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 59
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In Kansas, as in most of the states west of the Mississippi river, cities. and populous towns are comparatively few and many of the towns are of such a character and size as to permit numerous residents to keep cows for supplying their families with milk and butter. Kansas City. Topeka, Pittsburg, Fort Scott, Wichita and Hutchinson are the largest cities which must depend upon a milk supply from the surrounding country. But there will usually be found, in the vicinity of a county seat, or other town of 1,000 population or over, one or more dairymen who make a business of supplying from a wagon the local demand for milk.
For some years the greater number of cows were graded Shorthorns, but the owners began introducing Jerseys and they are the favorites in many localities.
Most of the cheese made in Kansas is the American cheese. Imita- tions of foreign kinds of cheese are made only in a limited way. Most of the cheese manufactured finds a local market or is shipped south. Pasteurized milk is now prepared in several cities of the state. The- application of science in such forms as the Babcock tester and the cen-
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trifugal separator has done much to revolutionize the dairy and cheese business, which is as modern in method in this state as any in the coun- try. With the adoption of improved methods for handling the products of the dairy, the application of scientific principles in breeding and feed- ing is also coming into practice. The state agricultural college has experimented along these lines for years and has given the benefit of the results to the dairymen, with the result that the business has increased and become much more profitable.
In 1883 the state legislature passed laws with regard to live stock in the state and appointed a live-stock commission which was to have super- vision of the same. In 1905 the office of a state live-stock sanitary com- missioner was created, whose duty it is to protect the health of the do- mestic animals of the state. All cases of diseased animals must be reported to him, when he investigates the case and he may call the veterinary surgeon of the agricultural college to consult with him. When any animal is found afflicted with a communicable disease, the commis- sioner may order it quarantined or, if necessary, killed. The tuberculine test is now extensively used in this state in the dairy herds, milch cows being especially susceptible to bovine tuberculosis, which is readily communicated to man in the milk. When cows are found suffering from this disease they are killed under authority of the commissioner. In this way the consumers of milk, butter and cheese are protected against the possible dangers of contracting disease from products which contain the germs of communicable disease. The Kansas Dairy Association has done a great work for years in improving dairying methods and has been instrumental in securing legislation regulating the manufacture and sale of pure butter and oleomargarine, within the boundaries of the state. The association has induced the dairymen to work together and thus has widened the industry and raised the grade of dairy products.
The eastern part of the state is naturally a dairy country and supplies the greatest amount of dairy products. In 1910 Jefferson county led in the production of cheese with 30,998 pounds; Franklin county was second with 20,257 pounds; Shawnee county ranked first in the production of butter with 6,615,153 pounds; and Dickinson county was second in the production of butter with 2,847,399 pounds. The total number of milk cows in Kansas in 1910 was 641,570, valued at $23,738,090. The total amount of cheese produced in that year was 105,568 pounds valued at $16,004; the total amount of butter for the same year was 39,797:552 pounds valued at $10,704,361.96; the amount of milk sold for the manu- facture of cheese and butter was valued at $4,716,712; milk sold other than for butter and cheese amounted to $1,314,565, or a total value of dairy products of $16,741,643.38.
Dale, a country postoffice of Wallace county, is located near the head of Turtle creek about 16 miles northwest of Sharon Springs, the county seat. Besides being the postoffice, it is a trading center for the neighbor- hood in which it is situated.
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Dalton, a village of Avon township, Sumner county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 7 miles east of Wellington. the county seat. It has some good general stores, telegraph and express service, a money order postoffice, telephone connections, and in 1910 reported a population of 52.
Damar, one of the thriving towns of Rooks county, is a station on the Union Pacific R. R. in Richland township, about 20 miles southwest of Stockton, the county seat. Concerning this town the Topeka State Journal of July 27, 1910, said : "Five years ago there were less than half a dozen buildings on the Damar townsite. Today it has a thrifty popu- lation of about 300; it has two general stores, lumber yard, bank, hard- ware and implements, two elevators, drug store, furniture, and several smaller places. The deposits in the state bank reach close to the $50,000 mark."
Damar also has a money order postoffice with one rural route, express and telegraph offices, telephone connections, a Catholic church and con- vent, and it is the principal shipping point for the western part of the county.
Danby, a rural hamlet of Ness county, is located about 10 miles north- east of Ness City, the county seat, and 7 miles south of Brownell, the nearest railroad station, from which mail is received by rural delivery.
Danites .- The first American secret society to be called by this name was organized on March 30, 1836, at Kirtland, Ohio, by Joseph Smith of the Mormon church, who claimed to have had a special revelation in Aug., 1833, directing him to take such a step to prevent, or at least to avenge, any further expulsion of Mormons from Missouri by mobs. The society was at first known as the Daughters of Zion. Later it took the name of the Destroying Angels, and still later it was known as the Big Fan, whose duty was to "separate the chaff from the wheat." Every member of the organization took an oath to obey the prophet and first presidency of the Mormon church, though the church subsequently denied the existence of such a society, or if it did exist it was not countenanced by the church. Among the deeds of blood committed by the Mormon Danites or Destroying Angels was the notorious Mountain Meadows massacre. In the Lincoln-Douglas campaign of 1858 the name Danites was given by the Douglas Democrats to the administration or Buchanan Democrats as upholding the Utah rebellion.
Wilder's Annals of Kansas (p. 91) says that in 1855 a free-state secret society was organized at Lawrence, and that this society was known by different names, such as Defenders, Regulators and Danites. Holloway's History of Kansas (p. 203) states that "The invasions of the 30th of March and the continued threatening and armed demonstrations of the Missourians suggested to the free-state men some kind of military organization for self defense. Accordingly a secret order of a military character was introduced (the Kansas Legion), similar to the Blue Lodge of Missouri, with this exception-its object was solely defensive, while that of the latter was offensive. Its design was to labor by all lawful
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means to make Kansas a free state, and to protect the ballot box from invasion. There was nothing wrong in the society itself, nor in its object, or means employed to attain that object. It never extended far over the territory. There were, however, several 'encampments' at dif- ferent places. It was secret in character, and the members took an obli- gation in accordance with the nature and design of the society. It was found to be too cumbersome and unwieldy, and soon fell into disuse. Many of the members became dissatisfied with its unnecessary obliga- tions to secrecy. Its cumbersome machinery was never put into prac- tical operation."
Gihon, in his Geary and Kansas, says the "largest and most respect- able portion of the free-state party condemned the Kansas Legion and took no part in its operations," and Cutler's History of Kansas (p. 474) gives the following account of the Danites: "In 1855 an association was formed by certatin disaffected parties in Doniphan for the purpose of opposing obnoxious laws. This body was known as the Danites; Patrick Laughlin (q. v.), a tinsmith of the town, joined this society, but on becoming aware of its full purpose became disgusted and openly pro- claimed all of its secrets," and then, after describing how the Danites tried to wreak vengeance on the traitor, concludes the account by say- ing, "This was the end of the Danites."
From the statement in Holloway's History of Kansas, that Laughlin published the ritual of the Kansas Legion in the Squatter Sovereign, it is evident that the Danites mentioned by Cutler and the Kansas Legion were one. When that ritual was published the pro-slavery press of the country devoted columns of space to the injustice and unrighteousness. of the organization, and Stephen A. Douglas, on the floor of the United States senate, denounced it as a "monster of iniquity."
All the historians above quoted are in error in the statement that the society did not last long, and that it was of a defensive character only. In the archives of the Kansas Historical Society the writer found several cipher dispatches sent by one "encampment" to another, and letters of complaint to the governor, all dated in 1858. From these documents it is learned that Lodge No. I was at Lawrence; No. 4 was at Council City ; No. 6 was at Topeka; there were also lodges in Osage and Brown coun- ties, and there was a lodge in Buchanan county, Mo. Officers went by number instead of name, the only despatch signed by any one's real name being one from Lodge No. 4, under date of March 27, 1858, and addressed to "4141." It reads as follows :
"Sir: There is business of the greatest importance now transpiring here and I would like it much if you would come with the utmost dispatch and bring 50 men with you. You will go to the president of the asso- ciation treasury and draw as much money as you think will pay the- expense, but that will not be much, as you will be traveling through thickly settled places. Bring two pieces of artillery and the ammunition- and baggage wagons.
"Gen'1. J. H. Lane."
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From this communication it may be seen that Gen. Lane was prom- inent in the society, and the tone of the despatch indicates that the Danites were about to inaugurate an offensive campaign of some kind, as artillery, ammunition and baggage wagons constitute some of the paraphernalia of an aggressive movement. Another despatch, dated May 27, 1858, is somewhat more mysterious in its character. It reads :
"Headquarters, Kansas. "To Capts. 4141, 17923, 769:
"You are hereby requested to take a minute description of your com- pany, the names, numbers and ability, and every [thing] relative thereto, and immediately transmit the same to the undersigned, as it is confidently expected that we will soon commence active operations. You will strictly observe these orders.
"Colonel 23,63925."
One of the despatches in the archives is wholly in figures, incapable of translation, but all are dated some time in the year 1858. None of them throws any light on the subject that tends to show when the Danites were organized or when they were disbanded. Nor do any of the documents bear out Holloway's suggestion that the society was organized purely for defense.
Another evidence that the Danites were still in existence as late as 1858 is found in Gov. Denver's message to the legislature on Jan. 4 of that year, when he said: "I have been informed that an organization exists in this territory, similar to what is said to be the Danite organiza- tion among the Mormons. It is asserted that the members are bound, by the most solemn oaths and obligations, to resist the laws, take the lives of their fellow citizens, or commit any other act of violence they may be directed to do by their leaders."
The governor expressed himself as loath to believe that such an order existed, but if so it was a fit subject for legislative investigation. On Feb. 12, 1858. more than a month after this message was delivered, John R. Boyd, a resident of Doniphan, wrote to the governor from St. Joseph, Mo., complaining that he had been assaulted the previous Saturday by "a set of unprincipled rowdies, claiming to be free-state men, but answer- ing more correctly to the secret order alluded to in your excellency's message to the legislative assembly." The despatches now in the hands of the Historical Society were forwarded to the governor on July 12, 1858, by a man named Dougherty, to convince him that an organization such as mentioned in his message really did exist. That is the last authentic information to be gleaned regarding the Danites, and the society no doubt ceased to exist with the ascendancy of the free-state men, because the conditions that led to its establishment had also ceased to exist.
Danville, one of the little towns in Harper county, is located in Odell township about 12 miles northeast of Anthony, the county seat. It is
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a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., has telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. There are a number of general stores and other retail establishments, a mill and a bank. The population was 200 in 1910. The town was laid out in 1880 by Mrs. J. E. Cole and a postoffice was established, which was called Coleville. Later a town company was formed with T. O. Moffet as president. The site was bought from Mrs. Cole and the name was changed to Danville. The first building was erected by F. O. Mott, the treasurer of the town company. In 1882 a newspaper (the Danville Argus) was established by R. E. Hicks, and in that year the Presby- terians built the first church.
Darlow, a hamlet of Reno county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad 8 miles south of Hutchinson, the county seat. It is located in Lincoln township, and has an express office and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population according to the census of 1910 was 75.
Daughters of the American Revolution .- Love of liberty and the determination to worship God in their own way, led the Pilgrims to cross the sea, combat cold, starvation and savage red men; and it was again the love of liberty that more than a century later, caused their descendants to take up arms against the mother country, in order that civil and religious liberty in America might be perpetuated.
The tragic events of the war that followed the Declaration of Inde- pendence have gradually faded into insignificance beside those of more modern conflicts, and it is to commemorate the valiant deeds of the patriotic men and women of '76, that their female descendants, founded at Washington, D. C., on Oct. 11, 1890, a society, "To perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American inde- pendence, by the acquisition and protection of historical spots." The organization was christened the "Daughters of the American Revolu- tion." Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the wife of President Harrison, was the first president of the national society, which since its organization has grown rapidly and in 1908 had over 45,000 members. As a perpetual memorial to the men and women of the Revolution, the national society is building a Continental Hall at Washington, D. C., where relics and records will be kept ..
The first chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kansas was organized at Topeka, in Jan., 1896, and named the Topeka chapter. The report of the society for 1910 showed the following chap- ters in the state, the date of organization and location of which are as follows: Betty Washington, Oct. 17, 1896, Lawrence; Eunice Sterling, Oct. 21, 1896, Wichita; Gen. Edward Hand, Nov. 24, 1899, Ottawa; Newton, April 9, 1904, Newton ; Sterling, May 26, 1905, Sterling; Esther Lowrey, June 14, 1905, Independence; Capt. Jesse Leavenworth, Oct. 23, 1906, Leavenworth; Atchison, Feb., 1908, Atchison; Christiana Musser, Feb. 28, 1908, Chanute; Uvedale, Feb. 27, 1908, Hutchinson ; Betty Bonney, April 6, 1908, Arkansas City ; Samuel Linscott, Jan. 23.
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1909, Holton; Lis Warner, June 15, 1909, Junction City; James Ross, July 26, 1909, Kansas City, Kan .; Rhoda Carver Barton, Oct. 13, 1909, Fredonia; Tiblow, Oct. 13, 1909, Bonner Springs; Susannah French Putney, July 8, 1910, Eldorado.
Although the State of Kansas is far removed from the scenes of the Revolution, the society tries to carry out the idea of the national organ- ization by the preservation of things historically important to the state. In Topeka, the site of the old "Constitution Hall," where the Topeka constitution was formed, has been marked by a tablet set in the side- walk. The historic old Santa Fe Trail has been marked by 95 stones, 6 of which were placed by individual chapters or communities. The site of old Fort Zarah in Barton county has been marked by a stone, and it was due to the efforts of this society that a monument was erected on the site of the Pawnee village in Republic county, to commemorate the visit of Capt. Zebulon Pike in the fall of 1806, when he lowered the Spanish colors and raised the Stars and Stripes on Kansas soil for the first time. Other tablets marking historic places have been placed by the society, and when the battleship Kansas went into commission, a magnificent stand of colors was presented by the D. A. R. of Kansas.
Daughters of Rebekah .- (See Odd Fellows.)
Davis County .- (See Geary County.)
Davis, John, member of Congress, was born near Springfield, Ill., Aug. 9, 1826. His parents were pioneers, the father a farmer, public-spirited, and of strong, sturdy character. John attended the public schools and at the age of twenty years left the farm to enter the Springfield Academy, preparatory to a course in the Illinois College at Jacksonville. In 1850 he opened a prairie farm in Macon county, Ill., about 10 miles east of the city of Decatur. To this farm he brought his wife, Martha Powell. a native of Wisconsin and a woman able to cope with the vicissitudes of frontier life. Mr. Davis actively favored government endowment of agricultural colleges. Ho took a leading part in the anti-slavery move- ment, and as a member of the Republican party, he stood by the Union cause during the Civil war. In 1872, he removed with his family to- Kansas, settling on a farm 2 miles from Junction City. The following year he was elected president of the first Kansas farmers' convention, and he was one of the organizers of the Greenback party and its suc- cessor, the People's party. In 1890 he was elected as a Populist to repre- sent the Fifth district in Congress, and was reelected in 1892. In 1875 he purchased the Junction City Tribune and conducted it until 1895. He was a writer of ability, published several books and pamphlets in support of his opinions on public policy and was the author of a "Life of Napoleon." He died at the residence of his daughter in Topeka, Kan .. Aug. I, 1901.
Day, a little village of Washington county, is a station on the Green- leaf & Lenora division of the Missouri Pacific R. R., 5 miles east of Clifton and about 17 miles southwest of Washington, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, some local trade, and does some ship- ping. The population in 1910 was 35.
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Dayton, a village of Jefferson township, Dickinson county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R., and is 16 miles south of Abilene, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, telephone connections, several general stores, a creamery, flour mills, etc., and in 1910 reported a population of 40.
Deaf, State School for .- Some efforts to educate deaf mutes were made in the latter part of the fifteenth century, but little practical advancement was made until about the middle of the eighteenth, when Charles M. L'Epee of France evolved the sign language. Dr. John Wallis of Oxford was the first to give practical instruction in England, and in 1772 Samuel Heinicke established a school at Leipsic, which was the first institution for the education of the deaf to receive government aid. About 1815 Rev. Thomas Gallaudet of Hartford, Conn., became interested in the subject and visited Europe, where he studied under Sicard, a pupil of L'Epee. Upon his return he introduced the system in the United States, but the improvements of a century have been such that the present mode of instruction bears but little resemblance to that prac- ticed by Dr. Gallaudet and the early teachers to whom he imparted his methods. Civil authorities learned, however, that deaf mutes could, by proper training, he made self-sustaining citizens instead of becoming public charges in the almshouses of the country, and asylums or schools have been established in every state of the Union.
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STATE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
Philip A. Emery, who had taught in the deaf and dumb institute at Indianapolis, Ind., came to Kansas in 1860 and settled in the Wakarusa valley. One of his neighbors there was Jonathan R. Kennedy, who was the father of three children that were deaf mutes. He persuaded Mr. Emery to open a school for the instruction of such unfortunates. The original intention was to establish the school in Lawrence, but rents
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were too high there, and Mr. Emery leased a cottage of two rooms and an attic in Baldwin. On Feb. 26, 1863, Gov. Carney approved an act appropriating $1,500 to pay Mr. Emery for teaching deaf and dumb children, allowing him $4 per week for board and tuition for each child between the ages of eight and twenty-one years. This was the first aid extended by the State of Kansas for the education of the deaf.
The following year the appropriation was increased to $1,800 and the weekly allowance to $5 for each pupil. That year the school was removed to Topeka and was under the charge of B. R. Nordyke, but in 1865 it was taken back to Baldwin. By the act of Feb. 12, 1864, Johnson Clark of Miami county, J. Fleming of Linn county, and J. R. Brown of Johnson county were appointed commissioners to select a site of not less than 20 acres, in or near the city of Olathe, for a state institution for the edu- cation of the deaf and dumb, the location being made contingent upon the donation to the state by the people of Johnson county of a tract of 160 acres of land. Pending the action of the commissioners, and prior to the erection of buildings, the legislature by the act of Feb. 10, 1865, appropriated the sum of $4,500 to aid Joseph Mount in the instruction of the deaf, allowing him $5 per week for the board and tuition of each pupil under his care, his school to be conducted at Baldwin, provided the citizens of that town would furnish suitable quarters.
On Feb. 15, 1866, Gov. Crawford approved an act creating a board of five trustees, three of whom should be residents of Johnson county. This board was authorized to enter into a contract with Josiah E. Hayes for the erection of temporary buildings, which were to be leased by the state for a term of five years, with the privilege of renewal for another five years. By the act of Feb. 19, 1867, the trustees were empowered to purchase these buildings, at a consideration not exceeding $15,500, and bonds payable in twenty years, drawing interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum were authorized to make the purchase. This was the real beginning of the state school for the deaf. Twenty years later the Kansas institution ranked eighth among eighty institutions of its kind in the United States. Appropriations for improvements have been made from time to time, until in 1908 the estimated value of the property held by the school was $250,000.
The chief aim of the school is to render deaf mutes capable of sup- porting themselves, thus making them useful citizens. A regular course ut instruction is provided, corresponding to that in the public schools of the state, and graduating exercises are held annually. In the biennial period of 1909-10 there were enrolled 286 pupils, and in 1910 the number of graduates was ten. The sign language was used when the school was first opened, but by the application of modern methods the pupils have been taught the use of their voices and to read the lips of speakers.
Since the establishment of the school it has been under the charge of the following superintendents: Thomas Burnsides, 1866-67; Louis H. Jeninks, 1867-76; Theodore C. Bowles, 1876-79; (Mr. Bowles died on April 8, 1879, and the institution was under the management of George .
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L. Wyckoff until Aug. 15, 1879) ; J. W. Parker, 1879-80; W. H. DeMotte, 1880-83; H. A. Turton, 1883-85; S. T. Walker, 1885-94; A. A. Stewart, 1894-95; H. C. Hammond, 1895-97; A. A. Stewart, 1897-99; H. C. Ham- mond, 1899-1908; C. E. White, 1909 -.
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