USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume I > Part 62
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In his consultation with the Missourians, Governor 'Shannon had evi- dently marked out a course for himself. It was in accordance with the progress already made by the Missourians and their friends. The task set for himself by Governor Shannon, was to enforce the laws passed by the Territorial Legislature, now denominated by the people of Kansas. the "bogus" laws. Some plan must be devised to compel the Free-State people to accept and obey these laws. This had been the burden of the utterances of President Pierce and Jefferson Davis. Refusal to obey these bogus laws was rebellion, they proclaimed. All the power of the admin- istration, all the force possible to be exerted by the slave propaganda of the South, and all the fury of the Border-Ruffians were to be turned into Kansas and compel obedience to the bogus laws. The first step in this process was to be the formation of a "Law and Order" party.
On the 3rd of October, a Pro-Slavery meeting was held at Leavenworth which diseussed the situation fully. A committee was chosen to issue an address to the people on existing conditions. The committee was com- posed of the following named gentlemen : Andrew J. Isacks, D. JJ. John- son, W. G. Mathias, R. R. Rees, L. F. Hollingsworth and D. A. N. Grover, It has been the custom from time immemorial for persons who are prepar- ing to violate all laws to take refuge under cover of law-the dry and withered husk of technicality. They invoke striet construction of laws, and what this vague "strict construction" really implies never can be determined. In Kansas Territory it was made to cover every form of outrage and violence which malevolent ingenuity could invent. This address appealed to "the lovers of law and order" urging them to resist the measures of the Free-State people in opposition to the actions of the Territorial Legislature. It urged these same "lovers of law and order" to assemble in mass meeting at Leavenworth on the 1-4th of November. The Pro-Slavery forces responded, and the meeting held on that day was composed of the Border-Ruffians at Leavenworth and the vicinity, with a goodly number of those from Missouri. Governor Shannon was present. He was an aceredited delegate from Douglas County, although he did not. reside there. He was fully acquainted with the object of the meeting of which he was elected President.
The Vice Presidents were : Chief Justice S. D. Lecompte. Gen. G. W.
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Clark, T. C. Slocum, I. B. Donalson, Colonel G. W. Purkins, Honorable 1. McDonald, General William Barbee, General A. J. Isacks, Judge Rush Elmore, Judge John A. Halderman, General W. P. Richardson, Colonel J. C. Burge, Colonel B. H. Twombly.
The Secretaries were : Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, L. J. Eastin, James H. Thompson, S. A. Williams, George N. Propper, H. A. Halsey.
The Committee on Resolutions was composed of the following named gentlemen : John A. Halderman, G. W. Purkins, J. H. Stringfellow, J. C. Thompson, L. J. Eastin, W. G. Mathias, G. W. Clark, Thomas T. Slo- cum, S. A. Williams, D. M. Johnson, A. Payne, Amos Rees, W. P. Rich- ardson.
A committee was appointed to prepare an address to the people of the United States. This committee was made up as follows : Governor Wilson Shannon, Chairman ; John Calhoun, from Illinois; James Christian, from Kentucky ; Thomas T. Slocum, of Pennsylvania; George W. Clark, from Arkansas; A. J. Isacks, of Louisiana; George W. Purkins, of Virginia ; I. B. Donalson, of Illinois; G. W. Johnson, of Virginia; John A. Halder- man, of Kentucky; A. Rodrigue, of Pennsylvania; Ira Norris, of New Hampshire; O. B. Dickinson, of New York, and W. H. Marvin, of Iowa.
It has been frequently noted herein that the Democratic party was not considered entirely suitable to the work of enforcing the Pro-Slavery propaganda in Kansas. Governor Reeder had found that Democracy in Pennsylvania, and Democracy in Missouri and Kansas Territory, were entirely dissimilar in purpose and method. The resolutions brought in emphasized this difference. And they were adopted as follows:
(1) Resolved, That we, the people here assembled, believing the Constitution of the United States, and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, are sufficient for the protection of our rights, both of person and property, and that in the observance of the same are vested our only hopes of security for liberty and the Union, and that we will maintain the same at all hazards.
(2) Resolved, That in every government, whether Monarchical, Aris- tocratic, Democratic or Republican, the liberty, the life and the property of no individual is safe unless the laws passed by the properly consti- tuted authorities are strictly and freely obeyed.
(3) Resolved, That we hold the doctrine to be strictly true, that no man or set of men are at liberty to resist a law passed by a legislative body, legally organized, unless they choose by their actions to constitute themselves rebels and traitors, and take all the consequences that legiti- mately follow the failure of a revolution.
(4) Resolved, That the course pursued under this Territory by cer- tain persons professing to be the peenliar friends of human freedom is at variance with all law, and entirely subversive of good order, and is practical nullification, rebellion and treason, and should be frowned upon and denounced by every lover of civil liberty and of the perpetuity of the Union.
(5) Resolved, That the repudiation of the laws and properly consti- tuted authorities of this Territory, by the agents and servants of the Massachusetts Aid Society, and the armed preparation of such agents and servants to resist the execution of the laws of Kansas, are treason- able and revolutionary in their character, and should be crushed at once by the strong, united arm of all lovers of law and order.
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(6) Resolved, That the admission of Andrew H. Reeder, to a seat in the next Congress of the United States, would be in violation of all law and precedent, and would have a tendency to encourage treason against all good government, and that the same would be an outrage upon the citizens of Kansas.
(7) Resolved, That the convention lately assembled at Topeka, to form a constitution for a State Government, called and elected by and composed of members of one political party, the so-called "Free-State Party," and neither called nor elected by THE PEOPLE OF KANSAS, would have been a farce if its purposes had not been treasonable; and any constitution presented by such a convention is unworthy the serious consideration of freemen, and if presented to Congress, as the Constitu- tion of Kansas, should be scouted from its halls as an insult to its intel- ligence and an outrage upon our sovereign rights.
(8) Resolved, That we cordially indorse the Kansas-Nebraska act, and more especially that part of it which repeals the Missouri Compro- mise and enunciates the principle that the people of every Territory, in framing their organic law, have a right to decide for themselves what domestic institutions they will or will not have.
(9) Resolved, That the Kansas-Nebraska bill recognizes the true principles of Republican Government, and that we feel that we are as fit for, and as capable of, self-government as we were when citizens of the States, and that we denounce any attempt on the part of Congress or the citizens of other States to interfere with or control our domestic affairs.
(10) Resolved, That, as citizens of a Territory, not having any right to the expression of our voice in the election of the Chief Magistrate of the nation, yet we cannot refrain from the expression of our gratitude to the Democrats of the Northern States for their undeviating support of the true principles of government, contained in the organic law of this Territory.
(11) Resolved, That we condemn and scorn the acts and falsehoods of the Abolition and Free-soil prints throughout the country, in mis- representing the facts growing out of the organization of this Territory, all of which are calculated to mislead public sentiment abroad, and retard the growth, settlement and prosperity of the Territory.
(12) Resolved, That we, the members of this Convention, the Law and Order party, the State Rights party of Kansas, the opponents of Abolitionism, Free-soilism and all the other isms of the day, feel our- selves fully able to sustain the organic law of the Territory and the acts of the Territorial Legislature passed in pursuance thereof, and we hereby pledge ourselves to support and sustain Gov. Shannon in the execution of all laws, and that we have the utmost confidence in the disposition and determination of the Executive to fully and faithfully discharge his duties.
The address provided for was issued on the 30th of November. It was signed by Wilson Shannon, John Calhoun, George W. Purkins, G. W. .Johnson, A. Rodrigue, G. W. Clark, A. J. Isacks, I. B. Donalson, John A. Halderman and Ira Norris. The closing paragraph of the address is as follows:
In conclusion we have to say what Whig and Democrat, Pro-slavery and Free-state men, making a sacrifice of all party names and organiza- tions upon the altar of the public good, have resolved to be known hereafter as the Law and Order party, or "State Rights" party of Kansas, and have given to the world, and have pledged their united Vol. 1-31
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faith in support of a platform of principles laid down in the resolutions which follow. Upon that platform they will stand, insisting upon the execution of the laws; the maintenance of the principles of the organic act of the Territory, affirming for the citizens of Kansas the right to frame their own institutions in their own way, and resisting and repelling all interference from abroad, let it come from what quarter it may, claiming for ourselves the capacity of self-government, to be the friends of the Union, and of the rights of the States. We ask of our friends abroad only the benefit of their advice, sympathy and prayers for our success, and hope to merit their approving judgment.
The adoption of the resolutions by the Pro-Slavery party founded the Law and Order party in Kansas Territory. The Law and Order party as organized by the meeting at Leavenworth was, in fact, a vicious and atrocious vigilance committee, and it developed into an instrument of terrorism. It was a weapon placed in the hands of the lawless element which had invaded Kansas to fraudulently carry elections, and which it was designed to have invade Kansas in the future to inaugurate civil war.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE WAKARUSA WAR
THE MURDER OF DOW
Hickory Point was in the south part of Douglas County, on the old Santa Fe Trail. In that vicinity some of the roads locally known as California trails, California roads, Santa Fe roads, etc., came into the main trail. This led the pioneers to believe that important towns would grow up in that vicinity. Some of the first claims staked out in the Territory were along this trail at the junction of these minor roads with the mother trail. The towns of Palmyra, Louisiana, Brook- lyn, Willow Springs, and others, were projected at an early date. The pioneer settlers had no idea of the locations of the future railroads that would be built in Kansas. Even at the time of the opening of the Ter- ritory, a large commerce was being carried over the old Santa Fe Trail. It had been so for more than thirty years.
One of the first settlers abont Hickory Point was Jacob Branson. He had come from Indiana to Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas, in March, 1854. He remained there until August, 1854, when he moved to Hickory Point, sometimes locally known as Hickory Grove. The town of Louisiana was laid out to include it at a very early date, but did not survive.
Lewis Farley was also from Indiana. In March, 1855, he with his family was living on a claim near Hickory Point. In the first settle- ment of the Territory, the squatters made a regulation or law that each settler might hold two claims of 160 acres each; one a prairie claim ; one a timber claim. Mr. Farley was holding claims for himself, his father, his brother and his brother-in-law. His father, brother and brother-in-law came ont and lived for a time on the claims he was holding for them. He built a house on each of the claims, but before his relatives had finally settled, the claims were jumped, and Farley was left in possession of only his own claim. Later in the spring, a number of Missourians came into that neighborhood looking for claims. They told him he would have to leave his claim on which there was timber. He replied that he had abandoned his prairie claim and intended to live on and improve the timber claim. They persuaded him to go to Willow Springs to submit the matter to a referee. He did not return for some time, and one of the mob said, "they had run off Farley-the stinking scoundrel; and now they would starve out his
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wife and children." The Missourians had torn down his house, and it developed later that they had mobbed Farley. The reason the Mis- sourians gave for destroying Farley's house was that he was a Free- soiler, and that he was claiming more land than he deserved. Mr. Far- ley and his family were compelled to leave that neighborhood. Those engaged in the outrage perpetrated against Farley were James Morri- son, who lived near Westport, and his son, John Morrison, F. M. Cole- man, Thomas Hopkins, Joe Lager, and a man called Ripeto. That was the first outrage perpetrated in the vicinity of Hickory Point. Ripeto said of Farley, "the d-d abolition" (using a vile name) ; "he intended to kill him." Ripeto said to William McKinney, "We have torn down Farley's house. They have given Branson 'notice to leave there and the d-d old abolitionist is so badly scared that he dares not step out fifty yards from his house to cut a stick of timber for fire wood." There were not to exceed twenty families of Pro-Slavery peo- ple in the Hickory Point settlement, and three or four times as many Free-State families.
Charles W. Dow came from Ohio to Hickory Point in February, 1855. He selected a claim which was immediately south of that of Jacob Branson, which had formerly belonged to William White, of Westport, Mo. He was unmarried and went to live at the house of Branson, where he made his home until he was murdered. There were a number of Pro-Slavery men living about Branson, among them Frank- lin M. Coleman. Josiah Hargis, and H. H. Buckley, who was from Johnson County, Missouri. Coleman was a Virginian who had moved to Louisa County, Iowa, in 1849. From Iowa he went to Kansas City, Missouri, in April, 1854, where he remained three months, coming then to Kansas Territory in 1854.1 While in Missouri he was the pro- prietor of the Union Hotel, at Kansas City. He came to Hickory Point in September, 1854. He jumped a claim held by a non-resident named Frasier, and which joined that of William White, and later jumped by Dow. Coleman had questioned Dow about the burning of the cabin on the White claim. They had a quarrel about it and Coleman said, "You deny doing it yourself, but will not say you do not know of its being done, and I think such men as those are dangerous in the coun- try." Dow's claim was immediately east of that of Coleman. There was a conditional line between the claims of Dow and Coleman and this line had been mutually agreed upon and was satisfactory to both par- ties. When the Shawnee Reserve line was surveyed, the settlers believed it furnished a base from which they might determine very nearly where the lines of their claims would fall when the Government finally made the survey of the land. The Shawnee line was two and a half miles east of the claim of Coleman. Dow and others surveyed their claims
1 In his statement to the Congressional Committee to investigate the troubles in Kansas Territory, Coleman said he had gone to California from Virginia, in 1850, and does not mention having moved to Iowa. In his statement to Brewerton he says he moved to Louisa County, Iowa, and said nothing of having moved to California.
MAP OF SECTION 20 AND THE EAST HALF OF SECTION 19, TOWNSHIP 14, RANGE 20, DOUGLAS COUNTY, SHOWING THE CLAIMS ABOUT HICKORY POINT AT THE TIME OF THE MURDER OF CHARLES W. DOW- NOVEMBER 21, 1855 - AS LOCATED BY THE GOVERNMENT SURVEY.
Drawn by William Elsey Connelley-
A. W. Ross, Draughtsman.
NICHOLAS MCKINNEY
HARGIS
BRANSON
Branson's House
19
20
Lawrence
Lime Kiln ->0
Hickory Point
WILLIAM MCKINNEY
COLEMAN
DOW
House of William Mckinney
TO
nta
0- House of Coleman N Dow Murdered
Fe
21/2 Miles To
poor
N
Trail
Palmyra Now Baldwin
-
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using the Shawnee line as a base. This was not satisfactory to some of the squatters, especially the Missourians, who believed it best to allow their claims to stand as they had been staked out, until the Gov- ernment survey was made. These new lines threw Dow's west line over on the east part of Coleman's claim about two hundred and fifty yards. The claim of Jacob Branson was thrown west the same distance, causing him to encroach on the land claimed by Hargis. Contention arose between Branson, Hargis, Dow and Coleman over this matter. Hargis and Coleman desired the old lines to stand, and they continued to cut timber east of the new lines surveyed from the Shawnee Reserve line. Dow protested to Coleman when he continued to cut timber. Coleman afterwards insisted that Dow was abusive in his interview and threatened to find a way to prevent his cutting timber on the disputed land. Coleman was engaged at that time in burning lime, and having a kiln on the strip of land in dispute, it was necessary for him to have wood.
A Mr. Poole owned a blacksmith shop at Hickory Point. About twelve o'clock on the 21st of November, 1855, Dow went to that shop to have a wagon-skein and linch-pin repaired. Salem Gleason stopped at the shop, and as he was entering, he heard Poole remonstrate with Buckley, saying, "Mr. Buckley, if you cannot behave yourself, get out of the shop. I will not have such words in the shop." It seems that there had been a controversy between Buckley and Dow. The entrance of Gleason caused the conversation to be stopped. Dow paid for his work and left in the direction of his house. The trouble between Buckley and Dow involved Branson. Some time before that at the house of Thomas Breese, Buckley had said that he meant to shoot the paunch off old Branson and Dow because they were abolitionists and would steal his niggers. The controversy between Buckley and Dow was over something which Buckley affirmed Dow had said about him. Buckley had a double-barreled shotgun, with both barrels cocked. He said that he had cocked the gun to shoot Dow.
On the morning of the 21st of November, Branson and Dow went to Dow's claim. They put a log heap on fire to burn some lime. Later Dow started to the blacksmith shop with the wagon-skein. He soon returned and told Branson that Coleman and a man in his service, Harvey Moody, were on his claim cutting timber. He requested Bran- son to go with him to warn them off, as Coleman had refused to leave when ordered to do so. Branson took his gun but Dow refused to arm himself, although urged to do so. Before they arrived at the point where the wood was being cut, Coleman was seen to leave the premises. Moody remained and had some conversation with Branson and Dow Branson again urged Dow to go back to the house and get his gun or a pistol. Dow refused to do so.
When Coleman left the claim at the approach of Branson and Dow, he went home and got his shotgun. As Dow was returning from the blacksmith shop, he passed the house of William Mckinney. Colemau was at the house talking to Mr. Mckinney. When Dow came opposite
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MeKinney's house, Coleman went out toward the road where Dow was passing. MeKinney was afraid trouble would arise and told Cole- man to wait, that he wanted to see him. Coleman replied that he would see him that evening. From the Mckinney house, Coleman and Dow went off down the road together. When they got opposite the house of Coleman, MeKinney heard a gun fired in that direction, and looking up he saw the smoke of the gun, and saw Mr. Coleman with the gun at his shoulder. Coleman and Dow were at that time some three or four hun- dred yards from the house of MeKinney. H. H. Buckley passed the Mckinney house about the time Coleman had fired, passing on in the direction of Coleman and Dow. A Mr. Wagner was with Buckley. Dow was some thirty or forty yards from Coleman when fired upon and killed.
The first attempt of Coleman to shoot Dow failed. The cap exploded without discharging the gun. It seems that Dow was unaware of the intention of Coleman to shoot him. He had gone some twenty-five or fifty yards down the road from Coleman, and when he heard the cap explode, he turned about, raised his hand, and motioned with his finger to Coleman, as if he were talking earnestly to him. Coleman put another cap on his gun after Dow had turned around, then raised his gun, aimed at Dow and fired, when Dow immediately fell backward dead. The body of Dow was left lying in the road until near night, although viewed by a number of Pro-Slavery people. When Mr. Branson heard of his death he went to find the body.
Dow was lying on his back, north and south across the road, his head near the middle of the road. The wagon-skein was lying on the fingers of his right hand. Soon after Branson arrived at the hody Mr. Hargis came by with a wagon having no box. The body of Dow was put on the running-gears of this wagon and taken to the house of Branson. Upon examination nine holes were found in Dow's body. It developed that the gun had been loaded with leaden slugs. Two of these had entered the neck, severing the jugular vein. The other shots were in his breast. Some of the slugs had passed entirely through the body and were found in the clothing.
The hogus Legislature had appointed as Sheriff of Douglas County, one Samuel J. Jones, then postmaster at Westport, Missouri. After he had murdered Dow, Coleman went to the Shawnee Mission and gave himself into the custody of Sheriff Jones. In his statement concern- ing the homicide, he says he did this for the reason that Jones was the Sheriff of the county in which he lived. Governor Shannon directed that Coleman be taken before a magistrate of Douglas County. On the road thither with Coleman, Jones met a messenger at the Bull Creek crossing, warning him that feeling was running high at Hickory Point, and that it was dangerous to go there with his prisoner. Jones took Coleman back to Shawnee Mission, when the Governor directed that he should be taken to Lecompton and arraigned before Judge Lecompte. Judge Lecompte was not then at Lecompton. After waiting eight days for him to appear, Coleman was carried before J. P. Saunders, Justice
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of the Peace, where he was released on bail, the amount of which was $500. His bond was signed by Mobillon McGee and Thomas Mockaby.
While Dow was not murdered because he was a Free-State man, but in a dispute over the lines of a claim, the political conditions of the Territory were primarily at the bottom of it. The community was sharply divided on the subject then uppermost in the public mind. Dow and his first friend, Branson, were Free-State men, and Branson seems to have been an active one, and a leader. His life, as well as that of Dow, had been threatened because they were "Abolitionists." The Pro-Slavery men of the settlement stood behind Coleman. There is little doubt that he was aided and abetted in his crime by these men. The Free-State men must have believed so. Dow was murdered on Wednesday, and his funeral was on Saturday. It was largely attended by the Free-State settlers. Gazing upon his death-stricken face-stand- ing by his open grave-vengeance stirred their hearts. They might be standing on the brink of eternity themselves. Their wives and chil- dren might be left helpless and alone on this dangerous frontier. For what? That slavery might live and freedom die. That was at the bottom of it all. The immediate cause might be a dispute about a claim-or a horse, or any other minor matter-but those for slavery had acted together against Dow. Alive, he was an individual con- tending for his property-rights. Dead, he represented the spirit con- tending in Kansas for freedom. Living, his contest concerned himself. Dead at the hands of a Border-Ruffian, he represented the cause for which the Free-State men were then braving the consequences of insur- rection. Trne, they were in the majority there, but yonder in Missouri ! There was the reserve strength of the Pro-Slavery hordes who came over to impose bogus institutions on them.
Early on the morning after the murder, a number of Free-State men assembled and began a search for Coleman. There were some fifteen or sixteen of them. About a quarter of a mile from Coleman's house they were joined by a party of as many more, who came up from the timber in the direction of the residence of Branson. They stopped at Coleman's gate, sending three of their number in to search the house. Most of them were armed with Sharps' rifles, some with common rifles. Branson was with this party, the leader of it.2 Coleman was
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