USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 27
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grades, and admitting both boys and girls. It is maintained by St. Benedict's parish. Number of teachers employed is six, and the Rev. Gerard Heinz, O. S. B., is principal. Enrollment in 1916 is 293.
St. Patrick's parochial school is located near St. Patrick's church, in Union District No. 2, about seven miles south of Atchison. Two teachers are employed in the school, and Ven. Sr. Merwina, O. S. B., is directress. It is controlled and supported by St. Patrick's parish, and its curriculum ex- tends through the grades. Boys and girls attend the school, and the enroll- ment in 1916 was sixty-seven.
St. Ann's school is a Catholic parochial school, at Effingham. It is controlled and supported by St. Ann's parish. Both boys and girls enroll in the school, which completes the work of the grades. The past year, forty- six pupils were in attendance. Two teachers are employed, one of whom is Sister Sr. M. Marcellina, O. S. B., the directress.
The Trinity Lutheran parochial school is controlled and supported by the Trinity Lutheran parish, corner of Eighth and Laramie streets. The cur- riculum extends to the eighth grade, and work is offered to both boys and girls. The enrollment in 1916 is fifty-three, and Rev. Carl W. Greinki is principal.
MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The board of education of the general synod of the Evangelical Luth- eran church, after considering propositions from a number of cities in the Middle West, decided on Atchison as the most suitable location for a Luth- eran institution. It is easy of access from the whole territory from which students are most likely to come, and the offer of the city to give $50,000 in money for buildings, twenty acres of land for a campus and professors' houses, a half interest in the sale of 500 acres of land, and to furnish 200 stu- dents the first year, was a tempting offer.
Owing to some difficulties that arose, this offer was not entirely ful- filled, but the twenty acres of ground was donated, and about $33,000 put into buildings. The college was opened on the fifteenth of September, 1887, with 101 students registered.
In 1888 the main building, known as Atchison Hall, was begun, and turned over to the board of trustees in the spring of 1889, and formally dedicated on the 30th day of September of the same year. The institution was given over to the care of a self-perpetuating board. From time to time the constitution has been changed, so that the trustees would be elected by the synods supporting the college.
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At the present time the board is composed of twenty-nine members; four are elected by the board from the citizens of Atchison, six from each of the Kansas, English Nebraska and German Nebraska synods; two from tlie Rocky Mountain and Iowa synods each, and three from the Alumni Associa- tion, with the president of the college advisory member, ex-officio.
Carnegie Library. Midland College.
· Atchison, Kans.
Carnegie Library, Atchison, Kansas
Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, D. D., was elected first president, and served efficiently in that capacity for fourteen and one-half years. In 1904 Rev. M. F. Troxell. D. D., pastor of the English Lutheran church of St. Joseph, Mo. was elected president, and was succeeded by Dr. Rufus B. Peery.
In 1891 Oak Hall, a dormitory for girls, was erected, to which, about ten years later, the annex was added, giving accommodations for thirty young women. In 1893 the gymnasium was erected, the money being solicited by the students of the institution. Through the solicitations of Dr. Clutz, a splendid six-inch telescope was donated, and an observatory built in 1899. Through the efforts of Dr. Troxell a proposition was secured from Andrew Carnegie to donate $15,000 towards the building of a library, pro- vided the same amount could be raised for its upkeep. From the synods on the territory, alumni and friends of the college, this amount was secured, and
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the handsome library building was erected during the winter of 1910-1911, and formally dedicated on May 30, 1911. A legacy of $5,000, given several years before, was added to the building fund in order to have a public hall. and a memorial tablet was placed in the hall to the memory of the generous donor, Rev. J. G. Griffith, D. D. On the retirement of Dr. Clutz, his home was bought by the college board for the use of the president.
The Western Theological Seminary was organized in 1895, and the first president and professor, Rev. F. D. Altman, D. D., was inaugurated.
The German department of the seminary was added a few years later, with Dr. J. L. Neve as dean of the department. The home owned by ex- Senator John J. Ingalls was secured in 1908 for seminary purposes. It is ad- mirably adapted to that purpose. At the annual meeting of the college trus- tees in 1910 the board of education turned over the management of the seminary to this board.
ST. BENEDICT'S COLLEGE.
St. Benedict's College is the product of Benedictine activity in Kansas, in the cause of Christian civilization. Father Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., the founder of the Benedictines in the United States, settled in Pennsylvania in 1846, and ten years later he sent missionaries in all directions, and where they settled, promptly there, too, their schools soon were founded. Father Henry Lempe, O. S. B., was the first Benedictine to touch upon Kansas soil in 1856, and he inspired Bishop Miege, S. J., of Leavenworth, with the idea of inviting Abbott Wimmer to make a foundation in Kansas, and there- after Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., was sent out to Doniphan, in 1857, but in 1858 he moved to Atchison. Father Augustine's management of the college continued until 1868, when he was succeeded by Louis M. Fink, O. S. B., who remained at the head of the institution until 1871. It was under Father Louis that the first printed catalog of St. Benedict's College appears. Father Giles Christoph, O. S. B., succeeded Father Louis, and held the posi- tion three years, from 1871 to 1874, and was succeeded by Father Oswald Moosmueller, O. S. B. The college is situated on the hills north of Atchison and commands an extensive view of the Missouri river and surrounding country. In 1908 the college planned to erect a new group of buildings to crown the brow of the hill, east of the old college, new St. Benedict is to be not only first class, but it is to be a monument of beautiful architecture, which will be in Tudor Gothic and uniform throughout. The administra- tion building, already erected, comprises the first of the group, part of which
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St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kan.
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comprises living quarters of the students. It is a fire-proof building of re- inforced concrete and vitrified brick, spacious, well ventilated, and conve- niently arranged. The buildings in the old group are of substantial structure, well fitted to serve their purposes. They comprise an auditorium, recitation room, kitchen and dining rooms, scientific laboratories, museum of natural history, music and typewriting departments. The college has two distinct libraries, one for the exclusive use of the students, and the other, the college library proper. The students' library contains upwards of 5,000 volumes, in addition to a number of papers and magazines. The college library proper, maintained for the use of the professors, occupies four rooms and the monastery, and it contains more than 27,400 bound volumes and over 5,000 pamphlets. The scientific laboratories are adequate for present use, and the museum is one of the best of its kind in this part of the country. The play- grounds of the college are large and well suited to afford all manner of healthful exercise for the students.
The courses available in the college are the academic, the collegiate, busi- ness and stenographic, which are presided over by twenty-two professors, and in which are 300 students. St. Benedict's is one of the finest Catholic institutions in the West.
CHAPTER XVIII.
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BENCH AND BAR.
EARLY MECCA OF LEGAL TALENT-ORGANIZATION OF JUDICIAL DISTRICT- EARLY JUDGES-PROMINENT PIONEER LAWYERS-MEMBERS OF THE ATCHISON COUNTY BAR.
Atchison county has always been particularly proud of the high order of talent that has graced its bench and bar. From the very earliest days of its history, the legal profession has been well represented here. Men who have reached a high order of distinction in the profession have had their begin- ning at the bar of this county. In fact, this county has been somewhat unique in this respect, for there is perhaps no other county in Kansas that has furnished a greater number of distinguished representatives of this noble profession, who have shed their luster upon the fair name of the State. For a long period, indeed, Atchison seemed to be the Mecca towards which the best legal talent from all quarters of the country gathered, and it was the Atchison bar that furnished three chief justices of the supreme court of Kansas, one United States district judge, an attorney-general, a governor, a United States senator, and a general counsel for a large railroad system.
No attempt will be made in this chapter to give a complete roster of names of the many lawyers who have successfully practiced their profession here. The list is too numerous, but reference will be made to a number of conspicuous leaders, whose names stand out prominently in the history of the State, and whose careers have enriched the story of success and achieve- ment.
Atchison county was one of the counties of the second judicial district, which composed, in addition to Atchison county, Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha. Marshall and Washington counties. The first judge of the district was Hon. Albert L. Lee, who lived at Elwood, Doniphan county, and served from Jan-
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uary 29 to October 31. 1861. He died in New York City December 31, 1907. The second judge of this district was Hon. Albert H. Horton. Judge Hor- ton was born in Orange county, New York, March 12, 1837, and was edu- cated at Farmers' Hall Academy, in that county, and at Ann Arbor Univer- sity. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of New York, at Brooklyn, in 1859, and continued the practice of his profession at Goshen until 1860, when he removed to Kansas, locating at Atchison. His first pub- lic office here was city attorney, to which place he was elected in the spring of 1861, upon the Republican ticket. and the same year was appointed by Governor Robinson judge of the second judicial district, and held this office, by election, until 1866, when he resigned. He was a Republican presidential elector in 1868, and in 1869 was appointed a district attorney of Kansas by President Grant, which office he held until 1873, when he was elected a member of the house of representatives from this county. Three years later he was elected to the State senate, and was also a delegate to the National Republican convention in June of that year, and in the same year was ap- pointed chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas by Governor Thomas A. Osborn, to succeed Hon. S. A. Kingman, who was before that time a prominent practitioner in Atchison. In 1877 Judge Horton was nominated on the Republican ticket to the office of chief justice of the State, and he served in that capacity for seventeen years, at the end of which time he re- turned to Atchison and formed a partnership with Hon. B. P. Waggener. Judge Horton was an able jurist and lawyer, a strong argumentative and fluent speaker. He displayed marked ability as a parliamentarian while in the legislature, and was, altogether, a man of strong mental capacity, good judgment, coupled with executive ability, and much practical experience. Ater a number of years' practice here, following his resignation as chief jus- tice of the State, he subsequently was reelected to the same position. He died on the second day of September. 1902.
Judge Horton was succeeded as judge of the district court of this dis- trict by Hon. St. Clair Graham May 11. 1866. Judge Graham served as judge until January 1I, 1869, and was on the bench at the time that the cele- brated Regis Liosel land contest was tried in Nemaha county, in which John J. Ingalls, another Atchison lawyer, represented some claimants to 38, III acres of land in the counties of Nemaha, Marshall, Jackson and Pottawato- mie. It was one of the celebrated cases of that day. The litigation grew out of a French land grant, which subsequently was confirmed by an act of Con- gress in 1858.
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Judge Graham was succeeded by Hon. Nathan Price, of Troy, Doniphan county, January 11, 1869. Judge Price served until March 1, 1872. He practiced law in the district for a number of years thereafter, and died in Troy March. 8, 1883. B. P. Waggener, who began his wonderful career as a lawyer during the administration of Judge Price, and who has been in the active practice in Atchison since that time, is authority for the statement that Judge Price was one of the most brilliant judges that ever adorned the bench. He is described by Mr. Waggener as being a man of a powerful per- sonality, and thoroughly grounded in the principles of the law.
P. T. ABELL
S. C. KINGMAN
During this period in the history of the county, Atchison had one of the strongest bars in the State of Kansas. Among the able lawyers then in the active practice were : P. T. Abell, about whom much has appeared in this his- tory ; Gen. Benjamin F. Stringfellow, Alfred G. Otis, John J. Ingalls, George W. Glick, Samuel C. Kingman, J. T. Hereford, Gen. W. W. Guthrie, Albert H. Horton, Cassius G. Foster, S. H. Glenn, F. D. Mills and David Martin, and one of that number, Mr. Waggener, is also authority for the statement that Benjamin F. Stringfellow was the most brilliant. General Stringfellow was a brother of Dr. John H. Stringfellow, one of the founders of Atchison, and, like his brother, was a strong pro-slavery leader. He was famous be- fore he came to Atchison, because of his widely known views with regard to the opening of Kansas as a slave State, and for the depth and force of
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his arguments upon the points then at issue. General Stringfellow was born in Fredericksburg, Va., September 3, 1816, and before coming to Kansas he was a resident of Missouri. He first located in Louisville, Ky., and then went to St. Louis, and from St. Louis to Huntsville, Mo., finally locating at Keytesville, where he settled down in his profession, and was recognized as being a young lawyer of fine ability. He declined the position of circuit attorney, but upon the earnest solicitation of the governor, he finally yielded and entered upon the duties of that office, and subsequently was elected without opposition, and held that office for a term of four years at a salary of $250 a year. He subsequently was elected to the legislature, with the largest majority ever received in a county, and immediately became a very active, popular and influential member of that body. Shortly thereafter the position of attorney-general of the State of Missouri became vacant, and General Stringfellow was appointed to that place. He held the office of attorney- general for four years. It was then that he formed a partnership with Hon. P. T. Abell, which continued until the fall of 1851, and they removed to Weston, Platte county, Missouri, in the fall of 1853.
At the opening of Kansas to settlement in 1854, General Stringfellow found the abolitionists preparing to get control of the country, and, in opposi- tion to the formation of the Massachusetts Immigrants' Aid Society, he took part in the organization of a pro-slavery organization at Weston, Mo., known as the Platte County Seif-Defensive Association, of which he was secretary, and one of its most active members. General Stringfellow, fore- seeing the conflict, insisted that the only means of preventing or deferring it, was to make Kansas a slave State, and thus retain sufficient power in the United States Senate to defeat aggression by the abolitionists on the rights of the South. General Stringfellow, with all the power and enthusiasm of his southern temperament, labored ceaselessly for the success of his cause. He was the active man of what was generally called "Atchison, Stringfellow & Company."
When the pro-slavery forces finally succeeded, and the destiny of Kansas was fixed, General Stringfellow went to Memphis, Tenn., in 1858, but not liking the climate, and compelled by his financial interests to look after prop- erty in Atchison, he brought his family here and became a resident of Atchi- son county in the fall of 1859, and remained here during all the bitter con- flict that followed, beloved and respected by friends and opponents alike. He submitted gracefully to the final decision, and, while never seeking office, and influenced in his political action by what he deemed the best interests
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of the people of the State, he cordially cooperated with the Republican party in Kansas, but he was preëminently a lawyer, although he had a large out- side business interests during his residence here. He was active in the organ- ization and construction of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad, which was the first railroad connecting Kansas with the East, and was its first attorney. Shorly before his death he made a trip around the world. He died in Chicago in the early nineties.
GEN. B. F. STRINGFELLOW
COL. J. A. MARTIN
A few years after General Stringfellow immigrated from Missouri into Kansas, there came another famous lawyer, who was also formerly an attor- ney-general of Missouri, Gen. Bela M. Hughes. General Hughes was also one of the brilliant lawyers of an early day, who remained in Atchison but a few years as general counsel for the Overland Stage Line. Before coming to Atchison, General Hughes was a resident of St. Joseph, where he was the president and general counsel for the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company. When this line was sold, under a mortgage fore- closure, to Ben Holladay, in 1862, General Hughes came to Atchison. He served as general counsel for Mr. Holladay until the line was purchased by Wells, Fargo & Company. He was retained by this company as its gen-
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eral counsel, which continued to operate the overland stage line, until a rail- road was built across the plains, meanwhile moving to Denver, where he was elected the first president and general counsel of the Denver & Pacific rail- way, the first railroad to enter Denver, in July, 1870, and he later became general counsel for the Denver & South Park railroad, and a member of the last territorial legislature of Colorado. General Hughes was born in Ken- tucky, educated at Augusta College, and removed with his parents at an early date to Liberty, Mo. He was a member of the Missouri legislature, prose- cuting attorney, and receiver of the United States land office at Plattsburg, from which place he went to St. Joseph. In his early youth he was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, serving with the Missouri volunteers. He took up his residence in Denver in the late sixties, when the city had less than 5,000 inhabitants. He died in Denver in 1904, at the age of eighty-six years.
Judge Samuel C. Kingman was born in Worthington, Mass., June 6, 1818. He attended a common school and academies of his home town, and became proficient in higher mathematics and Latin, but his regular attendance at school ended when he was seventeen years old. He was always a sickly man, and at times during his life was compelled to lay aside all study and attention to active affairs. At the age of twenty he drifted to Kentucky, where he remained eighteen years, teaching school, reading law and practic- ing as an attorney. He held offices as county clerk and county attorney in Kentucky, and was a member of the legislature of that State in 1850. In 1856 he came to Iowa, and in the following year moved to Brown county, Kansas, where he lived on a farm for a year, and then opened a law office in Hiawatha. Judge Kingman was a member of the Wyandotte Constitu- tional convention, which framed the constitution of the State, and the same year was elected a judge of the supreme court, taking his seat upon the ad- mission of the State into the Union in 1861, holding his office for four years. In 1866 he was elected chief justice, and reelected in 1872, but because of ill health he resigned in 1877, and retired from active professional life. Judge Kingman was for a time a resident of Atchison and a law partner of John J. Ingalls. He died in Topeka September 9, 1904.
Cassius G. Foster, another one of the brilliant galaxy of lawyers, who practiced in Atchison during the term of Judge Price on the bench, was born at Webster, Monroe county, New York, June 22, 1837. He was brought up on a farm until he was fourteen years of age, and having only the advantages of a common district school, he attended high school at Palmyra, N. Y., after which he went to Michigan, where he lived on a farm near Adrian, where he
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worked for his uncle. Meanwhile, he attended school at the academy in Adrian. He studied law with Fernando C. Beaman, of Adrian, and afterwards re- moved to Rochester, N. Y. In June, 1859, he came to Kansas, having pre- viously been greatly interested in the Free State struggle, and upon arriving in Atchison, he formed a partnership with Judge S. H. Glenn, and immedi- ately won for himself a high position at the bar of the State and Federal courts. He was elected State senator from Atchison county in 1862, and was mayor of Atchison in 1867. He practiced law here until 1874, when he was appointed United States district judge of Kansas.
Hon. P. L. Hubbard, of Atchison, succeeded Judge Price on the bench March 2, 1872, and served until January 8, 1877, and following Judge Hub- bard, Hon. Alfred G. Otis was elected judge of the second judicial district January 8, 1877, and served until January, 1881. Judge. Otis was born in Cortland county, New York, December 13, 1828, and came to Kansas in October, 1855, and immediately became engaged in land litigation, which at that time was very active here. During the early career of Judge Otis in Atchison county, and for many years thereafter, land litigation was the chief source of revenue for lawyers. There were no great corporations then as now; no railroads for clients, and aside from land litigation and a general practice of the law, including criminal cases, there was but little business for lawyers. At that time the criminal practice was not looked upon with the same disapprobation on the part of the profession as it is in these days. A good criminal lawyer then was an ornament to the profession, and a good criminal advocate was in constant demand and his services brought him large remuneration. Judge Otis was a Democrat, but a Union man, and in addi- tion to his activities in his profession, he was also prominent in the business affairs of the town, and for a long time took an active part in the manage- ment of the Atchison Savings Bank, of which he was for many years presi- dent. Judge Otis died in Atchison May 7, 1912.
Judge Otis was succeeded by Hon. David Martin in January, 1881. Judge Martin served until April, 1887, and was one of the eminent members of the Atchison county bar. In personal appearance he was unique among his fellows, and in physical appearance was the counterpart of Dickens' famous Mr. Pickwick. He was a partner of B. P. Waggener for a number of years, and was subsequently elected to the position of chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas, where he served with great distinction. He was a thorough lawyer and a scholar. He died at Atchison March 2, 1901.
It was between the terms of Judge Price and Judge David Martin that
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the bar of Atchison county reached its greatest eminence, and, while there have been good lawyers here since that time, there never has been a period in the history of the county when there were so many brilliant practitioners at the bar. During several years following Judge Martin, the second judicial district, which constituted Atchison county alone, was torn by internal dis- sension, and upon the resignation of Judge Martin, Hon. H. M. Jackson was elected to the bench, April 1, 1887, and served until January, 1888. There never was a more conscientious or painstaking lawyer a resident of Atchi- son than Judge Jackson. He was not only a fine lawyer, but he was a good citizen, useful to clients and the public alike. At his death, May 7, 1912, he left a large practice, which has since been conducted by his son, Z. E. Jackson. Following a bitter contest, Hon. W. D. Gilbert succeeded Judge Jackson in January, 1888, and served until 1889, and then came Hon. Robert N. Eaton, whose term began in January, 1889, and ended in January, 1893. Judge Eaton was succeeded by Hon. W. D. Webb, who in turn was succeeded by Hon. W. T. Bland, who served from January, 1897, to January, 1902, and resigned to go into the wholesale drug business. Hon. Benjamin F. Hudson, one of the oldest practitioners at the bar, succeeded Judge Bland and served until October II, 1909, and was succeeded by Hon. William A. Jackson, the present judge, a sketch of whose career appears in another part of this history.
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