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 37
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captain and ordered to report to Gen. Grant at Corinth, Miss., where he was made commissary of subsistence and placed in charge of gov- ernment stores in Tennessee. Near the close of the war he was brevetted major, and was honorably discharged in Oct., 1865. Re- turning to Brown county he engaged in the banking business, in which he continued for the remainder of his life, and at the time of his death it was said that during his long career as a banker he never foreclosed a mortgage. In 1866 he was elected clerk of the district court. The following year he was elected county clerk and held that office by reëlections until 1872, when he was elected to the state senate. He was reëlected to the senate in 1876, and during his second term in that body served as president pro tem. In 1882 he was elected Congress- man-at-large, and at each of the three succeeding biennial elections was chosen to represent the First district in the lower house of the national legislature. In 1890 he declined a fourth term as Congressman from that district and announced his intention of retiring permanently from politics, but in 1894 he yielded to the solicitations of his friends and accepted the Republican nomination for governor. At the election in November he carried the state by a plurality of 30,000. He was defeated for a second term in 1896, though he led the presidential ticket by more than 3,000 votes. Gov. Morrill was a man of great public spirit and was always a willing helper of any enterprise for the material advancement of the state. He was a liberal contributor to the drought sufferers, gave the city of Hiawatha its fine library and academy, and no church ever appealed to him in vain for assistance. On July 7, 1886, he became a member of the Kansas Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, in which he held the offices of vice-commander and chaplain. He was twice married. His first wife died without issue, but the second marriage was blessed with two sons and two daughters. Gov. Morrill died on March 14, 1909.
Morrill's Administration .- Pursuant to constitutional provision, and in accordance with established precedent, the legislative session of 1895 began on the second Tuesday in January, which in that year fell on the 8th day of the month. Lieut .- Gov. Daniels presided over the senate at the opening of the term, and Charles E. Lobdell was elected speaker of the house. As the time for inaugurating the new gov- ernor was fixed on the second Monday, Gov. Morrill was not inaugu- rated until the 14th, when Lieut .- Gov. Troutman succeeded Mr. Daniels as the president of the senate, the latter retiring after receiving a unanimous vote of thanks from the senate for the impartial and dignified manner in which he had discharged his duties as presiding officer.
Much of the inaugural message of Gov. Morrill was devoted to a discussion of the weakness of the state constitution. He pointed out and emphasized the fact that when the constitution was adopted but 10,326 persons voted for it, and 5,521 against it, the whole number of votes then cast having been only one-twentieth of the number cast in
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the general election of 1894. "It would be hardly possible," said he, "for the small number of people living in the state at that time, with nearly two-thirds of the state practically unsettled, to understand, or to anticipate, the wants and needs of a state as large as this has become."
The changes in the organic law recommended by him were as fol- lows: I-To remove or extend the limit of legislative sessions, which at first were held annually, while since 1877 they had been held- biennially, and the population had increased to fifteen times the num- ber when the constitution was adopted; 2-The reorganization of the judiciary, especially an increase in the number of supreme court jus- tices; 3-A radical change in the apportionment laws, so that repre- sentation in the general assembly would be more equitable; 4-More rigid provisions with regard to the organization of counties and town- ships; 5-A limit to the value of the homestead exemption; 6-The constitutional prohibition of trusts and combinations of capital for the purpose of enhancing prices; 7-Better provisions for the care of the permanent school fund.
"Many other reasons," he continued, "in my judgment urgent and unanswerable, might be presented in favor of a constitutional conven- tion. The expense, I presume, would be the most serious objection urged against it; but I am satisfied that a simple clause limiting the power of the legislature to appropriate money and to alllow the incur- rence of debt by municipalities, and the further provision allowing the governor to veto any clause in an appropriation bill, would save the state more every five years than the entire cost of a convention."
At the opening of Gov. Morrill's administration the supreme court was so far behind that it was hearing cases filed four years before, and the governor announced in his message that "at the rate of progress it has made since the commission expired, it will be six years before the case filed today can be heard."
The logical remedy for this condition of affairs would be to increase the number of justices, but as this could not be done without a con- stitutional amendment, and as such an amendment had once been defeated by the people, the governor suggested as a means of relief that the court be permitted to dispense with written opinions in cases where a precedent had already been established and made a matter of record, and the cases that could be appealed be limited to constitu- tional issues, titles to real estate, franchises, or where the amount involved exceeded $300. The legislature found another method, how- ever, of relieving the pressure on the supreme court, and that was by the establishment of two appellate courts, for which purpose the state was divided into the northern and southern districts. In the former the court held its sessions at Topeka, Concordia and Colby, and in the latter at Fort Scott, Wichita and Garden City.
For several years prior to the inauguration of Gov. Morrill there had been a growing dissatisfaction with regard to the inequalities in
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the assessment of property for taxation. This subject received due attention in the message of 1895. "The inequality," says the governor, "arises, not from the fact that the property of the state is assessed too low, but because it is assessed unequally. When one piece of prop- erty is assessed at ten per cent. of what it is really worth and another piece is assessed at its full value, and other property is not assessed at all, great injustice is done to some of the taxpayers; and yet that condition actually exists in our state today."
He attributed this condition to the fact that the assessment was made by some 1,600 assessors, elected because they were "good fel- lows," whose reelection depended upon the support of the persons whose property was valued, and who were interested in keeping the assess- ment as low as possible, so that their township would not have to pay more than its just share of the public expenses. As a remedy he sug- gested the establishment of the office of county assessor, the incum- bent of which should be appointed by the judge of the district court, thus taking. the office out of politics to some extent, and as a further remedy the taxpayers should be given the right of appeal in cases where the county commissioners refuse to equalize assessments.
The governor also paid considerable attention to the acts of the Congress then in session, his utterances on this subject being as fol- lows: "For several years a steady and determined effort was made to open up the markets of the old country to some of the products in which Kansas excels, especially Indian corn, beef and pork. Under a better light, secured by wise legislation, prejudice and cupidity were gradually yielding, and our exports of these products were becoming an important factor of great value to our people, and gave a promise of an increased demand for the articles in producing which Kansas can lead the world. But the present Congress, in my judgment, by ill- advised and crude legislation, assumed to dictate to foreign nations their internal policy of protection to their home industries by discriminating duties on sugar imported from countries having export duties on that article. This has led to active retaliation on the part of those coun- tries, and all the nations of central Europe have become commercially estranged from our country, and are taking active, and what prove to be effective, measures to prevent the importation of our meats, justifying themselves by a revival of the exploded and senseless claim that our meat animals are diseased. The repeal of the reciprocity pro- visions of our tariff laws has caused Spain and other countries to make a most unjust discrimination against the importation of our farm products. To relieve us of this embarrassment by the removal of this embargo, and to restore us to a condition where we can increase to its utmost limit the exportation of those articles which are our main support, is a matter of universal concern to the people of Kansas. I would therefore urge the passage of a concurrent resolution by your honorable bodies, instructing our senators and requesting our repre- sentatives in Congress, to introduce and work for the passage of the most effective remedial legislation."
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Upon the governor's recommendation, a law was passed at this ses- sion giving force to the constitutional provision prohibiting lotteries, and also a law making it a crime to receive a bribe as well as to offer one to a public official. Such had been the law up to 1869, when that part of it relating to receiving a bribe was repealed, the theory of the legislature being that those receiving bribes would be more willing to testify against the party or parties giving them, if they were permit- ted to go free. The law of 1895 punished both the giver and taker of bribes with fine and imprisonment.
Another recommendation of Gov. Morrill was that the sum of $3,600 be appropriated for the purpose of erecting three monuments on the battlefield of Chickamauga, which had been made a national park by the act of Congress, approved Aug. 19, 1890. One of these monuments was to represent Gen. R. B. Mitchell's division, one the brigade com- manded by Col. John A. Martin, and the third the Eighth Kansas, com- manded by Lieut .- Col. J. L. Abernathy. By the act of Feb. 18, 1895, the legislature appropriated $5,000 for the monuments and authorized the governor to appoint a commission of five soldiers who served at Chickamauga and Chattanooga to mark the locations and select the designs for such monuments. Immediately after the passage of the bill Gov. Morrill appointed as commissioners J. L. Abernathy, G. W. Johnson, L. Akers, S. R. Washer and J. F. Starnes. On March 4 the commission organized by the election of Mr. Abernathy as president and Mr. Washer as secretary. In April the commissioners visited the field and in their final report showed that they had expended $4,472.63 of the appropriation, leaving a balance on hand of $527.37.
At this session of the legislature was adopted a concurrent resolu- tion asking the Kansas representatives and senators in Congress to secure the passage of an act donating the Fort Hays military reserva- tion to the state of Kansas for a western branch of the agricultural college, a western branch of the state normal school, and a public park. (See Fort Hays.)
Another resolution requested the "proper authorities, in charge of the United States statuary hall" at Washington, D. C., to permit a monument of John Brown, then in process of construction under the auspices of the Lincoln soldiers' and sailors' national monument asso- ciation, to be placed in the hall.
On Jan. 22 a vote for United States senator was taken in each of the two houses. In the senate Lucien Baker received 16 votes; L. P. King, 10; A. W. Dennison, 8; J. D. Botkin, Frank Doster, E. R. Ridgely and Percy Daniels, I vote each. The vote in the house resulted in 91 for Baker, 26 for King, 5 for John Martin, I for Ridgely and I for ex-Gov. George W. Glick. In the joint session on the next day Mr. Baker was elected senator, receiving 104 votes as against 53 for King, 3 for John Martin, I for Botkin and I for Glick.
The legislature adjourned on March 8. Besides the acts already mentioned was one removing from a large number of persons the
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political disabilities imposed by section 2, article 5, of the constitution, as amended on Nov. 5, 1867, and another act creating the state board of immigration.
Col. J. W. F. Hughes, who was tried by court-martial and relieved of his command as colonel of the Third regiment, Kansas National Guard, by Gov. Lewelling on Sept. 25, 1893, for refusing to remove certain members of the Douglass house of representatives (see Lewelling's Administration), was reinstated by Gov. Morrill and made a major-general on April 12, 1895.
Twice during the administration of Gov. Morrill the militia was called into active service. Toward the close of the year 1895 it was discovered that several graves in the cemeteries near Topeka had been robbed, the bodies taken therefrom later being found and identified in the dissecting rooms of the Kansas Medical College at Topeka. Late on the afternoon of Dec. II the sheriff of Shawnee county called on Gov. Morrill for a detachment of troops to guard the college against an attack threatened by the incensed citizens. Acting under orders from the governor Adjt .- Gen. Fox ordered out Company H, First regiment, Capt. McClure, and Battery H, Capt. Phillips, the former stationed at Lawrence and the latter at Topeka. Gen. Hughes was then called upon to take command. He found Phillips' company already on duty at the state arsenal, with 26 men, and learned that Capt. McClure had 37 men at the railroad station in Lawrence awaiting transportation. These men were disbanded and returned to their homes, but the police fearing an attack might yet be made the men belonging to the battery remained on duty until the 13th, by which time the excitement had quieted down and the danger was past. It is probable that no attack on the college would have been made, but it is equally probable that the prompt action of Gov. Morrill may have averted serious trouble.
The second call for troops came on April 20, 1896, when the sheriff of Stafford county attempted to serve warrants upon some persons connected with Bond Bros.' circus, showing that day at St. John. These persons resisted arrest, a riot ensued, and the sheriff and county attorney telegraphed the governor for assistance. About midnight that night Col. P. M. Hoisington, commanding the Second regiment, received at his home in Newton a telegram from the adjutant-general order- ing him "to move with Company D to St. John to suppress riot by first train." Col. Hoisington immediately ordered Capt. Kaufman, con- manding Company D, to mobilize his company and report as soon as they were ready to move. The company left Newton early on the morning of the 21st and arrived at St. John before noon. In the mean- time the circus had gone to Dodge City, and all was quiet in the town of St. John. After consulting with the sheriff and the county attorney, who were not certain they could identify the parties wanted, even if they were still with the show, the company gave an exhibition drill and returned to Newton that evening. In his report of the occurrence Adjt .- Gen. Fox says: "There was at no time any necessity for troops,
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and the sheriff and county attorney were not justified in making the call; they deserve censure for creating this expense against the state. The aggregate expense was $162.77."
The industrial depression of 1893-94 had brought about a general feeling of discontent. It will be remembered that President Cleveland, soon after his inauguration in March, 1893, had called a special session of Congress to repeal the purchasing clause of the Sherman silver law. This was believed by many to be the cause of the hard times, and it had given an impetus to the agitation in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Under these circumstances the political campaign of 1896 was one of unusual interest, and in Kansas it was hotly con- tested. At the opening of the campaign party leaders were somewhat chary of expressing an opinion on the silver question. A Republican state convention met at Wichita on March 10 for the purpose of select- ing delegates to the national convention. The delegates-at-large were Cyrus Leland, Thomas J. Anderson, A. P. Riddle, C. A. Swensson, M. M. Murdock and Nat. Barnes. They were instructed to vote for William McKinley of Ohio, but a resolution was adopted that it was not advisable at that time to make a platform.
On March 18 the Populists held a state convention at Hutchinson and selected as delegates to the national convention ex-Gov. Lewelling, Frank Doster, W. A. Harris and John W. Breidenthal. The conven- tion declared in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 7; that all money should be issued by the govern- ment, and denounced "government by injunction."
Delegates to the Democratic national convention were not selected until June 3, when representatives of the party met at Topeka and selected as delegates-at-large Jolın Martin, David Overmyer, J. D. McCleverty, Frank Bacon, J. H. Atwood and James Mckinstry.
On July 16 the free coinage sentiment found expression in a con- vention at Topeka. Resolutions were adopted approving the course of Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado and his associates in bolting the Republican national convention, and delegates to the national free silver convention at St. Louis were selected.
Two state conventions assembled on Aug. 4-the Democratic at Hutchinson and the Populist at Abilene. In order to effect a coalition of the two parties a conference committee from the Democratic conven- tion went by special train from Hutchinson to Abilene with overtures for a joint ticket. After some' delay, both conventions remaining in session until the 7th, a fusion was arranged and the following ticket nominated: For governor, John W. Leedy ; lieutenant-governor, A. M. Harvey; secretary of state, W. E. Bush; auditor, W. H. Morris; treasuere, D. H. Hefflebower ; attorney-general, L. C. Boyle ; superintend- ent of public instruction, William Stryker; chief justice, Frank Doster ; Congressman-at-large, J. D. Botkin. The presidential electors on this ticket were pledged to the support of Bryan and Sewall for president and vice-president, respectively. This arrangement did not suit the
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"Middle of the road" Populists, and this element of that party decided to nominate a state ticket. A convention for that purpose was called to meet at Topeka on Sept. 19, but before the time arrived the leaders of the movement became fearful that the convention would be packed by Fusionists, and the scheme was abandoned. The Bryan and Watson electors were then chosen by petition.
The Republican convention for the nomination of candidates for the various state offices was held on Aug. II. All the state officers elected in 1894 were renominated with the exception of the lieutenant-governor, for which place H. E. Richter was chosen. T. F. Garver was nominated for chief justice and Richard W. Blue for Congressman-at-large.
Although numerically the weakest party in the state the Prohibi- tionists experienced the greatest difficulty in the nomination of a state ticket. One faction, calling itself the National Prohibition party, nominated H. L. Douthart for governor; E. Clark, for lieutenant-gov- ernor; T. S. Walter, for secretary of state; Levi Belknap, for auditor ; James Murray, for treasurer; J. T. Merry, for attorney-general ; Mrs. Virginia Greever, for superintendent of public instruction ; J. R. Silver, for chief justice; and M. Williams, for Congressman-at-large. Another faction named Horace Hurley for governor; George Hollingsberry, for lieutenant-governor; H. H. Geyer, for secretary of state; T. D. Tal- madge, for auditor; John Biddison, for treasurer; A. H. Vance, for attorney-general, but made no nominations for superintendent of pub- lic instruction, chief justice, or Congressman-at-large. A third faction of the party nominated A. E. Kepford for governor.
At the election on Nov. 3 the Fusionists carried the state by plural- ities ranging from 7,500 to 12,000. The highest vote received by any Fusionist presidential elector was that of Sidney Hayden-171,675. The highest polled for any Republican elector was 159,345 for John R. Hamil- ton. For governor, Leedy received 168,041 votes; Morrill, 160,530; Douthart, 756; Hurley, 2,347; Kepford, 703. Gov. Morrill's term as governor came to an end on Jan. 11, 1897.
Morris, a hamlet in the southern part of Wyandotte county, is on the south bank of the Kansas river and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. I0 miles west of Kansas City. It has stock yards and is a feeding station for cattle. Mail is received by rural delivery from Kansas City.
Morris County, one of the oldest and most historic in the state, is located in the northeastern section, the 5th west from the Missouri line and the 4th south from Nebraska. It is bounded on the north by Geary and Wabaunsee counties; on the east by Wabaunsee and Lyon; on the south by Chase and Marion, and on the west by Marion and Dickinson. Prior to 1858 this county was a municipal township of the district composed of Wise, Breckenridge and Madison counties. In that year it was organized as Wise county and the following officers were elected: Probate judge, H. J. Espy; surveyor, N. S. Brazle- ton ; supervisors, T. S. Huffaker, Harvey Munkers and Lewis Baum.
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The first full ticket of county officials was elected in Nov., 1861. In 1859 the sentiment of the state having changed from what it was in 1855 when the county was named Wise in honor of a southern celebrity, the name was changed to Morris in honor of Thomas Morris, United States senator from Ohio. The county seat contest did not come up until 1871, as prior to that time Council Grove had no rival. When Parkerville became an incorporated town it entered the lists for county seat, and an election was called to settle the matter. All sorts of trickery was resorted to by both sides. Men were brought into the county for voting purposes by the hundreds. The population of the county at that time was 2,225. The number of votes cast was 1,312, of which 899 were for Council Grove and 413 for Parkerville. The question was not brought up again.
The Santa Fe trail crossed Morris county and Council Grove was for many years one of the most important points on that famous route. The Kaw trail, one of the hunting routes in use by the Indians, also passed through the county. The land belonged to various tribes of Indians until a reservation was set apart, which included the site of Council Grove. Later the reservation was limited to a small area in the southeastern part of the county known as the "diminished reserve." (See Indians.) The government tried various methods of civilizing the Kaws who occupied these lands. It maintained schools, which no one attended but orphans. It built a number of three-room houses on the reserve, but the Indians quartered their horses in them, and con- tinued to live in wigwams. As long as the Kaws occupied these lands, the settlers, especially at Council Grove, were in more or less appre- hension. Perhaps the most serious trouble was in 1859, when the town was visited by 400 armed Kaws. Two white men were wounded and a bloody war was averted only by the Indians giving up the two of their number who did the shooting. They were hanged by the whites. Considerable alarm was caused among the settlers in 1868 by the Cheyennes who came to fight with the Kaws. They were mounted and well armed, but after a skirmish of several hours were forced to retire.
The first white men in the county were missionaries and traders. S. M. Hays,. the first trader, located at Council Grove in 1847; Chou- teau Bros. in 1848; T. S. Huffaker, a missionary, in 1850; and Columbia Bros. in 1852; J. C. Munkers came in 1854; C. P. Eden, Henry Thornby, Joseph Dunlap and John Warnecke in 1857; June Baxter, William Atkinson, Charles Guenter, J. M. Douglas and John O'Byrne in 1858, and in 1859 the population of the county was about 600 people.
In 1860 the settlers suffered greatly from the drought. Not a single bushel of corn was raised. About 62,000 pounds of food out of the relief supply at Atchison were issued to Morris county people in the winter of 1860. Before there was opportunity to plant another crop the Civil war broke out. The total population did not exceed 800, only 158 of whom were of voting age. They were divided in their
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