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 57
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The first newspaper published in the county was the Crawford County Times, one number of which was issued by Scott & Cole on April 16, 1868. After that one issue the publication office was taken back to Osage Mission. On Nov. 1I, 1869, the first number of the Girard Press made its appearance. It was published byWarner & Wasser, and was the first paper regularly published in the county. On July 14, 1871, the office and contents were burned by a mob, the ill feeling toward the paper being the outgrowth of the troubles over the disposition of the Neutral Lands. Three weeks later the publication w is resumed, the paper appearing in an enlarged form and better than ever before. It is still running. The People's Vindicator was started at Girard on July 28, 1870, but suspended in the following Novem- ber. Other early newspapers were the Girard Pharos, the Cherokee Pharos and the Cherokee Index, all of which were started in the early '70s. There are now published in the county I daily (the Pittsburg Headlight) and 13 weekly newspapers, and one quarterly periodical. One of the weeklies is printed in the German language.
In 1868 a Catholic parish was established in Grant township and a house of worship erected. This was the first church in the county. A Presbyterian church was built at Girard in 1870, and the following year the Methodist church at Mulberry Grove was established. At the present time all the leading denominations are represented in the towns and villages of the county. The first white child born in the county was John Leman, whose birth occurred in Walnut township in 1859. The first marriage license was issued on Dec. 27, 1867, to W. M. Breck- enridge and Miss Elner Stone. Marriages had been solemnized in the county before that time-in fact before the county was organized- but the licenses had been procured elsewhere.
On Feb. 5, 1870, the Crawford County Agricultural Society was organized, one of the chief promoters being Dr. W. H. Warner of the Girard Press, who served as secretary of the society for six years. The affairs of the society were managed by a board of thirteen directors, who bought 40 acres a short distance east of Girard, where fairs were held annually until the society was reorganized and a new fair ground purchased on the west side of the city. The reorganization took place on May 27, 1882.
During the Civil war the few settlers in what is now Crawford county were seriously harassed by guerrillas and bushwhackers, most of the outrages being committed by the notorious Livingston gang.
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Among those killed by guerrillas were Capt. Henry M. Dobyns of the Sixth Kansas cavalry, and Capt .. John Rodgers, who established the first store at Cato in 1858. The latter was a member of one of the Kansas volunteer regiments, but was at home on furlough when the raid was made in which he lost his life. Four brothers named Tippy came into the county in the spring of 1866, and two of them were afterward hanged by a posse of citizens near Monmouth, after they had been tried and found guilty by a jury of twelve men for participa- tion in the murder of a man named Shannon. Several skirmishes occurred in the county between the guerrillas and Union troops.
Since its organization Crawford county has suffered severely from storms, the worst of which was probably the tornado of May 22, 1873. It came from the southwest and swept across the entire county, leaving desolation in its wake. Seven persons were killed outright, 34 others were injured, and a large amount of property was destroyed.
Coal of fine quality underlies the entire county, some of the veins running five feet or more in thickness. More than half the coal mined in the state comes from this county. Building stone, cement rock, fire and potter's clay of excellent quality are abundant in several localities and though only partially developed are a source of revenue to the owners of the deposits. Belts of timber averaging about half a mile in width are found along the streams, the principal varieties being oak, walnut, poplar,, hickory and cottonwood. Some artificial groves have been planted. Agriculture is an important industry. The five leading crops in 1910, in the order of their value, were as follows: corn, $999,- 900; oats, $345,960; hay (including alfalfa), $187,208; wheat, $142,031 ; flax, $59,670. Kafir corn, Irish potatoes and sorghum are also impor- tant crops. The value of dairy products for the year 1910 was $222,- 558, and the value of all farm products, including live stock slaughtered or sold for slaughter, was $2,660,750.
Crawford county is well provided with transportation facilities, lines of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the St. Louis & San Francisco, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the Missouri Pacific systems cross- ing the county in every direction and giving the county nearly 220 miles of main track. Pittsburg is one of the greatest railroad centers in eastern Kansas.
According to the U. S. census for 1910, the population of Crawford county was 51,178, a gain of 12,369 during the preceding ten years, making it the fourth in the state in population. There are eleven incorporated cities in the county, viz .: Arcadia, Arma, Cherokee, Cur- ranville, Frontenac, Girard, Hepler, McCune, Mulberry, Pittsburg and Walnut. Other important towns and villages are Beulah, Brazilton, Cato, Chicopee, Croweburg, Dunkirk, Englevale, Farlington, Franklin, Fuller, Midway, Monmouth and Yale. (See sketches of the towns and cities.)
Crawford, George A., lawyer and journalist, was born in Clinton county, Pa., July 27, 1827. On his father's side he was descended from
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James Crawford, a Scotch-Irishman, who was a major in the Revolu- tionary war, and his mother, Elizabeth Weitzel, was of German descent. He was educated at Clinton Academy, of which his father was presi- dent, the Lock Haven Academy, and at Jefferson College, where he graduated in 1847. After graduating he taught school in Kentucky and in 1847 was partner in a private school at Clinton, Miss. In 1848 he returned to Pennsylvania, where he studied law and in 1850, while still reading for the bar, became editor and proprietor of the Clinton Demo- crat. During the early '5os he took an active part in politics against the Know-Nothings and in 1855 was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Democratic state convention. In the spring of 1857 he came to Kan- sas; landed at Leavenworth and accompanied Dr. Norman Eddy, United States commissioner for the sale of Indian lands, to Lawrence. Craw- ford, Eddy and other associates purchased 520 acres of land and organ- ized the Fort Scott Town company, of which Mr. Crawford was made president, a position he held for twenty years. A town was laid out and the streets were named after Mr. Crawford's friends. He was opposed to the agitation kept up by the border factions but did not change his free-state views and several attempts were made to assas- sinate him. At the outbreak of the Civil war he assisted in the organiza- tion of the Second Kansas regiment and equipped many of its mem- bers. When the border was threatened he organized a committee of safety and was placed at its head. He was active in recruiting several militia companies. In 1861 he was elected governor of Kansas on the Democratic ticket, but the election was declared illegal. In 1864 he was again nominated by the. Democratic party for governor but Samuel J. Crawford, the Republican candidate, was elected. Under Gov. Crawford he served two years as commissioner of immigration, and this was regarded as his greatest work. He inaugurated the sys- tem of exhibiting Kansas products in other states and was one of the organizers of the Kansas Historical Society and its secretary for two years. In 1868 he was again a candidate for governor but was defeated. In 1869 he established the Daily Monitor and a free reading room and museum at Fort Scott. Mr. Crawford was appointed a regent of the state university in 1871 and elected one of the executive committee of the state agricultural society. The same year he was appointed United States commissioner by President Grant, to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. When the Ute reservation was thrown open to set- tlement he purchased the site of the town of Grand Junction, Col., and was instrumental in building it up. He died there on Jan. 26, 1891.
Crawford, Samuel J., lawyer, soldier and third governor of the State of Kansas, was born in Lawrence county, Ind., April 15, 1835. While a student in the Bedford Academy he began the study of law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. The following year he removed to Kansas and began the practice of his profession at Garnett. On Dec. 6, 1859, he was elected a member of the first state legislature, which did not meet until March 26, 1861. At the end of six weeks' service
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as a legislator, he resigned his seat in the house to enter the army and raised a company, of which he was commissioned captain. His company was assigned to the Second Kansas infantry, with which regi- ment he served until in March, 1862, when he was assigned to the command of Troop A, Second Kansas cavalry. While in command of this troop he distinguished himself by leading a charge against and capturing a battery of four guns near old Fort Wayne. It is related that Maj. Van Antwerp, an old West Pointer, who was at that time inspector-general on the staff of Gen. James G. Blunt, saw the charge, and as the captured guns were being brought within the Union lines, rode over to Gen. Blunt and asked: "Who is the officer that led that charge?"
Gen. Blunt answered: "Captain Crawford of the Second Kansas cavalry."
"Do you know, General," said Van Antwerp, "that if that man had been with Napoleon at Lodi, and had done what he did here today, he would have been made a marshal on the field?"
Capt. Crawford was not promoted on the field at the time of his gallant charge, but his promotion was not long in coming. He was given command of a battalion of the Second Kansas cavalry, and on Dec. 5, 1863, he was made colonel of the Second Kansas, or Eighty- third U. S., colored infantry. On Nov. 8, 1864, while serving as colonel of this regiment, he was elected governor of Kansas, and on Dec. 2 he resigned his commission in the army to prepare for his gubernatorial duties. He was inaugurated at the opening of the legislative session the following January, and further military promotion came to him on March 13, 1865, when he received the rank of brevet brigadier- general "for gallant and meritorious services." In 1866 he was reelected to the office of governor, and served until the autumn of 1868, when he resigned to assume the command of the Nineteenth Kansas regi- ment, which was then being organized for a campaign against the hostile Indians on the western frontier. The regiment, with Col. Crawford at the head, left Topeka on Nov. 6, and twenty days later joined Gen. Sheridan's army. Upon returning home from this expedi- tion, Gov. Crawford located at Emporia, where he was engaged in the real estate business until 1876, when he removed to Topeka. In 1877 he was appointed agent at Washington for the State of Kansas, and he continued to serve in this capacity for several years, during which time he successfully adjusted a number of claims against the United States and collected a large amount of money for the state. He also recovered 276,000 acres of school lands, and nearly 850,000 acres in western Kansas claimed by railroad companies. At the conclusion of his services as state agent, Gov. Crawford opened a law office in Washington, D. C., practicing there during the fall and winter sea- sons and spending his summer on his farm near Baxter Springs. On Nov. 27, 1866, he married Miss Isabel M. Chase, of Topeka, and this union was blessed with two children-Florence and George. Gov.
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Crawford now (1911) lives in Topeka, practically retired from active business pursuits. He is the author of "Kansas in the Sixties," which was published in the summer of 1911.
Crawford's Administration .- The legislature met in regular session on Jan. 10, 1865, and organized with Lieut .- Gov. James McGrew as the presiding officer of the senate, and Jacob Stotler, of Lyon county, as the speaker of the house. On the IIth Samuel J. Crawford succeeded Thomas Carney as governor. The inaugural. message of the new executive was such a document as a lawyer might be expected to write -concise, analytic, almost entirely free from flights of eloquence or rhetorical display, but treating in clear, forcible language questions of vital interest or great importance to the people of Kansas. In dis- cussing the national situation he said: "The reelection of Abraham Lincoln is the people's declaration that the war is not a failure, but that it shall be vigorously prosecuted until the last vestige of American slavery is extirpated-until every traitor lays down his arms and bows in allegiance to our flag and in submission to the laws of our govern- ment."
He then carefully reviewed the educational progress and financial condition of the state; recommended an appropriation for the comple- tion of the geological survey ; suggested an investigation of the work of erecting a penitentiary before any further appropriations be made for that purpose; and suggested the importance of promoting immigra- tion as a means of adding to the wealth and population. (See Peniten- tiary.)
On Jan. 12, the day following the reading of the message, the two branches of the assembly met in joint convention for the election of a United States senator. The result of the ballot was: James H. Lane, 82; William Phillips, 7; William C. McDowell, 4; C. B. Brace, 2; B. M. Hughes, I. Lane was therefore declared reelected for the term beginning on the 4th of the following March.
The legislature adjourned on the 20th of February. The principal acts of the session were those authorizing counties to issue bonds in behalf of railroad companies; to encourage the planting of forest trees; making an appropriation for the geological survey; relating to the payment of claims growing out of the Price raid and the expedition of Gen. Curtis against the Indians.
President Lincoln died early on the morning of April 15, and as soon as the sad news reached Kansas Gov. Crawford issued a proclama- tion, the principal part of which was as follows: "President Lincoln has been wickedly assassinated; a loyal people are shedding bitter tears of sorrow; grief the most poignant fills the heart of every true patriot in the land ; a calamity that seems almost unbearable has visited the nation! Let us submit with Christian resignation to the great affliction-kiss the hand that smites us-remembering that it is our Father's will.
"I do recommend that, in respect to the memory of the slain hero
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and patriot, the public and private buildings in the state be draped in mourning, so far as practicable, for the space of ten days; and that Sunday, the 23rd inst., especial prayers be offered to Almighty God, that he will sanctify this great calamity to the good of our bereaved country."
The governor's recommendations were generally accepted. In all the leading towns and cities of the state buildings were decorated with somber black-emblem of a nation's grief-while from many pulpits, on the appointed day, prayers were offered for the national welfare and sermons calculated to inculcate patriotism and a love of law and order were delivered to interested congregations.
During the summer of 1865 there arose a controversy between the governor 'and the interior department, regarding the title to certain lands in Kansas, and some spirited correspondence resulted. On Aug. 3 Gov. Crawford wrote to James Harlan, secretary of the interior, that the Cherokee and Osage tribes were holding lands to which they had no title. The letter was referred to J. M. Edmunds, commissioner of the general land office, who wrote to the governor, under date of Aug. 31, that he was in error in his views concerning the boundaries of the Osage and Cherokee lands. The governor then asked G. J. Endicott to ascertain the exact boundaries, which was done, and Mr. Endicott's survey sustained the position of Gov. Crawford. The correspondence is given in full in the governor's message to the legislature of 1866.
The legislative session of 1866 began on Jan. 9 and lasted until Feb. 26. Lieut .- Gov. McGrew again presided over the senate and John T. Burris was speaker of the house. During the session acts were passed providing for a new apportionment of the state for senators and repre-
sentatives; to encourage forestry ; for the erection of a temporary deaf and dumb asylum at Olathe; for the erection of a state-house; to give to railroad companies 500,000 acres of land granted to the state under the act of Sept. 4, 1841; and to provide for the sale of certain public lands for the benefit of the state university, the state normal school and the agricultural college.
In April, 1866, Gov. Crawford sold in New York $60,000 of the peni- tentiary bonds and $70,000 of the public improvement bonds at 91 cents on the dollar. The latter were authorized by the act of Feb. 27, 1866, to run for thirty years at seven per cent. interest, payable semi-annually, the proceeds to be used for the benefit of the state university, the state normal school, the deaf and dumb asylum, and for the erection of a capitol building. (See Finances, State.)
A great reunion of Kansas soldiers was held on July 4, 1866, at ,which time the battle flags of the several regiments were presented to the state. Senator Lane's death on July 1I left a vacancy in the United States senate, which Gov. Crawford filled on the 20th by the appoint- ment of Edmund G. Ross.
At a Republican convention in Topeka on Sept. 5, Gov. Crawford was renominated, receiving 64 votes to 18 for Andrew Akin of Morris
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county. Nehemiah Green was nominated for lieutenant-governor ; H. A. Barker and John R. Swallow were nominated for secretary of state and auditor ; and the ticket was completed by the nomination of Mar- tin Anderson for treasurer; Peter McVicar for superintendent of pub- lic instruction ; George H. Hoyt for attorney-general ; Samuel A. King- man for chief justice of the supreme court, and Sidney Clarke for representative in Congress. At that time the controversy between President Andrew Jackson and Congress over the reconstruction policy was at its height, and the platform declared :
"That in the great and awful wickedness which our president has perpetrated in making treason a virtue and loyalty a crime; in giving to rebels protection, and to their anarchy the sanction of law; in cast- ing upon the noble and sacrificing Unionists of the South the scorn and insolence of tyrannic power; in fostering and encouraging the spirit of disaffection among the rebels, and in crushing the dawning hopes of the freedmen; in usurping and overriding the authority of Congress, and in trampling upon the sovereignty of the states; and in his audacious and crowning wickedness in calling our representatives 'An assumed Congress,' meaning the tyrant's threat at anarchy and absolute power-has lost our confidence and respect, and to his inso- lence and threats we hurl back our defiance and scorn."
This was strong language, but from it the student of a younger generation may learn how high the sectional and partisan feelings ran during the years immediately following the Civil war. The platform indorsed the Congress of the United States, especially the senators and representatives from Kansas, and recommended the next legisla- ture to submit to a vote of the people the question of impartial suffrage.
On Sept. 20 the National Union state convention met at Topeka and named an opposition ticket, as follows: J. L. McDowell, gov- ernor; J. R. McClure, lieutenant-governor; M. Quigg, secretary of state; N. S. Goss, auditor; I. S. Walker, treasurer ; Ross Burns, attor- ney-general; Joseph Bond, superintendent of public instruction ; Nel- son Cobb, chief justice; Charles W. Blair, representative in Congress. The convention gave an unequivocal indorsement to President John- son's policy with regard to the Southern states, in a resolution declar- ing: "That in the great crisis of our country, growing out of the dis- agreement between Congress and the administration, we heartily indorse the policy of President Johnson in his manly defense of the constitution and the Union against the assaults of a partisan Congress and a fanatical party to destroy the government bequeathed to us by our fathers."
On questions relating to Kansas affairs, the platform declared that "The prodigality, corruption and imbecility of the present officials of this state merit and ought to receive the severest reprobation of the honest, tax-ridden people of the state," and condemned "the criminal conduct of the present executive in neglecting or refusing to extend the protection of the state to the hardy pioneers of our western borders
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against Indian hostilities and savage barbarities daily and notoriously committed against them."
Notwithstanding this severe arraignment of Gov. Crawford by the opposition party, he was reëlected by an increased vote on Nov. 6, 1866. In 1864 his majority over Solon O. Thacher was 4,939, while in 1866 he received 19,370 votes, and his opponent, J. L. McDowell, received only 8,152. All the candidates on the Republican state ticket were elected by similar pluralities, and the party had a substantial majority in each branch of the legislature which met on Jan. 8, 1867.
At the session Nehemiah Green, the newly elected lieutenant-gov- ernor, presided over the deliberations of the senate, and Preston B. Plumb was elected speaker of the house. Gov. Crawford submitted his annual message on the 9th. He reviewed at length the financial con- dition of the state, showing the total indebtedness to be $660,896.28, with the resources only slightly less. With regard to the educational progress of the state during the preceding year, he called attention to the fact that there had been an increase of 150 in the number of school districts; the number of teachers had increased 187, and there had been an increase of nearly $200,000 in the value of school property-not a bad exhibit for Kansas in the sixth year of her statehood. The mes- sage also gave a great deal of detailed information concerning the penal and benevolent institutions of the state; the progress in the erec- . tion of the new capitol; urged legislation in behalf of the agricultural interests and to promote railroad building, and recommended that steps be taken to encourage immigration. On the subject of Indian hostilities, in connection with which the governor had been severely criticised by one of the political conventions the preceding year, the message says:
"The Indians on our western border, during the past year, have been guilty of frequent depredations and murders. The expenses would have been so enormous that I did not feel justified, under existing cir- cumstances, in attempting the defense of the frontier by the militia of the state. It would have been useless to attempt it unless by keeping troops at all times scouting in that portion of the state; and it was impossible after the depredations or murders were committed to col- lect a force and overtake the perpetrators, as ample time must neces- sarily intervene to make good their escape before troops could even reach the scene of their disturbances."
The governor then goes on to explain the efforts he made to pro- tect the settlers on the frontier by trying to induce the general gov- ernment to send troops to that section of the state, or at least to pro- vide the settlers with arms and ammunition, and maintains that the reason for his failure to afford such protection as the settlers required was not due to negligence on his part, but to absolute helplessness.
He submitted to the legislature the proposed Article XIV of the Federal constitution (better known perhaps as the Fourteenth Amend- ment), and in connection therewith said: "The abolition of slavery, the investment by the laws of Congress of all persons born within the
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United States, or in case of foreigners when naturalized with citizen- ship, has precipitated upon us, as a practical question, sooner than many desired, the question of impartial suffrage. If we desired, we could not longer avoid the issue. . . . I recommend that you provide for submitting to a vote of the people, at the next general election, a propo- sition to strike the word "white" from our state constitution; and that all who gave aid or comfort, during the rebellion, to the enemies of the government, be forever disqualified and debarred from exercising the rights, privileges and immunities of loyal citizens of Kansas."
In referring to the appointment of Mr. Ross to the United States senate, he also reminded the legislature that the term of Senator Pome- roy expired on the 4th of the following March, and, the appointment of Ross having been made ad interim, two senators must be elected during the session. Accordingly the two houses met in joint conven- tion on Jan. 23, and elected Edmund G. Ross for the short term-the unexpired term of Gen. Lane-and reelected Samuel C. Pomeroy for the long term. Only one ballot was taken in each instance. For the short term Ross received 68 votes; Thomas Carney, 40, and Samuel A. Riggs, I. For the long term Pomeroy received 84 votes and Albert L. Lee 25.
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