USA > Kansas > Wabaunsee County > Early history of Wabaunsee County, Kansas, with stories of pioneer days and glimpses of our western border.. > Part 11
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104 EARLY IHISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Bill Cole's Last Drive.
"Larned" to the old settler and plainsman is a place of historic in- terest. Of the many thrilling scenes enacted in the vicinity of what was for years the last outpost on the old Santa Fe trail, none was more horrifying than Bill Cole's last drive with the Smith boys.
They were carrying the overland mail from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe, New Mexico, making the trip of 740 miles one way every fif- teen days. Three men, seven mules and a Concord coach or mail wagon, completed the outfit. There were six mules in harness and one for the outrider.
The captain in command at Fort Larned wanted Smith (the con- ductor) to take an escort, but having made many trips without one and knowing that not so good time could be made with an escort, Smith said he thought there was no danger and started on the long, lonesome drive toward Santa Fe.
But five miles west of the post Conductor Smith had reason to come to a different conclusion if not to regret his refusal of an escort. When least thinking of danger the mail wagon was overtaken by ten or twelve Kiowas in war paint whose actions told too plainly their blood-thirsty intentions. Mike Smith was the outrider and his brother was holding the lines. Bill Cole was taking a nap inside on the corn sacks when he was aroused by the shot that killed young Smith, who fell forward on the foot-board.
An agonizing cry from Mike caused Bill Cole to turn his head that way when a horrible sight met his gaze-the Indians were filling the conductor's body with arrows. Mike with one hand was holding in check his frightened mule and with the other on the shaft of an ar_ row driven into his body, exclaimed: "Oh, God! Isn't this a hard way to die ?" Reeling in his saddle, Mike fell to the ground. wounded to the death and in terrible agony.
Bill Cole, after raising young Smith's body into the mail wagon, grabbed a gun and shot an Indian who was trying to stop the team by grasping the leader by the bridle-bits. The Indian fell from his pony and during the pow-wow that was held over his body Cole jumped from
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
SCENE AT MR. JOHN COPP'S ( THE FINNEY-ALLENDORPH RANCH), IN 1859.
",With spear points and sharp sticks the Kaws prodded the wildest pony in the herd till pieces of Pawnee were scattered all about the hill's of Mill creek, but there was mighty little flesh left on the bones for the coyotes." See page 103.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
the wagon and hid in the grass.
The team, by this time, had become thoroughly frightened and was running at full speed across the trackless plain. Their pow-wow at an end the Indians followed expecting to find Cole and in him an easy victim. But Cole was half a mile away and it being about dusk he crawled through the tall grass to Coon Creek and worked his way back to Larned, where he related his adventures.
A detail of soldiers was sent out, the mail secured and the bodies of the Smith brothers brought in for burial. At Larned the boys had thoughtlessly covered their pistols with the sacks of corn, thus placing themselves at the mercy of the Indians.
A school house nearly midway between Larned and Garfield stands near the spot where the Smith brothers met their death. The chil- dren whose little legs dangle from the patent seats can hardly realize that within a stone's throw of their play-ground, so thrilling a tragedy was enacted but little more than a score of years ago.
That was Bill Cole's last drive with the overland mail. Twenty years afierward he made another trip to Santa Fe, but this time in a Pullman car and without fear of losing his scalp on the way.
NOTE .- The Smith boys were killed in the Fall of 1859. While part of the family were running the farm on the Dragoon my father had charge of the mail station at the crossing of Elm Creek on the Santa Fe trail. The Smith boys and Bill Cole were old employes of the Overland Mail company and were favorites with all. Their lives were one continued series of adventures and hair-breadth escapes. Al- though their vocation was dangerous in the extreme, the pay was good, and hundreds of young plainsmen were more than anxious to take their places as employes of the mail company.
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106 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Avenged.
On the morning of June 2d, 1859, an Indian bedecked in paint and feathers and mounted on a fiery steed rode down the main street of Council Grove. About the Indian's shoulders was a scarlet red blanket and on it was the imprint of a human hand white as the driven snow.
Something about the appearance of the Indian told the settlers of impending danger. They wondered, but they had not long to wait. In less than a half hour's time a hundred warriors galloped into town and halted in front of Hays' store.
Hays was the leading merchant and the oldest resident, having lo- cated at Council Grove in 1847. The Indians looked upon Seth Hays as a chief among the whites and to him they soon disclosed the cause of their strange actions.
A short time before two young men of the Kaw tribe had stolen two horses from a Mexican train passing through on the Santa Fe trail. The Mexicans soon located their stolen property and communicating this knowledge to Hays they left the matter in his hands.
Hays had a big trade with the Indians but more profitable custom- ers in the Mexican freighters and in adjusting the difficulty with the Indians it is probable that he was influenced by his trade relations · with the freighters fully as much as by a desire to do the Indians justice. .
At any rate he demanded that the Indians should not only return the stolen horses but that the Kaws should give up for punishment the young men who had taken the horses.
To this the Indians objected. They were willing to return the horses, but they thought that Hays was taking an undue interest in behalf of the Mexicans in insisting that the young men be given up, and the chief was in no wise backward in giving Hays the benefit of his opinion.
The Indian spokesman becoming somewhat personal in his re- marks' Hays called for his pistols and, with the idea of bluffing the Indians, fired a few shots-into the air.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Whatever his intentions or ideas as to the effect of the shooting, it had a startling sequel. The Indians galloped down the street firing at everything in sight. The result was the shooting of two men- Charley Gilkey, proprietor of the Gilkey House, and a young man by the name of Parks. The wounds were not fatal in either case, but the affair immediately assumed a different phase.
The Indian camp soon disappeared from the neighboring hill, and the whole Kaw tribe, consisting of 400 warriors, prepared for fight. The whites immediately raised 40 men and sent runners in all direc- tions to apprise the settlers of their danger.
The settlers responded to the call and soon the old Mission build- ing was filled with the women and children of the surrounding country, and the men marched, 150 strong, to reinforce the company already organized.
Now it was the young men who did the shooting who were de- manded for punishment. One of these was the son of Fool Chief, one of the most influential men of the Kaw tribe, and nothing but threat- ened annihilation would induce the Indians to give him up.
But T. S. Huffaker, the interpreter, and for years a teacher in the Mission school, told them the inevitable result of their refusal to ac- cede to the demands of the whites. Ten thousand dollars and forty ponies were offered by the Indians to appease the whites and refused. Huffaker told the Indians that already troops from Fort Riley were on the way and it would be useless for the Indians to hold out against them. The Indians, seeing the ranks of the whites being continually increased by new arrivals, and knowing that the soldiers would soon put in an appearance, reluctantly yielded to the demands to surrender the young men who shot Gilkey and Parks.
Soon after being surrendered the young men were hung-without judge or jury-on the north side of Main Street, between the Neosho River and the present site of the court house.
But there is a sequel to this story. Indian justice demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The spark of life had gone out of two Kaw braves, and the lives of two white men must pay the penalty.
The following Summer, Price Perrill, a surveyor living near Bur- lingame, was surveying lands on Running Turkey Creek, in what is now McPherson County. His dead body was found one day, and the old settlers would often point out Bill Johnson, a pock-marked Kaw Indian, as the slayer of the young surveyor.
Who the other victim was is not even a matter of conjecture, but according to the Indian's idea of justice, when the life of Price Per- rill went out the death of Fool Chief's son was avenged.
108 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
A Little Unpleasantness.
"Coming events cast their shadows before."
The coming event in this case was an old-time spelling school, and the shadows-well, there was a good deal of substance in the shadows of the scores of boys who had gathered at the old school house in Dis- trict 28 one Saturday evening about 17 years ago.
Wallace Allen was teaching the school, and, though his pants were habitually stuffed in his boot-legs, no teacher had won the respect of patrons and pupils in a greater degree than had Wallace.
The house was crowded, and yet there was a crowd on the outside that remained there either from inclination or necessity-perhaps on account of the lack of room on the inside of the little frame school house under the hill.
The exercises had hardly begun-on the inside, when exercises of quite a different nature appeared-to those within-to be transpiring on the outside.
There was loud talking at first, and then hard blows followed. There was no announcement of dismissal by the teacher. but the short order in which the house was vacated would have warranted such a supposition.
That something unusual was going on was apparent to the writer and, as we afterwards learned, not altogether unlooked for by the patrons of the district.
But all surmises were soon set at rest by the appearance, at the door, of the bleeding form of a man borne between two of his neighbors.
Water was called for and offered but the drooping head showed that the loss of blood had been greater than nature could withstand.
The limp form was lifted inside and search was made for the wounds from which the blood was flowing profusely.
A small knife-hole was found in the neck just behind the jaw, but from this the blood had ceased to flow. But a crimson stream running from the left sleeve of the man's blouse told of a more dangerous wound that was soon found.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
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OUR FIRST VISITORS IN OUR NEW HOME. See pages 114 and 115,
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
It was a horrid, gaping wound. The great muscle of the forearm -the biceps brachialis-had been cut square across and completely severed in twain. On the floor was a pool of blood that was being constantly augmented by the crimson streams flowing from the wound.
The surroundings looked more like a slaughter-house than a school- room. The wife of the unfortunate man, in her white dress all be- spattered with blood, presented a distressing sight.
But where is that crowd that rushed out of the school house? In two minutes the place was almost deserted. Save the almost hysteri- cal wailings of the grief-stricken wife all was silent, as the few who re- mained bent over the prostrate form endeavoring to stay the life blood that was fast ebbing away.
The teacher remained at his post. Old Mr. Blankenship, too, had no thought of deserting his fellow man in the time of dire need. Then there was "Doc" Johnson and Owens. These, with the writer, were all that were left to minister to the wants of the sufferer. With a silken thread and a harness needle the writer of these lines took nine stitches in the wounded man's arm. By this means the flow of blood was stayed, and then for a doctor. At Dover was the nearest, and to Dover we volunteered to go. We had heard of Dover but had never been there. It was down Mission Creek, 14 miles away in a northeast direction, and that was all we knew about it.
The night was dark and it was 2 o'clock in the morning before we found the doctor. He couldn't go till morning, he said, but with morning Owens came, fearing we had missed the way.
After weeks of care the patient recovered-all but the wounded arm, and if you ask Bob McMasters the cause of his misfortune he will refer back to that little unpleasantness at the little frame school house in District 28, twenty-five years ago.
Frey was convicted of assault with intent to kill, but before sen- tence was pronounced he took French leave of the sheriff. His wife soon followed and a few years ago he was in Southern Kansas-one of that class of patriots who leave their country for their country's good.
110 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Our First Home in Kansas.
StswalEnd
The above cut is a fair representation-drawn from memory-of our first home in Kansas-the log house built by a Mr. Gilbert, of Pennsylvania, on the southeast quarter of section 24, township 14, range 12, in the Summer of 1855-forty-five years ago.
In 1856 Mr. M. C. Wysong, Mr. Robideau and my father, Mr. James L. Thomson, made their home here while improving their claims, the one taken by my fathar adjoining the Gilbert claim on the south-the land now owned by Mr. Shaw, the Gilbert claim now known as the J. M. Lee farm.
On our arrival on the Dragoon in March, 1857, we found a Mr. Craft, of Ohio, in possession of the Shaw claim and his son with his family living in the Gilbert cabin.
On the payment of fifty dollars-for their furniture-Mr. Craft released all claim to the two quarter sections and moved away.
The log cabin was afterwards sold to Mr. John Cousins and moved to his claim near Eskridge. Being raised a few logs higher it was used by his family as a residence until the stone house in which he now lives was built.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Infant Industries.
On the side of the old log house are to be seen two wolf skins- stretched out on the side of the house to dry.
They were not put there to fill out the picture, but because a pic- ture of the old house would be incomplete without them.
In 1857 Tip died. Tip was an ox, and with his flesh we replenished the family larder. In what was left of the carcass homeopathic doses of strychnine were deposited, and when the wolves had partaken of lunch they would give up their ghosts, and their hides would be taken as a slight remuneration for the hideous concerts they would give un- bidden to ungrateful auditors.
Each morning, for a week or more. we boys would go out and pros- pect for dead wolves. One morning we-Henry and I-found a wolf that wasn't as dead as he might be. He could wabble along but his gait was rather unsteady-about like that of a man three sheets in the wind --- one who had indulged in too much tanglefoot.
The wolf's feet seemed tangled a good deal. He had had a heavy dose of strychnine but was probably recovering from the effects of the poison.
Wolf hides were worth something those days, and we were more afraid of the wolf getting away with his hide than we were of his wolfship.
But the wolf was getting desperate and he was making strenuous efforts to get out of our presence. He would run a while and then take an involuntary rest-when the spasms would come on. But the spasms were becoming shorter and less frequent and the wolf was get- ting farther away from his late banqueting place.
As the prospects of the wolf's final escape increased, visions of prospective gain from the sale of his hide diminished in a correspond- ing ratio. Just then a bright idea seized my brother and at the same time he seized the wolf by the tail.
Then, if ever, was a time for action. He attempted to resent the insult offered in the attack on his rear, but on account of the overdose
112 . EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
of strychnine his wolfship hadn't full control of his body, and we were not an idle spectator to the scene being enacted out on the prairie. We were armed with a stick as much as a half inch in diameter at the larger end. It wasn't a very big club, but large enough to stun the wolf, and an hour later his hide was tacked to the outside wall as you see it.
Wolf hunting for their hides was one of the infant industries of the early days. Dollars were scarce and a few wolf hides brought that which was so difficult to obtain.
The poisoning of wolves for their hides was not an "industry" con- fined exclusively to the buffalo country. Mr. Samuel Cripps, living on Soldier Creek, killed each year from 60 to 75 wolves for several years, and among these were several large specimens of the gray wolf of the plains.
Many others were engaged in the business on a smaller scale, not because they had a liking for the calling but for the better reason that from the proceeds from the sale of the pelts they were enabled to keep the more ravenous wolf-hunger-from the door.
113
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
The Old Stone Fort
Shown in the picture was built on the farm of August Wolgast in 1864, in anticipation of a raid from the Kaw Reservation. The school district clerk in his report to the county superintendent that year said: "Owing to the Indian excitement we did not build our school house this year."
Just think of it! Thirty-seven years ago the people were prevented from carrying out their intention of building a school house by the probability of an Indian raid.
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MIT. p ...
The Kaw Reservation was but a few miles distant and while they did not go on the warpath their restlessness was the cause of much anxiety on the part of the whites.
Words of warning had been sent out from the Grove and the com- mandant at Fort Riley had been called on for troops. One day a company of cavalry on their way to Council Grove galloped by Templin at breakneck speed on the way to the prospective scene of Indian hostilities.
Those who have had any experience in Indian warfare need not be told of the excitement such rumors and incidents are calculated to produce.
1864 was a hard year on the border. The Kiowas and Cheyennes
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
were on the warpath and the tribes located on what was the border at that time were chafing under what they considered wrongs suffered at the hands of the whites.
The settlers around Templin might well be alarmed. But they would prepare for emergencies and hence the building of the stone fort shown in the illustration.
The site for the fort was a good one. It was about equal distances from the homes of Wolgast, Arndt and Lehmberg and Fetting's was not far away. Here the families slept at night and to this stone fort they would rally in case of an attack from the Indians.
But the Indiaus were too discreet to make an attack. Turbulent spirits like Bill Johnson were anxious to involve the tribe in a war with the whites but the peace sentiment prevailed and the walls of the stone fort never felt the force of Indian bullets. But many a day after the excitement had passed away, the children about Templin would gather together and have a good time with their dolls and other playthings keeping house in the old stone fort.
Kindness Remembered.
If our readers will take a look at the log house they will not be rewarded by the sight of two Indians-an old man and his young squaw wife. The Indians are not in the picture but had you been in the neighborhood in April, 1857, you might have seen what caused the goose flesh to raise up and little chills to chase up and down our spinal column.
Father, having left us four boys to look after the claim, had returned to Independence for mother. On that day my brothers, hav- ing installed the writer as cook, were grubbing a piece of land two hundred yards east of Herb Shaw's present residence in Plumb town- ship.
The log house was located about two hundred yards east of and a little north of the house on the J. M. Lee farm.
Hearing a noise outside, we looked out and beheld the old Indian and his squaw hobbling their ponies, preparing to make a somewhat extended visit.
We would have felt better, perhaps, had our brothers been within call, but as it was we had nothing to do but make the best of the sit- uation. We had seen 14 birthdays and during that time had read a
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
good deal about the Indians, and among other things we had read that they, like other human beings, could appreciate a kind act.
Then it occurred to us that the proper thing to do would be to set before our visitors something to eat. This we did, and we were not long in seeing that our hospitable reception had struck the right chord, and if grunts of satisfaction from the old man and smiles of appreciation from his young squaw were indications that our visitors were well pleased with their reception then further evidences were unnecessary.
It is needless to say that the pleasant manner in which our kind- ness was received had the effect of doing away with any fear we might have felt on first being aware of the presence of our Indian visitors.
But they soon departed-over the prairies in a northeast direction -as we afterwards learned on a visit to the reservation of the half- breed Kaws near Topeka.
One evening a few weeks afterwards on returning from the field, where we had been planting sod corn-with an axe-we were surprised to find awaiting us our first dish of fried venison.
Our Indian visitors had returned and with them a boy who could speak English fluently. They had inquired after their former host and had left as a token of their appreciation of our kindness a quarter of venison they had killed on their way from Topeka.
Queen
Was nothing but a dog, and our readers may wonder what a dog has to do with the history of Kansas or of Wabaunsee county. Of these we might ask what a flock of cackling geese had to do with the history of the old Roman Empire.
Yes, Queen was a dog-a Mexican dog. But she hated the sight of a Mexican and there was but one thing she hated worse, and that was an Indian.
It was in 1859. We were hoeing corn in the field one day, when, looking toward the house we were surprised to see eight or ten Kaw Indians with bows strung and arrows in place marching abreast through the yard. They were looking for Queen.
But Queen was lying in an old corn crib --- with her back broken- the result of an arrow wound several weeks before.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
One Sunday a Kaw Indian and his squaw were encamped a few rods from the house. Following the usual custom of his tribe the Indian came to the house with the purpose of begging something to eat. By means of the gesticulations usually employed the Kaw sought to make known his errand and in order to assist the writer in correctly interpreting his unintelligible language the Indian took hold of the latch of the closed kitchen door.
The Indian had evidently failed to notice the presence of Queen but the dog wasn't far away.
At any rate, no sooner had the Indian's hand been laid on the door latch than Queen's sharp teeth were inserted in the Indian's bare ankles, and when the dog relaxed her hold an ugly wound was laid open.
We applied a handful of sugar and tied up the wound and ex- pressed our regret, in language that, probably, was not understood by the Kaw.
The Indian addressed a few words to his squaw and in a short time her presence with a bow and arrow revealed the nature of his request. He was intending to settle accounts with Queen.
But the squaw had brought a blunt arrow which seemed to meet his disapproval as he picked it up and limped away towards camp. But in a short time he returned-on horseback, and with a steel pointed arrow. Riding between the house and log kitchen-about four feet apart-he reached the kennel, where in a crouched position lay the form of Queen, and before she realized the Indian's intention, the pointed shaft was buried in her spine.
There were but two boys of us at home and but one gun in the house and that unloaded. There were some powder and a few pewter bullets. My brother being maddened at Queen's pitiable condition rammed home one of the pewter bullets and as the Indian and his squaw, mounted on the one pony, rounded the bend of the creek he gave them a parting salute-that did no harm, fortunately for us, per- haps, as it was but a few weeks after that Gilkey and Parks were shot at the Grove for a less provocation.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
Marion's First School.
The early settlers believed in education and though they had no school houses at first they would manage in some way to provide for emergencies.
Down in District 27 there was no lack of children and Marion con- sented to teach the school provided a suitable house could be secured.
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