USA > Kansas > Labette County > History of Labette County, Kansas, from the first settlement to the close of 1892 > Part 4
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This language indicates that the person now appointed is the one who had failed to qualify, but evidently this refers to his failure to qualify under his previous appointment, and not his election. I have nothing more definite as to who was elected Probate Judge in April.
At the first meeting of the board the County Clerk was directed to or- der blank books and stationery from Luce & Griggs, Davenport, Iowa, "to be sent as per agreement," and I find that the first orders on the county treasury were drawn in their favor, dated September 3, 1867, for the supplies thus ordered ; order No. 1 was for $199 ; orders Nos. 2 and 3 for $24 each. At the same time that this order was made to this Daven- port firm the clerk was directed to make an order for other books and blanks for the Assessor, Treasurer, and Commissioner, which order seems to have been sent to Samuel Dodsworth, of Leavenworth. The follow- ing appears in the record of the Commissioners for January 14, 1868 :
"It is hereby ordered, that the County Clerk make out the proper state- ment of the proceedings of this for the general meeting commencing the first Monday in January, 1868, according to law, and forward the sanie for publication to the Humboldt Union."
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
This is the first order I find designating any official paper or in any way providing for the official publication of the proceedings of the county of- ficers. It was not long after this order was made until the Neosho Val- ley Eagle was established, and I find that the publisher of that paper was allowed bills for printing. The first paper to be started in the county was the Oswego Register, which appeared in June of this year, and must have at once been given at least a part of the county printing, for, on July 8th, E. R. Trask, the publisher, is allowed an account of $+ for county printing.
LAND TITLES.
The Osage Ceded Lands were first brought into market by virtue of the joint resolution of April 10, 1869. Owing to the ruling of the Secre- tary of the Interior on the claims made by the railroad companies, only a part of the lands was disposed of under this law. After the Supreme Court of the United States declared the railroad companies' claims void, Congress passed another act, which was approved August 11, 1876, under which the remainder of the Osage Ceded Lands was purchased. The Cherokee strip, on the south side of the county, was sold to the settlers under act of Congress approved May 11, 1872.
HARDSHIPS.
The experience of those who first came to this county is probably not very dissimilar to that which has attended early settlers in nearly every county. Some of them had sufficient means to make themselves as com- fortable as they well could be, with the distance they were from market, though many of them were in very plain circumstances, and under very much more favorable conditions would have found it hard to make their families comfortable. As it was, there was necessarily a great amount of suffering. Provisions had to be hauled from so great a distance that the price continued very high all the time for several years. Flour was frequently $15 a hundred, corn $3 a bushel, meal $6 a hundred, bacon 25 cents a pound, and other things in the line of living in proportion. Teams which were used for hauling provisions were poorly fed and consequently generally poor, and in going to Missouri for a load of provisions but a sinall load could be hauled. Frequently the streams were up so that for days they could not be crossed, which would necessitate the consumption of a large part of what had been procured before they reached their homes. Sometimes boats loaded with vegetables would be shipped down the Neosho from points up the stream where they were raised. In the fall of 1866 there was much sickness among the settlers, so much that
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
there were scarcely enough well ones to wait on the sick. All of these things and many more contributed to make the lot of the early settler a hard one. In 1867 a sufficient amount of crops was raised to make quite a help in providing the new country with the necessaries of life, but it was not until 1868 that anything like a sufficient amount was raised to supply the demands, and even then very much had to be shipped in.
FIRST ADMINISTRATION.
In September, 1866, A. W. Richardson died, and in December follow- ing, his son John Richardson was appointed administrator of his estate by the Probate Court of Neosho county. In February, 1867, he held a public sale of the effects of the estate. Francis Wall was auctioneer. The property was sold on time, and brought a good price, and every dollar of the purchase-price was collected by the administrator. This was the first estate administered upon within the present limits of the county.
MARRIAGES.
In this as in very many other matters, there are several who claim the honor of being first ; but the first marriage of which I have any informa- tion is that of J. E. Bryan and Penina Lisle, the ceremony of which was performed at Chetopa, September 4, 1860, by Rev. Mr. Rader. Of course there is no record of this, there being at the time no civil organization in the county, and no license procured. There were several parties mar- ried at quite an early date after the commencement of the settlement of the county, in 1865. It is possible that some marriage ceremony may have been performed prior to that of which I shall now speak ; but I am quite sure that this is the first marriage in the county, of which there is any official record. The marriage record in the Probate Court in Neosho county has the following :
"State of Kansas, CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE.
County of Neosho. S
"This is to certify, that Mr. Wm. Wilcox and Miss Sarah Jane Marlow were married by me on the 5th day of August, 1866.
GEORGE BENNETT, J. P. Recorded October 2. 1866 .- J. L. FLETCHER, Clerk."
COUNTY SEAT, AND COUNTY-SEAT CONTESTS.
The subject of county seat in this county commences with the follow- ing proclamation by the Governor :
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
"STATE OF KANSAS, EXECUTIVE OFFICE,
TOPEKA, March 10, 1867.
"Whereas, in due form of law it has been made to appear that the county of Labette, State of Kansas, contains the required number of in- habitants to entitle the people of said county to a county organization :
"Now, therefore, I, Samuel J. Crawford, Governor of Kansas, by virtue of authority in me vested by law, and having commissioned special county officers, do hereby locate the county seat of Labette county, State of Kansas, at the town of Oswego in said county.
"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my hand, and caused to be affixed the official seal of State.
"Done at Topeka, this 10th day of March, A. D. 1867. "[Seal. ]
S. J. CRAWFORD."
At the first county election, held on April 22, 1867, in addition to the choice of county officers the electors voted upon the location of the county seat, with the following result : Oswego received 156 votes, Montana 140 votes, and Neola 84 votes. On October 4, 1867, the commissioners "Or- dered that an election on the permanent location of the county seat of Labette county, Kansas, be held on the 5th day of November, A. D. 1867." The canvass of this vote shows that Oswego received 158 votes, Neola 144 votes, and Montana 95 votes. On November 21, 1867, on a petition, containing 251 names, for a county-seat election, it was ordered that such election be held on the 30th day of December, 1867. The vote was can- vassed January 2, 1868, with the following result: Oswego, 204 votes; Neola, 122 votes, Montana, 109 votes; and the Geographical Center, 6 votes. The poll-books for Hackberry township and Iuka precinct in Neosho township were thrown out at this election, for incompleteness of return. Another election was held, on January 7, 1868, which was can- vassed on January 10, 1868, and the result declared to be as follows : Oswego, 211 votes; Neola, 122 votes; whereupon it was declared that "Oswego having received a majority of all the votes cast at said election for county seat, it is hereby declared to be the county seat of Labette, in the State of Kansas."
The next county-seat move seems to have been on April 12, 1869, when J. S. Waters presented a petition for a county-seat election, the consider- ation of which was had on the 13th, and again on the 14th of the same month, on which last day it was rejected.
On January 5, 1871, D. G. Brown presented a petition, purporting to be signed by 1,494 citizens, asking for an election on the permanent loca- tion of the county seat of Labette county. David Kelso appeared before
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
the board and asked that it defer action on the petition for ten days or two weeks, to give time for an examination of said petition and to make a showing that it was not such a one as was required by law in order that an election may be ordered. The board gave two hours for mak- ing such showing ; whereupon several affidavits were filed, but after all objections the board made its order that an election be held on February 15, 1871, for permanent location of the county seat.
On February 18, 1871, the vote was canvassed, and the result declared to be as follows : Whole number of votes cast, 3,715; of which Chetopa received 877, Oswego 1,011, Labette 1,588, Geographical Center 237, Center 1, Montana 1. The poll-books from Parsons precinct were not. received, for the reason that no such voting precinct had then been estab- lished. The votes thus rejected were 51 for Oswego, 3 for Labette, and 2 for Geographical Center.
It was then ordered that a second election be held, on February 28th, to determine as between Oswego and Labette which should be the county seat. In the meantime the friends of Chetopa commenced suit against the Commissioners and obtained an injunction restraining them from canvassing the returns cast at the election on February 28th. On March 4th the Commissioners met and heard extended arguments in favor of and against their proceeding with a canvass of the votes. As a record of a deliberative body the report of the action of the board at this time, as found in its journal, is somewhat amusing. They finally determined " that they had no right under the injunction to canvass the vote, and that they would not canvass or proclaim any result, but would repair to the County Clerk's office and there examine the packages purporting to contain returns, and filed in said office, and ascertain if said packages so filed contained poll-books in fact of the election held on February 28th, 1871, for the location of the county seat."
About the time the Commissioners had completed the inspection of the packages and ascertained the result of the votes, the deputy sheriff came into the room with an order for their arrest on contempt of court. On hearing had before the District Judge they were discharged as not hav- ing intended any contempt by the unofficial canvass, and ascertaining the result of the vote cast on the 28th of February. Although not offi- cially announced, the result of that vote as shown by the returns, and as given out and published at the time, was found to be as follows: Total vote 2,509, Labette 1,308, Oswego 1,201.
At the election held February 15th, the vote of Liberty township, which included the town of Labette, was 952, all but three of which were cast for Labette, while at the election held but thirteen days later the
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
vote of this township had dwindled down to 372. At the first election the vote of Oswego township and city was 672, and at the second election it was 687. At the first election Iuka precinct cast 305 votes, all for Labette; while at the second election she was content with a poll of 58 votes, all of which were for Labette.
During this 1871 contest over the county seat, parties attempted to make capital for themselves, or for some other cause, on the strength of their promises as to what would be done for or against certain localities in the county-seat vote. D. C. Hutchinson and W. M. Rogers, claiming to represent the settlers' association, went to Chetopa and got $500 do- nated to the settlers' organization, with the promise, as was generally un- derstood, that the settlers would in turn give Chetopa their support for the county seat ; and soon thereafter the North township council tendered a vote of thanks to Chetopa for her generous contribution. It is not im- probable that like attempts were made to secure funds from other points on similar promises.
During this canvass also other attempts were made to influence the voting, which, if intended in good faith, were perhaps less objectionable. To induce the location of the county seat at Labette, the town company offered to pay the expenses of the election, and set aside a block of ground to be donated to the county on which to erect county buildings. In Janu- ary, 1868, a somewhat similar proposition had been made by Oswego, she proposing to pay expenses of election and to furnish court-house building free for two years if she were chosen county seat. A public meeting was held at Mound Valley, at which it was voted to offer to pay $5,000 into the county treasury, provided the county seat were located at that point and remained there for five years, and in addition to donate a block of ground 400 feet square and the use of a town hall until the county could do better ; and further offered to donate grounds for an ag- ricultural fair.
It would be hard to give even a faint idea of the bitterness of feeling engendered, and of the amount of corruption practiced at this time. Persons who were considered good and honest citizens seemed to have no scruples in encouraging and assisting illegal and fraudulent voting, in tampering with ballot-boxes, and fixing up returns to suit the emergency. so as to give the place for which they were working a majority.
On July 9, 1874, a petition containing 2,193 names was presented to the Board of County Commissioners, asking that an order be made for an election for the purpose of voting on the relocation of the county seat. A large number of business men and attorneys from Parsons appeared and argued in favor of granting the petition, and a like representation from
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
Oswego appeared and argued against the petition. The matter was under consideration a large part of the time from the 9th to the 17th of July, during which time nearly every phase of the law relative to county- seat elections was discussed, and many important questions were passed upon by the board. Among these may be mentioned : Who are compe- tent petitioners ; from what rolls the number of electors in the county are to be determined ; the right of a party who has signed a petition to with- draw his name therefrom; the right to add names after the petition has been presented. The board finally determined that the number of elect- ors in the county as shown by the tax-rolls was 3,564. From the 2, 193 names on the petition, 174 were stricken off for various reasons; some because appearing there twice, some because put there by other parties without authority, some because they were not legal electors, and some because they requested their names to be stricken therefrom. After these names were stricken from the petition there were left thereon 2,019. There not being three-fifths of the total number of electors, the board on July 17th unanimously voted not to order an election.
On January 14, 1880, the Commissioners invited Chetopa, Oswego and Parsons cities and Mount Pleasant and Mound Valley townships to sub- mit propositions as to what they would do toward furnishing a building. of a kind designated in the order, for court-house and offices, and in case of removal of county seat, a jail, and the payment of the costs of re- moval ; such propositions to be submitted to the electors of the county at a special election to be called for that purpose.
On January 15, 1880, A. M. Fellows presented to the board a petition said to contain about 2,700 names, asking an election to be called for re- locating the county seat. Consideration of this was had on the following day, and being found insufficient, was denied, and leave given to with- draw the same. On January 27, 1880, Angell Matthewson presented a petition for an election to relocate the county seat, and attorneys for pe- titioners objected to anyone being heard to argue against granting the petition, on the ground that it was an ex parte matter in which no one but the petitioners were known to the board. The objection was over- ruled, and the board decided to hear parties for and against the petition. After consideration of the petition from day to day up to February 7, 1880, the board on that day found that the petition contained 2, 495 names, only 1,168 of which were the names of legal electors, and that as the number of names on the assessment-rolls was 3,374, it would require a petition containing the names of 2,024 electors to entitle them to an order for a county-seat election. It was thereupon ordered that the prayer of the petitioners be denied.
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
This controversy over the application for an election in 1880 was some- what mixed up with the matter of building a new court-house. In both matters the representatives of Parsons attempted to institute legal pro- ceedings in the name of the State. An injunction was applied for to restrain the building of the court-house, and a mandamus was asked to compel the commissioners to count parties as petitioners for an election although their names did not appear on the assessment-rolls. Applica- tion was made to the Attorney General to allow the suits to be conducted in the name of the State. The request was granted on condition of cer- tain preliminary steps being first taken. This course was not taken, and the cases in the name of the State were dismissed. A mandamus proceed- ing by W. G. Adkins, one of the petitioners, was instituted to compel the board to count him, and others similarly situated, as legal petitioners, but the Supreme Court held that he was not authorized to maintain the suit.
The last public effort that was made to obtain a county-seat election was in 1889. During a large part of that summer petitions were in cir- culation in nearly every neighborhood in the county, asking that an elec- tion be called. One of the peculiar features of this effort was the form of petition which was adopted. It was really a contract whereby each party who signed it agreed with every other one who signed it, not to ask to have his name stricken off. This petition, however, has never yet been presented to the board.
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
During the first two years the county officers held their offices in such temporary quarters as could be secured, and the court was first held in the second story of the Buntain building, then standing on the southwest corner of block 25, and now standing on the northwest corner of block 11; and thereafter it was held in the second story of the Fleming build- ing, on lot 17 in block 31, now occupied by O. E. Woods as a lumber- yard office.
In the summer and fall of 1868 the citizens of Oswego by private contribution erected a one-story frame building 24 by 36 feet, 12 feet high, on lot 20 in block 39, in which to hold church, school and public lectures. This building was ready for occupancy in the fall of 1868, and in it was taught the public school that winter. The Oswego Town Company, having repaid the money to those who had contributed for the erection of this building, took it off their hands, and on February 15, 1869, in consideration of $1 to them paid by the County Commis- sioners, conveyed said lots with said building thereon to the County Commissioners for the benefit of Labette county, and on the same day the
Teschener & Bartberger, K.C.
FIRST COURT-HOUSE; ERECTED 1868.
ADDITION TO COURT-HOUSE; ERECTED 1870.
THE FENCE AND TREES WHICH APPEAR HERE WERE NOT AROUND THIS BUILDING WHEN IT WAS ERECTED.
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PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.
town company entered into a contract with the County Commissioners for the erection of a stone building 12 feet square and 12 feet high, and to cost not less than $1,000, and to donate the same to the county for a jail ; the County Commissioners agreeing to accept and use the same for that purpose. Thereupon the town company employed J. H. Sawin to erect such a building, and it was built on the west end of lot 1, block 18. and was ready for occupancy in July of that year. The building above described, donated to the county by the town company, was at first used only for a court-house, the county offices still remaining scattered over town in temporary quarters rented for that purpose. The first term of court held in this building was in October, 1869.
On January 8, 1870, the Commissioners, having taken the opinion of the County Attorney, and being advised by him that they were fully authorized so to do, decided to put up an addition to the court-house, to be used for offices by the county officers. They thereupon entered into a contract with Rev. Joseph A. Cox for the erection of such an addition, to be about 24 by 30 feet, for the sum of $900; and they appointed Elisha Hammer agent of the county to superintend the erection of such an addition, and upon its completion to accept it and deliver to the con- tractor the county orders in payment for the same. On the completion of this addition it was divided into four offices, in which most of the county officers were able to find quarters. Soon thereafter. however, the Clerk of the District Court and Sheriff removed their offices to the main room used for court-house.
The building referred to, erected for a county jail, for the number of prisoners who frequently had to be placed therein, was found to be unfit for the purpose, and occasionally before the new jail was built prisoners had to be taken to some neighboring county, usually Bourbon. for safe- keeping. No other building was provided by the county until 1879. In April, 1879, the Commissioners contracted with Samuel Fellows for the erection of a large stone building in the rear of the court-house, for which they agreed to pay him $698.56. The building was completed in May, and in it the Commissioners placed three iron cells, for which they paid $750 and freight. While this building was quite an improvement on the first, it was still insufficient both in size and construction for a county jail. Over and over again did the Judge of the District Court and the grand jury, as well as the public press, declare this building to be a totally unfit place in which to confine prisoners. Four and sometimes six prisoners would be confined in one of these small cells. Dampness and lack of ventilation, and, almost of necessity, with such a number as it contained, a large degree of filthiness, characterized this building, and
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HISTORY OF LABETTE COUNTY.
made its maintenance a blot on our good name. However, it was not until 1890 that better accommodations were provided. In 1890 the city of Oswego proposed to the county to erect on the court-house premises a substantial two-story brick building, the use of which the county was to have free so long as she desired to occupy it as a county jail, and during the summer such building was erected. In 1891 the old cells and three additional new iron ones, for which the county paid $1, 800, were placed in this building.
On July 10, 1880, the Commissioners conveyed the first stone building used as a jail to the city of Oswego for use as a calaboose.
On December 4, 1879, H. C. Hall and C. (). Perkins offered to rent from the county the court-house site for ninety-nine years, and to erect thereon a brick or stone building of sufficient size and accommodation for county purposes, which they would lease to the county for a term of years at a reasonable rent. Whereupon the board accepted their propo- sition, and agreed if they would erect the building described, which was substantially the one subsequently constructed, they would rent it for ten years, and pay therefor as rental $900 for the first year and $600 per an- num thereafter. On January 14, 1880, the board rescinded its action taken on December 4, 1879, and revoked the contract; but on January 17th, on the executing of a bond by certain citizens, which was approved by the board, conditioned that they would pay the rent on the proposed building to be erected by Messrs. Hall and Perkins, the board ratified and confirmed its order made on December 4, 1879 ; whereupon the pro- posed building was erected, and on May 23, 1880, being fully completed, was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. In 1883 the County Com- missioners caused brick vaults to be constructed for the offices of the Register of Deeds and the Clerk of the District Court.
The shade trees which add so much to the appearance of the property were set out in 1881.
FURNISHING COUNTY OFFICES.
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