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, Volume II > Part 104
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After referring to this portion of the committee's report, the procla- mation goes on: "Under these circumstances, you have proceeded to establish a government for the city of Lawrence in direct defiance of the territorial government, and denying its existence or authority.
Your evident purpose is thus to involve the whole territory in insurrec- tion, and to renew the scenes of bloodshed and civil war. Upon you, then, must rest all the guilt and responsibility of this contemplated revolution. .. . If you are permitted to proceed, and especially if your example should be followed, as urged by you, in other places, for all practical purposes, in many important particulars, the territorial
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government will be overthrown. A government founded on insurrection and usurpation will be substituted for that established by the authority of Congress, and civil war will be renewed throughout our limits. .. . . You were distinctly informed in my inaugural address of May last that the validity of the territorial laws was acknowledged by the government of the United States, and that they must and would be carried into execution under my oath of office and the instructions of the president of the United States. The same information was repeated in various addresses made by me throughout the territory. . . . At the same time, every assurance was given you that the right of the peo- ple of this territory, under the forms prescribed by the government of your country, to establish their own state government and frame their own social institutions would be acknowledged and protected.
As all arguments heretofore so often addressed by me to you have failed as yet to produce any effect upon you, I have deemed it necessary, for vour own safety and that of this territory, and to save you from the per- ilous consequences of your own acts, under the authority vested in me by the president of the United States, to order an adequate force of troops of the United States into your immediate vicinage to perform the painful duty of arresting your revolutionary proceedings.
If you can be influenced by no other motives, the evident fact that the power of the government is adequate to prevent the accomplishment of your purpose should induce you to desist from these proceedings."
In adopting this attitude toward the Lawrence city charter and issu- ing this proclamation, the governor showed that he was as ready to obey one part of his instructions as another, and while he had promised the people fair and impartial elections, it was now demonstrated that it was his intention to enforce the territorial laws. On July 20 he wrote to Gen. Cass that the revolutionary party in Lawrence was in the majority, and that 2,000 troops were needed there to prevent the territorial gov- ernment from being "overthrown or reduced to a condition of absolute imbecility."
In the meantime Henry Wilson, United States senator from Mas- sachusetts, visited Kansas for the purpose of trying to convince the free- state men that it was their duty to participate in the elections. He arrived at Lawrence on May 27, 1857, having come to the territory on the same steamboat that brought Gov. Walker. It was then too late to organize for the election of delegates to the Lecompton constitutional convention, but Mr. Wilson called a conference of the free-state lead- ers and urged upon them the importance of electing a majority of the members of the next territorial legislature. He insisted that "if Kansas was made a free state they must do it, and to accomplish that end they must take the power from the slave-state men by voting at the October election for a new legislature, even if they voted under protest." Mr. Wilson promised that, if they would consent to this plan, he would im- mediately return east and raise money to aid in organizing the free- state forces for the campaign. The plan was finally indorsed, Mr. Wil-
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son went to New York and Massachusetts, where he soon raised over $3,000, and early in July Thomas J. Marsh arrived in Kansas with the money.
Many of the free-state men still clung to the idea of securing the admission of Kansas under the Topeka constitution. (See Constitu- tions.) It was among these that the greatest difficulty was experienced in trying to induce them to vote at the October election. A free-state convention at Topeka on July 15-16 adopted resolutions declaring unwavering adherence to the Topeka constitution as embodying the basis of the state government desired by the people; asked Congress to admit Kansas as a state under it; and again denied the validity of the territorial legislature and its laws." A state central committee was elected; Marcus J. Parrott was nominated for representative in Con- gress, and candidates were named for all of the state offices provided for by the Topeka constitution. On the question of voting for members of the legislature in October the convention took no further action than "to recommend to the people of Kansas that they assemble in mass convention at Grasshopper Falls on the last Wednesday in August, to take such action as may be deemed necessary in regard to that election."
Two days after that convention adjourned Gov. Walker received the apportionment for members of the legislature, signed by Thomas John- son, president of the council, and William J. Mathias, speaker of the house. Cutler says: "The preparations thus far made could not have been better adjusted for fraudulent voting if they had been designed especially for that purpose. Ten of the thirteen councilmen and twenty- nine of the thirty-nine representatives were apportioned to the Missouri border counties, and Shawnee and Douglas counties attached to pro- slavery counties that might counteract their heavy free-state vote. The Lawrence district was also handicapped by the addition of a vast dis- trict lying west of Wise, Butler and Hunter counties, sparsely settled by Indian traders and isolated families, of which so little was known that the returns from there, however much they might be questioned, could not be successfully contested."
Under these circumstances it was but natural that many of the free- state men should entertain serious misgivings as to the advisability of taking part in the election. But at the Grasshopper Falls convention (q. v.), which met on Aug. 26, it was decided that it was the duty of all citizens to vote, and the campaign began in earnest. At the election on Oct. 5 Marcus J. Parrott, who was nominated by the Grasshopper Falls convention for delegate to Congress, defeated Ransom, the pro- slavery candidate, by a vote of 7,888 to 3,799, and the total vote for members of the legislature was about 1,500 greater for the free-state candidates than for their opponents.
Charges of illegal voting soon became rife. Oxford precinct, John- son county, in a district which elected three members of the council and eight representatives, returned 1,628 votes, and three precincts in McGee county returned over 1,200. These glaring irregularities gave (II-55)
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Gov. Walker an opportunity to make good his oft repeated promises of a fair election. Fortunately for the real citizens of Kansas he was equal to the emergency. On Oct. 19 he issued a proclamation "To the people of Kansas," in which he said :
"By the 32d section of the organic act establishing this territorial government, it is provided, in reference to the election of a delegate to Congress, that the person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected, and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly. By the 16th section of the act of the terri- torial legislature of Kansas, entitled 'An act to regulate elections,' it is made the duty of the secretary to examine the returns in the presence of the governor, and to 'give to the persons having the highest number of votes in their respective districts certificates of their election to the legislative assembly.'
"Under these two provisions of the laws prevailing in this territory, the recent general election has presented for the joint consideration of the governor and secretary a question of the gravest importance, not only to our own people, but also to those of the whole Union. This question arises upon the extraordinary returns made from the precinct of Oxford, in the county of Johnson. What purports to be the returns of the election held at that precinct on the 5th and 6th instants have been received by the secretary, containing 1,628 names of pretended voters, or nearly one-half the number given in the whole representative district. In point of fact it is well known, that even the whole county of Johnson, comprising, as it does, part of an Indian reserve, which, upon examination of the law, we find is not yet subject to set- tlement or preëmption, can give no such vote as that which is repre- sented to have been polled at this inconsiderable precinct of Oxford."
The governor, in the course of his investigation, visited Oxford, which he found to be "a village of six houses, including stores, and without a tavern." From the citizens there he ascertained "that all together not more than one-tenth the number of persons represented to have voted were present on the two days of the election, much the smaller number, not more than 30 or 40, being present on the last day, when more than 1,500 votes are represented as having been given."
Excluding all unofficial information, "A close examination of the returns," says the governor, "has brought us to the conclusion that the returns from Oxford precinct, in Johnson county, must be wholly rejected."
Another proclamation on the 22d announced the rejection of the spu- rious returns from the three precincts in McGee county, on the grounds that "This county is constituted from the lands of the Cherokee Indi- ans, which are not yet open to preemption or settlement, and is conse- quently one of the most sparsely populated counties of the territory, containing less than 100 qualified voters, and giving last June but 14 votes for delegates to the constitutional convention."
The rejection of the returns in these several precincts gave the legis-
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lature to the free-state men, and the consternation among the pro-sla- veryites, to use a somewhat hackneyed phrase, can be better imagined than described. Letters, petitions, and even messengers, were hurried to President Buchanan, all demanding the removal of Gov. Walker. But the president was unwilling to apply such a radical remedy, prob- ably through the recognition of the fact that his removal would not undo the mischief he had done. Perhaps the remembrance of his own promises to the governor at the beginning of his administration restrained him from now ordering his removal.
Samuel J. Jones, the former sheriff of Douglas county, William Hall, Hiram Bledsoe, J. H. Danforth, John T. Ector, L. S. Boling, A. P. Walker, William S. Wells, J. C. Thompson, Thomas B. Sykes and W. B. Winson, all claiming to have been elected members of the legislature, applied to Judge Cato, of the second judicial district, for a writ of man- damus to compel the governor and secretary to issue their certificates of election. The writ was issued on Oct. 23, but Walker and Stanton denied the jurisdiction, giving eleven reasons for their denial. They closed by saying :
"If the said judge should command them to issue certificates of elec- tion, and should deem it his duty to subject them to imprisonment for disobeying his order, as they would be compelled to do by their convic- tion of its usurpation and utter nullity, and because the certificates before the date of said rule or order had already been issued to other persons, such is their desire to maintain the peace of this territory that they will submit individually to such imprisonment, and if any tumult should be apprehended by said judge in consequence of the monstrous frauds which have been perpetrated upon the elective franchise in the recent election, the governor will direct the regular troops of the United States, now here and subject to his order, to act as a 'posse comitatus' in aid of the sheriff or marshal who may be directed by said judge to execute said mandate of imprisonment."
Judge Cato, although usually a willing tool of the pro-slavery men, was not willing to adopt such extreme measures as ordering the gov- ernor and secretary to prison, and the proceedings were dropped. Sheriff Jones, one of the applicants for the writ of mandamus, armed himself and accompanied by a pro-slavery friend entered Secretary Stan- ton's office and loudly demanded his certificate of election. No atten- tion was paid to his blustering. Connelley says "A committee of free- state men offered to hang Jones if it would be any accommodation, but the secretary declined to give them permission to perform an act which would give them such deep gratification."
The Lecompton constitutional convention finished its labors early in November. A few days before it adjourned Gov. Walker learned that a majority of the delegates had secretly entered into a compact not to submit that instrument to the people, except in a modified way. As soon as the governor received this information he made his arrange- ments to go to Washington and endeavor to persuade the president to
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carry out the original policy agreed upon the spring before. But a change had come over the spirit of the president's dream. In his mes- sage to Congress on Dec. 8, 1857, he admitted the instructions he had given to Gov. Walker on March 30, but took the position that the prop- osition to submit the constitution in the manner proposed by the con- vention was all that was necessary. He devoted a considerable portion of his message to finding fault with the free-state men of Kansas for not voting for the delegates to the convention. "If any portion of the inhabitants shall refuse to vote," said he, "a fair opportunity to do so having been presented, this will be their own voluntary act and they alone will be responsible for the consequences."
Finding that it was impossible to carry out his pledges to the people of Kansas, unless he was supported by the president, there was nothing left for the governor but to resign. This he did on Dec. 15, 1857. In his letter of resignation he reviewed the promises made to him at the time of his appointment, stating that he did not desire "to discuss, at this time, the peculiar and unexpected events which have modified the opin- ions of the president upon a point so vital as the submission of the con- stitution for ratification or rejection by a vote of the people, much less do I desire any controversy with the president on this subject."
Walkerton, a post village of Bourbon county, is a station on the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas R. R., 7 miles southwest of Fort Scott. The railroad name is Ronald. It has a few general stores, does some ship- ping, and in 1910 reported a population of 40.
Wallace, a little town in Wallace county, is located in the township of the same name, 9 miles east of Sharon Springs, the county seat. It has a bank, a hotel, a number of retail establishments, telegraph and ex- press offices, and an international money order postoffice. The popula- tion in 1910 was 175. The town has more than doubled in population in the last ten years due to the general prosperity of the tributary farm- ing district.
Wallace County, one of the most western in the state, is in the third tier south from Nebraska. It is bounded on the north by Sherman coun- ty ; on the east by Logan ; on the south by Greeley and Wichita, and on the west by the State of Colorado. It was created in 1868 and named in honor of Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, a veteran of the Mexican war who died from wounds received in the battle of Shiloh, Tenn. The county first included all of the territory now comprised within Wallace and Logan and the boundaries were defined by the legislature as follows: "Com- mencing at the northwest corner of Gove county ; thence west on the 2d standard parallel line to the west line of the State of Kansas ; thence south on the west line of the state to the 3d standard parallel line ; thence east on 3d standard parallel line to the west line of Gove county ; thence north on said west line of Gove county to the place of beginning."
It was attached to Ellis county for judicial purposes. The Union Pacific R. R. was built through the county in 1868, which added to the number of settlers. In the summer a census enumeration was made
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showing a population of 609. It was sworn to by W. H. Bush, W. L. Todd and Richard Blake on Aug. 17, and on this showing Gov. Samuel J. Crawford, on the 25th of the same month, issued a proclamation or- ganizing the county, designating Pond City as the temporary county seat and naming the following officers: County clerk, Welcome Hughes ; justice of the peace, John Whiteford; commissioners, W. L. Todd, Rich- ard McClure and Richard Blake.
The county government thus established was sustained until 1875. An election was held for county officers that year in which but 24 votes . were cast. All of them were for Wallace for county seat. During the next few years no representative was sent to the legislature and the few people remaining in the county expressed a desire to be relieved of the burden of separate government. Accordingly the legislature in 1879 voted to dissolve the government, if the supreme court should decide that it had been fraudulently organized, as was claimed by some of the citizens. Meantime, in 1875, the boundaries of the county had been enlarged by a tract 52 miles long and 6 miles wide on the north and another 36 miles long and 6 miles wide in the east. In 1881 the county took its final form, the boundaries being redefined as follows: "Commencing at a point where the east boundary line of range 38 west crosses the 2d standard parallel; thence west along said 2d standard parallel to the west line of the state; thence south along said west line of the state to the 3d stand- ard parallel; thence east on said 3d standard parallel to the point where said 3d standard parallel crosses the east boundary line of range No. 38 west ; thence north on said range line to the place of beginning."
It was attached to Trego for judicial purposes, but in 1886 the citizens of Wallace county, wishing to resume separate government, asked for reorganization. The attorney-general looked into the matter and de- cided that no reorganization was necessary, giving it as his opinion that the county had never been disorganized by the supreme court. Ac- cordingly those who remained of the county officers elected in 1875 re- sumed their duties at Wallace, the former county seat. Those present were commissioner, T. F. Hayes ; county clerk, F. L. Amet ; deputy coun- ty clerk, Charles J. Smith. They appointed James Yoxall and Lewis Winans county commissioners to fill the vacancies and voted to ask the governor to appoint Samuel A. Chisum as sheriff. The county was di- vided into voting precincts in preparation for the fall election. The ele- ment around Sharon Springs objected to this, but a mass meeting was held at Wallace and resolutions adopted that they recognized the county as organized and ordered that the regular election be held in November. The following officers were then elected: County clerk, I. T. Teeters ; treasurer, George W. McEwen; sheriff, Samuel Chisum; attorney, Thomas D. Hamilton; clerk of the district court, George R. Allaman : register of deeds, J. V. Campbell ; superintendent of public instruction, Parminis Smith; coroner, H. H. Yost; surveyor, Thomas L. Dellinger ; commissioners, Myner T. Griggs, Thomas Madigan and James Yoxall.
The Sharon Springs faction took the matter to the supreme court and
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in Jan., 1887, it handed down a decision that the county was not organ- ized and that the officers were not legally elected. This was startling news to a number of couples who had been married by the probate judge, and who now feared that their marriages were not legal. The county government was set aside and Wallace again became attached to Trego county for judicial purposes.
In the fall of 1888 C. L. Vanderpool was appointed census taker. His report showed a population of 2,357, of whom 692 were householders. The assessed valuation of property was $327,618, of which $140,812 was real estate. In his proclamation issued Jan. 5, 1889, Gov. Martin named Sharon Springs as the temporary county seat and appointed as county clerk, Samuel L. Kay; sheriff, James Yoxall; commissioners. O. R. Brown. John W. Gessell and Myner T. Griggs. The commissioners met and divided the county into voting precincts. A bill was passed by the legislature granting to the commissioners the power to retain Sharon Springs as the county seat without an election for five years. This un- usual proceeding caused great dissatisfaction in some parts of the county especially in Wallace, and the feeling ran very high between the two factions. At the special election, held on April 15, 1889. the Wallace faction voted for their own town which received 330 votes out of 606 which would have been sufficient to have made it the county seat. The Sharon Springs supporters did not vote on the county seat matter and would not recognize the question as being before the people. The fol- lowing officers were elected: clerk, Edwin H. Soule; treasurer, John Zencker ; probate judge, John M. Ewell; sheriff, Fred P. Manzer; attor- ney, Joseph M. Sanders; district clerk, John F. Stevens; superintendent of public instruction, James M. Robinson; surveyor, Thomas L. Del- linger ; commissioners, Eden Lewis, George Robinson and James Yake.
The clerk, sheriff and district clerk being of the Wallace faction moved their offices to that town while the other officers remained in Sharon Springs. The sheriff called a special election for Sept. 18 to select a county seat. Wallace received 343 votes which would have made that town county seat under ordinary circumstances. The Sharon Springs faction did not vote. The supreme court decided that the county seat was at Sharon Springs and refused a rehearing of the case. A court- house was built at that place and the county clerk was compelled to remove there with the records.
The population of the county in 1884 was 500; in 1890 it was 2,468; during the next decade there was a decrease to 1,178; but in the next ten years the population more than doubled, the 1910 census showing 2,759. Wallace county is divided into 7 townships, viz: Harrison, Mor- ton, North, Sharon Springs, Stockholm, Wallace and Weskan. The Union Pacific R. R. enters on the east line, crosses southwest to Sharon Springs, thence west into Colorado. Magnesian limestone, native lime and gypsum are common.
The general surface is undulating with rough lands along the streams. Timber is scarce. Bottom lands average from one-fourth mile to one
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mile in width. The Smoky Hill river, which enters across the west line from Colorado, and its numerous branches form the water system.
The value of farm products was $384,671 in 1910, corn, the leading crop, being worth $55,206. The assessed valuation of property was $5.240,975.
Wall Street, a hamlet of Linn county, is situated in the central por- tion, about 8 miles northwest of Mound City, the county seat, from which it has rural free delivery.
Wallula, a small village in the northwestern portion of Wyandotte county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 17 miles northwest of Kansas City. It has a money order postoffice and telegraph station. In 1910 the population was 15.
Walnut, an incorporated city in Crawford county, is located on Little Walnut creek, at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads, 15 miles northwest of Girard, the county seat. It has a bank, an opera house, a flour mill, grain elevators 2 weekly newspapers (the Eagle and the Advance), 2 hotels, a washing- machine factory, which is also a sawmill and a manufactory for screen doors, a feed mill, a large number of retail establishments, telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 639. The town was founded in 1871 by a town company. A postoffice had been established the year before, with Thomas Jones as the first postmaster. Very little progress was made during the first years on account of a dispute between the people and the railroad over the title to the lands. Prior to 1877 the town was known as Glenwood, but the name was changed by the act of March 3, 1877, to correspond to the name of the postoffice. The first newspaper, the Walnut Journal, was established in 1881.
Walnut River, a stream of southeastern Kansas, has its source in two forks which rise in the northern part of Butler county. Cole and Dure- chon creeks unite at a point about a mile southwest of the village of Chelsea and form the Walnut river proper, which flows in a southwest direction past the city of Eldorado. From here the river flows south- west past the town of Augusta, again making a turn almost due south and emptying into the Arkansas river south of Arkansas City in Cowley county. The river has a number of small tributaries, the most prominent of which are the Whitewater on the west and the Little Walnut and Rock creeks on the east. The stream is approximately 70 miles in length.
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