USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 6
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 6
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
E. A. Mr. Barber was born August, 1848, in Morgan County, Illinois.
BARBER He remained on the farm upon which he was born until 1863 when his parents removed to Jacksonville where he graduated at Illinois College in 1868, standing second in his class; he was admitted to the bar in 1870 and in October of that year came to Humboldt where he at once entered upon the practice of law with exceptional prospects of success, but in 1875 he added banking to law, by going in business with B. H. Dayton under the firm name of Dayton, Barber & Company, and soon thereafter he organized a National Bank which wholly engrossed his attention. The general financial disaster of 1893 numbered this bank among its victims, although he continued the struggle until some years later. In 1896 he removed to Springfield, Missouri, where he now resides.
GEORGE A. Mr. Amos came to Humboldt in 1868 or 1869 and went AMOS into the lumber business. The extermination of private en- terprise by consolidated capital which has since driven out pretty much all lumber yards conducted by private individuals, influenced Amos to enter the law. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and continued in the practice there until 1889 when business connected with the settle- ment of his father's estate caused him to remove to Springfield, Illinois, where he remained until 1894. He then returned to Humboldt where he still remains engaged in the practice. His ability and energy as a lawyer soon gave him prominence at the bar and he was elected county attorney. That was a time when it was thought to be the proper thing for county attorneys to see to it that laws were enforced and Amos did see to it in such fashion that Mrs. Nation would have had no occasion to visit Allen county.
Amos was chiefly responsible for one memorable event in Allen county's history. Humboldt's zeal in behalf of the famous "East and West road" outran her discretion. She not only voted but she also issued the necessary bonds but she never got the road. When payment of the bonds was demanded, to borrow the slang expression then current, which I trust the severe taste of the future Allen county bar will excuse, she "kicked". A city could be sued only by getting service on certain named officers. By a judicious selection of persons who were about to leave the State or the world, the municipal machinery was disintegrated beyond the power of a Federal Court mandamus to ever put it together again. In this way the city was placed and kept under cover for nearly twenty years and until a favorable compromise was effected. Mr. Amos was chief conspira- tor in the scheme.
W. J. Though hardly justified by his prominence at the bar, the LARIMER romantic incident which made him an Allen County lawer throw- ing light as it does upon the vicissitues of life on the frontier may excuse the insertion of Larimer's biography in a history of the Allen County bar.
The Larimer and Kelly families were among the early settlers in Allen County. Shortly after the close of the war they in company with several other families started in wagons for some point on the Pacific slope. While
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
in Wyoming Territory the train was attacked by the Sioux Indians. Larimer was badly wounded but escaped by hiding in the brush. Kelly was killed. Mrs. Larimer together with her young children also Mrs. Kelly were captured.
Mrs. Larimer after being a prisoner about two days escaped. Mrs. Kelly remained a captive until ransomed about five months later. After her release she regained her friends the Larimers. Some time later Mrs. Larimer published a book as her own production and on her own account, giving a full story of the occurrence which was largely made up of an ac- count of Mrs Kelly's experiences while a captive. Thereupon Mrs. Kelly came to Allen County, attached land belonging to the Larimers and brought suit for damages, claiming that the manuscript was the joint pro- duction and property of both herself and Mrs. Larimer and was to have been published on joint account. This woman's quarrel became a matter of general public interest and was prolonged in the courts for several years with varying results until the costs equaled the value of the land attached, when it was adjusted.
Larimer having nothing else to do during its progress read law and was admitted to the bar. He soon after wandered off to the Black Hills where he afterwards served a term or two as Probate Judge in one of the leading counties, after which he resumed practice until his death which occurred several years since.
WILLIAM HENRY Mr. Slavens was born in Putnam county, Indiana, SLAVENS August, 1849, came to Kansas in 1869, began the prac-
tice of law at Neosho Falls, Woodson county, in 1870, removed to Humboldt in 1876 where he remained until elected county attorney in 1878 when he removed to Iola. After the expiration of his term, he returned to Yates Center. He removed to Kansas City, Kansas, where he died in 1897.
Mr. Slavens possessed in a high degree many of the qualities necessary for a successful lawyer. He was bright, genial and likeable, and excep- tionally influential with the jury. He represented Woodson county in the Legislature in 1884 and 1886.
J. O. Mr. Fife was born near Plymouth, Ind., September 10, 1854, was FIFE raised on the farm, was educated at the Indiana State University, came to Kansas in 1878 and began the practice of law at Humboldt in September of that year. Mr. Fife's qualifications entitle him to a place in the foremost rank of those who have been Allen county lawyers. He speedily became prominent. In 1880 he was appointed county attorney to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Slavens. In the fall of that year he was elected to the same position. In 1883 he removed to Kansas City Kansas, where he at once established an extensive practice. Though by no means wanting as a counsellor, his special excellence is as a trial lawyer. Mr. Fife takes an active interest in politics and appears as a prominent and influential factor in every congressional and State conven- tion of his party. Since his removal to Wyandotte he has been County
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Attorney for one or two terms. Of late years he has been extensively in- terested in mining operations in Colorado, and contrary to the general rule his adventures in that line have been quite successful.
MILFORD H. Mr. Donoho was born in Macon County, Tennessee, in
DONOHO 1844, came with his parents to McDonough County, Illi- nois, in 1846, served three years in the 47th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. came to Allen County in 1868, was admitted to the bar in 1876. From 1881 to 1889 he practiced law and edited the Pilot at Bron- son, Kansas. In 1889 he began the practice of law in Kansas City, Kansas. Sterling integrity, sound judgment, strong common sense and an innate love of justice coupled with a familiarity with the fundamental principles of law are his striking characteristics. He is now filling his second term . as Judge of one of the city courts in Kansas City, Kansas, and has just been re-nominated without opposition for a third term with certainty of election.
Other Allen County Attorneys.
The publishers of this History regret that they have not been able to command the services of so able a chronicler as Mr. Keplinger on behalf of the attorneys who came here since Mr. Keplinger removed from the county or who lived at Iola during his residence at Humboldt and with whom he did not feel sufficiently acquainted to include in his article. In the absence of such an expert little more can be done than to set down here the names of those who made for themselves a permanent place in the records of the Allen County bar.
JAMES C. Mr. Murray held a prominent place among Iola lawyers
MURRAY for several years. He went from here to Missouri and is now at Harrisonville, Arkansas.
C. M. Mr. Simpson practiced at the bar a comparatively short time, SIMPSON but he holds a large place in the earlier history of Iola for the reason that he was for several years clerk of the district court and afterwards for a number of years post-master, resigning the latter posi- tion, chiefly ou account of his health, to go to Pasadena, California, where he now lives and where he has taken a prominent place at the bar and in politics, having been twice elected to the Senate of the State.
J. H. Mr. Richards came to Iola soon after the war as a young
RICHARDS lawyer and would probably be willing to admit that he had a liard fight of it for several years. When the Fort Scott Wich- ita and Western railroad, (now a division of the Missouri Pacific), was built through Allen County Mr. Richards, who had been active in securing right of way and other concessions, was appointed its local attorney. His work was so well done that he was soon advanced to the general attorney- ship of the road, with headquarters at Fort Scott where he has ever since made his home. While never holding or seeking political office, Mr. Richards has taken an active interest in politics and is now recognized as a strong factor in the Republican councils of the State.
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
W. G. Mr. McDonald was perhaps one of the most ambitious MCDONALD men who ever tried to practice law in Iola. He was a man of considerable natural ability, but his professional success was hampered by lack of early training. He soon gave up the law and after holding a subordinate office at the San Carlos Indian Agency in Ari- zona for a time, returned and started a newspaper at Kiowa. When Okla- homa was opened to settlement he "made the run" and located a claim in "D" one of the far western counties. In Oklahoma he engaged actively in politics and soon achieved a wide reputation for his radical and fearless utterances and for the unusual and picturesque oratory which he de- veloped. He was shot and killed one day on the road between his claim and the neighboring town, by a man with whom he had quarreled. The man gave himself up, admitted the shooting and claimed self-defense. As there was no testimony to disprove this claim he was never punished. The very general opinion was, however, that "McDonald of D," as he was known all over Oklahoma, was waylaid and shot in the back.
J. K. Mr. Boyd will be remembered by the old citizens of Iola as a
BOYD little gray cheerful talkative man who seemed to have out lived his ambitious and his energy and was simply waiting around "killing time" with infinite good humor and patience. He rarely had a case in the district court but he was for many years police judge or justice of the peace and was much missed when he died.
R. H. Mr. Knight came here from Iowa in the early eighties and en- KNIGHT gaged at once in the practice as a partner of Oscar Foust. He was a man of great energy and force and was considered es- pecially strong as a criminal lawyer. He removed to Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, some years ago, where he still resides, and where he has built up a lucrative practice.
B. O. Mr. Davidson was first admitted to the bar here, but soon
DAVIDSON removed to Hutchinson where he rapidly advanced well to- ward the front rank. He afterwards located in St. Louis where he now lives and is reported to be doing well.
A. C. Mr. Bogle came to Iola first as stenographer for the district BOGLE court. He soon resigned that position, however, and engaged in the practice of law. He was a shrewd, well schooled lawyer, a most likeable man to his intimate friends, but with oddities of manner and dress that did not promote his success in gaining clients. Mr. Bogle was a southerner by birth and he never felt really at home in the North. After a few years, therefore, he went to Macon, Mississippi, where he was when last heard from by any of his Iola friends.
J. H. Mr. Fisher came to Kansas from Pennsylvania and began his first FISHER practice at Iola. He was a man of tremendous energy and great determination, and speedily took rank among the first of the many bright young lawyers who were then practicing law in Allen County.
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
Becoming dissatisfied with the narrow field that Iola offered at that time he went to Chanute and later to Conneaut, Ohio, where he is now engaged in the successful practice of his profession.
C. E. Mr. Benton also tried in Iola his first lawsuit, coming here
BENTON from Illinois. He was thoroughly devoted to his profession and had perhaps the most distinctly legal mind of any of his associates at the bar. He applied himself diligently and rose rapidly in his profession. He formed a partnership with J. H. Richards and when the latter was ap- pointed solicitor for the Fort Scott Wichita and Western railroad Mr. Benton was appointed as his assistant and went with him to Fort Scott where he has since made his home
A. C. Mr. Scott grew up in Iola and after graduating from the Uni- SCOTT versity of Kansas and from the Columbia Law School, Washing- ton, D. C., he returned here and engaged in the practice of law in partnership first with J. H. Richards and C. E. Benton, and afterwards with Mr. Benton alone. He went to Oklahoma City when that Territory was opened for settlement in 1889 and continued there the successful practice of law. In 1898, failing health compelled him to relinquish the law and he accepted an appointment as Professor of English Language and Literature in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Territory of Oklahoma. After one year in that position he was appointed President of the institu- tion which place he has since filled.
JOHN C. Mr. Gordon grew up in Osage township, Allen County, and GORDON worked his way up to the practice of the law. He was a man of splendid physique and considerable natural ability and he soon acquired a good standing as a young lawyer of promise. He lacked continuity, however, and after a few years at the law drifted into the news- paper business for which he was not adapted. About 1890 he left Iola and when last heard of by Allen County friends was teaching school in Illinois.
NELSON F. Mr. Acers was one of a number of unusually clever young
ACERS lawyers who came to Iola in the later sixties. Handsome, delightfully companionable, a speaker of much more than average ability, he easily took a place well toward the front rank which he held as long as he chose to devote himself to his profession. He suc- cumbed to the allurements of politics, however, and after making an un- successful race for Congress as the candidate of the Democratic party, he was appointed internal revenue collector. For a few years after retiring from that office he devoted himself to mining enterprises. These failing to return the rewards promised he returned to Iola and engaged in the real estate business which now occupies his time.
HENRY W. Mr. Talcott came to Iola from the army, slight of figure but
TALCOTT with rare dignity and courtesy and with a knowledge of law that speedily sent him to the District bench and kept him there for twelve years. Upon his retirement from the bench he followed
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
his old friends, C. M. Simpson and R. H. Knight to southern California and is now engaged in the practice of his profession at San Diego.
A close scrutiny of the court records of the past thirty years would doubtless bring to light some names not mentioned in this rapid review, but it is believed that the names of all who really made a place for them- selves have found mention here.
To comment on those who are now actively engaged in the practice of law in Allen County would seem to be hardly the province of history, and hence the editors content themselves with placing on record the following list of present day attorneys taken from the current docket of the District court:
Amos, G. A. Atchison & Morrill.
Gard, G. R. Gard & Gard.
Bennett & Morse.
Goshorn, J. B.
Beatty, L. C.
Hankins, W. C.
Jacoby, M. P.
Baker, J. E. Choguill, W. A.
McClain, Baxter D.
Campbell & Goshorn.
Ritter, Chris. S.
Cullison, R. E. Conley, A. B.
Stover, T. S.
Thompson, J. F.
Clifford, B. E.
Thompson, Harry.
Ewing & Savage.
Tudor, H. M. M.
Foust, Oscar & Son.
Thrasher, Geo. C.
54
HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
The Swedish Settlement
BY CARL A. REYNOLDS.
In 1869 some Swedes in Illinois, following the tide of immigration westward in search of cheap homes, were attracted toward Kansas by the opening to settlement of the Osage Indian reservation which had been ceded to the Government and subjected by it to pre-emption at $1.25 per acre.
The original settlers were Peter Hawkinson and Swan Olson from Farmersville, Illinois, who reached Allen County in October, 1869. Feb- ruary 8, 1870, Olof Nelson and son Charles, John B. and John H. John- son emigrated from Knoxville, Illinois, and on March 12, 1870, they were joined by W. S. Holmes and Nels Olson and families from Farmersville. They brought with them little of this world's goods, but possessed un- daunted courage, industry and frugality, and set themselves bravely to the difficult task of building their homes in a new and undeveloped country.
But sorrow was in store, not only for these, but all other people who had settled here, for the railroads had also seen that these lands were beautiful and productive, and laid claim. Finally, in 1876, after a lawsuit of national renown, the United States Supreme Court vested the title in the Government. This decision was joyfully accepted by the settlers who at once redoubled efforts for the improvement and beautification of their homes.
In May, 1870, the first school house was built in what is now Dis- trict 38.
Death invaded the settlement in October, 1870. This caused the loca- tion of the Swedish cemetery, now one of the best kept and most beautiful cemeteries in the country.
The settlers having all been reared in the Lutheran church, soon felt the need of religious services and so a Sunday school was organized which for social reasons, was held in rotation in the homes of the various families. Early in the fall of 1870 the settlement was visited by Rev. Andreen of the Augustana Synod, and later a catechrist or colporteur came regularly and held religious services until February, 1872, when, by the arrival of other settlers, the number had increased sufficiently to organize a congre- gation. This was done by Rev. S. J. Osterberg, now deceased. A few years after the organization a great number was added by those who came from Moline and Woodhull, Illinois. They built their first church in 1878, now used by the Free Mission Society, of which Rev. Alfred John- son is the local pastor.
I11 1898 the Lutheran congregation had so increased as to number 250
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
communicants and, including the baptized children, more than 450. So it was very apparent that they should build a new and more commodious church to accommodate this large and fast growing congregation.
The accompanying half-tone engraving is of the Swedish Lutheran church. This handsome edifice was erected in 1898 and dedicated May 14, 1899. Its dimensions are 36x54 feet with an addition of 24x26 feet, and a steeple 65 feet high. The total cost of the church and all appurte- mances will aggregate $3,300.00 to say nothing of the gratuitous labor
which would have amounted to several hundred dollars. The furnishings are fine. The bell, one of the largest and best in Kansas, was made in St. Louis by the Henry Stuckstade Foundry. The architect was Olof Z. Cervin, of Rock Island, Illinois. The builders were Huff Brothers of Savonburg.
This church is three miles west of Savonburg, in the midst of the Swedish settlement of East Cottage Grove and Elsmore townships. Rev. . O. Moren, the estimable pastor, is a highly educated gentleman and con- tributes largely to the social, intellectual and moral life of this community. The Swedish people composing the congregation are of the best type of citizenship, honest, thrifty and provident.
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
The Discovery and Development of natural Gas
Natural gas has been known to exist in Kansas almost from the earli- est white settlement of the State, small quantities of it having been found in wells drilled before the war in Wyandotte county in search of oil. As soon as the war was over prospecting for oil was continued in several of the counties of the eastern border, and in many of the wells thus drilled small quantities of gas were found.
Probably the most notable of these early gas wells was the one de- veloped at Iola in 1873 by the Iola Mining Company, of which Nelson F. Acers was president. This company had been organized to prospect for coal, and so certain were they of finding it that they began at once sinking a large shaft. The work on this shaft attracted the attention of some of the officers of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston railroad, (now the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe), and they offered to bring to Iola a diamond drill outfit with which the railroad company had been pros- pecting at different points along its line, and pay $500 of the expense of a deep well. The offer was gladly accepted, and the work was begun in the
fall of 1872. At the depth of 190 feet a small flow of gas was struck. At the depth of 622 feet the drill suddenly dropped eighteen inches, and almost immediately the water which filled the space about the drill was thrown high into the air and a volume of gas followed which became lighted and did considerable damage before it could be subdued. The drilling was continued until a depth of 736 feet was reached. This was the limit of the apparatus in use, and the work was reluctantly abandoned. If this chapter were a speculation on what might have been and not a history of what has been, it would be interesting to try to conjecture what the past twenty-five years would have witnessed if that drill had gone a hundred feet deeper. But the work ceased and the drill was withdrawn. And then a singular spectacle was witnessed. Following the drill there came a great geyser of water, thrown many feet above the ground with a great gurgling and hissing noise. Presently the flow ceased and all was quiet for the space of a few seconds, and then the same phenomenon was re- peated. And so for more than fourteen years at intervals of from fifteen to forty-five seconds it continued to be repeated, and it was a remarkable and very beautiful sight, particularly when the gas was set on fire and the spraying water looked like a fountain of liquid flame. The fame of it spread abroad, and as the waters were shown to have considerable medi- cinal virtue "The Acers Mineral Well," as it soon came to be known, attracted many visitors and became quite a resort. In 1885, however, the Neosho river overflowed its banks and the Acers well was filled with sur-
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
face water, the weight of which was too much for the gas to lift aud so the flow ceased.
In 1886 the discovery of the great natural gas fields of Ohio and Indi- ana and the remarkable growth of the towns of that region resulting there- from attracted general attention all over the West, and the people of Iola recalled the Acers Mineral Well, and the long years that the gas which issued from it had signalled to them of the riches below. And so a local company, known as the Iola Gas and Coal Company, of which J. W. Coutant was president, and H. L. Henderson secretary, was organized with a capital of $50,000, for the purpose of prospecting for gas. A fran- chise for supplying the city with gas for domestic and manufacturing pur- poses was secured, and with $2,500 raised by an assessment of two per cent on the capital stock, the work of drilling was begun. At the end of a year the money had been spent with nothing to show for it but one or two wells with a small flow of gas. Hope was still strong, however, and the local feeling that gas might be found was such that $3,000 of city bonds were easily voted to continue the prospecting. With this sum two or three more wells were drilled, each of which developed a small quantity of gas, but in all the wells together there was hardly a supply for fifty cook stoves. At this juncture Mr. Joseph Paullin, then as now a conductor on the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe railroad, and who had noted the prospect- ing with much interest, associating with himself Mr. W. S. Pryor, an ex- perienced deep well driller, appeared before the Iola Coal and Gas Con- pany and proposed to buy its plant and franchise and continue the work. The sale was made under the condition that the new firin should drill at least six wells unless a sufficient quantity of gas to supply the town with fuel and light was sooner found. The work continued, but very slowly, and it was nearly five years before the six wells called for by the contract had
been sunk. And the gross product of all these wells barely sufficed to supply one hundred cook stoves. It looked discouraging. Messrs. Pryor and Paullin were so firm in their faith that there was a big supply of gas somewhere in the vicinity, however, that they determined to sink one more well and sink it deep. In all the wells up to this date the gas had been found at a depth of from 250 to 350 feet, and in no case had the drill gone deeper than 450 feet. It was determined that the next well should go down a thousand feet if necessary before the long search was finally abandoned. And this determination had its reward. On Christmas day, 1893, at a depth of 850 feet the drill entered the long sought for "sand" and the first natural gas well in Kansas of any real value was opened. And so although the existence of natural gas in the State had been known for nearly forty years, Christmas day, 1893, may be remembered as the date of the discovery of the Kansas natural gas field.
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