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 92
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At the election held a few days later the following officers were chosen : County clerk, C. W. Calvert ; register of deeds, H. F. Nichols ; clerk of the district court, W. E. Allen ; treasurer, O. W. Kirby ; sheriff, A. P. Ridenour; surveyor, George B. Teames; attorney, John B. Pan- coast ; coroner, W. J. D. Halderman ; probate judge, W. H. Guinn; com- missioners, J. E. Hunt, J. B. Chamberlain and W. A. Clark. Hugoton received a large majority of the votes for county seat. There were, how- ever, but 289 votes cast, which gave color to the contention of the Woodsdale people that there were less than 300 votes in the county. By that time proceedings had been instituted in the supreme court ask- ing that the fraudulent organization be set aside. While this suit was pending the legislature of 1887 passed two acts which interfered with it and made the organization legal. The county was in a continual state of turmoil. The state militia had to be sent out to protect the county officers while they canvassed the returns of the election of 1888.
In that year a party of men from Hugoton followed Sheriff Cross and his posse into "No Man's Land" where they murdered the entire party except a boy of 19 years, who escaped to tell the story. Believing that there was no court which had jurisdiction over that territory they openly boasted of their deed. Col. Wood spent considerable time investigating the matter and finally ascertaining that the courts of Texas had juris- diction over "No Man's Land," he brought the murderers to trial at Paris in that state. C. E. Cook, O. J. Cook, J. B. Chamberlain, C. Freese and J. J. Jackson were found guilty. A new trial was granted them on a technicality and their release was secured. Determined that Col. Wood should not live to try them again, they laid a plot to kill him. He was shot and killed by James Brennan at the court-house at Hugo- ton on June 23, 1891. The men who had been found guilty of the murder of Cross and his party were never tried again.
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While all this had been going on the county was going through the hard times incident to pioneer conditions. In 1890 the population was 1,418, very little more than half the reputed population of 1886. During the next ten years the suffering brought on by poor crops was augmented by the financial panic which was general over the country. Many of the people left for the southwest, which was just opening up, and in 1900 the population of the county was but 620. A series of good years resulted in building up the county again, and the population in 1910 was 2,453.
The county is divided into 3 townships, Center, Harmony and Voor- hees. The general surface is an undulating prairie with sand hills. There is no timber. The bottom lands are from one-half to three-fourths of a mile in width and comprise about 2 per cent. of the area. . The only river of importance is the south fork of the Cimarron, which flows northeast across the northwest corner. Sandstone is found near the river, and gypsum and clay in other parts of the county.
The value of farm products marketed in 1910 was $737,947. The lead- ing crop was broom-corn which brought $200,000; milo maize was worth $153,384; Kafir-corn, $106,475 ; wheat, $66,856; live stock sold for slaughter, $65,560. The value of live stock on hand was $616,170. The assessed valuation of property was $2,877,104.
Stickney, a country postoffice in Wheatland township, Barton county, is located about 22 miles north of Great Bend, the county seat, and II from Hoisington, the nearest shipping point. There is a general store, and the population in 1910 was 23.
Stilwell, one of the new towns that has grown up in the southeastern part of Johnson county, is located on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 10 miles from Olathe, the county seat. The railroad was the making of the town, which has a good public school, several churches and general stores, a blacksmith and wagon shop, implement and hardware house, lumber yard, express and telegraph facilities, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. In 1910 its population was 200. Being the only large town in the southeastern part of the county it is the shipping and supply point for a rich agricultural district and does considerable business. The town was formerly known as Mount Auburn, the name having been changed by act of the legislature, approved March 2, 1889.
Stippville, a mining town in Cherokee connty, is located in Mineral township, one-half mile from its station, which is called Turck, on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., and 4 miles from Columbus, the county seat. It has a few general stores and a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 200. The Joplin & Pittsburg electric line runs through the town.
Stitt, a country hamlet in Dickinson county, is located 8 miles south of Wakefield, Clay county, the postoffice from which it receives mail and the nearest railroad station.
Stockdale, a village of Riley county, is located in Grant township on the Union Pacific R. R., 10 miles northwest of Manhattan, the county
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seat. It has a bank, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The population in 1910 was 100.
Stockholm, a country postoffice in Wallace county, is located in the township of the same name, 16 miles southwest of Sharon Springs, the county seat, and I0 miles south of Weskan, the nearest shipping point. The population in 1910 was 65.
Stockrange, a hamlet in Trego county, is located in Franklin town- ship, about 15 miles south of Wakeeney, the county seat, and 10 miles north of Ransom, the nearest shipping point. It receives mail from Valley, an inland postoffice on the Smoky Hill river. The population in 1910 was 20.
Stockton, the county seat of Rooks county, is an incorporated city of the third class, centrally located, and is on the south fork of the Solo- mon river at the terminus of a branch of the Missouri Pacific R. R. It is the shipping point for about half the county, which is a prosperous agricultural area. There are 2 banks, a public library, waterworks, fire department, an opera house, hotels, flour mill, a feed mill, 2 grain ele- vators, 2 weekly newspapers (the Record and the Western News), daily stages to Alcona, Nicodemus and Bogue, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,317. The town was founded in 1872 by cattle men, who named it "Stocktown." The first house was erected and the first store opened by George Beebe. The first town officers were elected in 1873 and were as follows: Trustee, Charles Stuart; clerk, D. K. Dib- ble; treasurer, John Park; justices, G. W. Patterson and P. G. Green; constables, G. W. Norcutt and W. Dickson. The first school was taught in 1872 by W. H. Barnes. The first mail was brought by horseback from Cawker City. The first white child born in the new town belonged to the family of George W. Norcutt and was born in 1874. In 1879 the town was incorporated as a city of the third class and the following were the first officers under the new form of government: Mayor, C. E. May- nard ; councilmen, C. E. McDaniel, Jewell Elliott, M. M. Stewart, James Moore and Jolin Saver; marshal, D. Washburn; police judge, W. A. Ecker ; clerk, T. C. McBreen. The high school was established in 1891.
Stoddard, Amos, soldier, writer and diplomat, was born at Woodbury, Conn., Oct. 26, 1762. He was a son of James Stoddard and a descendant of Anthony Stoddard, who came from England about 1630 and settled at Boston. During the Revolutionary war he served in the Continental army, after which he became clerk of the Massachusetts supreme court. In 1798 President Adams commissioned him captain of artillery, and he was assigned to duty on the western frontier. As representative of the United States government, he received the transfer of Upper Louisiana from the Spanish authorities at St. Louis on March 9, 1804. Kansas was at that time a part of the transferred territory and came under the dominion of the United States government. Stoddard remained as civil commandant at St. Louis until Oct. I, when he was ordered south. In 1807 he was promoted to the rank of major, and at the siege of Fort
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Meigs in the spring of 1813 he was wounded on May 5, and died a few days later. He was a member of the U. S. Philological Society and the New York Historical Society, and the author of a work entitled "Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana."
Stone .- (See Geology.)
Stone City, a mining hamlet in Cherokee county, is located in the northern part of the county, 12 miles from Columbus, the county seat, and 5 miles from Mineral, the nearest shipping point and telegraph office. It has a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 25.
Storms .- Kansas is subject to three kinds of atmospheric disturbances known as storms-the ordinary thunder storm, sometimes accompanied by high wind, the tornado and the cyclone. The tornado or "Kansas twister," is one of the most dreaded and destructive of storms. It usually originates in regions of the earth's surface where it is dry and arid for a considerable extent, where no large bodies of water exist and there is little evaporation. Tornadoes in Kansas usually move in a general, well-defined course from southwest to northeast, or from the ' arid plains of Arizona and New Mexico, and the semi-arid region of southwest Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas toward the Great Lake region. These storms generally occur from two to six o'clock in the afternoon, and nearly always when there has been an absence of rain for some time in the region. The cloud forming the tornado gains a rotary motion in its descent to the earth, where it assumes the form of a funnel or hour glass. The outer circle of a tornado is like a circular wall, from 20 to 50 feet thick, with a very violent, whirling motion, tearing loose objects which are drawn into the inner circle and carried upwards, sometimes to great heights. A tornado has a limit of action, as some objects torn from their location may be carried for miles, while others only a few feet away, but beyond the outer wall of the storm, remain untouched.
A number of tornadoes occurred from 1880 to 1882, when there was but little rain, but none are recorded in the years 1883-84, when there was plenty of rain during the spring months. The tornadoes of 1881 owed their origin to the union of two currents of air, one a cold, dry wind descending from the Rocky mountains, and the other a warmer current, heavily charged with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. When these met in Kansas, within an atmosphere of high temperature and of almost complete saturation, the cold current attacked the warm one and the in-rushing air developed the funnel shaped cloud.
A cyclone differs in character from a tornado chiefly in the direction of the rotary motion. In the tornado the funnel shaped cloud stands perpendicular, and the debris is thrown in all directions. In the cyclone the funnel is turned on its side, so to speak, and the current of air moves with great velocity, with a rotary motion similar to that of a rifle ball, throwing the debris to right and left of the path of the storm. The tornado also differs from the cyclone, in that it jumps-that it, it remains in contact with the earth for some distance, then becomes detached, and again descends-while the cyclone passes directly along the earth's surface.
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Tornadoes are rarely over 300 feet wide, but cyclones often have a path a mile or more in width. The general course of the cyclone, like that of the tornado, is from southwest to northeast, but not always. Sometimes they move eastward, sometimes to the north or south.
In 1871 a terrific storm passed over the southern part of the state, when Eldorado, Butler county, was nearly destroyed. Eight years later a tornado passed over the northern part of the state and did a great deal of damage, especially in Marshall county, and over 50 persons lost their lives. The Topeka Commonwealth of June 4, 1879, gave the following account : "The tornado which dealt death and destruction near Delphos gathered in northwest Kansas. It divided at the headwaters of the Solomon, a fearful gale rushing down each valley until they reached Cawker City and united. A gentleman who was an eye witness at Cawker says he could see the clouds coming toward Cawker, and saw them come together. The shock produced by the collision was terriffic and resembled the report produced by the explosion of a powder-mill. At first the clouds refused to unite, but went tumbling and rolling down the valley, now together, then apart, for several miles, when they finally melted into one funnel-shaped whirlwind."
In 1881 one of the most destructive cyclones in the history of the state passed through Osage county. It started in the Marais des Cygnes valley and traveled in a northeasterly direction leaving desolation in its wake. In June of the same year the valley of the Walnut river in Cowley county was visited by a cyclone, the most destructive ever known in that section of Kansas, and on the night of June 16-17, 1882, a tornado struck Topeka, where houses were torn from their foundations and great trees were twisted off. From Topeka the storm passed nearly directly east and did considerable damage at Kansas City.
With the extension of civilization westward; the cultivation of the soil, which enables it to retain more moisture ; the planting of trees, and the irrigation of districts once barren, destructive storms are growing less frequent and it is probable that in a few years they will be a thing of the past. (See Climate.)
Stotler, a hamlet in Lyon county, owes its existence to a mineral spring in the vicinity, the water of which has been analyzed by the state chemists and found to contain medicinal properties. It receives mail from Osage City in Osage county.
Stowell, a country postoffice in Hamilton county, is located in Rich- land township, 16 miles north of Syracuse, the county seat and most convenient shipping point. The population in 1910 was 15.
Straight Creek, a hamlet of Jackson county, is located in Straight Creek township on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., 6 miles northeast of Holton, the county seat, from which place it receives mail. ' Prior to 1869 the lands of the township belonged to the Kickapoo Indian reservation. J. H. Thompson claimed land in 1854 and settled in 1855. John Hibbard came in 1856. Other early settlers were S. J. Rose, Wil- (II-49)
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liam Chambers, W. L. Estes, T. Burns, James Hastings and others. G. W. Weister built the first mill.
Strawberry, a country hamlet in Washington county, is located 12 miles southwest of Washington, the county seat, and 8 miles west of Linn on the Missouri Pacific R. R., the nearest shipping point and the postoffice from which it receives mail. The population in 1910 was 52.
Strawn, one of the larger villages of Coffey county, is located in Cali- fornia township on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R. and the Neosho river, 12 miles northwest of Burlington. It has good schools and churches, various mercantile interests, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The town was laid out in 1871, and the population in 1910 was 200.
Strickler, a little hamlet of Saline county, is located in Solomon town- ship about half a mile from the east line of the county and about 12 miles from Salina, the county seat. It receives mail from Solomon, Dickinson county. The population in 1910 was 15.
Strikes .- (See Labor Troubles.)
Stringfellow, Benjamin F., lawyer, and one of the pro-slavery leaders in Kansas, was born in Fredericksburg, Va., Sept. 3, 1816. His parents were both Virginians, descended from some of the early settlers. He was reared upon his father's plantation and educated in the common schools until he was twelve years old, when his father sent him to school at Fredericksburg. Subsequently he attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and in the fall of 1835 began to read law. He was admitted to the bar and located at Louisville, Ky., but removed from there to St. Louis and finally to Huntsville, Mo. He soon after met Sterling Price, who persuaded him to go to Keytesville, where he became recognized as a lawyer of ability. Within a short time he was appointed circuit attorney, which office he held for four years. In 1844 he entered actively into political life, was elected to the state legislature and subsequently was appointed attorney-general of the state, serving four years. When Kansas Territory was organized in 1854 and the con- test over slavery commenced, there was perfected at Weston, Platte county, Mo., an organization known as the "Self Defensive Association," of which Mr. Stringfellow was secretary. He foresaw the coming con- flict and believed the only way to avoid it was by admitting Kansas as a slave state, thus keeping sufficient power in the United States senate to defeat the abolition movement. During the winter of 1854-55 he was selected to go to Washington, D. C., to meet the members of Congress from the southern states and explain to them the need of prompt and energetic action. They promised to send slaves to Kansas, but failed to do so. In 1858 Mr. Stringfellow went to Memphis, Tenn., but in the fall of 1859 became a resident of Atchison, Kan. At the close of the war he cordially cooperated with the Republican party and engaged in commercial enterprises, being active in the organization and construction of the first railroads in Kansas. He died on April 26, 1891.
Stringfellow, John H., an early physician of Kansas, one of the
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founders of Atchison, and speaker of the house in the first territorial legislature, was born in Culpeper county, Va., Nov. 14, 1819. He was educated at Caroline Academy, Va., Columbia University, Washington, D. C., and graduated in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1845. Soon after that he located at Carrollton, Mo., where he married Ophelia J. Simmons, niece of Gov. Edwards. During the cholera epidemic of 1849, when every boat coming up the river unloaded cholera patients at Hill's Landing, he converted a large ware- house into a hospital and devoted three months to caring for them. In 1852 he removed to Platte City. Upon the organization of Kansas Ter- ritory he crossed the river, selected a claim, and in connection with some friends formed a town company which laid out the town of Atchi- son. In 1854 he brought his family and lived in Atchison until 1858. He was the founder and editor of the Squatter Sovereign, the first news- paper in Atchison, and was commissioned colonel of the Third regiment of the territorial militia by Gov. Shannon. He was called to Virginia by the death of his father in 1858 and was detained there until after the opening of the Civil war. He entered the Confederate service as cap- tain of a Virginia company, but was at once detailed as surgeon and acted in that capacity only. In 1871 he returned to Atchison and remained there until 1876, when he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he resided until his death on July 24, 1905.
Strong City, one of the important towns of Chase county, is located on the north bank of the Cottonwood river at the junction of the main line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. with branches running to Abilene and Bazaar. It is about 2 miles from Cottonwood Falls, the county seat, with which it is connected by street cars. It has 2 hotels, a theater, 2 banks, a newspaper (the Herald) which is printed daily and weekly, and all lines of mercantile enterprise. The largest and best equipped stone quarry in the state, from which a fine grade of lime- stone is quarried, is located in the vicinity. This is one of the most important stock markets in the state and some of the most extensive dealers in live stock in the state are permanently located here. Natural gas is used for heating, lighting and commercial purposes. The quarries furnish employment to hundreds of men. Strong City is supplied with telegraph and express offices and has an international money order post- office. The population according to the census of 1910 was 762.
Strong City was founded in 1872 by the Cottonwood Town company and for a number of years went by that name. The Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. went through the county that year and the new town was located on the north side of the right-of-way. Inside of ten years from the date of its founding, Strong City was a thrifty little place and had some of the best business buildings in central Kansas. Banks had been organized and all lines of mercantile houses established. The first newspaper was established by R. M. Watson in 1880. It was an organ of the National labor party and was called the Independent. The Strong City bank was organized in 1882 with a capital of $100,000.
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Strong, Frank, educator, son of John Butler and Mary (Foote) Strong, was born at Venice, Cayuga county, N. Y., Aug. 5, 1859. He attended the Auburn, N. Y., high school in preparation for Yale, where he was graduated in 1884. While at Yale he won several prizes for composition and made contributions to the college periodicals. In 1885 he finished the two years' course in the Yale law school, securing the John A. Porter prize, then studied law in the office of Sereno E. Payne of Auburn, N. Y., and after being admitted to the bar in 1886 practiced for a time in Kansas City, Mo. In 1888 he gave up his profession to become principal of the high school in St. Joseph, Mo. On June 24, 1890, he married Mary Evelyn, daughter of William Z. Ransom of St. Joseph, Mo. From 1892 to 1895 he was superintendent of the public schools of Lincoln, Neb. In 1895 he returned to Yale and entered the graduate school, from which he received a Ph. D. degree in history in 1897. He was appointed a lec- turer in history at Yale, which position he held until 1899, when he was elected president of the state university of Oregon. After serving three years he was called to the University of Kansas as chancellor and still (1911) occupies the executive chair. Dr. Strong is the author of a "Life of Benjamin Franklin," published in 1898, and of "Government of the American People," published in 1901. He is a member of the Psi Upsilon College fraternity, of the honorary society Phi Beta Kappa, and the American Historical Association.
Stuart, one of the hamlets of Smith county, is located 13 miles south- east of Smith Center, the county seat, and 7 miles south of Lebanon, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., which is the nearest railroad station and the postoffice from which mail is distributed. The popu- lation according to the census of 1910 was 42.
Stubbs, Walter Roscoe, 18th governor of the State of Kansas, was born at Richmond, Wayne county, Ind., Nov. 7, 1858. His ancestors were Quakers, who were opposed to shams and hypocrisy-a trait which he inherited in a marked degree. While he was still in his childhood his parents went to Iowa. In 1868 they removed to Kansas, where the future governor attended the common schools and was for a time a student in the University of Kansas at Lawrence. He began his busi- ness career when he was twenty years of age, by working two terms on a railroad grading contract. Subsequently he became a contractor on his own account, and also became interested in agricultural pursuits. When the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific company decided to build a line of railroad from St. Louis to Kansas City, there was a spirited com- petition among contractors for the work of grading the road-bed. Mr. Stubbs drove over the proposed route, examining carefully the nature of the work to be done, submitted a bid and secured the contract, which amounted to about $3,000,000, and upon which his profits were some- thing like $250,000. This gave him a good start and his business as a contractor increased until it reached a volume of from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 a year. Mr. Stubbs did not enter the arena of politics until he was past forty years of age. In 1902 he was nominated by the
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Republicans to represent a district of Douglas county in the lower house of the state legislature and was elected. His record was evidently satis- factory to his constituents, for in 1904 he was reëlected and at the opening of the ensuing session was made speaker of the house, and he also advocated a reform in the methods of doing the state printing. In 1906 he was for a third time elected to the legislature, and in 1908 was elected to the office of governor, being the first candidate nominated for that office at a state-wide primary under the new law. At the close of his first term he was renominated after a spirited contest, and in Nov., 1910, was reëlected for the term ending in Jan., 1913. Gov. Stubbs is regarded as belonging to what is called the "progressive wing" of the Republican party. In his messages to the general assembly he has been consistent-even if somewhat radical at times-in his advocacy of such measures as the initiative and referendum and the recall of unworthy or incompetent public officials. He is a 32° Mason ; is a public-spirited citizen ; takes a keen interest in all questions pertaining to civic progress, and his judgment of human nature, gained as a large employer of men, enables him in a majority of instances to form a correct estimate of those with whom he comes in contact.
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