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 49
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J. C. Cusey was nominated for governor; Eldred Harrington, for lieutenant-governor; Nelson Abbott, for secretary of state; George P. Smith, for auditor; Charles F. Koester, for treasurer; J. R. Hallowell,
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for attorney-general ; H. B. Norton, for superintendent of public instruc- tion ; William P. Douthitt, for associate justice. Mr. Koester and Mr. Norton both declined their nominations, and the vacancies on the ticket were supplied by the selection of James E. Watson for treasurer and W. B. Christopher for superintendent.
The Republican state convention was held at Topeka on Aug. 26, when Gov. Osborn and Auditor Wilder were renominated; M. J. Salter was named for lieutenant-governor; Thomas A. Cavanaugh, for secre- tary of state; Samuel Lappin, for treasurer; A. M. F. Randolph, for attorney-general; John Fraser, for superintendent of public instruction ; D. M. Valentine, for associate justice.
Much of the platform was devoted to a laudation of the Republican party for what it had accomplished in the past. It denounced the "present peace policy" of dealing with the Indians and favored the transfer of the Indian bureau to the war department; demanded that public lands belonging to the United States be held for the use and benefit of actual settlers, and condemned any further grants of the public domain to railroads or other corporations.
A state temperance convention met at Topeka on Aug. 20, but adjourned to meet at Leavenworth on Sept. 10, when, for the first time, a state Temperance ticket was placed in the field in Kansas. This ticket was made up as follows: W. K. Marshall, for governor; L. Brown, lieutenant-governor; W. H. Robinson, secretary of state; David C. Beach, auditor; William Fairchild, treasurer; Mrs. M. J. Sharon, sup- erintendent of public instruction, and the Republican candidates for attorney-general and associate justice. The platform demanded an economical administration of all departments of the government; legal prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of all intoxicating liquors to be used as beverages; and the immediate and complete pro- tection of the exposed frontier from Indian outrages.
At the election on Nov. 3 Gov. Osborn received 48,594 votes; Cusey, the Reform candidate, 35,301 ; and Marshall, the Temperance candidate, 2,227. This was the first time in the history of Kansas that the candi- dates for Congress were elected by districts. In the first district Wil- liam A. Phillips, Republican, defeated Marcus J. Parrott, the Reform candidate; in the second John R. Goodin, the Reform candidate, was elected over Stephen A. Cobb, Republican; and in the third district William R. Brown, Republican, defeated J. K. Hudson, Reformer.
On Aug. 25, 1874, the day before the assembling of the Republican state convention, a number of the delegates from the western counties held a meeting and decided to ask the state convention to declare in favor of a special session of the legislature for the purpose of extending aid to the people of the western part of the state, whose crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers. In response to this request, Gov. Osborn called the general assembly to meet in extraordinary session on Sept. 15. At that special session Thomas P. Fenlon was speaker of the house. In his message the governor said: "The sole object and pur-
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pose for which you are called together at this time is to devise ways and means to relieve citizens in certain sections of the state from want and suffering, who have been made suddenly destitute by grasshoppers or locusts, which have overrun the western portion of the state. Unable to meet the necessities of these thousands of our citizens in this sudden and unprecedented calamity-necessities which in some cases are already becoming of a distressing character-I have evoked the only legally constituted authority in the state government to provide the necessary relief." (See Grasshoppers.)
The special session adjourned on the 22nd, after authorizing counties to issue bonds for the relief of the sufferers, directing an issue of $73,000 in state bonds for the same purpose (only $7,500 of these bonds were issued) ; and the enactment of a law requiring county treasurers to make quarterly statements.
When the fifteenth annual session of the legislature convened on Jan. 12, 1875, Lieut .- Gov. Salter again presided over the senate, and Edward H. Funston was chosen speaker of the house. Gov. Osborn's message was delivered to the assembly on the 13th. In it he gave a detailed report of the grasshopper plague of the previous year ; announced the total bonded indebtedness of the state as being $1,341,775, of which $703,825 was held by the sinking fund, leaving a balance of actual bonded debt of only $637,950 held by parties other than the state, . suggested a retrenchment in the cost of the public printing, and a thorough codification of the laws. "In both of my former annual mes- sages," said he, "I urged the importance of submitting to the people an amendment to the constitution providing for biennial sessions of the legislature. At the risk of being deemed unduly tenacious, I desire to be understood as now repeating the suggestions heretofore urged on that subject. The legislature cost the people of the state last year at least $100,000, and it is probable the expense attending the present session will not fall much short of that figure. The prevalent disposi- tion is to legislate too much, with too little reflection upon the prob- able consequences of frequent changes, and without apparent marked necessity for them. What is needed in our system is stability. . . . A potent remedy is biennial sessions, and I earnestly recommend a pro- posed constitutional amendment to that end."
At this session, which adjourned on March 8, jurisdiction over the Fort Leavenworth military reservation was ceded to the United States ; an insane asylum was ordered to be established at Topeka; an issue of $36,000 in bonds was authorized to defray the expenses of the Indian invasion of 1874; a board of sinking fund commissioners was created ; the sale of the lands belonging to the state university was authorized, and counties and townships were given power to issue bonds for relief purposes in certain cases, but this law was declared unconstitutional and void by the supreme court the following April.
Gov. Osborn's persistence with regard to biennial sessions was rewarded by a proposed amendment to section 25, article 2, providing
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that, "beginning with the session of 1877, all regular sessions shall be held once in two years, commencing on the second Tuesday in January of each alternate year thereafter." This made necessary two other amendments-one to section 3, article II, so that appropriations to the state institutions might be made for two years instead of one, and another amendment relating to the elections of senators and repre- sentatives. (See Constitutional Amendments.)
In the spring of 1874 the Indians commenced committing depreda- tions on the western frontier, Ford, Barber and Comanche counties being the worst sufferers. In his message of 1875 Gov. Osborn said : "The United States troops on the borders of the state were, in July and August, nearly all withdrawn for the purpose of accompanying Gen. Miles on his expedition against the Cheyennes, and the state was left comparatively without protection. The Osages, whose reservation lies immediately south of the state, were reported to be hostile, and evi- dence, almost conclusive, had been obtained of their participation in the murders in Ford, Barber and Comanche counties. The appeals to me for protection were incessant and urgent. . . . I reluctantly deter- mined to call into active service the state militia. The small force in the field was kept moving actively along the southern line, and I am glad to be able to state that since it was called into the ser- vice, not a citizen has been killed by Indians on the line of its opera- tions. . . . Confidence in the ability and disposition to defend the . border was restored, and thousands of citizens who had fled in con- sternation at the rumored approach of the savages returned to their nomes."
The trouble with the Osages continued until late in the summer of 1875, and a spirited correspondence between Gov. Osborn and the United States interior department resulted. The commissioner of Indian affairs charged the Kansas militia with wantonly murdering some Osages, and demanded that the state reimburse the Indians for property taken from them by the troops. To this demand the governor replied in a letter to the secretary of the interior, under date of Sept. II, 1875, as follows :
"The demand made by the commissioner of Indian affairs, and sanc- tioned by you, that the state should compensate the Osages for the ponies and property captured in this Barber county conflict, prompts me to urge that Kansas would be very glad to reach a complete adjust- ment of all pending Indian claims; and while I can never admit that she ought to pay a single dollar on this particular account, still, in order to facilitate a settlement, I assume the authority to say that the allow- ance in full of this demand would not be grudged by the state, in case it might be regarded as a partial offset to the very considerable amount due from the general government, or the Indian tribes which are under its control, on account of losses suffered from the depredations of such tribes.
"During its brief history, this state has expended from its treasury
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more than $300,000 in the defense of the people against Indian hostili- ties, nearly $40,000 of which was expended in the campaign of last year. Every dollar of this amount should be repaid by the United States, and I appeal to you as the head of the department having charge of Indian affairs, to recommend that Congress make provision for this act of justice.
"Besides, the citizens of this state have claims to a very considerable amount against numerous Indian tribes for losses and damages sus- lained by reason of their depredations. . . . The commission which sat in 1872 allowed claims of this character to the amount of $119,807,66, of which I find chargeable to the Osages the sum of $18,290.96. These are legitimate claims for property of citizens captured or destroyed by thieving Indians. They should be satisfied from the annuity fund set apart for these Indians."
This letter ended the correspondence, as the interior department no doubt discovered that it had caught a Tartar in the person of Gov. Osborn, who had readily demonstrated that he was able to take care of himself and of the interests of his state. The correspondence is given in full in a pamphlet entitled "The Osage Troubles in Barber County," published by the State of Kansas in 1875.
On Jan. 11, 1876, the sixteenth annual session of the general assem- bly commenced, with Lieut .- Gov. Salter as the presiding officer of the senate and Dudley C. Haskell speaker of the house. Gov. Osborn's message, presented on the opening day of the session, was introduced by a review of the grasshopper plague and the financial depression, but with hopeful optimism he saw the dawn of better times. "Notwith- standing the financial depression, common to the whole country," said he, "and the limited enterprise and progress incident to such a condi- tion, there is a spirit of contentment and hopefulness abounding in the state such as has scarcely been manifested during its previous history."
He then discussed the state's financial condition, local taxation, the permanent school fund, the condition of the public institutions, the unsold public lands, the state board of agriculture, the Centennial expo- sition, giving to the legislature a vast amount of useful information on all these subjects, and recommended that a larger salary be paid the state treasurer-a salary commensurate with his responsibilities.
About the middle of Dec., 1875, it was discovered that some of the school bonds of Jewell, Mitchell and Republic counties were forgeries, and that nearly $20,000 had been paid for them out of the state treasury by Samuel Lappin, the state treasurer. Mr. Lappin and his brother-in- law, Charles J. Scrafford, were charged with the forgery, and on Dec. 20 Lappin resigned, John Francis being appointed to the vacancy. Both civil and criminal suits were commenced against Lappin and his bonds- men. On Dec. 30 he was given a preliminary hearing before Justice Brier, charged with forgery, counterfeiting and embezzlement, and being unable to give bond for $10,000, was committed to jail. He managed to elude the officers, however, and made his way to Chicago,
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where he was arrested by Sheriff Drought of Wyandotte county off Jan. 13, 1876, and on the same day George W. Glick offered a resolu- tion in the house that "Gov. Osborn is entitled to the thanks of the people, without distinction of party, for the vigilance and independ- ence which he has manifested in fixing the responsibility for the recent frauds upon the school fund of the state; and the tenor and spirit of his demand for the resignation of the late state treasurer, Lappin, together with his instructions for a vigorous prosecution, with a view to the reimbursement of the school fund and the punishment of the party or parties guilty of this crime, are worthy of a fearless and enlightened chief magistrate."
On Jan. 18 the governor sent a special message to the assembly submitting a report from the state board of Centennial managers. The result was the passage of an act increasing the number of managers and appropriating $25,000, "or so much thereof as may be necessary," for the' erection of a state building and the arrangement of an exhibit of Kansas products at Philadelphia.
The session adjourned on March 4, after having passed acts appor- tioning the state into districts for 40 senators and 123 representatives ; ceding to the United States jurisdiction over the Fort Hays military reservation ; authorizing building and loan associations to reorganize as savings banks; fixing quarantine grounds for cattle brought into the state from Texas; amending the laws relating to the assessment and collection of taxes; and providing for the regulation and support of schools. During the session memorials to Congress were adopted relating to public lands, railroads, claims, highways, and the boundary between the States of Kansas and Missouri.
Four political conventions were held in the month of May, 1876. On the 3d the state Temperance convention met at Lawrence, selected delegates to the national Temperance convention to be held at Cleve- land, Ohio, and adopted a resolution declaring "that the time has again arrived to present to the people a state ticket composed of persons who are honest, temperate and capable." The nominations were not made, however. The next day the Greenback party held a state convention at Topeka and selected delegates to the national convention to be held at Indianapolis, Ind. On the 18th the Democrats of the state met in convention at Topeka and selected delegates to the national convention at St. Louis, and on the 24th a Republican state convention selected delegates to the national convention of that party to be held in Cin- cinnati, Ohio.
Later in the season three state tickets were placed in the field. The first of these was the Independent Reform ticket, nominated by a con- vention held at Topeka on July 27, and consisted of M. E. Hudson for governor; J. A. Beal, for lieutenant-governor ; W. M. Allison, for secretary of state ; H. F. Sheldon, for auditor ; Amos McLouth, for treas- urer ; D. B. Hadley, for attorney-general; Thomas Bartlett, for super- intendent of public instruction; Wilson Shannon, for associate justice ;
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J. M. Limbocker, A. G. Barret, S. A. Riggs, S. J. Crawford and John Ritchie, presidential electors.
The second ticket was the regular Republican, which was nominated by a state convention at Topeka on Aug. 16, and was made up as fol- lows: For governor, George T. Anthony; lieutenant-governor, M. J. Salter (renominated) ; secretary of state, Thomas A. Cavanaugh (re- nominated) ; auditor, P. I. Bonebrake; treasurer, John Francis; attor- ney-general, Willard Davis; superintendent of public instruction, Allen B. Lemmon; associate justice, David J. Brewer ; presidential electors, Walter L. Simons, J. B. Johnson, Thomas Hughes, R. W. P. Muse and W. A. Johnson.
Just a week after the Republican state convention the Democratic delegates met at Topeka and selected the following candidates for the several state offices : For governor, John Martin ; lieutenant-governor, J. A. Beal; secretary of state, S. M. Palmer; auditor, H. F. Sheldon; treasurer, Amos McLouth; attorney-general, W. H. McConnell; super- intendent of public instruction, Thomas Bartlett; associate justice, James Humphrey ; presidential electors, Edmund G. Ross, Gottleib Schaubel, H. C. Park, George A. Reynolds and George H. English. It will be observed that on this ticket the candidates for lieutenant-gover- nor, auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction are the same as those on the Independent Reform ticket. As early as Feb. 25 the state central committees of the two organizations met, when the Independent Reform committee rejected overtures from the Democratic committee to cooperate in the state campaign. This did not prevent the latter from indorsing the candidates above named when it came to the question of making nominations.
At the election on Nov. 7, the Republican presidential electors carried the state by about 40,000 plurality. For governor, Anthony received 69,173 votes; Martin, 46,204; and Hudson, 6,020. Three Republican Congressmen were elected-William A. Phillips in the first district, Dudley C. Haskell in the second, and Thomas Ryan in the third-and two amendments to the state constitution were adopted by an almost unanimous vote. (See Constitutional Amendments.)
After a successful administration of four years, during which time the state had made great progress in settlement, industrial and educa- tional development, and the improvement of her penal and benevolent institutions, Gov. Osborn retired at the opening of the legislative session in Jan., 1877, and was succeeded by Gov. Anthony.
Osborne, the county seat and largest town of Osborne county, is located north of the center of the county, on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on the south fork of the Solomon river. It has a public water- works, fire department, opera house, public library, 3 hotels, 3 banks, 6 churches, high school, graded schools and 2 weekly newspapers (the Osborne County Farmer and the Osborne County News). A stage runs daily to Covert. There are three wards in the city, which is sup- plied with express and telegraph offices, and has an international money (II-27)
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order postoffice with four rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,566.
Osborne was founded in May, 1871, by a party of 35 people from Pennsylvania, with W. L. Bear as president of the colony. The post- office was established on July I with H. D. Markley as postmaster. The first newspaper was the Osborne Times, established in 1873 by J. J. Johnson and F. E. Jerome. The first school was taught by Miss Yates. The first birth was that of Walter Jerome in 1873. The first church organizations were formed in 1871, and houses of worship were built in the early 'zos. The town was proclaimed a city of the third class by Judge A. J. Banta in May, 1873. The citizens failed to organize a legal city government, and in 1878 Judge Holt again decreed Osborne to be a city of the third class and ordered an election, which resulted as fol- lows: Mayor, J. W. Elliott ; police judge, A. Anderson ; clerk, F. E. Leebrick; treasurer, A. N. Fritchey ; councilmen, R. G. Hays, E. Smith, J. M. Morgan, A. Smith and Z. T. Walrond. In 1878 a bridge was built across the Solomon at this point. A bank, which was a branch of a Beloit banking house, was established soon afterward.
Osborne County, in the central part of the state east and west, is located in the second tier from the Nebraska line. It is bounded on the north by Smith and Jewell counties; on the east by Mitchell and Lin- coln; on the south by Russell and Ellis, and on the west by Rooks county. It was named in honor of Vincent Osborne, a soldier of the Second Kansas cavalry, who was distinguished for his courage in the Civil war, and who in 1867 settled at Ellsworth, Ellsworth county.
The first permanent settlement was the Bullock ranch, established on the south fork of the Solomon in March, 1870, by Charles and William Bullock. Pennington Ray and James McCormick settled south of the site of Downs a little later. Their stock was driven off by the Indians that summer. Word was sent to the stockade at Waconda and the soldiers came out and drove the Indians away. During the famous raids of 1868 there were no settlers in the county. A party including Lieut. Higgins, John Owens and a third man were attacked while in camp on Oak creek in the northeast corner of the county, and two of them were killed. Owens escaped and reached the stockade at Glasco. Thirty-three people came during 1870, among them being James Weston and family, J. J. Wiltrout, Crosby brothers, Z. T. Walrond, W. T. Kelley and E. McCormick. The next year settlers came in large num- bers. The first store was near the center of the county and was kept by Calvin Reasoner. In Nov., 1870, Gen. H. C. Bull founded a town, to which he gave the name of Bull's City (now Alton), and erected a store building. The first white child, Bertha Manning, was born on May 4, 1871. Osborne City was founded in May, 1871, by a colony from Pennsylvania, and the county was organized the same year. On May 27 a mass meeting of citizens at Reasoner's store took the prelimi- nary steps, C. M. Cunningham, W. W. Bullock and A. B. Fleming being appointed as a census committee. On Sept. 12 Gov. J. M. Harvey de-
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clared the county organized and appointed the following temporary officers: Clerk, Frank Thompson; commissioners, Samuel Chatfield, C. M. Cunningham and Frank Stafford. An election was held on Nov. 7, when Osborne was chosen as the county seat and the following offi- cers were elected: Sheriff, C. M. Cunningham; treasurer, John Joy ; county clerk, C. W. Crampton; attorney, H. H. Napier; clerk of the court, C. J. Watson ; register of deeds, A. B. Flemming ; surveyor, F. R. Gruger ; probate judge, H. C. Bull; superintendent of public instruc- tion, J. T. Saxton ; coroner, S. B. Farwell ; commissioners, P. W. Ken- yon, F. Stafford and J. J. Hayes ; representative, W. L. Gear.
In 1880 the population of the county was returned as 12,518, that of 1890 as 12,083, 1900 as 11,844, and 1910 as 12,827. The assessed valua- tion of property in 1882 was $1,137,906. The valuation in 1910 was $24,743,947, which makes the wealth per capita nearly $2,000.
The first railroad to enter the county was the main line of the Mis- souri Pacific, which reached Downs in 1879. This road runs through the county and terminates at Stockton, in Rooks county. A branch diverges at Downs and crosses northwest into Smith county. The Union Pacific runs through the southwest corner, passing through Natoma.
The county is divided into twenty-three townships, viz: Bethany, Bloom, Corinth, Covert, Delhi, Grant, Hancock, Hawkeye, Independ- ence, Jackson, Kill Creek, Lawrence, Liberty, Mt. Ayr, Natoma, Penn, Ross, Round Mound, Sumner, Tilden, Valley, Victor and Winfield. The postoffices are, Osborne, Alton, Bloomington, Covert, Downs, Natoma, Portis and Twin Creek.
The area of the county is 900 square miles, with an undulating sur- face, broken by high ridges which divide the numerous water courses. Medicine Peak, in the eastern part and Round Mound in the south- west, are the most important heights. Bottom lands average a mile in width and comprise 20 per cent. of the total area. Native timber is not abundant, but many acres of artificial forest have been planted. The two branches of the Solomon river and their tributaries form the water system. The north fork enters from Smith county and flows southeast across the northeast corner. The south fork enters in the west from Rooks county and flows east through the second tier of townships from the north. It has numerous tributaries. Limestone, sandstone, potter's clay and gypsum are found in considerable quantities.
The annual product of the farms averages nearly $4,000,000. In 1910 the total value was $3,875,000, of which winter wheat brought $1,213,000 ; corn, $819,000; tame grass, $272,000; animals sold for slaughter, $893,000. Other important products are, butter, eggs, poul- try, milk, fruit, prairie grass, sorghum, Kafir corn, oats and Irish pota- toes. There are more than 150,000 bearing fruit trees. The live stock on hand in 1910 was worth $3,130,593. A great deal of this is thorough- bred. The aggregate number of head of horses, mules, asses, cattle, swine and sheep was 77,681.
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