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 25
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Rev. Pardee Butler (q. v.) was banished on Aug. 16, and on the 28th the Squatter Sovereign said editorially : "We will continue to tar and feather, drown, lynch, or hang every white-livered abolitionist who dares pollute our soil."
On Oct. 25, 1855, Samuel Collins was killed by Patrick Laughlin, who, under the guise of a free-state man, had joined the Danites and then published their ritual. Wilder says this was the first political murder in Kansas, the killing of Clark in the preceding April having been done in self-defense. Charles W. Dow was shot and killed by Franklin N. Coleman near Hickory Point, 10 miles south of Lawrence, on Nov. 21, 1855, being the second free-state man to meet his death by violence. Growing out of this murder were the arrest and rescue of Jacob Bran- son, which started the Wakarusa war. On Dec. 6, 1855, Thomas W. Barber (q. v.) was killed. This was one of the most wanton and cold- blooded homicides of the entire border war.
Clouds, dark and portentous, overhung the Territory of Kansas at the beginning of the year 1856. On Jan. 17, Stephen Sparks, his son and his nephew, were waylaid on the way home from Easton from the election of state officers under the Topeka constitution. Capt. Reese P. Brown, a member-elect of the Topeka legislature, went to their assist- ance, and with others succeeding in effecting their rescue. That night Brown was assaulted by a pro-slavery mob at Leavenworth, armed with knives and hatchets, and was so severely injured that he died be- fore morning. The Squatter Sovereign of Feb. 20 recommended the hanging of all who had anything to do with the Topeka constitutional convention.
Then followed a systematic effort to drive the free-state men from the territory on trumped-up charges. Judge Lecompte instructed the grand jury to return indictments for treason against Andrew H. Reeder, Charles Robinson, James H. Lane and a number of others. (See Reed- er's Administration.) On April 19 Sheriff Jones attempted to arrest (I-14)
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Samuel N. Wood at Lawrence, but Wood refused to be arrested. The next day Jones called upon the citizens to aid in making the arrest, but as the people of Lawrence did not recognize the validity of the laws passed by the "bogus" legislature, they declined. On the 23d Jones re- turned with a posse of United States troops and arrested several men without resistance. That night Jones was shot and wounded by some unknown party, and the next day the citizens of Lawrence denounced at a public meeting the shooting of the sheriff.
Matters now remained comparatively quiet until May 21, when a deputy United States marshal named Fain, accompanied by a strong posse went to Lawrence and arrested George W. Smith, George W. Deitzler and Gains Jenkins. It was no part of the free-state programme to resist the Federal authorities, and the men arrested by the deputy marshal offered no protest. Later in the day Sheriff Jones visited Law- rence with a body of his satellites and four pieces of artillery. The Free-State Hotel, and the offices of the Herald of Freedom and the Kansas Free State were destroyed; stores were broken open and pil- laged, and Charles Robinson's residence was burned to the ground. Holloway says that Jones sat on his horse and viewed with complacency the destruction of the hotel. "Gentlemen," said he to his posse, "this is the happiest day of my life, I assure you. I determined to make the fanatics bow before me and kiss the territorial laws." When the walls of the hotel fell, the sheriff again addressed his men with "I have done it, by God I have done it. You are dismissed; the writs have been exe- cuted."
On the night of May 24-25, three days after the sack of Lawrence by Sheriff Jones, occurred the Pottawatomie massacre (q. v.), when Doyle, Wilkinson, and other pro-slavery settlers were killed by a party of free- state men led by John Brown. Then followed the free-state attacks on Franklin, the capture of Forts Saunders and Titus, and the battle of Middle creek in Linn county. David S. Hoyt was killed by pro-slavery men near Fort Saunders on Aug. 12, just before the place was captured, and on the 19th of the same month a man named Hoppe, a brother-in- law of Rev. Ephraim Nute, was shot and killed by a man named Fugit, merely because he lived in Lawrence. Fugit was tried and acquitted by a partisan court.
In Sept., 1856, Capt. Harvey, a free-state leader, fought the battles of Slough creek and Hickory Point in Jefferson county, winning vic- tories in both instances. Later Harvey was captured by United States troops commanded by Col. Cooke and some of his men were sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Cato. On Sept. 16 David C. Buffum was killed by Charles Hays. (See Geary's Administration.)
Around Atchison and Leavenworth there was a reign of terror throughout the year. Frederick Emery's gang of border ruffians, under the guise of "regulators," harassed free-state men in every possible way. Steamboats bearing emigrants from the Northern states were turned back, and settlers known to be opposed to slavery were ordered
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to leave the territory. Phillips, in his Conquest of Kansas, tells how C. H. Barlow, with eight families from Illinois, and two families from Iowa, were disarmed in Missouri and escorted back to Liberty with instructions not to set foot in Kansas. Laban Parker was killed and his body tied to a tree about 10 miles from Tecumseh. A large hunting knife was left sticking in his breast, and tied to the handle of the knife was a toad-stool, on which was written: "Let all those who are going to vote against slavery take warning."
With regard to sending back free-state emigrants, a pro-slavery news- paper of Missouri said: "We do not approve fully of sending these criminals back to the east to be reshipped to Kansas-if not through Missouri, through Iowa or Nebraska. We are of the opinion, if the citizens of Leavenworth city or Weston would hang one or two boat loads of abolitionists, it would do more toward establishing peace in Kansas than all the speeches that have been made in Congress dur- ing the present session. Let the experiment be tried."
Notwithstanding the machinations of the opposition, free-state set- tlers continued to pour into the territory. At meetings in Milwaukee, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, and other northern cities in June, 1856, the people contributed nearly $250,000 for the relief of Kansas settlers and to aid emigration. In August some 600 immigrants came in through Iowa and Nebraska over "Lane's road."
The year 1857 started in with the promise of being as turbulent as its predecessor. On Feb. 19 "Bill" Sherrard was killed by John W. Jones at Lecompton (See Geary's Administration), and in April Martin Kline was killed by Merrill Smith, the marshal of Leavenworth. James Stevens was murdered at Leavenworth on July 31 by John C. Quarles and W. M. Bays, and the next day the murderers were hanged by the citizens to an elm tree near Young's saw mill. William Knighten and William Woods were arrested as accessories and taken to the Delaware City jail.
The arrival of Gov. Walker in May, and the promises he made to give the people a fair and impartial administration did much to allay the hos- tile spirit, and the activities of the contestants were confined chiefly to holding conventions and organizing for the purpose of carrying the elec- tions. Late in the year trouble broke out in Linn and Bourbon counties and continued throughout the year 1858. The free-state men arrested the preceding year for treason were brought before Judge Cato for trial, but the cases were "nollied" by the prosecuting attorney. Charles Robinson was arraigned for trial in Judge Cato's court on Aug. 18, charged with "usurpation of office," in having accepted the office of governor under the Topeka constitution, but he was acquitted by the jury. Toward the close of the year interest centered in the adoption and ratification of the Lecompton constitution. Excitement ran high, but there was little actual violence.
The most atrocious event of the year 1858 was the Marais des Cygnes massacre on May 19, when nine free-state men were lined up and shot
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by Capt. Charles Hamelton's band of border ruffians. The free-state party, having gained control of the legislature, passed laws of a more liberal character than those of the first session, and this served as a stim- ulus to emigration from the Northern and Eastern states, so that by 1859 the opponents of slavery were in a decided majority in the terri- tory. However, the pro-slavery men were not yet willing to abandon the fight. On Jan. 25, 1859, Dr. John Doy and his son Charles were arrested in Kansas and taken to Weston, Mo., where they were lodged in jail on a charge of "nigger stealing." In the first trial the jury dis- agreed, but in June Dr. Doy was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. On July 23 a company of Kansas men, led by Maj. J. B. Abbott, went to Weston and released him. With the ratification of · the Wyandotte constitution on Oct. 4, 1859, by a vote of nearly two to one, the slave power recognized the "handwriting on the wall" and retired from the field. The "Border War," which for five years had disturbed the entire country, was ended, and the term "Bleeding Kan- sas" was no longer applicable to the territory. There was some lack of harmony during the year 1860, but nothing occurred to cast more than a slight ripple of discontent on the situation.
Bosna, a rural postoffice of Trego county, is located on Big creek, about 12 miles southwest of Wakeeney, the county seat, which is the most convenient railroad station.
Botkin, Jeremiah D., clergyman and member of Congress, was born on April 24, 1849, in Logan county, Ill. His early education was that afforded by the public schools, and after finishing the course in common schools he spent one year at De Pauw University at Greencastle, Ind. At an early age he was imbued with abolition sentiments and became a Republican in politics. During the last year of the Civil war, when he was but sixteen years of age, he made three attempts to enlist in the army but was rejected because of being under size and age. In 1870 he entered the Methodist ministry, where he served six years as pre- siding elder. In 1888 Mr. Botkin was elected a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist church held at New York City, and to the ecumenical conference at Washington, D. C., in 1891. He was a loyal supporter of the Republican party, but ran. for governor on the Pro- hibition ticket in 1888. He espoused the Populist cause soon after the birth of that party and ran for Congress in the Third district in 1894, but was defeated. Two years later he was elected on the Fusion ticket as Congressman-at-large from Kansas. Upon retiring from Congress he engaged in business at Winfield, where he still resides.
Boudinot Mission .- This mission was established under the direction of the Presbyterian church among the Osage Indians in 1824, in what is now Neosho county. It was located on the Neosho river, near the mouth of Four Mile creek. After doing good work for over a decade it was abandoned in 1837. (See Missions.)
Boundaries .- When La Salle, on April 9, 1862, laid claim to all the territory drained by the Mississippi river and its tributaries in the
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name of France, and bestowed upon the region the name of "Louisi- ana," in honor of Louis XIV, then king of France, he set up the first boundaries ever established by a civilized nation to a territory includ- ing the present state of Kansas. At the Louisiana Purchase exposi- tion, held at St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, the United States general land office had on exhibition a map showing the boundaries of the territory claimed by La Salle. The eastern boundary began on the western coast of Florida, at the mouth of the river of Palms, and extended northward by an irregular line along the watershed dividing the streams flowing into the Atlantic from those flowing westward into the Ohio and Mississippi rivers or southward to the Gulf of Mexico; the north- ern boundary was also an irregular line beginning at a point near the present city of Buffalo, N. Y., and extending in a northwesterly direc- tion to the 49 parallel of north latitude, separating the basin of the great lakes from the Mississippi valley, and thence along the 49th par- allel to the crest of the Rock mountains; the western boundary fol- lowed in a southeasterly direction the watershed dividing the western tributaries of the Mississippi from the waters of the Pacific slope, to a point on the Gulf of Mexico at about 92° west longitude ; the southern boundary followed the gulf coast from this point to the place of be- ginning.
By the treaties of 1762-63, all that part of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi passed into the hands of Great Britain, and that portion west of the great river became a Spanish possession. By the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso, which was concluded on Oct. 1, 1800, this province was ceded back to France, which nation, by the treaty of April 30, 1803, transferred it to the United States. Article III of the last named treaty provided that "The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal consti- tution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States," etc. In accordance with this provision the Louisiana Purchase has been divided into states by the Federal government.
When Missouri was admitted in 1821, the western boundary of that state was fixed on a "north and south line passing through the mouth of the Kansas river." This boundary was changed by the act of Con- gress, approved June 7, 1836, adding to Missouri what is known as the "Platte Purchase," embracing all of the land lying between the original boundary and the Missouri river, north of the mouth of the Kansas. This purchase includes the present counties of Platte, Buchanan, An- drew, Holt, Nodaway and Atchison, in the State of Missouri. It was by the act of Congress admitting Missouri and the subsequent act, adding the above named territory to that state, that the eastern boundary of the State of Kansas was established.
Section 19 of the organic act of May 30, 1854, defined the boundaries of the Territory of Kansas as follows: "That all that part of the ter-
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ritory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to-wit: beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky mountains; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Kansas."
The part expressly exempted was "to include any territories which by treaty with an Indian tribe is not without the consent of said tribe to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state or territory."
Next to the eastern boundary, the first line to be established, as pro- vided for in the organic act, was that between Kansas and Nebraska, and in connection with that line there is some interesting history. As early as 1844 the secretary of war recommended the organization of a territory in the Indian country west of the Missouri river. An effort was made in 1848 to establish a territorial government there, but it was not until Oct. 12, 1852, that an election for a delegate to Congress was held at the Wyandotte council house. Abelard Guthrie received all the votes cast, but opposition to the movement developed and a second election was held at Fort Leavenworth. At that election Guthrie de- feated a man named Banow by a vote of 54 to 16. On Nov. 20. 1852, Mr. Guthrie left Fort Leavenworth for Washington, and during the ensuing session of Congress he wielded considerable influence in forcing a consideration of the bill providing for the organization of Nebraska Territory. On Oct. 11, 1853, Rev. Thomas Johnson was declared elected delegate, after a bitter campaign between him and Mr. Guthrie. The people farther up the river voted for Hadley D. Johnson, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, but the returns from the district appear to have been ig- nored. Thomas Johnson went to Washington as soon as Congress met in Dec., 1853, but Hadley D. Johnson did not arrive there until early in Jan., 1854, when the latter began working for the establishment of two territories instead of one, with the result that the "two John- sons," as they were called, got into a controversy and both were forced to vacate their seats. Both remained in Washington for awhile, how- ever, to watch the trend of events. Hadley D. Johnson, in the Nebraska Historical Report (vol. ii, p. 80), gives the following account of how the 40th parallel came to be selected as the dividing line :
"As to the dividing line between Kansas and Nebraska, a good deal of trouble was encountered; Mr. Johnson and his Missouri friends being
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very anxious that the Platte river should constitute the line, which ob- viously would not suit the people of Iowa, especially as I believe it was a plan of the American Company to colonize the Indians north of the Platte river. As this plan did not meet with the approbation of my friends or myself, I firmly resolved that this line should not be adopted. Judge Douglas was kind enough to leave that question to me, and I offered to Mr. Johnson the choice of two lines-first, the present line, or second, an imaginary line traversing the divide between the Platte and the Kaw. After considerable parleying, and Mr. Johnson not being willing to accept either line, I offered the two alternatives-the 40th degree of north latitude, or the defeat of the whole bill, for that session at least. After consulting with his friends, I presume, Mr. Johnson very reluctantly consented to the 40th degree as the dividing line between the two territories, whereupon Judge Douglas prepared and introduced the substitute in a report as chairman of the committee on territories, and immediately probably the hardest war of words known in American history commenced." (See Kansas-Nebraska Bill.)
On Aug. 26, 1854, the surveyor-general of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska received instructions to make the boundary line between Kansas and Nebraska "the principal base line wherefrom to start the surveys, both on the north in Nebraska, and on the south in Kansas; and that boundary is the parallel of 40° north latitude. Your first operations will be to run and establish the base line, and con- tinue the same for a distance of 108 miles on the parallel of 40° north latitude."
Pursuant to these instructions, John Calhoun, the surveyor-general, on Nov. 2, 1854, entered into a contract with J. P. Johnson, by which the latter was to run and mark the line for the 108 miles for $1,296. Johnson secured the services of Ira H. Smith as assistant, and began work about the middle of November. The 108 miles were run and marked in eighteen days, and on Jan. 12, 1855, the plats were forwarded to the general land office. Subsequently, Joseph Seidley, a surveyor of Springfield, Ill., and a Mr. Manly reviewed and condemned the work of Johnson and Smith. The survey was therefore set aside, the cor- ners were ordered to be erased, and the line resurveyed for a distance of 60 miles, though Johnson received a little over $1,000 for the work he had done. A letter from J. M. Edmunds, commissioner of the gen- eral land office, to Gov. Crawford, under date of Aug. 31, 1865, says the 40th parallel was "astronomically established in 1854, by Capt. T. J. Lee, topographical engineer, U. S. A."
Several efforts were made by the people of Nebraska to have the territory lying between the 40th parallel and the Platte river annexed to Kansas, but the inhabitants of the latter state seem to have been generally satisfied with the lines as established by the organic act of 1854. The only instance to the contrary, of which any official record can be found, was on Jan. 25, 1859, when Gov. Medary forwarded to President Buchanan "joint resolutions passed by the legislative assem-
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bly of this territory, asking the annexation of that part of Nebraska Territory lying south of the Platte river."
An act of Congress, approved July 8, 1856, directed "the southern boundary line of the Territory of Kansas, from the State of Missouri to the Territory of New Mexico, to be surveyed and distinctly marked," etc. Four companies of the First cavalry and two companies of the Sixth infantry, under command of Lieut .- Col. Joseph E. Johnston, es- corted the surveying party that ran the line in the summer and fall of 1857, and on Oct. 22, 1859, John B. Floyd, the secretary of war, transmitted to Lewis Cass, the secretary of state, a plat of the survey "to be forwarded to the Territory of Kansas." By the Missouri Com- promise of 1820, the line of demarcation between free and slave ter- ritory was fixed at 36° 30', which would seem to have been the logical southern boundary of Kansas. The only reason for moving that bound- ary a half a degree farther north to the 37th parallel was probably be- cause that was the line dividing the Cherokee lands from those of the Osages. This parallel was astronomically established by J. H. Clark and H. Campbell at the time the survey was made in 1857.
The western boundary, "the summit of the Rocky mountains," was rather vague, as at that time the surveys were so incomplete that the actual location and direction of the "summit" were not definitely de- termined. Old maps show the west line of Kansas territory as fol- lowing the continental divide and including about two-thirds of the present State of Colorado, the divide running a short distance west of Leadville. But a new western boundary was established when Kan- sas was admitted into the Union in 1861. The Wyandotte constitu- tion named the 25th meridian west of Washington as the western line of the proposed state, and this boundary was accepted by Congress, the act of Jan. 29, 1861, giving the boundaries as follows:
"Beginning at a point on the western boundary of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence "west on said parallel to the twenty-fifth meridian of longitude west from Washington ; thence north on said meridian to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning."
As a matter of fact, the western line of the state is three miles west of the meridian designated by the constitution and the act of admis- sion. This is due to the fact that after the adoption of the constitu- tion and the passage of the act, the surveyors in running the eastern line of an Indian reservation in what is now the State of Colorado made an error of three miles, so that the western boundary is really that much farther west than was originally intended, or 102° 2' west from Greenwich.
The eastern boundary has been a subject for discussion ever since Kansas became a state. Several times the claim has been advanced that changes in the location of the mouth of the Kansas river have
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occurred since the western boundary of Missouri was established as a north and south line passing through the mouth of that stream, and that these changes have moved the mouth of the river some six miles farther east. The line was established by Joseph C. Brown in 1823, and the official plats of the public land surveys, both in Missouri and Kansas, show the line as then marked. In the Kansas City Journal of March 6, 1899, appeared an article relating to this line, from the pen of W. E. Connelley, in which the writer says:
"I notice that the old controversy concerning the state line between the states of Kansas and Missouri has been out afresh this winter. The Kansas legislature has been asked to appropriate the sum of $5,000 to pay the expenses of a suit to settle the matter in the courts. Per- haps it would be as well that this be done. The result will settle nothing not already known to any and every person having investi- gated the matter. In 1884 this matter was all threshed over. At that time many Kansans would consent to no less than six miles of Mis- souri territory. As investigation proceeded the claim narrowed until the foot of Broadway, in Kansas City, Mo., was fixed as the point be- yond which no Kansan could honorably retreat. I was county clerk of Wyandotte county, Kan., at that time, and an ardent supporter of the Kansas claim-until I made an investigation of the matter. In that year I made an accurate and correct map and plat of every tract of land in Wyandotte county, and also prepared an accurate descrip- tion of each tract, for the tax rolls of the county. It was necessary that I should locate definitely the state line. . The claim that the state line has been changed since 1823, or that it was then er- roneously located, is a preposterous absurdity."
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