USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 12
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January 15. 1883. the $10,000.00 in bonds asked by the school board for the election of a new school building in the first ward were voted by the bare majority of twelve. A two-story seven room building was put up during the year. to be torn down just twenty years later to make room for one that was more modern and of larger size.
Independence's third great five occurred February 17th. when the
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half block on the east side of the avenue and south of Main street went up in smoke. In M. J. Paul's three-story brick building on the corner were located, besides his grocery, the "Tribune" office and the Masonic lodge room. Speaking of this fire at the time, the writer of this article said, re- ferring to the burning of the files of that paper: "The early history of Montgomery county can never be so well written since the destruction of these files." Since attempting to write some of that early history I real- ize most profoundly the truth of that remark of twenty years ago. The loss of property in this fire was estimated at $75,000.00, on which there was insurance to the amount of $54,000.00.
At the April election Dr. B. F. Masterman won the mayorality by a majority of 194 over N. H. Ives ; and H. D. Grant became police judge,
In April 1884 a local paper says, "the coal bore is down 850 feet and the prospects were then better for oil than coal." In view of subsequent developments, it seems strange that our oil resources were not sooner brought to light. In June of that year, the Southern Kansas railroad be. gan running a second daily train between Independence and Kansas City, to the great delight of all the people here. The same month the city conn- ril granted a franchise to A. 11. McCormick for the construction of the system of water works which have since that time supplied the city.
The first murder in the history of Independence was committed Angast 18th, 1884. It was a Cain and Abel affair, the murderer and his victim being half brothers. The parties were J. H. Blackwell, the slayer, and Charles Neal, the slain. Both were half-blood Cherokee Indians, and jealousy was the cause of the crime. The woman in the case was Mrs. J. W. Maddox, with whom they both boarded. Blackwell was also Mad. dox's partner in the tinning business. The tragedy occurred at the cot- tage home of Maddox on West Main street, just opposite the Christian church. Blackwell was under the influence of lignor when he fired the shot that pierced his brother's stomach and ended his life.
Just before the November election of 1884, on the evening of October 230, sky rockets tired at a Republican rally were responsible for a fire which destroyed three business buildings on the west side of Penn avenue, Shyrock's restaurant, Conrad Zwissler's barber shop and Chandler Rob- bins' music store. At that election a proposition to issue $50,000.00 in bonds to build a court house was carried.
November 17th, the first steps were taken toward building the Ver- digris Valley, Independence & Western railroad, which has since become the Missouri Pacitic line through here. The committee selected to prepare a charter for the new line consisted of Win. Dunkin, E. P. Allen, H. W. Young and Dr. MeFarland. The committee appointed to raise the money for a survey speedily got $1.200.00, although $1.000.00 was all that had been asked.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
On the night of December 15th, Commodore Brown's three-story brick on the northeast corner of Main street and Penn.avenue was burned. G. Gottlieb's clothing honse, the "Star" office and the Odd Fellows hall were the victims of this disaster. This tire resulted in the purchase of the "Kansan" office by H. W. Young of the "Star" and the consolidation of the two offices under the name of the "Star and Kansan."
At the spring term of the district court in 1885 Judge Chandler re- fused the injunction prayed for against the issue of the court house bonds, but the case was carried up to the state supreme court, and, although the derision was the same there, the legal battle delayed the work of building for nearly a year. At the city election in April there was a very spirited contest for mayor between two prominent citizens, L. A. Walker being supported by the progressives and John McCullagh by the conservatives. Walker was elected by a majority of 48. He was, by far, the most far- sighted and progressive head the city government had ever had, and it is due to him that grades were established throughout the city, and that the sidewalks in the business part of the city were widened from 12 to 16 feet and the old wooden awnings removed. Although Mr. Walker lacked the powers of expression to make himself fully understood at all times, he was a man of very strong individuality and of wonderful mental grasp and poise. He was a deep thinker, and a man of strong convictions and great independence, never following the crowd in his conclusions but always working them out for himself. He was radical in his views and policies and made many enemies, but everyone esteemed him for his in- tegrity and manly virtues. He had many of the characteristics of a leader of men and would have reached higher positions but for the defect adverted to.
During 1885 Independence maintained its record as a bad town for the insurance companies. On March 30th, seven buildings on the west side of Penn. avenue, between Myrtle and Laurel streets, wore de- stroved. ineInding the old Wilson & Irwin store building, which was the first erected in the town. All were wooden buildings, as were all of the five on the south side of East Main street which were burned June 13th. The last fire was evidently of incendiary origin, but as a result of the two, about the last of the wooden shacks were removed from the business quarter, so that the city put on a different aspect thereafter.
On the fifth of September the $35,000.00 in bonds asked for the build- ing of the Verdigris Valley road were voted with practical unanimity. only I against to 438 for. The vote was also favorable in Sycamore and Independence townships, insuring the building of the road, and adding some $75,000,00 to the interest bearing debt of the county. In October W. T. You, of the Tribime, turned the Independence postoffice over to B.
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F. Devore, President Cleveland's appointee, and the first Democrat te hold that office.
The year 1886 was one of the most uneventful in the city's history, It had reached a population of 3,900, and was steadily growing. The new railroad was completed down to the south line of Independence township. In July, two men. Samuel Umbenhaner and Thomas Birch, were suffo- cated while digging a well in the northwest part of the city. Frank P. Burchard, a dissipated scion of an excellent family, committed forgery in a real estate transaction and was sentenced to the penitentiary. The most noteworthy event of the year was the laying of the corner stone of the new court house on November 30th. The event was appropriately celebrated and the ceremonies were imposing. The principal address was delivered by Hon. Wm. Dunkin, and was historical and retrospective iv character.
The second murder which stained the annals of our city was com- mitted February 25th, 1887, the victim being Joseph Tonkinson, who was shot after an exciting chase by Frank Meyer, whose sister Tonkinson had been unduly intimate with. Indeed the husband of the woman had given. Tonkinson a terrible beating some time previously and threatened his life. As in the first murder case, it was a quarrel about a woman that resulted in the killing. At the city election in April. Mayor Walker was defeated for re-election by H. H. Dodd, who received 456 votes to Walker's 401. Dan Wassam, a well known printer, who has since acquired a com- peteney in the real estate business at Neodesha, was elected probate judge. This was what was known in Kansas as the boom year. and In- dependence had the fever as severely as any city of its size, indulging in dreams of speedily becoming a great metropolis, and marking up real es- tate values to correspond Another east and west railroad was projected which even reached the bond-voting stage in Liberty township. but never materialized to any further extent. There began to be whisperings about natural gas, too. though the stories of burning wells were regarded as fairy tales by most level-headed people. Still. in May the city council voted a thousand dollars to pay for prospecting for gas, and the same month granted D. P. Alexander, of Wichita, a franchise for a street rail- way which he did not build. In December the new court house was com pleted and the dedicatory exercises occurred. with more historical ad dresses by Judge George Chandler, J. D. MoQue, Captain MeTaggart and others.
To judge from the newspapers published in Independence, politics was almost the sole subject of interest during the year 18SS. That was not only a Presidential year, but Independence's honored son. Lyman U. Humphrey, was a candidate for governor. When he returned home. after securing the nomination, he was accorded a most flattering reception by
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his fellow citizens of all parties, and the city felt itself honored when the vote in November showed that along with Harrison he had received over 80.000 plurality. the largest ever cast for the candidate of any party in the state.
The night of the 13th of Jannary 1889, a landmark of the early days went up in smoke. the stone hotel on east Main street, familiar to the travelling public as the "Main Street Hotel." was entirely destroyed by fire. The site remained vacant for fourteen years thereafter. On the 28th of February the United States land office here, which had ontgrown its usefulness-practically all the public lands in the district having been entered-was discontinued by order of the Interior Department. The contest for mayor this year was between Wilson Kincaid and Dr. G. C. Chaney. Kincaid received 379 to Chaney's 347 and made a very popular official. November 23. the postoffice passed from the management of B. F Devore to that of E. E. Wilson. Mr. Wilson being one of the original settlers and founders of Independence, and having devoted a great deal of time to the records of pioneer days, everyone was gad to see him sue- cessful in getting the office, which he conducted with diligence and fidel- ity. It was his last official position, however, as he died not long after the expiration of his teri.
If "no news is good news." the year 1890 was one of the best Indepen- dence ever experienced. for nothing out of the ordinary happened in the city during that year. It was, however, another political year which will always be prominent in the annals of Kansas. The "Alliance" was then in the height of its prosperity and the columns of the press were filled with accounts of its pienies and public meetings. But it was not an especially prosperous year for Independence, the city having, by that time, experienced the full effects of the reaction from the manufactured boom of the later eighties, and business being dull. Indeed, it began to look as if the town would go to seed. as so many county seats in farming sections which had enjoyed "great anticipations" often do.
At the city. election in April 1891. Wilson Kincaid was re-elected mayor without opposition. At the same time J. B. Underhill became po- live judge. During this year the press was bemoaning the removal of the electric light plant. which had been shut down for some time previous, to Aurora, Missouri. But notwithstanding all that was said and done. our streets remain dark to this day, while a generation of children have grown to manhood and womanhood here.
In March 1892. Tom Boniface, the fat and jolly Englishman who had been in the meat business on East Main street ever since the pioneer days. was convicted of obtaining money under false pretenses and sentenced to the penitentiary. While awaiting sentence he caused something of a sensation by confessing that he and a man named Kinnie, who was then
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running the market, and L. T. Stephenson, had, the fall previous, stolen cows belonging to George Waggoner and A. C. Stich. One or both of these gentlemen had bought at the market. and eaten on their own tables. the meat of the cows stolen from them without having the slightest sus. picion of the way in which those animals had been disposed of. Stephens son's prominence as a lawyer, land speculator. county official, and in oth er positions in the public life of the community since he came here as one of the original settlers in 1869. made his arrest the talk of the town, At that time, and since. many have been charitably inclined to hold him guiltless and Boniface a perjurer who was anxions to pull others down with him. Stephenson was sentenced to the penitentiary, but after he had served a portion of his term Boniface made affidavit that his charge was false, and Stephenson was pardoned and soon removed to New Mexico.
Early in 1893, the Independence city council granted J. D. Nickerson a franchise for natural gas, and he began drilling on the Brewster place, five miles east of the city, after having secured a pledge from the business men to pay him $1.000,00 when gas was ready for delivery to the subscrib ers to the fund. After so many vain attempts to secure gas for the city, this one materialized and before the end of the year the pipes were laid and the city was using natural gas for fuel. This was the beginning of a new era for the city. and, though its recovery from the depression chat followed the boom times of 1887 was slow, it was sure and steady. Prop. erty began to command better figures and values were more firm. Neg- leeted buildings were painted and the signs of recovery from the "dumps" began to manifest themselves on every hand. While no one fully realized what the new conditions that were beginning to develop would do for the city, confidence in her future was restored, and she started on the up-grade.
On the 7th of March Emmett Dalion was brought into court and pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree for participation in the raid on the Coffeyville banks the previous October, in which the other members of the Dalton gang, as well as several citizens, were killed. Judge MeChe sentenced Emmett to the penitentiary for 99 years, and he was at once removed to the train ; there being grave fears that an attempt would be made to resene him. Indeed. during the five months he had been confined in the county jail Sheriff Callahan had maintained an armed guard at the court house in view of the possibility if such an attempt. and it was with a feeling of relief that the people saw this weak and wounded survivor of the most eventful episode in the history of the county depart for Lansing.
In the election of 1893, the contest was along party lines for the first time in many years, and Dr. G. C. Chaney, the regular Republican candi-
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date. received 545 votes to 475 cast for Henry Baden, the citizen candi- date.
On the Fourth of July Milton Cannon left his home in this city, stat- ing that he was going to Cherryvale to take a train for St. Louis. He was not afterward seen alive, so far as is known, but five days later his decomposed remains were found in a ravine near the river. Whether he had been murdered was a grave question. Charles Merrit was afterward tried for complicity in the murder. on the theory that Mercitt had aided in killing him to avenge the honor of a sister. Merritt was acquitted, but George Stevens, who was the leading witness against him, had been pre- viously convicted of the same crime and sentenced to be hung. He is still in prison expiating an offense of which many question his guilt, and of which he never would have been convicted but for his general depravity. Indeed. most of the parties connected with the case were of such unsavory reputation that it was impossible to give credence to their testimony. This was the third morder committed in the city- if murder it was.
The first day of January 1894, witnessed the worst fatality from the use of gas that ever occurred in the Kansas field, and one that caused a thrill of horror through this entire section. The story of the Reed tragedy is detailed in another chapter in this work. No other event in the history of the city over caused such a sensation as this did.
Near the close of the same month. the community was again horrified to hear of the suicide of Philip Shoemaker, a prominent citizen and busi- ness man, who hung himself in a granary ont at his farm one Saturday morning, during a period of nervous depression.
This year was signalized throughont by tragedies. On the night of March 26th, Night Officer J. D. Burnworth shot and killed an unknown man who was preparing to rob the postoffice, and who had the drop on him with a loaded revolver pointed at him and within three feet of his breast
When the election for city officers came off in April 1895, Dr. Chaney, who had been elected mayor two years previons as the regular Republi- can candidate, was found heading the opposition citizens' ticket. with Carl Stich, the regular Republican standard bearer. Chaney had 506 votes and Stich 125.
A very pleasant occurrence was the celebration on the 11th of June at St. Andrews church, of the twenty-tifth anniversary of its pastor's min- istry as a priest of the Catholic church. Leading citizens of all denomi nations united in testifying to the appreciation in which Reverend Fath. er Philip Scholl was hell as a man, as a Christian, as a friend of human ity and as one who went about doing good to the sick and sorrowing.
The question of the purchase of the water works by the city was voted on. June 25th. and although the proposition to issne bonds for that
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purpose received 215 votes to 115 cast in opposition, it was defeated for lack of the required two-thirds majority.
Coming to 1896, the year of the great silver fight for the presidency, we find. as usual when politics absorbs so much of the attention andener- gies of the people, that very little else of interest seemed to happen. The old adage that "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." might be paraphrased to read. "When the politicians don't keep the people busy, they will find some other mischief to amuse themselves with." A noteworthy event of the year was the appearance of Samnel C. Elliott, a promising young lawyer who had been county attorney for two terms and had secured an enviable practice, before the probate court as a candidate for the insane asylum. He was sent to Osawatomie where he gradually grew worse and died a few years later.
At the spring election in 1897 W. P. Bowen was chosen mayor by a majority of 277 votes over I. G. Fowler. Under a new law just enacted, the whole corps of city officers was elective. even where they had previous ly been appointed by the mayor and council. and the ticket this year ran down to street commissioner. J. B. Underhill was elected clerk. Joseph Chandler, city attorney, and Il. W. Hazen, police judge. During the year the legal fight to prevent the building of the county high school estab- lished by act of the legislature in February, was kept up; but the prob- ability of its success was not great enough to seriously disturb the equanimity of the city. Another chapter in this volume gives the full details of this contest. One of the celebrated cases of the county was tried in the district court early in December. when Henry Sheesley was arraigned for the murder of Captain Daniel McTaggart. The victim was one of the early settlers of the county and had been prominent in politi cal life throughont its entire history. Indeed, he had served in the state Legislature for fourteen consecutive years and had been twice elected state Senator. Sheesley was a tenant of McTaggart's, renting his flour. ing mill on the Verdigris, and it was as the outcome of a dispute about a settlement of accounts early in August that the fatal affray occured, Me. Taggart was shot and lived but a few hours. Sheesley's lawyers made a strong effort to prove that he was insane. and he went through the forms of having an epileptic fit in the court room. but the jury concluded that he was responsible for his acts and convicted him of manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, which most of those familiar with the facts considered a very light punishment for the offense of which he was guilty.
Early in 1898, a vitrified brick plant was established in the city, and the council provided for paving the business streets with its products. Abom the same time the Independence Gas Company secured a greatly increased gas supply for the city by extending its mains to connect with
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the wells drilled by the Standard Oil Company out in the neighborhood of Table Mound-that company having drilled for oil, and being willing to dispose of the gas to our home company. From this time on the city had an abundant supply for manufacturing purposes, and efforts went on without cessation to secure their location and make ludependence a manufacturing center.
In May 1898, the Twentieth Kansas regiment was enlisted for the Spanish war, and company "G" was recruited at Independence, and for the most part consisted of Montgomery county boys. On the eve of their departure for the state capital, the citizens tendered them a reception and banquet which was largely attended and proved a most interesting occasion, with a grand outflow of patriotic spirit. The officers of this company were : Captain, D. Stewart Elliott. of Coffeyville : First Lieu- tenant, H. A. Scott. of Sycamore; Second Lieutenant. William A. Me. Taggart. son of the late Senator Mefaggart. When the company accout- panied its regiment to the Philippines, it was to leave there two of these three-Elliott and MeTaggart falling under Filipino bullets.
This year Independence city voted $13,000.00 in bonds in aid of the extension of the Southwestern line of the Santa Fe down to Bartelsville in the Indian Territory. There were strings attached to the proposition, however, and one of the conditions-that a depot should be built up-town and within about three or four blocks of the crossing of Main street and Penn. avenue-the road had no disposition to comply with. so that the vote was futile. Probably this was the last vote of bonds for railroad aid which the city will ever make.
Fire again made holes in the business portion of Independence early in 1899, Anderson's dry goods store and Gottlieb's clothing house going up in smoke on the night of the 31st of January, and the LaGrande hotel going to keep them company on the 13th of February. At the session of the legislature this winter the city was empowered to expend $5,000.00 in building the out-let sewer that was so urgently needed and the work was at once undertaken.
Like Mayor Chaney two years before. Mayor Bowen in 1899, having held one term after his election as a regular Republican candidate. be- came, at the end of the term, an independent candidate for the same office. Unlike Chaney. though. he was elected, by a majority of 55.
The business of the Independence postoffice having increased to over $8,000,00 annually on July 1st, 1899. it was raised to the second class and the postmaster's salary increased to $2,000.00 a year. Edwin Foster. one of the pioneers whose name is met frequently in the early chronicles of Montgomery county. was now postmaster. He succeeded George Hill. who was the incumbent during Cleveland's second administration. and who made, perhaps, the most efficient and popular official who ever filled the office.
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Next year the postoffice income had risen to $10,000.00. indicating a very rapid growth in business, and with the result that before the end of the year free mail delivery was established, with Lon T. Hudson, Frank G. Harper and Dale Hebrank as the regular carriers, and Will Williams as substitute.
June 19th. 1900, another election was held to decide whether to issue bonds and buy the water works, and the proposition was again defeated. as it had been five years before, the argument most successfully used be- ing that as the franchise of the company would expire in five years it would be poor policy to pay them for a run-down and worn-out plant at this time. when, by waiting, we would be absolved from all necessity to do so and could erect an independent plant in 1905.
This year the Republican ticket for city officers, headed by F. C. Moses, was elected from top to bottom. Mr. Moses was opposed by Guy 1. Watt. on a citizens' ticket, who was beaten by 109 votes. The most important event of the year was the voting of $40.000.00 in bonds for the construction of two new modern school buildings, of twelve rooms each. to take the place of the three existing buildings, all of which were to be demolished. To destroy school houses as good as we then had. seemed to many people like reckless extravagance and prodigality ; but the prac- tical condemnation of the Fourth ward building. erected in the pioneer days. made some action necessary and the voters stood by the Board of Education and adopted the very radical proposition they submitted, the election being held on the 30th of April, every ward in the city giving a majority in their favor and the total being 167.
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