USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 26
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did that, it would be my duty to surrender back to them the considerable sums of money they have paid me, and having spent it. I cannot do that. Second, because. just how much I may know about said killing is Greek to hundreds of them, and if I did that, some of them might conclude therefrom that I was ready to betray them to courts and officers of the state, and I am somewhat ticklish about my throat and I love my wife. so I prefer to stay with her and let matters drift, rather than to follow the eight into that bourne from whence no traveler has returned ; and if you are like circumstanced I would suggest that discretion is the better part of valor, and those men had better be discharged and sent back home today, else your wife may be a widow.' They indulged in like talk to the county attorney. Later when the lawyer arrived in court it was jammed with the vigilantes. The judge, as pale as death, took his seat upon the judicial bench, when the county attorney, likewise pale, arose and said: 'If Your Honor please, too much blood has been re- cently shed in this county already and I doubt if, under present condi- tions, convictions can be had in these cases (naming the three), and further blood might be shed, and I therefore move the court to dismiss these cases, and discharge these defendants, that they go hence without delay.' And the court said : The order is so made, and these defandants are discharged.' And thus ended what was then known as the Butler County War.' "
W. D. Hackney.
The number of criminal cases in the district court up to the present time is 1,367, and of civil cases, 8.560. Many of these cases were of great interest at the time and some of the most brilliant lawyers in the West have tried cases here. It can be truthfully stated. however, that nearly all of the trials have been conducted by our local attorneys and it is very seldom that litigants have deemed it necessary to import law- yers from outside the county, and when they did were often disap- pointed with the results. It was the custom here as elsewhere when the country was new for lawyers to travel with the judge from one county to another and attend the sessions of the court, expecting employment in cases to be tried ; but this has become unprofitable and was entirely abandoned many years ago.
Of the numerous attorneys who have resided in the county and practiced here. the large majority only remained a short time. Many have found it impossible to establish themselves and soon removed else- where. Others. more patient and plodding, not expecting to make their fortunes in a day, remained, and some of the latter are still with us. Generally, it can be said of these that they have done well and have be- come substantial citizens and are possessed of a reasonable amount of the good things of this life. Of the attorneys who have practiced at this bar but comparatively few have died. Several of these were among the leading lawyers of the State. Some were more brilliant than others. Nearly all were good attorneys and successful practitioners. All of these
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have long since gone on before: Eugene L. Akin, William T. Galliher, George Gardner, Eli N. Smith, Alfred L. Redden, Col. Henry T. Sum- ner, Col. William H. Redden, Israel A. Moulton, Daniel M. Bronson, W. D. Carpenter.
Butler county has been fortunate in the members of the bar. Some attorneys in nearby counties have been disbarred for unprofessional con- duct ; others have become habitual drunkards; some have been prose- cuted and convicted of crime ; but it is to the credit of the bar of this county that our lawyers have been generally law-abiding, honorable and worthy citizens.
CHAPTER XVI.
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
By J. D. Hamilton; M. D.
PHYSICIANS OF THIS GENERATION-QUALIFICATIONS-EXPERIENCES- PIONEER PHYSICIANS-ADVANCE OF THE SCIENCE-SURGERY-HOS- PITALS.
I have been requested to write what I know of the medical profes- sion of this county for the last generation, that being the period of my association with it. I came to this county in April, 1883, and my ex- perience has been extensively with the profession. The men who were active in the professions, mercantile and agricultural pursuits, were the men who have made this county the commonwealth that is equal to any in the State.
The physicians who represented the profession were not mediocre nor insignificant : being graduates of the best schools in the Nation, con- firmed by experience, were able to cope with the diseases of the county and served their times well. They kept abreast of the times until they responded to their last call; and they loved their profession for its sake. They made their diagnosis and applied their remedies from the clinical aspects of their patients, by close observation and thorough reasoning. They answered their calls on horseback and in buggy. They went, they stayed and determined to fight the divine fiat that all must die; and when the heart ceased to beat and the breath went and came no more, they closed the eyes of their patients and with regret left them with the dear ones. None but a physician knows how he feels. They also have their times for rejoicing and appreciation. When the raging fever sub- sided, the pulse became regular, the patient was found sleeping and awoke with a little smile and on the road to recovery.
Many are the incidents we could relate as we passed on our way in and out with our fellow men, women and children. I have in mind a number of older physicians. Dr. J. O. Bugher located on the White- water in the early sixties, south of Towanda. Dr. John Horner, who lives in the city of Whitewater, located in Milton township about 1870. Dr. J. A. McGinnis located in Hickory township; Dr. Ensley in Clay township ; Dr. Cunningham also located in Clay township, and also prac- ticed in Cowley county. Dr. J. A. Mckenzie was perhaps the first man to locate in El Dorado, and for many years was one of the leading physi-
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cians of the county. Dr. Gordon, Dr. White, the father of the noted William Allen White; Dr. Hunt., Dr. Fullinwider, Dr. Koogler, Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Miller were El Dorado's earliest physicians. The oldest physicians of Augusta were Drs. Hill, Shirley, Buck, Marshall, Hall and Polk. Those of Leon were Doctors Carlisle. Kline and McKinzie. Dr. Benepe Knote and McGowen, Tucker, Thomas, McCluggage and myself represented the medical profession of Douglass for many years. Dr. Barklow has been in Rose Hill for twenty-five years and perhaps will be there for twenty years more. Dr. Phillips is now located in Beau- mont. I am sorry to say that most of them have answered their last call. They represented the medical fraternity and did it well. Doctors Carlisle, Barklow, Hall and Marshall and myself are left and it has fallen on me to tell the story. Why I should be so blest I cannot tell, but I am thankful for the same. Abe Martin said, "What a boy eats between meals is what keeps him from starving to death," and perhaps it is what I eat that has something to do with my being here. Many are the times that we have spared our swords, singly and together, with death, over our patients and have won out at times. We have also been with life and action. We have been with the mother when she breathed for the first time her first born's breath. May the good Providence deal gently with the mothers of the past and the mothers-to-be of Butler county. Mothers are the highest type of womanhood, next to the angels.
But what of the present medical faculty of the county? I know all of them personally, and some of them well. I know them to be good and true men, who have the profession at heart and who have profited by our experience and have opportunities and helps that we did not have -X-ray, microscope, physological chemistry, morbid anatomy and the hospital. I cannot say too much for the hospital, the strong and steady surgeon, the anesthetic, the antiseptic, the house physician and the nurse. the angel who comes to the sick and suffering with knowledge and skill and their angelic touch and pleasant smile. God bless them and their wrist watch as they remain with you through the long vigils of the night. I am no medical nihilist. I believe in medicine. There is truth in medi- cines, facts in surgery, and relief to be had in true medicine that is to be had in no other avenue.
CHAPTER XVII.
AGRICULTURE.
By Clarence King.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-FIRST FAIRS-KAFIR CORN CARNIVAL-CHANGES IN METHODS-ALFALFA-KAFIR-INCREASE OF CROP ACREAGE- MARKET CONDITIONS-OATS AND WHEAT-PROGRESS-"KAFIR CORN" -COUNTY FARM.
The first agricultural society was organized in 1872, with Lewis Maxwell, president, and M. D. Ellis, secretary. An agricultural exhibi- tion was held at Towanda during the fall of 1872. The grounds were prepared and track laid out and graded on the M. D. Ellis claim, the northeast quarter of section 9 in Towanda township. A very creditable showing was made in products of the farm, live stock, riding and driving on the track, etc., considering the age and opportunities of the times. It was not a money making institution. The grounds were unfenced and very little money was realized from "gate(?) receipts." The next year the fair was held in Douglass, where a good track had been prepared, the grounds fenced and buildings erected for live stock of all kinds, ex- hibits of the farm, etc. With the exception of a few years there has been since said time and still is held at Douglass a Butler county expo- sition by the Douglass Agricultural Society. The officers of this society now are: Ed Wilkerson, president; William Hilton, treasurer; J. A. Clay, secretary. This is one of the flourishing institutions of Southern Butler, and under its present management is a success in every particular.
Fairs were held for a number of years at El Dorado, southwest of the city, and then removed to the northwest part, where good buildings and a grandstand and amphitheater were erected and one of the fastest half-mile tracks in the State, but for some reason it was not a profitable venture for its promoters, and it ceased to exist.
The kafir corn carnival held in El Dorado during the fall is taking the place of the fair to some extent.
An agricultural history of Butler county, although it does not ex- tend over a great lapse of time, shows some great changes. The really important farming period of its history does not extend back many decades. Its early agricultural efforts were mostly along the lines of live stock production. Markets being far away, too far to profitably market grain except through the agency of live stock. Emporia was
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
one of the early markets for the earliest settlers even points farther away.
The county's important agronomical history cannot be said to ex- tend back farther than forty years and upon a well settled permanent basis for a considerably shorter period than that. Especially in the kinds of crops raised and in the manner of cultivation have the changes been remarkable. It is indeed quite a transition from the old style sod breaker and its ox team to the modern tractor with the its multiple plows.
But a more effective change and one of far more importance has been the adoption into the county's agriculture of those crops that are best suited to its soil and climate and in a large area like Butler county with a somewhat diversified soil as to its different sections these crops vary in importance somewhat throughout the county. The eastern part of the county being a rougher country, it has always been inclined to live stock, and the feed crops, while the western part has always been more of a grain growing section. The early settlers confined themselves mostly to the river valleys, whose fertile soil produced abundantly all the grain crops known in their times farther east. Corn easily became the leading crop with wheat at least an equal, at a little later date, in the western and more especially the northwestern part.
The open range the year round and prairie hay were the chief for- age in the early days, and cattle fed upon this ration often presented a sorry spectacle by spring, it being a common occurrence to have to stand them on their feet every morning or pull them out of the creek where they had mired down and were too weak to extricate themselves.
Results were vastly different in such methods from those gained in feeding modern rations of grain, alfalfa and ensilage.
Farming methods were just as crude in the early days as the feed- ing operations. One early settler on the upper Whitewater who long owned and operated one of its fertile farms had a farm outfit which consisted of a lister, harrow and cultivator, which, with a wagon in which to gather his corn, comprised his whole equipment. His farm was run on the one crop plan and he himself frequently said that it had been run that way just about as long as it could be profitably. With the depletion of the fertility in the valley lands and the breaking out of the thinner uplands, then came a demand for other crops than the old order of oats, wheat and corn. Sorghum was early introduced and proved to be a valuable forage crop on the thinner soils and a great change. Its "sorghum lasses" was often a great blessing to the early settler, but it was neither a soil restorer nor a grain crop and it re- mained for alfalfa and kafir to supply these needs. These two crops have marked a wonderful improvement in Butler county agronomy and have contributed greatly to its present prosperous and profitable con- dition. It is interesting to note what a great change these two new crops have wrought in local agriculture, even quite recently. Their in-
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troduction at first was rather slow. A majority of the settlers had come from a corn raising country and they chung tenaciously to maize, of which they had generally raised bountiful crops in the virgin soil of the fertile Walnut and Whitewater valleys and their tributaries. Many of the early settlers also declared that the fertility of these valleys was practically inexhaustible and could not see the need of a soil renevator like alfalfa. The spread of agronomy to the thinner uplands also did much to increase the importance and popularity of kafir. Alfalfa sprang into importance somewhat earlier and quicker than kafir, the latter hay- ing only been introduced into this country from Africa by the National Department of Agriculture in 1885, and soon after into this locality. Neither of these crops were raised to any extent in Butler county pre- vious to 1890, although alfalfa had been a well known crop in parts of our country from the earliest times and was an important forage plant in ancient times.
It soon gained in importance and popularity in the county's crop list, especially in those bottom lands whose fertility had been some- what exhausted, perhaps so much that corn raising was rather unprof- itable, and alfalfa here fitted to the soil and into the rotation admirably.
The increase in its acreage during the nineties was rather slow though, there being only 13,000 acres in the county in 1900. The next five years it made a remarkable increase in acreage, being over 35,000 acres in 1905, but since then the acreage has remained about station- ary on the average, there being a few less acres in 1912 than there were in 1905. One of the most interesting matters in Butler county's crop statistics has been the struggle for the first place as a grain crop be- tween corn and kafir. In 1899 there was raised in Butler county 180 -. 553 acres of corn and 26,768 acres of kaffir or about one-seventh as much acreage. In 1912 the acreage had so changed that the acreage stood, corn 84,417, and kafir 119,304 acres. In that year assessors' returns in the county gave kafir an acreage value of $14 per acre and white corn was rated at $12.65. In the previous year results were even more striking as. corn was rated at an average acre of $10.62, while kafir was given a value of $15 per acre.
These dry years since 1911 were the cause of the great preponder- ance of kafir. It will also be noticed in scanning statistics that the large increase in the alfalfa acreage dates from the dry year of 1901. On the other hand, after wet years, there has often been a great return to corn and the small grains, there being a considerable dislike to kafir among many farmers on account of its feeding qualities, harvesting and effect on land, but kafir will probably contine to reign supreme on the thin uplands at least, and crowd corn closely for second place on much of the better land.
The increase in cultivated acreage has not been large of late years. there being 280,281 acres in cultivation in 1900 anl 291,965 acres in 1912. This small increase is probably greatly dne to the large increase in im-
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1
portance of the county's live stock interests, increased pasture rates and good prices for prairie hay in recent years. In can be remembered not many years back when pasturage rates were seventy five cents and $1.00 per season or sonie years previous to that the open range was to be had. Now, $6 to $8 per head is a common pasturage rate.
It is very pleasing to the grain raiser to notice that in recent years the locality has had greatly increased prices. This is partly due to gen- eral conditions and also to local ones. In the past quite often the grain raised in the county was worth market price less the freight to market or perhaps the market was quite variable, there not being a steady local demand. For example : In the great corn year of 1889, corn sold in the fall from ten cents to fifteen cents per bushel; the next spring it was worth fifty cents. Fifteen cents to twenty-five cents was a common price for corn in some earlier years of the county's history. Nowadays, the old conditions of grain prices is often reversed, owing to the great local demand for grain in live stock feeding. Many communities in the county do not supply enough grain for their local demands and con- sequently their grain is worth market price plus the amount of freight it takes to bring it there from its point of origin or at least an approxi- mate to that price. These conditions sometimes enable Butler county farmers to receive more than Kansas City or even Chicago prices for their feed grain, but, of course, does not apply to the food grain, wheat, as so much of it still moves East toward the center of population. The ยท county's wheat production has remained stationary for many years, or has fallen off, since of late years has given way somewhat to more di- versified farming, the acreage formerly devoted to it in the western and northern parts of the county being devoted to alfalfa or kafir in many instances.
In 1900 there was raised 11,711 acres of wheat, which was ac- counted an acre value of $10.26., there being an average yield of about nineteen bushels per acre. In 1912 there was produced 9.332 acres, yielding eighting bushels per acre, but with an acre value of $15.50, showing a much better price for the grain this year than the previous one. The oats crops also has remained rather stationary for a long term of years, being used chiefly as a rotation crop, it may vary considerably from year to year, but continues to maintain about the same acreage for ten years. In 1900 the county produced 21,492 acres of oats, and in 1912 the crop was 25,008 acres.
Farming methods have changed almost as much as the crops them- selves. In early times, or perhaps it would be more proper to say dur- ing the middle ages of Butler county agriculture, the lister was almost the universal planter, but of late years it has fallen somewhat into ill- repute. More plowing is done. Better horses are available than for- merly, making more and better plowing possible. The gas tractor is also becoming quite common. In fact, the farmer of a quarter of a century ago would hardly recognize the local conditions of today. Perhaps
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many changes may be chronicled in the coming twenty-five years, but surely not more effective ones than in the past period of that duration. We know at least that Butler county agronomy has reached a point where it is upon a firm and stable basis.
KAFIR CORN. By Ed Blair.
Did you ever hear o' Kafir corn, That grows here where it's dry ? Ont here 'round El Dorado, Bill, It boosts this country high. D'ye know that Kafir corn and gas, And oil and zinc and lead Are just as good as real cash ? Yet, Kafir corn's ahead.
You didn't Bill, you couldn't know, Unless you've been out here ; You've got to see it with your eyes, Before your mind is clear. I didn't either, 'till I dropped In here t' see the show, And now I've joined the Boosters, Bill, A bunch that makes things go.
They're raisin' steers and horses here So big and fat and wide. That crossin' common bridges, Bill, Two can't walk side by side ; And all they eat is Kafir corn From frost till early spring. There ain't no use a talkin', Bill, This Kafir corn is King.
If you should want a settin' hen To stay upon her nest, Don't let her feed on Kafir corn, For it wont let her rest. She'll Lay, from once to twice a day, In spite of all her frettin,' For Kafir corn was surely made To keep old hens from settin'
Along the banks, the Kafir roots Stick out into the river ;
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You'll notice as you go along, The stalks quite often quiver ; It's catfish nibblin' at the roots. And bass 'nd crappie feedin ; And when they find them Kafir roots, No other feed they're needin.'
The pigs get fat a browsin' 'round Where Kafir corn is wasted,
And cakes made from the Kafir meal's The best I ever tasted. Some oil men tried to lease a farm Last week from old man Jolly, "You'll never spoil my Kafir land," Said he, "For oil, by golly."
THE COUNTY FARM.
The county farm was purchased during the year 1878 from William Crimble for the sum of $4,000; afterward, during the year 1898, there was added thereto about thirty acres and the present buildings erected thereon.
As a general proposition the farm has been self-sustaining and is, of course, of much greater valnie today than when the county became the owner, and many persons whose lives were failures, by reason of af- fliction, mental and physical, have found a home therein where at least the necessities of life were furnished and where a goodly number have laid down the burden of a life that had been destitute of those things for which men strive, luxuries, enjoyment, hope or faith; inheriting and taking possession of that six feet of earth that makes all of one size, including the superintendent and the inmate.
The farm was opened for settlement in March, 1879, Robert F. Moore. of Benton township, becoming the first superintendent. Since that time there have been the following superintendents in the order named :
Robert F. Moore 1879-80
H. Underwood 1881-82
George M. Sandifer 1883-86
A. Aikman .1887
J. S. Friend. 1888-93
W. H. Sandifer 1894-06
C. S. Young 1906-09
C. M. Dillon. 1910-II
J. W. Marley. 1912-15
D. F. Marley 1916
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
The first year, 1879, there were thirty-six homeless and destitute admitted, one of whom is still with the county. From the records it is practically impossible to give an estimate of the number received since the home was established. There are now, in 1916, only nine persons dependent upon the county for support at the county farm, some of whom are partially self-supporting.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LIVE STOCK INDUSTRY.
EARLY DAY HORSES-TROTTING STOCK-SOME FAST ONES- DRAFT HORSES -MULES-FIRST CATTLE-LOSSES FROM SEVERE WINTERS-CATTLE RAISING AS A BUSINESS-EFFECT OF HERD LAW-FIRST COWS- BREEDERS-FINEST HERD OF HEREFORDS IN THE WORLD.
The cayuse, broncho, mustang, Indian and Texas ponies were used for riding, driving and hauling the lighter loads. The heavier hauling was done principally by oxen, but gradually immigrants brought a higher grade of horses, and crossing with the better ones of those already here, . produced a good serviceable class of horses. This continued until the standard and thoroughbred driving horses took the place of the pony stock of the early settler.
Some of the best trotting stock in the country has been bred and developed in this county. Probably the first standard bred horse brought to the county was "Champion," by Lamb, of Douglass, and the first horse to win a race, winning the sweepstakes at the Butler county fair in 1872. The next was a horse called "Kalamazoo Boy." brought from Michigan by H. M. Balch. He was driven on the track at the fairs held in El Dorado a number of times, taking first money, his record being 2:36. There were others, but the first party to enter the business of breeding and training trotting stock for sale was the late A. W. Denni- son. The report of his work, as given by W. O. James, his trainer and driver, and who has driven in some of the fastest races in the State and developed greatest speed, follows:
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