USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 14
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The bonds being delivered and sold. it became the duty of a subse- quem board of county commissioners to levy a tax for the payment of interest and to provide a sinking fund for the ultimate redemption of the bonds. This the board declined to do and the case again went into the courts. This time the people took a hand in the fight and appointed an advisory committee to collect evidence and advise with the commission- ors as to the best method of conducting the defense. The Parker town- ship contingent of the advisory committee made a thorough inquiry into the Westralia election methods and secured the consent of a number of the chief actors to appear in court and testify as to the irregularities herein described, but for some reason the commissioners compromised the rase and the evidence failed to become a matter of record. but the facts as herein stated may be confidently accepted by the student of the early history of the county as being substantially correct.
Murder and Mob Violence
In 1871 the deliberate and cooly planned murder of an inoffensive old man, which furnished the occasion for the startling and sentsational art of mob violence already referred to, occurred almost within sight of the town of Parker. Old Jake Miller and John A. Twiss were rival claimants for a quarter section of land adjoining the original settlement of Lews Scott in the Verdigris Valley. Not succeeding in ousting Twiss by intimidation. Miller called a consultation of his friends to devise some more effective means of getting rid of the prior claimant. In pur- ruance of this purpose John Sturman. William Ross and Jim Braden, a negro. met at Miller's house and, after discussing the situation, concluded
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that as Twiss lived abme in his little cabin, the safest and most expe- ditions plan was to remove him by assassination. A plan of procedure being agreed upon, and a certain Sunday night set for the perpetration of the bloody deed. the conspirators dispersed to their several homes to await the appointed hour for the performance of their respective parts in the bloody drama. On that fatal Sunday night the church going part of the community were surprised to see old Jake Miller and his entire fam ily enter the village church, and many whispered comments were made upon the unusual circumstance.
The movements of Sturman on that day are not now remembered. but they were such as to enable him to prove an alabi, if it should be necessary. Ross lived several miles up the river and on that account was not likely to be suspected ; and in the case of the negro, Braden, there was no known motive to conneet him with such a crime. However, as was developed by the subsequent investigation, Ross was to commit the mr- der and the negro was to wait for him at a certain point on the river. where a skill was known to be kept. and there set him across that he might return to his home by the most direct and least traveled ronte.
On the afternoon of the day appointed for Twiss' removal Ross called at the store of W. W. Ford, in Parker, and purchased an iron wedge. which had the price marked npon it with white paint, in the merchant's private cipher. He also bought a bunch of some kind and ate it in the store, taking so much time about it that it was quite late when he took his departure. From there he evidently went to the home of Twiss where he shot the old man as he sat at his table reading a small pocket bible. This shot not proving immediately fatal the old man appears to have risen and rushed to the door, where he was met by the murderer who clubbed him with his gun, ernshing his skull and breaking the stock from the barrel of the gun.
The assassin then repaired to the place appointed for crossing the river. sank the broken gun in the water and was ferried across by Braden, who then returned to his own home in the heavy timber.
The body of the murdered man was soon discovered by a neighbor returning from the church where old Jake Miller had that night attended church. The alarm was given and an immediate search for a clue to the perpetrator of the crime instituted.
In those days claim trobles were not an infrequent cause of enmity between neighbors, and Miller's known contention with Twiss for posess- ion of the claim they both occupied, and his sudden piety on the night of the murder, caused him to be suspected of complicity in the crime. He was, therefore. arrested on the following Tuesday morning. The arrest of Sturman and Braden soon followed, not because there was any evidence against them but because of their known intimacy with Miller subjected them to suspicion of having a guilty knowledge of the crime.
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In the meantime search was being made about the Twiss cabin for a clne which resulted in the finding and identification of the iron wedge purchased by Ross on the day of the innrder. This, of course. connected Ross with the crime and. he was immediately arrested. The prisoners were arraigned before S. B. Morehouse. J. P .. for examination on a charge of murder, J. M. Seudder appearing as attorney for the state and C. W. Ellis acting as counsel for the acensed. A plea of "not guilty" was entered, and as there was no evidence upon which to hold Miller, Stur- man and Braden, they were released.
Marshall S. S. Peterson. however, still kept his eye on the negro and. finally. by threatening to lock him up in the little one-celled calaboose with Ross, he was so wronght up. on account of his superstitious fears, that be made a full confession to the facts as above recited.
On the strength of this confession Miller and Sturman were re-arrest- ed, and Braden. being assured of his personal safety. consented to come into court and give evidence for the state.
Following the discovery of the tragedy which had been enacted at the lonely Twiss cabin, popular excitement had raged at fever heat and the sessions of the court had drawn such crowds of interested spectators as to tax the capacity of the little school house where the trial was held, and it was expected that the final sitting would bring out an musually large attendence, and that the tide of popular excitement would reach the danger limit. So a posse was summoned to secure the safety of court and prisoners, but notwithstanding the rumored confession of the negro and its confirmation by the tinding of the broken gun at the place pointed out by him. the finding of the iron wedge and its identification as the one bought by Ross on the day of the murder, and the sensational story that Braden was expected to tell about the conspiracy and crime. the attend- ance was noticeably small. There seemed to be a sudden lapse of popular interest in the proceedings and when the prisoners were remanded to jail to be held for trial before the district court. only a few idle men and boys were on hand to follow them and their guards to the calaboose, where they were manacled and locked up for the night; a guard being placed about the building for additional safety.
Some time during the night the seeming lapse of popular interest in the court proceedings at the little school honse were explained in a start- ling manner. Another court, that of "Judge Lynch." had evidently been holding a star chamber session with a full attendence. The guards at the jail were suddenly confronted with overwhelming numbers and quietly ordered to surrender. So orderly and unexpectedly was the attack that the men seemed to have risen np ont of the ground and in such numbers as to make it apparent that resistence would be worse than nseless. So the officer and his posse silently obeyed the order to lay down their arms. The jail key was taken from the pocket of night marshal. John Sowash.
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the door unlocked and the prisoners brought forth. The officers and gnards, except two young fellows, were pushed into the jail and the door closed upon them and locked. The two young fellows were stationed a little way from the bilding with their faces to the west and told not to move for a given time on pain of death. A wagon was proenred into which the prisoners were mounted and a procession formed which moved a little way east and then turned north in the direction of the scene of the late tragedy. All these movements were executed so silently that the sleeping inmates of the nearest residences were undisturbed.
The two young men with their faces to the west stood like statues until sure their probation had expired, when they procured a sledge ham- mer and broke the leck from the jail door, releasing the officers and guards, but no pursuit was attempted until morning, when the bodies of their prisoners, Miller. Sturman and Ross were found hanging from a branch of a large oak which stood near the door of the Twiss cabin.
The man who kept the ferry near by reported that he had set an armed party, numbering about sixty men, across the river on that fatal night, and the guards at the jail estimated the number of their captors from fifty to sixty, but the exact number has never been known. Neither has the identity of these self-appointed executioners ever been made public.
This was no ordinary mob moved to deeds of violence by tierce un- reasoning passion, but a company of cool-headed, determined men, who, seeing in the Twiss murder a menace to the peaceful and orderly admin- istration of affairs, so necessary to the safety and good repute of the com munity. resolved to forewarn those who were inclined to yield to the promptings of evil passion, by visiting swift and terrible punishment upon the stealthy and cowardly assassins of an unoffending old man. This is amply proven by the entire absence of the usual methods of the mob. There was no noisey bluster. no wanton destruction of property, no effort to terrorize the community by the reckless discharge of firearms and the mutilation of the bodies of the victims, but just a quiet and orderly infliction of the death penalty upon a convicted murderer and his fellow-conspirators.
ordinarily no good citizen can afford to condone the taking of human life without one process of law. but in a frontier settlement such exect. tions as is here described sometimes afford the best possible safeguard to the lives and property of the well-disposed. That such was the effect of the summary execution of the Twiss murderers, there is little doubt, as in those days there were many conflicting interests which might have ter- minated in murder if this one had been permitted to pass unavenged.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Rival Towns
In the winter of 1868-9 the trading post of G. L. Canada, on Pump- kin Creek, became the nucleus of the village of Claymore which grew to be a smart little town of perhaps one hundred souls. Early in the spring following a town company was formed with G. L. Canada, president, and A. M. Duncan as secretary. A few small stores were opened to supply the villagers and scattered settlers with dry goods and groceries and to trade with the Indians. John Lushbaugh, one of the store keepers, also kept a tavern for the entertainment of man and beast. and Dr. Stewart, the pioneer doctor, whose armamentarium consisted of a few obsolete journals, a time-worn dispensatory, a pair of dilapidated saddle bags, a tooth forceps and a dozen or so of bottles and packages, set up an office in one corner of Lushbangh's store.
the promoters of this town started out with high hopes of building a town of importance but, alas, for the stability of human hones, the sunnner was not haff over before the enterprise was overshadowed by the founding of the rival town of Westralia.
This village was founded by Capt. H. C. Crawford and Eli Dennis in the early summer of 1869. It was located on a broad plateau, midway between Claymore and the south line of the state, on an old cattle trail leading from the sonth, known as the West Trail, hence the name, Westralia.
The village sprang into prominence and in a very few months boasted a population numbering several hundred. It was the mart toward which long lines of prairie schooners, freighted with fruit and produce, from Missouri and Arkansas, wended their way, and its merchants did a tour- ishing business with the scattered settlers in the neighborhood. the Osage Indians from the several villages scattered along the river and the resi- dents of the Cherokee country on the south. When I visited the place in the late summer of the same year it presented an air of bustling ac- tivity surprising to see, in a country so sparcely settled, but it was the supply point for a territory many miles in extent and its merchants did a thriving trade. Mewhiney & Fagan. E. C. Robertson and N. F. Howard were leading merchants. O. E. HEnes conducted a harness and saddlery shop. Louis Songer kept the village hotel. Joe Benoist. of Baxter Springs, put in a stock of drugs ( the first in the countyi presided over by John Fleming. Perry Clary and Ed. Suydam were dealers in live stock. Joe MeCreary ran a saw mill near by and Dr. Allen, afterword famous as a Masonic lecturer, was the village doctor. The pioneer newspaper of the county was published here, as appears in the chapter on "Newspap- ers" in this book.
Il would seem that a town with tive or six hundred inhabitants, lo- cated on a commanding site, doing a large and lucrative business in nearly all lines of trade : its professional men. merchants and tradesmen
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owning their stores, shops and residences, might well hope to hold its own against all later rivals, but such was the state of uncertainty as to the final location of the metropolis that men held themselves in readiness to mount their buiklings on wheels and move them to any point which, for the moment. might seem to be backed by a more powerful influence. So Westralia, with all her business and bustle and bright prospects. was destined soon to experience the fate of her sister-Claymore.
Tally Springs
In August 1869. J. F. Savage. E. K. Kounce, William Fain and Dr. Dennison formed a town company and laid out the village of Tally Springs, around a large natural spring of that name on Potato C'reek. about one and one-half miles northwest of Westralia. Lying directly in the line of the 1 .. L. & G. R. R., as afterward constructed. this village might. by liberal management. have become a formidable rival to the vil- lage of Westraha and prevented altogether the founding of Parker and the present town of Coffeyville, but E. K. Kounce, whose claim formed a part of the site. had such an exaggerated idea of the importance of the location that he refused to encourage the investment of capital by giving away building lots.
It is said that Parker. York & Co., the wealthiest of all the pioneer merchants, prepared to open up their immense stock of merchandise here. if given a one-eighth interest in the town site of three hundred and twenty acres, but Kounce promptly informed them that if they wanted lots in that town they must buy them. This undoubtedly settled the fate of this promising village, which never attained a population above fifty or seventy-five people. After the building of the railroad the name of the village was changed to Kalloch, and a station maintained there for a few years, but oven this was finally abandoned and the land reverted to farm purposes.
Coffeyville-Old Town
About the time the Tally Springs townsite was being platted or a little later. C'ol. Coffey. N. B. Blanton. Ed. Fagan, John Clarkson and William Wilson formed a company and laid ont a town around Col. Cof- fey's trading post. previously established for the purpose of trading with the Black Dog band of Osages, who then had their little village south of Onion Creek, on the site subsequently appropriated by Ben. Chouteau, and still known as the Chontean place. The new town was named Cof- feyville in honor of its principal founder, but it did not assume much importance until 1871. Col. Coffey was the principal merchant, N. B. Blanton kept the hotel. Peter Wheeler. an accomplished young physician. administered to the ills of the people. E. Y. Kent presided at the black- smith's forge, and S. B. Hickman kept a little store and handled the United States mail.
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A little later on C. W. Munn, Barron & Heddon. J. S. Burns and Read Bros., were added to the business circles, but as before stated the real history of the place did not begin until the L. L. & G. Railroad was built in 1871, so it will be treated under the head of Coffeyville, of which it soon became a part.
Parker
In the late summer of 1869, James W. Parker, of the Southwestern Stage Company. came to sonthern Kansas to rest and recuperate and incidentally to try the effect of the climate on a painful disease from which he had long been a sufferer. While here he became greatly inter- ested in the prospect of the early growth of a good town on the border, Imt not being satisfied with the conditions of either of the sites already laid ont. he purchased a claim of Peter Miller on the east bank of the Verdigris river, about one mile from Westralia and a little nearer to the state line. Here he laid out and platted a town site, and soon after or. ganized a town company, with Maj. H. W. Martin as president, and D. T. Parker as secretary.
This town was christened Parkersbourg in honor of its founder. but a little later on the "bourg" was dropped. as it was thought that the simple name of the founder was more appropriate, as well as being less cumber- some. The well known character of Mr. Parker for honesty and financial standing served to attract immediate attention to the new town and people began to talk about the rising metropolis before there was any. thing, except the surveyor's stakes to mark the site.
When I came to the place in the last days of October in 1869 there were just three houses on the town site ; the original claim cabin. a small structure built of logs. a little board shanty used by the town company as an office, and a small three-room building owned and occupied by Robert Walker as a boarding house ; but ground had been broken for the location of a large double store room soon to be occupied by Parker. York & Co. as a general store. Their $40,000,00 stock of goods was already being re- ceived and stored in temporary sheds. nmiil the building could be made ready for occupancy.
Wright & Kirby had located a saw mill near by and a considerable mmuber of men were engaged in felling the oak. cottonwood and walut trees, of which there was an abundant growth in the valley lands, and carting them to the mill to be ent into Imber to supply the rapidly in- creasing demand. The saw and hammer were heard early and late. and stores, shops and residences sprang up as fast as Immber could be obtained for their construction.
Parker, York & Co.'s building was soon completed and their im- mense stock of merchandise, consisting of dry goods, groceries, hardware. boots and shoes, hats and caps, farming implements. liquors, etc. were-
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opened up and a corps of clerks installed to serve the numerous enstom- et's who came from many miles around.
The opening of this mammoth store was followed by the opening of many smaller places, representing all lines of frade, transforming the place, in a few weeks, from a quiet landscape into a thriving commercial center.
The wide reputation of the founder of the new town, the confidence displayed by Parker, York & Co. in the investment of a small forinne in mercantile business in this border land, and the unprecedented growth of the county in population, served to stimulate a marvelons growth in the little city, so that, in less than a year. it had completely overshadowed the rival villages and acquired a population estimated at one thousand souls.
Among those engaging in business here, at this early period, I remen- ber Parker. York & Co., W. W. Ford. Green L. Canada. Buonaman Bros., Barricklaw Bros .. and Gould & MeDonald, general merchandise; Frazier & Frazier, Wells Bros., George Hall. John Wright, and Cox Bros .. gro- ceries, Cunningham & Frazier, and Scott & Hooser, drugs; D. A. Davis, and lines & Holly, harness and saddlery : Ziba Maxwell, stoves and tin- ware, Capt. A. M. Smith, and Vamum & Peterson, livery ; S. O. Ebersole, jewelry ; John Todd. wagon-maker: Morehouse & Beardsley, and John Lo- wark, blacksmiths; J. 0. Frazier, lumberman ; Joseph Benadum, Frank Boggs, and John McDonald. carpenters and builders; C. W. Ellis, Leroy Neal, and R. E. Horner, attorneys; G. D. Baker, editor of the Parker Rer- ord: John Beverly, barber: Lonis Rhinle, baker and confectioner: C. M. Heatherington, billiard hall; Smith & Mallen. Scott & Kearns, John Prutteman, and Neal & Coffingham, liquors: John Lipsy, Robert Walker, John Brown. John Harper aud Henry Lee, boarding: S. B. Morehouse and M. D. Bailey, hotels; C. S. Brown, book-keeper; William Wallace. John S. Lang, Prosper Vitne, Fred O'Brien. Enoch Hadder. Matt Draper, and Edwin Foster, clerks; T. C. Frazier and E. B. Dunwell, physicians ; several of whom are still residents of the county.
Society in Parker
On Christmas night, 1869. the successful inauguration of the new town was celebrated in the midst of a blinding snow storm (the first of the season ) by a grand ball given in the large hall over Parker. York & Co.'s store, the banquet being spread at James Brown's hotel, where plates were laid for one hundred couples. This was doubtless the first social event, of any considerable importance. in Montgomery county and it was conducted in a manner that would have done credit to a much older settlement.
Much has been said and written about the "wild and wooly" char- arter of the people, their predilection for "a man for breakfast every
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morning," and all that, but, as a matter of fact, personal encounters were infrequent and the low dives and dance houses that disgrace the average border town. were not tolerated. On the contrary, there was a friendly feeling and unanimity of purpose among our people-a disposition to act together in matters pertaining to the material welfare of the community, and ar absence of petty jealousies that would have been remarkable in a umch older community. True, the town was a resort for many rough characters, as every bustling, border town must be, but as a rule good et lowship prevailed, even in the most boisterous assemblages.
As for our social gatherings they would compare favorably with those of any old community. A stranger dropping into one of our eyen- ing entertainments would have found our women as modest and well dressed, our men as genteel and courtley, and our conversation as ro- fined and well sustained as in any part of the country. He might have missed the music, the flowers, and the swallow-tailed coat, but in other respects he would have no reason to consider us uncivilized.
To be sure the "shindig" was patronized by the ruder element of so- viety, and on such occasions the hoodlum was very much in evidence, but even in these meetings good nature usually prevailed, and when it was otherwise, a black eye or a bloody nose was generally the most serious casualty.
It was the unity of purpose, above mentioned, that enabled the people of Parker to sustain, for three years., the bitter fight for supremecy which was waged against the rival town of Coffeyville, backed by the powerful influence of the railroad company. It was this unity of effort that en- abled them to compel the railroad company to extend its line to Parker and maintain there, for months, better depot facilities than were sup- plied to its own town of Coffeyville, but the contest was unequal and some of our largest capitalists, growing tired of the struggle, abandoned the fight and a stampede quickly followed.
Incidents
It is no easy task to select from the multiplicity of events which gave color to one community life during the brief time in which Parker was the recognized metropolis of this corner of the county, those which will best illustrate the characteristics of the residents of that ill-fated village, but as my story would hardly be complete withont some such attempt, a few of the more striking are selected, leaving much to the imagination of the reader
The story of the summary justice meted out to the murderers of John A. Twiss has already been recited, so it only remains to be said that this. although itself an unlawful act, serves to emphasize the determination of this pioneer community to protect the lives and property of the well-
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disposed. even to the point of taking human life, when the circumstances seemed to warrant such heroic measures.
On mimerons occasions our people were called upon to exhibit this determination in such an emphatic manner as to warn the tough element that they would not be permitted to terrorize the weak and timid with impugnity.
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