USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 20
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Faber, P. S. Ferguson, J. P. Henion, E. H. Hickock, Henry Bacon, M. H. Collins, F. Cook, R. M. Gray, William Kuntz, H. F. Reed, M. Sherman, A. Tuttle, F. Arn, J. Whitecrow, E. O. Zane, M. Clary, M. Faber, B. F. Johnson, M. Mudeater, Anthony McGrath, August Reka, John Swatzel, Irvin P. Long, John Burke, John M. Blatchley, H. W. Barbour, James Cain, E. M. Dyer, M. Gregory, Michael Gorman, H. T. Harrison, Louis Hefferlin, Charles Haines, W. P. Harris, James Humphrey, Fred Kramer, Henry Kirkbride.
January 8, 1861, in the matter of the report of the grand jury, made to the last October term of the district court, recommending certain improvements in -the county jail, it was ordered by the board that the county clerk advertise proposals to be received, for consider- ation at the April term of the board, to erect a plank fence around the jail, to underpin the jail with stone, and fill underneath its floors with broken stone.
January 21, 1861, a license was granted to Cornelius Riordan to keep a dram shop in Quindaro Township for one year. The following entry appears under date of March 19, 1861: "On this day John W. Dyer and Julius G. Fisk, commissioners of Wyandotte County, met as a board of canvassers to inspect the returns of the election held in said county on the 5th day of March, 1861, for one representative to the State Legislature to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Amasa Soule, representative-elect for the district composed of the counties of Wyandotte, Douglas and Johnson. The returns being produced by the county clerk, as filed in his office, the same were ex- amined and found to be in all respects made up in conformity with the laws, and on being duly canvassed, the votes cast at said election were found to be as follows: Whole number of votes cast at said election, 381; of which L. L. Jones received 284 votes, and W. R. Davis 97 votes."
June 18, 1861, the board canvassed the returns of an election held on the 11th instant for representative in Congress and for justice of the peace for Wyandotte Township. The following results were as- certained: Quindaro Township-whole number of votes cast, 27; for Representative in Congress, Martin F. Conway, 8, C. J. H. Nichol, 18, John A. Haldeman, 1. Wyandotte Township-For Representative in Congress: Martin F. Conway, 194; C. K. Holiday, 3; Isaiah Walker, 1; for justice of the peace, John M. Funk, 151; James A. Cruise, 130. November 8, 1861, the board canvassed the votes cast in Wyandotte County, November 5, 1861, at an election for certain State and county
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officers. The whole number of votes cast was 400. For governor, George A. Crawford received 343, Josiah Miller, 1; for lieutenant- governor, Joseph G. Speer received 344; for secretary of State, J. W. Robinson received 349; for attorney-general, Samuel A. Stinson re- ceived 390; for State treasurer, Hortman R. Dutton received 381; for State auditor, James R. McClure received 349; for superintendent of public instruction, H. D. Preston received 358; for Representative in the State Senate, John Speer received 160, John T. Legate, 158; R. S. Stevens, 229; Charles G. Kaler, 246; for Representative in the Lower House, W. M. Sheard, 367; W. H. Fishback, 168; R. W. Hart- ley, 145; Chauncey L. Steele, 358; E. G. Macy, 358; J. L. Jones, 358; Samuel Block, 358; A. T. Thoman, 357; D. T. Mitchell, 358; R. L. Williams, 358; Sidney Clark, 157; James McGrew, 378; Eli McKee, 104; William Dickinson, 243; G. W. Smith, 175; John M. Griffin, 204; Mencer, 1; Edward Mencer, 1; for sheriff, Jacob Kerstetter, 152; Luther H. Wood, 244; Ward, 1; Jacob Cresth, 1; for treasurer, Byron Judd, 402; for register of deeds, S. D. McDonald, 168; James A. Cruise, 239; for county clerk, William B. Bowman, 160; E. T. Vedder, 231; for assessor, C. N. H. Moore, 99; Martin Stewart, 295; for surveyor, J. A. J. Chapman, 396; for coroner, Thomas Duncan, 169; Charles Morasch, 223; C. N. H. Moore, 1; for county commissioners, First District, D. A. Bartlett, 147; R. Cook, 236; Second District, S. Lake, 163; Emmanuel Dyer, 231; Third District, B. F. Mudge, 132; Francis Kessler, 230; for probate judge, T. House, 10; V. J. Lane, 30; for superintendent of public schools, D. B. Healy, 1; for clerk of district court, J. A. Cruise, 14.
Those selected for grand and petit jurors, for 1862, were named as follows (those designated by an asterisk were, on February 14, drawn to serve at the next term of district court): * Nicholas McAl- pine, Silas Armstrong, *James Collins, Theodore F. Garrett, Valen- tine Lucas, Leonard Lake, John McAlpine, Isaiah Walker, Thomas Duncan, Irvin P. Long. * George D. Chrysler, Arthur D. Downs, S. Hance, J. D. Heath, W. P. Holcomb, E. T. Hovey, Joseph Han- ford, *Daniel Killen, Jacob Rexstatter, James McGrew, W. C. Henry, George P. Nelson, William P. Overton, *George Russell, *N. A. Riechenecker, William H. Schofield, *Horatio Waldo, *Hiram Wood, William Walker, *W. P. Winner, E. L. Bucher, Aaron Cory, R. M. Grey, V. J. Lane, *Eli McKee, William Taylor, M. W. Bot- tom, *D. V. Clements, B. F. Mudge, *C. S. Stapleton, John Bolton, *N. B. Newman, J. W. White, Robert Halford, *Henry Frank, *Reu-
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ben Pawn, Ransom Chalk, *James R. Parr, *James Summerville, Samuel Crosby, *Richard Cook, for grand jurors; and Albert S. Cory, S. M. Cox, Michael Collins, Thomas Downs, John D. Freeman, Henry Grey, John Smith, *L. D. Jones, *John Lamb, H. C. Long, Mathew Mudeater, J. H. Mattoon, *Stephen J. Payne, William Rulledge, John Regan, John Snatzer, *Ebenezer O. Kane, John Buckley, *Joseph A. Bartles, *Richard W. Clark, Lemuel Duncan, W. W. Dickinson, Abelard Guthrie, Patrick Gulan, William Long, Isaac Long, *E. A. Moore, William Raffle, Henry Powell, James C. Zane, Ferdinand Arn, Henry Bengard, *S. S. Bradley, G. L. Bowlin, *O. S. Bartlett, *Frank H. Betton, *Henry Booker, *A. Crockett, M. L. Clifford, R. G. Dunning, *William Foley, *G. H. Grindrod, *Jo- seph Grindell, Joseph Gruble, *Philip Hecker, *Henry Kirkbride, Frederick Kramer, Peter Lefler, Henry Kirby, John McMahon, Thomas Maxfield, C. F. Peters, *Samuel Priestly, Samuel Pringle, William Stutton, D. C. Strobridge, C. H. Suydam, *Christopher Schneider, W. E. Thompson, *Augustus Walters, *Augustus Zeitz, *J. C. Clements, Robert Kelly, *L. Lyder, Thomas McIntyre, David Pierson, Alfred Robinson, Cornelius Riordan, H. T. Reed, Elisha Sorter, Morris Sherman, *C. H. N. Moore, W. Shipp, for petit jurors. The following township officers were elected in March, 1862: Wyandotte Township-Byron Judd, trustee; H. W. McNay, P. S. Ferguson, John Kane, constables; Gottard Knieffer, J. M. Barber, overseers of highways. Quindaro Township-E. L. Brown, trustee; Arad Tuttle, justice of the peace; E. O. Lane, J. Leonard, constables; Charles Morasch, J. Leonard, John Freeman, overseers of highways.
Following is the record of the organization of Delaware Township: "At this day, January 4, 1869, J. M. Michael appeared before the board and presented a petition signed by himself and fifty-two other persons, praying that the board set off and organize a new township to be composed of the following described territory: Commencing at the Kansas River at a point where the east line of Township 11, Range 23 east of the sixth principal meridian in Kansas intersects the same; thence north on said line to the second standard parallel; thence west on the said standard parallel to the northwest corner of said Township 11, Range 23; thence south to the Kansas River; thence along said river to the point of beginning. After due consideration thereof the board find that said petition is signed by fifty electors, resident therein, and that the territory proposed by said petition to be organized into a township is a part of the territory now embraced in
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the township of Wyandotte, and that said proposed township contains an area of at least thirty square miles of territory and that the territory so proposed to be organized into a township contains the number of electors and inhabitants required by law. It is therefore ordered by the board, that the territory as above described be and is hereby or- ganized into a township to be known and designated by the name of Delaware Township, and that the first election for town officers in said Delaware Township be held at the Peter Barnett store-room, in Edwardsville, so called, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869. It is further ordered by the board, that J. J. Keplinger, the county clerk of the county, make out a plat of said Delaware Township and place the same on sale in his office, and that he deliver to the proper town- ship officers a certified copy of said plat and record. It is further ordered by the board, that the county clerk make out and transmit to the secretary of State the name and boundary of Delaware Township, and the boundary of Wyandotte Township, as it now remains."
Prairie Township was organized March 8, 1869, upon the follow- ing petition describing its boundaries: "We, the undersigned petition- ers, would respectfully pray your honorable body to establish a new township out of the following territory, to-wit: All that portion of Township No. 10, Range No. 23, in said county, said township to be known as Prairie Township. We would further represent, that the territory described contains an area of at least thirty square miles and has a population of two hundred inhabitants, and would further ask that the first election to be held for township officers be held on the first Tuesday in April, at the Prairie and Connor Precinct." The pe- tition was signed by S. S. Kessler, Henry H. Evarts and sixty-two others. The territory described was formerly embraced in the township of Quindaro. It was ordered that "the first election be held at Con- nor's Station and at the school house near the John Connor place, the place where the fall elections were held in Prairie Precinct, on the first Tuesday in April, A. D. 1869."
Quindaro Township was re-established April 5, 1869, upon a petition then presented to the board praying that the boundary of Quindaro Township be established as follows: "All that portion of Township No. 10, Ranges 24 and 25, in Wyandotte County." This petition was signed by fifty residents and electors of the proposed township. After due consideration the board found that the petition was signed by the number of electors and residents required by law, that the ter- ritory proposed to be erected into a township comprised in part the
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territory then embraced in the township of Wyandotte and all the' territory therefore contained in Quindaro Township after Prairie Township had been organized from its territory, and that the pro- posed township would contain the area required by law and the requi- site population and number of voters; and it was ordered by the board, that the territory, as above described, be organized into a township to be known and designated by the name of Quindaro Township, and that the first election for township officers be held at the usual place of holding elections in Quindaro Precinct and Six-mile Pre- cinet on the first Tuesday in April, 1869.
The record of the establishment of Shawnee Township, also on April 5, 1869, is as follows: "And now, on this day, a petition was presented to the board, signed by John M. Ainsworth and seventy other persons residents of Wyandotte Township and County, south of the Kansas River, praying that all that portion of Wyandotte County lying south of the Kansas River, and not included in the corporate limits of Wyandotte City, be set off and organized into a new town- ship, to be known and designated as Shawnee Township. After due consideration thereof, the board do find that said petition is signed by the number of electors and residents therein required by law, and that the territory proposed by said petition to be erected into a new town- ship is a part of the territory now embraced in the township of Wyan- dotte, and that said proposed township contains the territory requisite to form a township, according to an act of the Legislature of the State of Kansas, approved 1869, and the territory so proposed to be organ- ized into a new township contains the number of electors and inhab- itants required by law. It is, therefore, ordered by the board that the territory above described be and is hereby organized into a town- ship, to be known and designated by the name of Shawnee Township, and that the first election of township officers in said Shawnee Town- ship be held at the junction of the Wyandotte and Shawnee road with the Shawnee and Kansas City road, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869."
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ESENTECO-NES
A PIONEER WINTER SCENE.
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CHAPTER XIII.
COUNTY INTERESTS, COMMERCIAL, POLITICAL, OFFICIAL AND STATIS- TICAL-AN UNPARALLELED RAILWAY SYSTEM-HOW PROJECTED AND DEVELOPED-THE STORY OF EARLY AND LATER RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION-A CELEBRATED MURDER THAT GREW OUT OF PER- SONAL DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN RAILROAD PROJECTORS AND BUILD- ERS-THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE PRESENT-POST-OFFICES IN WYANDOTTE COUNTY -BANKS - PUBLIC BUILDINGS-THE POOR FARM-FAIR ASSOCIATIONS-FIRST ELECTION IN WYANDOTTE COUNTY-FIRST MEETING OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS-THE COUNTY'S CIVIL LIST-STATISTICS OF TAXATION, BONDED INDEBT- EDNESS, AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING- WYANDOTTE COUNTY AS A MANUFACTURING CENTER-POPULA- TION-GENERAL CLAIMS OF PRE-EMINENCE.
My soul aches To know when two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter .- Shakespeare.
ACILITIES for transportation in Wyandotte County are unsurpassed. Railways and water- ways both contribute to it. The following his- tory of the great railway interests centering at the two Kansas Cities has been carefully com- piled, with a view to affording an adequate idea of the far-reaching influence of railroads in creating and building up the material pros- perity of the county. The first mention of railroad interests in the records is as follows:
" To the Board of County Commissioners of Wyan- dotte County, State of Kansas: The Missouri River Railroad Company, a corporation duly chartered and organized under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Kansas, has surveyed and located, and is about to construct and build a railroad from the State line between the States of Missouri and Kansas, at a point within the county of Wyandotte,
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to the city of Leavenworth, in the county of Leavenworth, and a portion of said line of road will pass through the county of Wyan- dotte; and the said company now desire to procure the right of way, and to acquire title to the lands necessary for the construction of the said railroad. Now, therefore, the said company by the undersigned, the president thereof, and in pursuance of the statutes of the State of Kansas in such case made and provided, hereby apply to your honorable body to forthwith proceed to lay off the said road and the lands necessary for the same, its side tracks, turnouts, depots, water stations, etc., as surveyed by the engineer of the said company, and that you at the same time assess and appraise the damages to the owners of the land so to be taken and used for such railroad purposes, to the end that the said railroad company may obtain the possession, right of way and title to the lands necessary for the construction of said railroad." Signed by S. T. Smith, president.
"County commissioners' notice to lay off the route of the Missouri River Railroad in the county of Wyandotte: Pursuant to the applica- tion of S. T. Smith, president of the Missouri River Railroad, made on the 13th day of November, A. D. 1865, the undersigned, the county commissioners of Wyandotte County, will, at 11 o'clock A. M., on the 18th day of December, A. D. 1865, proceed to lay off the route of the said railroad and the lands necessary for the same, its side tracks, its turnouts, depots, water-stations, etc., as surveyed by the engineer of said company, and will at the same time appraise the damages to the owners of the lands so to be taken and used in said county, as pro- vided in the statutes of the State of Kansas in such cases made and provided." Signed by Francis Kessler and Joseph Grindle, chairman and members of the board.
The board of county commissioners caused a notice to be published in the Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, a newspaper published in Wy- andotte County, weekly, more than thirty days before December 26, 1865, and in pursuance of said notice, on the date mentioned, they pro- ceeded to the line of intersection of the route of said Missouri River Railroad with the Eastern division of the Union Pacific Railroad, and proceeded over the whole route of the proposed road to the western boundary of the Wyandotte reserve, and examined each tract and ap- praised and awarded the damages separately to each of the owners of lands through which the route had been surveyed irrespective of any benefit to said owners from the construction of the railroad.
The first survey for a railroad in this county was made from Quin-
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daro to Lawrence, under the charter of the Missouri River & Rocky Mountain Railroad Company. The first grading for a railroad in Kansas was done at Wyandotte on the Kansas Valley Railroad. This was about twenty feet higher than the present road bed of the Kansas Pacific (now the Union Pacific). The Kansas Pacific Railroad was put in operation in 1863, and the first locomotive was called the "Wyandotte." The Missouri River Railroad was put in operation in 1866. The Missouri Pacific Railroad follows the bank of the Missouri River under the bluff, and the principal stations in this county are Wyandotte, Quindaro, Pomeroy, Barker's Tank and Connor. The Union Pacific Railway crosses the Kansas River near Wyandotte, and follows along the north bank of that stream on its course west. The principal stations in this county are Wyandotte, Armstrong and Ed- wardsville. The Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad extends through the county north of the center, with stations at Wy- andotte, Quindaro, Welborn, Summunduwot, Vance, Bethel, White Church, Maywood, Piper Station and Menager Junction. This is the latest railway constructed in the county.
The following is a copy of an invitation sent to Mr. J. V. Lane, now editor of the Wyandotte Herald, to attend the celebration and ex- cursion upon the opening of the first section of forty miles of the Union Pacific Railway west of the Missouri River. The excursion started from Wyandotte, which at that time was the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railway. The letter of invitation was dated from the office of the "Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, St. Louis, July 1, 1864," and read as follows:
"Dear Sir :- The Government of the United States a little more than a year ago, with a wisdom looking far beyond the burdens and anxieties of the hour, provided aid for the construction of a railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Stimulated by its liberality, and by the spirit of American enterprise, the work has been undertaken, and already the first section of forty miles is nearing completion. The opening of this section giving earnest to the people of the country that within the time prescribed by law the great highway will be built to San Francisco, bringing into closer union the States of the Atlantic and the Pacific, and offering to the industrial enterprises of our people the incalculable wealth of a continent, is an event worthy of commemo- ration by the leading men of America. You are respectfully invited to attend the celebration, and will be received by the committee of arrangements at Weston, Missouri, on the 18th day of August next, on
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the arrival of the morning train from the East. Upon the receipt from you of an acceptance of this invitation, addressed to me at 58 Beaver Street, New York, you will be furnished with a free pass to Kansas and return, good over all the principal intermediate roads." It was signed, "Faithfully yours, Samuel Hallett." The invitation card was worded as follows: "The Union Pacific Railway Company, East- ern Division, invite you to be present, as per letter of Mr. Samuel Hallett, to celebrate the opening of the first section of forty miles of their road west from the Missouri River."
Shortly after the date of Mr. Hallett's letter of invitation, and be- fore the date set for the excursion, Mr. Hallett was shot and killed at Wyandotte by O. A. Talcutt. The history of this tragedy is some- what differently related by different narrators, but all agree that it grew out of difficulties about the construction of the road and money matters connected therewith, in which Messrs. Hallett and Talcutt were personally involved over conflicting interests. It is such an im- portant part of the railroad history of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kas., that it is given here as it has been related by contempo- rary witnesses. Hallett was contractor and general manager of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Talcutt was its chief engineer, represent- ing the capitalists. On the morning of July 27, 1864, Talcutt rode into Wyandotte from Quindaro and hitched his pony in front of Hol- comb's drug store on Third Street, two or three doors north of the Garno House. He had with him a Henry rifle, which was something new in those days and caused quite a crowd to assemble around the steps of the drug store. The rifle was handed to Judge Sharp to ex- amine. He saw that it was loaded, and while he was carefully noting the processes of loading and discharging the weapon, Talcutt hur- riedly snatched it from his hands and walked quickly into the store. Wondering what caused these strange movements, Judge Sharp turned around and saw Samuel Hallett coming across the street from his office on Kansas Avenue. Passing the drug store, Mr. Hallett lifted his hat with a pleasant bow and passed on to the Garno House for dinner. An hour afterward as Judge Sharp was coming down from dinner and had reached the crossing of Kansas Avenue and Third Street, he saw Mr. Hallett coming across the street some sixty feet north of the drug store. At that moment Talcutt came out of the store, and standing on the steps with a crowd of men on every side, he lifted his gun and taking deliberate aim at Hallett, fired, the ball striking the latter in the back. Hallett turned half round and look-
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ing back exclaimed: "My God, Talcutt, you have killed me!" and fell forward on his face. He was carried to his rooms in the Garno House, but was dead before he reached there, the ball having passed entirely through his body. Quite a large number were in the streets at the time and many more rushed from the Garno House, from stores and dwellings, but so dumbfounded were they all that before any one rallied from the shock, Talcutt had mounted his pony and dashed away. The utmost excitement prevailed. Sheriff Ferguson ordered out a large force of men and scoured the country in every direction. One party hunted in and around Quindaro, his home, for a week, night and day. Another party took the overland route for Lawrence, while a third hunted the territory where Kansas City, Kas., now stands, then only a heavily timbered bottom, grown up underneath the large timber with underbrush. Dozens of Wyandotte citizens crept among the underbrush day after day, but without any reward. One party found a place west of the town where a man had slept in a hay-stack and had eaten, but the owner of the place claimed to know nothing of such occurrences. Talcutt lived at Quindaro and had boarded with a party by the name of McGee, who afterward had his house burned. Then was found the place where Talcutt had been secreted under the large doorsteps, an entrance having been made from the cellar. It was not until fifteen years later that Talentt was arrested in Colorado and brought back to Wyandotte for trial. Had he been captured im- mediately after the commission of his crime, he would doubtless have been lynched without ceremony; but it is well known that no such tragic fate was dealt out to him in vindication of outraged law. The excite- ment had died away and Samuel Hallett's work and its importance to Kansas City and Wyandotte County had been in a measure lost sight of, for other important improvements had been crowding each other ever since, and railroads had so multiplied as to be no longer a novelty.
There is something in the history of Hallett's career that will be of interest, affecting as it did the future of both Wyandotte and Leaven- worth. Hallett came to Leavenworth in the fall of 1863, and having secured the right of way for a railroad, previously granted under the Territorial government to the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Lawrence Rail- road Company, he proposed to some of the capitalists of Leavenworth, to put a railroad across the country, and received pledges for the un- dertaking. Work was begun at once, and a road was built to what is now known as the "Junction " on the Missouri Pacific, near Leaven- worth. One authority says that, calling for funds, Hallett was given
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