History of Butler County Kansas, Part 23

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946


USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 23


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).


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"Here lies thirty-six per cent .. The more he got the more he lent, The more he got the more he craved, Great God! can such a man be saved?


Soon after, in 1872 and 1873, under the hero Grant, he was selling fat cows at $12.00 and $14.00. Of course, he quit eating bacon and shortened the biscuits with tallow. He moved into the cabin on June 27. 1870. He went to work and got out saw logs, hauled them to the mill and sawed lumber for a frame house, which he erected on north 2, south 2, northwest 35-28-4. This eighty acres and the one north, south 2, southwest 26-28-4. was his homestead. The carpenters induced him to sell his native finishing lumber and go to Emporia and buy pine. So this house was built of native frame and pine finishing lumber. The oak sills were hewn by hand. This was the first frame residence built in Walnut township. The Snodgrass family moved into it on Novem- ber 27, 1870. The family here grew from six to eleven children. Mr. Snodgrass has always taken great pride in fine stock. He brought some good horses here with him. He soon brought in thoroughbred Berkshire hogs. He has handled fine sheep quite extensively. For many years lie owned and exhibited at the State and Oklahoma fairs one of the finest Shorthorn herds of the State. He sold them at Wichita in Feb- ruary, 1907. Old age and poor health compelled him to quit the live stock business. There is not much question but what he has paid more taxes than any man, living or dead. in Walnut township. He has never asked for nor held a public salaried office in Kansas. The township records show that he has never drawn a cent of the public money, al- though he paid much of it into the till. He has always been a taxpayer,


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never a tax eater. He still lives on the place he homesteaded. It is one of the very few homesteads of Walnut that the mortgage, grass- hoppers or taxes didn't get.


While the early settler was striving to build his home and to feed, clothe and shelter his children, he did not neglect to provide for their education. He realized that a trained mind was a necessary corollary of a robust physical manhood. So he began to organize districts and to build school houses. Probably the first school taught in the township was taught by Miss Jennie Blakey, and the second by Miss Alice Yowell, in 1872. These two terms were taught in a "claim house." This was the house built by James Yowell across the line to hold two claims-the northwest quarter of 35 and the northeast of 34. The house wa's long enough for two rooms, but the partition was never put in. It was used for a school house and church. The first preliminary meetings for organizing District 64 and building the school house were held in this house and at the residence of W. J. Snodgrass. Some wanted to build by subscription, some by voting bonds. The bond idea carried. So our District 64 school house was built of native frame lum- ber and pine finishing lumber, in 1873. There was a preacher on the school board and he planned to dedicate the new school house with one of his masterful sermons and a big meeting. The young worldly patrons planned very differently. They wanted a jolly good dance. The car- penter, J. C. Mitchell, who was an Englishman and a bachelor, held the keys to the house. He lived in a dug-out a quarter of a mile from the school house. So the young worldly minded patrons, or rather a few young men, representatives of theirs, went to Mitchell's dug-out and boosted James D. Yowell, a small boy, through the window and had him to get the keys out of the bachelor's pockets. With these they pro- ceeded to the school house, to open up and let the throng. assembled from ten miles around, in. The crowd, gents and ladies, fiddler and callers, were all ready. The only necessary preliminaries-opening the door-being over, the dance commenced at once. And it was hilarious from start to finish. At one time they thought they heard the deacon and board coming ; but some brave Apollo shouted :


On with the dance! let joy be unconfined, It is not the cannon's opening roar, It is but our gay light hearted Guyot. Shouting and tripping the light fantastic toe.


Salute your partner, first to the right, next to the left, and then to the one which you like best. All swing and promenade and rest. Some wanted to "schottische," some to "waltz," some to "heal and toe." some to "Virginia reel" and some the "square." but the church member girls said Dan Tucker or Weevily Wheat. So some guy, who was sweet on one of the church girls, started up :


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"Come down this way with your "Weevily Wheat," Come down this way with your barley,


Come down this way with your "Weeyily Wheat" And bake a cake for Charlie.


Oh! Charlie he's a lovely lad,


Oh! Charlie he's a dandy,


Oh! Charlie he's a lovely lad


Who feeds those girls on candy.


We won't have none of your "Weevily Wheat,"


We won't have none of your barley


To bake a cake for Charlie.


Apollo broke forth with :


Old Dan Tucker, he came from town, Saluting the ladies all around ;


First to the right, then to the left, Then to the one which he likes best. Get out of the way for "Old Dan Tucker,"


Get out of the way for "Old Dan Tucker."


Then some laggard chimed in: "Shoot the buffalo," but he was quickly squelched in the general shout of, "Let us have the square and the good old swing." And so the "die was cast," and the Rubicon was crossed and the landing made at early daybreak. The revelers all went home singing :


"We danced all night and a hole in the stocking; We danced all night and the heel kept a rocking."


There was much talk of prosecutions for desecrating the school house. The preacher never preached in it. He said, "The devil got in before the Lord." But the deacon felt different about his wife. He was perfectly willing and, in fact, helped to hire her, at an exhorbitant price, to teach in this habitation of "Satan." No wonder this school house was named "Tempest." It is too early in time to speak of the tragedies which have happened at "Tempest." It might cause the Innocents to suffer. It might cause even the "Rocks of Rome to arise and mutiny." I will not speak of some of the teachers of bad character who were imposed on the children of this school, through spite. The old school house still stands, but now a half mile northeast of where it was built in the northwest corner of the southeast 26-28-4.


There was much talk of railroads in the seventies; but it did not seem to take much tangible form until the early eighties. On April 24, C. H. Kurtz was paid for printing railroad proposition and election proclamation of February 21, 1880, $15.00. W. H. HI. Adams, G. W.


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Long and John Van Arsdell, judges ; W. H. Curry and J. L. Van Arsdell were clerks at this election. This was for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. On March 8, this railroad company paid into the township treasury, $30.00 for expenses of said election. They acted very "white."


The story of the present Santa Fe is entirely different. The town- ship has "had it" with them from start to finish. It is too much to tell in detail. I will mention a few things. On February 1, 1880, there was an election held to vote $10,000 in bonds for $10,000 worth of stock in the F. E. W. V. railroad. The proposition lost. It was either a tie or defeat. On April 12, 1881, they tried it again. And the old settlers say that with some bribed votes the proposition carried by three or four votes. The township talked of contesting, but did not. In August of the same year the "wise ones" came down to the township and told them how likely the township was to get in bad by holding stock in a railroad that would go into the hands of a receiver. But the railroad would be good to them and take the stock off of their hands. So the township board had the township treasurer to make the following entry : "Aug. 9, 1881 ; Rec'd of the F. E. W. V. R. R. Co. for Ten Thousand Dollars' worth of Stock in said R. R. the sum of $1.00. July 30th, 1881 ; C. H. Kutrz for printing R. R. Prop. of Apr. 12, 1881, $25.00. W. H. H. Adams, Trustee, J. K. Carr, Treas, and Jas L. VanArsdell, clerk, were the township board at this time. In the latter part of 1883, or the early part of 1884, the railroad moved away the depot. The township in- stituted suit. The township record of January 26, 1884, shows the fol- lowing entries: Paid $15.00 to T. O. Shinn to deposit in court, $15.00; paid to T. O. Shinn and Leland, $50.00; paid to W. H. H. Adams for attending to railroad suit, $15.00 ; paid to T. O. Shinn, $200. The town- ship won. The railroad paid the cost of the suit and put up another depot. Afterwards, about 1888, the railroad started to close the depot. The township was ready for another.suit, so they did not close it.


Our railroad bonds were "twenty thirties." That is, they could be paid in twenty years, but could not run longer than thirty years. They drew seven per cent. So the yearly interest for our township was $700.00. This, for many years, was about twice all our other expenses. It is a problem what these bonds did cost us. If they had all been paid (which they were not) at the end of twenty years, the interest would have amounted to $14,000. The principal and interest would have been $24,000. On June 30, 1900, some bond refunding attorneys from Topeka rounded up our township board into a "special meeting" and got them to "refund" our "outstanding bonds." They "showed" the board what a "good deal" it would be to give up the old seven per cent bonds and issue new four and a half per cent bonds. They never mentioned it to the board that the township had the right to pay off all these bonds the next year-1901. So the board took the "bait" and agreed to pay $1,800 for the deal.


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


The succeeding township board, E. B. Alexander trustee, W. H. Dare clerk, and W. C. Snodgrass treasurer. employed a lawyer and busted the deal, to the great chagrin of the bond attorneys. There was one bond holder who tried to hold on to his good seven per cent. He contended that our county treasurer did not get the money to the fiscal agency in New York in time. This contention ran on for several years. I think it was just $500 bond. The board employed an attorney who got it settled without a law suit. I think it was a wise suggestion that township boards should be leery of special meetings. The machinations and assiduous cries of these public-spirited, patriotic promoters will often hypnotize the most sagacious board.


The progress and prosperity of the township has been marked, steady and incessant. Some of our land has risen in value from $1.25 to $1000 per acre. The slow patient ox, who turned the first sod and hauled the first house and first food, has been replaced with the draft horse, the standard bred, the motor car and the automobile. The few little fields of corn, wheat and potatoes have been multiplied into many large ones of these cereals, and kafir, alfalfa, cane, milo maize. sweet clover, etc. The Longhorn has given way to the Shorthorn; the broncho to the thoroughbred ; the razorback to the pure bred. The hen has made her respectful bow to the incubator and gone off to scratch for more worms and to lay more eggs. The farmer does not pick dol- lars off of trees. He gathers them up after the hens. The little honey bee has been helped, too, with foundation comb. The weekly mail, carried by your neighbors when they thought of it, now comes every day to your door. The telephone is in every house. It connects you with the telegraph and all parts of the habitable world. The phono- graph gives you in your own homes, music, orations, operas, band con- certs, and sings the baby to sleep. Where E. A. Cease could count, from his house to the center of Walnut township, his hundred head of cattle grazing on the prairie, his grandson, H. E. Cease, can now, from the same spot, see the first oil well brought in in Butler county and count one hundred oil and gas wells.


And mother earth has just begun to give us from her bowels her hidden wealth. This new Eureka has made some farmers rich over night. It is like the story of Aladdin and his lamp. These farmers have rented their farms and moved to town, where they can rest on the shady side and give their children better educational advantages. Space forbids a detailed oil and gas history of Walnut township. Oil and gas men claim that it is the richest pool in the State. Every farmer in the township feels that he has plenty of oil and gas on his farm.


The boom has filled our township with strangers. It seems to have opened new springs of energy and action. Instead of talking weather, crops, live stock, etc .. they talk oil. gas, wells, deep tests, Mississippi lime, tanks, pipe lines., etc. And the speculators, pro- moters and townsite men are here. Our town Gordon is to have an


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addition-"Gordon Heights"-and is destined to become a city. Even the railroad no longer wants to move out. It is taking on new life and bustle. It is changing and improving the station and putting in more trackage. It has also put on an extra passenger train each way.


I hope the readers of this brief history of Walnut township will find some pleasure and satisfaction in its perusal. If they do I will feel amply rewarded for my effort, then, both reader and writer will be happy. Where two souls beat in sympathy and unison, there is a feast of reason and flow of soul that makes the whole world akin. So, without apology, vain regrets are useless repining, I submit this to your lenient and charitable consideration.


CHAPTER XIV.


POLITICAL HISTORY.


EARLY POLITICAL VIEWS-JUDICIAL DISTRICTS-FIRST ELECTION-CHAR- ACTER OF OFFICERS-FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS-AN INDEPENDENT PARTY-FIRST CONVENTIONS-POLITICAL PARTIES-FARMERS ALLI- ANCE AND POPULISM-FREE SILVER PARTY-LAST ELECTION-SENA- TORS - REPRESENTATIVES - COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - COUNTY CLERKS-COUNTY TREASURERS-COUNTY ATTORNEYS-SHERIFFS- CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT-REGISTERS OF DEEDS-PROBATE JUDGES-SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION-COUNTY SUR- VEYORS-COUNTY ASSESSORS-COUNTY HEALTH OFFICERS.


Politics, modern politics, as such, were an unknown commodity (I use the word advisedly) in the early settlement of Butler county. Elections coming on and being held soon after the close of the war, men, on both sides, were apt to vote as "they shot," or as with the side with which they were in sympathy during the war. There being at this time but two political parties, the Republican and Democratic, and a majority of the early settlers, having as a rule come from the North- ern and Eastern States, their sympathies were naturally with the North- ern army, consequently, the vote was in favor of the Republicans and remained so for many years, during which time a nomination on the Republican ticket was equal to an election. While this was true, vet the men of those days were true Kansans, and recognized the right of their neighbors to think and vote as their conscience dictated, and as they believed to be right, and very seldom was the question of political preference made a personal one. Of course, then as now, they probably thought it strange that such a good neighbor should show such poor judgment as to vote a different ticket from what they them- selves did ; but they continued to loan and borrow from each other and help each other in every way possible, notwithstanding their differences in political faith. Argue and talk politics? Certainly at times argu- ments and talk ending then, as now, each more than ever convinced of his own opinions and the blindness of his neighbor. Of course, they went to the polls, attended the election, and voted as though upon their ballot depended the result of the election, and returned to their homes with a consciousness of having done their duty. They were not here for political purposes or for amusement; theirs, the more serious


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


business of life, establishing homes, taming the prairies, and looking after the welfare and comfort of those depending upon them. The day of the political philosopher had not yet arrived. The man with the elongated neck, which had haired over and which he used for, or in lieu of, a head, had not yet entered upon the business of saving the country or instructing the sovereign squats how to vote, but he was in embryo and in due time came forth to enlighten the voter.


One of the earliest items in Butler county's political history was the apportionment of the State into judicial districts. Butler, Hunter. Greenwood, Madison, Weller, Coffey, Anderson and Allen constituted the thirteenth district. The number of the judicial district of which Butler county has formed a part has been changed several times since that time, but is today a part of the thirteenth district. In August, 1857, Samuel L. Addie was elected from the above territory to the Territorial Senate, and C. Columbia to the House. In October. 1857. Madison and Butler polled sixty-nine free state and seven democratic votes. In December. 1857, an election was held under the Lecompton Constitution, but no return was made from Butler county. In March, 1857, Samuel Stewart was elected delegate to the Minneola convention, and in August. 1858, an election was held at the old El Dorado town site on the Lecompton Constitution. The entire vote (twenty-three) polled was cast against this infamous plantform. In April, 1859, there were cast in Butler county, fifteen votes for the Wyandotte Constitu- tion and two against it. On November 8, 1859, there were forty-eight votes cast for Congressman, Perrott, Republican, receiving forty-seven, and Johnson, Democrat. receiving one. J. C. Lambdin was elected member of the Territorial Council at the same election. In May, 1858. an election was held in Butler county on the adoption of the Free State Constitution. The election was held north of Chelsea, under some spreading oak, still standing between the Buchanan and McDaniels farms. No box could be found out of which a ballot box could be made. A big coffee mill was furnished by Mrs. Woodruff. This had a drawer which was drawn out and the ballots put in and the drawer closed until the next vote was ready to be deposited. About one hundred votes were cast. The first session of the Legislature after admission as a State was convened March 26, 1861. Butler county was represented by P. G. D. Morton, of Chelsea, then the county seat. J. R. Lambdin, of Chelsea, was journal clerk of the House. The only State officers fur- nished Butler county, in so far as I remember, was W. H. Biddle, State Treasurer, and W. F. Benson, the present Bank Commissioner of the State.


Butler county has been very fortunate in the selection of its county officers, with perhaps two or three exceptions. Each and every officer has endeavored to perform the duties required of him, and all have left their offices, at the close of their respective terms retaining the con- fidence and respect of their people. Two officers, in the years that are


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past, holding clerical position and very similar in their tastes, physical and moral makeup, weak in will power, but thirsting after the flesh pots of Egypt, were accused of betraying the trust placed upon them and left the county for the county's good. One was unsuccessfully prose- cuted and the other left his bondsmen to make good his deficits. Both are now deceased. These were the only ones that were caught. There is one other circumstance connected with one of the county officers that deserves mention, that of the county treasurer, Archibald Ellis, the father of our esteemed citizens, John Ellis and Mrs. M. B. Cogges- hall. At the close of his term as treasurer in 1873, upon a settlement with the board of county commissioners, preparatory to turning his office over to his successor, Joseph Williams, they found there was due to the county a certain sum of money, upon which he asked them if they were sure that it was the amount due, and if they would be satis- fied with that sum. They replied that was all they were entitled to. He gave them the amount asked for and then added the sum of about $3.400, saying that amount was then in the office ; it did not belong to him, but to the county, and demanded that they receive it, which they finally did. They gave him a receipt therefor, but were unable to tell afterwards where it came from or belonged. As a matter of fact, that same $3.400 became a part of the funds out of which the present court house was constructed. Had Diogenese been in search here for an honest man he could have dispensed with his lantern.


The first recorded election was held November 1, 1863. The num- ber of votes is not given, but the following were declared to have re- ceived the highest number of votes cast: Robert Crozier, chief justice ; A. L. Howard, district attorney; G. T. Donaldson, representative; Henry Martin, probate judge ; J. T. Goodall, sheriff ; M. Vaught, county clerk and registrar of deeds; T. W. Satchell, county treasurer ; Judson Mabe, county assessor; H. G. Branson, D. Lewellyn, S. P. Johnson, county commissioners ; Henry Martin, S. P. Myers, justices of the peace ; C. C. Pratt, John B. Johnson, constables.


Township -Officers .- April 5, 1864: Samuel Fulton, justice of the peace : John Lawton, Silas T. Howell, constables; William Townsley, trustee ; C. L. Chandler, overseer. There is no record of any Presiden- tial election in 1864, but on November 4, 1865, the following officers were elected: M. Stubbs, state Senator ; D. L. McCabe, representative. The first vote for Governor was cast on November 6, 1866, with the fol- lowing results: Samuel J. Crawford, Republican, sixty-one votes ; J. S. McDowell, Democrat, twenty-six votes. Samuel J. Crawford was the father of the present Mrs. Arthur Capper. In November, 1872, the fol- lowing electoral votes were cast for President: U. S. Grant, Republi- can, 983 ; Horace Greeley, Liberal Republican and Democrat, 486. Up to this time no convention or called meeting of the voters had been held. The names of the parties for whom votes had been cast were placed upon the ballots by some one suggesting them, sort of windfalls or


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hand-picked, or by a few accepting or assuming the responsibility of leadership of certain factions and advising their followers to vote as directed and as they themselves did. The question then upon which the people differed related to the division of the county and the re- moval of the county seat. There were questions of business, rather than of politics and all that the records of the county show in relation thereto are set forth in another portion of this work.


During the summer and fall of 1873, a mass convention of the people was called, at whose suggestion it is now unknown, but it is stated on good authority that the first public suggestion came from J. R. Ward and W. H. Litson, of Benton township, they giving as a reason that the farmer of the county was being overlooked in the distribution of official patronage. Someone requested that the same be done, to meet at the Sutton Branch school house, about three miles southwest of El Dorado. There may have been, and undobutedly were, some politicians there, but no politics : they were there to do, on the surface, at least, what was for the best interest of the county and to nominate candidates for different county offices, including a representative to the Legislature. Never having seen a convention of this or any other kind, nor even having heard of one, the writer attended, but took no part therein, and some of the things which happened are very well re- membered. The men were practically all strangers to me, but I now recall that among them I met for the first time, Capt. M. Guinty, of northwest Butler, who came down from his old claim, which he still owns; Dr. H. D. Hill, of Augusta; Major Joe L. Ferguson, of Spring township; J. E. Anderson, afterward sheriff; Uncle Joe Williams, Vin- cent Brown and many others. I have no recollection who the officers of the convention were, but peace and harmony appeared to prevail and the ticket they nominated was all elected, as I now remember.


Some one placed the name of Major Joe L. Ferguson in nomination for the legislature. The motion was seconded and he was nominated practically without opposition, and upon being called for, came forward and said: "Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention, I am deeply grateful and more than appreciate the honor you have attempted to confer upon me. I would esteem it as one of the greatest privileges and one of the proudest acts of my life to represent this great county of Butler in the legislature of the State; but, gentlemen, while it may be somewhat humiliating for me to say so, yet for financial reasons. strong ones, believe me, I am compelled to decline the honor. I am simply so poor you could not hear me walk through dry leaves." His decision was final and Dr. II. D. Hill was nominated in his stead and was elected. The balance of the ticket nominated was as follows: Joseph Williams, county treasurer; D. L. Knowles, register of deeds ; James E. . Anderson, sheriff: Vincent Brown, county clerk; J. W' Weimer, surveyor: William Snyder, coroner: J. A. McGinnis, county commissioner first district ; E. B. Brainard, county commissioner, second




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