USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 15
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In the spring of 1871. when the railroad was nearing completion to Coffeyville, that village took on quite a little boom. Cattlemen were driv- ing their herds to that point for shipment and with these herds came the usual quota of reckless cowboys. The influx of this element caused the opening of numerous saloons and dance houses, and this, of course, brought into the community the usual gang of gamblers, pick pockets. thugs, and all-round toughs who constitute the patrons and hangers-on of such places. These gentry. as might be expected. soon took sides with Coffeyville in the town fight then just beginning between that village and Parker. Almost daily threats were made by these fellows that they were about to raid the latter place and wipe it out of existence, and the experi- ment was actually made on several occasions.
Among the frequenters of "Red Hot Street." as the locality in C'of- fexville given over to saloons and dance halls was called, was a notorious gang, known as the "Adams gang." These fellows had frequently given it out that they were going down to Parker to shoot up the town. One morning word was brought in that the "gang" was actually advancing up- on the city, and preparation was made to give them a warm reception. Pretty soon they were heard riding across the river bridge and in a few moments they appeared in the south end of Oak street, which was then the main business street of the town. Here they were met by a committee who notified them that they were not wanted in that town. at the same time calling their attention to the gleaming gun barrels protruding from every corner and doorway along the street : a convincing evidence of the inhospitable intentions of the people toward such fellows as they. This ended the interview. and the "gang". esteeming discretion the better part of valor, quietly withdrew to be seen in that town no more.
On another occasion two young fellows rode into the town withont previons announcement. "to have some fun with the town." They were more daring than the "Adams gang" and actually commenced hostilities by shooting the windows out of one of the hotels. The shooting attracted the attention of the marshall, Who soon appeared on the scene with a posso and summoned the invaders to surrender, and upon their refusal to do so the marshall shot one of them through the neck, while one of his assistants beat the other into insensibility with a club. When the man with the bullet in his neck was picked up he was found to have sustained a broken neck, producing complete paralysis of the body and limbs, from which he died two days later. His companion soon regained conscions-
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ness and was permitted to leave town, while the wounded man was put to bed in the hotel upon which he had just made a wanton assault, and tenderly cared for until death.
Ont of the killing just described grew the only fatal collision be- tween resident citizens of the town. This tragedy-the killing of George Coney by Alex. Kearns-which was enacted on the following day, ere. ated a more intense feeling of excitement than any other event which ever occured in the village of Parker. These two men were rival saloon keepers, between whom an unfriendly feeling had existed for some time, and after the fracas above deserved Comy accused Kearns of kicking the clubbed man as he lay unconscious where he fell from his horse. Kearns resented the accusation and on the following morning went to Conry's place of business and demanded an apology, which Conry re- fused to make, but. instead, reiterated the charge previously made. This so enraged Kearns that he opened fire upon Conry with a small caliber revolver. inflicting several body wounds. Friends interferred and Kearns then returned to his own place, while Conry went to his boarding house a few rods away, where I was summoned to dress his wounds.
As 1, passed down the street toward Lee's boarding house, where Conry lived, Kearns came out of an alley just ahead of me and also turneu in the direction of the boarding house. A moment later, Conry, stripped to the waist, rushed into the street pistol in hand. and a duel with large caliber weapons began. Several shots were fired, one of which, from Kearns' pistol. passed through the thin walls of the building, wounding Henry Lee in the arm. Finally, Kearns, resting his pistol on his left arm, took deliberate aim and fired. Simultaneously with the re- port of his pistol Conry leaped high in the air and fell dead in the street; the ball having entered his right eye so centrally as to make only a sIght nick in both the upper and lower lids. Kearns was immediately placed under arrest and then began the intense popular excitement be- fore referred to. Kearns, who was blamed for following Conry up. after having the best of the first encounter, was a fierce-tempered, over-bearing fellow. while Conry. aside from his business, was considered a quiet and respectable citizen; hence public indignation ran high against Kearns. The friends of Conry were bent on avenging his death by mob violence. but the better element determined. if possible, to prevent this additional blot on the fair name of the city, so they formed themselves into a volon- tary committee to protect the prisoner and quiet the excitement. After two days and nights of unremitting effort, dispersing groups of excited people here and there and doing guard duty at the hotel where the prison- er was held, the committee succeeded in bringing about a better state of feeling. Men returned to their various occupations and the law was per- mitted to take its course. In this case. however, its course was not in ac-
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cordance with the known facts and I have heard some very good men express a regret that the mob had not been permitted to work its will upon the slayer.
Coffeyville
In the spring of 1871. when the Leavenworth. Lawrence & Galveston railroad (now the Santa Fe) was nearing completion to the south line of the state, certain officers and employes of the company selected a tract of land lying immediately north of and adjoining the site of the "Old Town" of Coffeyville, but located within the Osage Diminished Reserve. for town- site purposes. This traet of land. being a part of section 36, township 34. range 16 east of the sixth principal meridian. was surveyed and platted by Octavius Chanute, chief engineer of the above-named railway. company as "Railroad Addition to the City of Coffeyville," and it was entered for the "benefit of the occupants" by W. H. Watkins, probate judge, on the 22d of hme 1871. On the 20th day of October of the same vear. Mr. Chanute filed his plat in the office of the register of deeds for Montgomery county, and thus was launched on the uncertain sea of com- mercial endeavor. another aspirant for the honor of being rated the best. town in southern Kansas.
The following winter the friends of the new town procured the enact- ment. by the state legislature, of a special law authorizing the incorpo- ration of the village of Coffeyville as a city of the third class. This law was signed by the governor on the 26th day of February 1872, and a few days later was presented to Il. G. Webb, judge of the district court for Montgomery county, together with a petition praying for the issuance of the necessary order for carrying the law into effect. This order was issued on the 5th day of March 1872. fixing the limits of the new city so as to include only the "Railroad Addition" before mentioned.
Judge Webb's order incorporating the city of Coffeyville fixed March 16. 1872, as the date for holding the first election for city officers, and designated election officers as follows: Judges. T. B. Eldridge, G. W. Curry and J. M. Sendder: Clerks. H. A. Kelley and A. W. Hoit; Can- vassing Board. J. G. Vanm. G. J. Tallman and D. P. Hale. These election officers being duly qualified before Eli Dennis. J. P., on the 18th of March, proceeded to perform their duties in accordance with the order of the court, and made proclamation of the result of the election as follows:
Mayor elect. A. B. Clark ; Councilmeu elect. W. I. Bowers, G. W. Curry, G. J. Tallman. D. Blair and E. S. Eldridge; Police Judge, G. A Dunlap.
The mayor and conncihnen elect having been duly qualified. held their first meeting on the 22d of March. and completed the organization by the appointment of 1. N. Kneeland, city clerk and Peter R. Flynn, marshall.
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Thus it came about that the territory platted as an addition to the village of Coffeyville became the incorporated city of Coffeyville to the exclusion of the town to which it was presumed to be only an addition.
This anomalous circumstance was presumed to be justified by the fact that the Cherokee Strip, on which the old town was located, was not open for entry at the time of the incorporation, and, therefore, not under the jurisdiction of the court for such purposes, but, as will be seen later on. this view was not accepted by the settlers on the original town site.
The Cherokee Strip of that day was not the Cherokee Strip opened to settlement a few years ago, and now a part of Oklahoma territory, but a narrow strip of land (about two and one-half miles wide at this point) acquired by treaty with the Cherokee Indians when the final survey was made to locate the 37th parallel of latitude which marks the southern boundary of the state of Kansas.
On this strip, which was not opened for entry until about two years after the Osage Diminished Reserve lands came into market., was located the original village of Coffeyville and the thriving town of Parker and this is the circumstance previously referred to which gave Coffeyville the advantage and ultimately enabled her to win out in the fierce struggle for supremacy waged between the two towns in the carly seventies. Parker, with a better site, a larger population and a stronger financial backing, had to yield to her younger rival because her town company could not tell how long investors would have to wait for titles to the lots on which they were asked to make improvements.
Having secured incorporation and effected the organization of a mu- nicipal government there was much rejoicing and mutual congratulation among the people of Coffeyville, but the new city's troubles were by no means at an end.
In addition to the fight made by the Insty young city of Parker, there was war between the two Coffeyvilles. There was blood in the eye of the people of the "old town" because of the coup by which the new town had seenred separate incorporation and robbed the old of its United States postoffice, which had been moved across the line. Frequent stormy meet- ings were held at which the situation was discussed and the people of the old town, having a sufficient club in that clause of the constitution which provides, "that in all cases where a general statute can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted," finally prevailed so far as to force their neighbors to surrender their charter and seek re-incorpora- tion under the general statute.
A petition was circulated and signed by the people of the two villages and presented to B. W. Perkins, then judge of the district court, praying for the incorporation of the two villages into a city of the third class in accordance with the general law governing such incorporations in the state of Kansas. This petition was filed on the 25th of March 1873,
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and an order issued designating the 7th day of April as the date for hold- ing the first election, appointing election and canvassing boards and defining the boundary limits of the city so as to include the platted terri- tory comprised in both villages.
The election being held as per order of the court one hundred and sixty ballots were rast and the canvassing board declared the following officers elected: Mayor, Dr. G. J. Tallman : Councilmen, J. M. Hedden, W. A. Moore, T. J. Dean, A. J. Hanna, and W. M. Moberly ; Police Judge. John A. Heckard. The mayor and councilmen elect being duly qualified, met on the 16th of April and completed the organization of the new city government by electing W. A. Moore, president of the council and ap- pointing the following subordinate officers: City Clerk, Luther Perkins; Marshall, E. M. Easley; Treasurer, W. T. Reed; and Street Commission- er, George Thek.
Local troubles thus being happily adjusted the warring factions found time to unite their efforts against the rival town of Parker which. for reasons already mentioned, soon abandoned the unequal contest, but not until the attention of investors had been diverted to other points. Liberal inducements were offered to the leading merchants of Parker and also to the banking firm of Parker, York & Co., to remove to Coffey- ville, which were finally accepted. This desertion of her strongest busin- ess firms broke the fighting spirit of the Parker people and the town col- lapsed as suddenly as it had grown into prominence. but the result was almost as fatal to Coffeyville. as that town was so completely checked that it was several years before her population reached the number boast- ed by her unfortunate rival at the end of the first year of her meteoric existence.
In the early eighties the town again began to grow and on the 20th day of July 1887, by proclamation of Governor John A. Martin, it was de- clared to be a city of the second class, the preceding spring enumeration having shown a population exceeding two thousand persons. The census of 1900 shows a population of 4,953 and the assessor's returns for 1903 shows a population of 7,075.
Financial and Commercial
From the earliest period of its history Coffeyville has been the bus- iness center for an extensive territory from which her merchants and tradesmen have drawn a large and Iverative business. Men who began business here in the early days with a small capital have grown rich, and the number of business failures have been remarkably few, and those few have been due to ineapacity rather than to lack of business opportunity.
In the early days all immigrants had a little money, received from the sale of their belongings in the states from which they came, and, being made up mainly from a class little accustomed to handling money, they
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seemed to think their purses like the "widow's eruse of oil," could never be wholly emptied. Many of them lived so expensively that when the time came for entering the lands they were reduced to the necessity of borrow- ing money at exhorbitant rates of interest with which to pay the entry fees and make necessary improvements.
The breaking up of an immense acreage of virgin soil loaded the air with malaria and a great deal of sickness resulted. It thus happened that extravagent living and sickness, combined, brought some years of hard times, which were bad for purely financial concerns. The two local banks, those of T. B. Eldridge and Noah Ely & Son, failed, and a few small merchants were forced to close their doors, but with these ex- ceptions the mercantile and financial institutions of Coffeyville have always been above suspicion of weakness.
The neighboring farmers have either mastered their early difficulties or sold ont to later comers who were in easier circumstances. Mortgages have been paid off and many farmers, after getting their places well im- proved and well stocked, still have a good bank account.
This condition of the farming interests makes the merchants pros- perous and puts it in the power of the banks to take care of every legiti- mate demand for money at reasonable rates of interest. The merchants on their part are loyal to the banking institutions, as was well exempli- fied during the last financial crisis, when banks all over the country were being forced to close their doors by a wild scramble to withdraw deposits. When it became evident that the gereral panie would spread to this lo- cality, the merchants joined in a published statement, declaring their entire confidence in the stability of the local banks and pledging them- selves to keep on deposit every dollar that could be spared from their business, instead of using it to discount their bills, as had been their cus- fom. This action immediately restored the confidence of outside deposit- ors and doubtless averted financial disaster.
Railroads
The people of Coffeyville have always been keenly alive to the value of transportation facilities and have given such encouragement to the construction of railroads as could be extended without over-burdening the tax payers. As previously stated the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Gal- veston railroad (now the Santa Fe) was built to this point in 1871. Since that time the D. M. & A., the V. V. I. & W. and the I. M. & S., ( Mis- sonri Pacific lines) and the M. K. & T., connecting with the main line of that road at Parsons, and recently extended to Bartlesville, Indian Ter- ritory, have been constructed, thus giving the city transportation lines in seven different directions and connecting her with three great railroad systems.
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Natural Resources
The territory tributary to Coffeyville is not surpassed by any part of the state in fertility of soil and the variety of crops which may be profit- ably grown. The Verdigris river furnishes an abundant supply of pure and wholesome water and is capable of supplying water power sufficient to operate many factories.
The city and surrounding country is underlaid with immense depos- its of shale suitable for the manufacture of brick and tile of superior quality. Great ledges of limestone of good quality crop out in many lo- calities and some of the neighboring hills furnish inexhaustible quantities of a superior quality of building stone and flagging.
This city is in the very heart of the gas belt and was the first in southern Kansas to discover and develop this valuable fuel. On the 20th day of March 1890, the city council granted to J. MeCreary a franchise to furnish the city and the inhabitants thereof, natural gas for domestic and manufacturing purposes, and appropriated a thousand dollars toward the expense of making a development test. A drill was at once set to work, almost in the center of the town, and at a depth of a little more than eight hundred feet a strong flow of gas was found. Since that time more than forty wells have been drilled with not more than half a dozen failures, and the supply of gas appears to be inexhaustible, as the oldest and most severely taxed wells are still yielding a good flow.
Since the preparation of this paper was begun oil has been found, and while the first well can not be called a "gusher," it produces oil in paying quantities and it is believed that a profitable field has been dis- covered on the very edge of the corporate limits.
Manufactures
The discovery of natural gas, the cheapest and cleanest of all fuels, together with the city's unsurpassed transportation facilities, has in- vited the attention of maunfactures in various lines and the place is surely and steadily developing into a manufacturing center of import- ance.
Already the output of milling stuffs is 2,000 barrels per day; the largest straw board mill and egg-case filler factory west of the Mississ- ippi is located here; the city has a plow factory; foundries and machine shops; a window glass plant ; ice plant ; numerous small factories, and a brick plant whose produet is known from the Rocky mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Ground has been broken for a second glass plant to be- gin operation during the year 1903, and two other brick and tile plants are now almost ready to begin work.
A Grain Center
In the year 1884 a few enterprising citizens, anticipating the inevit- able time when the product of the grain fields of Kansas, Iowa and Ne-
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braska would seek an outlet through the Gulf ports, organized a Board of Trade and established a station for the inspection and weighing of grain in transit, and through the local elevators. So successful was this effort that in a very short time Coffeyville became the most important grain station, except Kansas City. in the state. In 1897 the weighing and in- spection of grain became, by legislative enactment, a department of the state government, but the business so successfully inaugurated by private enterprise has been continued and this station has now become a close second to Kansas City, and, with the overcoming of the railroad diserim- ination against the Gulf ports, is destined to eclipse that city. Already the elevator capacity has been greatly increased and with the demand of the milling interests already mentioned, this city has become a grain market of no mean importance.
Municipal Advancement
Since obtaining a charter as a city of the second class, in 1887, the growth of Coffeyville, in population and commercial importance, al- though not phenominal, has been sure and steady, and civic pride has kept pace with the city's material development.
In 1895 a municipal water works plant was constructed at a cost of $49,000.00. This plant has now been improved and extended until it rep- resents an expenditure of about $85,000.00 and is easily worth, on a basis of earning capacity, $150,000.00. In 1897 the necessary companion piece to a water works plant-a system of sanitary sewers-was constructed at a cost of $22,000.00. This system is soon to be extended so as to cover more than double the territory included in the original sewer district.
Immediately following the installation of the city water works the council created a voluntary fire department and equipped it with a lad- der- truck and hand-hose reels, which were operated by volunteer firemen without other compensation than the voluntary contributions of such cit- izens as felt an interest in maintaining the department for the public good. Two years later an ordinance was passed authorizing the pay- ment of a monthly sum from the general fund of the city for the support of the department, and this appropriation was increased from time to time until 1902, when the department was re-organized by providing for three regularly paid firemen and a volunteer force of six men who are paid a fixed sum for each fire attended by them. The department is now equipped with a drilled team, hose-wagon and other up-to-date appliances owned by the city, and is maintained at a cost of about two hundred dol- lars per month.
In 1898 the local Commercial Club began to agitate the question of street lighting and in 1901 an electric light plant was installed. This plant was constructed at a cost of $20,000.00 and is owned and operated by the city. About $5,000,00 have been expended in extending the system for
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
commercial lighting and with an additional expenditure of approximately $2,000.00, the plant will be fully self-supporting, so that the streets will be well lighted without cost to the general public.
Schools and Churches
While fostering and encouraging those enterprises which make for the material welfare of a community, the people of Coffeyville have not been unmindful of the necessity of building up those institutions which concern the moral and intellectual well-being of a people.
The city boasts eleven churches, and a school system of which the community is justly proud. In addition to the usual graded schools our system includes a high school in which pupils are equipped for admission to the State University. There are five school buildings, four of which are substantial brick structures, in which twenty-four teachers-and a superintendent over all-are employed, whose combined monthly pay is $1,200.00. The school population is a little less than eighteen hundred, of whom fifteen hundred are enrolled on the school registers of the present year. It has ever been the policy of our people to enlarge their school facilities to keep pace with the increasing population and there is now pending a proposition to vote an appropriation of $30.000.00 for the con- struction of additional buildings.
Debt and Taxation
Coffeyville's municipal debt now amounts to $146.444.45 and the rate of taxation for the present year is $6.88 on the hundred dollars. On the face of the record this seems to be a very large debt and a ruinous rate of taxation, but when we reflect upon the manner of assessing taxes in Kan- sas, and remember that $105,000.00 of this debt is for a water and light plant. which pay a profit largely in excess of the interest charges. and that another $34,000.00 is for special improvements for which only the affected property is assessed. the financial horoscope is not too terrifying, as we are simply in the position of the business man who borrows money with which to engage in a profitable business.
Our real rate of taxation is only about $1.85 on the hundred dollars, as is evident when it is known that our assessment this year (1903) is made on a basis of only 27 per cent. of the actual value of the property assesed.
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