USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
The Prohibition state convention was held at Emporia on May II. James Kerr was nominated for governor; S. F. Gould, for lieutenant- governor ; T. D. Talmage, for secretary of state; C. A. Smith, for audi- tor ; C. A. Fogle, for treasurer ; J. M. Martin, for attorney-general ; J. J. Harnley, for superintendent of public instruction ; M. V. B. Bennett, for associate justice (only one nominated) ; L. B. Dubbs, J. N. Woods and A. C. Kennedy, for railroad commissioners; Jesse Evans, for superin- tendent of insurance; and Duncan McFarland, for Congressman at large.
The Populist convention in April adjourned to Aug. 3, when a joint convention of Democrats and the Populists who favored fusion met at Topeka and nominated a state ticket, which was as follows: Governor, David M. Dale; lieutenant-governor, M. A. Householder; secretary of state, John H. Curran ; auditor, W. H. McDonald ; treasurer, Thomas M. Dolan ; attorney-general, W. W. Wells ; superintendent of public instruc- tion, Martin R. Howard; associate justice, John T. Little; superin- tendent of insurance, John Stowell; railroad commissioners, F. H. Chase and William M. Ferguson; Congressman at large, Frank Brady. Of these candidates, Dale, Curran, Dolan, Howard and Ferguson were Democrats, the others Populists. Some time after the convention M. B. Nicholson and S. H. Allen were added to the ticket as candidates for the office of associate justice, but the third place for railroad commis- sioner was never filled. The platform adopted indorsed Parker and Davis as the candidates of the Democratic party for president and vice- president and the platform adopted by the national convention held at St. Louis on July 8; favored state legislation protecting labor as well as capital; the redistricting of the state so as to provide for eight Con- gressional districts ; home rule in counties and cities ; revision .of the tax laws; and pledged the candidates nominated to secure the passage of a law that would make it impossible for the state treasurer to use the pub- lic funds for speculation.
The Socialists again presented a ticket, to-wit: Governor, Granville Lowther; lieutenant-governor, A. Roessler; secretary of state, A. S. McAllister ; auditor, George D. Brewer; treasurer, J. E. Taylor; attor- ney-general, F. L. McDermott ; superintendent of public instruction, C.
I28
CYCLOPEDIA OF
W. Baker; superintendent of insurance, W. J. McMillan; associate jus- tices, G. C. Clemens, S. A. Smith and R. A. Ross; railroad commis- sioners, W. D. Street, J. D. Haskell and Frank Baldwin; Congressman at large, Christopher Bishir.
At the election on Nov. 8 the Republican presidential electors carried the state by a plurality of 126,781, and the entire Republican state ticket was elected, the vote for governor being as follows: Hoch, 186,731 ; Dale, 116,991 ; Kerr, 6,584 ;. Lowther, 12,101. The two constitutional amendments were ratified by substantial majorities.
Toward the close of Gov. Bailey's administration the governor filed bills with the auditor for groceries, to be paid out of the $2,000 appro- priated for the maintenance of the governor's residence. The state treasurer declined to pay the bills, claiming that such payment out of the maintenance fund was equivalent to an increase in compensation, which was prohibited by the constitution. Gov. Bailey, in order to have the question properly settled, instituted mandamus proceedings in the supreme court of the state to compel the treasurer to pay the bills. The case was still pending when the governor retired from office. Subse- quently the court sustained the treasurer. That there was no evidence of wrong intent on the part of Gov. Bailey, he sent the attorney-general a draft for $1,200, without the formality of a suit, to replace the money he had expended for groceries. In the letter accompanying the draft the governor said :
"I am prompted to pay this amount into the state treasury on account of the position taken by yourself and certain newspapers that the state has a just claim against me under the decision of the supreme court. I have lived in Kansas twenty-six years, which period covers my active business life, and no just claim against me has ever been presented and stamped 'not paid for want of funds.' There is always a very wide difference of opinion among my friends as to whether I should pay this pretended claim; but I feel that in paying this money into the state treasury I can wrong no one but myself, and that I can better afford to suffer this wrong that I can to rest under the imputation that I have misappropriated one dollar of the funds entrusted to my care as governor of Kansas."
Baileyville, a village of Nemaha county, is located on the St. Joseph & Grand Island and the Missouri Pacific railroads, 6 miles west of Seneca, the county seat. It has banking facilities, express and telegraph offices and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 250. The town was founded by N. Bailey in 1880. A postoffice with G. M. Rasp as postmaster was established. A large hay press and sheds were erected by S. H. Rice & Co. of St. Joseph, who also started a store for the benefit of their employees and others who settled in the neighborhood.
Baker, a village of Brown county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 8 miles south of Hiawatha, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural route, express and telegraph offices, telephone
129
KANSAS HISTORY
connection, does some shipping, and in 1910 reported a population of II2.
Baker, James, scout and frontiersman, usually referred to as "Jim" Baker, was a native of Illinois. At the age of 18 years he was on the Great Plains as an employee of the American Fur company, and it is said that he was never again east of the Missouri river. Next to Kit Carson, he was Gen. Fremont's most trusted scout and guide. As a trapper he was exceedingly skillful, and in one season took over $9,000 worth of furs. After that he retired to the mountains, where he passed the remainder of his life. He married a Snake Indian woman and lived much of his time with that tribe, though in his earlier years he made his headquarters at Bent's fort on the Arkansas river. Gen. Marcy, who knew Baker well, says he was "a generous, noble-hearted specimen of the trapper type, who would peril his life for a friend at any time, or divide his last morsel of food."
Baker, Lucien, lawyer and United States senator, was born in Fulton county, Ohio, in 1845, of English and Dutch ancestry. His parents were old-time Methodists and his father, who was a lawyer by profes- sion, insisted that his three sons study law, which they did. When Lucien was a child his parents moved to Lenawee county, Mich., where he was reared. At the age of 18 years he entered Adrian College, Adrian, Mich., but did not complete the course, leaving when a junior. Later that college conferred upon him the degree of LL. B. After leav- ing college be became a student in the law office of Andrew Howell, of Adrian, and in Sept., 1868, was admitted to the bar. During the winter of 1868-69 he attended the law department of the University of Mich- igan and upon finishing his legal training there located at Leavenworth, Kan., and began the practice of his profession in partnership with Lewis Burns. In 1872 he was elected city attorney at Leavenworth and dur- ing the time he held that office he gained a reputation as a lawyer of signal ability. Two years later he resigned and for two years devoted his entire time to his profession. In 1892 he entered politics as a candi- date for state senator from the Leavenworth district and though he was a Republican and the district Democratic he was elected by à large ma- jority. He took a prominent part in the legislative fight of 1893. In Jan., 1895, he was elected to the United States senate for a term of six years. Upon retiring from the senate in 1901 Mr. Baker practiced law in Leavenworth with his son, under the firm name of Baker & Baker. He was in an enfeebled condition for some time as the result of a bullet wound received in 1881, in the famous Thurston-Anthony feud. When Thurston shot at D. R. Anthony the bullet went wild and struck Baker. He died on June 22, 1907, at Leavenworth. In 1874 Mr. Baker married Mary Higginbotham of Leavenworth and they had two children: Burt, his father's partner, and Mary, who married Capt. Lowndes, a surgeon of the United States navy.
Baker University .- In the fall of 1856, the Kansas and Nebraska an- nual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church held its first session
(I-9)
130
CYCLOPEDIA OF
in a tent at Lawrence. The interest of the Methodists in education is manifest in the report of the committee on education, a paragraph of which reads: "Your committee are of the opinion that the Kansas and Nebraska conference should avail itself through its members, of the earliest opportunities to secure favorable sites for seminaries of learning or universities under our own immediate management and control, and to take such preliminary measures as may be necessary to secure titles to the same and to secure the passage of such legislative acts as may be necessary to constitute boards of trustees, who may hold such prop- erty, real estate, personal or mixed, for the use and benefits of such semi- naries or universities ; and to secure grants of land and other property to aid in building and endowing such institutions of learning within our bounds."
In March, 1857, an educational convention of the Methodist Episcopal church was held at Palmyra, 15 miles south of Lawrence on the Santa Fe trail. At this meeting a school was located at Palmyra, and the name Baker University was chosen in honor of Bishop Osman C. Baker, who presided over the first session of the Kansas and Nebraska annual conference. At this time the Kansas Educational Association of the Methodist Episcopal church was organized, and on Feb. 3, 1858, obtained
1
LIBRARY, BAKER UNIVERSITY.
a charter from the territorial legislature with the privilege of locating an educational institution at or near the town of Palmyra, since called Baldwin. On Feb. 12, 1858, the institution was chartered under the name planned (Baker University). A stone building for the university was commenced at once and was ready for occupancy the following autumn. This building is now known as the old castle ; it passed out
131
KANSAS HISTORY
of the hands of the university but has been repurchased and will be preserved as a memorial of early days.
School opened in Nov., 1858, with Prof. R. Cunningham as principal, until the arrival of the first president, Rev. Werter R. Davis, in 1859. The first meeting of the board of trustees was held at Omaha in April, 1859, the conference having met there. The Methodist church by its representatives passed the following resolution : "Resolved that this conference pledge its best efforts to build up and sustain Baker Uni- versity as the one great university in Kansas."
The drought of 1860 and the Civil war retarded the progress of, but did not annihilate the school. The first catalogue was published for the year 1862-63. In 1863-64 the increase in enrollment created a demand for a new building, and an agent went east to collect funds. The result of his efforts was the beginning of a cut stone building, 60 by 80 feet and four stories high, which was not finished until 1870.
In 1866 the first class of three members was graduated. During the period from 1858 to 1870, the college had the following presidents : Rev. Werter R. Davis, 1858-62; Rev. George W. Paddock (nominal) ; Rev. Leonard L. Hartman (acting), 1862-64; Rev. Leonard L. Hartman, 1864-65; Rev. John W. Locke, 1865 to March, 1866; John W. Horner, March, 1866, to Aug., 1867; Elial J. Rice, Aug., 1867, to Dec., 1868; Rev. Werter R. Davis, Dec., 1868, to March, 1869; Rev. John A. Simpson, March, 1869, to Dec., 1869; Rev. Werter R. Davis, Dec., 1869, to March, 1870; Rev. Patterson McNutt, March, 1870, to June, 1871. The growth of the institution during these years had been fitful and precarious, but continuous. A library of 2,000 volumes, a scientific collection, and enough apparatus to conduct the school had been accumulated.
In 1873 the Kansas conference appointed educational commissioners to investigate the financial and legal status of the university. Reports of its involved conditions agitated the question of its removal. The report of the commissioners helped to restore confidence, and the con- ference pledged itself anew to support the school and pay all indebted- ness, regardless of legal flaws in the claims. In the next few years con- ference endowment funds were started, and subscriptions solicited but the poverty of the state made the debts decrease slowly. Frequent changes were made in the president's office. Rev. Robert L. Hartford served from 1871-1873; Rev. S. S. Weatherby (acting), 1873-1874; Rev. Joseph Dennison, 1874-1879; Rev. William H. Sweet, 1879-1886; Rev. Hillary A. Gobin, 1886-1890:
The decade from 1880 to 1890 witnessed a change for the better in the struggle for prosperous growth. The catalogue of 1880-81 stated that in the literary department alone the average attendance throughout the year had been more than double that of any year for the past twelve years. In 1885, Centenary Hall, a stone and brick building 62 by 82 feet and two stories above the basement, was completed. In 1890 William A. Quayle became president of Baker. With the beginning of the school year 1889 proper and continuous work on endowment was commenced.
132
CYCLOPEDIA OF
Up to that time little had been done toward creating a permanent fund, but from that year to 1911 the university has systematically solicited and received gifts until it has an endowment fund of $400,000. Mr. Quayle resigned in 1894 and was succeeded by Lemuel H. Murlin.
With the betterment of financial conditions the size and quality of the curriculum increased. Almost at the beginning two courses of study were given-classical and scientific. These have developed into eight schools, including the summer school which is held each year during the months of June and July.
The government of the institution is vested in a board of trustees, elected by the Kansas and South Kansas conferences of the Methodist Episcopal church. The university issues three publications, The Baker University Bulletin, "The Baker Orange," and The Baker University News-Letter.
Baker University stands seventh in rank among the fifty or more Methodist colleges of America. The campus contains about 20 acres in the heart of Baldwin. The buildings number six and the corps of in- structors 40. The university has seven departments, the college of lib- eral arts has 378 students ; the normal school 35; the academy 152; the school of art 13: the school of oratory 99; the school of business 55; making a total of 732.
Baker, William, lawyer and member of Congress, was born in Wash- ington county, Pa., April 29, 1831. His youth was spent on a farm and he received the schooling common to the country boy of that period. He wished a more liberal education, however, to secure which he entered Waynesburg College, where he graduated in 1856. For some years he followed teaching as a profession, at the same time reading law, and was admitted to the bar. Mr. Baker decided to go west and located at Lincoln, Kan., where he took an active part in politics. In 1800 he was nominated and elected to Congress by the People's party and reëlected to fill the same office in 1892 and again in 1894. After retiring from Congress he devoted his time to farming and stock raising.
Bala, a hamlet near the west line of Riley county, is located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. in Bala township, 29 miles north- west of Manhattan, the county seat. It is supplied with telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 100. It received its name from a town in North Wales. A. D. Phelps, the first settler in the neighborhood, came in 1862.
Baldwin, one of the oldest settlements and the second largest city in Douglas county, is situated in the southeastern portion on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. about 15 miles from Lawrence. The first set- tlement near the present town site, was made in 1854, by Robert and Richard Pierson. In June, 1854. a town site consisting of 320 acres, was platted by the Palmyra Town company, which was composed of the following men: James Blood, president ; Robert Pierson, the Baricklaw brothers, J. B. Abbott, Capt. Saunders, Amasa Soule, L. F. and D. F.
I33
KANSAS HISTORY
Green, Dr. A. T. Still and D. Fry. They named the town Palmyra, and the first building was soon erected and used for a dwelling. W. West- fall built a second cabin and opened a store. The town company erected a building known as the old barracks, which was also used as a store. A hotel was also built by the company and used for that purpose and a store under the name of the Santa Fe House. Dr. Simmons and Dr. Pierson were the first physicians, as they opened offices in Palmyra in 1855, at which time the town had several stores, a good hotel for that period, a number of houses and seemed on the highway to prosperity. The postoffice was established in 1856, with N. Blood as postmaster. Religious services were held by the Methodist church in 1855, and late in the year an organization was perfected.
In 1858, the town company purchased a section of land adjoining Pal- myra on the north and donated it to the Kansas Educational Association of the Methodist Episcopal church on the condition that they locate an institution of learning known as Baker University on the site. The sec- tion of land was surveyed into lots and sold, the proceeds being used to erect the college building. (See Baker University.) As the work on the university building progressed and the institution became an as- sured thing, houses were erected in its vicinity, and the new town site was named Baldwin, in honor of John Baldwin, of Berea, Ohio. Busi- ness houses were erected and one by one the business enterprises of Palmyra moved to Baldwin. John Baldwin erected a saw and grist mill, an important concern in those days, and inaugurated other commercial enterprises, which proved the death blows to the old town, which has become one of the "deserted villages" of Kansas. The Baldwin of today is a city of beautiful homes, churches, excellent retail stores of all kinds, a fine public school, water and lighting systems, money order postoffice, telegraph, express and telephone facilities, and is regarded as one of the educational centers of the state. In 1910 it had a population of 1,265.
Ball, a rural postoffice of Gove county, is about 10 miles east of Gove, the county seat, and 3 miles north of Hackberry. Quinter on the Union Pacific is the most convenient railroad station.
Ballard's Falls, a little hamlet of Washington county, is on the Little Blue river, about 12 miles east of Washington, the county seat, and 5 miles north of Barnes, from which place mail is received by rural free delivery.
Bancroft, a village of Nemaha county, is located in Wetmore town- ship on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 19 miles southeast of Seneca, the county seat. It has banking facilities, express and telegraph offices and a postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 125.
Bank Commissioner .- Prior to 1891 no attempt had been made in Kansas for state regulation of the business of banking, and as a result a number of institutions that were organized as real estate and loan com- panies, as well as individuals and firms, whose principal business was entirely foreign to legitimate banking, were engaged in receiving de- posits. Many of these concerns had not only their entire capital, but
I34
CYCLOPEDIA OF
also much of the deposits invested in unprofitable and unsalable real estate. Under these conditions the necessity for a uniform banking law became imperative and in 1891 the legislature passed a law, "providing for the organization and regulation of banks." A bank commissioner was also provided for by the act, section 21 of which reads as follows : "The governor shall appoint, by and with the advise and consent of the senate, a bank commissioner for the State of Kansas, whose term of office shall be four years." A deputy bank commissioner was also pro- vided for, but any officer, employee, owner, stockholder or person inter- ested in a bank, was made ineligible for the office of bank commissioner or deputy. The commissioner and the deputy are required to furnish bonds for the sums of $20,000 and $10,000 respectively. Every bank doing business in the state, except national banks, must be visited by the commissioner or his deputy at least once a year, or oftener if necessary, for an investigation into the financial standing of the institution.
By the provisions of the law, the commissioner and his deputy are empowered to investigate all persons connected with banks when mak- ing an investigation, and report the same in writing. A graduated fee was to be charged for these examinations ranging from $5 for banks of $5,000 capital stock to $20 for banks of $50,000 capital stock and over. It was also provided that the bank commissioner could call on all banks, except national banks, at any time for a report of their condition, and. four such reports were to be made each year. When a bank became in- solvent, it was the duty of the bank commissioner to take charge of it until a receiver was appointed. By the law creating the office of com- missioner he was required in each even numbered year, to report to the governor the "names of owners or principal officer, the paid-up capital of each, the number of banks in the state, the name and location of each and the number and date of examinations and reports of and by each." As fixed by this act, the bank commissioner received a salary of $2.500 and his deputy a salary of $1,200 and all traveling expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
Charles F. Johnson was the first bank commissioner. He was suc- ceeded by John W. Breidenthal, who made a special report upon the banks of Kansas on Dec. 19, 1893, which showed the condition of all national, state and private banks doing business in the state.
A second banking law was passed in 1897 by which banks were re- quired to secure a charter of incorporation from the state and when a banking institution had complied with all the requirements of the law, a certificate is issued by the bank commissioner authorizing the bank to transact business. Each bank in the state, by this law, is required to make four reports annually to the commissioner, or oftener if he calls for them, and the commissioner is given power to enforce the banking law. By this law two deputies, a clerk and stenographer were provided to assist in the work done by the commissioner, since which time the force has been increased according to the amount of work to be done. At an early date the bank commissioner advocated a state bank guaran-
1
I35
KANSAS HISTORY
tee law and it is due to the efforts of the commissioner that this excel- lent law was placed upon the statute books of Kansas. (See Banking.)
Bankers' Association .- The Kansas Bankers' Association was organ- ized on Feb. 22, 1887, at Topeka, with 60 members. The purpose of the organization is set forth in the preamble of the constitution a summary of which is as follows: To promote the general interest of the common- wealth of Kansas; the usefulness of the banks and the financial institu- tions of the state; the cultivation of acquaintanceship among the bank- ers; and through the medium of periodical conventions to bring about the full and free discussion of questions pertaining to the financial and commercial interests of the country ; to consider matters of legislation of interest to both state and national banks and to preserve and dis- seminate information of interest to its members and to the general pub- lic. Following out the lines thus laid down in the constitution, the as- sociation has held annual conventions in various cities of Kansas. From the original membership of 60 it has grown to be an organization having a membership on May 1, 1911, of between 900 and 1,000.
The proceedings of the association have been published each year, and their contents constitute a valuable contribution to the financial literature of the country, as the papers presented at the conventions have been prepared by the ablest financiers of the state. Another feat- ure which has made the association of great value to the state has been its zeal in safeguarding legislation. As students of financial questions, the counsels of the bankers of Kansas, through the association, have been of great value in framing legislation and assisting in the deliberations of the legislature upon the same. As a result, much that is valuable in the body of commercial laws of Kansas, has either originated with the asso- ciation or is due to the support given it by the bankers. The third feat- ure, and one fully as important as the others, is that which has for its object the apprehension and conviction of criminals. By a system of rewards, and other means, professional criminals have been overtaken in their career of crime, sentenced and imprisoned. Through warning notices by circular, telephone or telegraph, banks are advised of the operations of crooks and swindlers; descriptions are given of the per- son or criminal, if known, and of his methods of operating. A vast amount of correspondence is carried on by the association in search of the whereabouts of criminals in order to prevent bank robberies.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.