USA > Kansas > Bourbon County > History of Bourbon County, Kansas. To the close of 1865 > Part 9
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141
1859]
AN ALL-AROUND GOOD YEAR.
and after Sumpter was fired on he was a War Democrat in the full sense of the term. He began his war service by raising the first company of soldiers organ- ized in Fort Scott. Afterwards, he passed through the several grades of Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, and in the latter part of the war was promoted Brigadier General, at the special request of U. S. Grant. His star was, in part, gained on the bloody ridge of Wilson Creek, when, after the incompetent "political General" Sigel was crushed and his guns taken, and he discovered he was fighting Americans, the rebel host turned in full force on the main line-when, after the noble Mitchell and Deitzler, of the First and Second Kansas, had fallen badly wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Blair took command of both those stunned and shattered regiments, rallied them into line on the right of the Iowa men and advanced to the ringing call of Lyon : "Come on, brave men, I will lead you."
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
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CHAPTER XX.
DELEGATES TO THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION.
HE election of delegates to the Wyandotte Con- stitutional Convention occurred on the 4th of June. The candidates for delegates from Bourbon County were J. C. Burnett and W. R. Griffith, Republicans, and Ezra Gilbert and Hugh Glen, Democrats. The election resulted as follows :
J. C. Burnett, 281
W. R. Griffith, 294
Ezra Gilbert, 229
Hugh Glen, . 229
In the Territory 14,000 votes were cast. The Repub- licans elected 35 and the Democrats 17 delegates. The Convention was to meet at Wyandotte on the 5th of July, 1859.
Affairs in Bourbon County were now quiet. Peace had apparently come to stay. As the 4th of July ap- proached the people decided to celebrate in the good old-fashioned way. Meetings were held, committees appointed and all the preliminary arrangements made. They proposed to invite everybody to come and partic- ipate, and give them a good dinner. The preparations were on an enormous scale. There were loads of cooked
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WYANDOTTE CONVENTION.
1859]
beef, pork and mutton, mountains of bread; immense quantities of cake and pie, prepared by the ladies. A four-horse wagon load of ice was brought from the Marais des Cygnes at a cost of 10 cents per pound, for manufacture of lemonade. The ground selected was in the bottom, just west of the point of the bluff back of town, near the big spring. Governor Ransom was President of the Day; Hon. Jos. Williams, Colonel Judson, Judge Farwell, M. E. Hudson, Thomas Helm, W. T. Campbell and Colonel Morin, Vice-presidents; Rev. Mr. Thompson, Chaplain; Mason Williams, Reader; L. A. McCord, Orator.
The crowd was immense; the usual proceedings were had; all were filled, some of them apparently for a montlı ahead.
A GRAND BALL.
In the evening there was a "grand ball" at the Fort Scott Hotel. Again Joe Ray "called," assisted by C. W. Goodlander. The boys were supplied with "invi- tations" printed on small sheets of note paper, with display type and gold-tinted letters, gotten up in the very best style of the job office.
The boys would take these "ball tickets," fill in the name of their "first choice," and in the event that she was already engaged or couldn't go, would fill out another invitation and send to some other girl. Keep trying.
The colored people had a ball that same night, just in the rear of the hotel. They didn't have to go to the expense of music or the trouble of "calling." They just waited till the white folks started up, and then went at it with a whoop.
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1859
THE FORT SCOTT "DEMOCRAT" REVIVED.
Sometime before this, J. E. Jones had suspended the publication of the Democrat, and left town. The Town Company, who owned the material, was desirous that the paper should be revived, so negotiations with that end in view, were opened with William Smith and his son, E. A. Smith, who decided to give it a trial. The first number under their management was issued on the 14th of July, 1859, and they continued its publication regularly until the summer of 1861, some time after the breaking out of the war, when E. A. Smith left the editorial chair and went into the army.
In 1882 he published in one of the city papers a considerable amount of excerpts from the Democrat, something in the diary form, which he said "was not designed as a connected narative or history, but rather as data which may aid some one else in such a work." These data were principally in reference to events which occurred in Fort Scott, and were of great assistance in the preparation of this work, especially in the matter of dates.
The advertising columns of the first number of the Democrat show at that time a very respectable business community. Of lawyers there were Ellison & Blair, William Margrave, S. A. Williams, John C. Sims, C. P. Bullock, Richard Stadden, Williams & Bro. (Mason and Wm. M.,) James J. Farley, George A. Crawford, and L. A. McCord ; there were doctors J. H. Couch, A. M. H. Bills, and A. G. Osbun. E. A. Smith was County Surveyor. General merchandise was represented by H. T. Wilson, Hill & Riggins, George A. Crawford & Co.
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WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTION.
1859]
John S. Caulkins was in the clothing, Malone in the grocery, and C. F. Drake in the stove and tinware busi- ness. Then there were Robert Blackett and Daniel Funk, tailors ; C. W. Goodlander and Dennison & Waterhouse, carpenters ; John G. Stuart, carriage and wagon maker ; E. L. Marble, boot and shoemaker ; Tom Huston, saddle and harnessmaker ; Fort Scott Hotel, B. B. Dillon, prop .; Western Hotel, Linn & Harris, props .; Harry Hartman, bakery and ice cream saloon.
WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTION.
The Wyandotte convention completed their labors on the 4th day of October, 1859.
The vote in the Territory was as follows :
For the Constitution 10,421
Against 5,530
The vote in Bourbon County was :
For the Constitution 464
Against . 256 .
This was the Constitution under which the Terri- tory was finally admitted into the Union as a State.
On the 8th of November an election was held for delegate to Congress, and for Territorial Legislature.
In Bourbon County the vote was as follows: For Delegate, M. J. Parrott, Republican, 368; S. W. John- son, Democrat, 251. For Representative, H. Knowles, Republican, 359; G. Hubbard, Democrat, 259.
On the 6th day of December an election was had under the Wyandotte Constitution for State officers, 10
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[1859
HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
Representative in Congress and State Legislature, to take effect when the Territory should be admitted as a State. Charles Robinson was the Republican and Samuel Medary the Democratic candidate for Governor, Martin F. Conway, Republican, and J. A. Halderman, Democrat, for Congress; W. R. Griffith of Bourbon County was the Republican candidate for Superintend- ent of Public Instruction. The entire Republican State ticket was elected by about 7,900, against 5,400. The vote in Bourbon County on Governor-and about the same on the other officers-was: Robinson, 275; Medary, 149. J. C. Burnett, Republican, was elected for State Senator by 270, against Geo. A. Crawford, Democrat, 141. Horatio Knowles was elected Repre- sentative by the same vote.
A District Judge was also elected December 6th, under the Wyandotte Constitution. Bourbon County was to be in the Fourth District with Allen, Anderson, Douglas, Franklin, Johnson, Linn and Lykins, (after- wards Miami). Solon O. Thatcher, Republican, and James Christian, Democrat, were the candidates. The vote in this county was substantially the same as for Governor, and Solon O. Thatcher became our first District Judge.
Judge Thatcher served until 1864 when he resigned. and Hon. D. P. Lowe, then of Linn County, was appointed to fill the vacancy.
Epaphroditus Ransom died at his residence in Fort Scott, Nov. IIth. B. B. Dillon died on the 16th.
Mr. Rankin organized a Presbyterian church in Fort Scott. It was composed of John S. Caulkins, Mrs. A. McDonald and Mrs. Win. Smith.
NEAR BANDERA ON THE MARMATON.
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Residence, near Marmaton, of W. R. Griffith, First State Supt. of Public Instruction. 1861.
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LEGISLATURE MEETS.
1860]
CHAPTER XXI. .
LEGISLATURE MEETS.
HE Territorial Legislature met at Lecompton on the 2d of January, 1860, but soon after adjourned to Lawrence. The town of Dayton was incorpo- rated by an act of this Legislature, approved February 18, 1860. The Dayton Town Company consisted of George Stockmyer, D. J. Patterson, E. Kepley, George A. Crawford, O. Darling, C. E. Cranston, J. S. Dejernett and Amos Stewart.
FORT SCOTT TOWN COMPANY INCORPORATED.
On the 27th of February, 1860, the Legislature passed an act incorporating the Fort Scott Town Company. The company had been in existence since January, 1857, but had not up to this time been incorporated by law. Geo. A. Crawford, W. R. Judson, Joseph Wil- liams, E. S. Lowman, H. T. Wilson and Norman Eddy were named in the act of incorporation.
FORT SCOTT INCORPORATED AS A CITY.
On this same date-February 27, 1860-an act was passed with the following title :
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1860
"An act to amend an act to incorporate the town of Fort Scott." Section First provided :
"That all that district of land described as follows, to-wit :- The southwest quarter, the west half of the southeast quarter, the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section Thirty, Township Twenty-five, of Range Twenty-five, be and hereby is declared to be a city by the name and style of the City of Fort Scott."
The act also provided that the first election should take place on the second Monday of March, 1860. A. R. Allison, S. A. Williams and C. F. Drake were named inspectors of said election.
FIRST CITY ELECTION-COUNTY ELECTION.
The city election took place according to law, and resulted in the choice of the following officers : Mayor, W. R. Judson; Councilmen, H. T. Wilson, C. W. Blair, John S. Redfield and George A. Crawford; Clerk, Wm. Gallaher ; Recorder, Wm. Margrave; Marshal, Richard Phillips; Assessor, Jolın S. Caulkins; Treasurer, A. McDonald; Street Commissioner, A. R. Allison. At this election, the first in the new city, 81 votes were cast. W. R. Judson failed to qualify as Mayor, and Joseph Ray was elected to that position, and became the first Mayor of Fort Scott.
On the 10th of September, 1860, Joseph Ray, as Mayor, purchased the town-site of Fort Scott from the United States, consisting of 319 11-100 acres, as described in the act of February 27th, incorporating it
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LAST BORDER DIFFICULTIES.
1860]
as a City. The patent afterwards issued by the Government for the land described is dated July 10, 1861.
About the Ist of April, 1860, a county election was held at which the following named county officers were chosen : County Commissioners, Isaac Ford, Lester Ray, G. W. Miller; Probate Judge, H. Knowles; Assessor, J. N. Roach; Treasurer, J. Aitkin; Register of Deeds, W. H. Norway; Coroner, Dr. Freeman.
THE LAST BORDER DIFFICULTIES.
In May, 1860, the notorious "Pickles" of Linn County, a general all-round thief, was arrested and brought to Fort Scott for trial for theft. His real name was Wright, but he got his nick-name of "Pickles"' for having, in one of his expeditions, stolen a two-quart jar of pickles and devoured them as he rode along. When taken into court he plead guilty to the charge of horse-stealing, and was at once sentenced to the penitentiary, as an act of discretion, to avoid falling into the hands of an Osage Vigilance Committee, who had assembled in town, headed by old Billy Baker with a rope. Some of Pickles' gang came down as far as the Osage and endeavored to raise a rescuing party, after the Ben Rice fashion, but they soon abandoned the project. The day for that sort of thing had passed. The vigilance committee mentioned, or anti-horse thief society, as they called themselves, which had been formed up about Mapleton, came into town to look after the Pickles trial, with an eye open for a possible attempt at rescue.
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1860
Pickles fared better than did a man named Guthrie, who, some time before this, was found with a horse supposed not to belong to him, and was taken from the hands of a constable and hanged by this committee. They also got hold of Hugh Carlin, who had given the settlers on the Osage a good deal of trouble, and in the early part of July he was taken from the house of A. F. Monroe, without giving him time to dress, and that was the last of Hugh Carlin.
In these hangings a young man named L. D. Moore was particularly active as a member of the committee. On the night of the 16th. of November he was visited by Jennison, with a squad of about twenty men. Upon · arriving at Moore's house, Jennison kicked open the door and shot Moore before he had time to get out of bed. This murder was in retaliation for the hanging of Carlin. Although Moore, who had settled on the Osage in 1857, was a Pro-slavery man, politics had little or nothing to do with his deatlı. It was a kind of an afterthought-a finishing up job of Jennison's, who two days before that had started out on a circuit in Linn county, first hanging old man Scott in his own door yard, in the north part of that county; the next day hanging Rus Hines near the Missouri State line, east of Mine creek, and winding up with the killing of Moore. The first two were killed on the pretext that they had aided in the return to the owners of runaway negroes, and Moore was killed because he was, as Jen- nison said, "a little too - conservative."
There was, in the fall of 1860, a secret society organized in Linn county, which they called the "Wide
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LAST BORDER DIFFICULTIES.
1860]
Awakes." It probably existed to a more or less extent all along the border. In Linn county it was especially strong. Nearly every Free State man in that county joined it. The fundamental principles of this society were opposition to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law; to take measures on all occasions to nullify its provisions; to uphold the officers, sheriffs, etc., in its nullification; to forcibly prevent the return of fugi- tive slaves, and, when they got over into Kansas, to give them a bag full of grub and show them the north star. The society did not, however, propose to take violent measures in the case of men who were aiding and assist- ing in the execution of the law. But Jennison and a few with him took the general feeling as a license for him to do so, and the death of Scott and Hines, and indirectly that of Moore, was the result.
In Bourbon County all these murders, by both parties, caused a decided revulsion of feeling, not only against the Jayhawkers, but all other species of mob violence, vigilance committees, protective societies, etc., in all forms. The point was passed where any- thing more of that kind would be tolerated. The disposition and determination of the public mind was to inaugarate LAW, to establish the forms and prece- dents they had been accustomed to in the old States, and thus bring order out of the utter chaos which had so far reigned from the day the Territory was organized. It was not hoped that this could be accomplished in a day, but it was, nevertheless, practically so, for these were the last outrages perpetrated under the guise of " Free State " or "Pro-slavery."
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
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CHAPTER XXII. .
THE ARTS OF PEACE.
HE idea of improving their homes, establishing schools amd churches, instituting county fairs, building railways, etc., began to take possession of the people. Hardly a week passed that tliere was not an enthusiastic meeting in the interest of some line. Among the proposed roads were the "Tebo and Neosho," afterwards the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the "Fort Scott, Neosho and Santa Fe." and the "Lake Superior, Fort Scott and Galves- ton." There was some talk of the "Hudson's Bay, Fort Scott and Honduras," but they considered that it would be too nearly a parallel line and would interfere with the business and carrying trade of the Lake Superior, Fort Scott and Galveston route, so that project was dropped.
The question of an Agricultural Society, County Fair, etc., received due attention. At a meeting held at Marmaton on the 14th of June, at which A. G. Osbun was President, and W. R. Griffith, Secretary, it was resolved to forni an association to be known as "The Bourbon County Agricultural Society." J. M. Liggitt, A. Decker, and Judge Farwell were appointed
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N. Y. INDIAN LANDS.
1860]
a committee to draft a constitution and report at the next meeting.
At the next meeting the Bourbon County Agricul- tural Society was fully organized by the election of the following officers: President, Dr. A. G. Osbun; Vice. President, Richard Stadden; Secretary, Wm. R. Grif- fith; Treasurer, Isaac N. Mills; Executive Committee, H. C. Moore, Aaron Decker, Ezekiel Brown, Harrison Martin and S. B. Farwell. The first annual exhibition was to be held at the residence of Mr. Griffith, near Marmaton, on the 24th and 25th of October.
The Fair was held according to programme, and was better than could have been expected under the circum- stances. There had been no rain for a year, but they did the best they could. They were a little short on big pumpkins and long corn, but the show of live stock and fancy work was very good.
POPULATION-N. Y. INDIAN LANDS.
During the spring of 1860, Will Gallaher took the census of this part of the Territory, and returned the following statistics: Number of inhabitants in Bour- bon County, 6, 102; deaths during the year ending June 1, 1860, IOI; mills and manufacturing establishments, 9; farmers, 1, 200. Inhabitants on the Cherokee Neu- tral Lands, 2,025.
As was stated in the first part of this book, the num- ber of Indian claims allowed on the New York lands was thirty-two, equal to 10,240 acres. This tract had been located in the neighborhood of Barnesville. The
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1860
residue of the tract, comprising a million acres of the best land in Kansas, was turned over to the General Land Office as public land, subject to entry and sale, about the 20th of June, 1860. The plats were at the Land Office in Fort Scott, and settlers commenced filing and pre-empting.
In reference to those thirty-two allotments, in several instances the occupying Indians were driven off at the time the Free State men in the same locality were driven out in 1856, and some of them never returned. Their lands were taken possession of by white settlers, who were afterwards permitted to acquire title from the Goverment. The Indians so driven off afterwards ap- plied to the Court of Claims for compensation, and their claims were allowed thirty years later.
ON THE NEUTRAL LANDS.
By this time a large number of settlers had gone onto the Cherokee Neutral Land, squatted on claims, built cabins and made other improvements. They were trespassers by law and by treaty stipulations, but they claimed the usual pioneers equity in Indian lands, and had the moral support, at least, of all the other settlers.
On October 27, 1860, the agent of the Cherokees, witli a body of troops, commenced the work of driving all the settlers off the Neutral Land. Orders to that end were issued by the Commissioners of General Land Office in the spring, but on a representation of the facts temporarily suspended. The present move was entirely unexpected. From 75 to 100 houses were burned, and
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ARRIVAL OF TROOPS.
1860]
as many families rendered destitute. These were in outlying settlements. When the agent reached Dry- wood he found the settlers united and determined, and concluded to give them one month's grace. There was not a Cherokee on the land, and, inoreover, there was no desire on the part of the Indians that the whites should be disturbed.
Delegations were sent to Washington by the business men of Fort Scott in the interest of the settlers on the Neutral Lands in Bourbon County. Colonel Wilson, who was familiar with the Cherokee people, went to Tahlequa to ascertain the feeling of the head men iu reference to a sale of the Neutral Land. But the matter was not quite ripe. In several instances the settlers on the Neutral Land married Cherokee wonien, thereby becoming "squawmen"-legally Cherokees- and entitled to a "headright," and thus securing their claims. Old man Hathaway, on Drywood, was one instance in this county.
As has been noted, there was a very large immigra- tion into this county during the winter and spring of 1860, "too numerous to mention." Among the many who came to Fort Scott that spring must be noted the arrival of John S. Miller and family on the 5th of March. Mr. Miller was from Pennsylvania, of the old "Pennsylvania Dutch" stock, and was a most excellent man and citizen. He was active in business circles, and in the affairs of the city, township and county.
ARRIVAL OF TROOPS.
About the Ist of December, 1860, General Harney
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY. [1860
and staff arrived. The command came the next day. It numbered about 180 men. The officers were Brigadier General Harney, Captain Jones, A. A. G .; Lieutenant Armstrong, Aid; Lieutenant Tidball, A. A. Q. M .; Swift and Brewer, Surgeons; Lieutenant Mul- lins, Ist Dragoons; Captain Barry and Lieutenants Fry, Bargar, Sullivan and Perry of the artillery.
The Jennison "circuit" detailed some pages back, liad occasioned a great scare, and the troops came here for the purpose of protecting the border. The Governor of Missouri had also sent a brigade of Missouri militia to the State line under command of Gen. D. M. Frost, afterwards of the rebel army, and of "Camp Jackson" fame. One purpose of having troops at Fort Scott was to be present at the land sales which occurred on the 3d of December, 1860. Only fourteen 80-acre tracts were disposed of, at prices ranging from $1.25 to 5.50 per acre. The attendance was very large. The lands were all offered by 12 o'clock, and the people went home satisfied their claims were safe for another year.
THE GREAT DROUTH.
The year 1860 is known as the "dry year." The long drouth really commenced in the latter part of 1859. The year 1859 up to August or September was very seasonable. Crops were all mnade and the yield was immense. It was most fortunate they were so, for the crops of 1859 saved the people in the next year. Corn turned out from sixty to ninety bushels to the acre. Even sod corn made an immense yield.
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THE GREAT DROUTH.
1860]
The Fort Scott Democrat of November 10, 1859, is the authority for the statement that "Mr. Buckner, living between Marmaton and Mill Creek, this season raised six hundred bushels of corn on seven acres of sod." Wheat and oats were good. Prairie grass grew to a height of from three to four feet.
The immigrants coming in that spring and summer, seeing the rich overflow of a bounteous harvest, and the summertide of glorious verdure, hearing on every side the gurgling springs and brooks as they trilled in limpid silver down the ravines, thought that this was in truth the Elysian fields, the abode of the blest, and they felt like sending up their voices in grand diapason of the vox humana. If such was the natural condition, they thought, if vegetation existed in such luxuriance, if every "draw " contained a spring and every ravine was a creek, it certainly surpassed any country of which they had ever dreamed.
But the scene was to change.
About the Ist day of September, 1859, it quit rain- ing. The Ist of January, 1860, came, but still no rain or "falling weather." The winter crept along, not very cold but very dry. Spring came, and still no rain. The farmer plowed as usual for crops, which were planted at the usual time, but no rain yet. Corn and other crops sprouted and came up, but no showers gladdened the tender shoots. The wind blew inces- santly from the southwest. Occasionally a cloud would come over about the size of a ten-acre lot, and it would sprinkle a little. Sometimes a bank of clouds would loom up in the northwest in the evening, shake their
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HISTORY OF BOURBON COUNTY.
[1860
heads and disappear. On the 16th of June a thunder shower came up, and it lightened and thundered and blowed and raged, and it rained-a little; so little that it was only an aggravation.
Corn made a brave effort to grow. It was pitiful to look at. It held up its withered blades as if imploring the brazen heavens to let down rain. The poor, little spindling stalks grew up about three feet high, tasseled out, and then died. During the first part of July the thermometer ranged from 98 to 104 degrees in the slade. In the sun at midday is was 132°. By the middle of July the heat was simply awful. It is a matter of record that on the 13th, and for weeks after that, the thermometer often went up to 112, 113 and 114 degrees in the shade. There was a wind-almost a gale sometimes-but it came up, seemingly, with a spiral twist-hot, scorching, withering, like a blast from a seething furnace. People sought their houses and closed the doors and windows to keep it out. The foliage on the trees withered up and blew off. The prairie grass, which had grown up about three inches high, turned brown and was dry enough to burn. It is said that eggs would roast in the sand at midday-were actually so roasted. There is no doubt of it. The thermometer was 146 degrees in the sun. Thus the terrible drouth continued day after day, week after week, month after month.
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