USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 30
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*Hy the consus of 1370 Kansas beento entitled to three representativos in congress, but the state was not divided into districts until 1871.
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
John Walruff for lieutenant governor ; W. R. Laughlin and S. A. Riggs for congressmen; J. F. Waskey for secretary of state; B. P. Wagner for attorney-general, and H. C. McComas for supreme judge. The platforms of all the conventions were confined chiefly to a reiteration and endorsement of the principles laid down by the national councils.
An unusually heavy vote was polled at the election, November 5, more than 100,000 being cast for president. Of this vote Grant received 66.942, Greeley, 32,970, and O'Connor, 156. For governor Osborn's vote was 66,715, and Walker's 34,608. All the Republican candidates were elected.
Examination of witnesses in the senatorial bribery cases began early in January, 1873, at Washington, pursuant to a resolution adopted by the United States senate in May of the preceding year. The final report of the committee was to the effect that "Alex- ander Caldwell was not duly and legally elected to a seat in the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of the State of . Kansas." This report was made on the 17th of February, and on the 24th of March Senator Caldwell resigned.
Part of the business of the Kansas legislature of 1873 was to elect a United States senator for the term beginning on the 4th of March. Strennons opposition to the re-election of S. C. Pomeroy was made manifest on the opening day of the session, January 14, and continued until the final vote was taken. When the two houses met in joint session, on the 29th, Col. A. M. York, the senator from Montgomery county, made a speech, in which he told of a private meeting with Senator Pomeroy, and said : "At that interview my vote was bargained for, for a considera- tion of eight thousand dollars, two thousand dollars of which were paid me on that evening, five thousand dollars the next afternoon, and a promise of the additional one thousand when my vote had been cast in his favor. I now, in the presence of this honorable body, hand over the amount of seven thousand dollars just as I received it, and ask that it be counted by the secretary. .
. . I demand, Mr. President and gentlemen, that the actions of Samuel C. Pomeroy in this contest be thoroughly examined, and that the corruption money that lies upon the table be the instrument of retribution in prosecuting that investigation."
The effect was electrical. In the ballot which was taken imme- diately after Senator York's speech, John J. Ingalls received 115 votes; D. P. Howe, 6; Sidney Clarke, 2; A. M. York, 2; Charles Robinson, 1, and S. A. Kingman, 1.
The same day Senator Pomeroy was arrested on a charge of
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bribery and placed under twenty thousand dollar bonds. The case was several times postponed and was finally dismissed. A committee of investigation was appointed by the United States senate, and a majority report of this committee exonerated Senator Pomeroy of guilt, declaring that he was the victim of a plot to secure his defeat. Ile served till the close of liis term (March 4, 1873) after which he retired to private life.
The legislature of 1873 enacted laws authorizing the incorpo- ration of savings and trust companies, creating a number of new counties, providing for a constitutional amendment to increase the number of members of the legislature, and exempting mortgages from taxation. During the term E. S. Stover was president of the senate and Josiah Kellogg speaker of the house. The session ended on the 7th of March. Governor Osborn succeeded Governor Harvey at the beginning of the term.
Thomas Andrew Osborn, the fifth governor of the state of Kansas, was born at Meadville, Pa., October 26, 1836. After securing such an education as he could in the common schools, he started in to learn the printer's trade. While working as a compositor ; he saved enough money to attend Allegheny college, but did not graduate. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and the following year located in Michigan. He remained but a few months in Michigan, when he went to Kansas and at first found employment as a compositor on the Herald of Free- dom at Lawrence. The next year he located at Elwood and began the practice of law, soon winning a high reputation as an able and conscientious attorney. In 1859 he was elected to the state senate from Doniphan county. Ile was re-elected, and in 1862 was nominated and elected lieutenant-governor. In 1864 he was appointed United States marshal for the state of Kansas by President Lincoln. Beginning in 1873 he served two terms as governor, and in 1877 was appointed minister to Chili by Pres- ident Ilayes. Later, he was transferred to the Brazilian mission. He returned to Kansas in 1886, and took up his residence at Topeka. He died at Meadville, Pa., February 4, 1898.
To fill the vacancy in the United States senate, caused by the resignation of Alexander Caldwell, Governor Osborn, on the zend of November, appointed Robert Crozier to serve until the legisla- ture convened. The fourteenth legislature met on the 13th of January, 1874. Balloting for senator was begun January 27, and continued day by day until February 3, when ex-Governor Harvey was elected. At this session E. S. Stover presided over the senate, and B. 11. MeEckron was speaker. Perhaps the most
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important act passed was that dividing the state into three con- gressional districts, The first district was composed of the counties of Leavenworth, Doniphan, Brown, Nemeha, Marshall, Washington. Republic, Jewell, Smith, Phillips, Norton, Graham, Rooks, Osborne, Mitchell, Cloud, Clay, Ottawa, Lincoln, Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson, Jefferson, Atchison, Davis, and all that portion of the state lying north of the fifth standard parallel. The second district embraced the counties of Montgomery, . Labette, Cherokee, Crawford, Neosho, Bourbon, Allen, Anderson, Linn, Miami, Franklin, Johnson, Douglas and Wyandotte. All the rest of the state was included in the third district.
August 5, the Independent Reform party, made up of all those opposed to the Republicans, met in convention at Topeka and nominated J. C. Cusey for governor; Eldred Harrington, lieu- tenant-governor; Nelson Abbott, secretary; George P. Smith, auditor ; Charles F. Koester, treasurer ; J. R. Hallowell, attorney- general ; II. B. Norton, superintendent, and William P. Douthitt, . supreme judge. The platform denounced the waste and extrava- gance of the administration ; demanded the repeal of the national banking law; asked that railroads be made subservient to the public good; and advocated that the president, vice-president and United States senators be elected by popular vote.
The Republican convention which met at Topeka, August 26. renominated Governor Osborn, Auditor Wilder and Judge Valen- tine. M. J. Salter was named for lieutenant-governor; T. H. Cavanaugh, secretary of state; Samuel Lappin, treasurer; A. M. F. Randolph, attorney-general, and John Fraser, superintendent of public instruction. Laws to protect the people from extortion- ate charges by railroads, and to reduce the number of officials as a matter of economy were demanded. On national issues the convention declared in favor of a revision of the patent laws and in opposition to a third presidential term.
A state Temperance convention met at Leavenworth in Septem- ber and nominated a ticket headed by W. K. Marshall for gov- ernor. This was the first campaign in which the temperance people had a ticket of their own in the field. The Republican ticket was elected by pluralities ranging from 13,000 to 20,000.
Early in the spring of 1874, the Indians in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the state began to display signs of hostility. They grew sullen and threatening and commenced petty thieving, running off live stock, etc. In April a party of Cheyennes belonging to Little Robe's band ran off 50 cattle, 18 horses and 2 mules, near Sun City in Barber county. Captain
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Tupper with a detachment of the Sixth cavalry went in pursuit. On the 11th the Indians were overtaken. A skirmish ensued in which Little Robe's son was killed, and the stolen stock was recovered. This incident did not improve the temper of the Indians, and the depredations continued. June 16, the savages raided the little town of Kiowa, in Barber county, and ran off five horses. The same day another party murdered a man named Warren near Fort Dodge, in Ford county. On the 17th three men, John, Martin and Elijah Kennedy, two and a half miles southwest, and Isaac Keim about three miles west, of Medicine Lodge, were killed. A few days later a fourteen year old boy was killed near Smallwood in Comanche county. All those killed were scalped, and some of the bodies were shockingly mutilated. The alarm became general. Hundreds of people living in the counties south of the Big Bend deserted their farms and homes, and sought safety in flight. Some got together and built stockades at Medicine Lodge, Kiowa, Sun City, and other places, for their mutual protection.
The only arms in the possession of the state militia were the old-fashioned, muzzle-loading, Springfield guns, while the Indians were supplied with modern breech-loading rifles. At the request of Governor Osborn, five hundred Sharp's rifles and fifty thousand cartridges were sent by the war department from the arsenal at Rock Island, Ill. As soon as these arms were received, the adjutant-general went in person to the southwestern part of the state to superintend their distribution to the newly organized military companies there. On the 7th of August Capt. A. M. Ricker, while out scouting with twenty-three of his company and when about fifteen miles northeast of Medicine Lodge, saw a party of Osages. Concealing his men in a ravine, the captain exposed himself for the purpose of learning the intentions of the Indians. The Osages, led by Broke Arm's son, came on with rifles and revolvers cocked. When they were within easy range, Captain Ricker gave the order to fire. Four Indians fell dead, and several were wounded. The rest turned and fled. Broke Arm's son was among the killed. About two weeks later Indian agent, Stubbs, at Arkansas City, reported that the Osages were prepar- ing for a general outbreak. Governor Osborn imparted this information to the president and asked for two thousand carbines and one hundred thousand cartridges for the use of the militia, the anan and amnamition to be charged to the state of Kansas. This request was denied, the war department claiming that the state was already in debt for arms furnished during the Price
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
raid. The president promised that the general government would protect the state from invasion by the Indians. The refusal called forth a letter from Governor Osborn, in which he raised the question of the state's liability for arms furnished the militia while in the service of the United States. He repeated his application for arms and ammunition and in closing said : "This State has already expended, since her admission into the Union, more than three hundred thousand dollars in protecting her citizens against hostile Indians, whose good conduct was guaranteed by the Government ; and whatever may be the decision on this application for arms, we will endeavor to protect the lives and property of our citizens, at whatever cost."
The independent tone of this letter had the desired effect. Secretary Belknap ordered 2,000 carbines, and 100,000 cartridges sent to Kansas. Christmas came before the depredations entirely ceased. Then Governor Osborn notified the president that some of the Indians were preparing to leave their reservations, osten-, sibly to hunt, and that collisions were liable to occur. Following the governor's letter, orders were issud by the bureau of Indian affairs that any Indian found off the reservation without a written permit from the agent or superintendent would be consid- ered hostile and treated accordingly. This put an end to the raids.
A special session of the legislature to provide relief for the settlers of the western counties whose crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers, was convened on the fifteenth of September. In his message Governor Osborn reported 1,500 families in desti- tute circumstances; in seventeen counties out of 158,000 acres under cultivation, not a bushel of corn was harvested. Acts providing for an issue of seventy-three thousand dollars in state bonds,* and authorizing counties to issue special relief bonds, were passed. An appeal to the people for charitable aid was also made. The session lasted only one week.
The fifteenth regular session of the legislature, with the lieu- tenant-governor president of the senate and E. H, Funston speaker of the house, met January 12, 1875. An appropriation of five thousand dollars to pay freight on supplies for the sufferers of western Kansas, was made to the State Grange committee, and sixteen thousand dollars for the relief of those whose crops had been destroyed by drouth and grasshoppers the year before, was voted. A porinal school was established at Concordia ; an insane
*Only $7, 500 of these bonds woro actually isaned.
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asylum, at Topeka; and a vote was ordered on a constitutional amendment providing for biennial sessions of the legislature.
In December, 1875, the commissioners of the permanent school fund reported the discovery of about eighteen thousand dollars in forged bonds on school districts, and further reported that the treasurer, Samuel Lappin, had paid out money on these bonds without proper identification of the parties to whom the funds were paid. Governor Osborn asked the treasurer to resign. He did so, and a few days later the governor ordered the attorney- general to bring suit against him and his bondsmen to recover the amount. Lappin was arrested and gave bail, but forfeited ' his bond and attempted to leave the country. He was again apprehended and brought back to Topeka, where he was sur- rendered by his bondsmen and lodged in jail. In July, 1876, he broke jail and went to South America. Some years later he returned, whereupon he was again arrested, but as his property, as well as that of Charles G. Scrafford who was implicated with him, had been sold, and the state thus had been indemnified, he was never prosecuted.
An act empowering the governor to appoint five persons as state centennial managers for Kansas was passed by the legisla- ture of 1874. The legislature of 1875 made an appropriation of five thousand dollars for expenses. John A. Martin and George A. Crawford were appointed national commissioners. An addi- tional appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars was made in 1876, and the board of managers was increased to nine members and given authority to erect a building in Fairmount Park, Phil- adelphia, for the Kansas exhibit. Several awards, one being a medal for the best collective exhibit on the grounds, were given to the state.
Besides the appropriation to the Centennial Exposition, the legislature of 1876 passed acts apportioning the state for 40 sen- ators and 123 representatives and submitting two amendments to the constitution. During the session from January II to March 4, D. C. Haskell was speaker of the house and M. J. Salter, president of the senate.
Conventions were held by all political parties, early in the season, to select delegates to the national conventions. The Republicans declared for James G. Blaine, and the Democrats, for 'Thomas A. Hendricks, as first choice for presidential candi- dates A second Republican convention was held at the capital on the 16th of August, and the following state ticket was named; Governor, George 'T. Anthony ; lientenant-governor, M. J. Salter;
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
secretary, T. H. Cavanaugh ; auditor, P. I. Bonebrake; treasurer, Jolm Francis; attorney-general, Willard Davis; superintendent of public instruction, Allen B. Lemmon ; supreme judge, David J. Brewer.
The Democrats nominated Jolin Martin for governor, and the Greenbackers nominated J. K. Hudson. The rest of the ticket was made up by a coalition of the two parties. A Prohibition ticket with John Paulson as the gubernatorial candidate, was also placed in the field. At the election, which occurred on the 7th of November, 124,057 votes were cast for president. Of these 78,522, were Republican ; 37,902, Democratic; 7,770,. Greenback; and 133, scattering. For governor the vote was as follows : Anthony 69,073, Martin 46,204, Hudson 6,020, Paulson 393, scattering 37. Two amendments to the state constitution were ratified. One related to the state's revenues, and the other to the terms of county officers.
George T. Anthony, the sixth governor of the state, was born at Mayfield, Fulton county, N. Y., June 9, 1824. At the. age of eighteen he commenced to learn the trade of tin and coppersmith at Union Springs, N. Y., and afterward spent five years in that occupation. In 1850 he embarked in the stove, tin and hardware business at Medina, N. Y. During the next ten years, he was successively engaged as a manufacturer of agricultural implements and as a commission merchant in New York City. At the breaking out of the Civil war, he was appointed a recruiting officer by Governor Morgan, of New York, and assisted in raising and equipping several regiments of vol- unteers. As editor first of the Daily Bulletin, and later of the Kansas Farmer, he located at Leavenworth in 1865. Between the years 1867 and 1876 he served as assessor, collector of inter- nal revenne, member of the state board of agriculture, and mem- ber of the board of centennial managers. After retiring from the office of governor, he served the state as railroad commis- sioner and as superintendent of insurance. He died August 5. 1890.
The legislature of 1877 met on the 9th of January and remained in session until the 7th of March. Sixteen ballots for United States senator to succeed J. M. Harvey were taken, the choice finally falling upon Preston B. Plumb, on the last day of Janu- ary. Senator Phunb was born in Delaware county, ()., in 1837. At the age of twelve years he entered a printing office, and from that time became identified with the profession of journal. ism. His first experience as an editor was in 1853, on the Xenia.
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News. He came to Kansas in 1856 and took a position as fore- man on the Herald of Freedom, at Lawrence. The next year he was one of five to found the town of Emporia and establish the Emporia News. He was recognized as a leader among the free- state men, and served as colonel of a Kansas regiment in the Civil war. Ilis termin as senator began March 4, 1877. He was twice re-elected, and died at Washington, D. C., December 20, 1801.
In July, 1877, Lieutenant Governor Salter resigned to accept a position in the land office at Independence, and at the Novem- ber election L. U. Humphrey was elected to fill the vacancy. At the same election Albert H. Horton, Republican, was elected chief justice of the supreme court.
Three tickets were in the field in the campaign of 1878. The Republicans took the initiative by holding a convention at Topeka, Angust 28, and nominating John P. St. John for governor ; L. U. Humphrey, lieutenant governor; James Smith, secretary; P. I. Bonebrake, auditor; John Francis, treasurer; Willard Davis, attorney general ; A. B. Lemmon, superintendent ; Albert H. Hor- ton, chief justice. The platform reiterated the well-known party tenets, declared in favor of a double coin standard and of placing the coinage of gold and silver on an equality, and insisted that the investment of capital in the state ought to be encouraged by wise and liberal legislation.
September 4, the Democratic convention met at Leavenworth, and nominated the following ticket: Governor, John R. Godin; lieutenant governor, George Ummethum; secretary, G. W. Bar- ton ; anditor, Osbun Shannon; treasurer, C. C. Black; attorney general. J. T. Cox; superintendent, O. F. McKain; chief jus- tice, R. M. Ruggles. The platform denounced the induction of President Hayes into office as a crime ; opposed any increase in the standing army ; declared in favor of an issue of paper money "in sufficient volume for the convenient transaction of business at all times ;" the repeal of the resumption act; the remonetiza- tion of silver, and a tariff for revente only.
The Greenback or National ticket was made up of D. P. Mitchell for governor; Alfred Taylor, lieutenant governor ; T. P. Leach, secretary ; A. B. Cornell, auditor ; A. G. Wolcott, treasurer; Frank Doster, attorney general ; J. P. Foot, superintendent ; HI. P. Vrooman, chief justice.
The election, November 5. resulted in a sweeping victory for the Republicans. St. John received 7.4020 votes, Godin, 37.208; Mitchell, 27,057. All three of the congressmen elected were
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Republicans. That party had 124 out of 169 members of the legislature. This legislature, the first biennial one under the amendment of 1875, met Jannary 14, 1879, with L. U. Ilum- phrey president of the senate and Sidney Clarke speaker. John J. Ingalls was re-elected to the United States senate on the last day of January. This assembly passed acts dissolving the organ- ization of Wallace county ; providing for a state reform school for boys, near Topeka, and for rebuilding the normal school at Emporia, destroyed by fire in 1878; regulating the selection of text books in the public schools; submitting propositions to amend the constitution by providing for the prohibition of the liquor traffic, striking out the clause exempting two hundred dol- lars of personal property from taxation ; and providing also for a constitutional convention. At the beginning of the term Gov- ernor St. John was inaugurated.
John Pierce St. John, seventh governor of Kansas, was born at Brookville, Ind., February 25, 1833. At the age of twenty he crossed the plains to California, where he worked at any employment he could find. Later, he made a voyage to Mexico, Central and South America, and the Sandwich Islands. Return- ing to California, he began the study of law, which he completed at Charleston, Ill., in 1859, and was admitted to the bar. His first vote was cast for Fremont in 1856. From that time until 1884, he was a Republican. At the beginning of the Civil war, he enlisted as captain of Company C, Twenty-eighth Illinois infantry, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war he located at Olathe, Kan., where he formed a partnership with M. V. B. Parker for the practice of law. His first appearance in Kansas public life was in 1873, as a member of the state senate. He served two terms as governor, and was defeated for a third election in 1882. In 1884 he left the Repub- lican party, and was the Prohibition candidate for president. It is said that, in his political career, he has traveled 300,000 miles and made more than 4,000 speeches.
In February, the Cheyenne chief Wild Hog and six other Indians, charged with inciting the tribe to hostilities in the fall of 1878 and with the murder of forty white settlers, in the neigh- borhood of Fort Dodge, were delivered up to the authorities. They were tried, but for lack of evidence were not convicted.
A convention of negroes, at Nashville, Tenn., on the 7th of May, advised emigration to the Western states, and during the year about 10,000 of the race, many of them absolutely peni-
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less, landed in Kansas. The "Exodusters," as they were called, were chiefly from Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. An association, with Governor St. John at the head, aided them by charity, until they could become self-sustaining. Many of them took farms under the homestead law. These were held by the women, while the men walked to the more densely populated districts in search of work. The "Exodus" soon became a sub- ject of general comment, and a committee of congress was appointed to investigate it. The "Exodusters," however, pur- sued the "even tenor of their way," and in time came to be recog- nized as part of the population of Kansas.
Two conventions were held by the Republicans in 1880. The first, on the 31st of March, selected delegates to the national con- vention and indorsed James G. Blaine for president. The second convention met at Topeka, September 1, and renominated the offi- cers elected in 1878, except three, viz: D. W. Finney for lieu- tenant governor ; William A. Johnston, attorney general, and H. C. Speer, superintendent of public instruction. D. M. Val- entine was named for supreme judge. Endorsement was given to the nomination of Garfield and Arthur and to the national Republican platform, and the country was congratulated on the prosperity following the resumption of specie payment.
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