USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. I > Part 18
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"I went to take old Brown and Brown took me."
The regular army troops in the territory were kept moving about. first to "enforce the law" and later to keep the hostile parties from get- ting together. Among the officers were several who rose to high rank during the Civil war. Among these were Colonel Joseph E. . Johnston. With rare exceptions the officers executed their orders with discretion and humanity and received the final respect of all parties.
The fighting Free State men attacked the southern camps and gar- risons at "Fort Titus." harrassed them, and, with the "armies of in- vasion, " like that which attacked and burned Ossawatomie, and with the movements of the regular troops, Kansas, in the summer of 1856, pre-
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sented a truly martial appearance. The Free State people began to get discouraged in August, when the militia were again ordered out against them, and many left the territory. In September, Jefferson Davis, secretary of war, made a requisition on the governors of Illinois and Kentucky for two regiments of infantry to "erush the insurrection in Kansas," on the order of General Persifor F. Smith in command at Leavenworth.
The capital of the territory was removed early in the action to Lecompton, and there Governor Shannon lived during his rule, which was broken by absences, during which Acting Governor Woodson exer- cised authority. Lecompton was favored by the federal government and was fertilized by a moderate stream from the national treasury.
GOVERNOR GEARY ON THE SCENE.
In September, 1856, Governor John W. Geary, coming up the river, passed Governor Shannon going down. Governor Geary arrived in Leavenworth. He was a rather fine writer and described Kansas in his earliest dispatches as the "fittest earthly type of hell." He seems to have sympathized with the Free State people and ordered the militia to disband. The Free State men captured the Pro-Slavery forces at Slongh creek and Hickory Point. The victors were arrested by the United States troops, kept prisoners at Lecompton and twenty of them afterward sentenced by Judge Cato to the penitentiary. Governor Geary was determined on peace. He went to the Wakarusa and ordered the Pro-Slavery army under Governor John W. Reid to disperse. He held a conference with the leaders which he deelared the "most impor- tant since the days of the American revolution." This was the last of the great invasions.
General Lane appeared with a proposition for a duel between one hundred Free State men, including himself, and one hundred slave- holders, including General Atchison, to settle the question by "wager of battle," with twelve United States senators and twelve members of the house for referees ; but nobody yearned for the trial.
In October there was an election for members of the territorial legislature,-the next in order after the Shawnee Mission legislature, a delegate to congress, and on the question of calling a constitutional con- vention, which afterwards met as the Lecompton convention. The Free State men did not vote. Governor Geary made a tour of the territory. He was greatly pleased with the "pacification" of the territory, which he believed he had effected, and called for a day of thanksgiving. With the end of 1856 the "treason trials" had fizzled out; the Free State prisoners at Lecompton escaped whenever they wished; the immigration by the way of Iowa was no longer obstructed, and the people generally began to talk about town sites. It was announced that half a million dollars had been invested in Quindaro.
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With the beginning of 1857 came the legislature to Lecompton. Governor Geary vetoed many bills and they were passed by a two-thirds vote over his head. The governor, so happy a few months before, found that a chief executive of Kansas is of few days and full of trouble. HIe was literally spit upon by a man who was killed, however, a few minutes later by the governor's brother-in-law. £ A few days later he quietly resigned his office. He was afterward a major general in the Union army and governor of Pennsylvania.
GOVERNOR ROBERT J. WALKER.
Appointed to succeed Governor Geary, Robert J. Walker had been a distinguished man, having been secretary of the treasury under Presi- dent Polk. Secretary Stanton preceded him and made the customary number of speeches. Governor Walker arrived in May. At Leaven- worth he met the customary enthusiastic reception. The Free State people did not vote for delegates to the Lecompton constitutional eon- vention and it got only about two thousand votes. Governor Robinson was tried for "usurpation of office" and acquitted ; and the "law and order" arrangements broke down.
THIE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
The Lecompton constitutional convention met at Lecompton in September, and a large Free State meeting at that place passed resolu- tions and ordered it off the premises. For want of a quorum, it ad- journed to October 19th, and again to November 3rd. Before this last meeting an election was held for delegates to the territorial legislature. Violence was not attempted at this election, fraud being considered pref- erable. Oxford, in Johnson county, with perhaps forty votes, polled 1,628 Pro-Slavery votes ; McGee county, the present Cherokee and Craw- ford, polled 1,200, and Kickapoo was nearly as expert. Governor Walker set the election returns aside for "informality." By this charge the legislature was made Free State. The papers began to speak of other things than polities. It is announced that "5,000 gallons of sorghum have been made in Kansas this year;" "a meeting of the corporators of the Jefferson City & Neosho Valley Railroad is held ;" and "Sam Wood, as justice of the peace, opens the first court in Lawrenee."
The Lecompton constitutional convention assembled under the presi- deney of John Calhoun and the protection of Sherman's battery, which afterwards distinguishel itself at the first battle of Bull Run, and other United States forces. It adopted a constitution virtually establishing slavery in Kansas and providing for a fraudulent submission of itself, "The constitution with slavery," or the "Constitution without slavery." By the end of the month of November, Stephen A. Douglas was de-
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nonneing the Lecompton constitution, and when the people voted on it in August, 1858, there were 1,788 for and 11,300 against it. In 1858 the Topeka government was kept up; state officers and a state legislature were also elected under the Lecompton constitution ; the territorial legis- lature continued in business and Governor Denver reigned in Governor Walker's stead.
THE LEAVENWORTH CONVENTION.
In this year the Leavenworth constitutional convention was held. It went farther than the Topeka constitution had gone, and the word "white" was left out of it. T. Dwight Thacher, who was laid to rest in Kansas soil a few years ago, was a member of this convention and has left behind the best history of it. State officers were elected under it, but not one of all these various sets was to hold office. The time was not yet.
The war drifted away to the southward, to Linn and Bourbon coun- ties. The Free State leader was James Montgomery, a religious man of a type of piety singularly like that of John Brown. In the course of these "troubles" occurred the Marais des Cygnes massacre by a party from Missouri under Captain Hamilton, which was commemorated in a poem by Whittier, perhaps the most remarkable called forth in the great mass of verses inspired by the Kansas struggle. In this affair five men were killed and four severely wounded. Great efforts were made to suppress these disturbances, but the struggle had beeomc a war for re- prisal and revenge and kept on during 1858.
GOVERNOR MEDARY.
In December, Samuel Medary, destined to be the last territorial governor of Kansas, took the oath of office. His attention was first directed to the fact that John Brown was carrying off negroes from Missouri, and that Montgomery was still finding texts in the Old Testa- ment to justify the slaving of his enemies. Governor Medary was lonely as far as the co-ordinate branches of the government were concerned, since the legislature had become Free State-in fact, Republican-and had a habit of meeting at Lecompton and adjourning to Lawrence. The Topeka government finally gave up, merging in the regular territorial legislature. Governor Medary's time was largely taken up suppressing Brown and Montgomery. The legislature of 1859 abolished the "bogus laws," and passed a law abolishing slavery which Governor Medary did not sign. On April 19, 1859, Governor Medary called an election for delegates to one more constitutional convention (the fourth), to meet at Wyandotte. The election was held June 7th. It was a great elec- tion and 14,000 votes were cast ; the Republicans elected thirty-five, the Democrats seventeen delegates.
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THE ELECTIONS BEFORE STATEHOOD CAME.
During the territorial days of Kansas twenty-five general elections were held. The list follows :
(1) 1854, November 29 .- Election of J. W. Whitfield, proslavery, delegate to eongress.
(2) 1855, March 30-Election of members of the territorial legislature by fraudu- lent voters from Missouri.
(3) 1855, May 22 .- Election to fill vacancies in the legislature caused by Governor Reeder throwing ont illegal votes.
(4) 1855, October 1 .- Election of delegate to congress, provided for by the terri- torial legislature. No free state men vote. J. W. Whitfield reelected.
(5) 1855, October 9 .- Election of delegate to eongress, as provided for by the free state convention at Big Springs. Total vote east for A. H. Reeder; free state men only voting.
(6) 1855, October 9 .- Election of delegates to the Topeka constitutional con- vention; only free state men participate.
(7) 1855, December 15 .- Election on the adoption or rejection of the Topeka con- stitution. Free state men only vote.
(8) 1856, January 15 .- Election of state officers, delegate to congress, and mem- bers of the legislature, under the Topeka constitution; free state men only vote.
(9) 1856, October 6 .- Territorial election for delegate to eongress, for members of the legislature, and on the question of calling a convention to form a state constitution. Free state men do not vote.
(10) 1857, June 15 .- Election of delegates to the Lecompton constitutional con- vention. Free state men do not vote.
(11) 1857, August 9 .- Election of officers under the Topeka constitution, member of congress, and members of the legislature, and the resubmission of the con- stitution itself; free state men only vote.
(12) 1857, October 5, 6 .- Election of territorial legislature and delegate to con- gress. All parties vote. The vote, as ordered by the legislature of 1855, was viva voce. Section 9, chapter 66, of the statutes of 1855, provided that if all the votes offered could not be taken before the hour appointed for elos- ing. the judges should, by proclamation, adjourn to the following day, and the election to be continued as before. The bogus vote at Oxford was polled on October 6th, and was thrown out, because it was physically impossible to register so many in one day. There seems to have been no other election at which the voting was extended into the second day. On the first day at Oxford 91 votes were polled, and on the second day 1538.
(13) 1857, December 21 .- Election on the Lecompton constitution, with or with- out slavery, as provided by the convention. Free state men abstain from voting.
(14) 1858, January 4 .- Election of state officers, members of the legislature, and delegate to congress, as provided for by the Lecompton constitution. Both participate. The free state vote for governor, compared with the vote east against the constitution, made it apparent that 3351 free state men who visited the polls took no part in the election for state offieers. The free state eandi- dates, however, prevailed by majorities ranging from 311 to 696; but this was rendered nugatory by the ultimate defeat of the constitution.
(15) 1858, January 4 .- Election on the adoption or rejection of the Lecompton constitution, ordered by the territorial legislature, special session, now free state, called for the purpose by Secretary Frederiek P. Stanton. Only free state men vote.
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(16) 1858, March 9 .- Election of delegates to Leavenworth constitutional con- vention, as provided for by the territorial legislature. Only free state men vote.
(17) 1858, May 18 .- Election on the Leavenworth constitution and state officers under it. Only free state men vote.
(18) 1858, August 2 .- Election on the Lecompton constitution as submitted by the English bill. Both parties participate.
(19) 1858, October 4 .- Election of members of the territorial house of represen- tatives and superintendent of schools.
(20) 1859, March 28 .- Election for or against a constitutional convention.
(21) 1859, June 7 .- Election of delegates to the Wyandotte constitutional con- vention.
(22) 1859, October 4 .- Election on the adoption or rejection of the Wyandotte constitution.
(23) 1859, November 8 .- Election of delegate to congress and territorial legislature.
(24) 1859, December 6 .- Election of state officers, members of the legislature, and representative to congress under the Wyandotte constitution.
(25) 1860, November 6 .- Election of territorial legislature.
The state was admitted January 29, 1861, and began business with the officers and legislature elected December 6, 1859, the latter assem- bling for the first time March 26, 1861.
Vol. I-10
CHAPTER XIV.
THE WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTION.
THE ROLL OF THE CONVENTION-A CONVENTION OF YOUNG MEN- REPUBLICAN "WHIPS," INGALLS AND SIMPSON-THE ORGANIZATION- OHIO CONSTITUTION FOLLOWED-RESOLUTIONS TO CONGRESS-CLOSED THE DOOR TO SLAVERY-REFUSED TO INCLUDE PART OF NEBRASKA-WOMAN'S INFLUENCE IN TIIE CONVENTION-DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS REFUSED TO SIGN-CONSTITUTION APPROVED BY THE PEOPLE-CONGRESS SLOW TO ACT -WHEN THE NEWS REACHED KANSAS-THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF STATE- HOOD.
In the five years of territorial Kansas three constitutions had been framed. The Topeka constitution prohibited slavery. The Lecompton constitution sanctioned slavery. The Leavenworth went even farther than the Topeka constitution by leaving out the word "white." Three constitutions ! And no statehood for Kansas in sight.
And then it came to pass that the constitution which was forever to banish slavery from Kansas soil, the constitution that was to endure, and the one under which Kansas was to rise to the stars, through diffi- culties, was to be framed.
The convention met in Wyandotte July 5, 1859. It was in session twenty-one days. At the close, it gave to Kansas a constitution which reflected the pluck and progressiveness of her citizens. It was ap- proved by the votes of the people October 4, 1859, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas became a state.
And thus the Wyandot Indians, who had started the movement for territorial government for Kansas, had a share in the glory of estab- lishing statehood for Kansas.
The convention was held in Lipman Myer's hall. The building stood back of the old Wyandotte levee at First street and Nebraska avenue. Its walls were constructed of brick, its area was two hundred and thirty-nine feet by one hundred feet, and it rose to a height of four stories. It was, at the time of the convention, the largest building in the territory of Kansas, and Wyandotte, then emerging from an Indian village to an incorporated town, aspired to be the greatest city on the Missouri river above St. Louis. The lower floors were used as a warehouse and old citizens who were in Wyandotte fifty years or
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more ago tell of great cargoes of merchandise brought up the Missouri river on steamboats for distribution in the Kansas territory. The upper tloors of the building in which was the "hall" had been used for public gatherings and for meetings of secret societies. It was the regular meeting place of the "Whangdoodles," a celebrated fraternal association of the early days. The lodge was organized by Jean Chaf- fee, a Wyandot Indian, who got the idea in California. It is said that the "Whangdoodles" had a large tin bathtub, in which new members were initiated. The bathtub was drawn over the floor with a long rope until the tin in the bottom became heated from the friction on the floor; and that is when the victim began to suffer.
UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY CO E. D. UMINH
TIIE BUILDING IN WHICH THE WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WAS HIELD, AS IT LOOKED AFTER TIIE CIVIL WAR.
At the beginning of the Civil war, when men were rallying to the call for troops, a company of freshly organized volunteers was drilling in the hall, and a part of the building tumbled down. A few years later, when the Kansas division of the Union Pacifie Railway was builded west from Wyandotte, the part of the building then standing became the headquarters and terminal station of the railroad. It was decorated with large signs that read "Union Pacific Railway Company, E. D.," the two last letters signifying "Eastern Division."
In later years what was left of the building was burned. A grain elevator, one of the largest in Kansas, operated in connection with the
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Chicago-Great Western Railway, now occupies the site. The old levee, once washed away, has been restored, but the river traffic, which was the pride of the people of old Wyandotte in the fifties and sixties, is gone.
THE ROLL OF THE CONVENTION.
The convention was composed of thirty-five Republicans and seven- teen Democrats. The delegates and the counties represented were as follows :
Republicans : J. M. Winchell, Osage, president; J. M. Arthur, Linn ; James Blood and N. C. Blood, Donglas; J. G. Blunt, Anderson; J. C. Burnett, Bourbon ; J. T. Burris, Johnson ; Allen Crocker, Coffee: W. P. Dutton, Lykins; Robert Graham, Atchison; J. P. Greer, Shawnee; W. R. Griffith, Bourbon ; James Hanway, Franklin; S. E. Hoffman, Wood- son ; S. D. Houston, Riley ; William Hutchinson, Douglas; J. J. Ingalls, Atchison ; S. A. Kingman, Brown; Josiah Lamb, Linn; G. H. Lillie, Madison ; Caileb May, Atchison ; William MeCollough, Morris; J. A. Middleton, Marshall; L. R. Palmer, Pottawatomie; R. J. Porter, Doni- phan ; II. D. Preston and John Richie, Shawnee; E. G. Ross, Waban- see; J. A. Signor, Allen : B. F. Simpson, Lykins; Edwin Stokes, S. O. Thacher, P. H. Townsend and R. L. Williams, Douglas, and T. S. Wright, Nemaha.
Democrats: J. T. Barton, Johnson; Fred Brown, Leavenworth; J. W. Forman, Doniphan ; R. C. Foster and Sam Hipple, Leavenworth ; E. M. Hubbard, Doniphan; C. B. MeClellan. Jefferson; W. C. MeDowell, and A. D. MeCune, Leavenworth ; E. Moore, Jackson; J. S. Parks, and William Perry and J. P. Slough, Leavenworth ; J. Stairwalt, Doniphan ; S. A. Stinson, Leavenworth ; B. Wrigley, Doniphan, and John Wright, Leavenworth.
A CONVENTION OF YOUNG MEN.
It was a notable convention that framed the constitution under which Kansas was admitted. Most of the members were not known in Kansas politics. Such leaders as Charles Robinson and Jim Lane did not figure at Wyandotte. But the young men there present were the future leaders of Kansas. Out of the convention came two United States senators, John J. Ingalls and Edmund G. Ross, and a chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas, Samuel A. Kingman. B. F. Simpson was the first attorney general under statehood and later was speaker of the Kansas house, a member of the senate, a supreme court commissioner and United States marshal. Solon O. Thacher, of Law- rence, became a district judge. William C. MeDowell was also a dis- trict judge, while John T. Burris became United States district attor- ney, lieutenant colonel and has had a long career as a district and pro-
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bate judge in Johnson county. Sammuel A. Stinson was attorney general of Kansas. John A. Martin, the youthful secretary of the convention, was twice ehosen governor. W. R. Griffith was once superintendent of public instruction. John P. Slough was a brigadier general and James Bhint was a major general in the United States army in the Civil war and later a district judge of Wyandotte county. W. R. Davis, the chaplain, became a colonel in the war and other members served in the Kansas house and senate.
Lawyers usually are much in the majority in a constitutional eon- vention ; but it was not so in the convention that framed the Wyandotte constitution for Kansas. Only eighteen of the fifty-two delegates were lawyers. Sixteen were farmers, and they had something to say, too.
The oldest man in the convention was Robert Graham, of Atchison county, who was fifty-five. The youngest was B. F. Simpson, who was twenty-three. Only fifteen of the fifty-two were over forty years of age ; more than one-third were under thirty, and nearly two-thirds under thirty-five. One-half of the members had been in the territory less than two years. Forty-one were from northern states, seven from the south and four were foreign born.
Wyandotte county had not been formed when the act was passed by the territorial legislature, February 11, 1859, providing for the eon- stitutional convention. One week later the legislature created Wyan- dotte county out of parts of Leavenworth and Johnson counties. In Wyandotte county the citizens went ahead and elected two delegates to the convention, Dr. J. E. Bennett and Dr. J. B. Welborn, but that was as far as it went. When the convention met it refused to recognize the two physicians as delegates, on the ground that Wyandotte county was represented by two delegates from Leavenworth county. But there was another reason. It was a Republican convention and the two Wyandotte doctors were Demoerats. A duel almost resulted from the refusal of the convention to recognize the Wyandotte county delegates. Samuel S. Kingman was one of the men who openly opposed the seating of the delegates. In his speech he said something that offended Doc- tor Bennett, and the doctor promptly challenged him to a duel. But Kingman refused to accept the challenge.
REPUBLICAN " WHIPS," INGALLS AND SIMPSON.
Politically the convention contained thirty-five Republicans and seventeen Democrats. John J. Ingalls and Benjamin F. Simpson were the Republican whips, and the minority leaders were Samuel Stinson and John P. Slough, both lawyers. Judge John T. Burris, listed as a Republican in the convention, became a Democrat in the revolt of 1872. Stinson was one of the brightest men in the convention. Ile was a little, wiry, black-headed man who had come west from Maine, and, with
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his oratory, keen wit and a knowledge of parliamentary law, he made himself felt in the deliberations. As for Ingalls, it seemed that he sat up at night to look up new adjectives to use in his sarcastie speeches. He was about twenty-six. He studied Webster's dictionary more than any other man in this part of the country. It is recalled that Ingalls, as he appeared at that time, was about six feet tall.
The Wyandotte convention was the first constitutional convention in Kansas in which all factions participated, and it was organized on party lines. An informal Republican canens was held to decide as to who should be secretary. There were a number of applicants, but when somebody suggested John A. Martin, of Atchison, there was general acquiescence. Martin was little more than a boy, but he had bought out the Pro-Slavery paper at Atchison and had turned it into a Free State journal, so he was favorably known. He was discreet and sen- sible and very attentive to his work-as, indeed, he was to everything he undertook.
The most striking thing about Ingalls at that time. was his hat. It was a broad-brimmed straw with every other straw removed and the rrown punched up to a point. There was a tow string attached to it. Altogether it was about the most curious hat the natives ever saw. In- galls did not take much part in the general debate. But he was a Wil- liams man and was looked on as the scholar of the convention. So he was made chairman of the committee on phraseology.
Ross, who also in later years became a United States senator, was editor of a weekly paper in Topeka at that time. He had no ability as a speaker, but he had extraordinary good judgment; was earnest in his convictions and broad-minded.
The most influential Republicans were Kingman and Thacher. Of the Democrats, Stinson and McDowell were especially able men. Stin- son was the most influential man of the convention on every matter in which party lines were not drawn.
The most effective speech in the convention, Ben F. Simpson once remarked, was Thacher's protest against the exelision of negroes from Kansas. All the Democrats and several of the Republicans favored the exclusion, but the motion to that effect was defeated. In general, the discussions were amieable.
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