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 24
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Bogus Legislature .- The so-called "Bogus" legislature of Kansas was the first session, which convened in Pawnee in 1855. Andrew H. Reeder the first territorial governor of Kansas, was commissioned in June, 1854, but did not arrive in the territory until Oct. 7. (See Reeder's Adminis- tration.) On April 16, 1855, he issued a proclamation convening the legislature at Pawnee on July 2, 1855, and the legislature assembled there according to call. The pro-slavery members ousted all of the free-state men, and then proceeded to the next business which was that of adjourning to Shawnee Mission. Pawnee was about 100 miles from the Missouri line, and as the legislators intended to enact a code of laws for the territory that would meet with great disfavor among Kansans, they thought they would be safer nearer home.
It is said that "a due supply of spirits were brought in bottles and jugs each morning from Westport which was 4 miles distant, in order to keep the legislature in spirits during the long summer days." This legislature did an amazing amount of work. The laws passed by it fill a large volume and were chiefly of local character. Most of the laws were transcripts of the Missouri code. One enactment provided that every officer in the territory, executive and judicial, was to be ap- pointed by the legislature, or by some officer appointed by it. It also enacted the notorious "Black Laws" (q. v.). One member of the legis- lature is quoted as saying, "Kansas is sacred to slavery." This legisla- ture created a joint-stock company, chartered prospective railroads giv- ing them unheard-of privileges, and the charters and corporate trusts they bestowed upon themselves. They located the capital at Lecomp- ton, and after legislating themselves into every office and financial pros- pect possible adjourned.
Boicourt, a money order post-village of Linn county, is situated on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. about 7 miles northwest of Pleas- anton. It has an express office and in 1910 had a population of 100.
Boissiere Orphans' Home .- In the spring of 1892 Ernest Valeton Boissiere, a Frenchman who held a large tract of land in Franklin county, expressed his desire and intention to convey this land in trust for the establishment of an orphans' home and industrial school. On May 11, 1892, the persons agreed upon as the trustees met at Mr. Bois- siere's home at Silkville, when a deed to the property was executed, and
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the next day the charter of the institution was filed in the office of the secretary of state. At the session of the Kansas grand lodge of Odd Fellows at Fort Scott on Oct. 11-13, 1892, the trustees made a full re- port of the matter, which was referred to a special committee, consisting of several past grand masters, and this committee recommended the ac- ceptance of the gift by the grand lodge. In the report the committee said: "We recommend the said orphans' home and industrial school to the favorable consideration of the Odd Fellows of the state, and hope that they will contribute as liberally as their means will permit to liquidate the claim assumed by the trustees against this property, so that it may at once be made ready for the reception of children."
The grand lodge adopted the report and recommendation of the com- mittee, and in a few months lodges and individual members of the order had contributed over $12,500 for the establishment and support of the home. At the grand lodge meeting at Topeka in Oct., 1893, the trustees again made a complete report and asked for legislation on the part of the grand lodge to carry out the pledges made at Fort Scott the preced- ing year. They especially recommended the levying of a per capita tax of $1.50 to carry into effect the original plan. The grand lodge again adopted the report and recommendations of the trustees, but in the meantime opposition to the scheme had developed, and Reno Lodge, No. 99, of Hutchinson, brought suit in the district court of Shawnee county to enjoin the officers of the grand lodge from levying the tax. The court refused to grant the injunction and the lodge then appealed to the supreme court, which affirmed the decision. Steps were then taken to bring the question before the sovereign grand lodge at Chatta- nooga, Tenn., in Sept., 1894. The sovereign grand lodge declared the tax was lawful, but the following month the Kansas grand lodge met at Wichita and voted to sever its connection with the enterprise and ex- tend no further support to the institution.
Soon after executing the trust deed to his land (3,156 acres) in 1892, Mr. Boissiere returned to France, where his death occurred on Jan. 12. 1894. With the action of the grand lodge in Oct., 1894, a number of competent lawyers held that the land reverted to the Boissiere estate. About the beginning of the year 1897 James A. Troutman, of the law firm of Troutman & Stone of Topeka, went to France and secured a quit-claim deed from Mr. Boissiere's sister, Madame Corrine Martinella of Bordeaux. Troutman & Stone then became the plaintiffs in a suit for possession of the property, but Judge S. A. Riggs of the Ottawa district court (Franklin county) decided in favor of the seven defendant trustees. The case was carried to the state supreme court on appeal and that tribunal reversed Judge Riggs' decision. After some further delay Troutman & Stone gained possession, and early in 1911 sold it to J. O. Patterson for $130,000.
Boling, a hamlet in the central part of Leavenworth county, is sit- uated on the Leavenworth & Topeka R. R. about 9 miles southwest of Leavenworth, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice and telegraph facilities. In 1910 the population was 32.
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Bolton, a village of Montgomery county, is a station on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. that runs from Independence to Tulsa, 8 miles southwest of Independence. It is a money order post- office, is suppiled with telegraph, telephone and express service, and is a shipping and supply point for that section of the county. The popula- tion in 1910 was 75.
Bonaccord, a rural hamlet of Dickinson county, is in the western part. not far from the Saline county line, and about 12 miles from Abilene, from which place the inhabitants receive mail by rural free delivery.
Bonded Debt .- (See Finances, State.)
Bondi, August, soldier and patriot, one of John Brown's men, was born at Vienna, Austria, July 21, 1833. His father, Hart Immanuel Bondi, was a Jew manufacturer of cotton goods. August was educated at the Catholic college of the order of Piarists. When only fourteen years of age he became a member of the Academic League and fought under Kossuth during the Hungarian war for liberty. For this he was ex- iled and in 1848 the family came to America. August spent seven years in teaching and in mercantile pursuits in Missouri and Texas. In 1855 he came to Kansas at a time when the opposition to slavery was crys- tallizing, and became an intense anti-slavery partisan. After remaining two weeks at Lawrence, he went down the Missouri river and back by land to acquaint himself with affairs on the border. With a partner, he "squatted" on a claim on the Mosquito branch of the Pottawatomie, in Franklin county. In the fall of 1855 he became acquainted with John Brown, and after the burning of Lawrence he joined the company of John Brown, Jr. When this force disbanded he did not return to his claim, but joined John Brown, Sr., and took part in the engagement at Black Jack. He was then with Brown in different raids along the bor- der and at the battle of Osawatomie. In Feb., 1857, he laid out the town of Greeley, Anderson county, and was appointed postmaster there. From that time to the outbreak of the Civil war he kept the "undeground rail- way" station at Greeley. In Oct., 1861, he enlisted in the Fifth Kansas regiment and was present in nearly all the actions in which the regiment was engaged. On Sept. 14, 1864, he was seriously wounded and made prisoner by the Confederates near Pine Bluff, Ark., but was left on the field. He was discharged in Dec., 1864, and in 1866 he located in Salina. Mr. Bondi held many offices in Saline county, such as probate judge, dis- trict clerk and postmaster, and was appointed a member of the state board of charities. He was a Mason, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On Sept. 30, 1907, Mr. Bondi fell dead on the street in St. Louis while on a visit to his sister.
Bone Springs, a rural hamlet of Reno county, is located on a tributary of the Ninnescah river, about 25 miles southwest of Hutchinson, the county seat. Mail is supplied to the inhabitants by rural free delivery from Arlington.
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Bonilla's Expedition .- About the year 1594, the governor of the prov- ince of Nueva Vizcaya commissioned Francisco Leiva Bonilla, a Portu- guese explorer and adventurer, to lead an expedition against a predatory tribe of Indians that had for some time been harassing the province. The exact date of the expedition, as well as any definite account of its opera- tions, is not obtainable, for the reason perhaps that it was in a measure contra bando-i. e. illegal. Bonilla started upon his mission, but after he was well out upon the plains he heard rumors of the wealth of Quivira (q. v.) and decided to visit that province. In some way, just how is not clear, the governor learned of this movement and sent a mes- senger in the person of Pedro de Calorza to recall the expedition. Calorza failed to find Bonilla, who was so unfortunate as to get into a quarrel with his lieutenant, Juan de Humana, in which he lost his life and Humana then assumed command.
Just how far north or east the expedition proceeded is largely a mat- ter of conjecture. Prof. John B. Dunbar is of the opinion that it may have reached central Kansas, and possibly the gold mines of the Black Hills in the western part of South Dakota. After Bonilla's death, and while the expedition was crossing a large river, which Dunbar thinks. may have been the Platte, on balsas (rafts), three Mexican Indians took advantage of the opportunity to desert. It was from one of these In- dians, Jose or Jusepe by name, that Gov. Onate, of New Mexico, learned of the expedition in 1598.
While Humana and his men were encamped at a place afterward called Matanza they were surrounded by an overwhelming force of the Escanjaque Indians, who set fire to the grass and then rushed upon the camp. Bancroft says that only two people escaped the general slaughter which ensued. These two were Alonzo Sanchez and a mulatto girl, who eventually found their way to New Mexico, where they imparted to the authorities the news of the fate of the expedition. According to an In- dian tradition, Humana and his men were exterminated by the Es- canjaques as they were returning from the mines of Quivira laden with gold. It may be that this tradition is responsible, in some degree at least, for Dunbar's suggestion that Humana visited the Black Hills re- gion. Bancroft says that Zaldivar found traces of the expedition in the fall of 1598, and closes his account of the event as follows: "When we take into consideration their sources, it is not surprising that the records of Humana's achievements are not very complete."
Bonita, a village of Johnson county, is located in the southern part of the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R. about 5 miles south of Olathe, the county seat. It was settled first in 1879, a postoffice was established in the fall of that year, and the first store was opened about that time. The town was first called Alta as it was the highest point on the railroad, but as there was another postoffice by that name in the state it was changed to Bonita. At the present time it has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities and in 1910 had a population of 35.
Bonner Springs .- These springs are located at the old town originally
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called Tiblow, for an old Indian chief, and have been well known for years. Since the springs have been made an important suburban re- sort for Kansas City, the place has been renamed in honor of Robert Bonner and is now called Bonner Springs. About twenty springs are located here, in a park owned by a private individual. A sanitarium is also located here, using the waters which contain calcium, magnesium, iron, chlorin, sulphuric, silicic and phosphoric acid. No attempt has been made to ship water from the springs.
Bonner Springs, one of the largest towns of Wyandotte county, is located in the extreme southwest corner on the north bank of the Kansas river and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads, 17 miles west of Kansas City. It was named from the springs in the vicinity. It is situated in a rich agricultural district and the excellent transportation facilities have caused an immense amount of business to be carried on. For years it has been the banking town for the western part of the county and the shipping point for live stock, garden produce and fruit. When the Kansas natural gas fields were developed, the gas was piped to Bonner Springs and an immense cement factory, one of the largest in the state, was erected. Today Bonner Springs is one of the most prosperous and thriving towns in the eastern part of the state, with excellent water, lighting and public school systems, beautiful homes and churches, retail stores of all kinds, lumber yards and other commercial concerns. There are two express companies, telegraph and telephone facilities, and in 1910 Bonner Springs had a population of over 1,350.
Boone, Daniel, hunter, trapper, Indian fighter and pioneer, was one of the first white men of American birth to visit the Kansas Valley. This fact is not generally known, because the many biographies of this noted character make but slight mention of his 25 years' residence west of the Mississippi river. His grandfather, George Boone, was born in Devonshire, England, 1666, and came to America in 1717, locating in Berks county, Pa. Squire Boone, the father of Daniel, was born in 1698, before the family left England, and Daniel was born in Bucks county, Pa., Feb. 11, 1735. In 1749 he went to North Carolina with his parents, and in 1772 to Kentucky. In 1796, through defective titles and the work of unscrupulous attorneys, he lost his land in Kentucky, re- nounced his allegiance to the government of the United States, and be- came a resident of the Spanish province of Louisiana, in what is now St. Charles county, Mo. Two years later, upon his declaring his inten- tion of becoming a Spanish subject, he was appointed commandant of the Femme Osage district, which position he held until Louisiana passed into the hands of the United States in 1803. For his services the Spanish government gave him a grant of 2,000 acres of land in St. Charles county, Mo. Boone was in the habit of taking long hunting trips, never losing his love for nor his skill in the use of the rifle. Between the years 1805 and 1815 he hunted up the valley of the Kansas river for a distance of 100 miles from its mouth, and in the spring of 1818, when 83 years of
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age, he wrote to his son: "I intend by next autumn to take two or three whites and a party of Osage Indians and visit the salt mountains, lakes and ponds and see these natural curiosities. They are about five or six hundred miles west of here."
The "natural curiosities" referred to were probably the Rock Saline and its surroundings, in the Indian Territory just south of Harper county, Kan., but there is no positive evidence that Boone carried out his intention of visiting the place.
By the treaty of June 3, 1825, with the Kanzas Indians, the govern- ment agreed to furnish these Indians with certain live stock, utensils, etc., and Daniel Morgan Boone, a son of Daniel Boone, was appointed to instruct the members of the tribe in the arts of agriculture. Under date of Feb. 8, 1879, a son of this Daniel Morgan Boone wrote to W. W. Cone of Topeka: "My brother, Napoleon Boone, son of Maj. Daniel Morgan Boone, and a direct grandson of the old Kentucky pioneer, was the first white child born in the territory of Kansas-at least such is the history in our family. My father was appointed farmer for the Kaw Indians early in the year 1827. On his appointment he moved with his family into a house he built, seven miles up the Kaw river from where Lawrence was afterward built, on the north bank. Here my brother, Napoleon, was born Aug. 22, 1828."
Daniel Boone died on Sept. 26, 1820, and at the time the above letter was written the writer was the only survivor of the family. The place mentioned in the letter is not far from the present station of Lake View on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R.
Boot Hill .- Hays City's early history was one of bloodshed and vio- lence. Being a frontier town and for a time the end of the Kansas Pa- cific railway, it was the natural rendezvous of vicious characters and des- peradoes. A year after the town was started the population numbered over 1,000, the majority of which were of the undesirable classes, while saloons, dance halls and bagnios flourished everywhere. In these re- sorts the soldiers from Fort Hays almost daily met the desperate charac- ters of the town and a carnival of crime and murder was the natural re- sult. A place of sepulture was needed for the victims, and a hill about a quarter of a mile from the older part of the town was used as a ceme- tery, acquiring the name of "Boot Hill" on account of those who died violent deaths and were buried "with their boots on." From 1867 to 1874 it is estimated that about seventy interments were made in this cemetery, none of whom were buried with ceremony.
From time to time soldiers from the fort came over to "clean out" the town, and in 1874 the better class of citizens successfully resisted an attempt of this kind, after which there were few or no more inter- ments made on Boot Hill. By 1904, the town of Hays City had spread until it surrounded "Boot Hill." The ground then owned by Mr. G. W. Sweeney was sold to P. J. Shutts, who had the bodies removed to the regular cemetery to enable him to erect a fine residence on "this ground, the last resting place of many a turbulent character."
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Border Ruffians .- The term "Border Ruffian" in early days was ap- plied to those individuals on the western border of Missouri, who sought by illegal and violent means to determine the domestic institu- tions of Kansas Territory. The appropriate name was liked by the owners, and Holloway writes: "Nor was this an unpopular appella- tion among the border gentry. They gloried in it as much as Cicero or Socrates did in that of philosopher, or the soldiers of the seven- hilled-city that of Roman. Boats on the Missouri river took to them- selves the name, hacks, omnibuses, hotels, houses and dogs, were not infrequently adorned by the title 'Border Ruffian.' And woman so far became blinded to the pure and virtuous, as to take unto herself the name of Border Ruffian, and admire and praise those of that character."
The commerce of the plains, that in its width had given to the front- ier a commanding place in population, wealth and political influence, had also bred and trained an army of plainsmen, restless, daring, ad- venturous, impatient of the bounds of civilization, passing the freight- ing season beyond the restraints of law. In winter, and seasons of idle- ness, they made residence in the border counties and were ready for any adventure suggested. Also there were a large number of citizens on the border between Kansas and Missouri who spent much time in loaf- ing, gambling, drinking and carousing, and who were genuine ruffians before the troubles in Kansas arose. A great many of these men became willing tools of the politicians who sought to oppress, harass and defeat the free-state men. In most of the invasions in Kansas the ruffians were joined or led by the more respectable men of the border. Some of these were men of ability who had occupied high positions of public trust and profit, but who during the border wars, agitated by the slavery question, unmindful of their dignity or honor, would throw off restraint and play the coarse part of the real ruffian.
While the main objects of the Border Ruffian chiefs were the over- throw and destruction of free-state men and the establishment of slav- ery in Kansas, the ruffian border bands delighted in raiding towns, ran- sacking houses, stealing horses, and doing whatever they could that was annoying, exciting and rough. The towns and country along the eastern tier of counties were raided with uncomfortable frequency. Free-state men holding claims were driven from them, elections were molested and crimes of violence committed. When the crash came be- tween north and south many of these men became bushwhackers or guerrillas.
Border War .- What is known as the "Border War" in Kansas was a conflict between the advocates and opponents of slavery, to settle the question as to whether Kansas should be admitted into the Union as a free or slave state. The name arose from the fact that most of the stirring scenes of that conflict were enacted in the eastern portion of Kansas, near the Missouri border. Both sides were thoroughly aroused by the debates in Congress on the bill organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and as soon as the bill became a law they were
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ready for action. The "War" lasted from 1854 until 1859, and, like all affairs that continue through a period of several years, was made up of a number of minor events. Most of these occurrences are described in more or less detail in the sketches of the administrations of the terri- torial governors, or of the various counties in which they were laid, as well as under the titles of Wakarusa War, Pottawatomie Massacre, Hickory Point, Franklin, Oswatomie, Black Jack, Fort Saunders, Fort Titus, Marais des Cygnes, etc.
In the course of the contest, each side developed some strong and efficient leaders. Prominent among the pro-slavery men were David R. Atchison, Benjamin F. and John H. Stringfellow, Thomas Johnson, John Calhoun, Samuel J. Jones and Daniel Woodson. On the free-state side the most active and best known men were Charles Robinson. William A. Phillips, James H. Lane, John Speer, George W. Smith, Cyrus K. Holliday, George W. Deitzler and John A. Wakefield.
On May 12, 1854, more than two weeks before the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the Emigrant Aid Society was organized in Bos- ton, Mass., and in July it received a charter from the Connecticut legislature. News of this movement reached western Missouri, and on June 15 the Platte County Self Defensive Association was formed. At a meeting at Weston, Mo., July 20, it was resolved to "remove any and all emigrants who go to Kansas under the auspices of abolition soci- eties." With the Emigrant Aid Society on one side and the Self Defen- sive Association and kindred organizations upon the other, the issue was clearly defined, though no acts of violence were committed in the year 1854. Pro-slavery men crossed the river and held meetings among the Kansas squatters. One of these meetings, on Salt creek in June, pledged the squatters to give no protection to anti-slavery settlers, and recommended slaveowners to bring their negroes to Kansas as soon as possible. The first actual clash came in August, when the settlers at Lawrence met at Judge Miller's house to adopt some form of squatter regulations. A band of pro-slaveryites, under the leadership of an Indi- ana lawyer named Dunham, attempted to break up the meeting. The free-state men quietly adjourned until their opponents left, and then proceeded with the meeting, electing John A. Wakefield chief justice. Subsequently a compromise was effected with the pro-slavery settlers, and this squatter government ruled until the arrival of Gov. Reeder and the inauguration of the regular territorial government.
The activity with which the emigrants from the Northern states began founding settlements and making improvements of a permanent character alarmed their opponents. The Platte Argus, a rabid pro-slav- ery paper, declared that these "northern cattle" must be driven out, and the Self Defensive Association met at Weston and resolved "That this association will, whenever called upon by any of the citizens of Kansas Territory, hold itself in readiness together to assist and remove any and all emigrants who go there under the auspices of emigrant aid societies."
With the election of March 30, 1855, for members of the first terri-
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torial legislature, the situation became more intensified. Missourians in large numbers came over and voted for the pro-slavery candidates, after which they returned to their homes across the river. The actual free-state settlers refused to recognize the authority of a legislative body elected by illegal votes, and also refused to obey the laws enacted by such a body. On April 30, at a squatter meeting in Leavenworth, Cole McCrea, a free-state man, shot and killed Malcolm Clark in self-defense. McCrea was arrested, but the following September the grand jury failed to find a bill against him. The same day that Clark was shot, a vigilance committee of some 30 members was organized in Leavenworth. One of its first acts was to tar and feather William Phillips, after which he was ordered to leave the territory. Phillips was accused by the commit- tee of having aided in the killing of Clark, by handing McCrea a revolver just at the critical moment. He refused to leave the territory, and on Sept. 1, 1856, the day of the city election in Leavenworth, he was killed in his house by a pro-slavery mob.
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