USA > Kansas > Wabaunsee County > Early history of Wabaunsee County, Kansas, with stories of pioneer days and glimpses of our western border.. > Part 14
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Two years before Block had made a winter trip to Fort Lyon, on the upper Arkansas, as a pilot of one of those ships of the plains drawn by six yoke of oxen. But he longed for a change, and at the
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
old stage station at the crossing of Elm Creek, in Lyon County, he found it-not a very lucrative position, but times were hard and rather than run the risk of being drafted into the army or shot he concluded to put in the balance of the winter by working for his board.
Phillip wasn't partial to work, but the neighborhood socials and spelling schools provided the kind of diversion that rendered the situ- ation bearable until the resumption of overland traffic supplied Bloch with the means of changing his base of operations from the dull routine of farm work to the more congenial occupation of driving dull care away in the Cheyenne camp on the banks of the Walnut.
It had been our intention to rest at Dutch Bill's till morning, a fact the Indians seemed pleased to learn. Bất their hostile demon- strations were anything but pleasing, and this, in conjunction with the knowledge obtained that the squaws and papooses were being quietly moved to some remote fastness of the Smoky, had abont con- vinced ns that an Indian war was about to be inaugurated. The indi- cations pointed to this as a certainty, and discretion suggested the heeding of Philip Bloch's warning to get out of the Indian country without unnecessary delay.
The Indians seemed pleased at the prospect of our stay over night on the Walnut, but the conditions were reversed when unmistakable preparations for our departure were made manifest. Where quiet was the rule commotion now reigned and when the two teams ascended the steep banks of the Walnut, our party was confronted by a band of thirty Dog soldiers, mounted on their war ponies and armed to the teeth-as villainous a gang of cut-throats as ever went unhung.
But an Indian reckons the cost before making an attack and no life is so valuable to him as his own. Prospective scalps and plunder on one side and possible casualties on the other are carefully noted, and his day dreams of existence in the happy hunting grounds are never so blissful as to warrant on his part any needless risks that may be mysteriously shrouded in the sequel.
Hate flashed from thirty pairs of Indian eyes. but there were none of the blood-curdling yells that twenty-four hours later were charac- teristic of the thrilling scenes along the Arkansas. Before nightfall the Cheyenne bottoms had been crossed and a hasty supper disposed of at the crossing of Cow Creek. Then a night drive and a camp in the hills beyond Plum Creek. But before sunrise we were preparing breakfast on the north banks of the Smoky-where Fort Harker was afterwards established.
Hardly was our camp on the Smoky Hill broken before we were joined by the stock tender at the stage station at Dutch Bill's. From him was learned the first details of the desolation and havoe left in
138 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
the wake of the death-dealing Kiowas, Arapahoes and Cheyennes. He, too, had a tip from Philip.
But the score or more of freighters, who in parties of two and three met their death at the hands of the Indians that day were not so fortunate. They had passed over the road scores of times before and had never yet been molested, and why not again? But the grass was good and the tomahawk had been raised to avenge the killing of two Indians at Fort McPherson on the Platte two months before.
For four long years war was waged and all this time Dutch Bill and Phillip Bloch were trusted friends if not allies of the bloodthirsty redskins. Griffenstein afterwards settled on the present site of Wichita and acquired a handsome fortune, the greater part of which disappeared when the boom collapsed. Phillip was adopted into the Cheyenne tribe, mastered their language and has for years been cm- ployed as government interpreter at Fort Sill. His wife is a woman of acknowledged talent and unbounded influence among the tribes of the Southwest. With all his faults Phillip was not all bad. Like many other young men during the troublous times that marked the Civil War. his duty to himself and others was not quite clear. About the tented field there was a false glamour that tended to obscure the path of rectitude and right. Around the camp-fire of the plainsman there was a fascinating glow that hid from view the better things that lay beyond-in the quiet of the home. Phillip bargained his manhood for these. The best years of his life were devoted to the accomplishment of a purpose that could bring naught but disappointment in the end- a realization that too often comes when the opportune moment is be- yond recall.
Phillip's greatest enemy was his own perverted will-that smothered the promptings of his better nature. But with all this he did the members of our party a good service by that timely warning at the crossing of the Walnut in the Spring of '64.
NOTE. - Griffenstein died at Shawnee, I. T., September 26, 1899. He was a politi- cal exile. having been compelled to leave Germany for his participation In the re- bellion of 1848. For a time he made his home with Mr. G. Zwanziger and with the family of Mr. L. Pauly, whom he several times visited while mayor of Wichita. His first experience as an Indian trader wus umong the Pottawatomies. Later be established the post at Walnut creek, and while the Indian war of 1864 was ruging he made an extended visit with his old friends on Mill creek, bringing with him his Cheyenne wife. He pitched his lodge or tepee near where Mr. Aderhold after- wards built hls residence, camping there for several months during the summer of 1864. He then located farther down the Arkansas, on the site of the present city of Wichita. The palatial residence. perhaps the finest in the city, attracts many vis- Itors, especially those who knew him as "Duteb Bill" at his trading postion the Walnut.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
A Raid by Bill Anderson.
"I know it was Bill Anderson, for the moon shone as bright as day and I recognized him under his broad-brimmed hat "
That was part of the information imparted to U. S. Marshal McDowell at Topeka in May, 1863, by a farmer living on Elm Creek. Mr. Giles, a bachelor farmer, had died and at the request of his brother, a Topeka banker, the body was hauled in a two-horse wagon, that the remains might be laid away in the Topeka cemetery.
The weather was warm and for that reason the long drive was made in the night. At short intervals along the old Santa Fe trail the lone driver met parties of horsemen in pairs and trios, and though clad in the garb of plainsmen certain furtive glances that seemed a universal characteristic convinced the conveyer of the gruesome burden that all was not right.
If there had been any doubt on this point the matter was set at rest when the familiar face of Bill Anderson was recognized among the little bands of horsemen wending their way westward on the old trail between Chicken Creek and Wilmington.
Since boyhood Bill had lived with his father at the crossing of Bluff Creek. When the Civil War broke out, Bill, with his brother Jim, Lee Griffin and the Rice boys were not backward in making it known that their sympathies were with the South. Frequent trips had been made to and from their old Missouri home, and after their de- parture on one of these trips suspicion pointed to the boys as being mixed up in a horse deal.
Lee Griffin was arrested and being brought before A. I. Baker, a justice of the peace at Agnes City, a paper town at the crossing of Rock Creek, was bound over to answer the charge of horse stealing.
Old man Anderson, Bill's father, resented this and with his double barrelled shot-gun proceeded to Baker's house to wreak revenge for the fancied insult to the companion of his favorite son. But Baker shot first and old man Anderson's life went out at the foot of Baker's stairway-in the month of June. 1862.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
On the night of July 3d, Bill and a small company of his Missouri friends appeared on the scene and Baker refusing to come out, his house was set on fire and Baker was shot as he attempted to escape through a cellar window from the burning building.
On his way to Missouri Bill called on his old friend, Henry Jacobi, at the mail station at the crossing of Elm Creek, but Henry had no account against Bill and refused to open the door. The curiously in- clined may, today, see the thirty bullet holes made in the door by Bill Anderson and his gang on the morning of the 4th of July, 1862. Down at Reading there lives an old gray-haired man of 70 years, and if you ask him why he joined the army he will tell you it was because he thought his chances for life better in the army than to be a target for Bill Anderson and his gang of outlaws.
Bill joined Quantrill and was one of his trusted lieutenants. Ten months had elapsed since the killing of Baker, and lest his old Kan- sas friends might forget him, Bill concluded to make his old stamping ground another visit. The Elm Creek farmer hauling Giles' body to Topeka met Anderson as stated, and his timely recognition resulted in the formation of a posse by Marshal McDowell to look after Bill and make inquiries as to his business.
Marshal McDowell, with 100 men, stopped at Wilmington, and among others requested to go along for company were Robt. Marrs, Sam Hutchinson, Otho Weaver, Pat Cannon, Mate and Will Hutchin- son, Charley Dodds and the writer of these lines, who, in September. 1900, so far as we know, penned the first chronicle of the trip.
That night brought Marshal McDowell and his posse to Council Grove. There we learned that Bill had begun his trail of blood by shooting a woman. At the posse's next camp at Mud Creek, five miles east of the Cottonwood, the outlaws interviewed Charley Dodds, one of McDowell's pickets. and, after getting all the information wanted. wheeled about for Quantrill's headquarters in Missouri.
Anderson's men paralleled the old Santa Fe trail, keeping a few miles to the north, until Black Jack was reached, where the mail was robbed and an army officer barely escaped with his life by concealing his identity. On the way back three of Anderson's men had stopped at Charley Withington's on 142 Creek, laying in a supply of crackers and canned goods, that, it is presumed, a half-hour later, formed the basis of a lunch for thirty of the men who, three months later, were with Quantrill at the sacking of Lawrence.
Marshal McDowell is now a resident of Manhattan, and though past three score and ten is still hale and hearty, and notwithstanding his gray hairs is still depended on in cases where violators of the Fed- eral statutes need looking after by a tried and true officer of the law.
Bill Anderson was shot on one of his raids in Missouri, leaving be- hind him one of the bloodiest records of the war, while his brother lim. with an equally blood-stained career, survived the horrors of the strife and a few years ago was living in Texas.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
RANCH HOME OF MR. SAMUEL FIX, Yampa, Colo.
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MR. D. M. GARDNER AND FAMILY, Alma.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. AND MRS. FRED STEINMEYER, Farmer Township.
MR. AND MRS. ANDREW MAIRS, Eskridge.
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MR. AND MRS. H. W. STEINMEYER, Illinois Creek.
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MR. AND MRS. JOHN PETERSON (dec'd), Eskridge.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
FIVE GENERATIONS. An evidence of longevity ; also, of a healthful climate.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
RESIDENCE OF MR. C. C. GARDINER, near Bradford.
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FOUR GENEARTIONS, Eskridge, Mr. A. G. BURGETT, Gre
Great-grandfather.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
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JEWELS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABA UNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
NELLIE BOURASSA, Maple Hill.
ISABELLA MAPLE HILL OLIVER, Maple Hill.
WEST SIDE MAIN STREET, Eskridge.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. W. H. EARL (Dec'd), Eskridge.
MR. LOUIS SCHEPP, Alma.
RESIDENCE OF MR. THOS. MANEY, Kaw Township.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
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Capt. Wm. Mitchell. S. R. Weed.
Mr. S. T. Perry.
Matt Mckelvey.
OLD PIONEERS.
HOTEL
MR. BEAUBIEN'S HOTEL, Maple Hill.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. JOSEPH FIELDS. Former County Treasurer.
MR. MORRIS WALTON (dec'd ), Harveyville.
SCHOOL IN DISTRICT No. 12. Mrs. Mary Hodgson ( nee Woods ), teacher.
EARLY HISTORY OF. WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. W. A. McCOY, Alta Vista.
MR. GOTTLIEB NOLLER, McFarland.
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MR. FRANK KRIENITZ, Painter, Paper-hanger, and Glazier, Alma.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
THE FIRST LOG HOUSE
On the Site of Which, Near Harveyville, $75,000 in Spanish Gold was Found by a Preacher, Who Had Watched as Well as Prayed.
A robbers' roost is responsible for the first log house built by white men in Wabaunsee county-erected in 1842 in the timber ont he banks of Dragoon Creek, near the mouth of Bachelor's branch. Here were the headquarters and rendezvous of as hardened a gang of cut-throats as ever went unhung-organized for the purpose of robbery, army pay- masters and treasure wagons of Mexican caravans forming the tempt- ing inducements that drew together this motley gang of outlaws.
The crest of the big mound on the claim pre-empted by Allen Hodgson in 1857, in plain site of the old cabin, as a point of observa- tion couldn't be excelled. From this high elevation every train pass- ing over either the Santa Fe trail proper, or the military road from Fort Leavenworth, could be distinctly seen, the number of wagons de- termined, and the probable value of the treasure to be secured ap- proximately estimated.
As early as 1770 the Spaniards from Santa Fe and Chihuahua bought merchandise in St. Louis, but in those days pack animals were used, freighting with wagons not being in vogue until Lexington, Mo., had been fixed upon as the outfitting point by those pioneer traffickers, those advance agents of civilization, to whom the "Great American Desert" presented no obstacle they for a moment hesitated to sur- mount.
Starting from Chihuahua or Santa Fe in the early spring, the pro- prietor of a train of from twenty-five to forty wagons would consider himself fortunate should he succeed in reaching his eastern destina- tion.by the latter part of May or the middle of June. As each wagon was drawn by ten or twelve mules or oxen, there would be from 300 to
142 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
500 mules or oxen and from thirty to fifty men with every train. In all cases the men were armed in anticipation of possible attacks from Indians or the more dangerous and desperate gangs of outlaws as those who in the early days made their headquarters on the Dragoon.
Specie-gold or silver-being the medium of exchange, it was nec- essary that the money representing the purchase price of the goods to be bought should be hauled in one of the wagons. This fact, known to the gangs of robbers rendered caution on the part of the owners essential and the guarding against surprises necessary
As it required from $50,000 to $100,000 to load a train of thirty or forty wagons with the class of goods usually purchased for the Santa Fe trade, and as every train was known to carry a large amount of specie for the purpose stated, it can be readily surmised that to des- perate and unscrupulous men any east-bound caravan on the old Santa Fe trail offered a temptation extremely inviting, especially when the probability of punishment for such wrong-doing seemed, at the best, remote, with the chances of immunity from punishment in favor of the robbers.
A few years prior to, and during the progress of the Mexican war, the train robbers were unusually bold and aggressive, and as a majority of the robberies were perpetrated between 110 creek and Big John, it is more than probable that the gang having their headquarters on the Dragoon was responsible for the unlawful depredations.
Several expeditions were sent out from Fort Leavenworth during the years 1842 and 1843, with the object in view of meting out deserved punishment to the daring outlaws, but these efforts by the military were barren of results. By the time a runner could make the trip to Fort Leavenworth and return with a troop of cavalry, the robbers would be scattered to the winds, and not until another raid had been planned and executed would their whereabouts be known or suspected.
In the spring of 1844 a mule train of forty-three wagons, owned by an American, but manned by Mexican drivers, while encamped 200 yards west of Log Chain Creek, near the Wabaunsee county line, was surprised at night, and of the forty-six men, twenty-seven were killed, and the mules, 500 in number, run off by the outlaws, undoubtedly the gang having their headquarters within one mile of the present site of Harveyville.
In one of the wagons was an iron box 18x12x8 inches containing $75,000 in gold. This treasure box was taken and with the 500 mules represented a fortune-a lost fortune to the owner of the train, who succeeded in getting safely away.
Within forty-eight hours he had ridden to Leavenworth and with a company of cavalry was on the way to the scene of the terrible mas- sacre. But the wagons and harness were all that was left of the
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
splendid outfit. After burying the dead Mexican trainmen the troops attempted to follow the trail of the robbers with the hope of returning to the owner the treasure box and the mules that he might continue his journey to the States. But the herd had been divided and driven in different directions and after unavailing effort to locate the robbers the Captain with his little band struck westward.
At the Little Arkansas an old trapper and plainsman by the naine of H. B. Hobbs offering the most reasonable solution of the problem that perplexed the Captain his services were secured to trail the robbers.
Hobbs reasoned that the outlaws would not dare to take the mules either to the States or to Mexico but to the only place they could find a safe market --- that, in his opinion, was Oregon. Taking a north-east direction the trail of the robbers with the mules was struck on the Smoky Hill. Following this until nearly the head of the stream was reached the troops encountered nineteen of the men in charge of the herd of mules.
In the hard fight that followed fourteen of the nineteen robbers were killed. The other five were taken to Fort Leavenworth, tried, and sentenced to the penitentiary at Alton, Ili., for life. The mules were turned over to the owner but the treasure box was missing. As two of the twenty-one outlaws comprising the gang were unaccounted for it was supposed that to them had been entrusted the keeping of the golden treasure. Diligent search was made in the vicinity of the robbery for the iron box but the result was a grievous disappointment both to the officer in command of the troops and the unfortunate pro- prietor of the train.
In 1857, just thirteen years after the train robbery referred to, Mr. Allen Hodgson settled on the claim on which is located the mound used by the train robbers as their point of observation. At that time there were still evidences of white men having lived north of the Dra- goon and east of Bachelor's Branch. The ashes of a log house 14x16 were plainly visible and for years the outlines of the building were plainly marked. There was an old wagon road that crossed the creek north of the graveyard, extending down the creek on the south side.
This was an old road when the first settlers came into the neigh- borhood. Neither Henry, George or Sam Harvey could give any further information as to the old road than that it was there before them. They said that white men had lived there 12 or 15 years before but who they were they didn't know. That they were white men there was no question. Twenty-five or 30 big oak trees had been cut down for honey-the beeswax still adhering to the trees when the Harveys came. In felling a tree a white man cuts on both sides, an Indian but one. In every case the trees had been cut on both sides.
144 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
In a tree cut for a house log by Mr. Allen Hodgson in 1857 a half- inch chisel was found driven through the center of the tree. The number of circles of growth outside of the chisel indicated that fully 13 years had elapsed since the chisel had been driven into the tree.
We are informed by Mr. Ira Hodgson (to whom weare indebted for this interesting information) that while crossing the plains in 1861 he became acquainted with an old plainsman by the name of Tom Fulton who had crossed the "Great American Desert" every year for twenty years or more. When Ira spoke of the old landmarks, Fulton said that, was where the train robbers had their headquarters-on the Dragoon, above the Leavenworth and Santa Fe roads. Fulton said that point was chosen because of the proximity to the junction of the two great thoroughfares for one thing and that for several other good reasons it was the best place for their business-it was too far west for white men to molest them and not far enough west for the Indians to inter- fere with their nefarious work.
Fulton told how the robbers laid their plans-by sending out scouts who pretended to be looking for mules or oxen strayed or stampeded from their train. Then they would ask permission to travel with the train till their own camp was reached, taking advan- tage of the opportunity to inform themselves as to the number of men, their arms, the location and probable amount of treasure, &c. Of course on the information obtained depended the fate of the train as far as the work of the train robbers was concerned.
In 1859 to 1861 there was much talk among the employes of the Overland Mail Company about buried treasure-somewhere between 110 and Big John --- enough, the boys said to make them all rich. They looked for it some but found nothing.
In 1867 a man came out from Alton, Ills., and spent the whole summer looking for this same iron box filled with gold. But in search- ing for the box he went farther west than the Dragoon, his efforts being confined to digging along the banks of Big John, Rock, Bluff and 142 Creeks.
According to his description the money was buried on a creek crossed by the Santa Fe road. On the south side of the creek there was a big bluff, and a creek coming into the main creek from the north side. The box was buried on the east side of the creek coming from the north. On the bluff south of the creek there was a lot of big flat rock and on one of these rock was cut the figure of a compass pointing to the place where the box was buried and the number of rods to the box was marked on the rock.
In the Summer of 1895, just six years ago, an old Englishman came into the Harveyville neighborhood. He had but little to say to any one, though he preached some and fished a great deal. He fished
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
WHEN HODGSON'S HILL WAS A SIGNAL STATION FOR A BAND OF ROBBERS. Preparing to raid a Mexican train on the Old Santa Fe Trail. Soe pago 141.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
OUR FIRST HOME IN KANSAS - built in 1855.
Road
S.W. qr. Sec. 28- 14- R13.
S. E gr Soc 28 -T14 - RIS.
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O George
Harvey's
H. Mc Phersonse
Wird parce su
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RAIL
ROAD
Spring
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Mound
Robbers'
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N.Wer. Se: 33-T14 -R 13.
N. B or. Soc. 33-T14-R/3.
WHERE THE FIRST LOG HOUSE WAS BUILT, IN 1844. On the site of which, near Harveyville, $75,000 in Spanish gold was found, in 1891, by a preacher who had watched as well as prayed.
· sit of John Madden's Cabin
Bachelors' Branch
· Calet Harveys
Robbers' Log House
+Our First Camp
Dra
doon
old Road
Cemetery Jahu Hodgson's
Allen Hodgson's
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
and preached for two or three months. His favorite place for fishing was near the mouth of Bachelor's branch, the poorest place to fish in the whole country. He fished and preached until some time in Sep- tember, when without bidding any of his newly made friends good bye, he disappeared.
In a few days it was noised about that some one had dug up a box over north of the Harveyville cemetery. Right where stood the old log house the robbers had built fifty years before was a hole about four feet deep and on the sides was the imprint of an iron box 18x12x8-un- doubtedly the same box stolen by the train robbers on Log Chain creek in 1844. The iron rust was there, but the $75,000 in Spanish gold had disappeared-with the old preacher. He had watched as well as prayed. He had been fishing for gold-and had found what he long had sought.
Our First Vigilance Committee. ,
That Was Compelled to Suspend Business for Lack of Other Material.
In 1850, notwithstanding the scarcity of horses, the business of horse stealing was by no means neglected. As a matter of protection a vigilance committee was organized in the south-east part of the county for the purpose of dealing out justice in chunks according to the standard laid down by Judge Lynch, to such persons as found it difficult to keep their hands from stealing other people's horses.
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