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 9

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960

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 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Kossuth, a hamlet of Linn county, is situated in the central portion 8 miles northwest of Mound City, the county seat. It has rural free delivery from Mound City and in 1910 had a population of less than 20.

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CYCLOPEDIA OF

Labette, a little town in Labette county, is located on the Missouri. Kansas & Texas R. R. 6 miles northwest of Oswego, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices, a money order postoffice with one rural route, and a good local trade. The population in 1910 was 261. There have been three towns in the county by the name of Laberte. The first one was located by Gilbert Martin on the banks of the Neosho in Richland township in 1866. A trading point of considerable import- ance sprung up at this place. The second Labette was located in Rich- land township, just south of Labette creek. The promoters were G. A. Cooper, R. G. Tileston, L. D. Bovee, Allen Barnes, Gilbert Martin and Isaac Butterworth, and the town was founded in r868. It was also known as Soresco. It was supposed that it lay in the line of the pro- posed Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R. The present town of Labette is located in Liberty township. It was founded in 1870 with the avowed intention of making it the county seat. The promoters were Dempsey Elliott, J. S. Waters, James H. Crichton, W. A. Hodges, John W. Horner and W. J. Conner. It absorbed the town of Neola, about a mile and a half south, at which point a postoffice had been established in 1869 with J. W. Conner as postmaster. It was changed to Labette in 1870. The railroad company owned half the land and helped promote the new town, with the result that six months after it was started the population had reached the 600 mark, and there were fifteen business houses and many residences. On failing to get the county seat a depression occurred from which the town did not recover for a number of years. A newspaper called the Labette Sentinel was published during the first two years The first school was taught by J. L. Williams and wife, in the city hall in the winter of 1871. In this same year Capt. Anderson started a brewery which failed later. A flour mill was located on the creek in 1875 by Williams & Bowen. Many of the buildings in Labette had been moved from other little towns, and most of them were moved away when the depression occurred.

Labette County, in the southern tier, is the second county west from the Missouri line. It is bounded on the north by Neosho county, on the east by Crawford and Cherokee, on the south by the State of Okla- homa, and on the west by Montgomery county. It was established by the legislature of 1867 and the boundaries fixed to include the territory extending from the sixth standard parallel on the north to the boundary of the state on the south, and from the Cherokee neutral lands on the east to the Osage reserve on the west. Labette was formed of the southern part of Dorn county (q. v.): It took its name from the stream which had been named in honor of Pierre Labette, a Frenchman.

The first white man to make a permanent settlement within the limits of the county was John Mathews, who established a trading post among the Osage Indians, where Oswego now stands, in 1840. Larkin McGee, who came to the county in 1847 and established a trading post where

KANSAS HISTORY

Chetopa now stands, found five families there at that time. They were the families of Mrs. Tianna Rodgers, William Blythe, Finchel Monroe, Daniel Hopkins and a man named Tucker. John Mathewson had attained considerable prosperity, having a two-story frame house plas- tered on the inside, fine blooded race horses and a private race track. He took his horses to all the big races in the west and was very suc- cessful. In 1857, George Lisle, Abraham Ewers, George Ewers and Samuel Steel came to the present site of Chetopa, built a double log house, a shop and an office, and established a trading post. During the war very little was done in the way of settlement. It is said that the raids and disorders of guerrilla warfare so destroyed the settlements that from 1860 to 1865 there were only two white men living within the limits of the county, S. M. Collins and A. T. Dickerman, who had received the consent of Chief White Hair to locate at a point 4 miles south of the present city of Oswego. In the fall of 1865 immigration began again and among those who settled at this time were J. C. Rex- ford, A. P. Elsbee, C. C. Clover, D. M. Clover, Bergen VanNess, C. E. Simmons, Norris Harrar, Cal. Watkins, William White and sons, and Grant Reeves, most of them locating along the Neosho valley.

Early in the war John Mathews allied himself with the Confederacy and raised a body of troops over which he was commander. He fought a guerrilla warfare until killed in 1863. In Nov., 1863, about 300 sol- diers (Indians, half breeds and whites), under command of Capt. Wil- lits, Adjt. Ahle and Lieut. Joslyn, came into the county, and. stating that they were acting under orders from their superior officers, burned practically all the property of the settlers in the county. The Chetopa settlement was wiped out and the settlers driven to council Grove, James Childers was brutally murdered for his money and left unburied, his neighbors being refused permission to bury him. On the occasion of Mathews being killed and his buildings burned, which must have hap- pened before the wholesale raid, the male inhabitants were all arrested and tried by court martial on the charge of assisting the rebels.

The first postoffice in the county was granted to Chetopa in 1859. There was then no mail route to that point and no available means of securing the service, hence the office was not opened until 1861, when a route was established. Some of the early postoffices were: Chetopa, Montana, B. F. Simmons postmaster; Jacksonville, M. L. McCaslin postmaster ; Oswego, D. N. Carr postmaster, and Neola in the same year with W. J. Connor postmaster. The first school was taught in Oswego township by Mrs. Herbaugh. The first religious services were held by Rev. J. P. Barnaby, a preacher belonging to the Southern Metho- dist church, who established a circuit among the settlements in 1858. The first marriage was between Sarah Rodgers and Larkin McGee, in 1848, and the first birth was that of their son. The first newspaper was the Eagle, published at Jacksonville in 1868, by B. K. Land.

In 1865, the news of the treaty with the Osages caused a flood of immigration to come into Labette county and settle on lands, even

CYCLOPEDIA OF

before the treaty was ratified and while the Osages were away from home on a hunting expedition. When the Indians returned and found their lands occupied by the whites, they were very much dissatisfied and asked their agent to have the intruders removed. An order was issued commanding all settlers to leave the Osage lands. This created great consternation and resulted in a meeting of some 300 of the settlers at Hickory creek. A deputy was appointed to carry a petition to the Indian agent, asking that the settlers be permitted to live on their claims. An agreement was finally reached by which each claim holder was to pay the Indians $I per year until the treaty was ratified and they received pay for their lands, which occurred the same summer. The winter of 1866 was an unusually hard one. The weather was cold and bleak and the cabins insufficient for protection. The streams were swollen so that it was impossible for some time to secure provisions. The provender for cattle and horses gave out, and as it was impossible to procure more most of the animals died of starvation or disease, and in the spring many of the settlers were without the means to farm their lands. The Indians who had been paid for their lands and had moved away, came back to steal from the settlers, and intimidate as many as possible into paying rents. In Feb., 1866, the settlers of Labette and Hackberry creeks formed what was known as the Hackberry Mutual Protection Society for the purpose of protecting the persons and prop- erty of its members from the red men. Similar organizations were effected in other parts of the county, and in May a county organization was formed. Speedy retribution was visited on the perpetrators of all sorts of lawlessness.

In the fall of 1866 the citizens of what was soon to become Labette county, thinking they ought to have a separate county government, and not wishing to await the pleasure of the legislature called an election and elected C. H. Bent as representative to the legislature. Not bearing · legal credentials he was not given a seat. The matter was taken up immediately, however, and the county of Labette was created, after which Bent was seated. The governor located the county seat temporar- ily at Oswego, and appointed the following officers: Commissioners, S. W. Collins, J. Rice and C. H. Talbot ; probate judge, Bergen Van Ness ; district clerk, Elmore Craft ; county clerk, A. T. Dickerman ; sheriff Benjamin Rice. An election was held in May, 1867, at which the follow- ing officers were chosen: Commissioners, Nathan Ames, D. C. Lowe and Mr. Shay ; sheriff, Benjamin Rice ; probate judge, Bergen VanNess ; assessor, A. W. Jones; county clerk, A. T. Dickerman; district clerk, Elmore Craft; treasurer, C. C. Clover; superintendent of schools. J. F. Newlon; county attorney, J. W. Parkinson. The county seat was permanently located at Oswego.

This county was the field of the operations of the famous Bender family (q. v.), who committed several atrocious crimes in the '70s.

The county is well supplied with railroads. The first one built was the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, which enters the county in the central

KANSAS HISTORY

part of the north line, and extends southeast to Oswego and south to the state line. The next line to be built was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which runs across the extreme northwestern corner. The St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., which passes through the central part of the county from east to west, was constructed in 1879. A line of the same road which passes through the northern part was built in 1882. In addition to these lines there is the Missouri Pacific R. R., running from east to west across the southern tier of townships, and three other lines of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, one running east from Altamont, one runnning north from Parsons, and another crossing the northern line of the county and running southwest through Mound Valley.

The townships of the county are as follows : Canada, Elm Grove, Fair- view, Hackberry, Howard, Labette, Liberty, Montana, Mound Valley, Mount Pleasant, Neosho, North, Osage, Oswego, Richland and Walton. The cities, towns and villages are, Oswego, the county seat, Altamont, Angola, Bartlett, Cecil, Chetopa, Dennis, Edna, Elm City, Idenbro, Labette, Laneville, Mathewson, Montana, Mortimer, Mound Valley, Oswego, Parsons, Valeda and Wilsonton.

The surface of the county is generally undulating prairie, with gentle slopes, and numerous streams. The largest stream is the Neosho, which flows south through the eastern tier of townships as far as Oswego. Labette creek rises in the northwest and flows southeast across the county. Big Hill, Pumpkin, and a number of smaller creeks, drain dif- ferent parts of the county. Well water is found in abundance at a depth of 30 feet.

Common limestone for flagging, and a superior grade of sandstone are plentiful. Brick clay, coal and salt are to be had in commercial quanti- ties. Oil and gas underlie almost the entire surface of the county.

The area is 649 square miles or 415,360 acres, of which nearly 300,000 acres have been brought under cultivation. The farm products for 1910 were valued at $2,855,112, of which corn brought $643,776; oats, $610,160; wheat, $116,953; hay (including alfalfa), $318,695; animals sold for slaughter, $572,963; poultry and eggs, $155,070; and dairy products, $259,977. The population of the county in 1910 was 31,423, a gain of 4,036 during the preceding decade, and the assessed valuation of all property was $35,377,355.

Labor Bureau .- (See Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Labor Troubles .- Owing to the fact that a vast majority of the people of Kansas are engaged in agricultural pursuits, there have never been many of those industrial disturbances-conflicts between employer and employee-which have convulsed the more densely populated sec- tions of the country where so many men are engaged in occupations connected with mining or manufacturing interests. However, the rail- road companies have been compelled, at various times, to face strikes among their employees, for real or fancied grievances, and there have been a few strikes among the miners in the southeastern part of the state.

CYCLOPEDIA OF

The first disturbance that threatened really serious consequences in Kansas was in connection with the great railroad strike of 1878. In the spring of that year practically all the great trunk lines of the country were tied up by a strike, with Pittsburgh, Pa., as the storm center. A number of the employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe com- pany quit work and placed "pickets" in the vicinity of the shops and roundhouses of the company at the division points, to prevent other workmen from taking their places. Fearing damage to property, the superintendent of the company wrote to Gov. Anthony asking if the state would protect the property of the company. The governor replied that the strikers would not be permitted to destroy property or to drive peaceful laborers from their work. To make certain that this idea was carried out, Adjt. Gen. P. S. Noble called out three companies of the militia-Capt. Walkinshaw's of Leavenworth, Capt. Zeigler's of Inde- pendence, and Capt. Wheeler's of Topeka, 143 men in all. Capt. Walk- inshaw's company was sent to Emporia and Capt. Zeigler's to Lawrence. The pastor of one of the Emporia churches was accidentally killed by one of the militiamen and the citizens of that city protested against the presence of troops. The company was then sent to the village of Read- ing, 15 miles east. The militia was in active service but four days, but that was sufficient to demonstrate what the state would do in an emer- gency, and serious trouble was probably averted by the prompt action of the governor. The legislature of 1879 appropriated $2,500 to pay the expenses of transporting, subsisting and paying the men for the four days' time they were employed. (See Anthony's Administration.)

In Sept., 1884, the Missouri Pacific Railroad company reduced the wages of a large number of its employees. Winter was approaching, and, rather than be thrown out of work at an unfavorable season, the men accepted the situation. But as soon as spring opened in 1885 they retaliated by inaugurating a general strike. No freights of any kind were moved for several days, when Gov. Martin and the board of rail- road commissioners went to St. Louis for a conference with the railroad officials and the governor of Missouri. Nothing was accomplished by the conference on account of the failure of the railroad men to attend, but Gov. Martin of Kansas and Gov. Marmaduke of Missouri joined in writing a letter to them, which resulted in the men being restored at the old rate of wages, with extra pay for extra time, the final conference reaching that settlement on March 24, 1885.

During the next twelve months the Knights of Labor made great head- way in the West, nearly all the employees of the Missouri Pacific becoming members of the organization. About the close of the year 1885 the leaders of the order claimed that the railroad company had violated the. agreement of the preceding March, and on March 6, 1886, all the Knights of Labor in the employ of the company ceased work. In a few days the conditions became serious. The labor organization was strong enough to prevent other men from taking the places of the strikers, and as a result freight accumulated at all the stations on the Missouri Pacific lines because the company was unable to move trains.

KANSAS HISTORY

Matters continued thus until late in the month. On March 25 Gov. Martin issued a proclamation declaring the operation of the railroads "vitally important to every commercial, industrial and agricultural inter- est of the people." While admitting that the workmen might have just grievances against the company and were the victims of corporate greed, he did not approve of the methods used to right those grievances.

"We are now," said he, "in the third week of the most serious business disaster that has ever befallen our state. The forcible stoppage of trans- portation on a long line of railroads affects a third of the people of Kan- sas. Supplies of food and fuel are cut off in many localities ; farmers, me- chanics and manufacturers are prevented from selling and shipping their stock and goods, and from paying thousands of laborers hitherto in their employ. Thus the 'strike' of a few railroad men cripples and stops the business and industry of great masses of our people. . . . I there- fore call upon all sheriffs, county attorneys and other peace officers, to discharge their duties under the law, to preserve the peace, to protect property, to see that the commerce of the state is not interrupted by violence and lawless acts, and to arrest and bring before the courts for trial and punishment all who are guilty of any violation of law."

Writs of injunction were issued by both the state and Federal courts and served upon the strike leaders, and on the 27th the sheriff of Labette county, assisted by a posse, endeavored to move freight trains at Par- sons, where a large quantity of freight, some of it of a perishable char- acter, was awaiting transportation. His efforts were resisted by the strikers, who ignored the law, the writs of injunction, and the governor's proclamation. Adjt .- Gen. A. B. Campbell, who had gone to Parsons on the 15th in response to a telegram from the sheriff, called a con- ference of the labor leaders and the civil authorities, but nothing was accomplished in the way of a settlement. He then telegraphed to the governor : "The company cannot move trains. The civil officers and citizens cannot help them; and God only knows what the end will be if they continue to defy all law and authority. I can see no other course than the use of military power."

This telegram was sent on the last day of March. On April I the governor replied: "If you deem it necessary for the preservation of order and the vindication of lawful authority, order Col. Patrick to move to Parsons, as rapidly as possible, as many companies of his regiment as may be necessary to sustain the civil officers in the performance of their duties."

Acting upon this authority, the adjutant-general ordered Col. Patrick to put the entire First regiment under orders for Parsons, stating that a small force of militia would be liable to be attacked. The regi- ment reached Parsons on April 2 and in a short time order was restored to the troubled city. Four companies were relieved on the 7th, when the citizens formed a "law and order league," secured arms and ammu- nition from the state, and on the 14th the balance of the regiment was relieved from further duty. Law and order leagues were also organized

CYCLOPEDIA OF

at Atchison and Wyandotte, the leaders of the strike were arrested, tried and convicted, and after more than a month of unsettled conditions trains again moved on schedule time.

In 1893 occurred what was probably the most serious disturbance in the history of the mining industry of the state. All through the spring and early summer mutterings of discontent were heard among the men employed in the mines, the trouble finally culminating in a strike, which was general throughout the mining districts of the Western states. On July 6 the United Mine Workers at Weir City gave the operators until the 15th to adjust the differences between them and the workmen, but the operators ignored the ultimatum. On the 21st C. D. Arnold, sheriff of Cherokee county, telegraphed to Gov. Lewelling: "Have militia ready; am likely to call on you for them any minute. Matters very serious here."

Gov. Lewelling immediately ordered Maj .- Gen. Percy Daniels of Girard to call upon the sheriff and determine what action should be taken. After consultation with the sheriff, Gen. Daniels ordered Brig .- Gen. I. H. Hettinger of the Second brigade to place his command in position to move on three hours' notice. Six companies were at once placed in readiness to obey the order, and on the 24th a similar order was issued to Brig .- Gen. W. H. Sears, commanding the First brigade. Five companies of that command were called out, but the trouble was adjusted on the 25th, and the next day all the troops were dismissed.

Prior to 1890 each of the various branches of railway employees had its separate organization-the Order of Railway Conductors, the Brother- hood of Locomotive Engineers, the Switchmen's Union, etc. Early in the 'gos an effort was made to consolidate all these into one association called the American Railway Union. Early in the summer of 1894 the employees of the Pullman Car company made certain demands upon that corporation, and, upon being refused, quit work. The members of the American Railway Union were then called out on a "sympathetic strike," engineers and conductors refusing to handle trains to which Pullman cars were attached. The strike soon reached Kansas, and on July 6 Judge Foster of the United States district court issued a tempo- rary restraining order to some 1,200 employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Union Pacific, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis, the Missouri Pacific, the St. Louis & San Francisco and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads, enjoining them "from interfering with or obstructing the business of the roads engaged in carrying the mails or in the business of interstate commerce."

The strike ended in the utter disruption of the American Railway Union. On the same day that Judge Foster issued his restraining order, J. J. Frey, general manager of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, announced that employees who had left the service of the company would not be restored to their positions, but that the new men would be retained as long as their services were satisfactory. A number of the old employees affected by this order complained to United States Judge

KANSAS HISTORY

Caldwell that they had been unjustly discharged, and on Aug. 4 Judge Caldwell appointed J. B. Johnson, master in chancery, to hear their com- plaints. In the course of the investigation it developed that the men left their work at the command of the union officials rather than be called "Scabs;" that they refused to take out trains when ordered to do so by their employers, and that they refused to allow other men to take their places. In his report to Judge Caldwell Mr. Johnson said: "It is difficult to understand what greater offense an employee could commit than to refuse to work, and still insist that no one should take his place. I have been impressed with the fact, after seeing each one of these appli- cants and hearing his statement, that they are well meaning and well disposed people. I should be glad, if it could be found in my line of duty, to give them employment again with the receivers, but with that I have nothing to do. The real fact is that a so-called 'scab' is one who exer- cises the natural right of a citizen and works when he pleases."

Through the order of Mr. Frey and the finding of Mr. Johnson, a number of Kansas railway men lost their positions and were placed on what became known as the "black list." If one of these men made application to another company for employment, the officials of that company were notified by the man's former employers that he was un- trustworthy. By this system many of the men were forced into other occupations. To protect these men from such impositions, the Kansas legislature of 1897 passed two acts. The act of Feb. 18 made it unlaw- ful for any person, company, corporation or agent to prevent employees from joining or belonging to a labor organization, or to coerce or dis- charge, or threaten to do so, any workman for such membership in a labor organization, under penalty of a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500. And any person injured by violation of this law might recover damages in the sum of $2,000. The one of March 12 provided that no employer should attempt to prevent any discharged employee from obtaining employment; that any discharged employee should have the right to demand and receive a written statement as to the cause of his discharge, and that no information should be furnished to other employers further than to state the cause of such discharge.

The industrial depression which began in the fall of 1893 threw out of employment a great many men in all parts of the country, and the year 1894 is memorable for what is known as the "Commonweal Army" (q. v.), a movement in which large numbers of the unemployed under- took to march to Washington and demand of Congress redress for their grievances. A detachment of this "army" from the Pacific slope seized a Missouri Pacific train of coal cars at Pueblo, Col., and started eastward through Kansas. Bailie P. Waggener, attorney for the company, on May 9 asked Gov. Lewelling "to render such assistance as may be neces- sary to rescue its property, protect the traveling public, and prevent further depredations by this organized mob," stating that he had called upon the officials of Saline county to arrest the further progress of the train there, but the county officers had refused to act. To this the gov-

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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 9

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company Number of Pages: 960

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960