during. . . . 386

— lynching at 212

Blackburn, Dillman, secretary-treasurer

Sherman County Historical Association 401
Blackfeather, Shawnee Indian, interpreter

and contributor to Shawnee Sun 340

Blackiston, Capt. Ebenezer, ferries op-
erated by 125- 128

— ferry limits described 131

Blackman, Maulsby W., manuscript col-
lection given Historical Society by. ... 74
Blackman, Wm. I. R., manuscript collec-
tion of 74

Blackmar, Frank W., cited 379

Blacksmith shop, established for the In-
dians 265

Blair, Charles, Collinsville, Conn 387, 389

— letters quoted 388

— pikes made for John Brown 386

Blanchard and Speer, ferry operators . . 358
Blanchard, Ira D., teacher-missionary, 288- 230
233-235, 237-239, 241, 264
— at organization of Stockbridge Baptist

Mission 243

Blanchard, Mary Walton 230, 242, 264

Bledsoe, Jacob, lynched 213

Bledsoe, William, lynched 213

Blood, James, donor 281

Blue Bank, on Missouri river, ferry op-
erated by John Thornton near 5

Blue Book Magazine 396

Blue Rapids, brief history of, mentioned, 322

Blue river, high waters in 374

Bluejacket, Charles, Shawnee chief .... 341
— copy of Shawnee Sun given to E. F.

Heisler by 341

Bluejacket's ferry, on road from Shawnee

Mission to Tecumseh 353

Bluemont college, now Kansas State Col-
lege no

Bluff City Methodist Episcopal Church,

note on history of 103

Blunt, Gen. James G 107

Boggs, Joseph ferriage rates charged by, 5

—ferry established in 1825 5

Bogus legislature, legislature of 1855 so

called 4

Bogy, L. V., commissioner of Indian

Affairs 43

Bolin, Mrs. Marion 330

Bolles, Dr. Lucius, secretary and treas-
urer of Baptist Mission Board 264

406

GENERAL INDEX

Bolton, H. E., ed., "Juan de Onate's Ex-
pedition to the Arkansas," cited 70

Bonds, issued for public improvements,
turned over to campaign committees

for good of cause 47

— railroad, voted on in Stevens county.. 55
Bone, Roy L., southern Kansas cowboy

and banker 391

Bonebrake, Fred B 88

— manuscript in possession of 367

Bonebrake, P. I., county clerk, Shawnee

county 352

— crossing on Papan's ferry described by, 367

Bonham, Frank, lynched 217

Bonner Springs (Tiblow station) 272- 274

— Chouteau ferry located near . . . 262, 263

Bonneville, Capt. B. L. E 149

— criticism of maps of 161

Boone, Daniel Morgan, farmer for Kaw

Indians 292

Boot Hill, Dodge City 297

Boot Hills 191

Bo6th, George, lynched 215

Booth, Lewis, lynched 215

Border Sentinel, Mound City, cited 216

Border warfare 185, 186

— peculiar to Kansas 188

Bostic, Dr. Margaret 87

Boston, Mo., ferry at 133

— short sketch of 133

Boston Advertiser, published by Nathan

Hale, Sr 144, 172

Boston Commonwealth 140, 170

Boston Daily Chronicle, cited 167

Boston Evening Telegraph 170, 171

Boston Journal 172

Boston Society for the Prevention of

Pauperism 141

Boston Transcript 139, 140

167, 170, 172, 173
Botkin, Theodosius, autocratic methods

of 69

— biographical sketch 68

— elected to legislature 64

— impeachment of 60

— involved in Seward county seat contest, 58

Stevens county imbroglio 68

— militia sent to relief of 63

— statement issued by, regarding Stevens

county troubles 63, 64

— threats against 62

— unpleasant relations with Sam Wood, 58, 59
Boulware, John, Platte City, Mo., ferry

operator 23

Boulware, William L., connected with

Rialto steam ferry 24

— date of death 24

Bourbon county, hanging of John R.

Guthrie at Mapleton 186, 187

— lynchings in 210, 212, 214, 216, 219

Bourbon county-Lawrence road 282, 283

Bourgmont, French explorer, visit of. ... 121
Bowersock mill, Lawrence, collapsed dur-
ing 1903 flood 290

Bowersox, John R., Republic county pio-
neer 107

Bowes, Jacob R., ferry operator 357

Bowker, Wm. E., member bridge com-
pany 375

Bowlu's, Thos. H 88

Bowman, Noah L 85, 88

Bowman, W. B., ferry operator 10

Bowman, W. W., president Kansas State

Bankers Association 198

Boyd, George F., Shawnee county 362

Boyd, John J., Shawnee county 362

Boyd, Wm., Shawnee county 362

Bradford, S. B., attorney -general, bio-
graphical sketch 58

— investigates Haymeadow massacre 68

PAGE

Bradshaw, Edward 363

Branch, Stephen, lynched 212

Brandhorst, Mr. 393

Branscombe, Charles H 177

— criticism of E. E. Bale's Kanzas and

Nebraska 176

Breeder's Gazette, Chicago, cited. .. 197, 321

Breit, Billie 398

Brennan, Jim, killing of Sam Wood by.. 61

— second effort at bringing to trial 62

— witness for defendants in Haymeadow

murderers' trial 61

Brewer, Alexander, lynched at Atchison, 212

Bribery, in county-seat elections 47

Bridge, date first at Marysville completed, 395

— first to span Missouri river 11

— sentiment for free one at Lawrence... 285
Bridges, building of, in western Kansas, 47

— era of building of 4

— erected at Wyandotte City 259

Bridges and good roads, Leavenworth ap-
preciated importance of 17

Brigham, Mrs. Lalla M 88

British settlements in North America... 251

Brock, Martha 331

Brock, R. F., Wallace county history

being prepared by 104

Brockway, David, S*hawnee county 362

Brockway, Justus, Shawnee county 362

Brooks, Bill, lynched 216

Brooks, Mrs. E. O. (Sarah White), cap-
tured by Indians, note on reminiscences

of 322, 394

Brooks, Henry K 88

Brooks, Paul R., ferry operator 275

Brookwood Park, Decatur county, old set-
tlers' reunion held at 401

Broughton, Samuel, reminiscences of.... 327
Brown and Updegraff, ferry operators... 350

Brown, Adam, ferryman 254

Brown, Burt E 109

Brown, Rev. Charles 103

Brown, Frederick, monument to, unveiled, 400

Brown, George, ferry operator 277

Brown, George W., editor Herald of Free-
dom 179

—letter of Edward E. Hale, quoted 166

— letters to E. E. Hale, quoted 166, 175

Brown, George W., scout 102

Brown, Henry, Caldwell marshal, lynched

at Medicine Lodge 200, 217

Brown, Isaac, ferryman 253

Brown, J. A., early Lecompton resident,

interviewed 344, 345

Brown, J. C., maps criticised 161

Brown, J. G. M., ferry operator 27

Brown, John 190

—backers of 390

— execution of 389

— exhibits weapons he captured from

Pate's band at Black Jack 386

— inability to make payments for pikes

ordered 388

— letters of, acquired by Society 74

— letters, pictures, etc., of 78

— massacre of Doyle family 185

— materials relating to, owned by Boyd

B. Stutler 80

— payments on pikes made for 387, 389

— plans to start slave insurrection in

south 390

— "The John Brown Pikes," article by

Frank H. Hodder 386- 390

— wrote Parallels at Trading Post 77

Brown, John D 254

Brown, O. H., Douglas 2S

Brown, Owen 389

Brown, W. R., Shawnee county 362

Brown, Mr. and Mrs. W. R 325

Brown, William, ferry operator 276

GENERAL INDEX

407

Brown county, lynching in 218

Browne, Chas. H 88

Browne, K. L., Kansas City, quoted... 256
Brucker, Mrs. Fred, note on reminis-
cences of 322

Brummell, William D., ferry incorpo-

rator 14

Buchanan county, Mo., opposite great

western bend of Missouri river 118

Buchele, Bessie 899

Buck, Peter 252

Buck creek crossing, road to Topeka

from 376

Bucklin, old settlers' reunion held at.... 401
Budenbender, Philip, reminiscences of . . 326
Buffalo, hides of bulls used in boat con-
struction 3

—hunt in Kansas, 1871 391

—hunts of the 1870's 391

Buffalo Park, early history of, mentioned, 399

Buffum, D. N., Shawnee county 362

Bull boats, description of 3

Bull fights, Dodge City, first in the

United States 294- 308

—held in Cripple Creek, Colo 294

— Kansas City, Mo., demonstration 294

— Louisiana, references to 294

—Omaha, Neb., exhibition 294

— St. Louis demonstration 294

—steer baiting in New York City.. 294,299

— Texas, references to 294

— Wichita demonstration 294

Bullock, Alexander H 155

Bullwhacker 8

Bumgardner, Dr. Edward, Lawrence, 88, 328

—quoted 285, 290, 291, 333

— author of "Homeopathic Doses of

History" 321

Bunkerhill, old settlers' reunion held at.. 401

Bunkerhill Advertiser, cited 395

Buoyer, John, ferry operator 348

Burch, , missionary 264

Burgess, H. L., officer cavalry associa-
tion 400

Burlingame, Anson, first Chinese minister

to United States 397

Burlingame, formerly Council City 397

— named for Anson Burlingame 397

Burlingame Baptist Church, seventy-fifth

anniversary of 108

Burlingame Enterprise-Chronicle,

cited 108, 334

Burlingame High School, note on grad-
uates of 334

Burlington, lynching in 211

Burlington-Lawrence road 282

Burlington Republican, cited 185, 211

Burnes, Brothers, of Missouri, associated

in ferry business 25, 26

Burnes, Calvin, ferry operator 117

Burnes, Daniel D., ferry operator. . 26, 117

Burnes, James N., ferry operator 26, 117

— biographical sketch of 117

Burnes, Lewis, ferry operator 26, 117

— biographical mention 26

Burnett, , Oregon immigrant,

quoted 364

Burns, Ross, Shawnee county 362

Burr, George L., Sr., reminiscences of. . 326
Burr Oak bottom, ferry operating at. ... 134
Burr Oak township, Doniphan county,

ferry in 133, 134

Burrton, French settlers locate near 326

Burrton, township, Harvey county 821

Burton, J. Green, lynched 218

Burtzer, William, ferry operator 279

Busby, C. D 371

Bush, William H., ferry operator 131

Bushwhackers 188

Butcher, H. V., of Coldwater Star 892

Butler county, cattle stolen in, driven to

Lawrence 196

— early Christmas celebrations in 109

—1869, described 220

— first and last kidnapping, forty-fourth

anniversary of 891

— Hickory creek, mentioned 32

— lynchings in 215, 216

— old-time officers 391

— war on horse thieves in 197

Butler County News, El Dorado,

cited 220, 391

Butterfield Overland Despatch, route of

being traced 86

Cable, C. M., ferry operator 10

Cade, Capt. Al, ferry operated by 2

Cafferty, John, engineer 119

Cain, Robert, of Platte county, Mo., ferry

operator 23

Caldwell, Frank Noyes found hanged at,

thought to have been robbed first 201

—lynching at 216, 217

— peace officers of 325

Caldwell Daily Messenger, cited 105

325, 397

Calhoun 14

— on Fort Leavenworth-Fort Riley road, 347

Calhoun Bluffs 359

Calhoun county, early officers of .... 258, 25

Calhoun Ferry, advertisement 360

—location of 358

— south landing 359

Calhoun House, Robert Walker, proprie-
tor 360

California, development of A. T. & S. F., 329

— discovery of gold in 123

— gold rush H1^

—immigration to, went up Kaw Valley, 251

—lynch court in 1849 188

—trade with

— and Oregan, period of heavy travel to, 365
California road, Elwood eastern terminus

of 125

—near Topeka 376

— through Douglas county 282

Calkins, Ida, first teacher of Grand Cen-
ter school district, Osborne county 329

Cameron, Hugh, description ferry oper-
ated by 291, 292

— known as the Kansas hermit 292

Cameron, Mo., survey for road to con-
nect with Leavenworth 19

Camp Williams, near Fort Scott, men-
tioned 275

Campbell, A. J., ferry operator 271

Campbell, Arthur B., of Moscow 325

Campbell, D. G., ferry operator 271

Campbell, David 378

Campbell, Henry, ferry operator 274

Campbell, Hugh, diary of, cited 266

Campbell, J. P 352

Campbell, John, buys interest in Kansas

City ferry 6

Campbell, Judge W. P., reminiscences of, 326

Campbell, William, experiences of 322

Campbell Ferry Co., history of 271

Canadian river, mentioned 161

Cane Hill, Ark., battle of, mentioned 107

Canniff, S. R., commissioner Shawnee

county 371

Canning, A., Kansas pioneer, reminis-
cences noted 394

Cannon, William, lynched 212

Cansez river. See Kansas river.
Cantonment Leavenworth, established in
1827 .. 22

408

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Cantonment Leavenworth, ferry at, de-
scribed by Rev. John Dunbar 22

Cantonment Martin, mentioned 3, 4, 115

Capioma, on road from Topeka to Ne-
braska line 376

Capital Bridge Co., Topeka, incorpora-
tion of 375

Caples, William, and brother, laid out

town of Nodaway City, Mo 133

Capper, Arthur 85, 88

Carlin, Hugh, horse thief, lynched.. 186,212
Carney, Gov. Thomas, message of 1863,

quoted 193, 194

— pork house, mentioned 20

Carpenter, Mrs. , eye witness to as-
sassination of S. N. Wood 61

Carpenter, Charles, resident Wyandotte

county 263

Carpenter, Charles T 398

Carpenter, L 394

Carpenter, Mrs. L 394

Carrollton, Mo., mentioned 14

Carter, John F., ferry operator .... 354, 355

Carter, Miles H., lynched 213

Carter, Col. S. S., death of 67

— president Wichita Booster club .... 66, 67

Case, A. E 396

Case, A. H., Shawnee county 362

— bond given by 351

Case, Sylvia 230, 241, 242

— teacher to Delaware Indians 228

Casper, Carl 351

Cass, Gen. Lewis, mentioned 266

Castenada, Pedro de, historian of Coro-

nado expedition 69

Catherson, R. W., ferry operator 271

Catholic Mission Among Pottawatomies,

Father Dueririck superintendent of.... 150
Catlin, George, cited and mentioned. . 71, 148
— with Dodge military expedition as

artist 70

Cattle, Black Angus breed introduced in

Kansas 321

— crossed at Elwood ferry 129

— favorite plunder for thieves and des-
perados 192

— lynchings for theft of, comparatively

small 196

— number driven into Dodge City in

1884 295

— safest places on Kaw river to swim... 348

Cattle brands, Ford county 331

— Pawnee county 328, 329

Cattle thieves, hanging of, not considered

lynching 197

Cattle trails, in Panhandle 325

— Tascosa, map of, mentioned 325

— Texas to western Kansas 221

Cattlemen, period of, in Kansas 192

— protective associations of 197

— Texas 325

Cawker City, newspaper history of .... 326

Cawker City Ledger, cited 326

Cawker City Sentinel, first newspaper in

Cawker City 326

Cedar Creek, mentioned 267

Cedar trees, used in construction of

Wichita grass house 68

Cedar Vale Messenger, cited 321, 323

327, 331, 399

Census, 1860, cited 14

Central Mill, Topeka, mentioned 108

Central Normal College, Great Bend, note

on history of 325

Centre polis, on Topeka -Ottawa road . . 376

— site of 278

Chaff ee, A. B., cofounder of Beloit Ga-
zette 334

Chaffin, J. W., "Texas Cattle Trails of

Western Kansas" 221

Challiss, Ida, became Mrs. John A.

Martin 119

Challiss, Luther C., ferry operator 118

Challiss, Dr. W. L., ferry operator 118

— steam ferryboat contracted for 119

Challiss, Dr. W. L. & Co., Atchison

Steam Ferry operated by 118

Chanute Daily Timesett, consolidated

with Chanute Daily Tribune 75

Chanute Daily Tribune, Daily Timesett

consolidated with 75

Chapin, Charles H., biographical mention 12

— interested in Quindaro ferry 12

Chapman, Hiram and Ellie Quiett, ferry

operators 352

— petition for ferry license 351

Chapman Advertiser, cited 331

Chappell, Mr. , Dodge City 305, 306

Charles, Cornelius, Delaware Indian. . 230, 236

237, 239, 240, 241, 244, 246, 249

— member Delaware Baptist Church . . . 250

Charles, Mary, Indian 230

Charles, Mrs. Susan 249

— member Delaware Baptist Church 250

Charloe, John, mentioned 253

Charters, early, mentioned 4

Chase County Leader, Cottonwood Falls,

cited 218

Chautauqua county, reminiscences of sev-
eral pioneers in 331

— lynchings in 216, 218

Chelsea, road from Topeka to 376

Chemawkun, Cornelius, Stockbridge In-
dian 241, 242

— disciplined by Stockbridge Baptist

Mission 245, 246, 248

Chemawkun, Mary, Stockbridge Indian

239, 241, 242
Chemawkun, Mary C., wife of Cornelius

Chemawkun 248

Chenoweth, A. W., Lecompton bridge in-

corporator 347

Chepstow, St. Peter's Evangelical Lu-
theran Church, fiftieth anniversary of . . 396

Cherokee, lynching at 218

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Cherokee county 336

— lynchings in 214, 218

— pioneers of 395

Cherokee Outlet, fortieth anniversary of

opening of 397

Cherokee Phoenix, publication begun at

New Echota, Ga 339

Cherokee Strip, fighting for claim in . . 3£

— opening of 391

— warning to hunters not to fire grass in, 197
Cherryvale, old settlers' reunion held in. . 402

Chestnut, James D., ferry owner 9

Chetopa, lynchings in 215, 217

Chetopa Democrat, cited 217, 218

Cheyenne county, experiences of early

settlers, mentioned . 220

— historical supplement by Bird City

Times, mentioned 106

— pioneers, Kansas Day reunion of .... 224
Cheyenne Indians, damages to frontier

settlers inflicted by 39

— last raid of mentioned 396

Cheyenne Wells, naming of 104

Cheyne, George, pioneer in vegetarian

movement 377

Chicago 286, 295

—development of the A. T. & S. F. to. . 329
— German emigrants to Kansas organized

at • 276

Chicago & Northwestern railway, built to

Atchison and Leavenworth 117

Chicago Inter Ocean, quoted 189

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad
bridge, Topeka 363

GENERAL INDEX

409

PAGE

Chicago Tribune, quoted 189

Chick, Northrup &, purchase ferry in-
terests 6

Chick, Washington Henry, circus ferried

across Missouri by 7, 8

— ferry at Kansas City owned by ..... 7
— manuscript by, in Kansas Historical

Society 8

Chicopee, Crawford county, mentioned.. 220

Chihuahua, Mex., governor of 298

Chills and fever, in early days of Kan-
sas 384

Chisholm trail, mentioned 105, 221

Chivington, Col. John M 43

— method of dealing with Indians 40

Chouteau, Benjamin I., ferry operator . . 270
Chouteau, Cyprian, ferry operator. . . 262, 263
Chouteau, Francis, ferry operator

262, 263, 269, 270

Chouteau, Frank L., ferry operator 270, 271
Chouteau, Frederick, ferry operator . . . 270

— interviewed by F. G. Adams 262

• — statement of 366

Chouteau, William, ferry operator

268, 269, 270

Chouteau ferry, history 268, 269

— near Muncie, history of 262, 263

Chouteau Ferry Co., history of ...270,271

Chouteau's trading post 251, 263

— Fremont expedition outfitted at 262

— site of 262

Christian Church, Kansas, history of . . 399

Christison, William 275

— ferry incorporator 14

— road commissioner 359

Christmas celebrations, early Kansas ... 109
Christ's Lutheran Church, near Gaylord,

fiftieth anniversary of 221

Chure, S. E., Shawnee county 362

Cimarron, citizens of, killed during at-
tempt to remove county records to In-

galls 54

— county seat of Gray county 64

— old settlers' reunion held at 402

• — temporary county seat Gray county. ... 53

Cimarron river, mentioned 161

Cincinnati Enquirer, quoted 296

Circus, crossed over Missouri on Chick's

ferry 7

City Point, Mo., or East Leavenworth, 20, 23

Civil War 40, 292, 311, 314, 317, 333

— brought on by emigrants 192

— ferryboat destroyed by Jayhawkers

during 27

— in Kansas, characterized by guerrilla

and bushwhacker warfare 185

— raiding parties along Santa Fe trail

during 8

Claims, for damages by Indians to Kan-
sas settlers 39

Clapp, Otis, mentioned 155

Clare, Mike, headed mob at Atchison. . . 200

Clark, G. P., bond given by 360

Clark, George I., principal chief of Wyan-

dotts 254

Clark, John H., manuscript of 124

Clark, Peter D 254

Clark, R. W., ferry operator 256

Clark county, old settlers' meeting Ill

Clarke, Fred A., member "RoBinson

Rifles" company 317, 318

Clarke, George W., of Douglas 292,293

— member Lecompton Town Co 344

— register Fort Scott land office 293

Clarke, Sidney, action in Congress on In-
dian matters 36, 37

— member Congress from Kansas 34

Clay Center, First Presbyterian Church . . 392
date of organization 393

PAGE

Clay Center, note on early history of... 829
— St. Paul Lutheran Church, twenty-fifth

anniversary of 892

Clay Center Economist, cited 892

Clay Center Times, cited 392

Clay county, notes on early history of.. 829

Clay county, Missouri 22

Clayton (N. M.) News, cited 325

Claywell, , lynched for horse steal-
ing 211

Cleary, Pat, lynched 218

Cleland, C. C., Shawnee county 362

Clifton high school, publication of his-
tory of 394

Clifton News, cited 394

Cline, Elder, mentioned 396

Clinton, Douglas county, road from To-

peka to 376

— territorial road through 282

Cloud, Col. William F., Indian campaign

planned by 40

Cloud county Indian raid, 1864 394

Clough, Roy, mentioned 103

Clubb, Henry S., abandonment of Kan-
sas vegetarian experiment 384

— Octagon plan of settlement formulated

by 380, 381

— president of Vegetarian Society of

America 378, 385

— secretary Octagon Settlement Co 381

— Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Society

projected by 379

Clubb, Robert T., agent for Octagon Set-
tlement Company 381

Clyde, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Coal Creek, Russell county, first perma-
nent settler on 222

Cobb, Charles, lynched 217

Cobb, S. A., mayor of Wyandotte 11

Coble, R. C., reminiscences, mentioned.. 396
Coburn Library, Colorado College, Colo-
rado Springs, Colo 87

Cockey, D. M., vice president Dodge
City Driving Park and Fair Associa-
tion 297

Coercion of electors, in county-seat elec-
tions 47

Cofachique, Allen county, on Le-

compton-St. Bernard road 346

Coffey, Col. John A., founder Coffey -

ville 398

Coffey county, lynchings in 211

— mob trial held in 185

Coffeyville, Dalton raid anniversary men-
tioned 103

—founded by Col. John A. Coffey 398

— old settlers' reunion held at 402

Coffeyville Daily Journal, cited 103

— historical edition of 398

Coffeyville Junior College 223

Coffin, Mr. and Mrs. E. E 102

Coffman, Lot, mentioned 254

Cofley, L. S., ferry operator 271

Coldwater, Crown Hill cemetery at 391

Coldwater Star, cited 392

Cole, Fannie E., statement regarding lo-
cation of Fool Chief's village site.. 366
Cole, Josiah M., member bridge com-
pany 375

Collins, L. C., biographical sketch of. . 323
Collinsville, Conn., John Brown pikes

made at 386

Colonization schemes, quasi legal, in

county-seat elections 47

Colony, vegetarian 379

Colorado, bull fight held in 294

— prairie schooners laden for 130

— short -grass prairies extended west to. . 45
Colorado College, Colorado Springs,

Colo 87

410

GENERAL INDEX

Colorado-Kansas line, survey of, men-
tioned 395

Colored People, National Association for

Advancement of 182

Colt, Mrs. Miriam D., quoted 384,385

Colton, George, cartographer 158

Columbia, on road from Iowa Point to

Eujatah 353

Columbus, Cherokee county, incorpora-
tion of 134

— lynching in 218

— Newton Walters thought to have been

lynched for murder at 203

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Columbus, Doniphan county, ferry at.. 134

Columbus Advocate, cited 218, 395

Columbus and Amazonia Ferry Company,

establishment of 134

Colvin, Mrs. Martha O., mentioned 87

Comanche county 107

— fraudulent organization of 327

Comanche Indians, damages to frontier

settlers inflicted by 39

Commerce, Kansas City and Westport

depots for trade with far west 8

Comstock, J. A., early-day hotel clerk of

Dodge City 393

Concordia, good old days in early schools

at 394

Concordia Blade -Empire, cited 394

Cone, W. K 336

Cone, William W., cited 365, 366

Confederates, village of Wichita Indians

destroyed by 71

Congregationalist, The, Boston, cited.... 173
Congress, divided on Indian question.... 29
— Joint Special Committee on Condition

of the Indian Tribes, created by 31

main decisions of 31

— memorial to, by Kansas legislature. . . 39
— urged to establish military post in

northern Kansas 35, 88

Congress Hall, name of Dodge City

saloon 304

Conklin, , shot by Teahan 201

— recovers and returns to accuse Teahan,

who was hanged 201

Connecticut Emigrant Aid Co 146

Connelley, W. E., quoted 190

Connor, Mr. and Mrs. John 235

Connor, Gen. P. E., Arapahoe village de-
stroyed by 43

Converse, Asa F., mentioned 323

Conwell, James, Shawnee county 362

Coolidge, county-seat claims 64

Cook, H. M., ferry operator 10

Cook, John E., mentioned 389

Cook, W. W., ferry operator 268, 269

Cooke, Gen. Philip St. George, men-
tioned 281, 332

Coomes precinct, Hamilton county, elec-
tion frauds in 332

Conney, Charles L., John Brown pike

given University of Kansas by 390

Cooper, Rev. Edward, mentioned 106

Cooper, Judge J. T., Fredonia 326, 398

— former principal Toronto schools 332

Copeland, J. H., mentioned 351

Copeland Hotel, Topeka, peace conference
during Legislative war, held in... 316,317

Copple's ford, Ottawa creek 283

Corbin, Jack, lynched 215

Corduroy road, Topeka, location of 363

Corinth, Miss., siege of, mentioned 107

Corlew, Thomas, hanged at Lawrence on

espionage charge 188, 212

Corn, suspended by husks to dry 69

Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de 224

— visit to Wichita Indians during expedi-
tion of 69

PAGE

Coronado, county seat contender for

Wichita county 52

— Leoti people killed during county-seat

controversy 52

— trial for killing of Leoti citizens 53

Coronado Heights, Lindsborg, improve-
ment of road leading to 224

— thought to have been visited by

Coronado 224

Corruption funds, warrants issued to

swell 47

Cortright, O. A., note on reminiscences

of 322

Corvett (Madison) road, location of 261

Cory, Charles E 80, 85, 88

— letter to State Historical Society in re-
lation to hanging of Guthrie, a horse

thief 187

Costigan, Walter J., editor Ottawa

Journal 315

Cotter, J. H., ferryman 254

Cotter, Nicholas, ferryman 253

Cottonwood Falls, lynching at 218

— on Topeka- Chelsea road 376

Coulter, Charles, killing of 52

Council Bluffs, Fort Calhoun at 15

Council City, name changed to

Burlingame 397

Council Grove 14, 165, 394

— lynching at 212

— National Old Trails route marker

erected at 224

— on route to Pike's Peak gold mines. . . 359

— road to Topeka from 376

Fort Leavenworth to, crossed Kan-
sas river at Stinson ferry 348, 349

— Topeka & Southwestern railroad survey

to 324

Council Grove Press, cited 103

Counties, burdened with debt with no

improvements to show for it 48

— organization of, in western Kansas .... 46

County Capital, St. John, cited 395

"County Seat Controversies in South-
western Kansas," article by Henry F.

Mason 45- 65

County vigilance committees 197, 198

Coville & Martin, ferry operators 367

Coville, H. C., biographical mention . . . 367
— chairman board Shawnee county com-
missioners 372

Cox, — — , shot by negro at Atchispn, 200
Cow and maverick, strange distinction

between 196

Cow creek, mentioned 70

Cow Island, Missouri river, location

of 115, 116

Cowan, C. A., reminiscences noted .... 326

Cowboy, value of horses to 195

Cowboy Capital. See Dodge City.

Cowley county, lynching in 217

— note on history of 330

Cowley County Historical Society, meet-
ing of 330

— officers elected for 223

Cowley County Telegram, Winfield, cited, 217

Craig, — • — , lynched in Ellsworth 208

Craig, Charlie, lynched 214

Craig, Obe, ferry operator 133

Craig, W. B., ferry operator 131

Craigue, A. D., Shawnee county . . . 357, 362

Cram, Fred D., mentioned 100

Crandall, William 395

Crane, Dr. Franklin L., member bridge

company 375

Crane, Mrs. Sallie, list of Cherokee

county pioneers compiled by 395

Crawford, Gov. Samuel J.

35, 43, 44, 398, 399
— attitude on Indian matters 37

GENERAL INDEX

411

PAGE

Crawford county 221

— Albert Evans hanged at Mulberry 182

— lynchings in 124, 210, 217, 218, 219

— story of three pioneers mentioned.... 220
Criminal law, administration of, in hands

9f several states 207

Cripple Creek, Colo., bull fight held in.. 294
Cristison, W., resident of Johnson

county 14

Crosby, E. H., mentioned 85, 88

Cross, , lynched 216

Cross, Major , mentioned 149

Cross, John M., killing of party under

command of 57

— sheriff of Stevens county 56

Crossings and fords on Blue river, men-
tioned 395

Crown Hill cemetery, Cold water 391

Cuba, Republic county, history of, from

old newspaper files 394

Cuba Tribune, cited 394

Cummings, Major — — , paymaster U.

S. army, crossed Kansas river during

flood of 1844 365

Cummings, J. F., Shawnee county 362

Cunningham, John S., biographical data

of 389

Cunningham, Indian scare of 1885 at... 328

— tornado at 323

Cunningham Clipper, cited 323, 328

Currier, Cyrus F., ferry operator 116

Curry, Charles C., mentioned 106

Curtis & Middaugh, ferry bond filed by, 371

Curtis, Charles 88, 372

— former Vice President 363

— letter regarding location of Papan

ferry 368

Curtis, Oren A., father of former Vice

President Charles Curtis 363

— ferry operator 362, 371

— ferry location of 374

— member Shawnee Bridge Co 373

— road commissioner 376

— and Joseph Middaugh, Walker ferry

operated by 361

— and S. L. Munger, application for ferry

license 370

Curtis, Gen. S. R., plan for protection

of Kansas frontier and overland routes. 38

Curtis, William, ferry operator 363

Custer, Gen. George A 395

— at Little Big Horn 334

Dablon, Father, expedition of, mentioned, 147

Dacotah Indians, mentioned 148

Daily, W. L., Burrton 326

Daily, W. L. D., reminiscences of, men-
tioned 321

Dakota territory, John Hutchinson ap-
pointed secretary of 134

Dalson, E. G'., lynched 215

Dalton raid, Coffeyville, fortieth anniver-
sary of, mentioned 103

Danah, S. J., ferry incorporator 22

Dancing, among Wichita Indians 69

Daniel, J. E., biographical sketch of 323

Daniels, Percy, sergeant "Robinson

Rifles" 311, 317

— Populist lieutenant governor of Kan-
sas 311, 317

D'Anville, map drawn by, cited 251

Darling, Thomas J., city clerk of Wyan-

dotte 257

Darrow, Clarence, of Chicago 379

Daughters of the American Revolution,
Arthur Barrett chapter, erects Oregon
trail marker 401

PAGE

Daughters of the American Revolution,

Topeka chapter, marker for Pottawa-

tomie Baptist Mission erected by 110

David Hill, ferryboat 20. 22

Davis, Ann, free Negro woman of old

Uniontown 367

Davis, James, ferry operator 15, 25

Davis, Jefferson, U. S. Secretary of

War 159

Davis, John, congressman 74

Davis, John W 88

Davis, Dr. Loyal 87

Davis, Mark S., diary of 336

Davis, P. D., mentioned 351

Davis' Gap, state road through 282

Dawson, Mrs. Frances, mentioned 333

Dawson, John S 80, 85, 86, 88

— address as president of Kansas State

Historical Society 80- 85

— president Historical Society 72

Dean, Asa, mentioned 397

Deatherage, Charles P., History of

Greater Kansas City, cited 5-7

Dean, John S 78, 88

Dearborn and horses, ferriage rates for. . 5

Dearing, Lewis, mentioned 351

Deere, Emil O., mentioned 400

Deerfield, old settlers' reunion held at.. 401

Defouri, J. H., of Shawnee county 362

Defries road, Wyandotte county, leads to

old Grinter ferry site 265

Delahay, Mark W., visit to Elwood.... 129
Delaware, Leavenworth county, ferry

for 14

—platted in 1854 13

— roads leading to 14, 359

Delaware and Mohegan Baptist Mission,

meetings of 233, 235- 242

— same as Delaware Baptist Mission

church 233

Delaware Baptist Mission

church 244, 249, 264

— constitution of 230- 233

— first meeting of 233

—list of members, 1848 250

— location of 228, 264

—organization of 228, 229

— prohibited use of intoxicating liquors. . 232

—record book of 230- 242

Delaware Crossing, mentioned 265

— post office established at 265

Delaware ferry, Wyandotte county 259

264, 267, 274
Delaware Indians .... 148, 243, 264, 270, 280

— arrival in Kansas territory 266

— books printed in language of 34

— chiefs oppose the Gospel 228

— council house, location of 274

— religious work among 228

— reservation 264, 273, 281, 291, 292

road from Quindaro through 12

surveyed by McCoy 262

— Stockbridge Indians permitted to settle

among 242

—sold lands to Wyandotts 252

— traded with Chouteaus 264

Delaware Methodist class 235

Delaware (Grasshopper) river, mentioned, 293

Deming, Mrs. E. M 108

Democrat -Opinion Press, McPherson,

cited 223

Denious, Jess C., mentioned 88

Denison, Dr. Joseph, first president Blue-

mont College HO

Denison, William W 78, 85, 88

Denney, Frank S 392

Denver, Colo., canceled proposed bull

fight at 294

—freighting to 130

Denver Republican, cited 294

412

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Deshane, Joseph, interpreter at Shawnee

Mission 340

De Soto 276

—ferries at 274, 275

ferriage rates 274

refusal of owner to pay license for, 274

— history of, mentioned 395

— state road through 282

De Soto Bridge Co., chartered 275

De Shattio, Peter, descendant of St. Louis

family 366

— operated Papan ferry 267

De Tilla, George M., mentioned 104

De Vault, John H., biographical sketch

of 331

Dewey, Chauncey E 102

Dewey-Berry feud, mentioned 102

Dewey trail, old, mentioned 102

Dexter, Joseph, of Oak Valley 220

DeWitt, J., mentioned 281

DeWolfe, Charles H., president, Octagon

Settlement Company 381

Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Com-
pany 379

Dias, William T., sergeant "Robinson

Rifles" 811, 312

Dickey, Milton C., bond of 371

Dickinson county, old settlers' meeting. .111
Dickinson County Historical Society, an-
nual meeting of 110

Dickhut, Rosa B 102

Diescher, Mrs. Alfred, treasurer Cowley

County Historical Society 223

Diet, movements for reform of American, 377
Dighton, old settlers' reunion held at... 401

Disney, J. C., mentioned 363

Dispatch, old settlers' reunion held at... 401

Dixon, Jack, lynched 212

Doane, George, of Shawnee county 362

Dockstater, Dolly, mentioned 230

Dockstater, Jemima, mentioned 247,248

Dockstater, Mary Ann, mentioned.. 230,242

[also spelled Doxstater, Doxtator]
Dodd, Firth, editor White Cloud Globe,

quoted 138

Dodds, Capt. F. B., Company H, First

Kansas National Guard 291

Dodge, Col. Richard I., military expedi-
tion headed by, visits Wichita Indians

on Red river 70

Dodge City 393

— bad men imported from, for use in

county seat fights 49

— Boot Hill, mentioned 297

—bull fight at 294-308

description of bulls 302

— cattle drive, 1884, mentioned 295

trails from, note on 325

— cowboys shoot hats off passengers of

early trains through 296

— early life described 295-297

history note of 322

— first dentist a pistoleer 397

— historical relics of southwest collected

at 224

— Indian battles fought near 221

— Jerry Simpson's visits to 396

— markers locating National Old Trails

route erected at 224

— old settlers' reunion held at 402

— prohibition law defied by 296

— railroad from Montezuma built to, by

A. T. Soule 48

— residents plan for rescue of Ingalls men

at Cimarron 54

—saloons of 295, 296, 404

— shooting days of 191

— Southwest Historical Society of 221

Dodge City Daily Globe, cited 106,221

322, 325, 327, 329, 331, 392-394
396, 397

Dodge City Democrat, cited 305

Dodge City Driving Park and Fair As-
sociation, bull fight staged by 297-308

Doerr, Mrs. Laura P. V 85, 88

Dofflemeyer, , mentioned 253

Dolbee, Cora, member department of

English, University of Kansas 114

— "The First Book on Kansas, The Story
of Edward Everett Hale's Kanzas and

Nebraska," article by 139-181

Donaldson, , took Tecumseh ferry-
boat to Lecompton 349

Donaldson, Chauncey B., member Le-
compton Town Co 344

Donaldson, William, claim of, near Mill
creek, on road from Shawnee Mission

to Tecumseh 353

Doniphan, Doniphan county, ferry at... 120
— head of navigation on Missouri river

for heavy draft boats 121

— road to 116

Burr Oak bottom 134

— short history of 121

Doniphan county, ferry charges fixed by, 122

—lynchings in 212, 213

Doniphan expedition, mentioned 266

— crossed Kaw river on Fish's ferry.... 276

Donovan, Martin, Leavenworth 21

Doolittle, Sen. J. R 31, 32, 33

Dooty, Mrs. Sarah E., Kansas pioneer. . 392

Doran, Thomas F 79, 85, 87, 88

Douay, Father, French explorer 147

Dougherty's Landing, on Missouri river,

later called latan 27

Douglas, George L., orders sergeant at
arms to arrest members of "Robinson

Rifles" company 31

— speaker, Legislature of, 1893 311

Douglas, Glen 66

Douglas, John C., ferry operator, sketch

of 22

Douglas, Stephen A., mentioned 144

Douglas, Butler county, lynchings at, 215, 216
Douglas, Douglas county, ferries operat-
ing at 292, 293

—post office established at 293

— road to One Hundred and Ten from. . 2£

— steam saw mill established at 293

Douglas county, ferries on Kansas river

in 276-293, 343

— lynchings in .••••.-• 212' 217

— oldest log cabin now standing in 396

"Douglas House," Republican members
of Legislature of 1893, so called. . 313, 316

Douglas Tribune, cited 223, 224

Douthitt, William P., ferry operator, 354, 355

Doyle, Thomas H., ferry owner 9

Doyle family, massacre of, by John

Brown's men 185

Dray, Mike, lynched 216

Drenning, Frank G., mentioned IS

Drinker, — — , mentioned 254

Drouth of 1860 136

— effect on ferry business 284

Drury, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Dudley, Bert, lynched 219

Duerinck, Father, superintendent Cath-
olic Mission among Pottawatomies . . . . 150
Dull Knife's Raid in 1878, mentioned... 102
Dunbar, Rev. John, missionary to Paw-
nees ^

Duncan, Syl, mentioned '06

Duncan, Wallace, mentioned 384

Duncan's ferry, location of .... 123, 131

— number wagons crossing during gold
rush 123

GENERAL INDEX

413

Dunfree, Thomas, ferry operator 272

Dunn, Dr. Frank A., mentioned 397

Dunn, Frank L., mayor of Wichita.. 66, 67
Dunn, Jesse J., Garden City, presides at
homecoming of "Robinson Rifles" com-
pany 317

— justice of Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 317

Dunn, Sheriff Sam, killing of 62- 64

Dunsmore, J. M., of Thayer, speaker Pop-
ulist house, Legislative War, 1893. . 309, 310

DuPratz, Le Page, map of, cited 251

Durbin, F., of Shawnee county 362

Durfee, Mrs. John, member Syracuse

colony 399

Durfey, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff, first couple

married in Osborne county 329

Dutch Henry's crossing 283

DuTisne, M., French officer, reached

Osage village in 1719 147

Dutton House, Topeka, mentioned 315

Dyer, Leonidas Carstarphen, anti-lynch-

ing act introduced in Congress by .... 207
Dyer, Judge T. J., reminiscences of. . 323, 324
"Dyer Bill," some provisions of 207

Eads, Henry H 106

Eads, Rollie M 106

Earle, Archibald E., ferry incorporator. . 13

East Douglas, early townsite 293

East Leavenworth, Mo 23

— also known as City Point 20

Eastman, Mrs. lone D., accessions to
Historical Society museum given by.. 75

Eastman, Phil 75

Easton, Leavenworth county, men-
tioned 18

Eaton, Eunice, member Delaware Baptist

Church 250

Eaver, D. W., ferry incorporatpr 22

Ebenezer, ferryboat, converted into a

gunboat 130

— operated by Capt. Ebenezer

Blackiston 127

Eden, Carl, lynched 213

Edgar, ferryboat, built by Frank

Wheeler 20

Edgerton, Harvey, recommendations of . . 17

Editors, note on early Kansas 326

Education, Roosevelt Intermediate School,

Wichita 2

Edwards, , lynched at Baxter

Springs 214

Edwards, Isaac, lynched at Topeka 212

Edwards county, Wayne township, note

on history of 333

Edwardsville, ferry located

near 268, 270, 271

— Kouns road to 271

Egloffstein, F. W., topographer with

Fremont's fifth expedition 163

— with Beckwith expedition in 1854 163

Ehman, Mrs. F. J 400

Elder, A. P., reminiscences of 331

Eldridge, Shaler Winchell, biographical

mention of 9

— ferry owner 9

Eldridge, Mr. and Mrs. W. J., bio-
graphical sketches of 333

Eldridge House, Lawrence 289

Election returns, forged, in county-seat

elections 47

Elections, county seat, "killers" im-
ported for 49

Elephant, ferried across Missouri river. . 7

Elgin 327

— lynching in 216

— note on early history of 321

PAGl

Elk City, Calhoun county, on road from

Lecompton to Richmond, Nemaha

county 347

Elk fork, of Wakarusa creek 353

Elkhart, notes on history of 332

Elkhart Tri-State News, cited 332

Ella, ferryboat 20

Ellenbecker, John G 85, 88

Elliott, Charles W 144, 146

Elliott, Capt., D. S 398

Elliott, E. E 103

Elliott, W. K., of Shawnee county 362

Ellis, Isaac, Kickapoo ferry operated

by 7, 25, 26

Ellis, John C., ferry operator 25, 26

Ellis, Pioneer Woman's Association of,

monument dedicated by 400

Ellis county, lynchings in 215

Ellison, Paris, ferry operator 292, 293

Ellsworth, , lynched 214

Ellsworth, Craig and Johnson lynched

at 208

—lynchings in 215, 216

— "Mother" Bickerdyke home 330

Ellsworth county, lynchings

in 208, 214, 215, 216

Ellsworth Messenger, cited 330

Ellsworth Reporter, cited 203

Elm, Washington, planted at Shawnee

Methodist Mission 77

Elm Grove, mentioned 165

Elwood, John B., town of Elwood named

for 125

Elwood, Abraham Lincoln a visitor in

1859 129

— Blackiston's ferry at 125

— bridge across Missouri river built at . . 4

completion of 125

— erosion on water front by Missouri

river 128

—ferry at 125, 131

new charter for 127

— railroad built from 126

— rapid growth of 128

—short sketch of 125

— streets teeming with freighters and

emigrants 130

Elwood Advertiser, cited 202, 211

Elwood & Marysville railroad, mentioned, 195

Elwood Free Press, cited 125-129, 132

Elwood Town Co., ferry incorporated by, 131
Embree, Mary, treasurer Kansas State

Historical Society 77-79, 87, 88, 105

Emerson, D. M., ferry operator 137

Emery, Agnes, mentioned 87

Emery, Frederick, ferry operator 122

Emigrant Aid Co., mentioned 167, 176

177, 179
— See, also, New England Emigrant Aid Co.

Emigrant Aid Co. of New York 146, 157

Emigrant Aid Co. of Connecticut 157

Emigrant Aid Societies, mentioned 139

Emigration, Colorado 130

— Kansas in 1856 380

Emory, Col. Wm. H., mentioned, 149, 150, 151

Emporia, lynching at 212

Emporia Bulletin, cited 325

Emporia Gazette, cited 105, 325

Emporia-Lawrence road 282

Emporia Times, cited 106

England, attitude towards lynchings 190

— lynchings rare in 190

Engstrom, Charles, of Shawnee county. . 362

Enochs, Jesse, ferry operator 357, 358

Enochs, John, ferry operator 357

Enos, Horace L., ferry operator 284

Enterprise, old settlers' reunion held at.. 401
Enterprise-Chronicle, Burlingame, cited.. 334

414

GENERAL INDEX

Erhardt, Ferdinand, mentioned 336

Eskridge Independent, cited 324

Eudora, mentioned 279

— establishment of 276, 277

— ferries operated at 277

— naming of 277

— roads leading to 277, 282

Eugene, name changed to North Topeka, 375

Eujatah, road from Iowa Point to 353

Eureka ferry 261

— equipment of 260

— history of 259

— on road from Topeka to Nebraska line, 376

Eureka Irrigating Canal, mentioned 48

Evans, Albert, negro, lynched 219

— hanged at Mulberry, Crawford county, 182
Evans, Olivia, wife of John G. Pratt... 229

Evarts' Atlas of Kansas, cited 25

Everest, newspaper history of 105

Everest Enterprise, cited 105

Everest Reflector, cited 105

Everett, Edward, mentioned 144

Evergreen United Brethren Church, Bird

City 106

Excelsior colony, Republic county 324

Explorers, early, mentioned 395

Exploring expeditions, for railroad routes

to Pacific coast, mentioned 159

inaccuracy of many pointed out. . . . 161

Fairport First Presbyterian Church, note

on history of 328

—organized by Rev. S. S. Wallen 328

Fall creek 376

Fall river, old settlers' reunion held at . . 402

Fancher, Dr. N. C 336

Farley, Josiah, laid out town of

Farley, Mo 27

Farley, Nimrod, ferry operator 27

— anecdotes concerning 27, 28

— ferry sold to George McAdow 27

Farley, Mo., laid out by Josiah Farley, 27

Farnham, M. G., Shawnee county 362

Farnsworth, John W., Shawnee county, 362
Farnsworth, L., deputy county clerk,

Shawnee county 371

Faulkner, Coryell, attempts to shoot into

mob during legislative war 315

— member of the "Robinson rifles"

company 314

Fay, E. T., donor 75

Fayette, Mo ; 14, 263

Federal Council of Churches of Christ

in America 182, 189

Felton, Tim, operated ferryboat for

Topeka Bridge Co 374

Ferguson, Esther 230, 235

Ferguson, W. M., ferry operator 131

Fernandez, Angel, promotes bull baiting

exhibition in New York City, 294, 298, 299
Ferries, early Kansas, started by Mis-

sourians *

— horse propelled 3

— in Kansas, Kansas river, articles by

George A. Root 251-293, 343- 376

Missouri river, articles by George A.

Root 3-28, 115- 138

— operated by oars or sweeps 7

Ferry license, Leavenworth, cost of 22

"Ferry road," to Muncie ferry 263

Ferryboats, described 120

— furnished Iowa, Sac and Fox Indians

under treaty 136

—horse 3, 7, 117, 118

— Ida, locomotive brought to Kansas on, 126

— Missouri river, described 22

— primitive 3

—steam 14, 15, 24, 26

operated by S. P. Yocum 20

Ferrying, earliest in Kansas 115

Fever and chills, in early days in Kansas, 384

Field Museum, Chicago 82

Findley, James 266

— postmaster at Delaware crossing 265

Finley, J. A , ferry operator 274

Firearms, Osage Indians supplied with,

by French traders 70

Firkins, J. L 222

"First Book on Kansas, The," story of
Edward Everett Hale's Kanzas and

Nebraska, by Cora Dolbee 139- 181

Fish, Charles, ferry operator 277

Fish, Pascal, ferry operator 266,276

— "Fish house," at Eudora, built by. . . 277
— gives tract of land to German settlers, 276

— kept tavern 276

Fisher, Sam, note on biographical

sketch of 330

Fisk, Julius G., ferry charter granted to, 12

Fitzgerald. Dr. G. H 75

Fitzpatrick, , lynched 215

Fitz-Stephen, James Lynch, warden of

Galway, Ireland 18&

Flag, Spanish, at Pawnee village 4W

Flanders, W. B., Shawnee county 362

Flatboat ferries 7, 117

— at Amazonia, Mo 134

— at St. Joseph, Mo 122

— at White Cloud 138

Fleener, W. L., Sr., second vice president

Kiowa County Historical Society 400

Fletcher, James 363

Fletcher, S. H., Shawnee county 362

Flintom, W. J 392

Flitch, Mrs. Carl 322

Flood, 1844, described 364

— 1903, Graeber operates ferry at

Lawrence during 290, 291, 333

Florence Catholic Church, history of,

mentioned 396

Food, Home and Garden, united with

Vegetarian Magazine 385

Fool Chief, location village of 365

Fontana, old settlers' reunion held in . . 402
Forbes, , English adventurer, em-
ployed by John Brown as military in-
structor 390

— betrays Brown's plans to Seward .... 390

Forbes, John M 144

Ford, Henry 82

Ford, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Ford county, cattle brands in 331

Ford County Globe, Dodge City, quoted, 301
302, 305, 308
Foreman, Harvey W., ferry operator and

farmer for Sac and Fox Indians 134

Foresman, Rev. J. D 105

Forest City, Mo., ferry opposite 135

Formoso 323

Forrest, Lillian 329

Fort Atkinson 161, 164

Fort Calhoun, at the Council Bluffs. . . 15

Fort Gibson, on Arkansas river 342

— military road to Fort Leavenworth . . 6
215, 258, 264

Kaw river crossing 265

Fort Barker 35, 41

Fort Hays, lynchings at 215

Fort Kearney, on Platte river 15, 35, 150

Fort Lamed 41

— guns and ammunition issued to Indians

at 30

Fort Leavenworth 21, 22, 25

150, 242, 263, 264, 266, 276, 291, 316

— Boulware ferry to 24

— building of bridge over Missouri river

at 4

— ferries operated at 4

by John Gardiner to 25

Robert Cain 23

GENERAL INDEX

415

Fort Leavenworth, ferries operated at,

William Hague 28

— founding of General Service School by

General Sherman 396

— freighting for West started from 8

— military reservation, Missouri river

bridge located on 18

— military road from 118

— national guard officers' school organized

at 319,320

— road leading from Delaware to 14

— telegraph line from, urged 38

— terminal points 15

— travel to Southwest from 364

— treaty concluded with lowas, Sacs and

Foxes at 136

Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson military

road 6, 258,264

— Kaw river crossing of 265

Fort Leavenworth-Fort Riley military

road 258, 293, 366

— near Topeka 376

— Rock crossing on 349

— territorial road from Delaware, on Mis-
souri river, connecting with 359

Fort Leavenworth-Fort Scott military

road 258

— Kaw river crossing of 265

— road from Lecompton to intersect 346

Fort Leavenworth Indian Agency, black-
smith at 265

Fort Lincoln, state road through 282

Fort Lyon, telegraph line to, urged 38

Fort Massachusetts 162

Fort Osage, arsenal at 15

Fort Riley 14, 77, 151, 162, 316

— annual target practice at 198

— road to, bridges built on 18

Fort Riley-Fort Leavenworth military

road 15, 258, 293

—near Topeka 376

Fort Scott (city), land office at 293

— lynchings at 214, 216, 219

Fort Scott (military post) 161, 275

Fort Scott-Fort Leavenworth military

road 15, 258, 270, 346

— Kaw river crossing of 265

Fort Scott -Lawrence road 283

Fort Scott Weekly Monitor 216

Fort Scott Weekly Tribune 219

Fort Scott -Wyandotte road 9, 258

Fort Smith 161

Fort Wallace 104

Fort Williams 115

Fossils, discoveries in northern and

western Kansas 393

Foster, Elias, lynched 214

Foster, George O., lieutenant "Robinson

Rifles" company 311, 314- 317

Foster, Robert C., ferry operator 13

— biographical mention of 15

Fowler, George A., opens Maplehill

townsite for settlement 330

Fowler, Meade county, founding of 397

Fowler News, cited 397

Fraim George W., ferry operator 275

Franklin, Sidney, American bull fighter. . 294

Franklin, battle of, mentioned 279

—founding of 278, 279

— on California road 346

— state road through 282

Franklin county 273, 278, 331

— lynching in 213

— state road through 282

Franklin -Leavenworth road 278, 279, 346

Fraser, Bernice G 85

Frayer, Samuel, lynched 217

Frazer Hall, University of Kansas 108

Fredonia, note on history of 325

Fredonia Christian Church, early history
mentioned 107

PAOB

Fredonia Daily Herald, cited 107

Free State Hotel, Lawrence 9

Freed, Matilda 221

Freeman, Larry 108

Freight wagons, ferriage rates for 356

357, 361

Freighting, before railroads 391

— firms engaged in, at Westport 8

Fremont, Col. John C 149-151, 283

— expedition of 1848-1849 mentioned... 160
— outfitted at Chouteau trading house . . . 262
— route to Oregon, 1843-1844, mentioned, 161

— various expeditions of, mentioned 163

went up Kaw valley 251

— and J. W. Gunnison, similarity of rail-
road routes of 162

Fremont, Mrs. John C., cited 163

Ferment's Peak, mentioned 163

French settlement, Alta township, Harvey

county 326

French settlements in North America,

mentioned 251

French traders, supplied Osage Indians

with firearms 70

Frenchville, Buchanan county, Mo., Bel-

mont ferry ran to 133

Frick, Henry W., claim of 353

Friends Kansas yearly meeting, sixtieth

anniversary of founding 110

Frizell, E. E., Lamed 88, 335

Frizell, H. H 351

Frontier battalion, First 39

Frontier settlements, protection of 32

"Frontier Surveying During an Indian
War," article by E. C. Rice, men-
tioned 895

Frost, , ferry operator on Missouri, 7

Frost, Mrs. B. T., Kansas pioneer 392

Fruitlands, a cooperative vegetarian com-
munity 378

Fulton and Stevens, register first cattle

brand in Ford county 331

Fulton, Mrs. Ella 392

Funk, J. M., ferry operator 256

Funston, Gen. Frederick, member of

Twentieth Kansas regiment 320

— saddle used by, given Historical So-
ciety 74

Furs, trading with Indians for., 117

G

Gable, Frank M 201

— recollection of Yocum's ferries 21

Gage, G. G., Shawnee county 362

Gaines, William 222

Gaines, steamboat, wreck of, mentioned, 129

Gale, H. A 363

Galena, lynching at 199, 218

Gallaher, J. Shaw, Charlestown, W. Va.,

John Brown pikes sold by 389

Gallardo, Capt. Gregorio, chief matador

in Dodge City bull fight 303, 305-307

Gallatin, Albert 148

Gallatin, Mo., boat landing at town of, 5

Galloway, G. W., road of 271

Gamble, J. H., ferry operator 271

Gandy, Lewis C., reminiscences of 334

395, 396

Garden City, Henry F. Mason, city at-
torney of 45

— march of S. N. Wood to, after rescue, 55
Gardiner, John, ferry to Fort Leaven-
worth established by 25

Garfield, Pres. James A 33, 34

— effort to consolidate Indian Bureau

with War Department 87

Garfield, Marvin H., history instructor,
Roosevelt Intermediate School, Wich-
ita 2, 32, 35

416

GENERAL INDEX

Garfield, Marvin H., "The Indian Ques-
tion in Congress and in Kansas," article

by 29- 44

Garnett, lynching at 213

— state roads through 282, 283

Garnett -Lawrence road 282

Garrett, Charles B., ferry operator 264

258, 274

Garrett, Cyrus, ferry operator 9

Garrett, Elias, ferry operator 271, 272

Garrett, J. L., Dorrance, reminiscences

of 332,395

Garrett, Russell, ferry operator 10

Garrett, Sam, ferry operator 271

Garrett, Theodore 267

Garrett, Uriah, ferry operator 271, 272

Garrett, Wesley, ferry operator 345

Garvey, E. C. K., Shawnee county 362

Gas and oil fields, McPherson county,

mentioned 327

Gatewood's History of Clay and Platte

Counties. Missouri, cited 6, 7, 25

Gault, William J., ferry operator 263

Gay, John, lynched 218

Gay, William, lynched 218

Gaylord, William E., ferry operator 118

Gaylord, Christ's Lutheran Church,

fiftieth anniversary of 221

Geary, Gov. John W., established peace

in Kansas 390

Geary City, location of 121

Geary county, lynchings in 214, 215

Gerardy, John, ferry operator 133

German community, at Weimar City.... 13
German Kansas Settlers' Association of

Cincinnati, Ohio 179

German settlement, at Eudora 276, 277

Gerrard, Louis H., his Wa-to-yah, cited, 254

Geuda Springs, note on pioneers of 334

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Geuda Springs News, cited 334

Gibbs-Jones, Ida, eye-witness Dalton

raid 103

Gibson, C. H., Shawnee county 362

Gilbert, Edward, lynched 212

Gilbert, G. G 48

Gilbert, J. W 48

Gilchrist, C. K., Shawnee county 362

Giles, Fry W., Thirty Years in Topeka,

cited 369, 374

Gillet, Jules 398

Gillett, , lynched 214

Gillett, F. M 397

Gilliford, Joseph, lynched 212

Gilliland, W. E 331

Gilliss hotel, Kansas City, Mo 201

Girard, history of Ladies Reading Club

at 331

— lynching at 217

Girard Press, cited 217, 331, 333

Girard Town Co., organization of 333

Gireau Trading Post 77

•Gledhill. A. T 103 '

Gleed, Charles S., manuscript collection

of 73

Glen Elder, note on historical sketches of, 330

Glen Elder Sentinel, cited 330, 394

Glendale, on road from Willow Springs to

Tecumseh 353

— territorial road through 293

Glenn, Andrew 324

Click, Charles S., ferry operator 10, 13

255, 263

Click, Gov. George W 301

— fails to stop Dodge City bull fight, 298, 300

Godley, Mont, negro, lynched 219

Godsey, Mrs. Flora 1 79, 88

Goisney, , lynched 213

Gold, discovery of, in California 123

Gold mines, travel to 359

Goode, Rev. William A., early Methodist

preacher 328

Goodell, E. A., ferry operator 354

— member bridge company 375

Goodell, H. E 352

Goodell's ferry, history of 353

— rates of ferriage on 354

Goodland Daily News, cited 397

Goodrich, Mrs. Eliza E., secretary Wyan-

dotte County Historical Society 79

Goodyear, M 253

Gordon, Willis (?), president Topeka

Bridge Co 369

Gordon, A. B 363

Gore, Jonathan, ferry operator 268, 271

Gormley, Joe, operated Nancy Lee and

Jewell, ferryboats 138

Gove, Capt. Grenville L 331

Gove county, named for Capt. Grenville

L. Gove 331

— old settlers' meeting held in 399

Gove family, genealogy of 331

Government wagons, ferriage rates for. . 356

361, 362

Graeber, Gustave A., ferry operator. . . . 290

291, 333

Gragg, Samuel, ferry established by 7

Graham, Sylvester, American vegetarian

advocate 377

— foods and living conditions advocated

by 378

Graham, W. E., lynched 216

Graham county, southern negroes settled

in 399

Graham Journal of Health and

Longevity 378

Grainfield, old settlers' reunion held in. . 402

Grainfield Cap Sheaf, cited 332

Granada, lynching at 216

— on road from Topeka to Nebraska line, 376
Grand Centre school district, Osborne

county, note on history of 329

Grand Detour, on Missouri river 116

Grand Island 165

Grand river, Colorado 162

Grand river country, Missouri 122

Grange, organization of 222

Grant county, county-seat contest in. . . 49

— historical day observed 104

— methods employed by Ulysses people

in county seat contest 48

— Ulysses and Appomattox contenders

for county seat 50

Grant County New Era, Ulysses, cited. . 104
Grant County Republican, Ulysses, cited, 104
Grant township, Russell county, first

land filing in 327

Grantville, ferry at 347

Grass houses, built by Wichita

Indians 66, 68

"Grass Wigwam at Wichita, The,"

article by Bliss Isely 66- 71

Grasshopper (Delaware) creek or river. . 14
26, 118, 293, 346

— country of 15

— road on west side of 344

Grasshopper Falls, road to 116

— road to Rising Sun 344

— state road through 282

Grasshopper invasion, mentioned 395

Graves (?), A. D., Lecompton bridge

incorporator 347

Graves, W. W., publisher A. H. T. A.

News 193

Gray, Alfred, ferry incorporator. . . . 12, 13

Gray, John M 88

Gray county, fatal shooting during

county-seat war 53

— Ingalls candidate for county seat of . . 48
— Ingalls county seat of 64

GENERAL INDEX

417

Great Bend 105

— Central Normal College, note on

history of 325

—lynchings at 217, 218

Great Bend Register, cited 217

Great Bend Tribune, cited 325

"Great Muddy." See Missouri river.

Great Nemaha river 164

Greathouse, Luther E., biographical

sketch of 323

Greeley, Horace 378, 390

— Topeka visitor in 1859 368

—visit of, in 1859 283

Greeley county, notes on history of

churches in 328, 391

Greeley County Republican, Tribune,

cited 328, 394

Green, George S., commissioner of the

supreme court 313

Green, H. T., Report of Smoky Hill Ex-
pedition, cited 359

Green, Michael, Shawnee county 362

Green, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Greene, Albert R., ferry operator 4,346

Greene, Henry T., ferry incorporator 13

— biographical mention of 15

Greene, Max, Papan's ferry described by, 366

Greene, W. E., Dodge City 329

Greenleaf, note on early-day life in 326

Greenleaf Sentinel, cited 326

Greensburg, Kiowa County Historical

Society museum in courthouse 223

Greenwood county, lynchings in. ... 213, 214
Creep, Mr. and Mrs. David, biographical

sketches of 328

Greer, James E., ferry operator 357

Gregg, Josiah, his Commerce of the

Prairies, cited 8, 151, 161

Gregg, Mrs. M. A., reminiscences of. ... 326

Gregg, Wesley 352

Griffin, O. B 107

Griffith, G. W. E., eyewitness of Battle

of Black Jack, cited 323

Grinnell family, tribute to 106

Grinter, Moses, ferryman, biographical

sketch of 264, 265

— old brick home of, still standing 265

Grinter's chapel 265

Grinter's ferry 4, 264- 267

— earliest established on Kansas river. . . 264

— ferriage rates on 264

— location of 264

— roads leading to 9, 14

Grist mill, at Indianola 356

Grubbs, O. F 223

Guernsey, Charles W., at Custer battle-
ground 334

Guise, Byron E., cited 322, 395

Gullett, T., Shawnee county 362

Gulp, , lynched 214

Gunnison, Capt. J. W 283

— explorations of 160-163

Guthrie, Abelard, ferry operator. . . . 259-261

— ferry charter granted to 12

Guthrie, John R., hanged at Mapleton. . 186

187,212
Guthrie mountain, Bourbon county, how

name attached 187

Haddox, Joseph, Rising Sun laid out by, 344
Hague, William, ferry operator at Fort

Leavenworth 23

Haines, Helen 107

Halderman, John A., secretary Lecomp-

ton Town Co 344

Hale, A. H., commissioner Shawnee

county 371

Hale, Charles 144, 145, 165, 172, 180

Hale, Edward Everett 142

— correspondence of, in Kansas 8tate His-
torical Society 140

— "Kama* and Nebraska" written by... 139

a financial failure to its publishers, 178

amount of royalties received from

sale of 178, 179

comparison between manuscript and

printed volume 168- 170

compiled at rate of forty-three pages

a day 167

criticism of 173

drafts of title page of 146

first review of 172

letter of Phillips, Sampson & Co.,

agreeing to print 140

story of writing of, by Cora

Dolbee 139- 181

time spent in writing 145

— letter to son Nathan, quoted 154

— minister of Unitarian Church, Washing-
ton 140, 141

— pamphlet on Texas issued by 141

— visit to Kansas 148

Hale, Edward E., Jr. ; 145, 148, 155, 156, 180

Hale, John K., ferry operator 272

Hale, Nathan, Jr 144, 168

Hale, Nathan, Sr., publisher of Boston

Daily Advertiser 172

Hale, Susan 172

Hall & Hand, History of Leavenworth

County, cited 14

Hall, Mrs. Carrie A 88

Hall, Prof. James, geologist 150

Hall, John A., death of 77

Hall, Mrs. John A 77, 87

Hall, Luther, a founder of Solomon 391

Halstead, old settlers' reunion held at. . . 401

Hamilton, Clad 88

Hamilton, J. M., Shawnee county 362

Hamilton county, Coomes precinct elec-
tion fraud 332

— county-seat fight in 49, 106, 332

— lynching in 218

— official historical material 222

— three towns claiming to be the county

seat 64

Hancock, Gen. W. S., Indian Bureau

critical of 30

Hancock War, 1867 30

Handley, Daniel 361

Hanes, Jake, lynched 216

Haney, E. D., note on biography of 330

Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad 18

— bridge over the Missouri river at

K. C. 4, 11

Hanover, old settlers' reunion held at... 401
Hardesty, Mrs. Frank, president Shawnee

Mission Indian Historical Society 85

Harding, John W., note on sketch of

family of 393

Harding, Mabel, of San Diego, Calif 393

Harger, Chas. M 88

Harl, , cleared of charge of horse

stealing 204

Harlow, Ralph Volney, cited 390

Harmony Church, Leon, note on history

of 330

Harmony Presbyterian Church, near Wich-
ita, fiftieth anniversary of 108

Harmony school, Johnson county 395

Harper, Joe 397

Harper county, lynchings in 217

Harper Sentinel, cited 217

Harper's Ferry, efforts made to postpone

Brown's attack on 390

— raid on 389

investigation of 386

27—1070

418

GENERAL INDEX

Harrington, Grant W., quoted, 262-265, 273
— addresses Wyandotte County Historical

Society 336

Harris, A. H., note on reminiscences of.. 323

Harris, Dwight Thacher, cited 328

Harris, John, ferry operator 292

Harris, John P 75

Harris, William A., election to U. S.

senate 398

Harris, Maj. William W 335

Harris' ferry, description of 292

Harrison, Benjamin, wires U. S. troops
in Kansas to be ready to move on To-

peka in Legislative War 316

Harrison, W. H 395

Harry Lynds, ferryboat, built at White

Cloud 137, 138

—wreck of 138

Harsh, Samuel, ferry operator 116

Hart, , finished John Brown pikes

for Blair 389

Hartford, Indian Hill near 105

Hartland, county seat of Kearny county, 64

Hartman, S., Shawnee county 362

Harvey, Emma 107

Harvey, Mrs. Isabelle C 79, 88

Harvey, Gov. James M 36

— early settler Riley county 107

Harvey, Mrs. Sallie F 85, 88

Harvey, Justice W. W., of Kansas su-
preme court 109

Harvey county, Alta township, French

settlement in 326

— historical manuscripts preserved 32

— notes on early history of 321

— notes on Mennonite settlement in 321

— visit of Jesse James to 333

Harvey County News, Newton, cited, 321, 333

Hasbrook, Chas. (L. B.), lynched 216

Haskell, A. J., ferry operator 133

Haskell-Finney counties, old settlers' re-
union held for 401

Haskell Institute, Indian regiment at 318

Haskin, S. B 88

Haucke, Frank 88

Hayes, Pres. R. B., visit of, to Neosho

Falls 392

Haymeadow Massacre, killing of Cross

party known as 57

— prosecution of those connected with

dropped 58

Haynes, Chris 363

Hays, Robert 134

Hays Daily News, cited. . . 108, 330, 333, 398
Hays First Presbyterian Church, note on

history of 333

Hayton, Joseph, ferry operator 133

Hazelton, old settlers' reunion at 401

Head, B. S., note on reminiscences of... 323

Hegler, Ben F 88

Heisler, Emanuel F., original copy of

Shawnee Sun given to 341

Hellstrom, Frank O., orderly sergeant,

"Robinson Rifles" company 311, 313

Hendrick, Abigail 246

Hendrick, Cornelius 230, 235, 237, 238

Hendrick, Eli 244

• — appointed deacon of Stockbridge

Baptist Mission 245

— member of Delaware Baptist Church. . 250

Hendrick, Mrs. Eli 244

Hendrick, George W 234

Hendrick, Mr. and Mrs. John 236

Hendrick, Mary, wife of Cornelius 230

235,237
Hendrick, Sally, member of Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Hendrick, Srisan 230

Hendrick, Thomas T 227, 230, 233

234, 239, 241, 244, 245

Hendrick, Washington 242

Hendrickson, Martin 336

Hennesy, J., organized Walnut Christian

Church 335

Henry, Hugh, negro, lynched 218

Henry, Ida Howell 106

Herald of Freedom, Lawrence, cited, 166, 167
174, 175, 179, 279, 379, 380, 383

Herman, Dr. , reported lynched in

Topeka 210

Herrerra, Juan, matador, Dodge City bull

fight 303, 305

Hesper, state road through 282

Hewitt, Dr. , Wyandotte Indian

agent 254

Hiawatha, lynching at 218

— road to H6

Hiawatha Daily World, cited 220

Hiawatha-Lawrence road 282, 283

Hickey, J. A., Shawnee county 362

Hickman, Russell, teacher, La Porte Ind., 338
— author of "The Vegetarian and Octagon

Settlement Companies" 377- 385

Hickory creek, Butler county 322

Hickory Point, Methodists preach first

sermon to white settlers at 328

— roads running through 346, 353

Hicks, John 254

Higginson, Thomas W., a John Brown

supporter 390

Highland, lynchings at 212

Highland township, Harvey county 321

Highland University, seventy-fifth

anniversary of 336

Highway Traveler, Cleveland, cited 103

Highways, in Kansas, routes of 224

Higinbotham, A. A., ferry incorporator, 22

Hildreth, Richard 155

Hill Betsey, member Delaware Baptist

Church 230

Hill, Capt. David, in charge of Leaven-
worth ferryboat David Hill 21, 22

Hill, E. J., early resident of Lecompton, 345

Hill, Esther Clark, death of 74

Hill, J. Fin 371

Hill, Rev. Timothy, organized First

Presbyterian Church at Hays 333

Hill City National Guard 320

Hindman, Bud, sheriff of Douglas

county 310, 311

Hinds, Russell, hanged for return of slave, 186
Hinton, Richard J., a Free-state pioneer, 190
Hipelas, Hannah, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Hipelas, Macharch, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Historic sites, scenery, etc., Kansas 392

Historical Society. See Kansas State His-
torical Society.
"History of Lynchings in Kansas," article

by Genevieve Yost 182- 219

Hitch, W. S., note on biographical sketch

of 333

Hobble, Frank A 85, 88, 327

Hoch, E. W 313

Hockaday, F. W 66

Hodder, Frank H., head of History De-
partment, Kansas University 85, 88

153, 338
— author of "The John Brown

Pikes" 386- 390

— president Kansas History Teachers

Association 223

Hodge, Frederick Webb, Handbook of

American Indians, cited 70

Hodgeman county, lynching in 217

Hodges, Jesse, ferry operator 276

Hogin, John C 85, 88

Hogue, Wendell P 325

Hoisington Dispatch, cited 325

GENERAL INDEX

419

PAGE

Holden, E. B., Crawford county pioneer, 220
Holladay Overland Stage Line, Atchison

starting point of 116

Holliday, Dr. John H., Dodge City's first

dentist 397

Hollingsworth, , opens road from

Delaware to Leavenworth 14, 15

Hollingsworth, L. F., ferry incorporator, 13
Holmes, George B., Shawnee county. ... 362

Holmes, Wm 268

Holston, Mrs. Mary M 134

Holt, Abram Brantley, note on reminis-
cences of 322

Holt county, Mo., William D. Beeler,

sheriff of 135

Holton, lynchings in 213, 218

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

— on road from Topeka to Nebraska line, 376

— on Topeka-Wathena road 376

Holton Recorder, cited 218, 321

Holzle, Ben 351

Hood, Capt. W., map of, criticised. . 161, 164

Hoogland, Edward 353

Hopehelase, Peter 230, 239

Hopewell school, Plevna, note on history

of 336

Hopkins, J. W 336

Home, Capt. D. H., Shawnee county 362

— operated ferryboat for Topeka Bridge

Co 374

Horse culture, nomadic, where originating, 195

Horse stealing 187

—eliminated 199

— most often brought lynching 193

— two lynched in Kansas for, identified as

sons of an ex-Governor of Illinois 191

Horse thieves, breaking up in eastern

Kansas 193

— Butler county war a drive against 197

— extent of operations of 193

—in the 1860's 391

— summary punishment of 194

Horses, importance of use in Kansas. . . . 196

— Kansas, famous in turf history 332

— value to Indians 196

Horseshoe Lake (Lake View), Douglas

county 292, 293

— on Franklin to Lecompton road 346

Horton, Dudley T., author 336

Horton, James C 212

— biographical mention of 188

— letter quoted regarding hanging of

Thomas Corlew 188

House, John, lynched 214

Houston, C. H., lynched 215

Howard & Co., ferry operators 367

Howard, C. C., ferry operator 354

Howard, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Howard Courant, cited 391

Howe. , a John Brown supporter. . . 390

Howsley, Martin, ferry incorporator 15

Hubbard, Paul H., Shawnee county 362

Hubbell, Henry S., artist 221

Hubble, Richard, ferry operator 122

Huggins, Wm. L 85, 88

Hugh, William, lynched at Emporia 212

Hugoton, court held in church building by

Judge Botkin 61

— hostility of people of, towards Sam

Wood 55

— made county seat of Stevens county, 54, 55
Hulls Grove, Jefferson county, lynching

at 212

Humboldt, Alexander von, map of Spain

mentioned 161

Humboldt 383

— lynching at 214

Humboldt -Lawrence road 282

Humboldt Rotary Club 324

Humboldt Union, cited 324

Humphrey, H. L 85, 88

Humphrey, Gov. Lyman U 58, 312

— reminiscences of 327

Hunnius, Adolph, manuscripts of 78

Hunnius, Carl 73

Hunter, James A., Shawnee county 362

Hurd, A. C., ferry operator 357, 358

— biographical sketch of 356

Hurd, Fitzsimmons, ferry operator 357

Kurd's ferry, ferriage rates of 856

— location and history of 356- 358

Hutawa's Map of the Platte Country,

Missouri, cited 25

Hutchinson, John, ferry operator,

biographical sketch of 134

Hutchinson, note on Fourth Annual Farm

and Home Week 324

—Women's Civic Center Club, addressed

by Kirke Mechem 224

Hutchinson Herald, cited. . .107, 324-326, 397

Hutchinson News, cited 324

Hutchison, G. W., ferry operator 274

latan, Mo 115

— formerly known as "Dougherty's

Landing" 27

Ice, on Kaw river, hazardous to ferries. . 284
Ida, Atchison ferry boat, naming of.... 119

locomotive brought to Elwood by.. 126

Idaho, vegetarian publication moved to

colony in 385

Immigration, ferries made use of, during

western 3

— influenced by ferries 24

— Southwestern Kansas, 1885 45

Impeachments, Kansas, during first

seventy years 398

Independence, lynching at 217

— note on history of 327

Independence, Mo., Prime's ferry at.... 6
— wagons ferried over Missouri river at

during California gold rush 123

Independence Star and Kansan, cited... 217

Indian, activities 104

— agents 40, 42

— annuities, plan to indemnify frontier

settlers out of 37

— battles, fought near Dodge City 221

— campaigns 30

— depredations 36

— dialects, books printed in for various

tribes 342

— lands, opened for settlement 148

—lynchings 199, 215

— outrages, plan for prevention of 40

— question, solving of 42

— raids, 1868 42, 43

— regiment, at Haskell Institute 318

— reservations, Kansas and Indian terri-
tory, surveyed by Rev. Isaac McCoy

and sons 6, 262, 263

trespassing on 32, 33

— sign language 66

— traders 37, 40

requirements for entering Indian

trade 32

— wooden, given Historical Society

museum 75

Indian Bureau, efforts to place under

War Department 83

Indian creek, Johnson county, stolen

horses from 193

Indian Hill, near Hartford 105

Indian Peace Commission, 1867, agree-
ments with northern and southern

tribes secured by 32

— creation of 29, 32

— provisions for work of 33

420

GENERAL INDEX

"Indian Question in Congress, The,"

article by Marvin H. Garfield 29- 44

Indian Territory, horse thieves in 323

— Theodosius Botkin a United States

Commissioner in 58

Indiana Magazine of History, cited 336

Indianofa, at crossing of Soldier creek on

Fort Leavenworth military road 347

359, 360

— grist mill at 356

— road to 116

Indians 37, 284

— ambush near Atwood 329

— arms and ammunition sold to 37

— damages inflicted by in 1864 39

— depredations during building of Union

Pacific railroad 255

—described by E. E. Hale 147

— extermination advocated 40

— friendly, governing of 30

— Government arms and ammunition is-
sued to, at Fort Lamed 30

— Gov. S. J. Crawford's attitude

concerning 37

— horses valued by 196

— hostile, commission to make treaties

with 32

— Kansas' attitude concerning 44

— measures suggested to prevent states

and legislatures from making war on . . 32
— Pawnees, Rev. John Dunbar missionary

to 22

— raids by 384

— Republican state convention, 1868, de-
manded removal of, from state 44

— segregated west of Missouri and

Arkansas 335

— Shawnee, treaty of 1825 228

• — swap pelts and robes for needed

supplies 122

— take possession of Topeka pontoon

bridge 375

— trading with for furs 117

— tribe systems breaking up 148

— wronged by whites 41

Ingalls, John J 279

— election to U. S. senate 398

— resident of Sumner 116

Ingalls, Sheffield, History of Atchison,

cited 27

Ingalls, attempt to remove Gray county
records to, met by lively resistance, 53, 54

— candidate for county seat 48

— county seat of Gray county 64

Ingruni, Fred, early Leavenworth grocer, 21
Ingrum, Fritz, early Leavenworth grocer, 21

lola, lynching at 215

— state road through 282

lola Daily Register, cited 104, 321

Ionia, named for Ionia, Mich 334

Ionia Booster, cited 334

Ionia (Mich.) Sentinel, cited 334

Iowa Indians 136, 148

— lands of, reserved to Presbyterian

Church for foreign missions 134

Iowa, Sac and Fox reservation, Kansas, 136

Iowa Point, establishment of 134

—ferries at 134, 135

— note on history of 333

— road from Eujatah to 353

Whitehead to 132

— sketch of 135

Iowa Point Steam Ferry 135

Irelan, James E., ferry incorporator 13

Irish, early settlers near Solomon 393

Irrigation, Eureka canal 48

— plans for in Western Kansas 46

Irvin, Rev. James 107

PAGB

Irving, Washington, mentioned 149

Irving, First Presbyterian Church, seven-
tieth anniversary of, mentioned 105

Irving Leader, cited 105

Irwin, W. H. & Co., ferry operators... 255

256, 257

Isaacson, Charles, reminiscences noted . . . 105
Isely, Bliss, Early Days in Kansas, men-
tioned 68

— reporter Wichita Beacon 2, 66

— "The Grass Wigwam at Wichita,"

article by 66- 71

Isham, Mrs. George W., of Evansville,

111 399

Isle au Vache (Cow Island) 115

"Issue House," in Platte county, Mo 23

/. G. Morrow, Atchison ferry boat, his-
tory of 119

Jack, James, Indian 234,241,242

Jackson, "Stonewall," mentioned 312

Jackson, W. V 107

Jackson county, lynchings in 213, 218

Jackson county, Mo 262, 264

Jacksonville, Neosho county, lynching at, 215

Jacksonville-Ozawkie road 258

Jacksonville-Wyandotte road 258

Jain, Mary A., Waldo M. E. Church

history, by 322

Jaquis, H., mentioned 252

James, David E., ferryman 256

James, Prof. Edwin, geologist 150

James, Jesse, visits Harvey county 333

Jefferson, Mrs. Blanche, mentioned 395

Jefferson county 266, 318

— commissioners proceedings quoted 348

— ferries operating across Kansas river

to 292, 293

— lynchings in 212, 213

Jeffersonian Hall, Lawrence. . . . 310, 314, 318

Jenner, J. F., of Shawnee county 362

Jennison, Dr. Charles R., commanding

Fifteenth Kansas 186, 193

Jent, H. C., mentioned 327

Jent, Sarah L., reminiscences of 327

Jersey creek, Wyandotte county 11

Jessee, Robert, ferry operator of

Buchanan county, Mo 126

Jetmore, lynching at 217

Jetmore Republican, cited 399

Jetmore Reveille, cited 217

Jetmore United Presbyterian Church,

twenty-fifth anniversary of 399

Jewell, ferryboat, first, owned by man

named Lemon 138

Jewell, ferryboat, operated by Joe

Gormley 138

Jewell City, cemeteries of 329

— Christian Church, founding of 326

— history of, by Everett Palmer 332

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Jewell City Town Company, organization

of 332

Jewell county, lynching in 216

— history of Omio noted 323

Jewell County Republican, Jewell City,

cited 326, 329, 332

"John Brown Pikes, The," article by

Frank Hey wood Hodder 386-390

Johnson, , lynched in Ellsworth.... 208

Johnson, , lynched on Marais des

Cygne 211

Johnson, Carrie E., mentioned 106

Johnson, Charlie, lynched 214

Johnson, Mrs. Charles T.. treasurer Kiowa
County Historical Society 400

GENERAL INDEX

421

PAGE

Johnson, Fielding, biographical mention
of 12

— ferry charter granted to 12

Johnson, George, negro, lynched 215

Johnson, J. J., cofounder Beloit Gazette, 334

Johnson, John, lynched 212

Johnson, Mrs. Joseph, mentioned 105

Johnson, Luther R., mentioned 336

Johnson, Samuel A., vice president Kan-
sas History Teachers Association 223

Johnson, S. N., ferry operator 133

Johnson, Rev. Thomas 148

— memorial tablet unveiled in memory of, 330

Johnson, William, mentioned 115

Johnson county 184, 262, 267, 318

— commissioners proceedings cited and

quoted 257, 267-270, 272, 274- 276

— ferriage rates for 1858 in 275

— ferry landings in 252-275

— horse stealing in 193

— lynchings in 210, 214, 215, 219

deplored 202

— old settlers' reunion held in 395

— sheriff of, mentioned 274

Johnson County Democrat, Olathe, cited, 395
Johnston, , operated steam saw mill

at Douglas, near Lecompton 293

Johnston, John C., historical articles by,

mentioned 321

Johnston, Col. Joseph E., mentioned.... 266

Johnston, Mrs. William A 85, 88

Jones (Luttia-hing), Delaware Indian 236

Jones, Billy, lynched 214

Jones, Charles F., mentioned 75

Jones, Charles J. ("Buffalo") 46

Jones, Frank, lynched 217

— lynching of, recalled 397

Jones, Horace, mentioned 88

Jones, "Ottawa," (John T.), crossing 283

Jones, Sue Carmody 397

Jordan, A. C., sergeant at arms, House

of Representatives, Legislature of 1893, 398
Jordan, Achilles M., biographical sketch

of 350

— operated Tecumseh ferry 350

Jordan, Celia (Mrs. Achilles M.) 350

Jordan, Mrs. Fern Mead, paid deficit on

grass house on Mead Island, Wichita. . 67

— widow of James R. Mead 67, 68

Jordan, William M., mentioned. ... 351- 353
Journal-Free Press, Osage City, cited... 393

Journalism, changing styles of 209

— "Kansas, A Half Century of," by

Gomer T. Davies, mentioned 393

Journeycake, Charles, Delaware Indian. . 230
233, 235, 237, 241

— member Delaware Baptist Church 250

Journeycake, Jane, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

— wife of Charles Journeycake 235

Journeycake, John, mentioned 239

Journeycake, Sally 236

— member Delaware Baptist Church.... 250

Journeycake, Solomon, mentioned 236

Judd, , of Wyandotte 255

Junction City 251

— lynching at 215

Junction City Union, cited and quoted, 15, 40

41, 43, 44, 190, 193, 201, 204

205, 208, 212, 216

"June rise," in Kansas river, mentioned.. 284

Kagey, Charles L., mentioned 88

Kaleb, Jenny, member Delaware Baptist

Church 250

Kaleb, William, member Delaware Baptist

Church 250

PAGE

Kankakee, III., immigrants from, settle

in Kansas 334

Kansas, as an emigrant center, empha-
sized 155

— attitude of delegation in Congress on

Indian question 34

— Census of 1859, mentioned 19

—Civil War in 890

— "County Seat Controversies in South-
western Kansas," article by Henry F.

Mason 45

— discovery of, attributed to the French, 147
— ferry laws, earliest passed by Legisla-
ture of 1855 252

— first military post within borders of. . 115

railroad in 126, 195

— French settlement in 326

— horses, famous in turf history 332

— humane law of 1879, cited 300

— immigration, 1856 380

1885 45

— Indian depredations renewed in 1869, 36

— irrigation schemes in 46

—Legislative War of 1893, described, 309-318
— lynchings, growing attitude against. . 208

list of, 1850's-1932 211-219

rank in number of 210

statistics 192

— originally spelled with a "z" 165

— Regiments, First' Frontier battalion ... 39

Fifth cavalry, Company 1 356

Eighth infantry, John A. Martin,

colonel 119

— — Tenth cavalry 212

Fifteenth cavalry, in command of

Jennison 186

Eighteenth cavalry, reunion of 400

Nineteenth cavalry, expenses in-
curred in raising 39

records of, given Historical So-
ciety 74

reunion of 400

Twentieth infantry, organization

mentioned 102

• — in Philippines 73, 320

— slavery introduction opposed by 146

— southern boundary, mentioned 159

— spellings of 166

— town building boom of the eighties... 45
Kansas — Adjutant General, correspond-
ence mentioned 36

— Agriculture, State Board, Alfred Gray,

secretary 13

reports cited 10, 11

— Historical Society, accessions 73

activities of 80, 81

annual meeting, minutes of 72- 89

archives department .... 10, 19, 44, 73

accessions to 74

Blackman manuscript collection.... 74

directors 85, 88, 89

meeting of 87

documents of vegetarian ventures in

Kansas in collections of 385

Edward Everett Hale, correspond-
ence in 140

Gireau trading post 77

Goss ornithological collection 75

historical sites, list being compiled, 77

Kansas Historical Quarterly, pub-
lished by, proving popular 76

John Booth bequest 78

John Brown correspondence in ar-
chives 386, 387

letters acquired 74

pikes in museum 389

liberty bonds of 78

library 72

accessions to 90- 101

422

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Kansas Historical Society, local and

county historical societies 76

manuscripts 73

archives department 20

calendaring and repairing 74

Hale's Kanzas and Nebraska.... 144

insurance department 74

New England Emigrant Aid

Company 144

Meeker's journals 339

Metcalf collection given to 74

military records given to 74

membership, annual 87

honorary 87

life 87

membership fee fund 77

expenditures from 78

Museum 75

newspaper section 75

nominating committee reports.. 79, 85

officers nominated and elected.. 79., 87

picture collection 73

Pawnee capitol 77

President Dawson's address 80

secretary's report 72- 77

Shawnee Mission 76

Shawnee Sun, reproductions of,

among clippings of Society 341

Thomas H. Bowlus fund 78

treasurer's report 77

Wyandotte county early newspaper

files incomplete 262

— Legislature, 1855, called "bogus legis-
lature" 4

ferries chartered by 121

1857, ferries chartered by 9, 122

1858, ferries chartered by, 9, 11, 16, 122

1875, S. B. Bradford a member of. . 58

1897, Theodosius Botkin a member

of 58

— —1933, two old members of 109

— library, mentioned 313

— militia, plan for use against Indians. . 40

reserve, mentioned 309, 313

"Robinson Rifles" company in legis-
lative war 309- 318

— National Guard 226

• Company H, on duty at Lawrence,

1903 291, 309

improvements instituted in. ..318-320

officers' school organized at Fort

Leavenworth 319, 320

W. H. Sears appointed brigadier

general of 318

— Normal School, Emporia, founding of, 325

—Secretary of State 13, 15, 22, 270, 272

— State College, Manhattan 110, 400

— Teachers College, Emporia, anniversary

of 325

— Supreme Court 313

Henry F. Mason elected to 45

Legislative War settled by 317

Kansas and Missouri Ferry, history of . . 10
Kansas and Nebraska, first book on, by

E. E. Hale 139

— provision for survey of 165

— railway issue a factor in organization of, 153
— William Walker, provisional governor of

territory included in 9

Kansas Chamber of Commerce,

mentioned 77

Kansas Chief, White Cloud, and Troy

cited 43, 134, 137, 138, 212, 213

Kansas City, Wyandotte County Historical

Society meeting held at 336

Kansas City, Mo., mentioned 19, 253

254, 267, 295

— bridge at, first to span Missouri river. . 11
— bull fight demonstration held in 294

PAGE

Kansas City, Mo., Chick's ferry at 7

— deport for trade with the west 8

— Hannibal bridge built at 4

— history of, cited 6

— Nineteenth street ferry landing 258

— rival of Leavenworth 18

— Roy's ferry at 6

Kansas City Journal, cited 18, 185

Kansas City Journal-Post, cited 392

Kansas City Kansan, cited 323

Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library, Purd

B. Wright, librarian 341

Kansas City Star, cited 294, 330, 331

334, 335, 395, 397
Kansas City Sun, reproduction of

Shawnee Sun, printed by 341

Kansas City Times, cited 103, 218, 333

Kansas-Colorado boundary line, survey

of, mentioned 395

Kansas Cowboy, Dodge City, cited. . 294, 297
298, 303, 305

Kansas Day celebrations 322- 324

Kansas Day Reunion, Cheyenne county

pioneers, held at Bird City 224

Kansas Editor, cited 326

Kansas Editorial Association, 1933 meet-
ing mentioned 393

Kansas Farm Bureau Bulletin, Manhattan,

cited 75

Kansas Free State, Lawrence, cited.... 132

293, 324
"Kansas Hermit," nickname given Gen.

Hugh Cameron 292

"Kansas Historical Notes" 110, 111

223, 336, 400
"Kansas History as Published in the State

Press," 102-109, 220-222, 321-335, 391- 399
Kansas History Teachers' Association,

Pittsburg meeting mentioned 223

Kansas Indians 166, 251

— agency 265

location of 292

— books printed in language of 342

— contemptuous opinion of 40

— village, Doniphan built on site of 121

Fool Chief's 366

"Kansas Journalism, A Half Century of,"

by Gomer T. Davies, mentioned 393

Kansas Magazine, revival of 223

Kansas-Nebraska bill, mentioned, 3, 117, 153
Kansas-Nebraska boundary line,

mentioned 121

Kansas newspaper personalities, past and

present, radio broadcasts featuring. . . . 400
Kansas newspapers, files of, disclose

attitude of press towards the Indian . . 40

Kansas Optimist, Jamestown, cited 322

Kansas Pacific railroad 375

— freight shipped east by way of 11

Kansas Press, Wathena, cited 369

Kansas reserve militia, mentioned... 309,313

Kansas river, mentioned 9, 26, 118, 121

162, 164, 166, 167, 228, 347, 353

—baptismal services held in 234, 235, 284

— basin of, mentioned 149

— crossing of 364

by the "Twenty-seven hundred"... 344

— declared a navigable stream 4

— early history of 251

— ferries operating on 251- 293, 343- 376

Lawrence, note on 333

— first ferrying at mouth of, on

Missouri river 5

— first military post west of mouth of.. 115

—Flood, 1844 364

1903 290, 291

—high waters in 374

— ice jams on 284

— '"June rise" mentioned 284

GENERAL INDEX

423

PAGE

Kansas river, Lecompton bridge 345

—low stage of water 368, 369

— navigability of 251

— Pani Piques band living on 70

— Topeka bridge 376

pile bridge, carried away by flood . . 369

— trading posts located on 6

— true river from Kansas City to St.

Louis 334

— Wyandotte free ferry 255

Kansas River Bridge Co., history of. ... 353
Kansas River Ferry Co., Wyandotte, ferry

privileges granted to 256

Kansas Settlers Association (German),

Cincinnati, Ohio 179

Kansas State Bankers Association, vigi-
lance committees sponsored by 198

Kansas State Central Committee, papers

of 281

Kansas State Journal, Lawrence, cited.. 184
194, 196, 201, 212, 283-285
Kansas State Record, Topeka, cited and

quoted 36, 40, 42, 360

.Kansas Tribune, Lawrence, cited, 40, 42, 43
216, 217, 286, 289

Kansas Tribune, Topeka, cited 367

Kansas Weekly Herald, Leavenworth,

cited and quoted. .14-16, 18-21, 24-26, 121
211,267, 293, 343

— Tecumseh ferry described by 349,350

Kaw City, Jefferson county 347

Kaw half-breed lands 358

— location of 350

Kearney, Charles E., Douglas 292

Keelboats, on Missouri river 115

Keeler, Charles G., history of ferry

operated by 267, 2fi8

Keith, John & Co., mentioned 171

Kellam, Ed. P., mentioned 357, 371

Keller, John, lynched 216

Kelley, E. E., mentioned 79, 88

Kelley, Talbert, ferry operator 270

Kelley's ferry, Doniphan county. .. 121, 245
Kellogg, Dr. J. H., Battle Creek, Mich., 379

Kendall, county-seat claims of 64

— fight with Syracuse 106

Kennedy farm, near Chambersburg, Pa.,

John Brown Pikes taken to 38

Kennekuk, state road through 282

Kentucky, penalty for lynching in 207

Kessler, Francis, member Quindaro-

Parkville Ferry Co 12

Kessler, Francis A., member Qumdaro-

Parkville Ferry Co 12

Keys, Mrs. Louisa 395

Kickapoo City 27

— ferry opposite 26

— rival of Leavenworth 25

— on road from Atchison to Tecumseh.. 353

— road to Lecompton from 346

Kickapoo Indians 148

— settlement of, north of Leaven-
worth 24, 25

Kickapoo Island, description of 25

Kickapoo Town Association, land owned

by 26

Kidnapping, Butler county's first and

last 391

Killbuck, Abigail H., member Delaware

Baptist Church 245, 246, 250

Killbuck, Joseph Henry, member Dela-
ware Baptist Church 244, 250

Killbuck, Susan, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Killen, , of Wyandotte 11

Kilmer, Mrs. Alma Slifer, mentioned .... 106
Kimball Bros., iron foundry of

Lawrence 285, 286

Kimball, Warren, ferry operator 274,275

Kimber, Job V., ferry operator 122

Kind, Isaac, negro, lynched 217

King, Harry, Sr., mentioned 395

King, Capt. Henry, editor of Kansas

Magazine 223

King, E. W., of Shawnee county 362

Kingman Journal, history of 330

Kinkel, John, M., mentioned 88

Kinney, Col. Asa, mentioned 324

Kinsley, old settlers' reunion held at 401

Kiowa, Wichita Indian chief 66- 68

Kiowa County Historical Society 87

— members enrolled 223

— museum in courthouse at Greensburg. . 223

—new officers of 400

Kiowa Indians, damages to frontier

settlers inflicted by 39

— women of cared for crops 69

Kirby, Mrs. C. H., cited 265

Kiro dam project, gathering data for. . . . 364

Kitchen, H. M., Shawnee county 362

Kliskoqua, Indian, member Delaware

Baptist Church 230

Knapp, Dallas W 85, 88

Knapp, Harrison M., ferry operator 354

Knaus, Warren, second vice president

McPherson County Historical Society . . 400

Knode, Mrs. Frank, mentioned 396

Knowles, A. W., ferry operator 355

Knowles, C. O., ferry operator 355

Knowles, Joshua 362

— member Topeka bridge company 375

Konkapot, (Konkaput) Catherine, member

Delaware Baptist Church 230, 242

Konkapot G., member Delaware Baptist

Church 242

Konkapot, Hannah, member Delaware

Baptist Church 232, 242, 244, 248- 250

Konkapot, Jonas, member Delaware

Baptist Church 232-234, 236- 238

240-242, 244,245,247
Konkapot, Levi, member Delaware

Baptist Church 244, 247

Konkapot, Mrs. Lucy, member Delaware

Baptist Church 246

Konkapot, Lydia, member Delaware

Baptist Church 244, 247

Konkapot, Nancy, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Konkapot, Robert, death of 236

— member Delaware Baptist Church 230

Konkapot, Sally, member Delaware

Baptist Church 227,230,242,247

Koonce, J. W., biographical sketch of. . . 323
Kosier, Samuel, chairman board of

Shawnee county commissioners 362

"Kouns road," through Edwardsville 271

Kreigh, McKinley W., mail carrier 396

Krone, Walter, reminiscence of 327

Kunkel, Charles, ferry operator 345

Kunkel, Christina, mentioned 344

Kunkel, Jerome, biographical mention of, 344

— ferry operator 345

— Lecompton trade crossed ferry of 347

— Medina ferry operated by 347

— Rising Sun ferry established by 344

Kuykendall, James M., Calhoun county.. 362

— ferry operator 358

— pioneer 358

— road commissioner 359, 376

Labette county, lynch'ings in 215-217

La Cygne, lynching in 216

Ladies Reading Club, Girard, history of. . 331
Ladore, Neosho county, lynchings in, 204, 215

La Follette, Robert M., the elder 379

Lafon, Alexander Harvey, county surveyor
of Jefferson county and ferry operator, 355

424

GENERAL INDEX

Lafon's ferry, also known as State Road

ferry 350, 351, 355

La Hontan, French explorer 147

Lajoie, Francis, ferry operator 133

Lake View (Horseshoe lake), Douglas

county 292, 293

Lakin, county seat of Kearny county .... 64

Lally, Ed, note on reminiscences of 322

Lamb, Port, horsepower ferry operated

by 117

Landis, John, ferry operated by 121

Lands, cheap, boon to unemployed 377

Lane, Charles, American vegetarian ad-
vocate 377, 378

Lane, Dr. H. H., of Kansas University. . 393

Lane, Gen. James H 21, 74, 220

— commanded regiment in Mexican War. . 343

— death of 34

Lane, William 378

Lane's Army of the North, crossed Kan-
sas river on Papan's ferry 367

Lang, Harry 398

Lanter, Mr. , assistant wagonmaster, 280

Lantz, S. P., first superintendent of

Waldo M. E. Sunday School 322

La Platte, meaning of name 169

Larimer, Capt. William, cited 275

Larned, early-day fires in 324

— lynching at 218

Larned Optic, cited 308

Larned Weekly Chronoscope, cited 218

La Salle, expedition of 147

Lawndale, founding of 328

Lawrence, John, negro, lynched 217

Lawrence 14, 15, 36

263, 278, 279, 292, 293, 374

— bridge at, history of 285-289

need for 283-285

— City Hotel, mentioned 188

— Corlew, Thomas, tried by lynch court

at 187

— early-day printers 392

— ferries and bridges across the Kaw

at 279-291

— ferry, bill of 281-282

description of 285, 286

ferriage rates on 287

— latest ferry across Kansas river at .... 290

— lynchings at 212, 217

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

— platoon of cavalry organized at 319

— Quaker meeting house, building of 110

— reputed lynching at 199

— road to 116

— roads centering at 282, 283

— sacking of, by pro-slavery element.... 185
— "Twenty-seven hundred" Missourians

at 343

Lawrence-Atchison road 283

Lawrence-Bourbon county road 282, 283

Lawrence Bridge Co., bridge owned by,

declared unsafe 288, 289

— chartered 285

— expiration of charter of 289

— toll rates on 288, 289

Lawrence -Burlington road 282

Lawrence Business college 318

— military company organized from stu-
dents of 309

Lawrence Daily Journal-World, cited 285, 290
291, 316, 321, 324, 328, 333, 392, 397

Lawrence-Emporia road 282

Lawrence Ferry Co., chartered 284

Lawrence-Fort Scott road 283

Lawrence Free State, cited 279, 280

Lawrence-Garnett road 282

Lawrence -Hiawatha road 282, 283

Lawrence-Humboldt road 282

Lawrence Hydropathic Hygienic Society, 382
Lawrence Journal, cited 316, 318

Lawrence-Leavenworth road. . . . 277, 282, 283
Lawrence National Guard armory... 309,317

Lawrence-Neosho Rapids road 283

Lawrence-Osawatomie road 282

Lawrence- Pa ola road 282

Lawrence-Quindaro road 261

Lawrence Republican Journal, cited 286

Lawrence-Tecumseh road 283

Lawrence Tribune, cited 184, 213

Lawrence- Westport, Mo. road 282

Lawrence-Wyandotte road 282

Leahy, David D 102, 398

Learnard, Col. O. E., Lawrence, urges

peaceful settlement in Legislative War. . 316
Lease, Charles Henry, member of Robin-
son Rifles company 318

Lease, Mary Elizabeth, Populist orator. . 315
— president of Kansas State Board of

Charities 318

Leavenworth, Col. J. H 41

— Marion county citizens petition for re-
moval of 44

Leavenworth 267, 279, 280, 376

— completion of railroad bridge across

Missouri river 19

— depended on Missouri ferries 15

— excursion to, on narrow gauge railroad, 392

— ferry at, capacity of 16

ferriage rates of 19

first operated in 19

none licensed prior to 1855 15

special privileges granted to 20

—First National Bank of 22

— Iowa Point a business rival of 134

— levee, piled high with freight 16

protection and improvement of 16

— lynchings in 190, 201

205, 208, 211, 214, 215, 217, 219

— Missouri river bridge, history of 18

— Missouri river cuts new channel

opposite, during freshet 16

— municipal improvements undertaken at, 16
— on road from Atehison to Tecumseh . . . 353
— preliminary survey for road to connect

with Cameron, Mo 19

— road from Quindaro ferry to 12

— road to Sac and Fox Agency crossed

river at Stinson ferry 348

— roads to 166, 355

— route to Pike's Peak gold mines from. . 359
— steps taken for bridging streams on

roads leading to city 18

— terminal bridge at 18

— terminal point 15

— territorial road to 258

— trade drawn from Platte country of

Missouri 17

— trade territory extended 16

Leavenworth and Missouri Bridge and

Ferry Co., incorporated 22

Leavenworth and Northwestern railroad.. 274
Leavenworth and Topeka State Road

Ferry, incorporated 357

Leavenworth Board of Trade 20

Leavenworth Chronicle, Fort Leavenworth

edition of 396

Leavenworth City, ferryboat, history

of 20, 21

Leavenworth Conservative, cited.. 17,20, 23

41-44, 130, 208, 212, 214, 270,275

Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. . 135

— original journal of 74

Leavenworth county 25, 273, 279, 318

— earliest ferry in 22

— ferries operating on Kansas river

in 274- 276

—lynchings in 210, 214, 215, 217- 219

-on Missouri river in 13-26

— Missourians brought to Kansas to vote

at county-seat election of 26

GENERAL INDEX

Leavenworth, De Soto and Fort Scott

Bridge Co., built bridge at De Soto. . . 275

Leavenworth Ferry Co., incorporated 21

Leavenworth -Fort Scott state road 270

Leavenworth-Franklin road 278, 279

Leavenworth -Lawrence road 277, 282, 283

Leavenworth-Lecompton road 346

Leavenworth-Monticello road 271

Leavenworth-Olathe road 268, 269, 272

Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western railroad, 273

Leavenworth -Peoria territorial road 273

Leavenworth -Sac and Fox agency post

route 278

Leavenworth -Salem road 282

Leavenworth Times, cited 18, 21

186, 201, 217, 218
Leavenworth Times and Conservative,

cited 208. 215

Leavenworth-Topeka road 355

358, 363, 376

Leavenworth -Wyandotte road 8,273

Lebanon, old settlers' reunion held at... 401

Lecompte, Remi H., ferry operator 351

— location of ferry of 350

Lecompte, Judge Samuel D., efforts to

disperse lynching party unavailing 201

— Lecompton named for 344

— president Lecompton Town Co 344

Lecompton 15, 281

— Bald Eagle opposite 343

— efforts for bridge at 347

— established in 1855 344

—ferry at 345, 346

— pontoon bridge built at 315

— post office established at 293

— Rising Sun opposite 344

— roads leading to and from 116, 283

346, 347, 376
— section Topeka pontoon bridge rescued

at 374

Lecompton Bridge Co 345

— charters secured for 347

Lecompton Town Co., members of 344

Lee, Thomas Amory, president of Kansas

State Historical Society 77, 79

80, 87, 88, 110, 336

Lee, Wiley, negro, lynched 217

Leedy, John W., state senator 315

Legate, James F., ferry operator 274

Legion Auxiliary Units 77

Lemon, , owner of ferryboat

Jewell 138

Lennox, E. H., crossing of the Kaw

river described by 364

Leon, notes on history of 324, 332

Leon Methodist Episcopal Church, note

on early history of 324

Leon News, cited 322, 324, 330, 332

Leonard, Mrs. Anna M., founder of

Ladies Reading Club, Girard 331

Leoti, old settlers' reunion held at 401

— three residents of, killed at Coro-

nado 52, 53

Lewelling, L. D., Populist governor 309

311-315
— appoints Sears brigadier general of the

Kansas National Guard 318

— declares martial law at end in Legis-
lative War 317

— orders out national guard for Legis-
lative War. 310

Lewis & Clark expedition 149, 152

— errors in map of, pointed out 161

Lewis, Capt. Calvin, ferry operated by.. 27

Lewis, Meriwether, explorer, cited 70

Lewis High School, James C. Malin de-
livers commencement address at 333

Lewis' Point, on Missouri river, loca-
tion of 27

Lewis Press, cited 333

PAGE

Lexington, Johnson county, ferry at 275

Lexington, Mo., ferry to Atchison from.. 26
Liberal, county seat of Seward county ... 65

Liberty, Mo 14

— ferry operated at 5

Library of Congress, manuscript repair-
ing methods of 86

Liepman, Julius M 87

Lillard, T. M 88

Lillibridge, Hiram, note on reminiscences

of 322

Lime kilns, operated by E. W. Matthews

in 1870 222

Lincoln, Pres. Abraham, asked to wear

whiskers 398

— visits Elwood 129

Lincoln county, lynching in 218

— map of 1886, mentioned 104

Lincoln County News, Lincoln, cited, 104, 332
Lincoln Presbyterian Church, note on

history of 332

Lincoln Sentinel- Republican, cited 332

Lindell, C. E 400

Lindholm, Carl 400

Lindsborg, Bethany College museum .... 224
Lindsborg Historical Society, leaseholder

of Coronado Heights, near Lindsborg. .224
Lindsley, Sen. H. K., vice president of

Kansas State Historical Society 74

79, 87, 88

Linn, George A., Kansas pioneer 392

Linn, Jacob, brought first load of pine

lumber to Marion Center 396

Linn county 293

— lynchings in 186, 214, 216, 217

— Theodosius Botkin, probate judge of . . 58

— Trading Post massacre in 185

Linn County Clarion, Mound City, cited, 217

Linn-Palmer Record, cited 327

Linville, Richard, early Missouri river

ferry established by 5

Little, Theophilus 336

Little Arkansas river 66, 70

Little Big Horn river 164

Little Blue river 165

Little Nemaha river 164

Little Osage river 346

Littleman, Jacob 244, 247

— appointed interpreter, &tockbridge

Baptist Mission 245

— member of Delaware Baptist Church . . 250

Littleman, Jonas 227, 245-247

Littleman, Mrs. Josephine 244

Littleman, Louisa, member of Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Live stock, effort made to punish theft of,

in Kansas 194

— ferried by St. Joseph & Elwood ferry. .130

Lizzie, Missouri river ferryboat 9

Lockard, Dore 106

Locklin, Mrs. Charles 396

Logan, note on early life in 103

Logan Republican, cited 103

Lone Star, Dodge City saloon 304

Long, D. B 336

Long, H., lynched 214

Long, Maj. S. H., expedition of 115, 150

152, 161, 251

Long Branch, Dodge City saloon 304

Longford Leader, cited 328

Lookout valley, note on pioneers of 321

Losee, Isaac G., Leavenworth ferry

proprietor 21

— orders sinking of ferryboat if necessary, 21
Louisiana, references to bull fights in... 294

Louisiana Purchase 152

Love, Robert C., ferry operator 354, 355

Lovewell, Tom, government scout, note on

biography of 330

Lowe, A. K., ferry operator 345

426

GENERAL INDEX

Lowe (?). R. M., Shawnee county 362

Lowe, Percival G., Five Years a Dragoon,

cited 266, 280

Lowman, E. S., ferry operator 274

Lowman Memorial Methodist Episcopal

Church, Topeka, anniversary of 104

Lucas, note on early history of 394

Lucas Independent, cited 394

Ludington, Geo., Shawnee county 362

Lukens, Lucille 87

Luray Herald, cited 329

Lusk, D. S., ferry operator 131

Luttia-hing (Jones), Delaware Indian... 236

Lyday, H. ferry operator 134

Lykins, Johnston, Baptist missionary at

Shawnee 228, 340

— editor Shawnee Sun 340, 842

Lykins, Mrs. Johnston, Baptist missionary, 228

Lyle, Francis, lynched 217

Lynching and Mob, denned by legislative

act in 1903 205, 206

Lynching, associations in south making

active campaign against 211

— attitude against growing in Kansas .... 208

— crimes accountable for 199

— drastic penalties of various states to

prevent 207

• — federal government's regulations con-
cerning 207

— History of, in Kansas, article by

Genevieve Yost 182- 219

— Kansas' rank in number of 210

— more common in early days 184

— newspaper space devoted to 208, 209

— rare in England 190

— reasons why it flourished in West 191

— states where none have been recorded, 189
— unenviable record of southern states... 190

— United States statistics on 210

— various modes of 183

Lynds, John H., ferry operator, biograph-
ical sketch of 137

Lyon, Mrs. Belle C., Fredonia, author. . . 323
Lyon county, attempted lynching of Ger-
man charged with murder in 201

— Mexican lynched in 212

Lyttleman, Cathorin, Delaware Indian... 239

M

McAdow, George, ferryboat of, destroyed

by Jayhawkers during Civil War 27

— purchased the Nimrod Farley ferry... 27
McArthur, Hiram, clerk Shawnee county, 360

MoArthur, L., bond given by 351

— Lecompton bridge incorporator 347

McBee, John, recollections of ferry

matters 347

McCarter, Mrs. Margaret Hill 88

McCarthy, Chubb, lynched 218

McCarthy, Mrs. Kathryn O'Loughlin,

mentioned 398

McCartney, Henry (Pony), lynched 212

McCarty, , lynched 216

McCarty, Edward C., Douglas 292

McClaskey, G. D., mentioned 329

McClosky, Pat, mentioned 106

McCormick, A. H., mentioned 107

McCoy, Fielding, ferry operator 7

McCoy, Rev. Isaac, cited and quoted. ... 228
262- 264, 339, 340

— Baptist missionary 335

— buys McGee ferry 6

— short sketch of 6

McCoy, J. H., note on biographical

sketch of 333

McCoy, John Calvin, quoted 262, 263

— sells ferry interests 6

— short sketch of 6

McCulloch, Columbus, town of Columbus,

Doniphan county named for 134

McCulloch, Thomas, mentioned 134

McDonald, , operated steam saw

mill at Douglas 293

McDonald, Andrew, first postmaster at

Douglas 293

McDonald, J. S., reminiscences of 326

McDonald, S. D., member bridge com-
pany 375

McDowell, Jack, lynched 214

McElheney, W., Shawnee county 362

McElroy, Thomas, lynched 213

McFarland, Helen M., 88, 90

McGee, James H., buys Roy's ferry 6

McGee, M. W., Douglas 292,293

McGee, P. H., postmaster at Nevada.. 277

McGhee, J., biographical sketch of 278

McGinnis, W. F., Sr., Butler county

pioneer 220

— historical subjects discussed by, in

Butler County News, El Dorado 391

McGrew, James, ferry owner 9

— biographical mention of 9

Mack, George, lynched 217

McKenzie, Henry, old log cabin of,

mentioned 396

Mackey, Eli, negro, lynched 214

Mackey, Jackson, negro, lynched 214

McKibben, Rev. Samuel, mentioned 330

Mackinaw boats, described

— used at Fort Leavenworth 22

McKindley, Lewis, lynched 218

McKindley, W., lynched 218

McKinney, William M., ferry operator. . 345
Mclntosh, D. S., Lecompton bridge in-
corporator 347

Macksville, old settlers' reunion held at. . 401
McLauren, Dr. John, Octagon Settlement

Company located by 383

— sent to Kansas to make location for

Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Society, 379
— treasurer Octagon Settlement Company, 381

McLean, Milton R 85, 89

McLee, G. B., mentioned 351

McMartin, D. F., mentioned 329

McMullin, Henry, ferry owner 9

McMurtrie, Douglas C., authority on

typography and history of printing. . . . 338
— "The Shawnee Sun, The First Indian-
language Periodical Published in the

United States," article by 339- 342

McNeal, Thomas A., mentioned 85, 89

McPherson, old settlers' reunion held at, 401
McPherson county, oil and gas develop-
ments in 327

— Pioneer Life and Lore of, published by

Edna Nyquist 223

McPherson County Historical Society,

McPherson 87

— Edna Nyquist, secretary 86

— new officers of 400

McPherson Daily Republican, cited 327

McPherson Independent, quoted .... 295,296
McQuey, B. Frank, vice president Mc-
Pherson County Historical Society.... 400

McRaynolds, Edwin, mentioned 22

Maguire, Thomas, mentioned 353

Mahaffie, Mr. , commissioner John-
son county 269

Mahan, F. M., ferry operator 122

Mail routes established in advance of

post offices 4

Mails, delayed by high waters in Kansas

river 374, 375

— brought across Missouri river to

Kickapoo 25

Malin, James C 79, 89, 95, 333

— associate editor of Kansas Historical

Quarterly 76

GENERAL INDEX

427

PAGE

Malin, James F., Lewis, legislator of old

"Pop" days ...... v • • • ............. ,

Malone, James, mentioned . ............ «

Mandan Indians, mentioned ..... . . . . . • • "

Manhattan, Kansas Farm Bureau Bulletin ^

published at ...................... ' $

—lynching at ........ . • • ............. **

— old settlers' reunion held at .......... 4Ui

Manhattan Express, cited . . . .......... 212

Manhattan Independent, cited .......... 213

Manhattan Mercury, cited. . . • ••••• ---- £"'

Manhattan Morning Chronicle, cited. ... 323

Manhattan Republic, cited ......... 10 7, 323

Manley, Charley, lynched. . . . .......... 216

Manley's landing, above Atchison. ... ... 117

Man-Never-Known-On-Earth, Wichita

deity .............................. ™

Manon, Calvin ......... : ' • V.V ' 1 ---- AC

Mantey, old settlers' reunion held at.... 4Ui

Manuscripts, calendaring and repairing of, 74
Marion county, citizens of, petition for

removal of Colonel Leavenwprth ...... ««

Maple Hill, note on history of . . . ...... 330

— townsite opened for settlement by

George Fowler ....... . . ..... • ...... 66"

Mapleton, John R. Guthrie hanged ^

at ............................ ' 01 9

—lynching at ..... . .................. |"

— state road through .... ...... : • • ---- »»«

Mariadahl Messenger. Cleburne, cited.... 102

Marais des Cygnes massacre, mentioned.. 185
Marais des Cygnes river ................ *££

—mission founded on ....... . . . . ---- • • • "»

Marietta Grain Co., note on history of . 322
Marion, first load of pine lumber brought ^

— old 'settlers'' reunion held at .......... 401

Marion Record, cited .................. *£>

Marion Review, cited ---- . . ---- • ....... tfyo

Marquette, Father, expedition of,

mentioned .......... • • • ............ ^\(

—Kansas river mentioned by. ... ....... £01

Marrat, John T., Shawnee county .. .... 362

Marriage, requirements at Stockbndge

Mission .......... • • • • ............. 24

Marshall, Ann, wife of Moses

Grinter ............ f'\"X'"J ' ill

Marshall county, historical notes Of..... ***

-lynching in ......... ......... 213, 217

—note on early history of

, 322,

..
Marshall's' ferry, mentioned ............

Martin & Coville, ferry operators .......

Martin, George W., mentioned ..... 1«»,

Martin John, Shawnee county ..........

Martin' John A., editor Atchison

Champion ..........................

Martin, V., mentioned. . . ..............

Martin, Zadoc, mentioned . . ...... . • • • • •

—ferry at Fort Leavenworth operated by,
Marysville, date completion first bridge

over Blue river

PAGE

Matton, John H., mentioned • 261

Matthews, , first permanent settler

on Coal creek, Russell county 22

Matthews, Alexander, lynched .21

Matthews, E. W., lime kilns operated by ^

Maverick, 'first* branding decided owner-

• • 190, iv I

Maxey,' ' John 'A!,' 'first' editor Kingman

Journal %}

May, I., mentioned • • • *°°

Mead, James R 68» JJ

Mead Island, Wichita • • |»'

—Wichita Indian grass house erected on, 71
Meade, old settlers' reunion held J^y^ g'6 gg

395

J

367

— lynchings at ...

— note on early history of . . . '". •".'•.'

Marysville or Palmetto & Roseport rail-
road, first built west of Missouri river,

Mason, Henry F., biographical sketch.. ..

"County Seat Controversies in South

western Kansas," article by 45

213,217

120
4

- 6

Mason James M., U. S. senator of Vir-
ginia .............. •.•••• ........... II

Mason committee, mentioned ........... «»'

—members composing ..•••"•• • _•• • • • • • °°*

Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Co., 144, 146, 1^5
— steps towards organization of ..... 142, 14d

Masterson, Bat, killings of ---- . ........ **

Materson, Jeremiah, ferry operator ...... 2bd

addressed by ................ ."i'll'

—secretary Kansas State Historical o-

—"The ' Bull' Fight' at ' Dodge,

325

44

parting of 344,347

347

—Women's 'Civic Center Club of Hutch-
inson addressed by ....... . •••••• : v '

— Wyandotte County Historical Society,

addressed by «36

Medicine Lodge • • • • • • • • • • • • • ll

hangings for murder and bank robbery ^

at 01 f,

— lynchings at

— robbery of bank at

Medicine Lodge Cresset, cited.

Medicine Lodge Treaty 104

—condemned by Ross 36

— ridiculed
Medina.

— Saunders ferry at

Meeker Rev. Jotham 148, 234, 241

—at organization of Stockbridge Baptist

Mission • ;LQ

— biographical sketch of ........ • • ••••• ^y

—earthly possessions of, subjected to flood

and storm • • • • • • • 341

— edited and printed Shawnee Sun for

brief time •• 339, 340

inventor of method for writing Indian

languages |40

— journals of, quoted :","„'"•'*" Hn

in possession of Historical Society, 33

— printer at Shawnee Mission 32

Meeker, Loren S., ferry operator 12

Meeks, Ed, lynched 21

Meeks, George, lynched £ly

Melvin, James, lynched m

Membre, Father, French explorer, men-

tioned

Mercer, J.' H.', mentioned • • • 88

Merrill, Aaron W., ferry operator. . 259-261
Mershon, Clarence, mentioned .... ... . . . 87

Metcalf, Gen. Wilder S 85,86, 8

— manuscripts and relics given Historical

Society

73

—member Twentieth Kansas regiment .. 320
— military library given Historical

Society "

Meteors, fell in Washington county,

1890, mentioned • : • • 1Utf

Methodist Episcopal Church, Bluff City,

mentioned • • • • •

Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas,

note on development of •••••••••.:•••;*

Methodist Episcopal Church, Southwest

Kansas Conference, history oi-'-y'^0,
Methodist Quarterly Review, quoted. . . . 175

Methodist Shawnee Mission. .••••••• • • • ™

—memorial tablet unveiled to founder of, 336
Mexican, lynched in Lyon county.. 199,21
Mexican and United States Boundary

Commission, mentioned • • • • £01

Mexican War, mentioned 266, 276

428

GENERAL INDEX

Mexico 276

— trade with 8

Mexico, Mo., military school at 315

Meyer, L., Wyandotte merchant 255

Miami, on road from Lecompton to

Barnesville 340

Miami county, lynching in 213, 217

Miami Indians, books printed in language

of 342

Middaugh and Curtis, ferries operated

by 362, 364, 373

— ferry near mouth of Soldier creek,

complaint against 363

— ferriage rates for 1861, reproduction

of original handbill giving 372

— Walker ferry operated by 361

— — ferriage rates established for 361

Middaugh, Joseph, ferry operator, com-
plaint against 373

— partner of Oren A. Curtis 370

— road commissioner 376

Mies, William, reminiscences of 332

Miles, J. E., sergeant "Robinson Rifles"

company 311

Miles, Gen. Nelson A., interview with

Gen. Sears 319, 320

Military expeditions, financing of, by

Kansas 39

Military ferry, Delaware Crossing also

known as 265

Military post, first west of mouth of

Kaw river 115

Military road, from Fort Leavenworth, 28, 118

— Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson 6

to Fort Riley 347

Militia, called out, during Stevens county

seat troubles 57

Wichita county seat war 53

— sent to relief of Judge Theodosius

Botkin 63

Mill, going to, inducements offered by

ferry operators 136

— grist mill at Indianola 356

Mill creek, mentioned 267

Miller, Ed., mentioned 395

Million, George M., biographical sketch

of 117

—pilot 119

— proprietor of Atchison ferry 117

Millspaugh, L. A., mentioned 330

Millwood, lynching at 218

Mincer, C., alias Charles Spencer,

lynched 212

Minneola, Leavenworth Constitutional

Convention met at 74

— lynching at 218

— road from Topeka to 376

Mission, Shawnee Baptist, location of . . . 227
— See, also. Name of church, missions;

Name of tribe, missions; Name of

mission.

Mission Covenant Church, Stotler, six-
tieth anniversary of 393

Missions, among Shawnees 7

Missions, Kansas, Two Minute Books

of 227- 250

Mississippi river, mentioned 4, 32

Missouri, bull fight demonstration held in, 294

— Indians segregated west of 335

— laws of, adopted by Kansas Legislature

of 1855 4

— National Anti-Horse Thief Association

organized in 193

— Platte country added to 153

Missouri Compromise, mentioned. . 152, 154

— opposition to repeal of 146

— protests of clergy against repeal of. ... 143

Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, cited 383

Missouri Indians, mentioned 148

Missouri Pacific railroad 13

— cooperated with Wyandotte in protect-
ing levee 11

Missouri Republican, cited 42, 384

Missouri river 14, 22, 125, 251, 279, 280

Missouri river, bridges, Atchison, built by

J. N. Burnes 117

built at Elwood 4

Kansas City, first to span river 11

— Leavenworth, completion of 18

— changes to Atchison county line made

by 115

— crossing of in 1852 124

— ferries on 3-28, 115-138, 256, 257- 259

— first ferrying done near mouth of Kan-
sas river 5

— freshets cut new channel opposite

Leavenworth 16

— from North Dakota to Kansas City is
'newest' river in the United States. ... 334

— Great Falls of 164

— great western bend of 118

— headwaters of, mentioned 164

— keel boats used on 115

— protection against encroachments of, at

Wyandotte 10

— really Kaw river from Kansas City to

St. Louis 334

— Westport Landing, one of the best on, 8
Missourians, brought to Kansas to vote in

early elections 26, 27

— "Twenty-seven Hundred" at Lawrence

in 1856 343

Mitchell, David H., ferry incorporator. . 15
Mitchell, Henry, farm on South Cedar

creek 376

Mitchell, Wallace, lynched 218

Mitchell county, early postmasters in .... 333

— killing of last buffalo in 394

— note on historical sketches of 330

— Pittsburg an early town of 109

Mob, Kansas statutes define 183

— and lynching, defined by legislative act,

1903 205

Mockbee, John W., ferry operator 122

Mohekunnuk settlement 232

Mohegan and Delaware Baptist Mission
Church. See Delaware Baptist Mission
Church.

Molly Pitcher's spring, mentioned 66

Monmouth, lynchings at 214

Monrovia, road to 116

Montarges, Calisse, a Frenchman com-
monly called "Caleece" 5

— trapper and trader 5

Montezuma, railroad built by A. T. Soule

from Dodge City to 48

Montgomery, James, mentioned 187

Montgomery, R. M., Marysville 401

Montgomery county, history mentioned . . 398

— lynching in 217

Monticello, Johnson county 270, 271

— ferry located near 269

— lynching at 214

— state road through 282

Monticello Ferry Co., history of 271, 272

Monticello- Leavenworth road 271

Monticello-Olathe road 268, 269, 272

Monument, to pioneer women, dedicated

at Ellis . 400

— honoring Frederick Brown, unveiled at

Osawatomie 400

Moon, E. G., Shawnee county 362

Mooney, Daniel, lynched 212

Moore & Sierra, law firm 297

Moore, E. B., mentioned 392

Moore, Ely, Bald Eagle ferry described by, 343
Moore, George L., ferry operator 137

GENERAL INDEX

429

Moore, H. M., commissioner Shawnee

county

871

Moore, J. W., ferry operator 136, 137

Moore, L. D., killed by Jennison in re-

taliation

186

.

—press agent for Dodge City bull ^ ^

Moran, Daniel, negro, lynched 214

Moran, John negro, lynched. ••••••• • • • 214

Morehouse, George P., mentioned. ... 85, 8

Morgan, Perl W., History of Wyandotte

County, Kansas, cited »»*

Mormons, crossed Missouri river on

Elwood ferry • • ; lzy

—Fremont's fifth expedition reached

settlements of 16,2

— war with

Moro shield and spear, given Historical

Society : ' ' Y *J 01 «

Morris, Dr. and son, lynched 216

Morris, J. W., ferry operator . . . 116

Morris county, lynching in 212, 214

Morrison, Newt, lynched 214

Morrison, T. F., mentioned VI",;

Morrow, Granville, Missouri river pilot.. 11
Morrow, William, Lecompton bridge m-

corporator

347

Morse, E. S., member Delaware Baptist

Church 25°

Morse, S. V., ferry operator 10

Morton, , ferry operator ^»<

Morton, John T., Shawne county. ...... 362

Morton County Farmer, Holla, cited 661

Mound City, lynching at n

— state road through

— territorial road to ,•••••,'•

— Theodosius Botkin, probate judge of.. 58
Mount Ayes Friends Church, history of,

mentioned 395

Mt. Hope cemetery, Ellis, monument

dedicated at 400

Mount Oread Institute for Young Ladies,

organized by Eli Thayer 142

Mount Pleasant, on road from Atchison

to Lecompton 346

Mount Pleasant Church, first Christian

church in Kansas 399

Mowry, William A., quoted 364

Moya, Marco, matador at Dodge City

bull fight 303, 305

Mud creek, mentioned 291

Muddy creek, Parkville crossing on 349

Mulberry, attitude towards lynching in. . 2C

— hanging of Albert Evans at 182

—lynching at 21

Mulberry News, cited and quoted.. 202,219

Mule skinner, mentioned 8

Mules, Missouri, used in freighting busi-
ness

Mulvane, first train in, described 395

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Mulvane News, cited • • 395

Muncie, mentioned 262, 265

Muncie creek • 2€

Muncie Ferry Co., organization of 263

Muncie Mission, Leavenworth county 15

Munday, Isaac, blacksmith in Indian serv-
ice 265

Munger, D. S., bond given by 351

Munger, David, first postmaster of

Wichita 82

Munger, S. L., application for ferry li-
cense 370

Munson, F. C., officer cavalry association, 400
Murder, main cause for lynchings after
the suppression of horse stealing 199

PAOI

Murdock, Victor 106, 107, 894, 807

— history of Wichita Indians by, men-
tioned 105

Murphy, B. A., mentioned 851

Murphy, Frank, cattle day reminiscences,

mentioned *S

Murphy, J. H., mentioned 851

Murphy, Thomas, superintendent central

Indian agency 8

Muscotah, state road through 2s

Muse, Judge R. W. P., cited 321

Museum Hall, Topeka, ferry meeting

called for 373

Myers, Gen. , mentioned 56

Myers, George, lynched 214

Myers, James, lynched 214

Myers, William P., lynched 214

N

Nace, W. M., Lecompton bridge incor-

porator 347

Nancy Lee, ferryboat 138

Narwood, B. W., lynched 216

National Anti- Horse- Thief Association,

organization and membership of 193

National Association for Advancement of

Colored People 182

—Walter White, secretary of 189

National Era. Washington, D. C., cited. . 140

154, 171
National Intelligencer, Washington,

cited 159, 162, 174

National Museum, Washington, D. C.,

John Brown pike in 389

National Old Trails Road Association... 110

— markers erected by 224

Nearman, road running north from 13

Nebraska (territory), 1854 164

— plans for organization of 153

Nebraska, bull fight held in 294

— southern boundary of, road from To-
peka to 376

Nebraska and Kansas, William Walker

provisional governor of 9

Nebraska City, freighting for West

started from 8

Nebraska State Historical Society Col-
lections, cited 252

"Necktie party," lynchings popularly

known as 183

Neely, A. F., Shawnee county 362

Negro problem in South 193

Negroes, baptised in the Kansas river. . . 284

— exodus from South 199

— lynched in Kansas 213-219

— number lynched in Kansas 199

— southern, sought mecca in Kansas. ... 399

Nelson, W. H 897

Nemaha county, lynchings in. . . 203, 213, 216
— Wild Cat Horse Guards, organized in. . 193

Neodesha Register, cited 392, 399

Neodesha Rotary Club 398

Neosho City, land boom at 384

—location of 383

Neosho county, lynching in 215

Neosho Falls, visit of Pres. R. B. Hayes

to 392

Neosho Falls Post, cited 392

Neosho Rapids -Lawrence road 283

Neosho river 5

— site of Octagon Settlement Co. located

on 383

Netawaka, trial of gang of horse thieves

operating in Nemaha county 204

Neuer Ansiediungs Verein, organization of, 276

Nevada City, ferries at 277, 278

Nevada City Town Co., operates

ferry 277, 278

430

GENERAL INDEX

New England Emigrant Aid Company,

72, 75, 380
— absorbed the Massachusetts Emigrant

Aid Society 157

— papers of, sent to Kansas State His-
torical Society 144

— plan of, similar to Octagon Settlement

Co 383

New England states, four never had a

lynching 189

New Hampshire Baptist Convention 243

New Haven, state road through 283

New Haven colony, Smith county 103

New Haven (Conn.) Daily Palladium,

cited 175

New Lancaster, road to 258

New Mexico, Juan de Onate, first gov-
ernor 69

New York City, steer baiting perform-
ance held in 294, 298, 299

New York City Public Library, titles of

John Brown material to be printed by, 80
New York Indian reserve, Octagon Settle-
ment Co. located near boundary of... 384

New York Herald, cited 294, 305

New York Independent, cited 144, 158

New York Kanzas League 381

New York Tribune, cited 139, 140, 149

170, 171, 173, 265, 294, 368, 380

New York Times, cited 294

Newark, N. J., canceled proposed bull

fight 294

Newcom, J. M., church clerk, Delaware

Baptist Mission 230

233-235, 237, 238, 241, 242

Newman, road to Big Springs from 348

Newman ferry, history of 348

News Chronicle, Scott City, cited. . 102, 221
Newspaper clippings, in Metcalf collec-

lection 73

Newspapers, Eastern, accused Kansas of

wanting an Indian war 42

— Kansas, files of 40

number received by Kansas State

Historical Society 75

— space devoted to lynchings 209

Newton, J. F., advocate of vegetarianism, 377

Newton, note on early days in 321

Niccum, Norman 352

Nichols, W. S., Shawnee county 362, 363

Nicholson, George T., general passenger

agent, A. T. & S. F. railroad 311

Nicholson, John C.., Harvey county his-
torical manuscripts preserved by 321

Nickerson, old settlers' reunion held at.. 401

Nicollet, Mr. , map of, mentioned.. 161

Nienstedt, Al 396

"Nigger chasing" 187

Nine Mile house, Ten Mile creek 283

"No Man's Land" 384

— Haymeadow massacre committed in... 57

Noble, M. L., ferry operator 137

Nodaway City, Mo., name changed to

Boston 133

Noell, C. W., register of deeds, Ham-
ilton county 222, 332

Nofat, Indian, sale of chattels of 252

Norcatur, note on history of 333

Norcatur Dispatch, cited 333

Norris, Mrs. George 88

North American Review, cited 176, 177

North Lawrence, Flood of 1903, de-
scribed 290, 291

North Topeka, 1859, described 367

—Flood of 1844, described 364

— Robert Walker's ferry, on Kansas river,

near mouth of Soldier creek 360

Northrup & Chick 254

— buy ferry interest of John C. McCoy. . 6

PAGE

Norton, Capt. J. Q. A., Co. D, Nine-
teenth Kansas cavalry 74

Norton, John W., ferry operator 354

Norton Champion, cited 102

Norton county, lynchings in 216

Norway, old settlers' reunion held at 402

Noyes & Moore, ferry operators 137

Noyes, C. W., ferry operator 137

Noyes, Frank, lynched 201, 217

Nyquist, Edna, secretary McPherson

County Historical Society 86, 223, 400

— editor of Pioneer Life and Lore of Mc-
Pherson County, Kansas 223

Oak Mills, Atchison county 25, 27, 115

—Bob Scrugg lynched for murder at, 204, 216
Oakes & Cauffman, John Brown Pikes

shipped in care of 389

Oakley, forty -seventh anniversary cele-
bration mentioned 102

— old settlers' reunion held at 402

"Oasis," name of Dodge City saloon... 304

Obrecht, R. C., mentioned 75

O'Brien, , mentioned 204

Octagon City 382, 383

Octagon plan of settlement, described.. 382
Octagon Settlement Co., constitution

quoted 381

— heavy mortality at 384

— history of 381

— inducements offered shareholders. .382, 383
"Octagon and Vegetarian Settlement Com-
panies," article by Russell Hickman, 377-385

Odell, Clark, lynched 215

Oden, Mrs. Ruth, mentioned 108

O'Fallon, John, mentioned 116

Ogee's ferry, mentioned 4

Ogillalah Indians, lodges mentioned 148

Ohio, regiments, Second cavalry 212

Ohio City, Franklin county, lynching at. . 213

— road through 282

Ohio township, Saline county, old set-
tlers' reunion held in 402

Oil and gas fields, McPherson county,

mentioned 327

Oketo, historical note of 322

— lynching at 213

Oklahoma, Jim Brennan arrested in, for

murder of Sam Wood 62

— run of 1889, mentioned 329

Olathe, lynching at 219

deplored 202

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

—roads to and from 268, 269, 272, 282

Olathe Mirror, cited and quoted 184, 185

202, 206, 208, 214, 275, 395
"Old Horse boat" ferry, operated by

S. P. Yocum 21

Old settlers' reunions, localities holding. . 401

Oliphant, Nat, lynched 218

Oliver, Hannah P., mentioned 88

Oliver, J., mentioned 106

Oliver, L. L., lynched 216

Olson, Henry L., ferry operator 138

Omaha, Neb., bull fight held in 294

Omaha Indians, mentioned 148

Omio, note on history of 323

Onate, Juan de, first governor of New

Mexico 69

One Hundred and Ten, Osage county,

roads to and from 293, 353, 376

O'Neil, Ralph, mentioned 88

"Opera House," name of Dodge City

saloon 304

Oral Hygiene, cited 397

Oregon, emigrants to, went up Kaw

valley 251

— trade with . 8

GENERAL INDEX

431

Oregon and California, period of heavy

travel to 365

Oregon trail 8

— along Highway No. 40 still visible in

places 80

— marker near Barrett dedicated 401

— near Topeka 376

— through Douglas county 282

Orr, James M., member Leavenworth

Ferry Co 21

Osage City, state road through 282

Osage county, lynching in 212

— S. B. Bradford, county attorney of . . . 58
Osage County Journal, Osage City, cited, 102
Osage creek, Bourbon county, lynching on, 216

Osage Indians 105

— reservation of 384

— supplied with firearms by French 70

—visited by M. DuTisne 147

— wars with Osage Indians 70

Osage river, mentioned 186

Osawatomie, state roads touching. . . 261, 282
Osborne, William, note on biographical

sketch of 330

Osborne county, first marriage in 329

— Grand Centre school district, note on

history of 329

Osborne County Farmer, Osborne, cited, 220

329, 395

Oskaloosa 376

— earthquake in 327

— old settlers' reunion held in 401

— state road through 282

— "Territorial Days In," by F. H. Rob-
erts 393

Oskaloosa Independent, cited 327, 393

Osterhout, Elijah, Shawnee county 362

Otoe Indians 148

— books printed in language of 342

Otis, John G., member bridge company, 375
Ottawa, founded on site of Ottawa Bap-
tist miSvsion 229

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

— on road from Lecompton to St. Ber-
nard 346

— roads reaching 283, 376

Ottawa Baptist Mission, organization of, 230

Ottawa creek, Copple's ford on 283

Ottawa county, lynching in 218

— William Robinson pioneer of 391

Ottawa Indians, books printed in lan-
guage of 342

— Jotham Meeker removed to mission for, 342

— mission founded for 229

Ottawa Herald, cited 331

Ottawa Journal, cited 315

Oursler, Mrs. N. J., mentioned 396

Oursler Station, early day post office 396

Overland emigration, by way of St.

Joseph 123

— California 251

— Pike's Peak 126, 129, 130, 136

359, 370
Overland route, plan for protection of . . . 38

Overton, Mr. , Wyandotte 256

Overton, Aaron, ferry on Missouri river

operated by 7

Overton, Allen, ferry operator 7

Overton's crossing, ferry at 7

Owens, John M., ferry operator 270

Oxen, used in freighting business 8

Ozawkie-Jacksonville road 258

Ozawkie- Wyandotte road 258

Pacific City, location of 222

Pacific railroad 151, 174, 277

— plans for 153

— right of way from Indians wanted for, 32

Padonia Methodist Church, forty-fifth

anniversary mentioned 220

Padoucas river. See Kansas river.
Pah-pa-ta-tauk-thy (or Pau-pa-ta-tauk-
tha) member Delaware Mission Church, 233

— excommunicated from 234

Palermo, description of 121

—ferries at 121, 122

Palermo City Co ferry operated by 122

— ferriage rates of 122

Palermo Leader, cited 121

Palmer, James R., mentioned 863

Pani Piques origin of name 70

— name Wichita Indians once known by. . 70

— removal to Red river 70

Paola, lynching at 217

— road from Quindaro to 12

Lawrence to 282

Papan Brothers, ferry established by,

1842 364

— house on Kansas river swept away dur-
ing flood of 1844 365, 368

— in Soldier township in 1840 364

— toll bridge on Shunganunga creek

operated by 365

Papan ferry 4, 376

— conflicting opinion as to location 368

— early description of 364

— ferriage charges 367

— landing on Anthony Ward farm 366

— original location of 363

— painting of, made by Henry Worrall . . 368

— reestablished 365

Paradise Farmer, cited 328

Pardee, road to 116

Paris, on road from Lecompton to

Barnesville 346

Parish, Allen, Lecompton bridge incorpo-

rator 347

Park, George S., mentioned 167

Parker, , a John Brown supporter.. 390

Parker, Rev. , mentioned 149

Parker, A. S. & Co., Atchison freighters. .117

Parker, Rev. Charles, mentioned 105

Parker, James R., Shawnee county 362

Parkhurst, V. R., statement of 364

Parkman, Francis, mentioned 148

Parks, Capt. Joseph, Indian, biographical

sketch of 266

Parks, Tom, killed by Indians 255

Parkville crossing, on Muddy creek 349

Parkville, Mo., mentioned 279

— ferry from Quindaro to 11, 258

— road from Wyandotte leading to 8

Parkville Ferry Co., history of 13

Parowan, valley of, at foot of Wahsatch

mountains 162

Parrish, Fred L.? mentioned 223

Parrish, Isaac, biographical sketch of. ... 273

— ferry operator 273, 274

Parrish Ferry Co., history of 274

Parsons, Sam, ferry operator 274

— surveyor 254

Parsons, Will, of Lawrence 290

Partridge, , hanged on Pottawatomie

creek 211

Patch, E. J., former editor Everest

Reflector 105

Pate, Henry Clay, captured by John

Brown at Black Jack 386

Patee, Dr. C. M., owner Patee theater,

Lawrence 316

— injured in rush of the guard lines, dur-
ing Legislative War 316

Patrick, Mrs. Mae C., mentioned 88

Pauly, Lorenz, Shawnee county 362

Pawnee capitol, mentioned 77

Pawnee county, attempts at rainmaking in, 335
— cattle brands registered in, noted. . 328, 329
— lynching in 218

432

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Pawnee Indians 105

— -discovery of house location near

Scandia 110

— massacre near present Trenton, Neb. . . 329

— Rev. John Dunbar missionary to 22

— Wichita Indians related to 70

Pawnee Picts, described by Catlin 70

Paxton, W. M., Annals of Platte County,

cited 22-25

Peace Commission, Indian, 1867, crea-
tion of 29, 32

— Kansas newspapers ridicule efforts

of 43, 44

Peacock, A. S., mentioned 108

Peacock, William C., old-time plainsman

and scout 66, 67

Pearson, Allen, claim of 353

Pearson, David, member Quindaro &

Parkville Ferry Co 12

Pearson, Robert, eyewitness of Battle of

Black Jack, cited 323

Peck, Robert Morris, mentioned 280

Pegg, Dr. G. R., mentioned 106

Pegg, Mrs. G. R., mentioned 106

Pemberton, John S.,- ferry operator 134

Penney, Joseph, ferry operator 132

Pennsylvania Temperance Society, men-
tioned 177

Pensineau, Paschal, trading house of,

above Fort Leavenworth 23

Pensineau's Landing, above Fort Leaven-
worth 23

People's Voice, Wellington, cited 218

Peoria-Leavenworth territorial road 273

Peterson, Anton, reminiscences of, noted, 326
Peterson, Elmer T., editor Better Homes

and Gardens 67

— editor Wichita Beacon 67

Philadelphia Bulletin, cited 378

Philippine Islands, relics from, given His-
torical Society 73, 74

Phillips, Sampson & Co., publishers, 140, 170

178, 179

first book on Kansas printed by. ... 139

Hale's Kanzas and Nebraska pub-
lished by 157

Phillips, L. L., Lawrence 291

Phillips, M. D., of firm of Phillips,

Sampson & Co., publishers. . . 140, 178, 180

— quoted 158

Phillips, Mrs. M. D., mentioned 88

Phoenix, John, quoted 296, 297

Piankeshaw Indians, mentioned 148

Pickett, Morris, of Shawnee county 362

Picts, of Scotland, mentioned 70

Pierce, John, lynched 215

Pierce, Anderson county, on road from

Lecompton to Bernard 346

Pike, Lieut. Zebulon M 401

— in Bourbon county, 1806 187

"Pikes, John Brown, Story of the," ar-
ticle by Frank H. Hodder 386-390

Pike's Pawnee village site, plans for mak-
ing a national park of 401

Pike's Peak, emigration to 129, 130, 136

— gold mines, route to 359

rush to 126

travel through Topeka during the

height of 370

Pink Rag, Topeka, cited 394

Pioneer Kansan Club, Morris county.... 103
Pioneer Mothers of Central Kansas, Trib-
ute to, by Will Goodman, mentioned . . 395
Pioneer Woman's Association of Ellis,

monument dedicated to 400

Pioneers, value of horses to 195

Pitcher, Molly, spring mentioned 6

Pitcher, Samuel D., ferry operator 19

Pitkin, Richard, lynched 215

PAGE
Pittsburg, towns in Kansas bearing that

name 108

Pittsburg, Crawford county, lynching

in 205, 219

— platting of 221

Pittsburg, Mitchell county, renamed Tip-

ton 109

Pittsburg, Pottawatomie county, location

of 108

Pittsburg Headlight, cited 219, 220

Pittsburg Sun, cited 221

Pittsburg Kansas State Teachers Col-
lege 223

Planter's House, Leavenworth, mentioned, 21
Platte City, Mo., railroad meeting held at, 18

— road to 17

Platte county, Mo 14, 22, 27

— James Kuykendall one time sheriff of, 358
— railroad in, completed to point oppo-
site Leavenworth 17

Platte Purchase, Indian title to 23

— settlement of 6

— trade from territory included in, at-
tracted to Leavenworth 17

Platte river, Missouri, mentioned, 22, 23, 122

Platte river, Nebraska, mentioned 149

Platte Valley Ferry Co., Missouri, his-
tory of 13

Playter, Franklin, Crawford county pio-
neer, death of 221

Pleasant Grove, Greenwood county, lynch-

ings 214

Plevna, history of schools in, noted 336

Plumb, George, mentioned 85, 88

Plymouth Rock, mentioned 66

Pokelas, Francis, member of Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Pomeroy, Samuel C., attitude on crea-
tion of Peace Commission 35

— interested in Atchison ferry boats.... 119
— views on Indian question not shared

by Kansas 34

Pontoon bridge, Lecompton 345

— Leavenworth, built by Vinton Stillings, 18

—Topeka 363, 373

construction of, commenced 270

description of 374

estimate of damage to from high

water 374

— Wyandotte, built in 1863 255

Pony Express 195

— Atchison made starting point of 116

— Elwood first starting point for, on west

side of Missouri 125

Pope, Capt. John, map of, mentioned... 161
Pope, Leavenworth county, mentioned. . . 13

Populist party, mentioned 309-318

Port Williams 116

— short sketch of 115

Post routes, Kansas, mentioned 132

Postal service, Kickapoo, Leavenworth
county, once important distributing

point for 25

Post offices, mail routes established in

advance of 4

Potosi, road from Wyandotte to 258

Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Church,

Ottawa county 230, 233, 234, 244

Pottawatomie county, Pittsburg an early

town of 108

— Spring creek township of 326

Pottawatomie creek, lynching on 211

Pottawatomie Indian Mission school,

Shawnee county, marker erected for. . 110

Pottawatomie Indians 366

— books printed in language of 342

— mission among 150

Potter, R., of Lexington, ferry

operator, 274, 275

GENERAL INDEX

433

Potter, memories of 891

Potter Kansan, cited 891

Potwin, old settlers' reunion held at 402

Potwin Ledger, cited 109, 222

Potwin Messenger, founded by J. M.

Worley 109

Pourier, Constant, ferry operator 133

Prairie City, road to Lecompton from... 346

Prairie fires, mentioned 22

Prairie schooners, days of, mentioned 104

— freight carried by 8

— laden for Colorado 130

Prairie Vale Missionary Union, history of,

noted 391

Pratt, Caleb S., ferry operator 284

Pratt, John Gill 237, 239, 241, 242, 250

— authorized to move to Stockbridge 24

— Baptist missionary, sketch of 229

— certificate of 342

— pastor of Stockbridge Baptist

Church 244- 249

— printer at Shawnee Mission 339

— quoted 230

— received as member of Stockbridge

Baptist Church 244

Pratt, Olivia E 250

— received as member Stockbridge Baptist

Church 244

Pratt, W. R., reminiscences of, noted... 327

Pratt, old settlers' reunion held at 402

Pratt county trails 104

Pratt Daily Tribune, cited 104

Prehistoric animals, discovery of tracks of,

in Kansas 393

Presbyterian Church, Board of Foreign

Missions of 134

Prescott, lynching at 217

Press, newspaper, hostile towards Indian

agents 41

Preuss, Charles, map of route explored

by Fremont, made by 161

Price, , lynched at Hull's Grove,

Jefferson county 212

Price, Hercules H., mentioned 336

Price's Raid, mentioned 367

Priddy, J. W., department adjutant,

G. A. R 86

Prime's ferry, at Independence, Mo 6

Printing press, erected at Stockbridge

Baptist Mission 243

Prophet, Indian, mentioned 276

Proslavery element, sacking of Lawrence

by 185

Protection, newspaper history of,

mentioned 108

Protection Post, first publishers of 108

Prouty, Col. Salmon S., biography men-
tioned 394

Pruitt, Alonzo, mentioned 330, 394

Pueblo Indian ruins, Scott county, men-
tioned 221

Pumpkins, method of drying by Wichita

Indians 69

Purple, Samuel, lynched 217

Putnam's Monthly, cited 173

Quantrill, William C 107

—raid on Lawrence 187, 331

Quarterly Journal of the American

Unitarian Association, cited 167, 173

Quick, John, mentioned 102

Quiett, Ellie, ferry operator 352

— petition for ferry license 351

Quiett, Susan, ferry operator 352

— rates of ferriage 352

Quiett, T. F., application for ferry

license . . 852

PAGE

Quimby, George, ferry incorporator 14

Quimby, William, lynched 216

Quindaro 259, 261

— ferry to Parkville, Mo., operated from, 1

— ferryboat sunk at, by Missourians 12

— free ferry established by 261

— free state town 11

— history of ferries at 11, 12

— roads leading to 8, 258, 261

Quindaro and Parkville Ferry Co., history

of 12

Quindaro and Shawnee Bridge and Road

Co., activities of 261, 262

Quinn, Charles, lynched 214

Quinney, Prudence, mentioned 246, 248

Rafts, used in early ferry boats 3

Rahpateetanksee, , Indian 230

Railroad, built by A. T. Soule in Gray

county 48

—first built west of Missouri river. . 120, 126

— narrow gauge, to Leavenworth 392

Railroad bonds, voted on in Stevens

county 55, 56

Railroad building, era of 4

Railroad routes to Pacific . 159,162

Railroads, a factor in organization of

Kansas and Nebraska 153

— take over freight business formerly

handled by wagon trains 8

Rain, James, member of Delaware

Baptist Church 2£

Rain, experiment to make 33

Ramsey, Maggie Howell 1C

Ramsey, W. P 283

Randolph, Frank L., experiences of 22

Randolph, Mo 253

Rankin, Asa F., note on history of

Sedgwick county by 221

Rankin, Robert C S

Ranson, Joseph C. & Co., ferry privi-
leges granted to 9

Rape, holds third place in Kansas as

cause for lynching 199

Rastall, John E., crossing Papan's ferry,

described 366

Rattlesnake Hills, near St. Joseph, Mo.. 124

Raynesford, H. C 85, 89

— line of Butterfield Overland Despatch

being traced by 86

Rawlins county, Richard Read lynched

in 182

Rawson, William, ferry operator 263

Read, Richard, lynched 182, 219

Reckmeyer, Clarence . 336

Rector & Roberdeau's map, inaccuracies

of 16i

Red Cross 319

"Red Legs," employed in scouting 1£

— reasons for disbanding 188

Red River 161

— Pani Piques remove to 1

Red Rover, Atchison ferryboat US

Redman, D. Hudson, ferry incorporator. . 1

Redpath, James, cited 389

Ree, Thomas B., ferry operator 134

Reed, Clyde M 88

Reed, J. M 851

Rees, Richard R., ferry operator, bio-
graphical note 15

Regier, C. C., author, cited 321

Rehwinkel, A. M., vice president Cowley

County Historical Society 223

Reid, John W., Douglas 292, 293

Remsburg, George J., Atchison county

historian 24, 25, 27, 121, 134

28—1070

434

GENERAL INDEX

Reno county 58

— Hopewell school, note on history of.. 336

— note on old settlers of 324

Republic City, note on history of.. 327,328
Republic City News, fiftieth anniversary

of 328

— founded by Charles H. Wolfe 328

Republic county, John R. Bowersox,

pioneer of 107

— note on history of 327, 328

Republican-Gazette, Gove City, 102, 331, 399

Republican river 5, 164

— high waters in 374

— junction of, with the Smoky Hill river, 251

— note on settlements along 336

Republican State Convention, Topeka,
1868, resolution of, demanding re-
moval of Indians 44

Revere House, Boston 144

Review of Reviews, quoted 190

Reyburn, W. S., Leavenworth ferry

operated by ?2

Reynolds, Enoch, lynched 215

Reynolds, Thomas, lynched in Geary

county 200, 201, 204, 205, 214

Rialto, Mo., ferry at, used by Missou-

rians during early Kansas elections 23

Rialto ferry, establishment of 24

Rice, E. C., surveyor 394

Rice, Jasper S., ferry operator 21

Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the

Mississippi, cited 283

Richfield, Mo 253

Richmond, Mo 14

Richmond, Nemaha county, road from

Lecompton to 347

Ridgeway, John 353

Ridings, Sam P 105

Riggs, Rev. S. R 148

Rigsby, John, negro, lynched 217

Riley, Patsey, lynched 215

Riley county, James M. Harvey, early

settler 107

— lynchings in 212, 213

— note on early settlers of 323

Riley County Historical Society 107

— Kansas Day program of 323

— monument erected in Denison Circle,

Manhattan 110

Rilinger, Joe, historical notes by 222

Rising Sun, Douglas county, disappear-
ance of 344

— Kunkel's ferry at 344

— opposite Lecompton 347

— roads to and from 344

— six horse thieves hanged at 211

Ritchie, John, Shawnee county 362

Rivas, Evaristo A., picador, Dodge City

bull fight 303, 305

Rivas, Rodrigo, matador, Dodge City bull

fight 303, 305

Rively's store, Leavenworth county 18

River des Padoucas and Kansas. See
Kansas river.

Riverside Park, Wichita 67

Roads, Atchison to Lecompton 346

— building of, in western Kansas 47

— centering at Wyandotte City 258

— early state, description of 283

— establishment of 6

— Franklin to Lecompton 346

—Highland to Whitehead 132

— Lawrence 18

— leading to and from Wyandotte 8

Atchison 116

Leavenworth 15

Rising Sun 344

— Leavenworth appreciated importance of, 17

— Lecompton to St. Bernard 346

—permanent, necessity for 3

Roads, reaching Quindaro ferry 12

—territorial 258, 261

to Burr Oak bottom 134

and state 282, 283, 353

established to ferry crossings.... 252

— See, also, Trails and names of cities.
Robbery, holds fourth place in Kansas as

cause of lynching 199

Roberti, August, Shawnee county 362

Roberts, Francis Henry, notes on histori-
cal articles by 327, 393

Roberts, Peter S., ferry operator 133

Roberts, William Y., ferry operator, bio-
logical mention of 9

Robertson, George, negro, lynched 217

Robidoux, Joseph, ferry operated by 122

Robidoux, Julius C., first licensed ferry

in Buchanan county, Mo 124

Robidoux's ferry, St. Joseph, ferry rates

on 124

Robinson, Alfred, member Quindaro &

Parkville Ferry Co 12

Robinson, Gov. Charles 74, 150, 318, 397

— addresses returning "Robinson Rifles"

company 317

— assists in peace proceedings for Legis-
lative War 316, 317

— interested in Quindaro ferry 12, 260

— military company named for 309

member Quindaro Town Co 12

— presents flag to "Robinson Rifles" com-
pany 309

Robinson, John, of Tescott, diary in pos-
session of 391

Robinson, Sam, city marshal of Hugoton, 55
— charged with assault and battery, war-
rant issued against 56

— duel with Ed Short 56

Robinson, Sara, wife of Gov. Charles,

cooking recipes used by 397

Robinson, William, publication of diary

of 391

"Robinson Rifles" company, entrains for

Topeka 310

— military oath administered to 314

— receives flag from Gov. Charles Rob-
inson 309

"Robinson Rifles, The," article by Gen.

Wm. H. Sears 309-320

Robinson's circus, elephant of, refuses to

cross Lawrence bridge 289

Robison, Mrs. E. H., cited 396

Robitaille, R., clerk of the Wyandott

council 254

Rock creek, Lyon county 201

Rock creek crossing, on military road. . . 349
Rocky Mountain News, Denver, cited. ... 40
Rocky Mountain range, western bound-
ary of Kansas 162

Rocky Mountains 32

Roenigk, Adolph, author of Pioneer His-
tory of Kansas 336

Rogers, Dr. C. E., head of journalism

department, Kansas State College 400

Rolingson, Rev. W. R 330

Rolla, note on history of 331

Romig, Owen T 398

Romine, Rev. Francis M 330

Rooks County Record, Stockton, cited . . 102
Roosevelt Intermediate School, Wichita . . 2
Root, George A., curator of archives, Kan-
sas State Historical Society, 2, 114, 226, 338
— "Ferries in Kansas," articles by, on

Kansas river 251-293,343-376

on Missouri river 3-28, 115- 138

— letter of Charles Curtis to regarding

location of Papan ferry 368

Rose, Charles 329

Rose, George, lynched 218

GENERAL INDEX

435

PAGE

Roseport, Doniphan county, name

changed to Elwood 125

— road to Lecornpton from 846

Roseport Town Company, projectors of . . 126

Roser, E. B 397

Rose's branch, ferry operated at mouth

of 7

Ross, Sen. E. G 34

— attitude on Indian question 35

— Medicine Lodge treaty condemned by. . 36

— speech at Lawrence, quoted 80

Rossville, lynching at 216

Rowe, Mrs. Mary 326

Roy, Louis, ferry operator 6

Roy, Peter, ferry operator 6

Roy Lynds, ferryboat 138

Royer, Theodore, lynched 211

Rupp, Mrs. W. E 88, 396

Ruppenthal, Judge Jacob C., 88, 107, 222, 327

Ruppenthal, Margaret Eastland 324

Rush Bottom, Missouri river bottom near

Atchison known as 117

Rush county, old settlers' meeting 110

Rush Island, ferry at 135

— ferriage charges on 136

Rushville, Mo., ferry operating to 121

— freight for, loaded at Manley's landing, 117
Russell, Majors & Waddell, freighters,

halted at Topeka by flood 369

Russell, George, mayor of Wyandotte 257

Russell, W. J . 85, 89

Russell, lynchings at 182, 218

— note on history of 331

— settlement on Sellens creek near 334

Russell City Library, note on history of, 107
Russell Congregational Church, note on

history of 333

Russell county, first land filing in 327

— lynchings in 182, 218

Russell County News, Russell, cited 107

324,327

Russell Record, cited 28, 182

321, 331, 333, 334

Russell's Mills 18

Rust, Charles, county clerk of Atchison,

letter of. quoted 27

Rust, H. N 386

Rutledge, William, ferry operator 263

Rutter, C. L., Lawrence 291

Ryan, Ernest A '. 79, 88

Ryan, John, ferry incorporator 13

Ryan, W. H., Girard, legislator of old

"Pop" days 109

Ryan, William, lynched 215

8

S. C, Pomeroy, Atchison ferryboat, history

of 9, 119

Sab in, George K., ferry operator 122

Sac and Fox Agency, Leavenworth post

route to 278

• — Leavenworth road to, crossed Kansas

river at Stinson ferry 348

— road through 282

Topeka to 376

Tecumseh to 353

Sac and Fox Indians 136

— Harvey W. Foreman, farmer for 134

— of the Missouri, mentioned 148

St. Bernard, road from Lecompton to... 346

—site of 278

St. John Auxiliary of Woman's Home
Missionary Society, history of, men-
tioned 108

St. John Weekly News, cited 108

St. John's Military Academy, Salina, note

on history of 334

St. Joseph and Belmont Ferry, ferryboat
of, sunk 132

PAOB

St. Joseph and Elwood Ferry, history

of 125- 180

—rates of ferriage of 125, 128, 130

— stock ferried over Missouri river by . . 180
St. Joseph, Atchison and Lecompton

stage line 125

St. Joseph, Mo 19

— Blackiston's ferry 125

— described by visitor of 1852 123

—ferry, history of 122, 123

— Missouri river bridge completed at 125

— overland emigration starting from.... 123

St. Joseph Daily Herald, cited 130

St. Louis, Mo 14

— bull fight demonstration held in 294

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, cited 294,305

St. Marks Lutheran Church, Atchison,

sixty-fifth anniversary of 398

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Clay Center,

mentioned 392

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Chepstow, fiftieth anniversary of organ-
ization of 396

Salem 376

— Leavenworth road to 282

— lynching at 216

Salina, historical notes of citizens of 321

— lynching at 218

— Quindaro road to 261

— school history to be published 110

— seventy-fifth birthday of 110

Salina Bakery, mentioned 290

Salina Herald, cited 218

Salina Journal, cited 321, 393, 394

Salina Memorial Art Co., Salina 87

Salina Rustler, cited 393

Saline county, lynchings in 218

— old settlers' reunion held in 402

Saline County Native Daughters, marker

to pioneers to be erected by 110

Saline river, Indian raid on 30, 42

— note on settlements along 336

Salmon river, mentioned 161, 164

Salt creek, Leavenworth county, bridges

on 18

Sampson, Mr. , Boston publisher.. 140

San Diego, Calif., mentioned 276

San Juan mountains, Colorado, men-
tioned 163

Sanborn, Frank B., biographer and sup-
porter of John Brown 386, 390

Sand Creek massacre, mentioned 40

Sand Slue Island, Missouri river 134

Sander, Alvin H., editor Breeder's

Gazette, cited 321

Sanderson, Henry, lynched 218

Sanderson, John lynched 215

Santa Fe, New Mex., route to 359

— trade with, concentrated at West-

port 6, 8

Santa Fe road. See Santa F6 trail.

Santa Fe trail. . 8, 15, 110, 151, 224

258, 265, 277, 283

— free ferry on, history of 257

— missions along route of 7

—near 110 creek 353

— plan for protection of 38

— Wyandotte road intersected 9

Sapp G. W., Shawnee county clerk 371

Sartin, O. D 87

— reminiscences of, cited 321

Satterthwaite, J. M., publisher Douglass
Tribune, testimonial dinner in honor of, 223

Saturday Night Club, Topeka 45

Saunders, Wales, ferry operator 348

— Medina ferry operated by 347

Saunders, Whitelaw 402

Saville, Rev. W. A., mentioned 109

Sawmill, at Douglas 293

436

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Sawmill, White Cloud 135

Sawtell, James H., mentioned 88

Say, Thomas, of Long Expedition, trip

up Kaw valley 251

Scandia, Pawnee Indian house location

found near 110

Scandia Journal, cited 105, 107

Scandia Parent Teachers' Association,

mentioned 105

Schaefers, Rev. William, author 332

Schedtler, Rev. F., mentioned 221

Schlessinger, Arthur Meier, cited 377

Sxihnacke, Mrs. L. C., daughter of John

Davis, congressman 74

Schofield, Gen. J. M., mentioned 36

School days, good old 394

Schmidt, Heinie, of Dodge City 396

Schmidt, John N., mentioned 351

Schultz, Floyd, mentioned 88

Scott, Charles F 88, 103

Scott, Lucien, Leavenworth, biographical

mention of 22

Scott, Samuel, proslavery ruffian, hanged, 186

Scott, Gen. Winfield, mentioned 77

Scott City, bar association meeting held

at 392

— first deaths in, mentioned 221

Scott county, early days in, mentioned.. 221
Scott county historical notes, mention of, 221

— Pueblo Indian ruins in 221

Scott County Historical Society 102

Scott County Record, Scott City, cited.. 102

221, 331

Scott County State Park 392

Scranton, lynched 212

Scroggs, John B., ferry operator, sketch

of 10

Boron, Bob, lynched for murder 204, 216

Seabury, George D., first teacher at

Clifton high school 394

Sear, Hazzard W., Sr., mentioned 398

Searl & Whitman, map of Kansas by. ... 293

Searl, A. D., ferry operator 274

Sears, Clarence H., lieutenant "Robinson

Rifles" company 311, 314

Sears, Brig. Gen. William Henry, 226, 313, 396

— appointed brigadier general 318

— cavalry troop organized by 319

— drill master Haskell Institute 318

— Ingalls and Harris elections mentioned, 398
— Kansas National Guard changes

instituted by 318- 320

— National Guard Officers' School or-

?,™ized by 319> 320

— The Robinson Rifles," article by, 309- 320

Secondine, Indian village of 262, 264, 265

— on road from Wyandotte to Lecompton 346

Secondine crossing, mentioned 265

Sedan, First Christian Church, fiftieth

anniversary mentioned 108

— old settlers' reunion held at 402

Sedan Times-Star, cited 108

Sedgwick Congregational Church, note 'on

history of 324

Sedgwick county, lynchings in 215

— note on history of 221

Sedgwick Pantograph, cited 324

Selecman, Joseph, Iowa Point brick yard

of 135

Seleen, Dr. J., pastor Swedish Lutheran

Church, Mariadahl 102

Selig, A. L., mayor of Lawrence. . . . 290, 291

Sellens creek, settlement on 334

Seneca, first buildings mentioned 106

— lynching at 213

Seneca Courier, cited 204

Seneca Courier-Tribune, cited 106, 222

Seneca Mirror, cited 202, 216

Senex, John, map of, cited 251

PAGB
Settlements on frontier, measures for

protection of 82

Seven Milecreek, Leavenworth county, '13, 15
Seventh Day Adventists, advocates of

vegetarianism 379

Seward, William H., mentioned 390

Seward county, county seat election in, 49

— Springfield chosen county seat 65

Shahan, W. W., mentioned 103

Shannon, John L., murdered 196

Shannon, Gov. Wilson, mentioned 74

Shannon, Wilson, Jr., Lecompton bridge

incorporator 347

Shannon, Anderson county, lynchings in, 211

Shapiro, Allen, mentioned 82

Sharon Springs, lynchings in 218

— county seat moved to, mentioned 104

Sharp, Rev. W. A., Baptist minister,

Topeka 110, 325

Sharp, W. C., Boston lithographer 158

Sharp's rifles, stored at Tabor, Iowa, by

John Brown 390

Shaul, Mrs. Ella D., officer cavalry as-
sociation 400

Shaw, , lynched for horse stealing, 211

Shawnee or Shawneetown 261, 264

— lynchings at 214, 215

— roads reaching 258, 282

Shawnee Bridge Co., charter secured for, 373
Shawnee county, board of commissioners,

1860 371

— commissioners' proceedings prior to

1862 not located 350

— ferriage rates established by 362

—lynchings in 210, 212, 214, 216

Shawnee County Old Settlers' Associa-
tion 109

Shawnee Ferry 264

— Indians crossed on 263

Shawnee Indians 266, 276, 277

— books printed in language of 342

— Charles Bluejacket chief of 341

— crossed Kansas river on Shawnee ferry, 263
— ferry operated by, near present De-

Soto 276

— give tract of land to German settlers. .276

—lands of 12, 266, 267

road from Quindaro through 12

— missions located among 7

— newspaper printed in language of 33

— roads opened through reservation of . . 259

— traded with the Chouteaus 262

—treaty of 1825 with 228

Shawnee Baptist Mission 227-22

— Delaware branch of 228

—location of 227

— Meeker press at . 339

— paper shipped from Boston, via New

Orleans for 342

Shawnee Mission (Methodist) 15, 76, 395

— location of 264

— manual labor school 266

— paper for more than a year enroute

to 264

— road from Tecumseh to 353

— • — Wyandotte to 8

Shawnee Mission Floral Club, lily pool

and rock garden established by 77

Shawnee Mission Indian Historical So-
ciety 86

— granted permission to install museum

in old mission building 76

— meeting of 336

— Mrs. Frank Hardesty, president of.... 85

Shawnee-Quindaro road 261

"Shawnee Sun, the First Indian-
Language Periodical Published
in the United States," article

by Douglas C. McMurtrie 339, 342

— circulated among Indians at or near

the mission settlement 340

GENERAL INDEX

437

turn

Shawnee Sun, description of only surviv-
ing issue 841, 812

— facsimile facing p. 389

— limited editions of 340

— photostatic copy of issue for 1841 79

— printed at irregular intervals 339

Shea, John G., History of the Missis-
sippi, mentioned 147

Sheeran, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick, sketches

of 331

Sheldon, Mrs. E. J., mentioned 106

Sherer, J. A., president Kiowa County

Historical Society 400

Sheridan, lynching at 215

Sheridan county, lynching in 215

Sheriff, powerless before a mob 206

— reinstated following lynching 206

Sherman, Sen. John, of Ohio 33

Sherman, Gen. William T 33,36, 42

— General Service School, at Fort Leaven-
worth, founded by 396

— Governor Crawford's offer of volunteer

cavalry rejected by 35

Sherman County Historical Association,

recent organization of 401

Sherman Hall, Fort Leavenworth, men-
tioned 319

Shirer, H. L 80

Shoemaker, Thomas C., ferry operator,

biographical sketch 19

Short, Ed, city marshal of Woodsdale ... 56
— attempted arrest of Sam Robinson in

the neutral strip 56

— duel with Sam Robinson 56

Short grass prairies, Kansas 45

Shunganunga creek, Papan toll bridge

over 365

Sickels, W. S., reminiscences, mentioned, 327
Sides, Henry, note on biographical sketch

of 333

Sierra & Moore, law firm 297

Sierra Blanca, mentioned 162

Simmons, Mrs. India H., articles on west

Kansas history by 322

Simmons, William K., ferry operator. . . . 345
— member Lane's regiment in Mexican

War 343

Lecompton Town Co 344

Simmons ferry, described 343, 344

Simons, W. C., mentioned 88

Simpson, Jerry, visits to Dodge City re-
called 396

Simpson, Mrs. Jerry, mentioned 398

Simpson, Samuel N., ferry operator 260

Simpson, Mrs. Sidney, mentioned 328

Sinclair, D. C., ferry operator 133

Siwonowe Kesibwa (Shawnee Sun), fac-
simile of frontispiece facing p. 339

Skeekett, Skeikett, Skicket. See Skiggett.
Skiggett, Henry, member Delaware

Baptist Church, 227, 230, 234, 238, 239, 241
Skiggett, Isaac, member Delaware

Baptist Church 240

Skiggett, Mrs. Job, member Delaware

Baptist Church 250

Skiggett, Mrs. Phebe, member Delaware

Baptist Church 230, 242, 246, 249

Slavery, Vegetarian Society opposed to. . . 380
Slaves, Missouri, Quindaro ferryboat

sunk to prevent escape of 12

Smallwood, W. H., biographical sketch of, 13

— ferry operator 131

Smart, Thomas, auctioneer 254

Smith, Billie, lynched 217

Smith, Charlie, lynched 216

Smith, Gerrit 390

— payments on John Brown pikes made

by 389

Smith, Henry, negro, lynched 217

Smith, Henry D., ferry operator 274

Smith, I. and Sons, Chambereburg, Pa.,

John Brown pikes shipped to 889

Smith, Jacob, Shawnee county 862

Smith, James, lynched 215

Smith, James, southern Kansas pioneer. . 891

Smith, John, ferry operator 263

Smith, John, Indian trader 41

Smith, M. K., Shawnee county 862

Smith, Gen. T. A., mentioned 116

Smith, Tom, lynched 216

Smith, William E., mentioned 85, 89

Smith county, note on history of 326

— New Haven colony settled in 103

— old settlers' reunion held in 402

Smith County Pioneer, Smith Center,

cited 103

Smith's Bar, Missouri river, described.. 121

Smith's ferry, mentioned 4, 376

Smith's Fork, tributary of Platte river,

of Missouri 23

Smoky Hill Cattle Pool 102

— organization of 399

Smoky Hill river 5, 161, 164, 167

— junction of, with Republican river. . . 251

— notes on settlements along 336

Sneed, Mr. , Union Pacific civil

engineer 289

Social Science, Winfield, quoted 321

Soldier Christian Church, note on

history of 328

Soldier Clipper, cited 328

Soldier creek 26, 361

— bluffs to north of 365

— Fool Chief's village four miles west of

mouth of 366

— military crossing at Indianola. . . . 359, 366
— "three bridges" near North Topeka. . . 360

Soldiers, lynched 212

Soldiers' Home, state 74

Seller, August, mentioned 88

Solomon, early Irish settlers near 393

— history of, by Harriet Wooley, men-
tioned 391

Solomon river, Indian raid on 30, 42

— note on settlements along 336

Sooka, grass house built by 71

— prayed while building grass house.... 68

— Wichita Indian woman 67

Soule, Asa T., activities of, in Gray

county 48

— financier of Rochester, N. Y 46

— money of, used in Gray county seat

fight 64

South, negro lynchings in 193

— unenviable record of lynchings in 190

South Cedar creek, Henry Mitchell's

farm on 376

South Kansas Tribune, Independence,

cited 327

South Pass, mentioned 151

Southern Commission on the Study of

Lynching 182, 210

"Southern Negroes Once Sought Mecca

in Kansas," note on 399

Southey, Robert, mentioned 148

Southwest Historical Society, Dodge City,

activities of 221

Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., donor, 73

Sower, , mentioned 283

Spain, King of, mentioned 251

Spanish dollar, ferriage charges regulated

by division of 6

Spanish -American war 320

— correspondence and pictures relating to, 73
Sparks, old settlers' reunion held at.... 401

Speculation, era of town 4

Speer and Blanchard, ferry operators.. 358
Spencer, Charles, alias C. Mincer,

lynched 212

438

GENERAL INDEX

Spillman, J. A., president McPherson

County Historical Society 400

Split-the-logs, Charles, Indian ferryman, 252

Sprague, Galatia, ferry operator 276

Spratt, O. M., mentioned 85, 89

Spratt, William, ferry operator 14

Spring branch, tributary Grasshopper

river 344

Spring Branch District School, Chautau-

qua county, history of, mentioned 399

Spring Creek township, Pottawatomie

county 320

Spring river, lynching on 213

Springdale, state road through 283

Springfield, chosen county seat of

Seward county 65

Springfield (Mass.) Republican, cited... 167
Squarles, John, lynched for murder. . 202, 211

Stafford county, lynching in 210

Stage lines 4, 9

— Eastern Kansas 125

Stage route, on east side of Missouri river, 14

Stages, ferriage rates for 856

Stahl, Frank M., president cavalry as-
sociation 400

Stanley, Thomas, mentioned 106

Stanley, Mrs. Thomas, mentioned 106

Stanley, W. E., mentioned 88

Stansbury, Capt. Howard, mentioned, 150, 151

Stanton, lynching at 213

Starr, Patrick, lynched 215

State house reporters, old, mentioned 109

State Road Ferry, also known as

Lafon's ferry 350

— ferriage rates of 356

—owned by A. H. Lafon 350, 351

State roads. See Roads and Towns.

Steam ferryboats 119, 123, 126, 134

Steamboat

—side wheeler 136

— up Kansas river, severed cable of

Papan ferry 367

Stearns, George L., a John Brown sup-
porter 390

Stearwalt, John, ferry operator 122

Steavens, , ferryman at Wyandotte. . 255

Steel, George, ferryman 253

Stecle, James W., editor Kansas

Magazine 223

Steen, Lieut. 164

— inaccuracies in maps of 161

Steig, Mrs. Margaret, reminiscences of,

cited 322

Stephens, , slugged and cast into

Missouri river for dead, came to and

reported incident to police 201

Stephens, Kate, mentioned 87

Sterling, Porter, lynched 212

Sterling, William, lynched 212

Stevens and Fulton, register first cattle

brand in Ford county 331

Stevens and son, lynched for horse steal-
ing 213

Stevens, Caroline F., mentioned 85, 89

Stevens, Gov. I. 1 149, 160

— survey for a Pacific railroad route 159

Stevens county, assassinations following

county-seat contest 54

— county-seat fight in 55, 325

— railroad bond election. 55, 56

— second effort to bring Jim Brennan to

trial 62

— speedy organization of county 54

— Theodosius Botkin involved in fight in, 58

Stevenson James, lynched . 213

Stewart S. J., member Legislature of

1857 384

Stewart, Watson, mentioned 384

Stewart, Sen. W. M., of Nevada 33, 34

Stillings, Vinton, pontoon bridge built by, 18

Stinson, Thomas N., Tecumseh ferry

started by 348

rates of ferriage of 348

— trader at Uniontown 343

Stockbridge Baptist Mission, buildings

started at 243

— erection of printing press at 243

— Pratts remove to 243

Stockbridge Baptist Mission Church,

adopts "Covenant" and "Declaration of

Faith" 243

— disbanded 249

— list of members in 1848 250

— meetings of 244- 249

— merged with Delaware Baptist Mission

Church 249

— organization of 243

— petition for organization of 242

— records of, quoted 243- 250

— votes that all members of, entering
marriage relation must be publicly

united 243

to abstain from use of intoxicating

liquors 243

Stockbridge Indians 229, 236

238, 239, 240, 241
— chief of, joins Delaware Baptist

Church 242, 243

— first mention of, west of Mississippi

river 242

— settle below Fort Leavenworth 242

Stockton, old settlers' reunion held at. . 401

Stone, Ed., mentioned ' 328

Stone, Robert, mentioned 88

Stone creek, mentioned 385

Stonecyphers, , ferry operator.... 138

Stormont, Dr. D. W., member bridge

Company 375

Storrs, Mr. , commissioner Johnson

county 269

Story's Landing, on Missouri river 132

Stotler, Mission Covenant Church,

sixtieth anniversary of 393

Strange, Mrs. , mentioned 392

Stranger creek 14, 18, 26, 118

— Wigglesworth crossing, on road from

Atchison to Lecompton 346

Strong, Dr. C. H., organized Girard

Town Co 333

Stuart and Trembly ferry, ferriage rates

on 272

Stuart, Stephen S.f ferry operator. . 269- 272

Stuart's ferry, ferriage rates on 270

Stuck, J. Cooper, map of Douglas county,

cited 292

Stutler, Boyd B., John Brown collection

owned by 80

Sullivan, Frank T., mentioned 87

Summerfield, mentioned 325

Summerfield Sun, cited 325

— fifty-sixth anniversary of 222

Summers, James V., ferry operator 351

Sumner, Atchison county 27

— ferry, history of 116

— rival of Atchison 116

Sumner county, lynchings in 216, 217

Superior, Weller county, roads reach-
ing 116, 282

Supreme court, Kansas, Henry F. Mason

a member of 2

Survey, Kansas and Nebraska, provision

for 165

— frontier, during an Indian war 395

— southern boundary of Kansas, men-
tioned 266

Surveyor, Johnson county 269

Swan, Nate, Shawnee county 372,373

Swedish Lutheran Church, Mariadahl. . . . 102
Sweetwater mountain range, mentioned.. 163
Swing, Prof. David, mentioned 189

GENERAL INDEX

439

Sylvan Grove, fossil discoveries near.... 393
— history of Bethlehem Lutheran Church

published 898

Sylvan Grove News, cited 393, 398

Syracuse, county-seat claims 64

— county-seat fight with Kendall men-
tioned 106

— lynching at 218

Syracuse colony 899

Syracuse Democratic Principle, cited 218

Syracuse Journal, cited 106, 222, 832

396, 399
Syracuse (N. Y.) Times, cited 399

Tabloid dailies 210

Tabor, Milton 105, 186

— author of "The Story of Kansas,"

cited 323

Tabor, Iowa, Sharp's rifles stored by

John Brown at 890

Tall Charles, Indian ferryman 252, 253

Tanner, Alpheus Hiram 212

— biographical mention of 186

— letter detailing hanging of John R.

Guthrie 186, 187

Tascosa cattle trail, mentioned 325

Taylor, Ed., of Ozawkie 352

Taylor, Mrs. Ida, mentioned 106

Taylor, Joshua, ferry operator 136

Taylor, Solomon, ferry incorporator 13

Teahan, , shot by companion named

Conklin 201

Tecumseh, Indian chief, mentioned 276

Tecumseh, bridge charter secured for. . . . 353

—ferries at 279, 348, 352

petition for 351

— laid out by T. N. Stinson 348

— on air line from Fort Leavenworth to

Council Grove 349

— roads to and from 283, 353

— steamboat landing at 350

Teeters, Jesse L., president Sherman

County Historical Association 401

Telegraph, Fort Leavenworth to Fort

Lyon, Congress urged to construct .... 88

Telephone, invented in 1876 195

Tell, William, mentioned 50

Ten Mile creek, Nine Mile house on 283

Territorial roads, established 353

See, also, Roads.

Tescott News, cited 391

Tesse, , lynched , 215

Texas, annexation of 141, 157

— federal courts in 57

— references to bull fights in 294

— steers, used in Dodge City bull

fight 301,302

"Texas Cattle Trails of Western Kan-
sas," mentioned 221

Thackrey, R. I., editor Kansas Magazine,

cited 223

Thayer, Eli 142, 157, 176, 177, 179

— obtained charter for Massachusetts

Emigrant Aid Company 155

— quoted 143, 178

Thiele, Walter E., military records of
Nineteenth Kansas given Historical

Society by 74

Thomas, Bishop E. S., founded St. John's

Military Academy 334

Thomas, Rev. W. G 106

Thompson, A. W., Denver, Colo 325

Thompson, George, lynched at Leaven-
worth 208,215

Thompson, Henry, ferry operator 126

- — trading post opposite St. Joseph, es-
tablished by 126

Thompson, R. S., mentioned 106

Thompson, W. P., mentioned 868

Thompson, William, ferry above Kick-

apoo City, operated by 26

Thompson, William F., mentioned... 85, 89

Thoreau, Henry D., mentioned 877

Thornton, John, ferry at or near the
Blue Bank on Missouri river op-
erated by 6

Throop, Mrs. James Allen, mentioned . . . 104
Throop church, Washington county, men-
tioned 104

Throop hotel, Topeka, mentioned 315

Thwaites, Reuben G., cited 162, 163

Tiblow, Henry, ferry operator. . 266, 272, 274

Tiblow station, mentioned 272, 273

Tidd, Charles, mentioned 389

Tidy Adala, steam ferryboat, history of,

126-129

Tigret Mound, Bourbon county 186

Tiller and Toiler, Lamed, cited 105,324

328, 329, 334, 335

Tillotson's ford, on Grasshopper river... 344
Tippe, Joe, lynched for robbery and

murder 195, 214

Tippe, Sam, lynched for robbery and

murder 195, 214

Tisdale, Helen, mentioned 108

Todd, Daniel, ferry operator 137

Todd, Jarret, ferry operator, biographical

mention 19

Todd's creek, Platte county, Mo 23

Todhunter, Evan, ferry operator 345

Toledo, on Topeka-Chelsea road 376

Toledo, Spain, swords used in Dodge

City bull fight made in 303, 307

Toll bridges mentioned 4, 365

Toler [Toley?], John, mentioned 269

Toley, Charles, ferry operator 267

Toley, Martha, mentioned 267

Toley, William, ferry operator 267

Toley's ferry 264, 265, 267

— history of 266

— Mexican war, troops crossed river on. . 266
Tom Brierly, steam ferryboat, owned by

Wells and Washburn, described 24

— sunk in Missouri below Weston 25

— swarm of bees settle on jackstaff of . . . 24
Tomahawk creek, Johnson county, lynch-
ing on 184, 214

Tomberlain, , mentioned 283

Tombstone, Ariz., mentioned 296

Tonganoxie, road to 116

Tonganoxie creek, Berry's store on 283

Tonganoxie Mirror, cited 394

Tonney, Herbert, survivor of Haymeadow

massacre 57

Topeka, call for ferry meeting at Museum

Hall 373

— Capital Bridge Company organized at. . 375

— charter for bridge at 369

— clock in old post-office tower, note on

history of 328

— early plat of, by J. B. Whittaker . . . . 355
— Lowman Memorial M. E. Church.... 104

— lynchings at 212, 218

— old settlers' reunion held in 401

— older business firms of 329

— on route to Pike's Peak gold mines. . . 359

— pile bridge, history of 369

carried away in flood 874

— pontoon bridge across Kaw 363, 370

completion of 373

damaged by every high water 375

description of 374

— road to Council Grove changed 376

Delaware to 359

Leavenworth to 350, 363

Quindaro to 261

— roads centering at 376

440

GENERAL INDEX

Topeka and Grantville Ferry Company,

charter issued to 354

— second charter secured for 355

Topeka and Perry ville Ferry Co., in-

corporators of 354

— location of ferry 354

Topeka and Southwestern Railroad Co.,

survey of 324

Topeka Branch, Women's Foreign Mis-
sionary Society of M. E. Church, his-
tory of 399

Topeka Bridge Company, charter secured

f°r 373

— completion of permanent structure in

1870 875

— ferryboats installed when section of

pontoon bridge carried away by flood, 374

Topeka Chamber of Commerce, mentioned, 78

Topeka Daily Capital, cited. . 105, 108, 109

203, 210, 218, 219, 323

329, 393, 397, 398

Topeka Commonwealth, cited 216

Topeka Leader, quoted 374, 375

Topeka State Journal, cited 109, 219, 328

349, 365, 366
Topeka State Record, cited 212, 266, 350

Topeka Tribune, cited and quoted.. 348,' 359
367-370, 372-375

Topeka War, See Legislative War, 1893.
Tordesilla, Antonio de Herrary, historio-
grapher, cited 251

Toronto, note on history of 332

Toronto Republican, cited 332

Tough, Capt. W. S., Union raider 107

Town sites, additions to, platted during

county-seat elections 47

— era of speculation on 4

— technique of promotion of, on western

frontier 382

Townsend, George Alfred, noted

journalist 390

— John Brown pike owned by 389, 390

Towsey, Benjamin 248, 249

Towsey, Elizabeth 230, 235

Towsey, Timothy 227, 230

233-235, 237, 238

Tracy, Robert, ferry operator 133

Trade, Kansas City and Westport depot

for, with West 8

Trading Post, massacre near 185

— road from Wyandotte to 258

Trading post, established by Joseph Utt, 121
Trading posts, along the Kansas river. . . 6

Transportation, use of horses in 195

Travelute, Mrs. A. J., note on reminis-
cences of 322

Treaty, U. S. with Wyandot Indians in

1855, mentioned 254

Trego county, lynching in 217

— notes on history of 108, 322

Trembly and Stuart ferry, ferriage rates

on 272

Trembly, Jacob, ferry operator 271, 272

Trembly, W. B 88

Trenton, Neb., Indian massacre near.... 329
Tribune, note on history of churches in. . 328

Triley, J. A., ferry operator 275

Tripp, H. P 102, 329, 335

Troy Reporter, cited 131

True. Commodore, negro, lynched 218

Tucker, T. P., reminiscences of 328, 394

Tuggle, Jeff, negro, lynched 218

Turkey creek, Harvey county, French

settlement on 326

— Nemaha county, origin of name 222

Turner, Wyandotte county 262

Tuskegee Institute 182, 210

Twin Mound, on Topeka -Minneola road, 376
— territorial road through 282

Udden, Dr. J. A., founder Bethany

College museum 224

Ulysses, contender for county seat of

Grant county 50

Union Emigration Society of Washing-
ton 146, 157

Union Pacific railroad 13, 289, 376

— building of 344

up Kaw valley 347

— depredations on 255

— repairs Lawrence bridge 291

Uniontown, Bourbon county, old settlers'

reunion held at 401

Uniontown, Shawnee county, T. N. Stin-

spn, trader at 348

United States, action in case of lynching, 207
— Army, protest against reduction of .... 40

engineers 334

— Attorney General, action in Haymeadow

massacre proceedings 58

— Bureau of Ethnology, report cited 69

— Commissioner of Indian Affairs, cited . . 30

33, 340, 341
— diplomatic service, Theodosius Botkin

consul 58

— Highway No. 50, plans for marking of, 110

— Indian Bureau 29, 34, 37, 39, 42, 43

attempt to establish harmony with

War Department 30

efforts to change 29, 43

Pomeroy's bill to transfer to War

Department 35

— Interior Department, petition for re-
moval of Colonel Leavenworth sent to. . 44

— Regiments, Seventh cavalry 334, 395

Thirty-eighth infantry, members of,

lynched 215

— troops sent to defense of northwestern

Kansas 36

—War Department 29, 34, 37-39, 43, 281

campaign against Indians launched

in 1868-'69 30

efforts to place Indian Bureau under

control of 29, 33, 43

Garfield's effort to consolidate

Indian Bureau with 37

jurisdiction over hostile Indians sug-
gested for 32

and Interior Department, cooperative

Indian policy worked out by 30

United States and Mexican Boundary

Commission 161, 162

United States Biographical Dictionary,

Missouri, cited 7

University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, cited, 108

University of Kansas, Lawrence 114

— Department of Journalism, mentioned . . 326
— Frank H. Hodder, head of history de-
partment 338

— Frazer Hall 108

— John Brown pike in museum of 390

Updegraff and Brown, ferry operators. . . 350

Updegraff, Derrick, bond given by 351

— ferry operator 354

Updegraff ferry, location of 351, 354

Upham, Charles Wentworth, quoted 176

Utt, John H., ferry operator 135

Utt, Joseph, trading post established by, 121
Utah, trade with 8

Valley Falls, on road from Atchison to

Superior, Osage county 376

Valley Falls Vindicator, cited 321

Van, Harry, negro, lynched 214

Van Buren, Tom, negro, lynched 214

Van Cleave, Rev. S. M., mentioned 830

GENERAL INDEX

441

PAGE

Van De Mark, M. V. B., mentioned 88

Van Petten, A. E., mentioned 88

Van Tuyl, Mrs. E. H., mentioned 85, 88

VanVranklin, John, proprietor Delaware

ferry 14

Vaughan, I. T., Shawnee county 362

Veale, George W., ferry charter granted

to 12

Veatch, W. C., note on biographical

sketch of 333

"Vegetarian and Octagon Settlement Com-
panies, The," article by Russell Hick-

man 377-385

Vegetarian and Our Fellow Creatures,

moved to a vegetarian colony in Idaho, 385
Vegetarian Federal Union, founded in

1889 377

Vegetarian Kansas Emigration Society,
first to adopt Octagon plan of settle-
ment 380

Vegetarian Magazine 379

— united with Food, Home and Garden. . 385

Vegetarian Society, founded 877

Vegetarian Society of America, H. S.

Clubb, president of 385

— short history of 379

Vegetarianism, early history of 377

Verdigris river, lynching on 214

Vermillion river 118, 165

— dedication of Oregon trail marker,

erected near Barrett 401

Victoria, Ellis county, note on founding

of 321

Vigilance committees 198

— warnings of 197

Vigilance organization, state 198

Vigilantes of 1860 197

Vigus, , early Wichita resident 323

Villard, Oswald G., biographer of John

Brown 386

Vincent, Mrs. Nora 331

Vinegar, Pete, negro, lynched 217

Vinland, mentioned 319

Von Schriltz, Guy W 336

Voorhees, minor altercation at 55

Voorhis, E. W., Russell county pioneer,

reminiscences of 331

Voorhis, Michael, ferry operator 355

W

Wabash, Ind., emigrants to Kansas from, 336

Wabaunsee, historical sketch of 220

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

Wabaunsee county, horse thief shot in.. 184

— lynching in 212

Wabaunsee County Herald, Alma, cited.. 215
Wabaunsee County Truth, Wabaunsee,

cited 220

Waggoner, John, Crawford county

pioneer 220

Wagon Bed Springs, note on naming of. . 322

Wahsatch mountains, mentioned 162

Waite's survey 272

Wakarusa creek or river 279

— Bluejacket's ferry on 353

— bridge built across 277, 283

— crossing of 364

— described by Abert 276

—Elk fork of 353

— ferry located at mouth of 277

Wakarusa Treaty of Peace, corrected draft

of, given Historical Society 74

Wakeeney, history of 108

— lynching at 217

Wakeeney Locust Club 322

Wakeeney World, cited 217

Walcalusia (Wakarusa) river, crossing of, 364

Waldo, burial grounds near 335

Waldo Advocate, cited 102, 322, 329, 335

PAGE

Waldo Methodist Episcopal Church, note

on history of 322

Walker, , lynched 213

Walker, , of Wyandotte 256

Walker, Bert P 88

Walker, C. E., reminiscences of 326

Walker, Mrs. Ida M 85, 89

Walker, Isaiah, ferry operator. . 10, 254, 255

Walker, Joel 254, 258

Walker, Robert, application for ferry

license 361

— bond given by 360

— ferry at Calhoun operated by 359

near mouth of Soldier creek 360

rates of ferriage on 361

Walker, Gov. William, ferry owner, bio-
graphical sketch of 9

— journals of, quoted 252- 254

Walker, Mrs. William, quoted 253

Walker ferry, Shawnee county, operated

by Middaugh and Curtis 361, 373

Wallace, Dave 110

Wallace, John M., ferry operator 278

Wallace county, lynchings in 218

— moving county seat to Sharon Springs,

mentioned 104

— notes on early history of. ... 104, 334, 395

Wallace's ferry, ferriage rates on 278

Wallen, Rev. S. S., organized Fairport

Presbyterian Church 328

Walnut Baptist Church, fiftieth anni-
versary of 106

Walnut Christian Church, note on history

of 335

Walnut Creek Post Office 165

Walnut Eagle, cited 106, 332, 335

Walnut Methodist Episcopal Church,

note on history of 332

Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, cited.. 197

Walters, Newton, lynched 203, 218

Wamego, Ames hotel 107, 402

Wanamaker school, west of Topeka, marker
for Pottawatomie Indian mission school

placed on grounds of 110

War of 1812 23

Ward, Anthony, Papan ferry landing on

farm of 366

Ward, G. W., Douglas 293

Ward, John A.. Shawnee county 362

Ware, Eugene F 103

Ware, Joseph H., Emigrant's Guide to

California,, quoted 365

Wark, George H 88

Warner, Amien, member Leavenworth

Ferry Co 21

Warner, Ralph 195

Warrants, issued to swell corruption

funds 47

Warren, , negro, lynched 213

Warren, Mrs. Ella M., Courtland, author, 324

330, 400
Warren, Lieut. Gouverneur K., of corps

of Topographical Engineers 160, 165

— errors in maps of explorers pointed out

by 160, 161

Washburn, Gov. Emory, of Massachu-
setts 142

Washburn College, confers degree of

doctor of laws on Henry F. Mason 45

Washington, George, Indian 240

Washington, James 252

Washington county 326

— notes on courthouse corner stone

layings 325

— school district 59, note on history of.. 327
Washington County Register, Washing-
ton, cited 103, 104, 106, 825

Washington elm, planted at Shawnee

Methodist Mission 77

442

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE

Washington Presbyterian Church, note

on history of 106

Washita river, Oklahoma 66

Water Cure Journal 379

Water cure societies, one organized at

Lawrence in 1855 381

Waterville 322

Wathena, lynching at 213

— road from Topeka to 376

Wathena & St. Joseph Ferry Co 331

Wathena landing 131

Wathena Reporter, cited 125, 130

Wayne township, Edwards county, note

on history of 333

Waysman, James K., ferry operator 348

— recovers ferryboat 349

— statement regarding Stinson ferry 34 (J

Wea Indians, mentioned 148

Wear, William, Wyandotte attorney 256

Weaver, Mrs. Benjamin O., secretary

Kiowa County Historical Society 400

Weaver, Henry, lynched 217

Weaver, Oliver, lynched 217

Weaver, Philip, lynched 217

Weaver, S., Lecompton bridge incor-

porator 347

Weaver, William, Lecompton bridge in-

corporator 347

Webb, Capt. Otis, ferry charter granted

to 11

— Missouri river ferryboat S. C. Pomeroy

operated by 9

Webb, Doctor Thomas H 179

Webb Scrap Books 383

Webster, A. B., former Dodge City

mayor 295, 297, 304

— proposes bull fight for Dodge City 294

Webster, Daniel, negro, lynched 214

Wedel, P. P 400

Wedgwood platter, given museum 75

Weh-hen-che-skondase, Delaware Indian, 236
Weimar City, a German community, set-
tlement of 1

— ferry operated from 13

Weir, D. W., ferry operator 274

Weir. City, old settlers' reunion held at. . 402

Weir Journal, cited 218

Weiscamp, Louis, ferry operator 133

Welch, J. S., secretary Dodge City Driv-
ing Park and Fair Association 297

Weller county, name changed to Osage

county 116

Wellington, lynchings at.. . 208, 216, 217, 397

Wellington Daily News, cited 397

Wellington Press, cited 208, 216

Wellingtonian, Wellington, cited 202,217

Wellman, Manly Wade 105, 107

Wellman, Paul 1 104, 105

Wells & Washburn, ferry operated by... 24

Wells, , lynched 218

Wells, Daniel 398

Wells, G. S., New York 170

Wells, Maj. John B., Platte county

Mo., ferry operator 24

— biographical sketch of 23

Wellsville Globe, cited 323

Wesley, John, lynched 217

West, reasons lynchings flourished in.... 191

— turbulent in early days 192

West Point, N. Y 320

Westmoreland Recorder, cited 109, 326

Weston, Mo 14

Westport, Mo 265-267, 276, 293

— depot for trade with far West 8

— road to Lawrence from 282

• — Shawnee Baptist Mission about five

miles west of 342

— some statistics of trade with 8

— wagons manufactured at 8

PAQB

Westport landing 342

— missions among Shawnees not far from, 7
Western Home Journal, Lawrence, cited. . 189
Western Kansas World, Wakeeney, cited, 322

Western Star, Coldwater, cited 391, 393

Western Times, Sharon Springs, cited. ... 104

334, 396

Wetherall, John M 102

Wetherell, E. H., lynched 213

Weymouth, William H., ferry operator. . 354
Wheat, L. B., Leavenworth attorney and

ferry incorporator 13, 15

Wheeler, Mrs. B. R 88

Wheeler, Ben, lynched 200. 21 7

Wheeler, E. L., bond given by 351

Wheeler, Frank, ferryboat Edgar built by, 20

Wheeler, Mrs. Grace D. M 77

When-ge-skon-dase (or Weh-hen-che-
skondase), Delaware Indian 237

Whipple, Capt. A. W 159

White, , of Wyandotte 256

White, , operated steam saw mill at

Douglas 293

White, Sarah (Mrs. E. O. Brooks),
captured by Indians, notes on reminis-
cences of 322, 394

White, W. B., ferry operator 272, 273

White, Walter, secretary of National As-
sociation for Advancement of Colored

People 189

White, William Allen, author 326

White, William Elvin 394

White City Register, cited 103

White Cloud, Indian chief, student of

Highland Mission 336

White Cloud, ferries at 136-138

— ferry privileges at 4

— flatboat ferry at 138

— note on history of 220

White Cloud, ferryboat 136, 138

— (second), building of 137

White Cloud Belle, ferryboat 138

—wreck of 137

White Cloud City Ferry Co., organization

of 137

White Cloud Globe-Tribune, cited. . . 138, 220
White Cloud Steam Ferry, establishment

of 136

White Cloud Steam Ferry Co., charter

granted to 137

White Cloud Trust Land Co 137

White Pine (Colo.) Cone, cited 199

White Rock, old settlers' reunion held at, 401
White Rock community, Republic county,

notes on early history of 324, 400

White Woman creek 102

Whitehead, James R., ferry operator and

trader 131, 132

Whitehead, Doniphan county 133

— incorporated in 1855 132

— name changed to Bellemont 132

Whitehead ferry, location of 131

Whitfield, John W., election for delegate

to Congress 23

Whiting, C. C., Shawnee county 362

Whitley, Henry, a founder of Solomon. . . 391
Whitman & Searl, map of Kansas, cited. . 293

Whitmore, Guy, lynched 216

Whitney, Mrs. George 326

Whittaker, J. B., Shawnee county, ferry

operator 354, 355, 362

Wichita 326

— bull fight demonstration held in 294

— connected with Winfield by railroad . . . 395

— first Christmas described 109

ferry and bridge mentioned 107

jail 104

social event, mentioned 106

telephone exchange, mentioned 105

GENERAL INDEX

443

PAGE

Wichita, Frank L. Dunn, mayor 66

— Grass Wigwam at, article by Bliss

Isely 66- 71

— Mead Island a part of park system of, 67

— newspaper history of, mentioned 105

— note on founding of 326

— notes on naming of 105, 221, 323

— old settlers' reunion held at 401

— Roosevelt Intermediate School 2

Wichita Beacon, cited 104, 326, 399

— Bliss Isely, reporter on 66

—Elmer T. Peterson, editor of 67

Wichita Board of Education 68

Wichita Booster club, Col. S. S. Carter,

president 66

Wichita county, militia called out during

county seat troubles in 53

Wichita Democrat, cited 105

Wichita Eagle, cited 68, 69, 102, 104- 109

221, 323, 326, 330, 332, 334, 335
392, 394, 395, 397, 398

— sixty-first anniversary of 393

Wichita Indians, action in case of divorce, 67

— agency of, near Anadarko, Okla 66

— agriculture of, described by Onate 70

— Coronado's visit to 69

— dancing by women 69

• — farmers 69

— French records of visits to 70

— grass houses built by 66

— • — described 69

— house building a sacred thing among

ancient 68

— lands of, near Anadarko, Okla 66

— modern, members of Baptist Church.. 68

— note on history of 105

— on Red river, visited by Dodge military

expedition 70

— remove to old habitat in Kansas 71

— removed to home on Washita river 71

—village of, destroyed by Confederates.. 71

mentioned by Onate 70

— wars with Osages 70

Wigglesworth's ford on Stranger creek. . . 346

Wigwam, grass, built at Wichita 66- 71

Wilcox, H. H., Shawnee county 362

Wilcox, J. B., Muscotah, early surveyor, 395
Wild Cat Horse Guards, organized in

Nemaha county 193

Wild Horse Lake, haymaker's camp near, 56
Wilden, Perry J., of San Diego, Calif. . . 397
Wilder, D. W., Annals of Kansas, quoted, 44

— recalls Lincoln's visit to Elwood 129

Wilder, Frank J., New Hampshire books

purchased from 78

Willard, Dr. J. T., vice president Kansas

State College 110

William Osborn, Atchison ferryboat 120

Williams, A 269

Williams, A. L., Shawnee county 362

Williams, C. E 395

Williams, Rev. C. E 330

Williams, C. M.f ferry operator 135

Williams, Charles, negro, lynched by

own race 199, 218

Williams, R. H 268, 269

Williams, R. M., ferry operator 135

Williams, Roger, of Rhode Island 377

Williams, Shrewsbury, ferry operated by, 7
Williamson, John, a founder of Solomon, 391

Williamson, Lieut. R. S 159

Williamstown, Kaw Indian agency lo-
cated near 292

Willie Cade, ferryboat 4, 20

Willis, Willie, ferry operator 257

Willis ferry, ferriage rates on 257

Willow Springs, road to Tecumseh from, 353
Wilmarth, George O., Shawnee county. . . 362

PAGE

Wilmington, on Topeka- Chelsea road... 876

Wilson, , lynched at Atchison 211

Wilson & Co., ferry operators 130

Wilson, Charles, lynched 218

Wilson, Henry 890

Wilson, Henry, Doniphan county 184

Wilson, J. L. C., Russell county pioneer,

reminiscences of 831

Wilson, James, early sheriff of Calhoun

county 859

— road commissioner 859

Wilson, James C., ferry operator 285

Wilson, John H 85, 89

Wilson, Silas, negro, lynched 218

Wilson, Vernon W., information furnished

by 850

Wilson 332

Wilson county, early history reviewed 398

— lynching in 214

— notes on pioneers of 323

Wilson County Citizen, Fredonia, cited,

323, 325

Wilson World, cited 222

Winchester Star, cited 392

Wind River mountains 163, 164

Windom, William, of Minnesota 33

Winfield, connected with Wichita by

railroad 395

— early history of 222

• — lynching at 217

Winfield Courier, cited 107, 223, 330

— sixtieth anniversary of 222

Winfield First Christian Church, sixtieth

anniversary of 106

Winfield Independent -Record, cited 107

Winnebago Lake (Wisconsin T.), Stock-
bridge Indians settle near Leaven-
worth from 242

Winship, George Parker 69

Wireless telegraphy 195

Wires, Mary H., cited 321

Wisconsin colony, settlement in Russell

county 324

Wisconsin State Historical Society 141

Wizner, Z. J 384

Wolf river 165

Wolfe, Charles S., founder of Republic

City News 328

Wolfram, E. A., secretary and curator,

Cowley County Historical Society 223

Women, lynched in the United States... 199
Women's Civic Center Club, Hutchinson. . 224
Women's Foreign Missionary Society of
M. E. Church, Topeka Branch, note on

history of 399

Wood, Claude 108

Wood, J. A 108

Wood, Richard, negro, lynched 217

Wood, Samuel N 64

— arrested on charge of bribery, tried be-
fore Judge Botkin 61

— assassinated by Jim Brennan 61

— biographical sketch of 55

— interested in town of Woodsdale 65

— kidnapping of, and rescue 55

• — mayor of Woodsdale 56

— unpleasant relations with Judge

Botkin 58- 61

— zeal in prosecution of members of the

Haymeadow massacre party 57

Wood, Mrs. Samuel N 61, 64

Woodard, W. A., first vice president

Kiowa County Historical Society 400

Wooden Indian, given museum 76

Woodring, Gov. Harry H 77

Woodsdale 65

— county-seat fight in 325

— S. N. Wood and others interested in.. 55

444

GENERAL INDEX

Woodson, Daniel, territorial secretary and

acting governor, treasurer Lecompton

Town Co 344

Wopdston, note on history of Congrega-
tional Church at 828

Woodston Argus, cited 328

Woodward, Brinton W., ferry operator. . 274

Woodward, Chester 88

Woolard, Col. Sam F 79,85,87, 88

Woolley, Harriet, note on history of

Solomon 391

Wooster, Lorraine E 88

Wooton, Thomas, lynched 217

Worcester County (Mass.) Kansas League 157

Worcester (Mass.) Daily Spy, cited. . 142, 143

150, 157, 171, 173

Worcester (Mass.) Daily Transcript, cited, 173
Worley, J. M., founded Potwin

Messenger 109

Worrall, Henry, artist, painting of Pa pan

ferry made by 368

Wright, Henry 378

Wright, Purd B., librarian public library,

Kansas City, Mo 341

Wulke, Hedwig, donor 75

Wul-lun-da-nat-o'kwa, Indian, mentioned, 250
Wyandot Indian council, record book

quoted 253, 254

Wyandot Indians 252- 255, 264

— came to Kansas in 1843 9

— purchase land from the Delawares 252

Wyandot Nation, inaugurates ferry at

mouth of the Kansas river 252

Wyandot National Ferry, description

of 252, 254

—sale of, in 1856 253- 254

Wyandotte 15, 263

— city authorized to lease its ferry 10

— contracts for ferry 256

— distributing point for Kansas river

settlements 8

— erection of bridges at 259

— ferry, charter granted to 10

lands at 11, 256

operated at 4

tract at 9

— levee at, improved 10, 11

— lynchings in 201, 213, 214

— minute books of city commissioners,

quoted 255

— ordinance of city commissioners 257

— road center 12, 14, 258, 346

Wyandotte Bridge & Ferry Co^, chartered, 259
Wyandotte Bridge Co., erected bridge

across the Kaw 258, 259

— ferry operated by 258

Wyandotte City Co., ferry owned by 9

Wyandotte City Ferry Co., ferry operated

between the two Kansas Cities 10

— privileges granted to 9, 257

Wyandotte county, clerk's office, records

of 258, 267, 271, 273

— Kansas river ferries in 252- 274

PAGE
Wyandotte county, lynchings in, 200, 213- 215

— Missouri river ferries in 3- 13

— most northern ferry of 13

— murders committed in 204

— note on history of courthouse in 323

Wyandotte County Historical Society,

meeting cf 335

— Mrs. Eliza E. Goodrich, secretary 79

— old paper used for membership

certificates 342

Wyandotte Democrat, J. A. Berry, pub-
lisher 10

Wyandotte -Fort Scott road 258

Wyandotte Gazette, cited 10, 11, 201

202, 204, 214, 215, 257, 259, 273

Wyandotte Herald, cited 261

Wyandotte- Jacksonville road 258

Wyandotte -Lawrence road 282

Wyandotte -Leaven worth road 273

Wyandotte newspapers, file incomplete in
Kansas State Historical Society's col-
lection 262

Wyandotte-Ozawkie road 258

Wyandotte Western Argus, cited 255

Wyman, V. F., registers first cattle brand

in Pawnee county 328, 329

Wyncoop, Col. E. W., Indian agent at

Fort Larned 41

— authorized to issue guns and ammuni-
tion to Indians 30

Yates, William, ferry operator 7

Yates Center News, cited 323

Yellowstone river, mentioned 164

Yocum, Simon P., Frank M. Gable's
recollections of his old horse ferry

boat 21

— operated Leavenworth steam ferry . 20

Yoder, J. J., mentioned 400

Yole, Charles, mentioned 327

York, Barney H., ferry operator 122

Yost, Genevieve, "History of Lynchings

in Kansas," article by 182-219

— member staff of Kansas State His-
torical Society 114

Young, D, ferryman 252, 253

Young, H. G., bond of 371

Young, J. N., mentioned 363

Young, J. W., ferry operator 133

Young, John, Shawnee county 362

Young, Nellie, reminiscences of, mentioned, 333

Young, Nelson, Shawnee county 362

Young, W., Shawnee county 362

Younkin, Jasper, mentioned 87

Yunt, Jake, ferry operator 115

Z

Zaines, Noah, mentioned 258

Zeegler,(Zeigleer,Ziegler), Betsey, 230, 235-237
— member of Delaware Baptist Church. . 250
Zimmerman, Mrs. M. E., "History of

White Cloud," mentioned 220