USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 12
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Jiles Milhoan heard the command and said: "Boys, them's bush- whackers," and made for his horses with the intention of cutting them lose from the wagon and letting them run, but he was too late, a bush- whacker, reinforced with a gun, ordered him to "let that team alone and fall in line," which he did. About that time Hiram Blanchard, a young merchant who had come up from Spring Hill, ten miles south of Olathe, that night in company with Judge Ezra Robinson, of Paola.
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came out of a saloon and walked across the street to where his horse was tied to the fence around the square. Blanchard then went to the other side of the horse. untied it and putting his foot into the stirrup was in the act of mounting when the bushwhackers shot him through the head.
Judge Robinson also had a narrow escape that night. He knew Quantrill personally and Quantrill promised Robinson to get his horse back for him, if he could and cautioned him to keep close to him, Quan- trill, as in that event he would enjoy a greater degree of safety. Shortly afterward Robinson went to the Turpin House which stood on the
IRE PATEA
THE OLD FIRE WAGON, OLATHE, KAN., WHICH HAS BEEN REPLACED BY A MODERN AUTOMOBILE TRUCK.
site of the present Avenue House and was kept by the parents of "Cliff" Turpin, one of Quantrill's men. In the parlor he found a troop of the bushwhackers and heard Mrs. Turpin welcoming them with, "I'm glad to see you, boys. If you had come two weeks ago, when I sent you word, I would have had something for you to eat." Just then Cliff Turpin entered and took in the situation. Robinson had heard too much for the health of the Turpin family and it was promptly decided to kill Robinson, but Mrs. Turpin protested against them killing anyone in her house, and the gang started out of the house,
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pushing Robinson along. Reaching the front door, they met another troop of Quantrill men coming in and this gave Robinson a chance and he took it. Bolting through the door he turned south and ran to where a few women were huddled together and hid behind them. When his pursuers came up, one of the women had the presence of mind to say that Robinson had just disappeared around an adjacent building and directed them in that direction, and at that Robinson lost no time "making his get-away."
Meantime the guerillas had spread over town, entering every house and bringing all the men into the public square. A number of re- cruits were sleeping upstairs in a building which stood on the site of the present National Bank building. As the guerillas rushed up stairs, a young recruit by the name of Phillips Wiggins caught one of them by the throat, took his pistol away and was proceeding to choke him when he was shot through the head and instantly killed. Another recruit by the name of Josiah Skinner was sleeping on the floor of a building which stood on Park Street about where Ott's grocery store now stands. He was sound asleep and several shakings failing to wake him, a bushwhacker shot him through the body saying: "Lay there if you won't get up." Skinner died a few days afterwards.
During the night another citizen, Marian Milhoan, was shot in the foot, while trying to get away, and still carries the bullet.
Col. J. E. Hayes, who had recently been appointed colonel of the Twelfth Kansas, narrowly missed being caught in this raid. He was in Leavenworth that day, where Burris, who was colonel of the Tenth Kansas, was in command. Intending to return home that afternoon he started for Olathe, but it having rained, he turned back to get his horse shod and thus missed being at home to meet Mr. Quantrill. Mrs. Hayes was at home, however, lodged at the American House and received a visit from the marauders. In a closet in her room was stored a quantity of soldiers' uniforms. Placing herself in front of the closet door she managed to hide it while the men searched her trunk standing close by and thus saved the uniforms. The Colonel's sword she saved by throwing it into the back yard.
The two newspaper offices, the Olathe Herald and The Mirror, were wrecked. All the arms for the new company were loaded in Milhoan's wagon. Everything of value in the town, including money, jewelry and even bed clothing, groceries, and dry goods, was loaded into wagons and brought into the square. Finally the citizens were released, the recruits being kept as prisoners.
After Jiles Milhoan, whose team has been mentioned, was released. he met Cliff Turpin, whom he knew and asked him to intercede with Quantrill to give him back his team. They found Quantrill sitting on the porch of Judge Campbell's house which stood on the present site of the Patrons Bank. Quantrill said the arms had been loaded into
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that wagon but if Milhoan wanted to go along he would give him back the team when they reached the point where they intended to unload, but advised him not to take the chance, as some of the men would undoubtedly kill him and take the team before he got a mile away and he could not send a guard back with him. Milhoan took Quantrill's advice. After the inhabitants were gathered into the square, they were held up for all the "shin plasters" in their possession, which was pronounced "d -- n poor money," but they took it just the same.
About daylight the recruits were ordered to "fall in" and the wagons loaded with plunder, started south towards Spring Hill, Quantrill and his men followed on horse back, with the prisoners on foot. On the . march south, Cliff Turpin offered William Pellett a big horse with a sore back to ride. Pellett accepted it. As they proceeded, an old bushwhacker rode along side of Pellett and urged him to jump and run as he could easily escape that way, saying: "You d -- n little Yankee school-master, run, you can get away just as well as not." Mr.
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HODGES BROTHERS' OFFICE, OLATHE, KAN.
Pellett replied that he was a good runner all right but added, "I'm afraid I couldn't outrun that shot gun of yours." and declined to run The news that several companies of soldiers had arrived at Spring Hill diverted Quantrill eastward through the fields of Squiresville where Quantrill lined up the recruits and informed them that he had been deliberating whether or not to shoot them, but had decided to turn them loose, which he did after taking their paroles. They reached Olathe about noon, footsore, weary and hungry.
The next day Burris started in pursuit with several troops of cavalry and succeeded in recovering the arms and most of the goods taken from the stores. So ended Quantrill's first raid, but Olathe was a
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
sorry wreck, scarcely a door or window in the town remained unbroken, and it took quite a while for its people to recover from the blows, but they did, and Olathe suffered but little during the remaining years of the war.
I have recounted these things lest it be forgotten that our "City Beautiful" has seen troublesome days and that "the road to yesterday" was not paved with roses.
At the close of the war, while Mr. J. R. Brown was running the American House in Olathe, a colored boy six or seven years old, whose mother was a cook there, dressed up in a soldier's suit that someone had made for him. A man by the name of Roberts saw him and said : "You - of a -, take off that suit!" and whipped out his gun and shot the boy dead. Colonel Holt, who was in cliarge of the troops, arrested the man and put him in jail. Mr. Brown does not remember Roberts' punishment for the dastardly act.
A "COUNTY SEAT TOWN."
One of the beautiful farms of Johnson county two miles southwest of Olathe, as the travel ran in the early days before the wagons fol- lowed section lines, came near being the site of the present county seat of Johnson county. The Princeton town company of which Albert White, D. H. Mitchell, T. E. Milhoan and George String ham were members, laid out the town of Princeton, comprising 160 acres, and began to sell town lots. This was in 1857, and soon two stores, a blacksmith shop and shoe shop located there. Prince- ton was a Free State town, and its people hoped to make it the future county seat, but Olathe had to be reckoned with and when the question came up to a vote, the Shawnee Indians were declared legal voters for this occasion and their votes were almost solid for Olathe, and Princeton's star had set. After the Olathe victory, Albert White filed on the old townsite of Princeton, for a homestead. J. H. Milhoan, a brother of T. E. Milhoan, is the present judge of the city court of Olathe, and lived at Princeton with his brother and mother when Princeton was laid out. He remembers the early days of Olathe and Princeton well, being identified with both and talks in a most in- teresting manner of their early history.
CHAPTER VII.
SPRING HILL.
Location and Enterprises-Banks-Churches-Reminiscences of Spring Hill-The Old Hotel-The Pioneer Store-Early Days at Spring Hill -Stage Line and Early Business Ventures-Locating the Town and Organization of Town Company-Spring Hill Beginnings-War Times.
SPRING HILL-LOCATION AND ENTERPRISES.
At the present time Spring Hill is one of the best trading points on the Frisco railroad in eastern Kansas.
The Spring Hill Co- Operative Association, organized in 1877, have the largest store in the city, and own their building, Sox100 feet, with opera house in the second story. It carries an excellent line of merchandise, has a very fine trade and is one of the solid financial institutions of the town. J. R. Lemen is its efficient manager. Bimger Nelson also carry a general stock of merchandise in the Odd Fellows building and are progressive merchants, building up a permanent trade. E. Davis & Son have a model furniture store and undertaking parlors and are competing with the larger towns in their line. George Ellis carries a full line of hardware and is doing a good business. H. H. Neff, druggist, is an up-to-date man in his line. C. E. Baily is one of the pioneers in the drug business, having been here for about thirty years. Other well conducted lines are harness, M. E. Black ; meat shop, Ralph Hines ; barber shops, E. A. Roofe and Jack Burns; R. E. Harbison's tin shop ; Allen's jewelry store; Frank B. Jamison, hay and feed and extensive buyer and shipper of stock; W. F. Hunter and A. H. Starbuck each run blacksmith shops; Mrs. M. L. Baily, millinery. The Eagan res- taurant and bakery is an up-to-date shop. The Spring Hill elevator, of which J. S. Null is manager, does an extensive grain business, and the City Hotel, under the management of James Wykoff, gives fine service to the traveling public. Physicians are: Dr. R. E. Eagan, Dr. O. C. Thomas, Dr. H. M. Beaver, Dr. S. G. W. Stevens, and L. V. Gast, dentist. The Spring Hill Lumber Company under the manage- ment of G. A. Simpson carries a complete line of building materials. Mellor and Rose are contractors ; John Lambert, carpenter and plumber ; W. M. Mollison, livery ; Roy Payne, pantatorium ; George S. Sowers, 20th Century stationary ; J. L. Todd, Spring Hill creamery ; W. E. Tisdale, real estate; W. F. Wilkerson, insurance; G. W. Moore, garage ; C. W. Dunn, drayage and veterinary; Dr. Pearson, fancy poultry; C. D.
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Flanders, fancy poultry ; George Mower, contractor ; Col. W. C. Graves, auctioneer ; Bush Newton, Overland dealer; Fred Ricketts, postmaster ; W. W. Wickens, Mi-Jo. Telephone Company; Clyde Elliot, manager of municipal lighting plant.
The city a few years ago voted $6,000 bonds and installed a municipal light plant and the streets are well lighted. The engines and dynamo are in a neat and concrete building, the property of the city.
An excellent band is also kept by the merchants' association. The Spring Hill Grange Fair, which this year will give its eleventh annual exhibit, began in 1904 as a stock and farm exhibit on the street and the second year leased two acres of ground from Mrs. Mathews, ad- joining the city on the south. These two fairs being so successful,
THE OLD STORE BUILDING, SPRING HILL, KAN.
the fair board the next year leased fifteen acres of ground, fenced it and erected a floral hall, put up stables and pens for stock, and each year since additions have been made till now the fair is one of the best attractions in eastern Kansas, to those interested in fine stock and farm products, this too without horse racing, considered as one of the great drawing features of a fair in the years past.
The Spring Hill High School stands high as an educational institu- tion of the county, and is an accredited school at the State Univer- sity. A parent-teachers association has been organized recently and its meetings add much to the real worth of the school.
The Spring Hill "New Era." established in 1889 by J. W. Sowers, W. F. Wilkerson, editor and owner at the present time, is an excellent
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country newspaper and covers the field adjacent to Spring Hill com- pletely. Mr. Wilkerson is a practical and thorough newspaper man and his untiring work and straight business methods are appreciated by the business men of the town in a substantial way. The "new Era" articles written by Mr. Wilkerson are widely copied by the press. The worth of the average town as a place of residence is measured often by the progressive features of its newspaper. Spring Hill owes much of its advancement in the past ten years to the aggressive fight of the "New Era" for better things and the wide-awake citizens of this thriving little city have begun to appreciate this fact.
BANKS.
Spring Hill has two excellent banks. The Spring Hill Banking Com- pany, the oldest bank organized, has a capital stock of $20,000 and a surplus of $15,000, deposits $100,000. This bank for the past fifteen years has been under the careful supervision of A. P. Williams as cashier, with his daughter, Miss Anna, as assistant cashier, and is one of the solid institutions of eastern Kansas. Eli Davis is president. Loren Crawford, vice-president, W. C. Palmer, secretary. Directors are W. M. Adams, S. R. Hogue, W. M. Tibbetts, George S. Sowers, P. O. Coons, Lizzie Bunnell, Eugene Davis and W. H. Rutter. Stewart Simpson is assistant cashier and bookkeeper at the present.
The Farmers State Bank was organized April 1, 1912, with a cap- ital stock of $20,000. It has a surplus of $6,000 and deposits of $50,000. Irwin Williams, a home boy, was selected as cashier at the organiza- tion of the bank and his careful business methods and pleasing manners are bringing the bank rapidly forward in the confidence of the people. Miss Osa Williams is assistant cashier. Thomas Williams is presi- dent, J. W. Sowers vice-president, George Ellis, secretary. Directors are R. R. Crawford, H. B. Dickey, George Osborn, J. L. Pettyjohn. E. E. Smith, W. C. Rohrer, Alex Hines, A. C. Stiles.
The city park in "old town,' planted in trees many years ago, affords a cool retreat from the hot rays of the summer sun and has an amphi- theater where public meetings are held in the warmer months.
CHURCHES.
The first year of the settlement of Spring Hill there were no churches or schools in town. Mr. James B. Hovey in an interesting letter writ- ten in 1874 gives the following data :
"The spring of 1858 opened and found us without a school or church. Our community had been too small up to that time to support either, but the writer, thinking the time had then arrived when we might sustain occasional preaching, went in search of a minister of the Gospel,
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
one who would be willing to preach occasionally, at first, with a view to establish a regular stated service for our people. A preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church was found by the name of Hurlbert (if I recollect rightly), who lived about two miles east of Baldwin City. He agreed to be on hand on the following Sunday; and hold service at my house. (I don't know but it might be as well to say here that my house being somewhat commodious was made use of for all public occasions ; it was used for a hotel, postoffice, justice's office, voting, public meet- ings, preaching, and just before the war for a store and stage stand.) When Sunday came he was on time: in fact we were on the lookout for him and saw him coming miles away on the prairie, in those days one could always tell a minister as far as the eye could reach. They always traveled on horse back-the horse invariably had a sort of pious regulation trot, and carried the inevitable ministerial saddlebags. He had no sooner got there than the house was filled. The people crowded in from all directions. Some came on foot, some on horse back, and some with ox teams, a few in two-horse wagons, but none in buggies, for, buggies at that day were as scarce as railroads. The meeting was such an unexpected success, and the preacher so en- couraged that another appointment was given out, and from that time we had stated preaching. In a few weeks the time came for a quar- terly meeting and the congregation had grown so the old hotel would not hold them. So all at once just a week before the meeting the people set about building a house which could be used for a church and school house. Everything was ready on the ground and the build- ing completed, all inside of one week, and the first quarterly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal church in Spring Hill was held in that build- ing on Sunday, where on the Sunday before not a stone or brick was to be seen. Elder L. B. Dennis, of Lawrence, was our first presiding elder. and he was so pleased with our enterprise, and with the large congrega- tion that turned out on that occasion, that he at once took a lively inter- est in our people and town, and had a regular station esablished here. In the meantime a church had been organized and the interest con- tinued to increase till we were supplied with a resident minister, the Rev. Richard P. Duvall.
"The roster of Methodist ministers from 1858 to the present time is as follows: The first minister was R. P. Duvall, who stayed till March, 1867. Then Rev. Hogue followed in 1867, William Whitney 1868, O. H. Call 1870, Cole 1871, J. Biddison 1872. J. C. Tilford 1875 (Mr. Tilford is the father of Mrs. J. W. Sowers. who still lives in Spring Hill), J. O. Roberts. 1877, Walker 1879, Frank Hayes, 1881, J. S. Smith 1884, William Whitney 1885, son of the pastor of 1868; Don S. Colt 1887. S. A. Laugh 1888, L. A. Markham 1889, J. A. Thomp- son 1891, M. L. Everett 1891, W. P. Elliot 1893, C. G. Crysler 1896, C. S. Frank 1899, C. J. Horned 1901, C. G. Crysler 1902 to complete
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the term of Horned, who resigned, Thomas McConnell 1903, W. J. Mitchell 1906, A. J. Bruner 1909, M. E. Goodrich 1910, D. A. McCol- lough, the present pastor, came in 1912. The first church was built in 1871 and is now used by the colored Methodist Episcopal church. A new brick church began in 1911, was dedicated in August of that year and cost $10,000. The membership at present is 191. The Sunday school has an average attendance of 125."
REMINISCENCES OF SPRING HILL.
(By W. R. Rutter.)
I came to Kansas in 1855 and went to Lawrence. When I arrived in the neighborhood where Spring Hill now is, in 1857, there were but very few people then on the ground. There were some Indians living on Bull creck, and among the whites I remember were James B. Hovey, William Mavity, S. B. Myrick, E. F. Davis, A. B. Simmons, W. A. Jenkinson, George Sprague, James McKoin and H. E. Brown. A town company was organized but it was not regularly incorporated until 1858.
The first building in the town was the hotel at the northeast corner of the public square, a two-story frame, known as the Spring Hill Hotel. It was 30x40 and stood on one of the highest points in the town.
The postoffice was established in the fall of 1857, but the mail had to be carried from Olathe, often on foot by A. B. Simmons, J. P. Lockey and myself. It was a dreary task, sometimes through the snow, and a lonesome job.
In that winter four of us thought we would enliven things by adver- tising for a wife. Thus we did in the Boston "Journal," which brought several responses of a warm and amorous nature. One widow from St. Louis, Mo., carried on a correspondence with increasing inter- est with one of the boys, and at last reached the climax by telling him how much she thought of him and said that "the children called him pa." A young lady in Kentucky early expressed a willingness to see "the southern lily transplanted to the side of the northern rose." An elderly female from Maine wrote that she had $1,500 and that her hus- band must have as much. This let the boys out. Ont of all the fun came one genuine attachment. One of the boys arranged to go to New York City where he was to meet his lady on a ferry boat, and should know her by her being dressed in black and carrying her handkerchief in her hand. This was carried out and they were married and came to Spring Hill to live. She was a finely educated lady, a fine Latin scholar and a musician.
Mr. George Sprague was the first to erect substantial farm buildings in 1857, putting up a good house and barn, building fences and mak- ing things look like home. S. B. Myrick settled on the northeast
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quarter of section 15, directly north of my claim, and Davis was on the north of him. The first store was opened by W. G. Davidson. These were quickly followed in the next year by many others, nearly all of whom have gone.
The first newspaper of Spring Hill was started December 7, 1870, and was called the Spring Hill "Enterprise." It was a Republican paper but in 1872 it changed hands and the name was changed to the "Western Progress."
The Presbyterian church of Spring Hill was organized December 4, 1864, with ten members. Rev. H. Reed was the first pastor.
The following persons have served as pastors: J. W. Rankin, N. A. Rankin, James C. McElroy, A. Carroll, N. Young, A. M. Reynolds, William Howell, A. V. Stout, W. A. Rankin (second time), A. M. Mann, W. H. Course.
The church building was erected in 1871 by J. C. Beckley and is situated in old town one block east of the Old Hotel.
THE OLD HOTEL.
(By Ed Blair.)
Over the prairies for miles and miles, Slowly the stage coach rolled along.
With now and then the crack of a whip. And a "Get up there" or a bit of a song, The bluestem waved and the flowers wild Nodded and becked as the stage went by
(In the soft June days) and when autumn came
The fires of the prairie lit up the sky, And after the ride was a rest for a spell,
For the passengers here at the old hotel.
'Twas a welcome sight to the traveler worn The light that flecked from the windows here, And far in the night were the slow teams urged, That the drivers might bask in its warmth and cheer, For equality reigned at the old hotel,
Where the traveler told of his wanderings far, Of his hopes and ambitions, of what he had been, Of all that had happened his fortune to mar ; And the innkeeper listened to what had befell, Till the clock struck twelve in the old hotel.
'Twas here Greeley came by the old stage line, And stopped awhile for a welcome rest,
And saw for the first the prairies so wide,
That inspired his advice, "Young man, go west."
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But the trail now bears the name of a street ; By the hotel's walls move a city's throng, And the corn and wheat now nod and bend On the sod where the bluestem waved so long ; But the hotel stands, yet through its door,
The guests from the stage coach come no more.
Like a granite slab 'mong the tangled vines That bursts to view in a lonely wood,
(Where once in the long, long years ago A party of silent mourners stood ), Brings back to the mind the years that have flown ; The years that have flown, yes, by the score.
So the old hotel, with its sinking sills, Calls back to the pioneer days of yore,
A slab in the woods with but few to tell
Of its history now-is this old hotel.
THE CO-OPERATIVE STORE, SPRING HILL, KAN.
The Old Hotel at Spring Hill, Kans., is one of the historic buildings of Kansas and should be preserved as a historical museum of the border. It was the first building of Spring Hill, built in 1857, and the old stage line ran by its door. It was built on the northeast corner of the square in what is now called Old Town. The building of the Frisco railroad caused the present business district to be removed a half mile east of the old town site. The building is a two-story and its frame work is made from native lumber. It has four rooms 15x18 below and two
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
above with a seven-foot hallway in which a three-foot stairway is built. The stairway is boxed up underneath and recently a trap door was dis- covered inside of this, which, no doubt, had been made to be used as a hiding place during the border warfare. While there was no cellar underneath the building, the floor was high enough to admit a man's body and a score of persons could have been secreted there with no danger of discovery. On the north side a kitchen, twelve feet wide. , extends the full length of the building. Everything about the building from the heavy oak sills, the old style hardwood flooring, the doors, windows and general style of construction, suggest the pioneer days. Up the old stairway you will want to go sure when you visit the place and there you will find two big rooms. big enough for four beds each, yet how many were accommodated at a time few indeed know at this time. The bridal chamber above the approach to the stairway is 61/2x 71/2 feet in size, and suggests the only privacy about the building. The building cost $3,000, and the lumber used, with the exception of the frame, was hauled from Leavenworth. At the time of the building of the hotel some maple trees were set out and two of these are still grow- ing, the largest, standing south of the door, being nine and one-half feet in circumference. A well dug at the same time just north of the building is twenty-five feet deep; has never been dry and still furnishes water to many in this part of town. One hundred feet north of the hotel a stage barn was erected where eight head of horses were kept and cared for.
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