USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 4
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104
29
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
fered by that party in the history of the county. In that year Hon. John R. Goodin, of Humboldt. was elected to Congress on the "Reform ticket," the first man not a Republican to be elected to Congress from the Second District.
For a number of years following the visitation of the grasshoppers, no events transpired of special importance or interest. A succession of aver- age crops soon restored nomal conditions and the people pursued the even tenor of their way, illustrating in the main the saying "happy is the people which has no history." There was a steady, although not a large stream of immigration, and the country gradually filled up with a splendid class of intelligent, self-respecting, law-abiding and industrious citizens. The his- tory that was made was chiefly that of the individual citizen, much of which will be found in the biographical part of this work.
In 1880, after a lively contest between Humboldt and Iola as to which should gain the prize, a branch of the Missouri Pacific, at first known as the Fort Scott, Wichita & Western, was built through the county from east to west, passing through Iola, and giving birth to the towns of LaHarpe and Moran. In 1888, the Kansas City & Pacific Railroad, (now a branch of the M. K. & T. ) was built through the eastern part of the county, cross- ing the Missouri Pacitic at Moran and giving birth to the villages of Bay- ard, Elsmore and Savonburg.
The years from 1882 to 1888, were marked by a great many deeds of violence, extending to even loss of life, and much litigation growing out of a dispute over the title to a large body of land in the eastern part of the county, mostly in the townships of Marmaton, Salem and Elsmore. These lands, many thousand acres in all, had been granted to and were claimed by the M. K. & T., and the L. L. & G. Railroad companies, and nearly all of them had been sold to individual purchasers, although comparatively few tracts were occupied by those holding the railroad title. The claim was made that the railroad companies had not complied with the conditions of the grant, and had, therefore, forfeited their rights to the lands. Acting on this opinion some three hundred men had entered upon the land, each one claiming a quarter-section as a homestead. These men formed an or- ganization known officially as "The Settlers Protective Association," but designated commonly as the "Land League," and began a strenuous con- test to make good their claim. Eminent attorneys were employed and in many cases physical force was resorted to in the maintenance of what the settlers believed to be their rights. Fences built by those claiming under the railroad title, were destroyed, a number of houses were burned, two men lost their lives, and the growth of the entire county was materially re- tarded. Of course the matter got into the courts immediately, and for many years the "League cases" made up a considerable portion of the docket of the district court of Allen County. Case after case was carried to the higher courts, and it is only within the past year that final decision has been ren- dered in the last of them. To present all the details of the controversy would occupy a great deal of space, and would serve no good purpose. Let it suf- fice to say in a general way, that the railroad title has been confirmed by
30
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
the courts, and the recollection of the unfortunate contest and the distress- ing events that grew out of it, is rapidly fading away.
Allen County had a very light attack of the "boom" fever that was so virulent in many parts of the State during the 80s. A few spasmodic ef- forts were made to inoculate it with the virus, but it did not "take." Nevertheless, the county suffered with the rest of the State when the bub- ble burst and the reaction came. From 1890 to 1895 things were very quiet, indeed. The towns made no growth to speak of, and the population of the county showed little if any increase, although those who were here added steadily, if slowly, to their acquisitions, and were every year in some- what better circumstances than the year before. In 1895, however. owing to the discovery and development of the the natural gas field, an account of which is made the subject of a separate chapter of this book, and to the result- ing location of large manufacturing enterprises, the county began to gain rapidly in both population and wealth. From that time to the present the advancement has been most gratifying, and, there is is perhaps not a county in the State that is now enjoying a greater degree of universal prosperity.
31
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
The first Land Titles
Settlement commenced in Allen county before an acre of land had been surveyed, and while the Indian title was yet unextinguished, although treaties for its extinguishment were pending. About two thirds of the county on the north belonged to the New York Indians, and the remaining one-third to the Osages. In 1855 Joseph Ludley, with a party of surveyors began the survey of the standard parallels of the Territory, finishing it February, 1856, with the Fifth standard parallel, crossing Allen county a little north of Humboldt. The township and range lines were run during this and the following summer, but the subdivison was not completed until the summer of 1859. In the absence of definite "corners" there was naturally inuch uncertainty as to the boundary and extent of territory that could be rightfully claimed by individual settlers. The first settlers located in or adjoining the timber, and while professing to hold but a quarter section often claimed a mile square. The Territorial legislature enacted that each settler might hold two quarter section, one of timber and one of prairie. This was directly contrary to the laws of congress and gave rise to much trouble. To remedy these evils so far as possible the settlers in this county, as eleswhere, organized among themselves associations whose business it was to settle disputed claims and protect each others rights. The decision of these tribunals was always prompt, nearly always just and equitable, and very generally acquiesced in so that actual violence was seldom resorted to in these cases.
In the summer of 1860 the public lands in the county that had been surveyed were opened up for settlement and offered at public sale in Nov- ember of that year, the homestead law having not yet been passed. Owing to the great destitution that year amoung the settlers, resulting from the failure of the crops, but few were able to purchase their claims, and to pre- vent speculators from bidding them off at the sale large numbers of settlers were in attendance and in most cases succeeded in preventing the sale of lands on which settlement had been made.
They were not always able to prevent such sales, however, and the two or three tragedies which darken the early pages of our county's history resulted from this failure. One of these cases was that of a young man named Winn who in 1860 settled on a claim a few miles west of Humboldt, and without filing on it went to Missouri to work. During his absence a man named Harris went to the land office at Fort Scott and bought the land at private entry. When Winn returned and ascertained the facts he immediately procured a revolver and proceeded direct to Harris' house, on Deer creek and demanded a conveyance of the land. Some altercation
32
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
ensued and the two men started off together. Harris was found next day with a bullet hole through his head. Winn was arrested, charged with the crime. In the preliminary hearing before 'Squire Mattoon, of Geneva, he admitted the killing but pleaded self-defense. He was held to bail, but popular sympathy was with him, and the war soon after breaking out, he enlisted in the army and no trial ever took place.
A similar tragedy came near being enacted between Anderson C. Smith and Anderson Wray, and for a similar reason. Wray bid off Smith's claim at the land sales at Fort Scott. Smith, who was at his place on Martin creek, heard of it late in the evening, and immediately mounted a pony and started for Fort Scott, swearing vengeance. He met Wray and his party in camp on Turkey creek about three or four o'clock in the morning, and without a word of warning or a moment's notice began firing at Wray, one or two shots taking effect before friends could interfere. Fortunately the wounds were not mortal. Wray recovered and the affair was afterwards amicably settled.
A number of settlers had located on Osage Indian lands in the south part of the county before the Indian title was extinguished, and the Gov- ernment had ordered them to move off. The order was not obeyed to any great extent, and in several instances serious trouble with the Indians was narrowly averted. On September 29, 1865, however, a treaty with the Osages was finally concluded by the terms of which the white settlers then on the lands were permitted to enter 160 acres each at one dollar and twenty- five cents an acre. These lands were surveyed in 1866-'7 and the settlers were enable under the treaty to secure a title to their homes in January, 1868, after a residence on the part of some of eleven years.
33
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
Some of the "first" Things.
The first school was opened in Humboldt in 1858, and was taught by S. W. Clark.
The first wedding was that of George W. Young to Sarah Bennett, June 28, 1856.
The first conrt in the county was held by Judge Cato, in November, 1855, in Cofachique. He held another term in 1856.
The first death was that of an Englishman named Broadbent, one of the Vegetarian colony, which occurred in June, 1856.
The first postoffice was located at Cofachique in 1856, but a regular carrying route was not put on until the year following.
Nimrod Hankins made the first assessment of the county in March, 1857, finding taxable property to the amount of $34,515.50.
The first election was held at Cofachique, in the fall of 1856, seven votes being cast. Each voter paid a poll tax of one dollar before being per- mitted to vote.
The first practicing physician who located permanently in the county was Dr. Burgess, who came in the summer of 1856, and took a claim two miles north of Humboldt.
The legislature of 1855, known as the "bogus legislature," established slavery in Kansas by law, and it existed in Allen County in the first years of its history in fact, slaves being owned and held here by Henry Sater, Giles Sater, James Galbraith, a Mr. Hurlston and a Mr. Dunbar. Giles Sater was a free state man and soon set his slaves free. The other slave owners, finding the atmosphere unwholesome, returned after a short time to Missouri.
34
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
The Reminiscence of an Old Settler.
BY I. B. LAWYER
On the ist day of April, 1857, W. F. Brooks, William Boyd and I started from Solon Iowa to go to Kansas with our own conveyance, two horses and a wagon. When we got to Leavenworth we met a man who had surveyed a townsite down on the Neosho, they named Leroy, so we struck out for the Neosho River. From Leroy we came on the west side of the river to Neosho Falls, thence down to what was afterwards called Law- yer's Ford, (three miles north-west of now Iola). There we camped on Saturday evening, and on Monday morning we bought a claim of Mr. A11- gustus Todd. The land had not as yet been surveyed into sections, and when the government survey was made, it was close to the line where Mr. Todd had figured.
The next news that came was that the land belonged to the New York Indians, and that we would all have to leave. This was not cheerful news to me as I had bought out my partner's (Mr. Brooks), interest for some eight hundred dollars, and as time passed on the land was offered for sale at the Fort Scott land office and hardly any of us had sufficient money to bid in our land which was sold at the mercy of the speculators. There were but few speculators present at the sale, and our land was not sold.
We now had an opportunity to file on our land, with the privilege of twelve months in which to pay for our homestead, and by the time I bought a land warrant from L. L. Northrup, (then running a store at Geneva), and at that time land warrants being under par, I procured my land from the government for a little less than one dollar per acre.
When J. R. Young and I went to the land office at Mapleton to prove up, darkness came on before we got home, and coming in on the east side of Iola, we were stopped by the pickets, (Iola being under guard to keep the rebels out), and passing through the line into town, we had to get the password to get out of town again, and when we got to my house we ran amuck another outpost; so you see we had some thrilling times even in free Kansas.
I well remember the first four acres of corn I raised in Kansas, and that was in 1857. I readily disposed of it the following spring for seed corn at $1.50 per bushel-Joe Colburn buying the last of it at $2.00 per bushel. The money those days in circulation was gold and silver, with a five-cent piece for the smallest change.
It may be of interest to some people to know what kind of game we had, and, while I think of it I must tell you a joke on myself: One Sun-
35
1142784
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
day morning my wife and I were getting ready to go to J. R. Young's to eat some apples that he had brought from Missouri, and looking out the west window of the log cabin, I saw two deer in the brush. Not having any meat in the house, nor money to buy any, I, of course, thought of my rifle first thing, and picking same up dropped one of the deer, and the other deer stood there until I loaded my muzzle-loading rifle, and I dropped it too; but lo, when I reached the side of my game I found they both had strings around their necks. They were pets and had strayed .away from their owner, Miss Fannie, daughter of Joe Parsons, (Jesse Parsons, now a resident of Chanute, was at the time a young man). They took it as a joke and said the deer had no business wandering so far from home, and for me to divide with my neighbors. I went home and, as luck would have it, Nimrod Hankins and Lawrence Arnold came to call on us and helped me dress them. They were the only deer I ever killed.
Wild turkey were abundant. I once saw twenty-six go to roost at the mouth of Deer Creek, and got one the following morning before breakfast.
The log cabin we lived in was built by an Arkansas man and, of course, had an Arkansas chimney to it, built with sticks above the fireplace, and daubed with mud; and, of course, it had to be repaired every fall. While inside that chimney repairing it one day, I saw some wild turkeys in a corn patch across the road. I went out and picking out one with a large head I dropped him. I told my wife to go and get it, and we found that the ball had gone through the one I aimed for and crippled one more, so we had two turkeys that weighed twenty pounds apiece, and only two of us to eat them and, of course, we divided among the neighbors. I killed nine the first fall I was here, and some of them were plenty fat to fry themselves.
Prairie chicken were plentiful. They would come off the prairie to the timber to sun themselves on the dead trees, and I could shoot two or three of them before they would fly away.
In the summer of 1857 I heard of a colony that had settled up on In- dian Creek, and heard they had started a town and named it Eureka, (I sup- pose they thought they had found it), so I concluded one Sunday morning I would ride up and see the town, and get acquainted with some of the peo- ple. I found the place and found that the town consisted of a hole in the ground, (where they had been digging for water), and the people were camped along the creek. I rode across the creek to where there was a log cabin that a Mr. Fuqua had vacated, and I saw the people gathering toward the cabin, so I rode up to it and a Mr. Spicer, (now of Geneva), and Dr. Stone were sitting on a log talking, and I asked them if there would be preaching there? They said no, it was to be Sabbath school. I was wearing one of those two-story hats I had brought from the states, and they mistook me to be a preacher and asked me whether I was one. I told them no, but that I was a lawyer, but only by name, so there I was at my first Sabbath school in Kansas. Before I forget I must tell you that they afterwards changed the name of their town to Geneva.
The first sermon I heard preached in Kansas was at the residence of Martin Brown, father of Samuel and Miss Ruth Brown, now of Iola. It
36
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
was on the farm now owned by Mrs. Robert Purdom. I have forgotten the man's name now that preached, but he belonged to the colony that first started Geneva.
Some years after my wife and I went to Neosho Falls to camp meeting with an ox team and farm wagon, took a man along to take the oxen home, and we camped in the wagon until the meeting was over. We had plenty with us to eat and sometimes entertained the preachers. I don't know but what we enjoyed the meetings about as well as though we had gone in the finest style. I attended quarterly meeting at Leroy, and was there for the 9 o'clock love feast, traveling a distance of sixteen miles to get there. I have farmed it through drought, flood and grasshoppers and hail-storms, peace and war, and bountiful crops and failures; it would take many pages to tell it all, and I have been in many different states in the Union, and have even lived in Missouri, where the pure air of Heaven is contaminated with the fumes of whiskey; so that when I conie over into Kansas, and the cars glide along over the beautiful prairies, it always seems to me as soon as I cross the State line, that I can smell the difference in the air we breathe. And, when it comes to genuine comfort, there is no place I have ever been where I would rather spend my remaining days or years than Iola, Kansas.
37
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
The Bench and Bar
When Kansas was admitted into the Union as a State on January 29. 186t, Allen county became a part of the fourth judicial district and Solon O. Thacher of Lawrence, became the judge of such district, and held the courts therein until October 1864, when he resigned and D. P. Lowe of Ft. Scott was appointed to fill the vacancy, but Judge Lowe never held a term of court in Allen County. At the November election in 1864, D. M. Valentine of Ottawa was elected to succeed Judge Lowe and took the office as judge of the fourth judicial district on Jannary 8, 1865. Judge Valentine held all the terms of the district court in Allen County during the years 1865 and 1866-the several terms commencing as follows: May 1, 1865, October 30, 1865. April 30, 1866 and October 29, 1866. By an act of the legislature which took effect March 4, 1867, Allen County was taken from the fourth judicial district and placed in a new district then created and numbered seven, and it still remains in the seventh judicial district.
The 7th judicial district, as first formed comprised the counties of Anderson, Allen, Neosho, Labette, Woodson and Wilson. Hon. Wm. Spriggs, of Garnett, Anderson county, was the first Judge of the new district. He was appointed by Governor Crawford March 4, 1867, and held the office until January 13, 1868. At the general election in November, 1867, Hon. John R. Goodin, of Humboldt, Allen county, was elected for a regular term of four years, and succeeded Judge Spriggs. Judge Goodin was re-elected in 1871, but in 1874 was elected to Congress and resigned the judgeship February 1, 1875. Shortly thereafter Hon. W. H. Talcott, of Iola, Allen county, was appointed by Governor Osborn, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Goodin. At the general election in November, 1875, Judge Talcott was elected for the term of four years beginning on the second Monday of January. 1875, and Honorable Peter Bell, of Woodson county, was elected for the "short term", that is to say, the period inter- vening between the election of 1875 and the official canvass of the vote, and the beginning of the regular term on the second Monday of the following January. Judge Talcott was re-elected in 1879. At the general election in 1883, Leander Stillwell who then resided at Osage Mission (now St. Paul) in Neosho Co., was elected Judge, and was re-elected in 1887, 1891, 1895 and 1899. Upon the completion of his present term Judge Stillwell will have served twenty years on the bench of this district, a longer period of con- secutive service in that capacity than stands to the credit of any other man in the history of Kansas.
With scarcely an exception the judges of this district have been men of character and ability. Among them all none has stood higher than
38
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Judge D. M. Valentine, who was promoted from the district to the Supreme Bench upon which he served with great distinction for a full quarter of a century. Since his retirement from the bench, he has been in the active practice of his profession as the head of one of the strongest law firms in Topeka. Although far advanced in years his memory is unimpaired, and the publishers of this history are glad to be able to include in this chapter the following contribution from his still facile pen:
Judge Valentine's Recollections.
The first terni of the District Court which I held in Allen County was held in Humboldt, which was then the county seat, in an old church, which had previously and during the latter part of the war been occupied by Union soldiers as barracks. At this term J. H. Campbell was the county attor- ney; J. C. Redfield, sheriff; George A. Miller, clerk, and John Francis, deputy sheriff and bailiff for the court. All the officers performed their du- ties faithfully, and I have never seen a more faithful officer than John Fran- cis. He was afterwards clerk of the District Court of Allen County, and has since held several important offices, among which were the offices of county treasurer and state treasurer. There were present at that court the following attorneys: J. H. Campbell, Eli Gilbert, Chas. P. Twiss, John R. Goodin, Orlin Thurston, Nelson F. Acers, W. S. Newberry and Joseph Bond, all residents of Allen County, the last three being admitted to prac- tice during the term. Judge Lowe, of Fort Scott, G. W. Smith, of Law- rence, and John G. Lindsay of Garnett also attended that term. All the aforementioned attorneys generally attended the courts afterwards held in Allen County, and also the following attorneys generally attended the sub- sequent terms: H. W. Talcott and Mr. Sechrist, residents of Allen County. Judge R. M. Ruggles, of Emporia, and Joel K. Goodin, of Ottawa, also at- tended at least one term of the court in Allen County. Other attorneys may also have attended wliom I do not now remember.
Col. Thurston had previously been a state senator from Allen County, and Col. Twiss was then a state senator from that county. John R. Goodin was afterwards judge of the Seventh Judicial District, including Allen County, and was afterwards a member of congress. H. W. Talcott was also later the judge of that district and county. Judge Lowe was after- wards judge of the Sixth Judicial District, and afterwards a member of congress. Nelson F. Acers was afterwards a United States collector of in- ternal revenue for Kansas. Joseph Bond was also at that time editor of the "Weekly Herald," a paper published at Humboldt. As above stated, the first term of court which I held in Allen County, was held at Humboldt; but the next three terms were held at Iola, the county seat having been removed from Humboldt to Iola in the meantime. A grand jury was con- vened and had a session during the first term, which grand jury found and returned several indictments.
During the terms of the District Court which I held in Allen County, many humorous incidents occurred. Among them a prosecution for illegal-
39
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
ly selling intoxicating liquor, was tried before a jury. The liquor sold was beer, and the defense was that the beer sold was not an intoxicating liquor. Evidence was introduced tending to show both that the beer was intoxicat- ing and that it was not intoxicating. Judge Gilbert was a witness in the case and testified that he had purchased several bottles of the beer, under a prescription from a physician, and had drunk the beer and that it did not in- toxicate him. The lawyers had considerable sport over this testimony, and one of them suggested that it was like the Dutchman, who said he could drink fifty or sixty glasses of beer without becoming intoxicated, but he did not know what effect it would have on a man if he should make a hog of himself. Judge Gilbert was a very good speaker before a jury. In one case he and Judge Ruggles each made an argument before the jury and while Judge Ruggles was an ex-judge of the Fifth Judicial District and an eminent lawyer, yet some of the lawyers who heard the argument expressed the opinion that Judge Gilbert made fully as good an argument as Judge Ruggles, if not a better one. The lawyers also had considerable sport over the manner in which Judge Gilbert talked to litigants who wished to en- ploy him to make an argument before a jury. The lawyers stated that Judge Gilbert informed the litigants that he would make just a common speech to the jury for $25.00; that he would make a good speech for $50.00. but if they wanted him to make one of his "hell-roarin" speeches, they must pay him $100.00. Judge Gilbert had a few favorite phrases which he liked to repeat to juries. One was, in illustrating the purity or honesty of a person, or the reverse, he would say that he or she was or was not "As pure as the icicle from the purest snow on Diana's temple," or would some- times vary this by saying that he or she was or was not "As pure as the purest snow on Alpine Heights." Col. Thurston also showed ability in trying cases. In one of his cases, which was for a breach of promise of marriage, in which he was for the plaintiff, and showed a great deal of feel- ing, he tried it extraordinarily well, and made an excellent speech to the jury. The jury found a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $3,500 which, under the circumstances, the defendant not being a wealthy man, was con- sidered a liberal verdict. At one time while the District Court was in ses- sion, a preliminary examination was had out of court before a justice of the peace, in which the defendants were charged with murder in the first de- gree. It was claimed that two or three persons had been guilty of stealing horses in that community, and that some of the people of the community had hanged them until they were dead. The persons charged with doing the hanging were then charged with murder. Judge G. W. Smith de- fended them. Among his suggestions was that the persons killed had, af- .ter stealing the horses, been stricken with remorse and that they had hanged themselves, but in reply to this, it was suggested that that was im- possible for all the persons hanged had their hands tied behind them when they were hanged. But Judge Smith replied, as he said a Dutch justice in Pennsylvania, where he came from once replied, when it was suggested that a person assaulted who had lost his nose in the encounter, had bitten it off himself; and the other side suggested that that was impossible. But
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.