USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Vol I > Part 15
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In 1895 Dr. E. A. Taylor, J. W. Hutton and J. F. Ives were the nomi- nees for coroner. Taylor polled 2,801 votes in the election; Hutton, 1,802 votes and Ives, 214 votes. In 1897 Taylor and Ives were candidates again. This time Taylor received 2,789 votes and Ives 2,223 votes. In 1899 Taylor was again a candidate. His opponent was J. B. Julian. Taylor's vote in this election was 3, 154 and Julian's, 2,126. In 1901 Doctor Taylor was again a candidate. He had three competitors, J. F. Ives, of 1895 and 1897, also A. L. Hollowell and Bartholomew Carrington. Taylor received 3,223 votes, Ives, 1,823; Hollowell, 75, and Carrington, 125. In 1903 Dr. H. M. Stewart was a candidate with E. A. Richardson and W. S. Richardson as his opponent. Stewart polled 3,903 votes; E. A. Richardson, 1,702 and W. S. Richardson, 217. In 1905 Dr. W. F. Schoor and Dr. F. D. Forney were candidates. Schoor polled 3.336 votes and Forney 2,266 votes. In 1907 Schoor was a candidate again, with Warren H. Miner as his opponent. Schoor polled 4,209 votes and Miner 3.356 votes. In 1909 there was but one candidate, Dr. W. H. Williamson, who polled 3,776 votes. In 1911 Williamson was a candidate again, polling 3.725 votes to 3.269 for his opponent. C. F. McNair.
C. C. HUTCHINSON
CHAPTER XXI.
REPRESENTATIVES AND STATE SENATORS.
Reno county's first representative in the lower house of the Legisla- ture was C. C. Hutchinson. His election was very irregular, and it is very doubtful if he would be admitted to any present-day Legislature with cre- dentials such as he had; for the county had not been organized when he was elected, a temporary board of county commissioners having been appointed by the governor to hold the first election. The commissioners of Reno coun- ty had not made an organization when two of them called the election for representatives one day, held the election the next day, canvassed the vote and issued the certificate of election before sundown of election day, and within a half hour after the certificate of election was finished Hutchinson was on his way overland in a covered wagon to Newton, then the western terminus of the Santa Fe railroad, which he "took" to Topeka early the next morning, and on the following morning presented his certificate of election to the House of Representatives then in session, was admitted as a member and began his work as such at once. This was called the ninety-fourth dis- trict at that time. In the election held in 1873, for the legislative session that was held in 1874, there were two candidates. C. C. Hutchinson and J. W. Kanaga. Hutchinson received 341 votes and Kanaga. 221. Hutchinson served as a member of the House for the session held in 1874.
The third election for representative brought out three candidates: T. T. Taylor. W. J. Ross and Fletcher Meredith. Both Taylor and Meredith were Republicans, and Ross was a Democrat. The two candidates of the Republican party divided the vote, Taylor receiving 447 votes: Ross, 278, and Meredith, 248. In the election held in November. 1874. Taylor had no opposition for re-election and received 742 votes as representative from the ninety-fourth district.
In 1876 there were two candidates for representative, J. V. Clymer. a Republican, and W. J. Ross was candidate against Clymer. The latter received 589 votes, and Ross, 412. Considering that Reno county was so strongly Republican, the vote Ross received was a high compliment to him. Ordinarily the Democrats, at that time, received but a small per cent of the
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votes, the county being settled largely by Union soldiers, who were nearly all Republicans. During the session of the Legislature the district which was composed of Reno county had its number changed from ninety-fourth to one hundred and fifteenth. The settling up of the western part of the state led to the organization of new counties and the new number of one hun- dred and fifteen was given to Reno county.
RIVALRY BETWEEN COUNTRY AND TOWN.
In 1878 the election brought out four candidates. W. R. Brown, a law- ver of Hutchinson, and a Republican: W. J. Ross, a Democrat : A. J. Cole, a Greenbacker, and J. H. Lawson, a Republican. In that election politics played only a small part. There had grown up in Reno county a fight of the country against the town. The contest started over who should hold the offices, the country claiming that the town monopolized the county and leg- islative offices. There was but little virtue to the claim, but it was made by some men in the county in order to get votes, by appealing to the prejudices of the farmer. In this election Brown polled 479 votes: Ross. 507: Cole. 103. and Lawson. 630. Lawson won on his "country against the town" cam- paign. Ross received a great many Republican votes, and while Cole's vote. added to those Ross received, would not have been enough to have elected him: had not Cole been a candidate, Ross would undoubtedly have been elected, for there were many men in Hutchinson who voted for Brown who would have voted for Ross, had they not thought that Cole would take enough votes from Ross to insure his defeat. Had the vote been between Koss and Lawson, Ross would have been elected by a large majority.
In 1880 Lawson was re-elected. His opponents then were William HI. Ingham and Henry Hegwer. Lawson received 1,017 votes : Ingham, 826, and Hegwer. 204. This Legislature divided Reno county into two legis- lative districts. The eastern part of the county, including Hutchinson, was called the ninety-seventh district, and the western and southern part of the county was put into another district and numbered the ninety-eighth district. In the election held on November 10, 1882. in the ninety-seventh district there were three candidates, T. T. Taylor, A. R. Scheble and H. S. Freeman. Taylor lived in Little River township at that time, where he was homesteading a quarter section of land. He was also practicing law in Hutchinson. Scheble was a lawyer living in Hutchinson, and Freeman lived in Lincoln township. As a result of this election, Taylor received 482 votes ; Scheble. 500, and Freeman, 236. In the west district, there were two can-
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didates, J. W. Claypool and T. B. Hand. Claypool was elected, receiving 515 votes, and Hand, 439.
In 1884, in the ninety-seventh district, there were three candidates, W. H. Northeutt, Sanders Cochran and I. N. Gray. The election resulted in Gray's election, he receiving 1,067 votes; Northcutt, 685, and Cochran, 640. In the ninety-eighth district there were two candidates, A. B. Cald- well and O. S. Jenks. Caldwell received 899 votes and Jenks, 637.
Another change in the umbers of the district was made by the Legis- lature. The territory remained the same in each district, but the numbers were changed to ninety-two and ninety-three. The ninety-second district was the eastern, or "town" district. as it was called.
MADE IT PRACTICALLY UNANIMOUS.
In the election of 1886, T. T. Taylor had but little opposition in the election. His opponent was C. Bishir. Bishir was a peculiar man. honest. but very narrow and very selfishi. He was a Greenbacker and opposed bonds of any and all kinds, opposing the issuing of bonds for any purpose. In this election, Taylor made no campaign and the universal dislike of Bishir made it evident that the latter would receive but few votes. The result of this election justified the lack of effort on Taylor's part, as he received 1.009 votes and Bishir, 84.
In the west district there were three candidates, W. A. Watkins, E. J. Arnold and W. J. Presby. Watkins received 778 votes; Arnold, 827, and Presby, 107. Arnold served one term in the Legislature and was never a candidate again and soon moved from the county.
In 1888 H. M. Whistler, F. P. Hettinger. C. W. Peckham and Charles Purdy were candidates in the ninety-second district. Whistler was elected. receiving twelve hundred and sixty votes. Hettinger polled 1, 197 votes : Peckham, 78, and Purdy, 107. In the ninety-third district there were four candidates for the office in 1888, J. N. High. A. S. Kent, J. H. Fry and D. Tanner. High was elected, receiving 1.385 votes; Kent, 819: Fry, 8r. and Tanner, 162.
In 1890 there were two candidates in each district. In the east district J. A. Meyers and H. S. Freeman contested for the office. Freeman was elected. receiving 1,570 votes to 1,413 for Meyers. In the west district. Enos Dutton, the Republican candidate, was beaten by W. H. Mitchell, a Populist, Dutton receiving 9,740 votes and Mitchell, 1,440. This Legis- lature again changed the numbers of the two Reno county districts. num-
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bering them seventy-six and seventy-seven. In the election of 1892, in the seventy-sixth district, J. F. Greenlee was the Republican candidate and received 1,715 votes. In the west district there were three candidates, J. W. Dix. W. H. Mitchell and W. E. Roach. Dix received 1,535 votes ; Mitchell, 1,511, and Roach, 16. In 1894 Dix was again a candidate from this district and beat his opponent, George Thompson, Dix receiving 1.508 votes and Thompson, 1,245. In this election in the east district. Fletcher Meredith beat Frank Bowser, Meredith polling 1.729 votes and Bowser. 1,230. Meredith was a newspaper man, a fighter and an uncompromising protectionist. He was not a good candidate, as he never left a matter like getting votes interfere with what he had to say in his newspaper. He was a candidate before the convention several times for different offices, but was seldom successful. In this race he had the better of Bowser, who was a farmer in Lincoln township and very little known at that time.
OVERCOME VIGOROUS OPPOSITION.
In 1896 Theo. Botkin was the Republican nominee from the seventy- sixth district and M. Watson the Democratic candidate. Botkin came to Hutchinson from southwestern Kansas, where he was judge of the district court. He had a stormy time as judge, and was impeached by the state Senate. Botkin was a man of great force of character and a good speaker, but a man who had an unusually active group of enemies. The fight was continued on him here in this race, but he won, receiving 1,703 votes to Watson's 1.673. Botkin was a good representative, but moved away from Hutchinson shortly after he had finished his term of service in the Legis- lature.
In the west district, Thomas Keddie was the Republican candidate, and J. A. DeBard, the Democratic nominee. Keddie beat DeBard ninety-nine votes, he receiving 1,543 votes to DeBard's 1,444. In 1898 DeBard was a candidate in this district again, being elected over E. R. Watkins, by a vote of 1.383 to 1,357. This district number was changed by the Legis- lature of 1896 to the seventy-ninth district, and the east district was num- bered eighty. In the election of 1898, in the eightieth district, Z. L. Wise, of Hutchinson, beat M. Watson, Wise receiving 1,605 votes and Watson, 1.084. In 1900 Wise was again a candidate and was re-elected. He had as an opponent C. Bishir, who had made the race against T. T. Taylor in 1886, and whom Taylor beat so badly. Bishir had grown more popular than he was in the early days, talked less against "bonds", and made a very
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respectable, showing, Wise receiving 2,132 votes to Bishir's 1,138. In the seventy-ninth district, E. R. Watkins made a second campaign for rep- Presentative, beating his opponent, J. A. DeBard, by twenty-one votes, he receiving 1,642 votes to DeBard's 1,621.
In 1902 in the Hutchinson, or east district, there were four candidates. John M. Kinkel, C. W. Oswald, T. D. Talmadge and J. P. Stratton. Kinkel was the Republican nominee, and received 1,653 votes: Oswald, the Demo- cratic candidate, polling 1,215 votes; Talmadge, the Prohibition candidate. 65 votes, and Stratton, the Socialist candidate, 111. In the west district, E. R. Watkins was re-elected over Joseph Sherrow and J. W. Brown, Watkins receiving 1,424 votes; Sherrow, 854, and Brown, 24. In 1904 in the eightieth district. W. Y. Morgan was elected, receiving 1,850 votes. A. P. Johnson, his Democratic opponent, got 1,443 votes, and J. W. Strat- ton, the Socialist candidate, polled 143 votes. In the eighty-first district, J. W. Jones was the Republican candidate. He had been sheriff of Reno county for four years. He was beaten by Henry S. Thompson. Jones receiving 1,214 votes and Thompson, 1,230. In 1906, in the east district. Morgan was re-elected over John A. Myers, receiving 1,663 votes to Myers' 1,566. In the eighty-first district the same candidates were chosen by each party, Thompson winning over his opponent by a vote of 1,351 to 1,165.
In 1908 Morgan was a candidate for the third time in the east district. and W. E. Vincent was his opponent. Morgan polled 2,524 votes, and Vincent. 2,008 votes. In the west district C. Fred Fehr received 1,567 votes to 1,419 received by his Democratic opponent, W. A. AAustin, of Sylvia. In 1910 W. Y. Morgan was the Republican candidate again and Frank Fields, of Pretty Prairie, was the Democratic nominee, and was elected. Morgan received 1,820 votes, and Fields 2,218. In the west district, Fehr and Thompson were candidates, Thompson winning by a vote of 1.295 to Fehr's 1,273. In 1912 J. S. Simmons was the Republican nominee for rep- resentative for the seventy-fifth district, and J. P. O. Graber his Demo- cratic opponent. Simmons received 2,000 votes and Graber, 2,410. In the west district E. E. Blaisdell beat Henry Thompson by a vote of 1,414 to 1.327.
In 1914 there were three candidates in the east district for representative. F. L. Martin, R. C. Layman and C. H. Bacon. Martin was the Republican candidate, Layman the Democratic nominee, and Bacon ran on the "Bull Moose" Republican ticket. Martin received 3.387 votes ; Layman, 2,769 votes, and Bacon, 1.351. In the west district Jake Edwards, the Republican nomi- nee, defeated Henry S. Thompson by a vote of 2, 163 to 1.748.
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In 1916 F. L. Martin was re-elected representative from the east dis- trict over Eugene Hipple, Martin polling 4,483 votes and Hipple, 3,960. In the west district. Edwards was elected for a second term, receiving 2,369 votes to 1.960 votes cast for J. A. Lyons.
There have been thirty-one different men elected to the office of rep- resentative from Reno county, four of them representing the entire county in the early days when Reno county constituted one representative district. and thirteen different men have been elected from each of the two districts after the county was divided. There have been seven men who held the office two terms, C. C. Hutchinson, John Lawson and T. T. Taylor (although one of the latter's terms was filled after the county was divided, when there was one district in the county), Wise and Martin, in the east district, and Watkins and Edwards in the west district. There have been two men, one in each district, who have held the office three terms, W. Y. Morgan, in the east district, and Henry S. Thompson, in the west district.
Of these representatives, none is living who represented the entire county. Of those who represented the east district, five are still living, and all of them are still residents of Reno county. In the west district, seven are still living and are likewise still residents of the county. One of them. W. Y. Morgan, was afterwards elected lieutenant-governor, and another, T. T. Taylor, was counted out by a corrupt group of politicians in the con- vention. he having had a majority of the votes for lieutenant-governor, but by juggling the ballots in the box his opponent was nominated and elected. third, John M. Kinkel, is at the time of writing this history a member of the board of public utilities of Kansas. Another, H. S. Thompson, one of the former representatives of Reno county, is president of the State Fair Asso- ciation, which position he has held for many years. They have all been representative men and have served their county and their districts in a capa- ble manner.
STATE SENATORS.
There have been twelve elections for state senators since Reno county was organized. The district has undergone many changes. In the early day - it embraced many counties. Reno county has been a controlling factor in the district in recent years. The district is now composed of Reno, King- man and Pratt counties. It is a compact district, with similar interests and the senators from this district have but few conflicting interests to serve.
In 1872 Keno county's vote stood on the two candidates for state sena- tor-M. M. Murdock, 258 votes; D. S. Payne, 92 votes. At that time
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Sedgwick county was the most populous county in the district, and the sena- tor elected was then a resident of that county and editor and owner of the Il'ichita Eagle. In 1876 Reno's vote stood, on state senator, T. T. Taylor, 593, and C. C. Hutchinson, 480. In 1880 George W. Nimmocks, of Great Bend, received the largest vote of Reno, he polling 560 votes to 722 for his competitor, Ira D. Busick. In 1884 the vote of this county was divided between two Reno county men, A. M. Switzer receiving 838 votes, and .1. R. Scheble, 1,358. A third candidate from another county, W. M. Condan, received 1,223 votes.
In 1888 Reno's vote on state senator was cast as follows: F. E. Gil- lett, of Kingman county, 3,321 votes; R. S. Cates, of Barton county. 1.912. Reno's vote was largely the one that decided the contest in favor of Gillett. who was the successful candidate in the district. In 1892 Reno county had a candidate for state senator, J. M. Leeds, of Turon, who was elected. James Kelley, of Pratt county, was his opponent, Reno's votes stood, Leeds, 3.019: Kelley. 3.215. In 1896 A. M. Switzer and Frank Fields, both from Reno county, received the nomination from their party. Switzer polled 3.336 votes and Fields, 3.029. Fields received a majority of the votes in the other counties and was elected.
In 1900 Frank Vincent, of Reno county, and D. B. Crawford, of Pratt county, were the candidates. In Reno county Vincent polled 3.643 votes, and Crawford, 2,865. Vincent was elected. The other two counties then com- posing the district, Kingman and Pratt, about "broke even" with the candi- clates, and Reno's majority for Vincent was enough to elect him. In 1904. F. C. Carver, of Pratt county, was elected state senator. In Reno county he polled 3,562 votes, while C. W. Peckham, of Haven, the Democratic can- didate, received 1,975 votes and J. F. Westfield, of Kingman county, received 105 votes.
In 1908 Emerson Carey, of Hutchinson, was elected senator, Henry S. Thompson, of Sylvia, and J. A. Carlisle also being candidates. In Reno county. Carey received 3.926; Thompson, 3.528, and Carlisle, 136. In 1912 Carey was re-elected state senator, receiving 3.744 votes in this county to 3.501 for his opponent, Frank Fields.
In 1916 Will S. Thompson, of Reno county, was elected senator. His opponent was Frank C. Fields, also of Reno county. In this county Thompson received 7.510 votes and Fields, 5,222. Thompson's term of office expires in 1920.
CHAPTER XXIL.
SOME EARLY BOND ELECTIONS.
The organization of the county and the election of its officers were but the beginning of activity both in the town and county. There were no roads laid out. There were some trails over the county, being the routes traveled by the early settlers. There were no bridges and the freshets made travel very difficult, in some cases stopping communication entirely. The Arkansas river was a barrier that would divide the county. unless bridges were built, not only owing to the amount of water in the channel, but also the treacher- ous nature of the sand.
The county was likewise without any place in which to transact its business. All of the early elections took place at "The office of C. C. Hutch- inson." It was necessary to build a court house as well as to build bridges and establish roads, so the office of the county commissioners was the center of the county's activity during the years 1872 and 1873.
Another matter that was equally as serious as the absence of roads. bridges and buildings, was the absence of money to pay for these necessary things. Equally serious was the absence of any great amount of prop- erty. All of the homestead land yielded no taxes and was not taxed until proved upon. The fact that it was exempt from taxes until the title passed from the government to the individual was an inducement to the early set- tler to put off "proving up" on his claim as long as possible. There was very little personal property and very few persons besides the merchants had personal property above what would be covered by the two-hundred- dollar exemption for the head of each family. Especially was this true when property was valued at from one-fourth to one-sixth of its real value for taxation purposes. Consequently the list of personal property taxpay- ers was noticeably small in the carly years of the county's history.
So the burden of the taxes fell on the settlers who had bought railroad land and upon the railroad, after it was built into the county. These two classes furnished what money went into the county treasury. As an indi- cation of how largely these two classes had to pay in the way of taxation, it may be added that in 1872 there were fourteen personal taxpayers on
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the rolls of Reno county, and the total amount they paid in taxation amounted to one hundred forty-one dollars and twenty-five cents.
The only method of providing for the necessities of the county was the issuing of bonds. Not only was it necessary to issue the bonds to pro- vide for the carrying on of the internal improvements needed, but it was equally necessary to provide for the first year's interest on those bonds. So when the first issue of bonds was voted, another series of bonds was voted to pay the interest on the first issue.
The first election took place on April 25, 1872. The petition asking the commissioners to call the election was signed by C. C. Hutchinson, E. Wil- cox and sixty-five others. The matters covered in their petition to be sul :- mitted to the voters of the county were: First, shall the county issue thirty- five thousand dollars of bonds to build bridges across the Arkansas river. across Cow creek, on Main street in Hutchinson, also a bridge across Cow creek in township 22, range 6 west, also a bridge across the Little Arkansas river, northwest of Hutchinson. The second proposition which the petition- ers desired to have submitted to the voters was the issuance of bonds for fifteen thousand dollars to build a brick building on lots 55 and 57 South Main street for a court house and jail for the county. The third matter on which a yote was asked was the one referred to, namely, the voting of ten thousand dollars in bonds to pay the interest for the first year on the bonds voted. The result of this election was as follows:
Bridge bonds
For, 152 Against. 64
County building
For. 155 Against, 60
County loan 1 1
For 151 Against, 64
An old settler who was present at the election and voted, made the remark, that it was possible to see the proportion of voters who had obtained government land as opposed to those who had bought railroad land; thus. while it is possible that there were other considerations that influenced the individual voter, yet, in this election as well as other bond elections that have been held since, it is not always the man who pays the taxes who votes for a bond proposition. But those bonds carried and the next matter that concerned the county officials was the selling of their bonds.
After the voting of these bonds, bids were called for the building of the bridges. There was not much competition, first, because there were but few bridge-building concerns in the state and, second, it was known that the concern that obtained the contract would have to take their pay in county
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bonds and dispose of them as best they could. The firm that secured the contract was the King Wrought Iron Bridge Company. They evidently looked at the amount of money the county had set apart for the building of these bridges, for their bid was thirty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-two dollars. This contract was let on June 7, 1872. The bridge was eighteen hundred and sixty-two feet long.
The county commissioners had also advertised for bids for building the court house. The contract was awarded to W. E. Hutchinson for eighteen thousand dollars. The specifications were changed several times, additions made, and. later, a jail was added in the basement of the court house. It was found that there had not been enough money voted to put up such a building as was contracted for. The lowest bid, outside the jail and changes that were made before the contract was let, was three thousand dollars in excess of the amount of bonds voted. even if the bonds could be sold at par. It was agreed that the work should be pushed as far as possible. Let the question of finding the money with which to finish the building be pro- vided later. There was no building suitable for the county officers nor for their records, and the commissioners were exceedingly anxious to get their building completed as fast as possible.
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