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 21
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Berryton, a little village of Shawnee county, is a station on the Mis- souri Pacific R. R., 9 miles southeast of the city of Topeka. It has a money order postoffice with one rural delivery route, and is a trading center for the neighborhood in which it is located. The population in 1910 was 75.
Berwick, a little station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. in Nemaha county, is located 18 miles northeast of Seneca, the county seat, and 3 miles from Sabetha. It has telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 31.
Bethany College, located at Lindsborg, Kan., was founded in 1881, and is carried on under the auspices of the Swedish Lutheran church. The purpose of the founders was to establish a school, "imparting higher education founded on the principles of Evangelical Christianity." Rev. Carl A. Swensson, who had been elected pastor of the Bethany Lutheran church of Lindsborg in 1878, was active in organizing the school or academy and became its first president.
The first building of the school contained recitation rooms and a dormitory for men, while a separate dormitory was provided for the female students. School opened on Oct. 15, 1881, with J. A. Udden as teacher, and about 30 students enrolled. The following year the Smoky Valley district of the Kansas conference of the Augustana synod took charge of the institution; a board of directors was appointed, and soon afterward the college was incorporated under a state charter.
In 1883 a large dormitory was erected for male students and two years later a main building was erected to furnish class rooms, a chapel museum, library and science departments. The institution passed into the hands of the Kansas conference in the spring of 1885, and the name was changed to Bethany College and Normal Institute. From that time its progress was both rapid and satisfactory. The school began to out- grow its quarters, new buildings were needed, and with this end in view the name was changed to Bethany College in Dec. 1886. The charter also was changed so that the college was invested with power to convey academic degrees.
The conservatory of music was begun in 1882, and the school of busi- ness in 1884. In the fall of 1886 the model school was added, and in 1900 the school of fine arts, but this was later combined with the school of music, and today the college has the following departments: Pre-
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paratory, normal, commercial, collegiate, a model school, art depart- ment and a conservatory that has gained a wide reputation throughout the state.
LIBRARY AND MAIN BUILDING, BETHANY COLLEGE.
Bethany has a fine main building equipped with every convenience for recitation rooms and laboratories, a women's dormitory accommodat- ing 92 students, a dormitory for men, an art hall, the Swedish pavilion of the Louisiana Purchase exposition, which was donated, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 3,000 and a $5,000 pipe organ, a gymnasium and the Carnegie library. The student body consists mostly of the Lutheran youth of the state and the college has an annual enrollment of several hundred. In 1910, Ernst F. Pihlbrand was president of the col- lege and C. F. Carlbert, vice-president.
One of the first steps taken by the school after its organization was the formation of a chorus and orchestra to sing the Messiah, the pro- ceeds to go toward the support of the school. Since that time the oratorio has been sung twenty-five times at Lindsborg under the direc- tion of the musical department, and during Holy Week people come from many parts of the state to hear this chorus as there is no other like it in the country.
Bethel, a post hamlet in the central portion of Wyandotte county, is situated on the Missouri Pacific R. R., about 10 miles west of Kansas City, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, which is the cen-
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ter of two rural free delivery routes, telegraph and express facilities, and in 1910 had a population of 25.
Bethel College .- As early as 1882 a Mennonite seminary was estab- lished at Halstead, Harvey county. When the Kansas conference of the Mennonite church met in 1887 the city of Newton came forward with an offer of financial aid if the conference would undertake to establish a college at that place. The result was the organization by the confer- ence of the Bethel College corporation, which was to have full charge of the establishment and control of the institution. Bethel College was opened to students on Sept. 20, 1893. The biennial report of the state superintendent of public instruction for 1893-94 gave the value of the property belonging to the college as $114,100, of which $45,000 was represented by buildings, and $68,000 as a permanent endowment. Since then the institution has kept pace with other schools of its character. Six departments are presented to students, viz: Collegiate, Academic, Music, Fine Arts, Elocution and Commercial. Probably no school in the state offers better opportunities for the study of the German language.
Beulah, a village of Sheridan township, Crawford county, is a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. 5 miles south of Girard, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, express and telegraph ser- vice, a good local trade, and in 1910 reported a population of 100.
Beverly, an incorporated town of Lincoln county, is situated in Colo- rado township and is a station on the Salina & Plainville division of the Union Pacific R. R. II miles east of Lincoln, the county seat. Bev- erly was settled in 1886, incorporated in 1904, and in 1910 reported a population of 335. It has two banks, two creameries, a number of well stocked general stores, a good public school, a money order postoffice with one rural route, telegraph and express service, telephone connec- tion with the surrounding towns, and does considerable shipping.
Bickerdyke, Mary Ann, familiarly known as "Mother Bickerdyke," army nurse and philanthropist, was born near Mt. Vernon, Ohio, July 19, 1817. Her father, Hiram Bell, was a descendant of the Pilgrims, and her mother of one of the first families of New York. Her childhood was spent upon a farm, where pure air and plenty of out door exercise de- veloped her into a woman strong in both mind and body. She entered Oberlin College, but was compelled by illness to leave just before grad- uating. Her first experience as a nurse was in the Cincinnati hospital during the cholera epidemic of 1837, and liking the work she continued in it for several years. On April 27, 1847, she became the wife of Robert Bickerdyke, in 1856 they removed to Galesburg, Ill., where her husband died about two years later, leaving her with two sons (James R. and Hiram) to support. Again she took to nursing, and it seems that she also practiced medicine, for the Galesburg directory for 1861 gives her occupation as physician.
When the Civil war broke out she was one of the leaders among the Galesburg women in providing necessities for the soldiers at the front.
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Later, when a physician in the Twenty-second Illinois infantry wrote home of the illness and lack of suitable care among the soldiers, Mother Bickerdyke's friends offered to care for her children if she would volun- teer to go to the front as a nurse. With $500 worth of hospital supplies she reported for duty at the regimental hospital.at Cairo, Ill. After the actions at Belmont, Fort Donelson and Shiloh she was in the field hos- pitals; followed the army in the Corinth and Atlanta campaigns; fre- quently went over battle fields at night, with lantern and simple rem- edies, searching for any wounded that might have been overlooked. Gen. McCook said she was "worth more to the Union army than many of us generals," and she was a great favorite with Gens. Sherman and Logan. In March, 1866, she was relieved from duty and returned to her home in Galesburg.
Her work in behalf of the soldiers was not ended, however. Thou- sands of men discharged from the army thronged the cities in search of employment. Mother Bickerdyke visited Kansas, where she found the conditions favorable for many of these men to obtain homes. She next appealed to wealthy friends for aid in carrying out her project. Jona- than Burr, a wealthy banker, gave her $10,000, and C. B. Hammond, the president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, promised free transportation for soldiers and their familes for two years. Gen. Sher- man, then in command at Fort Riley, allowed her the free use of govern- ment teams to transport the veterans and their goods to their home- steads, and between 1866 and 1868 over 300 families were settled in Kansas through her efforts. She also decided to make this state her home and settled at Salina, where she opened a hotel, popularly known as the Bickerdyke House.
After the Indian raids of 1868 she was active in behalf of the settlers, and it was due to her efforts that the war department issued rations for 500 people for ten months. She was also influential in securing the ap- propriations from the state for the purchase of seed grain for the settlers who had suffered from drought. In 1874, after spending four years in New York, she returned to Kansas to make her home with her sons on a ranch near Great Bend. That year and the next she made several visits to Illinois to solicit aid for the grasshopper sufferers. Her inces- sant labors undermined her health, and she spent two years in California. After her health was restored she secured employment in the United States mint at San Francisco.
Mother Bickerdyke was instrumental in securing pensions for more than 300 army nurses, her own being the mere pittance of $25 a month, and it was not granted until years after the close of the war. She was deeply interested in the work of the Woman's Relief Corps; belonged to the Order of the Eastern Star; and was an honorary member of the Society of the Army of the Tennesee, Mother Bickerdyke died at Bunker Hill, Ellsworth county, Nov. 8, 1901, but was buried at Gales- burg, Ill., beside her husband.
Big Blue River, one of the principal water-courses of northeastern
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Kansas, is composed of two branches. The north fork rises in Hamilton county, Neb., and the south fork in Adams county of the same state. They unite near the town of Crete, whence the main stream follows a southerly course, flowing through the western part of Marshall county, Kan., forming the boundary between the counties of Riley and Pottawa- tomie, and emptying its waters into the Republican river at Manhattan.
There is also a Big Blue river in Missouri, where a battle occurred on Oct. 22, 1864, in which a number of Kansas troops were engaged. The engagement was an incident of the Price raid. On the 21st Gen. Curtis, commanding the Union troops, was forced back from the Little Blue through Independence and took a position on the west side of the Big Blue, where he threw up fortifications and felled the trees in front of his works to form an abatis. The next morning he disposed his troops so that the right wing was composed of the First brigade (Col. Jenni- son), the second brigade (Col. Moonlight), the Fourth brigade (Col. Ford), and a brigade of Kansas militia commanded by Gen. M. S. Grant. With the right wing was McLain's Colorado battery. The left wing consisted of the Third brigade (Col. Blair), and was made up of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Tenth Kansas militia cavalry, Capt. Eve's Bourbon county battalion, a detachment of the Fourteenth Kansas cav- alry, Knowles' section of the Second Kansas battery and Dodge's Ninth Wisconsin battery.
Early on the morning of the 22nd Gen. Blunt sent Col. Ford with six companies of the Second Colorado cavalry to skirmish with the enemy on the Independence road and feel his position. Ford engaged the enemy and forced the Confederates under Gen. Shelby to withdraw to Byram's ford 5 or 6 miles farther south. Col. Jennison was sent to hold the ford and later was reinforced, but Shelby forced Jenni- son's position and then flanked the Union line. Blunt and Deitzler began falling back to Kansas City, which gave Shelby the opportunity to sever the line, cutting off the Kansas militia under Gen. Grant, which was engaged in guarding the fords near Hickman's mills. Even with this it looked for a time as if the Confederates were defeated, but Shelby re- ceived reinforcements and charged the Federal line. In this charge and the pursuit which followed, the Kansas militia under Col. George W. Veale were the chief sufferers, losing 36 killed, 43 wounded and 100 captured. Grant managed to extricate himself from his perilous posi- tion and fell back to Olathe; Col. Moonlight withdrew to the Shawnee mission, and that night the remainder of the Union army lay between Westport and Kansas City.
Bigelow, a village of Marshall county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 20 miles southeast of Marysville and 6 miles east of Irving. It has banking facilities, express and telegraph offices and a postoffice with one rural route. It was laid out in 1881, the immediate occasion for making it a shipping point being the limestone quarries recently opened in the vicinity. The population in 1910 was 200.
Big Springs, one of the oldest settlements in Douglas county, is lo-
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cated in the northwestern part of the county 4 miles southwest of Le- compton, from which it has rural free delivery. The settlement was named from the springs in the immediate vicinity. A number of men took up claims near the present village in the fall of 1854 and the fol- lowing year a postoffice was established with John Chamberlain as post- master. In July, 1855, religious services were held by a United Brethren minister and within a short time an organization of that denomination , was perfected. . A store was opened during the summer and several dwellings were erected. On Sept. 5, 1855, a meeting of great political significance took place at this little village-the Big Springs conven- tion (q. v.). Not having a railroad the village has never grown and now consists of three churches, several dwellings, a blacksmith and wagon shop. In 1910 it had a population of 40.
Big Springs Convention .- The political condition of the people of Kan- sas was freely discussed during the summer of 1855, and several mass meetings were held to consider calling a convention to form a state gov- ernment. At the time the political elements of Kansas were varied, each working to serve its own interests and the thoughtful leaders of the free-state party saw that something must be done to harmonize them. A movement for armed resistance, which has secretly been gathering force, was revealed at the Lawrence 4th of July celebration in 1855. The situation was one of peril, not only to the political parties in con- troversy, but also to the communities of the territory. Among many of the anti-slavery party a spirit of dissent was growing against an or- ganized movement proposing armed resistance to the territorial govern- ment, and this sentiment led to the Big Springs convention.
The cause of complaint at this time was the character of the terri- torial organization, and justification of resistance to it was based upon the illegality of the legislature. To avert the revolt of those members of the free-state party who were alienated by the demonstrations of July 4 and the action of the convention held July II, the leaders of this disaffected branch of the party were asked to assemble for consultation at the office of the Free State in Lawrence on July 17. Among these men were W. Y. Roberts and his brother, Judge Roberts of Big Springs ; Judge Wakefield and J. D. Barnes of the California road ; William Jessee of Bloomington, one of the ousted members of the legislature ; Judge Smith and other prominent free-state men. As the office was too small to accomodate the party, it was proposed to adjourn to the river bank at the foot of New Hampshire street, where a set of timbers had been erected for a warehouse under the shade of a tree. People they met on the way were asked to the conference, so that by the addition of John and Joseph Speer, editors of the Tribune, S. N. Wood, E. D. Ladd and G. W. Dietzler there were 20 men, one of the most prominent being Col. James H. Lane, who had just returned from the session of the bogus legislature. The spirit of revolt attested in nearly every com- munity against the political action enunciated at Lawrence was con- sidered, and after due deliberation the assemblage concluded that the
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only way to relieve the hazardous situation was by a convention in which every community should be fairly represented and free from all local influences. Big Springs was chosen for the location as its situa- tion was ideal. Judge Roberts, who was one of the proprietors, offered the hospitality of the town, which consisted of a rude hotel and several cabins. This village was located about 4 miles from Lecompton and 2 miles south of the Kansas river on the Santa Fe road, in the northwest corner of Douglas county. Sept. 5 was chosen for the date of the con- vention and five delegates were apportioned to each of the 26 representa- tive districts. Calls were printed and distributed in every precinct in the territory.
The movement met with opposition from five of the first councilors- Deitzler, Ladd, S. N. Wood and the Speer brothers-who feared that such action would tend to divide rather than to unite the free-state fac- tions, and thus lead to defeat. In accordance with the resolutions passed at Lawrence on July II, a convention with representatives from nearly every district in the territory assembled at Lawrence on.Aug. 14. Its members also were opposed to the idea of the Big Springs convention, but when the statement of the situation upon which it was based had been explained, the call exhibited and the assurance given that while the cooperation of the assemblage was sought, the Big Springs convention would be held regardless of its assent, the free-state convention issued a call duplicating the first, but dated Aug. 14. This has led to the con- clusion by many historians that the only call issued was by this assem- blage.
After the conflicting elements had in a measure been harmonized the next step was the election of delegates. The activity of the radical wing of the free-state men somewhat complicated the situation, but by the . assistance of Lane a well balanced ticket was chosen for the Lawrence district, consisting of 15 of the best men representing the various free- state elements, each of which had a fair representation. Eight of these men were from the town and seven from the country. The convention, which organized the free-state party, assembled at Big Springs at the appointed time-Sept. 5, 1855. On the evening of the 4th men from every direction began to gather. They came on horseback, in covered wagons or other conveyances, many with tents and camp outfit, but these were unnecessary as the inhabitants pressed upon the delegates the hospitality of their cabins. Roberts had redeemed his promise for a shaded platform with ample seats, and abundant provisions, including free meal tickets, had been made for the entertainment of the delegates. It is estimated that there were over 100 delegates present, representing every district and settlement in the territory.
The convention was called to order at II o'clock and temporarily or- ganized by calling W. Y. Roberts to the chair and appointing D. Dodge, secretary. A committee on credentials was appointed with instructions to report immediately. A second committee was appointed to report permanent officers and reported the following list: President, G. W.
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Smith ; vice-presidents, John Fee, J. A. Wakefield, James Salsburg, Dr. A. Hunting ; secretaries, R. G. Elliott, D. Dodge and A. G. Adams. The committee on credentials reported 100 delegates. The usual committees were then appointed, each consisting of 13 members, representing the several council districts. The most important committees were those on platform, state organization and resolutions, with Lane, Elliott and Emery, respectively as their chairmen. The duties of these committees were as follows: To report upon a platform for the consideration of the convention ; to take into consideration the propriety of a state or- ganization ; to consider the duty of the people as regards the pro- ceedings of the late legislature; to devise action on the coming con- gressional election ; miscellaneous business.
Col. James H. Lane, chairman of the committee on platform, presented the report which was adopted. The substance of it was as follows: To proffer an organization into which men of all political parties might enter without sacrifice of their political creeds ; opposition and resistance to all non-resident voters at the polls; that all interests required Kansas to be a free state ; that all energies of the party were to be used to ex- clude the institution of slavery and secure for Kansas the constitution of a free state ; that stringent laws be passed, excluding all negroes, bond or free, from the territory, but that such measures would not be regarded as a test of party orthodoxy ; that the charge of abolition imputed to the free-state party was without truthful foundation; attempts to encroach upon the constitutional rights of people of any state would be discounte- nanced; that there would be no interference with their slaves, conceding to the citizens of other states the right to regulate their own institu- tions; "and to hold and recover their slaves, without any molestation or obstruction from the people of Kansas."
This report called forth much warm discussion as many were in favor of a more radical platform and were particularly opposed to the clauses alluding to slavery and abolitionists, but the majority of the members argued that such a conservative platform would be more likely to com- mend itself to Congress and the inhabitants of Kansas than a radical one and thus enable them to accomplish the main object, exclusion of slaves from the territory. The committee on the late legislature made a report in which the Missouri-Kansas legislature was repudiated as a "foreign body, representing only the lawless invaders who elected them ;" that the "hypocritical mockery of a republican form of govern- ment into which this infamous despotism has been converted," be dis- avowed and disowned; that the constitutional bill of rights had been violated by the expulsion of members entitled to seats in the legislature, by the refusal to allow the people to select their own officers, by leaving to the people no elections but those prescribed by Congress, and there- fore beyond their power to abrogate, and by compelling the people "to take an oath to support a law of the United States, invidiously pointed out, by stifling the freedom of speech and the press, thus usurping the power forbidden to Congress, libeled the Declaration of Independence ;
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and brought disgrace upon our Republican institutions at home and abroad;" that no allegiance was due the spurious legislature and that its laws were invalid, and that resistance to the laws would be made by every peaceful means.
A resolution was offered impeaching the supreme court. Col. Lane ob- jected to this and moved that it be stricken out, but his motion was not sustained. Another resolution recommended the organization and dis- cipline of volunteer companies throughout the territory. The committee on state organization reported that its members deemed the movement was "untimely and inexpedient," and caused the first really discordant note in the convention. Stirring speeches were made upon the adoption or rejection of the report, but the men in favor of the formation of a state government argued and pleaded until their point was gained. The report was rejected and in its place a resolution offered by Mr. Hutchin- son was adopted: "That this convention, in view of its repudiation of the acts of the so-called Kansas legislative assembly, respond most heartily to the call made by the people's convention of the 15th ult., for a delegate convention of the people of Kansas Territory, to be held at Topeka on the 19th inst., to consider the propriety of the formation of a state constitution, and such other matters as may legitimately come before it."
By the report of the committee on Congressional delegate, the time for holding the election was changed from the date set by the legisla- ture to Oct. 9, and it was resolved that the rules and regulations pre- scribed for the March election should govern the election except the re- turns, which, by the "people's proclamation" subsequently issued, were to be made to the "Executive Committee of Kansas Territory," for Gov. Shannon would not of course appoint judges of returns for such an elec- tion. The date of the election was changed to the second Tuesday in October (the 9th) in order to avoid recognizing the right of the late legislature to call an election, and to avoid the oath to support the slave code.
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