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. II > Part 5
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ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS, SEDGWICK COUNTY.
Clerk-J. L. Leland. Auditor-J. M. Naylor.
Treasurer-J. W. Jones.
Sheriff-Richard Cogdell.
Probate Judge-O. D. Kirk.
Register of Deeds-Joseph Bowman.
Supt. of Schools-J. W. Swaney.
Surveyor .- R. H. Brown. Physician-W. I. Mitchell.
Clerk of District Court-R. L. Taylor.
Attorney-W. A. Ayers.
Coroner-M. M. McCollister.
Poor Commissioner-A. G. Forney.
Road Engineer-C. A. Messer. Assessor-G. W. Bristow.
County Commissioners.
Meets every Monday and Saturday of each week. Chairman-Charles V. Bradberry.
Members-S. B. Kernan, Garrison Scott.
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
Board of Equalization.
Meets the first Monday in June.
Chairman-C. V. Bradberry.
Members-Garrison Scott, S. B. Kernan.
COURTS.
District Court.
Meets second Monday in January, first Monday in April and October.
Judge-Thomas C. Wilson.
Clerk-R. L. Taylor.
Attorney-W. A. Ayers.
Sheriff-Richard Cogdell.
PROBATE COURT.
Terms begin on first Monday of each month.
Judge-O. D. Kirk.
Deputy-D. A. McCandless.
Juvenile Court.
Judge-O. D. Kirk.
Probation Officer-A. E. Jacques.
City Court.
Court House-Sessions daily except Sunday.
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Judge-J. L. Dyer.
Clerk-S. L. Barrett.
Marshall-C. W. Root.
SEDGWICK COUNTY.
By
ORSEMUS H. BENTLEY AND JOHN FERRITER. 1
A history of Kansas, or of Southern Kansas, would be incom- plete without a history of the great county of Sedgwick, which in- cludes the splendid city of Wichita. Sedgwick county, the greatest county in the Southwest, and Wichita its growing, thriving,
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SEDGWICK COUNTY
pulsing metropolis. The early fathers saw the blue stem grass sweep their saddle horns as they explored the rolling prairie which now makes up the happy homes, the schools and churches, the busy marts of trade, the cultivated and prosperous farms, the thriving towns, the fearless press, and the magnificent build- ings of Sedgwick county and its shire town of Wichita.
Sedgwick county was organized in 1870. It has an area of 1,008 square miles, a population at this time of nearly 80,000 people, it ranks second in population among the counties of the state, and second in wealth. It has about 260 miles of railway; Wichita its county seat town, ranks second in population and wealth in the state of Kansas. The agricultural possibilities of Sedgwick county are practically unlimited, and the future of Wichita as a sane and safe town are assured.
Twenty-eight congressional townships make up Sedgwick county, and it can be truthfully said that no man ever lived in Sedgwick county and went away but was anxious to return. Other skies are just as fair, other fruits are just as sweet, but here there is an indefinable something that woos the wanderer to return.
"A wildered and unearthly flame, A something, that's without a name."
In the early 80's Sedgwick county began to grow; in the early 70's it was the favorite feeding ground of the buffalo. Here at the confluence of the two rivers was the favorite council ground of the Osages, and here was Sheridan and Custer, and William Griffenstein known to the Indians as "Dutch Bill," after- wards the mayor of Wichita, and Bill Mathewson, the real Buff- alo Bill of the plains and Jim Mead, author, scout, Indian trader and hunter. Jim Steele, the pioneer real estate man, Dave Payne the noted pioneer and Oklahoma boomer, and many others whose names will live long in song and story. Among others who in an early day made Wichita their headquarters was Maj. Leon Lewis, of the regular army, afterwards the noted story writer upon the New York "Ledger."
All these things, the location, the early associations, the camp, the tepee, and the abundance of game, combined to make Sedg- wick county and Wichita historic ground. The early fathers found the spot at the confluence of the two rivers, where the In- dian warrior wooed his dusky mate, and here in the fringe of
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
timber growing along the Big and Little Arkansas rivers they laid the foundation of a great city. Today many of the ancient cottonwoods, elms, box-elder, and sycamore have given place to symmetrical shade trees of a later growth, and a survey of Wichita from Fairmount or College Hill, or from the top of The "Beacon" building, presents the appearance of a splendid forest. In the lap of this forest reposes the city of Wichita with its homes, its culture and refinement and all that goes to make life worth the living in the interior West.
"Round about it orchards sweep, apple and peach tree fruited deep;
Fair as the garden of the Lord."
In the last three decades, Sedgwick county has made a won- drous growth. It has made its place in the history of the state and nation. Its clergy have always been able and respected, its bench and bar have been models of candor and integrity. Some of the most eminent lawyers of the state have adorned its bench and graced its forum. Men eminent and even pre-eminent in their chosen walks of life, have sprung from this county. Statesmen, judges, governors, doctors, lawyers, merchants of great push and energy, business men of tried ability, promoters of great en- terprises, Indian fighters and renowned scouts, philanthropists, publicists, authors, and editors, are now numbered among the honored citizens of Sedgwick county.
It is an old and trite saying that "Man made the town and God made the country." Of a truth the men of Wichita have made the town, and the careful, painstaking, and intelligent farmers of Sedgwick county, under a kind Providence, have made a portion of the great American desert, to blossom like the rose.
In an early day came the railroads, those great harbingers of civilization, following close upon the heels of the receding buff- alo, and then came the evolution which has made of Sedgwick county the very highest type of civilization. No county in the great state of Kansas has finer railway facilities, and the growth of Wichita will place a market at her very door. As time goes by diversified farming is becoming the rule. The time was when the farmers of Sedgwick county, all produced one crop, and if the crop failed a shortage followed. Later on they began to raise two crops, both wheat and corn, wheat being the earliest crop. As farming become more reduced to an applied science,
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SEDGWICK COUNTY
more diversified farming was done and this is the safety and science of farming in Sedgwick county.
The following figures will show the remarkable growth, and standing of the great county of Sedgwick. Population of Sedg- wick county in 1900 was 42,717 and in 1910 is 73,338. In 1900 there was growing in the county 451 acres of alfalfa, at this time there is approximately 30,000 acres growing. In 1909 the value of farms in Sedgwick county including improvements was $30,- 624,925 and in 1910 the valuation is $31,816,505, with improve- ments of $2,749,480.
TOTAL PROPERTY VALUES.
Uncultivated
Personal Property
Total Value $ 10,114,447
1900
422,059
197,809
$ 1,284,690
1901
422,059
197,809
1,433,859
10,337,996
1902
432,496
182,288
1,606,010
11,040,780
1903
432,496
182,288
1,844,651
11,601,483
1904
444,956
175,751
2,419,675
13,037,867
1905
. 444,956
175,751
2,120,725
13,005,967
1906
456,796
163,423
2,530,870
14,077,497
1907
456,771
163,398
2,481,863
14,526,224
1908
457,735
161,788
16,654,720
85,688,297
1909
457,736
161,787
16,947,835
87,697,204
1910
451,793
163,461
19,418,555
108,150,775
Cultivated acres in 1910 in Sedgwick county: Corn, 167,432; wheat, 110,973; oats, 62,311; rye, 726; barley, 112; Irish potatoes, 1,816 ; sweet potatoes, 1,126; sugar beets, 44; alfalfa, 29,089; blue grass, 1,169. Value of milk products, $93,719; $53,031 not sold factories. Honey, 6,130 pounds.
Value of animals slaughtered and sold for slaughter, $1,539,012.
Live Stock on Hand. Horses, 20,839 ; mules, 3,604; milch cows, 12,220; cattle, 22,493; sheep, 3,242; hogs, 39,885. All of these great products go to swell the trade and prosperity of Wichita, the metropolis of a great country.
Within a radius of one hundred miles of the city there is already being produced annually 50,000,000 bushels of wheat, twice that many bushels of corn, and other cereals in proportion,
Cultivated Lands
Lands
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
together with a live stock production not exceeded in any section of the country of the same area.
In addition to Wichita and her magnificent farms embowered in stately groves, and embellished with commodious farm homes and ample barns, the county is dotted over with growing and thrifty towns. The railways radiating out of Wichita like the spokes of a gigantic wheel, supply convenient railway facilities for all these towns. Among them we find Mulvane, Maize, David- son, Bayneville, Colwich, Oatsville, Mt. Hope, Cheney, Garden Plain, Peck, Furley, Wichita Heights, Jamesburg, Derby, Valley Center, Viola, Goddard, Schulte, St. Mark, Bentley, Andale, Annes, Clearwater, Greenwich, Waco and Kechi. As these towns grow so Wichita will grow, and thrive and wax more powerful.
If the groves of Sedgwick county are a perpetual delight to its people, the streams of the county, never tire the beholder. The Big Arkansas river, rising in the eternal snows of the Rocky mountains and pursuing its course, through canon and plain for 2,100 miles, flows in a southeasterly direction across Sedgwick county. At Wichita, it is joined by the Little Arkansas, a beau- tiful steam, well adapted to boating and fishing in its entire flow through the city limits. Within its curves are located a number of our most beautiful parks and resident sections.
To the north and east Jester creek, the Wildcat, Chisholm creek and its branches, farther south the tributaries of Four Mile and Eight Mile creeks. West of the Big river the Cowskin whose valley is as fertile as the valley of the Nile, and farther west Clear creek and Spring creek, and still farther westward the two Ninnescahs, whose waters mingle, on section 36 in Mor- ton township. The Ninnescah is a famous stock stream; its waters, flowing over a bed of white sand, are as pure as the distillations of the dew. If anyone doubts that Sedgwick county is a fruit country, let him make inquiry at the Hoover or Thomas orchards, or of Frank Yaw and others of the well known and experienced horticulturists of Sedgwick county.
In addition to all this Wichita and Sedgwick county are abso- lutely safe places for permanent investment of capital. This is evidenced by the confidence of the great life insurance and investment companies that are placing their money in Wichita and Sedgwick county. And so to summarize the situation, the man who owns a farm in Sedgwick county is a lucky man, the
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SEDGWICK COUNTY
man who owns a home in Wichita is a happy man. Their lines are cast in pleasant places.
LAST INDIAN SCARE IN SEDGWICK COUNTY.
By S. M. TUCKER.
I think a short account of the last great Indian scare in Sedgwick county and other portions of southwestern Kansas, and . the last organized military company that left Wichita to look for Indians, might be of interest to some of the later settlers. Some time about the last of June or the first of July, 1874, the people in the western part of this county, Sumner, Kingman and Har- vey counties became frightened by a report that a large body of Indians was approaching from the south and west. The scare appeared to be general all over the country. The people stam- peded and rushed to the towns. They kept coming into Wichita all night, and by morning there were more than a thousand people from the country west in town and camped along the river. They were so badly frightened that some of them said they could hear the Indians yelling behind them.
On the morning after the stampede T. McMillan and I started out west to see what occasioned the scare. We went west through Kingman county. We found the homes deserted and stock staked out where they could get no water and little feed. We turned them loose wherever we found them. As we got out to the Ninnescah we saw a man running from the north. When he got to us we found him to be a little Irishman. He wanted to know what became of the people. We told him they were scared away by Indians. He was about as badly scared as I ever saw. He lived off the road and had not known of the stampede until we told him. He then said: "They knew I was a good loyal man, and they went off and left me here all alone." He then started in the direction of Wichita as fast as his legs could carry him. We stopped at cattle camps while out, and were out three or four days, returning by way of Harper county. When we got back the scare was pretty well over and the people had returned to their homes.
Shortly after this it was reported that the Commanches and Apaches were about to make a raid upon southern Kansas. On
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
the morning of July 10, 1874, at 10 o'clock, I received a telegram from Gov. Thomas A. Osborn, instructing me to raise a company of fifty men for service against the Indians, and that the adju- tant general would be here on the 4 o'clock train with arms, ammunition and equipment.
At 4 o'clock I met Adjutant General Morris at the train, took him to the old Eagle Hall, where I had my men ready. We were mustered into the service of the state. I received my commission as captain. The company elected Cash Henderson first lieuten- ant and Mike Meagher second lieutenant. We were armed with Sharp's carbines. I camped that night on the Cowskin, about- seven miles southwest of town, with thirty-five of my men. The rest joined me in the morning. We then proceeded as fast as we could to Caldwell, on the border. At Caldwell we met a bat- talion of the Fourth United States Cavalry under command of Major Upham. We took from here a four-mule team hauling our supplies. When we arrived at Caldwell I reported to Major Upham for service. He had with him about 200 men, who together with my company made quite an army. We left our wagon at Caldwell and packed our supplies upon the mules and proceeded south into the Indian country. We went as far south as the Salt Fork and Pond creek, and scouted the surrounding country thoroughly, but found no Indians except eight Osages, who were hunting buffalo in that neighborhood. They were friendly and we gave them some sugar and coffee and they went on their way.
W. H. Rossington, who was then a correspondent for one of the Topeka papers, came down with the adjutant general, and went with him in a carriage to Caldwell, and then with us south. He rode a horse belonging to one of the troopers, who was sick and left in camp. He was not used to horseback riding or exposure to sunshine. When we got back to Caldwell I think he was the worst sunburned and generally used up newspaper correspondent I ever saw. Some of my men were but little better off than he was. He left us there and returned home. When we got back to Caldwell I found an order from the governor to proceed with my company along the border to Arkansas City. We proceeded along the border and found some of the people at home, but badly scared. Many of them had left and gone farther north from the border. We assured the people that there
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SEDGWICK COUNTY
was no danger; that the Indians had gone south and would not return. We camped at Arkansas City two or three days and then returned to Wichita. We arrived here on the evening of July 21, and on the next day the company was disbanded. I had as fine a body of men as I ever wish to command. But where are they now? I can think of but three of us now living in or near Wichita, but I shall always remember them as good and true soldiers. This was the last Indian scare that we ever had in this part of the country.
THE KINGMAN TRAIL. By THE EDITOR.
From Wichita to Kingman is a good forty-five miles of pleas- ant road. This trail was there long before the railroad was built from Wichita to Kingman, and from Kingman to Pratt and beyond as the Kingman, Pratt & Western Railway. There was a time when the Kingman road and all of the country contiguous thereto, west of the Arkansas river, was the feeding ground of countless buffalo. At one time it was thought by the early settlers that all of that vast stretch of country in Sedgwick county and westward to Kingman and Pratt and into what is now known as the short grass country, was adapted only to the ranging of cattle. This region was the favorite hunting ground of Hank Heiserman, Dr. G. W. C. Jones, William Mathewson, J. R. Mead and many others. From Kingman the trail diverged southwest to Bross and Medicine Lodge. Later on the city of Kingman was established. Later on Judge Samuel R. Peters, then judge of the Ninth judicial district, held court in Kingman. To this court across the prairie went the lawyers of Wichita, usually by team, sometimes on horseback, and it was a weary and dusty ride. The country was even then, in the early '80s, developing fast. Settlers were coming in, the land office was at Wichita, and this was the Mecca of the settler; and coming in to make their final proof before the receiver, James L. Dyer and Dick Walker, the register, they lined the Kingman road, and the prairie schooner and its inmates along the Kingman road was a familiar sight. Soon the railroad was built and King-
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
man was only an hour away. Since the early '80s the whole face of the country has changed. Trees have grown. Where before there was only a stretch of prairie, prosperous farms are now the rule. Goddard, Garden Plain, Cheney and New Murdock are prosperous towns and marts of trade along the highway where speeds the iron horse, and upon the roadway proper, where once the jaded livery team held sway the speedy automobile now takes the road, with Kingman a very close neighbor of Wichita.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
BENCH AND BAR.
By
O. H. BENTLEY.
THE SEDGWICK COUNTY BAR IN THE EARLY '80S.
The lawyers of Sedgwick county had not risen to the dignity of a bar in 1880, nor had they ever contemplated a bar asso- ciation in those days; still at the same time the bar was unusually strong. Sedgwick was a leading county, the seat of the United States Land Office, and the seat of justice of the Eighteenth judicial district. Among the lawyers practicing at the Wichita bar in 1880 can be recalled T. B. Wall, W. E. Stanley, Henry C. Sluss, Charles Hatton, Edwin Hill, Moses S. Adams, Amos Harris, Kos Harris, David M. Dale, O. H. Bentley, S. M. Tucker, Judge B. H. Fisher, W. F. Walker, J. F. Lauck, O. D. Kirk, John Clark, W. W. Thomas and H. Clay Higinbottom. There were several others who were admitted to the bar but not then in active practice. W. P. Campbell was judge of the district and at first lived in Eldorado, afterwards moving to Wichita; E. B. Jewett was the probate judge and H. R. Watt was sheriff of the county ; D. A. Mitchell and W. F. Hobbs were the justices of the peace. The practice was not confined to the county, as the leading lawyers of that day had cases in all of the adjoining counties. Judge Campbell was succeeded by E. S. Torrance, of Winfield, and he served in this capacity until the creation of a new district, which left him and his county outside of the dis- trict. Amos Harris was appointed as judge of this district and gave excellent satisfaction. He was succeeded by Henry C. Sluss, who after serving a portion of his term was succeeded by T. B. Wall. Judge Wall was succeeded by C. Reed, who came here from Marion county. Judge David M. Dale next took the bench and was in. turn succeeded by Judge Thomas C. Wilson, the present incumbent of the bench. The Sedgwick county bar
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
has been peculiarly fortunate in the courts who have presided over this judicial district. The administration of justice in this district has been characterized by integrity, fairness and ability, and since the early eighties there has been an entire change in the bar of Sedgwick county. At this writing there is a larger bar, but no better.
AN EARLY INCIDENT OF THE BENCH OF SEDGWICK COUNTY.
I first came to Sedgwick county on a visit in March, 1880. Having studied law in Buffalo and in the state of Ohio, I was naturally a young man deeply impressed with the dignity of the various courts. I looked upon them as the personification of dignity and positively infallible. Imagine my surprise on my arrival in Wichita upon making inquiry as to the courts to find the judge of the district court cast for a leading part in the "Union Spy," then upon the boards at the Turners' Opera House in Wichita. Struck with horror as I fully realized this drop in judicial dignity, I attended the show and saw Judge Campbell in the leading role; Judge Campbell, who was after- wards known in this community as Tiger Bill, was the presiding judge of the Thirteenth judicial district of Kansas. I will say for him that he played the part well, and assisted by an array of local talent consisting of John Fisher, Jesse Ask, Mrs. Kramer, Judge Walker and Colonel Woodcock, also others whose names I do not now recall, the "Union Spy" was a great success. Soon after this, this play was exploited upon the Kerocene circuit and was played in Newton, Emporia and in many of the sur- rounding towns. The local courts at that time consisted of Jus- tice Mitchell and Justice Hobbs, and they tried many lawsuits and settled many abstruse law questions. Upon my return to Ohio I told to my legal friends and to some of the judges about this play of the "Union Spy" and that the judge of the court was cast for the leading part, and it took me a long time to recover from the reputation I then established as a most cheerful liar.
THE DISTRICT JUDGES OF SEDGWICK COUNTY.
The district court is an important tribunal in Kansas and has almost unlimited power. It is the nisi prius court of the state,
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BENCH AND BAR
the great jury tribunal, having an equity side, and its incum- bent is a chancellor as well as a presiding judge. Here are threshed out a great diversity of interests, and its scope reaches from the cradle to the grave. In its district judges Sedgwick county has always been most fortunate. Its judges have alaways been good lawyers and men eminent in the profession. First came Judge W. R. Brown, afterwards a member of congress and now the past grand master of Masons in Oklahoma, a wise and careful man, who presided over the first courts of Sedgwick county in the old Ninth judicial district. Next came a new district, known then as the Thirteenth judicial district, and its first judge was W. P. Campbell, then of Butler county, who soon afterwards moved to Wichita. This city was his home during his incumbency of the bench and after he entered upon the practice. Later on he moved to Missouri, but has recently returned to Wichita and is now in the practice. Judge Camp- bell was peculiarly fitted to deal with the times and the elements he then encountered, and his incumbency was popular and he has always stood in the front rank of the lawyers in this state. After Judge Campbell came Judge E. S. Torrence, of Cowley county, who remained as judge of Sedgwick county until the legislature changed the district. Then came Judge Amos Harris, the father of our esteemed fellow citizen and eminent lawyer, Kos Harris. Judge Harris was a lawyer of the old school, kind- hearted to a fault, and a lawyer of wide and varied experience. Judge Harris served about one year and he was succeeded by Henry C. Sluss, one of the veteran lawyers of the Wichita bar. Judge Sluss was never at home upon the district bench and so declared to his fellow lawyers. Judge Sluss was afterwards appointed to the bench of Spanish land claims, which court set- tled a vast amount of title litigation in the western territories. The headquarters of this court was at Santa Fe, N. M. As a member of this court Judge Sluss served with great distinction and when the court expired by limitation of law, returned to the practice in Wichita, where he still holds an enviable position as a lawyer and jurist. When Judge Sluss resigned, Thomas B. Wall was appointed judge and was a great favorite with the bench and bar. Judge Wall was among the younger members of the bar, but was a lawyer of fine culture and considerable experience. His incumbency was marked by a busy epoch among the profession, and his administration gave great satisfaction to
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
the bar and litigants. Then came his former law partner, Judge David M. Dale. Dale was a model judge and his decisions were characterized by the utmost fairness and the application of a large amount of practical common sense. Judge Dale upon his retirement from the bench re-entered the practice in Wichita. Just prior to Judge Dale, C. Reed was the judge of the district which then as now was composed of Sedgwick county. Judge Reed was the court during some of the most trying times in Sedgwick county. He was kind-hearted, though thoroughly an impractical man, entirely unfitted to cope with the stress and strenuous times surrounding him. Upon his retirement he removed to Kansas City, then to St. Louis, finally drifting west- ward to Salt Lake City, where he died a few years ago. His last years were said to be embittered by poverty and disappoint- ments in his profession and otherwise.
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