USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. I > Part 41
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Mr. and Mrs. Munger were the original settlers in Wichita and built the first house on the townsite.
A FRONTIER INCIDENT.
Everybody in Sedgwick county knows Uncle Billy Mathewson. William Mathewson still lives in Wichita, enjoying himself at a ripe old age. He is said to be the original Buffalo Bill, and was here with Sheridan and Custer and William F. Cody. The follow- ing is an early incident in his career, and he has a career which reads like a romance. In his day on the frontier he was one of the celebrated scouts.
There are no round-ups for the early day plainsmen any more, and so it is with added pleasure that friends of the sixties and seventies meet. So it was when William C. Peacock, "Left-Handed Bill," called upon Col. William Mathewson, "Buffalo Bill," of this city, some time ago. It had been thirty years since these two hardy frontiersmen had seen each other. Mr. Peacock's home is in Kansas City. He stopped off at Wichita while on his way home from a trip to Oklahoma, where he goes frequently to visit his old stamping ground at Fort Sill, and pay his regards to old friends. At El Reno lives Albert Curtis, son of "Old Dick Curtis," inter- preter, scout and half-breed Sioux, with whom Mr. Peacock lived at Larned in 1868. Here, too, is Ben Clark, nor should Lone Wolf and Big Tree be forgotten. At Anadarko "Jimmy" Jones and Tom Peet live. With Clark, Curtis and Jones, memories of "Hurricane Bill" Martin, "Buffalo Bill" Mathewson and "Wild Bill" Hickock were the topics of conversation, but with Lone
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Wolf and Big Tree "Zane-pong-za-del-py" was the all-absorbing thought.
Now "Zane-pong-za-del-py" is the aboriginal root for "Bad Man With the Long Beard," a designation for Col. William Mathewson, applied to him when he made a piece of Indian his- tory that forms an epoch to this day. Colonel Mathewson, the original "Buffalo Bill," as he was known among his own people, was keeping a store or supply house at Great Bend at that time. The Kiowas were camped near there, and one of their number ventured out, under the protection of night's blackness, to steal a horse from the stockade. Colonel Mathewson caught sight of the red rascal as he was fleeing in the then most popular mode of horse stealing, astride the stolen horse's back. Mathewson picked the Indian from the horse's back with a shot, inflicting a wound from which the Indian died a few days after.
Colonel Mathewson's fair treatment of the members of the dif- ferent tribes with whom he came in contact in his trading expedi- tions and daily business had won him a reputation, valuable to him in a business way and as securing his person against vicious assaults. He maintains today that whatever bad the character of the Indian showed in those days was due, or at least made op- erative, by the white man's military hysteria. So the Kiowas could hardly look upon his shooting of the horse thief as malicious or unjust, for it was generally understood that had the robber been a white man he would have fared no better at the hands of Mathewson. Notwithstanding this fact, however, Satanta, a war chief of the tribe, grasped the opportunity, as he thought, of gain- ing an advantage for himself. Satanta came to Mathewson's place a day or two after the death of the stable pilferer. With him was a circle of swarthy bucks, whose different visages wore looks of expectation and menace, but none of fear or indifference. Satanta entered the store alone. His companions crowded around the en- trance. Mr. Mathewson was behind the counter when the giant Satanta moved slowly up to the counter with a glance about the place to assure himself that he was alone with his prey. Mathew- son did not move even a step, although within five feet of him behind a showcase and out of sight of the red beast lay a big Colt's six-shooter. He kept his eye not on the weapon in the hands of Satanta but on that devil's eye. To a citizen living in the peace of a Kansas town of today, under the protection of ample police force, with most of the Indians in their happy hunting grounds,
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the suspense of those few moments would seem unconditionally terrible; yet to "Buffalo Bill" they were but a valuable period of time which allowed him to think of a mode of procedure, for he was always as "cool as a cucumber," and was never known to lose his head. Finally Satanta spoke. The words were in the native tongue of the tribe, but the signs that went with them plainly indicated that Satanta said to Mathewson: "Give us goods or I will kill you for the murder of my kinsman." With- out any change of expression, but with a free hand motion, Mathewson directed his sweeping arm to the shelves behind him, and said: "Satanta, there are the goods. Take them." The avaricious red, with a motion to his waiting companions, started to the end of the showcase to get behind the counter. Mathewson had not been idle in the meantime. Intent upon getting his hands upon the white man's goods, Satanta had not noticed Mathewson's change of position and knew not of it until he felt the crushing blow of Mathewson's revolver upon his head. No sooner had he delivered the blow than Mathewson leaped upon the fallen Satanta and, picking the senseless Indian, threw and half kicked him into the midst of his assembled braves outside of the store. "Take him away quick or I'll kill him," spoke "Buffalo Bill" to the Kiowas in the same quiet way in which he had offered Satanta the goods.
That ended the trouble with the Kiowas, and although Satanta lost a reputation, Colonel Mathewson found one. After that for years "Zane-pong-za-del-py" had only to point his finger to get Satanta to sit down and "be good."
WICHITA.
From the "Elk County Citizen," Howard, Kan.
Some cities, like some individuals, have a personality. Wichita is in this class. Whenever that city is mentioned one thinks of great things. Wichita is the favorite child of Kansas. Here the true Kansas spirit is found. All Kansans regard Wichita with much the same feeling that a fond parent feels toward a child that has "made good." Kansas has had her troublesome days, but is now in the broad open sunlight of prosperity. The day was when Wichita-the "Peerless Princess"-was a dirty-faced tom- boy with soiled and torn garments, but now she is decked in gar- ments befitting the name which her best-loved citizen gave her- he who was her prophet in her infancy and devoted his life to her
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service. Wichita is located in the Arkansas valley, the richest body of farming land in the world. She is served by eight lines of steam railway and work has begun on a trolley system that will place her in touch with every city within one hundred miles dis- tance. The population of the city is considerably above the 50,- 000 mark and is increasing rapidly. Wichita has two of the best and ablest newspapers published in any city in the United States of her size. Thirty-five other newspapers, weekly, monthly and daily, present her interests to the outside world. She has sixty- six churches, twenty-five schools, ten colleges and technical schools, seven hospitals, extensive and beautiful public parks, fourteen banks, great elevators, big mills, three packing plants em- ploying more than 1,500 people, wholesale and jobbing houses rep- resenting every branch of business, is the largest market for broomcorn in the world, is the greatest distributing city for agri- cultural implements, save one, and in many other lines is ranked in the highest class.
During the past year 1,895 homes were built, besides many sub- stantial and towering business blocks, and there is building at this time more than 800 homes, with more than $5,000,000 prom- ised for building improvements during the coming year. Wichita is an open-faced town-nothing bid. There are no slum districts. One will not see there women and little children with pinching poverty gnawing at their vitals. The Brotherhood of Man seems to have found a lodging place in this fair city, and there is work and plenty for all. Her future is assured. Because of her superior citizenship, her enterprise, her excellent schools and colleges, her business opportunities, she is drawing to herself and will continue to draw the enterprising young man, and those who have out- grown their home towns, and those who have accumulated a com- petency, in all the surrounding territory ; and this will continue until she will be classed with the ten great cities of this nation.
LOCAL CONDITIONS.
By RODOLPH HATFIELD.
The old-timers, like myself, who have been in Sedgwick county for more than thirty years, delight to say that Wichita as a city is
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not affected by local conditions. This is a grave error. While Wichita has nearly 55,000 people, the time has not yet arrived when it is not affected very seriously by local conditions. The town has always been keenly sensitive to local crop and other conditions. When in the early seventies Wichita was the largest primary wheat market in the world the wheat came here because it was the terminus of the Santa Fe railroad from Newton. The building of the railroad southward seriously affected the town and all of its conditions. All realty values weakened and the real estate market sagged very badly for several years. Prior to that time Wichita was the end of the Texas cattle trail. The moving of that trail to Dodge City very seriously affected the town, and, as the old settlers expressed it, "The town was gone." The most serious stroke that Wichita ever suffered was the dying of the boom, and it took years to recover from this setback. The old- timers and those who came later have always been very sensitive, and are still in that frame of mind. At the same time the people of this city have an abiding faith in the future of Wichita. They believe that it is on a solid basis ; that it will grow and wax strong as the years go by. We have passed through our periods of de- pression, and, as we believe, are now in the clear noonday, with nothing ahead to make us afraid. The most careful observer of realty values now looks confidently to the next decade to make Wichita 100,000 strong.
THE POPULATION OF WICHITA, SEDGWICK COUNTY, AND THE STATE OF KANSAS.
The following is the population of Wichita, Sedgwick county and the state of Kansas, according to the latest official returns. Wichita and Sedgwick county take second place in population as they are in wealth. Also, as a matter of comparison, the cities of Kansas having a population of more than 10,000 people are also given :
The population of Kansas March 1, 1910, according to figures returned to the State Board of Agriculture and made public today, was 1,696,361, a decrease of 11,130 from the same date in 1909 and an increase of a quarter of a million in the last ten years. Wichita ranks second among the cities of the state, with 54,133, and Sedg- wick is second among the counties, with 73,338.
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
The population of those cities having 10,000 or more inhabi- tants and the order of their rank follow :
Kansas City
91,300
Wichita
54,133
Topeka
45,143
Leavenworth 24,342
Coffeyville
18,174
Atchison
16,691
Hutchinson 16,572
Pittsburg
15,073
Parsons
14,490
Lawrence
13,779
Independence 12,372
Fort Scott
11,556
Salina
10,120
WICHITA SEES HER VISION AND SMILES.
The address of William Allen White at the laying of the cor- nerstone of the new Beacon building March 8, during the Wichita meeting of the Kansas Editorial Association: "If a thousand years are but as a watch in the night, the great heart of the ages has hardly throbbed a beat since the Indians left Wichita. Yes- terday we had "Rowdy Joe" and his galaxy of tarnished stars in the dance hall. Tick tock goes the great clock, and, lo! we have the initiative and referendum and recall with the Law and Order League in serene control of the situation. What a city of dreams you are! God said let there be light and there was light. He smiled and there was Wichita. When one considers things as they were and as they are in this community, no miracle seems impossible. Changing water into wine is wonderful, but no more wonderful than changing the wilderness into a beautiful city in a generation. Feeding the multitude on five loaves and three small fishes is no greater marvel than is Wichita a dream city crystal- lized into form and substance in the twinkling of an eye. And the marvel of it all is not the substance of it in brick and stone, not the evidence of things seen, but the marvel of it is the reali- zation of things hoped for in the relations of men to one another. It is not that you have 400 miles of streets, that you have waved the wand of progress and have made brick and stone and wood
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and iron blossom into homes. The great wonder of Wichita is not its material structure, not the 50,000 people, but its civilization. Other cities have blossomed of old in other wildernesses. That is not so wonderful. The wonder of Wichita is not that 50,000 peo- ple live here but that 50,000 people live here so happily. Where else on earth will you find so little poverty as here ? Where else on earth will you find so little difference between the rich and the poor as here ? Speaking in the terms of eastern civilization, there are no rich here and no poor. You have achieved the dream of philosophers for thousands of years-a community wherein the profits of capital and labor are being distributed more nearly in fairness than they are distributed any place else in the world. In this young city, built by the people without class lines, with- out cruel contrasts, you have a civilization that would have been deemed a mere vision of a dreamer one hundred years ago. That is the wonder of Wichita. And that wonder is in a way epitomized in this building you are beginning today. It is a dream taking shape in stone and iron-a vision coming into material form. But the miraculous part of the vision is not its stone and iron but instead the economic significance of it. It epitomizes in little the miracle of Wichita. This is the people's town and this is the peo- ple's building. This city was built in the sublime faith of the people in themselves. This building is built in that same faith. No rich man owns it. It is built by the people-the common, ordi- nary home-making folks-for their own use and benefit. It is probably the first great structure ever erected in the world just by the folks without a debt or mortgage to the rich.
"That is the wonder of it-the economic stability of the com- mon people. That is why this building is a monument to Wichita, and a tribute to the civilization of Kansas. It indicates a state of prosperity among the people never seen in the world before. It proves a distribution of the common wealth of the common peo- ple is more nearly equitable here and now than the ancient world has ever seen. The city of dreams is a city of the people. But the dreams of the people are not disturbed by debts or bonds or mortgages. The dreams are not nightmares. Wichita sees her visions and smiles."
TAGS.
Tags is a dog, and yet there is not a person, man, woman or child, in the city of Wichita better known than Tags. He is a
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yellow, rough-coated dog, with one lop ear. His habitat is in front of the Boston store, and his picture appears each afternoon in the "Daily Beacon," and his prognostigations are read by all of the reading community. He is in a way a tramp dog, but he fares sumptuously every day, and on St. Patrick's day he sported a bright green ribbon tied around his neck by some friend. He sometimes leaves his post to bark at some motor car which is pass- ing making an unusual noise, but he always returns to his post and, careless of the crowd, stretches himself at full length in the middle of the walk, and, unmindful of the passing throng, takes an afternoon nap. The building of the Orient shops, the location of the Auditorium, the raising of the $50,000 to complete the Chil- dren's Home are daily incidents in the life of the city which do not worry Tags. He has grown into a landmark. The children all over the county know him, and the children in the city feed him. When he is sleeping everybody respects his condition and he slumbers on undisturbed, and when upon his feet everyone has a kindly word and hand for Tags.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS WERE LASTING.
"I never have grown tired of the valley of the Arkansas," said Dr. A. H. Fabrique, who is entitled to be called a real pioneer. "I first saw the valley from College Hill during the summer of 1869. I had come out to Eldorado, and decided to drive across and take a look at this valley. I cannot tell my impressions as our wagon reached the summit of the rise of ground now called College Hill, and I saw for the first time this wonderful valley of the Arkansas river stretching away to the Northwest as far as the eye could see. There was the river, then carrying much more water than it does now, and the Little river with its fringe of trees, with herds of cattle and of Indian ponies here and there. I made up my mind then and there to cast my lot in this valley, and the next spring, 1870, I came here and it has been my home ever since. There has never been a time in all these years that I have lost faith in this valley or this town, and though I am now an old man and have since seen many spots that are called beauti- ful and attractive, I have never seen a spot that pleased me as well as this valley."
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VERSATILE PREACHER OF PIONEER DAYS.
The first preacher in Wichita was a man named Hilton, who afterward left here and became rich in Arizona. He is said by the pioneers to have been a versatile man, with the ability to preach a sermon, take hand in a knock-down, play poker or guzzle booze at the Bismarck saloon with equal relish and facility. Some of the old-timers who did not object so much to his propensity for card playing and liquor drinking, still contend that Hilton was one of the smartest men and best preachers that ever held a Wichita congregation spellbound by his eloquence.
This man preached in a small church with a shed roof, and frequently had in his congregation some of the most notorious desperadoes that ever lived in the West.
WICHITA'S FIRST DAILY NEWSPAPER.
Wichita brings out the first daily paper ever published in southwestern Kansas. It is a Grant and Wilson paper, called the "Beacon," and is published by Millison & Sowers. We wish it success .- Bent. Murdock.
Off again, old wind. Use Vinegar Bitters for a change. We hurrah for the great American agriculturist and the original Mis- souri abolitionist from Kentucky .- From the "Daily Beacon" of October 29, 1872.
THE CHARITY OF WICHITA CITIZENS.
The old quotation from holy writ, "What shall it profit a man-," was never intended to discourage progress in things commercial. The Prince of Peace himself was a carpenter. He lived among fishermen, farmers and shepherds. He gave his en- couragement to every man who was endeavoring to provide the material things necessary for his own comfort and that of those dependent upon him. If Jesus, the Christ, were on earth today he would not withhold a blessing from any man for promoting the commercial interests of his community by honest industry and faithful toil. But those who have read the sentiments of the in- spired writers, or have heard them read occasionally, must have been impressed by the absence of exhortations to pile up endless riches or to get a corner on wheat. Where stocks and bonds are
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mentioned in the modern financial journals, the Book of Books pleads for human sympathy. It describes attractively the length and breadth of charity-a field of wonderful promise, in which help and encouragement are brought to those who need them most, and in which men and women are raised from treacherous paths near the water's edge to a safer and better plane of life and thought and action. If charity were less important than it is, it would not have received so much emphasis from Him who brought to the world the most thrilling message men have ever heard. The story of the woman at the well would not have been made the feature of one of the most interesting chapters of the Bible if the Creator had not intended that men should concern themselves about the misfortunes of others. So it is interesting to know that while the men of Wichita who have talent for promoting commer- cial organization and industrial thrift have won power and promi- nence in the field of trade, others who have the qualities of mind and heart for the work of charity have built institutions where suffering from hunger and exposure is relieved, where struggling souls, burdened with failure and remorse, are sheltered through the tempest and warmed with love until the light of strength and usefulness appears again in the East.
The people of Wichita have shown a wonderful tenderness in the provisions they have made for unfortunates. Splendid hospitals have been erected and equipped for the care of the af- flieted. Thousands of dollars have been freely appropriated by the people to provide a comfortable home for little children who have been deprived of the helpful care of loving parents. Sedg- wick Home, which annually helps thousands of men and women to secure means of livelihood, is maintained by the funds which the people supply. There is a home here for fallen women who have no place else to go. Other homes have been provided for the helpless, the aged and the infirm. In a thousand ways a thought- ful citizenship has sought to share its comfort with those whose efficiency has been impaired by physical or mental ills. Charity is encouraged here. The work of charity is increasing in Wichita every year. It is a work of love and mercy which has enriched the lives of many citizens who are prominent and useful in other fields as well, and the touch of sympathy they have frequently adminis- tered has brought light and cheer to hundreds of souls that would quickly have perished without it.
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