USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume II > Part 13
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In 1857 H. J. Strickler was appointed under an act of the Terri- torial Legislature to audit the claims of the Kansas people for loss and damage sustained in the troubles and border wars which had raged in the Territory. Claims were presented to the amount of $301,225.11. Ile approved claims to the amount of $254,279.28. It was the inten- tion to have Congress pay these claims, and they were accordingly cer- tified to Congress as approved by Striekler. Congress took no action. This matter was considered by the Territorial Legislature which assem- bled in January, 1859. An act was passed authorizing the appoint- ment of three commissioners to again consider these claims. This act was approved by Governor Medary on the 7th of February, 1859. There was also a supplemental aet approved on the 11th of February, 1859. The commissioners appointed under these acts were Edward Hoog- land, Henry J. Adams, and Samuel A. Kingman. These commission- ers took up all the claims for loss and damage in the Territory, inelud- ing those considered by Strickler. They considered four hundred and sixty-three applications and made awards to four hundred and seven- teen claimants in the total amount of $412,978.03. It was not contem- plated in either of these aets that the Territory or its successor, the State of Kansas, should be held liable, or be in any way bound, for the payment of any of these claims. All that was being done was for the purpose of putting these claims in shape for the Wyandotte Constitu- tional Convention to include them in a schedule to Congress. It was hoped that the Congress of the United States would assume the debt and pay the claims. It was the duty of the commissioners, under Sec- tion 10 of the aet approved February 7th, to deliver to a claimant upon demand, a certificate showing the amount of award made to him. Sec- tion 13 of the Act is here set out :
See. 13. Nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to authorize the payment of the warrants issued, in accordance with its provisions, before
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the first day of January, 1865, unless provisions shall be made for fund- ing these warrants with the other indebtedness of the Territory, or unless Congress shall sooner make provisions for their payment ; but said war- rants shall bear interest at the rate of six per cent per annum.
In the Supplemental Act certain provisions prohibiting the issu- ance of scrip or bonds appear as follows:
See. 5. That the said Commissioners are hereby prohibited from issu- ing any Territorial serip or bonds.
See. 6. That the certificates issued by the governor, in pursuance of the tenth section of the Aet to which this is supplemental, shall not be construed as binding the Territory for the payment of said claims, until the same shall be fully authorized by subsequent legislation on the part of the Territory.
When the Territorial Legislature was called into special session in January, 1860, it was reported that the Territorial officials had, in vio- lation of the aets mentioned herein, issued to certain persons bonds for their claims, thereby attempting to pledge the faith of the Terri- tory and its sneeessor, the State, for the payment of these claims. A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. This committee consisted of S. N. Wood, H. R. Dutton, and William H. Fitzpatrick. Wood was always subservient to Governor Robinson. He and Dutton submitted a majority report approving, in effect, the action of the Ter- ritorial officers. Fitzpatrick was a patriotie, honest man, and submit- ted a minority report in which he condemned the proceedings of these offieers. It appears from documents in the report submitted by the committee, that $95,700.00 in bonds had been issued to some of these elaimants for loss and damage. They had been issued between the dates of May 2, and July 1, 1859. Of these bonds, $45,100 had been issued to Shaler W. Eldridge, and $24,000 had been issued to Charles Rob- inson. This was a total of $69,100. The remaining amount of $26,600 was divided among various persons, $10,000 of which was to Anna M. Jenkins, widow of Gaius Jenkins.
Robert B. Mitehell had been appointed Treasurer of Kansas Terri- tory by Governor Medary, February 11. 1859. When questioned by the committee as to why he had issued these bonds, he took refuge under Section 6 of a certain Aet which had been also passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor on the 11th of February, as follows :
See. 6. From and after the passage of this act, all persons having any indebtedness of this Territory in the form of warrants upon the treasury, for indebtedness which has acerued subsequent to the first day of November, 1857, or which may accrue prior to the first day of JJanu- ary, 1860, shall. upon presentation of the same to the treasurer of the Territory. receive therefor a bond or bonds of the Territory of Kansas, as provided for in the first section of this aet : Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the treasurer to issue bonds for the redemption of warrants, when money be in his hands sufficient to pay the same.
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This Funding Aet was in direct violation of all the legislation affecting these claims. Few seemed to know that any such aet had passed. In the investigation the Legislature of 1861 took some testi- mony. This testimony shows plainly that certain parties having elaims and desiring to start a Bank in Lawrenee, secured the passage of this Funding Act by fraud. Mr. Norman Allen testified, as shown by the Journal of the House of that Legislature, at page 337, that the Fund- ing Act was designed, "to be confined to the regular debt of the Ter- ritory, which I supposed would not exceed fifty or sixty thousand dol- lars. My object was to provide for the expenses of elerk hire for the session of 1859. It was not my intention to make any provision for funding any claim which might be audited under the claims aet of that session."
C. W. Babeoek testified, as shown at page 336, as follows :
I have heard the rumor that means were used to proeure the issuing of bonds, but cannot give the names of any persons who told me so. I do not know the names of any persons who did communicate any facts eon- cerning the deposits of bonds for banking purposes. I have seen notices that Mr. Morrow was President, and Mr. Smith Cashier of the Lawrence Bank. I do not know which act was first introduced, the act that passed or the one that did not. The supplemental aet was intended to apply to the act that passed, and was gotten up afterwards. I heard after the passage of the supplemental aet, that its phraseology was so arranged, by design, as te defeat the objeets of the bill. I heard this after the adjournment of the Legislature. My impression is that it was not mem- bers of the Legislature. but outside parties who were interested, who told me so. I do not think the funding aet of February 11, 1859, was gotten up for the purpose of funding elaim warrants; at least I do not think such was the intention of the majority who passed it.
Iliram J. Strickler testified, as shown on page 323, Journal of the House :
The first applicants for warrants upon the Treasury under Section 10 of the claim Act, were Messrs. Col. S. W. Eldridge and Gov. Charles Robinson and Mrs. Jenkins.
In the testimony of Hugh S. Walsh, who was Territorial Secretary at the time, and whose integrity never has been questioned, Governor Medary was implicated in the issuance of these bonds.
Before the time of issuing the Bonds we were on friendly terms, and so continued for sometime afterwards. The Bonds were issued in the summer of 1859 ; we continued friendly up to January, 1860. I then, for the first time, discovered that Gov. Medary was unfriendly to me, and I presumed his hostility arose out of a report which I made as Secretary, to 21 members of the Legislature who called upon me for information in regard to these claim Bonds. At least up to that time we were on speaking terms. When I was called upon by Mr. Mitchell to approve the Bonds, Gov. Medary was in Ohio. The report above alluded to eon- tained the facts here stated in my testimony.
Walsh was also Acting-Governor in the absence of Medary. IIe re- fused absolutely to have anything to do with the issuance of these bonds. Ilis testimony as to the activity of Treasurer Mitchell is very interesting.
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In May or June, 1859, I was applied to by Mr. Mitchell, the Treasurer of the Territory, to approve, as Acting Governor, certain Territorial Bonds. I refused on the grounds that I did not believe any Bonds issued for Claims, under the Act to provide for the adjustment and payment of Claims, were valid. The Treasurer informed me that the Bonds were not for claims but Territorial expenses, and belonged to David Weir. I informed him that I would not sign any Territorial Bonds whatever without tracing them back to their original indebtedness, through all the parties' hands through which they might have passed. As I was super- intending the public printing at the time, I had not then leisure to do it. Gov. Medary returned again shortly after, and I was never again applied to for that purpose. The only application to approve Bond's, made to me, came from Mr. Mitchell.
Mr. Walsh pressed Treasurer Mitchell for his reason for issuing these bonds. Walsh had been informed by John W. Wright, a member of the Legislature of 1859, that certain parties, ineluding himself, were going to establish a bank in Lawrence, based on the claim bonds, under a charter granted in 1858, authorizing the establishment of banks in Lawrence, Wyandotte and Leavenworth. Walsh informed Mr. Wright that that charter had expired. Mr. Wright replied that Mr. Walsh had better not meddle with the matter or oppose it, but let it travel along; that they were determined to do it, and that Walsh could not prevent it. Upon seeing a bill issued by one of these banks, which had been established at Lawrence, Governor Walsh addressed a letter to Robert B. Mitchell, whereupon the following correspondence was had :
TREASURER'S OFFICE, LECOMPTON, MAY 28, 1860. Mr. Hugh S. Walsh, Secretary and Acting Governor of Kansas Ter. Sir :- Your note of 26th inst. is received. In reply, I have only to ask by what authority you propound certain questions to me relative to the Lawrence Bank seenrities, bank notes or hills, &c.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
Your ob't servant, ROBT. B. MITCHELL, Treasurer of Kansas Territory.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, KANSAS TERRITORY, LECOMPTON, MAY 28TH, 1860.
Mr. Robert B. Mitchell, Territorial Treasurer, Lecompton.
Sir :- In reply to your inquiry, by what authority I propound certain questions to you in relation to the Lawrence Bank securities, notes and bills, I refer you to the 15th section of the Act creating the office of Territorial Treasurer, which is as follows: "It is his duty to submit his books, accounts, vouchers and funds to the inspection of the Gover- nor," &c. I did not anticipate a want of knowledge of my authority at the time I made inquiry, or I would have referred you to the section of the law. I am Sir, very respectfully, Your ob't servant, HUGH S. WALSHI, Secretary and Acting Governor.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, KANSAS TERRITORY, LECOMPTON, MAY 29, 1860.
Mr. Robert B. Mitchell, Territorial Treasurer, Lecompton.
Sir :- In your reply, yesterday, to my inquiry requesting information respecting your action as Territorial Treasurer, with regard to the Law-
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ence Bank, and the securities for its notes, &e., you say "I have only to ask by what authority you propound certain questions to me in rela- tion to the Lawrenee Bank seeurities, bank notes," &e. I returned by the messenger which brought your reply, an answer, quoting the 15th section of the law creating the office of Territorial Treasurer, the author- ity upon which I ask these questions.
Having waited sufficiently long, as I think, for the information, and not having received it, I have now to ask whether I am to understand by your note of the 28th inst., that it is the only information I may expeet to receive from you upon the matter.
I am Sir, very respectfully, Your ob't Servant, HUGH S. WALSH, Secretary of Kansas Territory and Acting Governor.
TREASURER'S OFFICE, LECOMPTON, MAY 29, 1860.
Hon. Hugh S. Walsh.
Sir :- Yours, of this date, is duly received, and, in reply, have only to say that I have been, since the reception of your note of yesterday, wholly incapable to find the time to make a satisfactory reply to your inquiries, but will endeavor to do so at the earliest possible time convenient.
Very respectfully, Your ob't servant, ROBERT B. MITCHELL, Treasurer K. T.
Upon receiving the last note from Mr. Mitchell, I waited his aetion, and he left town without giving me any information in the premises.
Concerning the manner in which the Funding Aet passed the House, A. F. Meade, who was a member of the Legislative Council of 1859, testi- fied as shown at pages 335 and 336 as follows :
I met the Secretary, Mr. Derinney, next day. I said to him-"I want to state to you what I believe to be the facts in regard to the sup- plemental bill last night. If it is so you need not say anything, if it is not so, deny it. You know well that you was instructed to slip that bill down to the House, knowing it had not passed." Ile did not say a word, but laughed.
Samuel A. Medary, son of the Governor, testified as shown in the Journal of the House of the Legislature of 1861, pages 338 and 339, that his father signed the bonds and that D. H. Weir, R. S. Stevens and him- self had some of those bonds, and received them from Colonel Eldridge in the Treasurer's office. upon which they placed the seal. He testified that he was given bonds to the amount of $1,500 for putting the seal on the bonds.
William MeKay testified as follows :
I called upon Gov. Medary at Lecompton, and had a private inter- view with him upon the subject of the Auditor issuing warrants upon the awards made by the Commissioners. I related to him my interview with Gen. Strickler, and the Governor remarked that it would never do for the Auditor to issue warrants; that the people would repudiate any- thing of the kind; that they never would consent to pay those elaims.
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I agreed with the Governor, and he then promised me that he would do all in his power to prevent it, and also promised that he would see Gen. Strickler in a few days and have the matter headed off; he also promised me that before any thing was done, that he would send me word to Wyandott, (where I resided,) and that I might rest assured of his co-operation with me in the matter, as we held the same opinion in rela- tion to the legality of the supplemental Act, and of the injustice of the debt being put upon the Territory. After I had this interview with the Governor, I went to Wyandott expecting every day to hear from him, but I was disappointed, never having heard a word from him from that day upon the subject. Soon after my return home, I think some five or six days, I received the Lawrence Republican, in which it was stated that Col. Eldridge, Gov. Robinson, and perhaps some others, had their claims bonded, and that Gov. Medary had gone to Ohio.
There is a vast amount of other testimony connected with these bonds, all tending to show that they were fraudulently issued. The Funding Act was a deception and fraud. The Legislature had no authority, and evidently had no intention, to issue bonds to the amount of $100,000 and not to secure the payment of the remainder of the claims, amounting to $312,978.03. Why should less than one-fourth of the claims indebted- ness be bonded ! Any contention that the Legislature contemplated such a course is preposterous. The fact is, that many members of the Legis- lature were made to believe that the Funding Act was only to pay the expenses of the Legislature, while, in fact, the design was to secure bonds for certain awards made by the claim commission. The evidence indicates that many members of the Legislature did not know that the Funding Act had been passed. The future student of Kansas history should investigate closely this entire matter and read carefully the testimony concerning various persons who have been spoken of as honest men.
The claims of Colonel Eldridge were for the destruction of the Free- State Hotel and other losses. When this matter was under consideration by the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, John J. Ingalls, knowing the facts and being familiar with the fraud practiced in the issuance of these bonds, moved that the matter be referred to the Committee on Scull- duggery. (See page 381, Proceedings of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention.)
It is interesting to notice the basis of the claim of Charles Robin- son, for which he was issued $24,000 bonds. Here is the schedule sworn to on the 17th day of November, 1857 :
SCHEDULE
One frame house $ 3,500
Barn, hay, stable, and furniture. 1,500
House furniture 3,000
Library 3,000
Medical library and surgical instruments.
1,500
Clothing, jewelry, and private papers ..
3,000
Furniture in hotel and used by Congressional Com- mittee 600
One Porter's rifle 40
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Two Sharps' rifles 70
Two Colt's revolvers 40
One horse stolen
150
Two horses poisoned
400
False imprisonment four months
$15,800
$10,000
The frame house was a small building about fourteen by twenty feet with ten foot studding, made of native lumber, and those who knew, estimated the cost at about $400. It will be observed that there was $3,000 worth of furniture in that house, a $3,000 library in addition to a medical library and surgical instruments valued at $1,500; that there was $3,000 worth of elothing, jewelry and private papers in that house when it was destroyed. It will also be observed that he charged for his detention as a treason prisoner $10,000, the only man who ever made such a claim for his patriotic detention in the Free-State cause. This amount was stricken out by Mr. Strickler, but all other items were allowed. When the second commission was appointed, Governor Robin- son amended his former application as shown by the new schedule.
SCHEDULE
A manuscript history of California $3,500
A manuscript work on anatomy and physiology, ready
for the press 2,500
A series of popular lectures on the above subjects. 1.000
$7,000
The commission considered this new schedule favorably and made the following award :
Striekler's award confirmed $15,800
Interest on same 2,370
Three manuscript works 5,029
Interest on same 754
$23,953
All of these matters were reviewed in the Lawrence Daily Journal of October 28, 1884, to which readers are referred for additional informa- tion. These bonds were disposed of in New York and they are still ontstanding. The last session of the Territorial Legislature held in 1861, passed an act repudiating these bonds and prohibiting any person or corporation from putting into eireulation any bank bill or note purport- ing to be a promise to pay money or eurreney based upon such bonds, and made it punishable to violate any portion of the act by a fine of not less than $500, and imprisonment in the county jail for not less than six months. George M. Beebe was Acting Governor at the time and vetoed the bill, but it was passed over his veto and became a law. The first session of the State Legislature, which began on the 26th of
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March, 1861, passed an act, which is Chapter V in the General Laws of that Session, repudiating the said bonds and prohibiting the State Treasurer from paying any interest upon said bonds or warrants; from endorsing or issuing any bonds upon the claim awards of the com- mission. Charles Robinson was at that time Governor of Kansas and he permitted the act to become a law without his approval, as is shown by the certificate of J. W. Robinson, Secretary of State. It is in evi- dence that Robert B. Mitchell. as Territorial Treasurer, paid the interest on these bonds, in New York, with money furnished him by private parties. The bonds were soon afterwards sold in New York. The pur- chasers thought they were good if the Territorial Treasurer was paying the interest on them. It is a curious coincidence that Governor Robinson appointed Robert B. Mitchell Colonel of the Second Kansas Regiment in the Civil War.
The only bonded claim against the State of Kansas is this fraudulent one, and it has been believed necessary that a complete account of these bonds should be given here. The issuance of these bonds was a blot upon the Territory which can never be wiped out.
OTHER MATTERS
The Legislature which assembled January 2, 1860, enacted a law abolishing slavery in Kansas. Governor Medary vetoed it, but it was passed over his veto. It was finally declared unconstitutional.
In 1860 Congress considered the matter of the admission of Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. The action of the House was favor- able, but the slave majority in the Senate defeated the proposition.
The year 1860 is notable for the most persistent drouth the State has witnessed. General distress followed, and aid was sent from many States. This year the first railroad track was laid in Kansas, on the line from Elwood to Marysville. The desire for railroads was general, and a convention assembled in Topeka in October and memorialized Congress to aid in the construction of lines of railway which it designated. This was the first general movement for railroads, of which the State now has so many, and such great ones.
In the result of the Presidential election of 1860 Governor Medary saw the early admission of the State into the Union. Realizing that his term of office would soon be terminated by that event, he resigned in December, 1860, and returned to Ohio. He established a newspaper in Columbus, which he named The Crisis, and which he edited until his death.
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE STATE OF KANSAS
The bill for the admission of Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitu- tion passed the Senate January 21, 1861. The vote was thirty-six to sixteen. This bill passed the House of Representatives on the 28th of January by a vote of one hundred and seventeen to forty-two. It was signed by President Buchanan on the 29th of January, 1861. The aet is set out in full in Wilder's Annals and in various national and state publications. Mareus J. Parrott sent a telegram from Washington to the Leavenworth Conservative, then edited by D. W. Wilder, announe- ing that Kansas had been admitted into the Union. The Conservative printed an extra, copies of which were carried to Lawrenee by D. R. Anthony. The Legislature thanked the Conservative for its enterprise. Captain Frank B. Swift, James C. Horton, Edward D. Thompson, and Caleb S. Pratt, led a large company from Lawrenee to the Bickerton farm, where "Old Sacramento"-a eannon captured by Colonel Doni- phan at the battle of Sacramento, brought by the Border-Ruffians into Kansas, and from them captured by the Free-State men-was buried. They dug up this eannon and carried it to Lawrence, where it was fired all night in honor of the admission of Kansas.
In Kansas the victory of freedom over slavery was won. The confliet was often spoken of as a struggle between free labor and slave labor. In a sense this is true, but there was a moral side to the question which that view does not include. The victory was in faet as much in the interest of the South as it was the North, but the South would not then see it so. As has been pointed out in this work, there was a large ele- ment of the Southern people in favor of the abolition of slavery. John Brown put the question on its true basis and merits. He contended that it was a question of right and wrong. He was for destroying slavery because to do so was an act of justice-right.
The admission of Kansas marked the end of the first battle for free- dom. This nation will never be able to pay the Kansas pioneers who stood in the breach and fought this first battle. They were fighting not only for Kansas, but for the Union. They understood well what Lineoln meant when he said the Union could not endure half slave and half free. It was plain to them that Kansas was the erneial point and the erisis in this struggle for liberty for the Union. They did not fail. We have seen what horrors they endured to establish the principle fought for. The Free-State men of Kansas are immortal and their names should
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be preserved in granite and bronze. Their sacrifices are, of course, un- derstood, and, in a way, duly appreciated. But the day will come when the glory of their deeds will be expressed in monuments and memorials, rising as beacons to light up the way of liberty for the world.
The question as to who was entitled to the honor for making Kansas, has often been discussed-who should have eredit for making her free- what people won the first vietory for freedom in this Union. Something has already been said on this subject in previous pages. The New Eng- land element of Kansas elaimed this honor to the exclusion of all other people, and those connected with the Emigrant Aid Company endeavored to make it appear that that body was entitled to all the credit. It is a momentous question. No State nor any man should be robbed of the part borne in this struggle. Fortunately the statistics enabling us to arrive at a reasonable estimate of the part played by the different states, have been preserved. In his Chieago speech on the 31st of May, 1856, General Lane made the statement that nine-tenths of the people in Kansas had come from other than New England states. The men in the Topeka movement were largely from the Ohio Valley. Twelve of the thirty- seven delegates were from the South. There were only four from all New England,-two from Massachusetts. The following table is re- peated from a former chapter :
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