USA > Arkansas > Faulkner County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Garland County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Grant County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Hot Spring County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Lonoke County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Perry County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Pulaski County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
USA > Arkansas > Saline County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 9
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
army and an opportunity to return to his State. He declined the offer; he could not turn and shed the blood of his old neighbors and former friends. In the vicissitudes of war this non-combatant was captured by an Arkansas command, paroled and ordered to report to the military authorities at Lit- tle Rock. He made his way thither, and was thrown into a military prison and promptly indicted for high treason. Then only he began to under- stand the temper of the times, for the chances of his being hanged were probably as a thousand to one to acquittal. In this extremity he broke jail and fled. He again reached the Northern army in which he accepted a commission, and returned to his old home in Batesville, remaining in mili- tary command of the place. He was actively engaged in recruiting the Union men of Northern Arkansas and forming them into regiments. It goes without saying that Baxter never raised a hand to strike back at those who had so deeply wronged him, when their positions were reversed and he had the power in his hands.
At the fall election, 1871, Baxter was the regu- lar Republican candidate for governor, and Joseph Brooks was the Independent Republican nom- inee. The Republican party was divided and each
bid for the Democratic vote by promises to the ex Confederates. Brooks may have been elected, but was counted out. Baxter was duly inaugu- rated. When he had served a year the politicians, it is supposed, who controlled Arkansas, finding they could not use Baxter, or in other words that they had counted in the wrong man, boldly pro- ceeded to undo their own acts, dethrone Baxter and put Brooks in the chair of State. An account of the Baxter-Brooks war is given in another chapter.
Thus was this man the victim of political cir- cumstances; a patriot, loving his country and his neighbors, he was driven from home and State; a non-combatant, he was arrested by his own friends as a traitor and the hangman's halter dangled in his face; breaking prison and stealing away like a skulking convict, to return as ruler and master by the omnipotent power of the bayonet; a non-party man, compelled to be a Republican in politics, and finally, as a Republican, fated to lead the Demo- cratie party to success and power.
The invincible Jacksonian dynasty, built up in Arkansas, with all else of public institutions went down in the sweep of civil war. It has not been revived as a political institution. But the Demo- cratic party dominates the State as of old.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
CHAPTER VII.
SOCIETIES, STATE INSTITUTIONS, ETC .- THE KU KLUX KLAN-INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS- ANCIENT, FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS-GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-BUREAU OF MINES- ARKANSAS AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS-STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY-THE WHEEL -THE STATE CAPITAL-THE CAPITOL BUILDING-STATE LIBRARIES-STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY-STATE BOARD OF HEALTH-DEAF MUTE INSTITUTE -SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND-ARKANSAS LUNATIC ASYLUM-AR- KANSAS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY-THE STATE DEBT.
Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, or a servant, or a friend, Bids each on other for assistance call, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all .- Pope.
ECRET societies are a form of social life and expression which, in some mode of existence, antedate even authentic his- tory. Originally a manner of securing defense from the common enemies of tribes and peoples, they have developed into social and eleemosynary insti- tutions as advances in civilization have been made. At first they were but a severe necessity, and as that time slowly passed away, they became a luxury and a pleasure, having peculiar and strong attrac- tion to nearly all men. That part of one's nature which loves to lean upon others for aid, even in the social scale, finds its expression iu some of the many forms of societies, clubs, organizations or institutions that now pervade nearly all the walks of life. In every day existence, in business, church, state, politics and pleasure, are societies and organizations every- where-for the purposes of gain, charity and
comfort-indeed, for the sole purpose of finding something to do, would be the acknowledgment of many a society motto. The causes are as diversi- fied as the bodies, secret and otherwise, are numerous.
The South furnishes a most remarkable instance of the charm there is in mystery to all men, in the rise and spread of the Ku Klux Klan, a few years ago. Three or four young men, in Columbia, Tenn., spending a social evening together, con- cluded to organize a winter's literary society. All had just returned from the war, in which they had fought for the "lost cause," and found time hanging dull upon them. Each eagerly caught at the idea of a society, and soon they were in the intricacies of the details. Together, from their sparse recollections of their schoolbooks, they evolved the curious name for the society. The name suggested to them that the sport to be derived from it might be increased by making it a secret society. The thing was launched upon this basic idea. In everything connected with it each one was fertile it seems in adding mystery to mys- tery in their meetings and personal movements.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
The initiation of a new member was made a grand and rollicking affair. So complete had the mem- bers occasioned their little innocent society to be a mystery, that it became in an astonishingly brief time a greater enigma to themselves than even to outsiders. It swiftly spread from the village to the county, from the county to the State, and over-ran the Southern States like a racing prairie fire, changing in its aims and objects as rapidly as it had grown. From simply frightening the poor night-prowling darkeys, it became a vast and uncontrollable semi-military organization; inflict- ing punishment here, and there taking life, until the State of Tennessee was thrown into utter con- fusion, and the military forces were called out; large rewards were offered for the arrest even of women found making any of the paraphernalia of the order. Government detectives sent to pry into their secrets were slain, and a general reign of terror ensued. No rewards could induce a mem- ber to betray his fellows; and the efforts of the organizers to control the storm they had raised, were as idle as the buzzing of a summer fly. Thousands and thousands of men belonged to it, who knew really little or nothing about it, and who to this day are oblivious of the true history of one of the most remarkable movements of large bodies of men that has ever occurred in this or perhaps any country. It was said by leading members of the order that they could, in twenty- four hours, put tens of thousands of men in line of battle, all fully armed and equipped. It was indeed the "Invisible Empire." By its founders it was as innocent and harmless in its purposes as a Sunday-school picnic, yet in a few weeks it spread and grew until it overshadowed the land-but little else than a bloody, headless riot. The imagina- tions of men on the outside conjured up the most blood-curdling falsehoods as to its doings; while those inside were, it seems, equally fertile in schemes and devices to further mystify people, alarm some and terrify others, and apparently the wilder the story told about them, the more they would enjoy it. Its true history will long give it rank of first importance to the philosophie and careful, painstaking historian. 4
Among societies of the present day, that organization known as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows is recognized as a prominent one. The Grand Lodge of the order in Arkansas was organ- ized June 11, 1849. Its first past grand master was John J. Horner, elected in 1854. His succes- sors to date have been as follows : James A. Henry, 1858 ; P. O. Hooper, 1859-1866 ; Richard Bragg, Sr., 1862; Peter Brugman, 1867, 1868, 1871; Isaac Eolsom, 1873; Albert Cohen, 1874; John B. Bond, 1876; E. B. Moore, 1878; James S. Holmes, 1880; Adam Clark, 1881; W. A. Jett, 1882; James A. Gibson, 1884; George W. Hurley, 1885 ; H. S. Coleman, 1886, and A. S. Jett, 1887. The pres- ent able officers are R. P. Holt, grand master: J. P. Woolsey, deputy grand master; Louis C. Lincoln, grand warden ; Peter Brugman, grand secretary; H. Ehrenbers, grand treasurer; H. S. Coleman, grand representative; A. S. Jett, grand representative; Rev. L. B. Hawley, grand chap- lain; John R. Richardson, grand marshal; J. G. Parker, grand conductor; William Mosby. grand guardian ; W. J. Glenn, grand herald. In the State there are eighty-two lodges and a total mem- bership, reported by the secretary at the October meeting, 1888, of 2,023. The revenue from sub- ordinate lodges amounts to $13,832, while the relief granted aggregates $2,840. There were sixteen Rebekah lodges organized in 1887-88.
The Masonic fraternity is no less influential in the affairs of every part of the country, than the society just mentioned. There is a tradition-too vague for reliance-that Masonry was introduced into Arkansas by the Spaniards more than 100 years ago, and that therefore the first lodge was established at Arkansas Post. Relying, however, upon the records the earliest formation of a lodge of the order was in 1819, when the Grand Lodge of Kentucky granted a dispensation for a lodge at Arkansas Post. Robert Johnson was the first mas- ter. Judge Andrew Scott, a Federal judge in the Territory, was one of its members. But before this lodge received its charter, the seat of govern- ment was removed to Little Rock, and the Arkan- sas Post lodge became extinct. No other lodge was attempted to be established until 1836, when
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
a dispensation was granted Washington Lodge No. 82, at Fayetteville, October 3, 1837. Onesimus Evans, was master; James McKissick, senior war- den; Mathew Leeper, junior warden.
In 1838 the Grand Lodge of Louisiana granted the second dispensation for a lodge at Arkansas Post-Morning Star Lodge No. 42; the same year granting a charter to Western Star Lodge No. 43, at Little Rock. Of this Edward Cross was master; Charles L. Jeffries, senior warden; Nicholas Peay, junior warden. About this time the Grand Lodge of Alabama granted a charter to Mount Horeb Lodge, of Washington, Hempstead County.
November 21, 1838, these four lodges held a convention at Little Rock and formed the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.
The representatives at this convention were: From Washington Lodge No. 82, of Fayetteville, Onesimus Evans, past master; Washington L. Wil- son, Robert Bedford, Abraham Whinnery, Richard C. S. Brown, Samuel Adams and Williamson S. Oldham.
From Western Star Lodge No. 43, of Little Rock, William Gilchrist, past master; Charles L. Jeffries, past master; Nicholas Peay, past master; Edward Cross, past master; Thomas Parsel, Alden Sprague and John Morris.
From Morning Star Lodge No 42, of the Post of Arkansas, John W. Pullen.
From Mount Horeb Lodge, of Washington, James H. Walker, Allen M. Oakley, Joseph W. Mc- Kean and James Trigg.
Of this convention John Morris, of Western Star Lodge No. 43, was made secretary. Mr. Morris is still living (1889), a resident of Auburn, Sebastian County, and is now quite an old man. Mr. John P. Karns, of Little Rock, was in attendance at the convention, although not a dele- gate. These two are the only ones surviving who were present on that occasion.
The Grand Lodge organized by the election of William Gilchrist, grand master; Onesimus Evans. deputy grand master; James H. Walker, grand sen- ior warden; Washington L. Wilson, grand junior warden; Alden Sprague, grand treasurer, and George C. Watkins, grand secretary.
The constituent lodges, their former charters be- ing extinct by their becoming members of a new jur- isdiction, took new numbers. Washington Lodge, at Fayetteville, became No. 1; Western Star, of Little Rock, became No. 2; Morning Star, of the Post of Arkansas, became No. 3, and Mount Horeb, of Washington, became No. 4. Of these Wash- ington No. 1, and Western Star No. 2, are in vig- orous life, but Morning Star No. 3, and Mount Horeb No. 4, have become defunct.
From this beginning of the four lodges, with a membership of probably 100, the Grand Lodge now consists of over 400 lodges, and a member- ship of about 12,000.
The following are the officers for the present year: R. H. Taylor, grand master, Hot Springs; J. W. Sorrels, deputy grand master, Farmer, Scott County; D. B. Warren, grand lecturer, Gainesville; W. A. Clement, grand orator, Rover, Yell County; W. K. Ramsey, grand senior ward- en, Camden; C. A. Bridewell, grand junior ward- en, Hope; George H. Meade, grand treasurer, Lit- tle Rock; Fay Hempstead, grand secretary, Little Rock; D. D. Leach, grand senior deacon, Augusta; Samuel Peete, grand junior deacon, Batesville; H. W. Brooks, grand chaplain, Hope; John B. Baxter, grand marshal, Brinkley; C. C. Hamby, grand sword bearer, Prescott; S. Solmson, senior grand steward, Pine Bluff; A. T. Wilson, junior grand steward, Eureka Springs; J. C. Churchill, grand pursuivant, Charlotte, Independence County; Ed. Metcalf, grand tyler, Little Rock.
The first post of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, Department of Arkansas, was organized under authority from the Illinois Commandery, and called McPherson Post No. 1, of Little Rock. The district then passed under command of the Depart- ment of Missouri, and by that authority was or- ganized Post No. 2, at Fort Smith.
The Provisional Department of Arkansas was organized June 18, 1883, Stephen Wheeler being department commander, and C. M. Vaughan, adju- tant-general. A State encampment was called to meet at Fort Smith, July 11, 1883. Six posts were represented in this meeting, when the following State officers were elected: S. Wheeler, com-
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
mander; M. Mitchell, senior vice; R. E. Jackson, junior vice; H. Stone, quartermaster, and the following council: John F. Owen, A. S. Fowler, W. W. Bailey, A. Walrath, Benton Turner.
There are now seventy-four posts, with a mem- bership of 2,500, in the State. The present offi- cers are: Department commander, A. S. Fowler; senior vice commander, John Vaughan; junior vice commander, E. A. Ellis; medical director, T. G. Miller; chaplain, T. R. Early.
The council of administration includes A. A. Whissen, Thomas Boles, W. S. Bartholomew, R. E. Renner and I. B. Lawton. The following were the appointments on the staff of the department commander: Assistant adjutant-general, N. W. Cox; assistant quartermaster-general, Stephen Wheeler; judge advocate, S. J. Evans; chief mustering officer, S. K. Robinson; department inspector, R. S. Curry. Headquarters were established at Little Rock, Ark.
There are other bodies in the State whose aims and purposes differ materially from those previously mentioned. Among these is the Arkansas Bureau of Mines, Manufactures and Agriculture, which was organized as a State institution at the session of the legislature in 1889. The governor ap- pointed M. F. Locke commissioner, the latter mak- ing M. W. Manville assistant. They at once pro- ceeded to organize the department and open an office in the State-house. The legislature appro- priated for the next two years for the bureau the sum of $18,000.
This action of the legislature was in response to a demand from all parts of the State, which, growing in volume for some time, culminated in the meeting in Little Rock of numerous promi- nent men, and the organization of the Arkansas State Bureau of Immigration, January 31, 18SS. A demand from almost every county prompted Gov. Senior P. Hughes to issue a call for a State meeting. The meeting was composed only of the best representative citizens. Gov. Hughes, in his address, stated that "the State should have an agricultural, mining and manufacturing bureau, which should be a bureau of statistics and immi- gration, also." Hon. Logan H. Roots was elected
president of the convention. He voiced the pur- poses of the meeting still further when he said, " We want to educate others on the wealth-mak- ing properties of our State." A permanent State organization was effected, one delegate from each county to constitute a State Board of Immigra- tion, and the following permanent officers were chosen: Logan H. Roots, of Little Rock, presi- dent; Dandridge McRae, of Searcy, vice-president; H. L. Remmel, of Newport, secretary; George R. Brown, of Little Rock, treasurer; J. H. Clen- dening, of Fort Smith, A. M. Crow, of Arkadel- phia, W. P. Fletcher, of Lonoke, additional exec- utive committee. The executive committee issued a strong address and published it extensively, giv- ing some of the many inducements the State had to offer immigrants. The legislature could not fail to properly recognize such a movement of the people, and so provided for the long needed bu- reau.
Arkansas Agricultural Association was organ- ized in 1885. It has moved slowly so far, but is now reaching the condition of becoming a great and prosperous institution. The entire State is soon to be made into sub-districts, with minor organ- izations, at least one in each Congressional district, with a local control in each, and all will become stockholders and a part of the parent concern. A permanent State fair and suitable grounds and fixtures are to be provided in the near future, when Arkansas will successfully vie with any State in the Union in an annual display of its products.
The officers of the Agricultural Association for 1889, are as follows: Zeb. Ward, president, Little Rock: B. D. Williams, first vice-president, Little Rock; T. D. Culberhouse, vice-president First Congressional district; D. McRae, vice president Second Congressional district; W. L. Tate, vice- president Third Congressional district ; J. J. Sump- ter, vice-president Fourth Congressional district; J. H. Vanhoose, vice-president Fifth Congressional district; M. W. Manville, secretary; D. W. Bizzell, treasurer.
Arkansas State Horticultural Society was or- ganized May 24, 1879, and incorporated January 31, 1889. Under its completed organization the
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
first fair was held in Little Rock. commencing Wednesday, May 15, 1889. President, E. F. Bab- cock; secretary, M. W. Manville; executive com mittee, S. H. Nowlin, chairman, Little Rock; George P. C. Rumbough, Little Rock; Rev. S. H. Buchanan, Little Rock; E. C. Kinney, Judsonia, and Fred Dengler, Hot Springs, constitute the official board.
In 1881 three farmers of Prairie County met and talked over farm matters, and concluded to organize a society for the welfare of the farming community. The movement grew with astonish- ing rapidity. It was organized as a secret, non- political society, and in matters of trade and com- merce proposed to give its members the benefit of combination. In this respect it advocated ac- tion in concert with all labor unions or organiza- tions of laborers. A State and National organiza- tion was effected, and the sub-organizations, ex- tending to the smallest school districts, were re- quired to obtain authority and report to the State branch and it in return to the National head. Thus far its originators sought what they believed to be the true co-operative method in their business af- fairs.
The next object was to secure beneficial legis- lation to farmers-each one to retain his polit- ical party affiliations, and at the ballot-box to vote for either farmers or those most closely identified with their interests as might be found on the respective party tickets.
The officers of the National society are: Isaac McCracken, president. Ozone, Ark., and A. E. Gardner, secretary and treasurer, Dresden, Tenn. The Arkansas State Wheel officers are: L. P. Featherstone, president, Forrest City; R. H. Morehead, secretary, White Chapel, and W. H. Quayle, treasurer, Ozan.
The scheme was inviting to honest farmers and the humble beginning soon grew to be a most pros- perous society-not only extending over the State, but reaching boldly across the line into other States. When at the zenith of its prosperity. it is estimated there were 60,000 members of the order in Arkansas. This was too tempting a pros- pect for the busy political demagogues, and to the
amazement of the better men in the society, they soon awoke to the fact that they were in the hands of the wily politicians. It is now estimated that the ranks in Arkansas are reduced to 20,000 or less-all for political causes. The movement now is to purge the society of politics and in the near future to meet the Farmer's Alliance in St. Louis, and form a combination of the two societies. It is hoped by this arrangement to avoid the dema- gogues hereafter, and at the same time form a strong and permanent society, which will answer the best interests of the farming community.
As stated elsewhere, the location of a capital for Arkansas early occupied the attention of its citizens. On November 20, 1821, William Rus- sell and others laid off and platted Little Rock as the future capital of the Territory and State. They made a plat and a bill of assurances thereto, subdividing the same into lots and blocks. They granted to Pulaski County Lots 3 and 4 in trust and on the conditions following, viz .: "That the said county of Pulaski within two years" should erect a common jail npon said Lots 3 and 4. Out of this transaction grew a great deal of litigation. The first jail was built of pine logs in 1823. It stood until 1837, when it was burned, and a brick building was erected in its stead. This stood for many years, but through the growth of the city; it in time became a public nuisance and was condemned, and the location moved to the present site of the stone jail.
The Territory was organized by Congress in 1819, and the seat of government located at the Post of Arkansas. In the early part of 1820 arose the question of a new site for the seat of government, and all eyes turned to Pulaski County. A capital syndicate was formed and Little Rock Bluff fixed upon as the future capital. The one trouble was that the land at this point was not yet in market, and so the company secured "sunk land scrip" and located this upon the selected town site. The west line of the Quapaw Indian reser- vation struck the Arkansas River at "the Little Rock" and therefore the east line of the contem- plated capital had to be west of this Quapaw line. This town survey "west of the point of rocks,
L
Restrictfully 0
GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
immediately south of the Arkansas River, and west of the Quapaw line," was surveyed and re- turned to the recorder at St. Louis as the new town site and Territorial capital-called Little Rock. The dedication of the streets, etc., and the plat as laid off, was dated November 10, 1821. Grounds were given for a State house, and other public buildings and purposes, and for "the permanent seat of justice of said county (Pulaski)" was ded- icated an entire half square, " bounded on the north by Markham Street and on the west by Spring Street and on the south by Cherry (now Second) Street " for court house purposes. In return the county was to erect a court house and jail on the lots specified for these purposes, "within ten years from the date hereof." A market house was to be erected by the city on Lots 4 and 5, Block 99. The latter in time was built on these lots, the upper story containing a council chamber, which was in public use until 1864, when the present city hall was erected.
By an act of the legislature, October 24, 1821, James Billingsly, Crawford County, Samuel C. Roane, Clark County, and Robert Bean, Inde- pendence County, were appointed commissioners, "to fix on a proper place for the seat of justice of the County of Pulaski;" the act further specify- ing "they shall take into consideration donations and future divisions." The latter part of the sentence is made still more important by the fact that at that time the western boundary of Pulaski County was 100 miles west, at the mouth of Petit Jean, and the eastern boundary was a few miles below Pine Bluff.
October 18,1820, the Territorial seat of govern- ment was removed from the Post of Arkansas to the Little Rock, the act to take effect June 1, 1821. It provided "that there shall be a bond * *
* for the faithful performance of the promise and good faith by which the seat of government is moved."'
In November, 1821, about the last of the belong- ings of the Territorial capital at the Post were removed to Little Rock. It was a crossing point on the river of the government road leading to Missouri, and the place had often been designated
as the " Missouri Crossing," but the French had generally called it Arkapolis.
During the short time the Territorial capital was at Arkansas Post, no effort was made to erect public buildings, as from the first it was under- stood this was but a temporary location. When the capital came to Little Rock a one-story double log house was built, near the spot where is now the Presbyterian Church, or near the corner of Scott and Fifth Streets. This building was in the old style of two rooms, with an open space between, but all under the same roof. In 1826 the log building was superseded by a one-story frame. March 2, 1831, Congress authorized the Territory to select ten sections of land and appro- priate the same toward erecting capitol buildings; and in 1832 it empowered the governor to lease the salt springs. With these different funds was erected the central building of the present capitol, the old representative hall being where is now the senate chamber. In 1836, when Arkansas became a State, there was yet no plastering in any part of the brick building, and in the assembly halls were plain pine board tables and old fashioned split bottomed chairs, made in Little Rock.
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