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 31
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Delegates to the Democratic national convention were selected May 26. August 31, another convention met and nominated the following ticket: Governor, E. G. Ross; lieutenant governor, Thomas George; secretary, John M. Giffin ; auditor, J. G. Neu- mueller ; treasurer, Theodore Wichiselbaum; attorney general, A. L. Hereford ; superintendent, Miss Sarah A. Brown. A reso- lution was adopted, opposing the amendment to strike out the constitutional provision exempting two hundred dollars of per- sonal property from taxation, and pledging the party to use every honorable effort to defeat it.
A state ticket was also placed in the field by the Greenback- Labor party. It was made up as follows: Governor, H. B. Vrooman ; lieutenant governor, Il. L. Phillips ; secretary, A. B. Cornell; auditor, D. J. Cole; treasurer, S. A. Marshall ; attorney general, D. B. Hadley ; superintendent, Charles Smith. The plat- form opposed any modification of the tax exemption laws ; con- demned the extravagance of the last legislature; favored the taxation of mortgages, advocated a lower legal rate of interest; and opposed the employment of convict labor in competition with free werkmen.
Interest during the campaign centered upon the adoption or
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rejection of the prohibitory amendment. At the election, the amendment was ratified by a vote of 92,302 to 84,304. Notwith- standing the heated contest over its adoption, the vote on the amendment was more than 20,000 less than that cast for governor, and nearly 25,000 less than the vote for president. For governor the vote was as follows: St. John, 155,204; Ross, 63,557 ; Vroo- man, 19,477 ; seattering, 692. The electoral vote of the state was given to the Republican candidates by a still larger plurality. The propositions to hold a constitutional convention and to repeal the tax exemption clause were lost.
According to the census of 1880 the population of Kansas was 996,096, an increase of 631,697 in ten years. In the state were 346,792 children of school age; 8,208 teachers were employed; and the permanent school fund amounted to nearly two million three hundred thousand dollars.
The second biennial session of the legislature met January II, 1881, and continued until March 5. D. W. Finney was presi- dent of the senate, and J. B. Johnson, speaker of the house. Much of the session was devoted to the discussion and passage of a bill to enforce the provisions of the prohibitory amendment. St. John county was created from part of Wallace, and the state was redistricted for members of the legislature on the basis of forty senators and one hundred and twenty-five representatives. In the first biennial legislature there were one hundred and twenty- nine members of the house-four more than the constitutional limit. It was decided that the representatives from Harper, Bar- ber, Rooks and Rush counties were not entitled to seats, and that acts passed by their votes were not constitutionally enacted. The prohibitory law went into effect on the ist of May. Most of the saloons closed, but there was considerable opposition to the enforcement of the law. Two questions remained to be settled : Whether probate judges could issue licenses, and whether drug- gists had the right to sell liquors. Judge Brewer decided the first in the affirmative, but held that the legislature had the power to restrict the sale by druggists. Governor St. John offered a . reward for the conviction of violators of the law, and a vigor- ous prosecution of liquor sellers all over the state was the result.
On August 10, 1882, the Republican state convention met at Topeka. Governor St. John was nominated for a third term. The lieutenant governor, secretary, attorney general and super- intendent wyre all renominated. E. P. McCabe was named for auditor, Samuel T. Howe for treasurer, and David J. Brewer for supreme judge. The prohibitory law was endorsed; the
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enactment of laws to prevent discrimination by railroads was demanded, and the legislature was requested to submit to the women of the state the question of woman suffrage.
The Greenback-Labor convention was held at Topeka on the 22d of August. Charles Robinson was nominated for governor ; J. G. Bayne, lieutenant governor ; A. P. Elder, secretary ; W. A. Garretson, auditor ; J. II. Ludlow, treasurer ; J. D. McBryan, attorney general; J. S. Whitman, superintendent, and L. C. Uhl, supreme judge.
On the 30th of August the Democratic convention met at Emporia, and nominated the following ticket: Governor, George W. Glick ;* lieutenant governor, Frank Bacon ; secretary, Sam. S. Gilbert; auditor, W. E. Brown; treasurer, Charles E. Gifford; attorney general, Sidney Hayden ; superintendent, D. E. Lantz. A platform containing nineteen resolutions was adopted. The principal planks were demands for a revision of the tariff ; that the relations between capital and labor be so adjusted as to secure to each its just rights ; for an immediate reduction in taxes- national, state and municipal ; for the enactment of more stringent laws for the punishment of bribery; and that gold, silver and greenbacks should constitute the money of the country.
All the Republican candidates except Governor St. John were elected. The vote for governor was as follows: St. John, 75,158; Glick, 83,239; Robinson, 20,933. For secretary of state, Smith received 99,282 votes; Gilbert, 60,471, and Elder, 23,422. St. John's defeat was due to his pronounced views on the prohi- bition question ; his vigorous enforcement of the law, and a gen- eral opposition to the third term.
Under the census of 1880, Kansas was entitled to seven con- gressmen. As the districts had not been apportioned in 1882, three were elected from the old districts and four from the state at large. The third biennial legislature, which was in session from January 9 to March 8, 1883, passed an act dividing the state into districts, as follows:
First-The counties of Nemcha, Brown, Doniphan, Pottawato- mie, Jackson, Atchison, Jefferson and Leavenworth.
Second-The counties of Wyandotte, Johnson, Douglas, Miami, Franklin, Anderson, Linn, Allen, and Bourbon.
Third-The counties of Crawford, Cherokee, Neosho, Labette, Wilson, Montgomery, Elk, Chautauqua, and Cowley.
Fourth - The counties of Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Osage, Lyon,
*John Martin of Shawnee was nominated governor by acclamation but declined to ne- copl. Sabanmondy Mr. Glick was nominated.
A
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Coffey, Woodson, Greenwood, Butler, Chase, Marion, and Morris. Fifth-The counties of Marshall, Washington, Republic, Cloud, Clay, Riley, Ottawa, Saline, Davis, and Dickinson.
Sixth-The counties of Jewell, Mitchell, Lincoln, Ellsworth, Russell, Osborne, Smith, Phillips, Rooks, Ellis, Trego, Graham, Norton, Decatur, Gove, St. John, Thomas, Rawlins, Cheyenne, Sherman, and Wallace.
Seventh-The counties of MePherson, Harvey, Sedgwick, Sumner, Harper, Kingman, Reno, Rice, Barton, Stafford, Pratt, Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Pawnee, Rush, Ness, Hodgeman, Ford, Lane, Scott, Finney, Seward, Wichita, Greeley and Ilam- ilton.
Another important act, passed by this legislature, was that establishing a railroad commission of three members, and fixing a passenger rate of three cents per mile. Preston B. Plumb was re-elected United States senator on the 23d of January. During the session Lieut. Gov. D. W. Finney presided over the senate, . and J. D. Snoddy was speaker of the house. Governor Glick was inducted into office at the beginning of the term.
George W. Glick, eighth governor of Kansas, was born at Greencastle, O., July 4, 1827. At the age of twenty-one, after acquiring such an education as the common schools afforded, he began the study of law with Buckland and Hayes, and was admitted at Cincinnati in 1850. In 1858 he declined a nomi- nation for congress, but ran the same year for state senator, being defeated by his old preceptor, Judge Buckland. The next year he went to Atchison, Kan., where he formed a partnership with A. G. Otis, the firm soon taking a leading position at the bar. In 1863 he was elected to the legislature, and during the next eighteen years was seven times re-elected, serving most of the time on the judiciary committee. Four times he was chosen by his party as a delegate to national conventions. In 1868 he was the Democratic nominee for governor, but was defeated. He was also defeated for re-election in 1884. Hle is widely known as the proprietor of Shannon Hill stock farm, and as a contributor to agricultural journals.
Early in the year the supreme court decided the prohibitory law constitutional. Some demands had been made to the legis- lature to resubmit the amendment. In January a temperance convention met at Topeka and adopted resolutions declaring that the state had neither moral nor legal right to license a wrong; that there should be no attempt on the part of the legislature to resubmit the amendment, that an invitation to co-operate should
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be extended to all lovers of law and order. Some of the cities of the state licensed the sale of liquors. A case of this kind, against the city of Topeka, was taken to the supreme court, and on February 7, 1884, the court decided that Kansas cities could not legally issue such licenses. This had the effect of closing a large number of saloons in such cities. In some of these cities indignation meetings were held, and all over the state "law and order leagues" were organized to secure the enforcement of the law. In some cases prosecution amounted almost, if not quite, to persecution. In six cases of this character Governor Glick pardoned convicted saloon-keepers, and was immediately charged by the radical Prohibitionists with being in sympathy with the violators of the law. In the course of the agitation the Repub- lican party became divided on the issue of resubmission. The Republican state convention, which met at Topeka on the 16th of July, declared in favor of the honest enforcement of the pro- hibitory amendment. At this convention John A. Martin was nominated for governor ; A. P. Riddle, lieutenant governor ; E. B. Allen, secretary ; E. P. MeCabe, anditor ; S. T. Howe, treasurer ; S. B. Bradford, attorney general; J. H. Lawhead, superintend- ent ; A. H. Horton, chief justice, and W. A. Johnston, associate justice.
At a convention of Republicans who favored resubmission, it was decided to co-operate with the Democrats on state issues, provided a resubmission Republican was placed on the ticket. The result was that when the Democratic convention met, August 30. C. K. Holliday was nominated for lieutenant governor, Gov- ernor Glick was renominated, and the rest of the ticket was as follows: Secretary, Eugene Hagan; auditor, H. V. Gavigan; treasurer, W. A. Huliman ; attorney general, George T. Smith; superintendent, W. J. Keyes; chief justice, W. A. Campbell; associate, T. A. Hurd.
Again the Republicans carried the state. The vote for presi- dential electors stood: Republican, 15-1,106; Democratic, 90, 132; Greenback, 16,341; Prohibition, 4,495. Martin's plurality over Glick was 88,535. The Republicans also elected the entire con- gressional delegation and a majority of each branch of the legis- lature.
March 18, 188j, a special session of the legislature to pass measures for the protection of the cattle interests of the state, was convened. In his proclamation calling the legislature togenes, Governor Glick announced that 2,000,000 cattle were in danger of what was called the "foot and mouth disease." Laws
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
placing a quarantine upon Texas cattle and providing for the appointment of a state veterinary surgeon were passed.
Kansas was well represented at the New Orleans Exposition in the winter of 1884-85, taking altogether sixty-five prizes. First prizes were awarded on cattle, corn, wheat, flour, sorghum, sugar and apples.
The fourth biennial legislature with A. P. Riddle presiding in the senate and J. B. Johnson speaker of the house met January 13, 1885, and adjourned on the 7th of March. The principal acts of the session were those authorizing boards of education in certain cities to issue bonds; compelling railroads to fence their lines; and establishing a board of pardons, boards of health, a bureau of labor statistics, a state reformatory for young criminals, an imbecile asylum at Winfield, and a soldiers' orphans' home at Atchison. Governor Martin's administration began at the commencement of the session.
John Alexander Martin, ninth governor of Kansas, was born at Brownsville, Pa., March 10, 1839. In 1857, with a com- mon school education and the printer's trade as his capital, he arrived at Atchison, Kan., and found employment on the Squatter Sovereign. Later, he bought the paper, changed the name to Freedom's Champion, and continued to hold an interest in it until his death. He was secretary of the Wyandotte consti- tutional convention, and represented Atchison county in the first state senate. In 1861 he helped to organize the Eighth Kansas infantry, was mastered in as lientenant-colonel, and rose to be colonel of the regiment. He served two terms as governor of Kansas; was several time a delegate to national conventions of his party; was a member of the Centennial Commission; was department commander of the G. A. R .; served as mayor and as postmaster of Atchison; and was distinguished throughout the West as a statesman and journalist. He died at Atchison, October 2, 1889, and was buried with civic and military honors.
In June, 1884, congress passed an act providing for a Soldiers' home somewhere in the West. Leavenworth offered to donate a section of land and fifty thousand dollars in money to secure the institution. The proposition was accepted by congress, and an act locating the Ilome upon the land donated by the city and people of Leavenworth was passed February 23, 1885. Work upon the buildings was begin in the fall of 1885. The Home is situated about three miles south of the city, and now has accommodations for nearly 3,000 imates.
A state census taken in 1885 showed the population to be
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1,268,562. At the beginning of the year the value of the state's institutions was reported as follows : State Capitol (still incom- plete), one million six hundred thousand dollars ; Isane hospital at Topeka, five hundred ninety-six thousand dollars; Insane hos- pital at Osawatomie, three hundred fifty-seven thousand dollars; Deaf and Dumb institute at Olathe, one hundred five thousand dollars; Blind asylum at Wyandotte, seventy-five thousand dol- lars; State Reform school at Topeka, eighty-six thousand dol- lars; Soldiers' Orphans' home at Atchison, forty-nine thousand dollars ; Home for Feeble-minded at Winfield, twenty-seven thou- sand five hundred dollars ; State university at Lawrence, three hun- dred fifty-one thousand three hundred dollars; Agricultural col- lege at Manhattan, two hundred thirteen thousand, seven hundred twenty-eight dollars; Normal school at Emporia, sixty-eight thousand four hundred dollars; Penitentiary at Leavenworth, one million three hundred ninety-one thousand ninety dollars; Industrial reformatory at Hutchinson, one hundred sixty thou- sand dollars ; making a total of five million eighty thousand and eighteen dollars. These institutions occupied 2, 186 acres of land. The coal output for the year was about 35,000,000 bushels, and more than 6,000 miles of railroad were in operation.
Early in the year a county seat war occurred in Pratt county. An election had been held in October, 1885, and on the 9th of January, 1886, the commissioners ordered the county officers to remove from Inka to Pratt Center, the former town having received 507 and the latter 928 votes. In reaching this result the commissioners, on account of fraud, had thrown out the returns from Saratoga, giving fuka 530 votes and Pratt Center 7. This act incensed the Saratoga people, and, while the removal was in progress, they captured the treasurer's safe and kept it. Both factions were soon in arms. The town of Pratt was fired into, January 27, and several houses were pierced by bullets. A party from Saratoga made an attempt to enter the town the next day ; but this time the people of Pratt were on the lookout, and two Saratoga men were wounded. Meantime the old court- house at Iuka was burned. Adjutant-General Campbell and Col. W. E. Hutchinson, of the governor's staff, were sent to settle the difficulty. They stationed guards at Pratt and Saratoga, with instructions to allow no one bearing arms to enter the towns. On the 8th of February the records, etc., were taken back to Iuka, under a wut from the supreme court, and peace was restored.
In March the Knights of Labor employed on the Missouri Pacific railway went out on a strike, with the town of Parsons as
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EVENTS IN KANSAS FROM 1869 TO 1889.
the center of the disturbance. On the 14th the sheriff of Labette county telegraphed that he was unable to control the situation, and Governor Martin dispatched the adjutant-general to the scene, with instructions to call out the militia if he thought it necessary. At first the adjutant-general decided that troops were not needed. This encouraged the strikers, and the situation grew worse. Injunctions of the courts and a proclamation of Governor Martin were ignored. As a last resort Colonel Patrick was ordered to Parsons with the First regiment of the national guard. The troops arrived at Parsons on the morning of April 2. Four companies were dismissed on the 12th, and the remainder of the regiment, on the 14th. Leaders of the strike were arrested, tried and convicted of misdemeanors.
On July 7, the Republicans met in convention, at Topeka. The governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary, attorney-general, superintendent of pubhe instruction, and Judge D. M. Valentine, were all re-nominated. The ticket was completed by the selection .
of Timothy MeCarthy for auditor and James W. Hamilton for treasurer.
The convention adopted resolutions favoring a protective tariff, recommending the establishment of a commercial marine, and denouncing the Democratic party for disfranchising negro voters in the South.
The Democrats held their convention at Leavenworth, August 4, and nominated the following ticket : Governor, Thomas Moon- light ; lieutenant-governor, S. G. Isett ; secretary, W. F. Petillon ; auditor, W. D. Kelley (colored) ; treasurer, I. P. Birchfield; attorney-general, A. S. Devenney; superintendent, W. J. A. Montgomery ; associate justice, W. M. Whitelaw. The principal features of the platform were declarations in favor of arbitration in labor disputes, of laws to prevent railroad companies from watering stocks, of a revision of the peision laws, of the forfeiture of uncarned land grants, of the re-submission of the prohibitory amendment, of a license system, and of the opening of Oklahoma to white settlement.
C. H. Branscomb was the Prohibition candidate for governor, and at the election in November received 8,094 votes. Martin received 149,615 votes and Moonlight, 115,697. Seven Republi- can congressmen were elected.
A special session of the legislature was convened, Jannary 19, 1886, and adjourned February 20. Few laws of general import- ance were shaded. A new legislative apportionment was made; the state normal school was endowed; May 30 was declared a
1
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legal holiday ; and an act authorizing the establishment of county high schools was passed. The fifth regular biennial session began January 11, 1887, and ended March 5. At this session the lien- tenant-governor presided over the senate, and A. W. Smith was elected speaker. The senate occupied the new senate chamber which had but recently been completed in the capitol. Several new counties were established; the office of state forester was created ; provision was made for payment of losses sustained by citizens of Kansas through guerrilla raids during the war; and a new liquor law to regulate the sale of intoxicants by druggists was passed. Under this law every purchaser was required to make affidavit, on a form furnished by the county clerk, that the liquor was to be used for medicinal purposes, and the druggist's report was required to tally with the clerk's record. A bill giving women the right to vote at school and municipal elections and upon the question of bond issues was also passed.
On June 2, 1887, an election to locate a county seat was held in Stevens county. Woodsdale and Hugoton were rival towns, and feeling ran high during the canvass. Some delay in count- ing the vote occurred. About four hundred men in the two towns were under arms four days after the election. Sheriff John Cross, in trying the keep the peace, was not permitted to enter the town of Hugoton. He telegraphed Governor Mar- tin, whereupon Gen. Murray Myers was sent with two compa- nies of militia to maintain order. Meantime, the supreme court was applied to for a writ of mandamus to compel the commis- sioners to count the vote. The writ was issued June 23, the vote was counted, and the trouble seemed to be ended. While the canvass was on, a warrant had been placed in the hands of "Ed" Short, of Woodsdale, for the arrest of Sam Robinson, the marshal of Hugoton. This warrant was still held by Short after the election. July 22, he made an effort to serve it by following Robinson and some of his friends into what was known as "No-Man's Land." Finding himself unable to make the arrest with the assistance he had at hand, Short sent for Sheriff Cross and a posse to help him. News of this reaching Hugoton, a party was sent from that town to the support of Robinson, who managed to elude the sheriff and join the friends sent to his aid. Unable to find Robinson, Cross and his party started to return to Woodsdale, but stopped at a haying camp to rest. While they were asleep upon the hay, Robinson and his party came up and opened fire without a word of warning. Four men, one of whom was Sheriff Cross, were instantly killed, and another
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was wounded .* Both towns were immediately in arms. Angust 5, the Fifth regiment under Colonel Woodcock was sent to Hugo- ton. The next day two companies were sent to Woodsdale, both towns were searched for arms, and about two hundred guns and pistols were taken. The belligerents finally cooled down, and the troops were withdrawn. Several county seat contests occurred in the state during the eighties, but the "Stevens County War" was the worst.
Six hundred delegates met at Abilene in April, 1888, to organ- ize a movement to remove the capital to some point farther west. Resolutions were adopted, opposing any further appropriations for the state house at Topeka, pledging the delegates to that end, and asking the co-operation of the people of central and western Kansas. The cost of the capitol up to that time amounted to one million four hundred forty-nine thousand dollars.
On July 4, the Democrats met in state convention at Leaven- worth. John Martin was nominated for governor ; H. M. Moore, lieutenant governort ; Allen G. Thurman, secretary ; W. H. Will- hert, auditor ; William H. White, treasurer; I. F. Differbaker, attorney general; A. N. Cole, superintendent, and W. P. Camp- bell, associate justice. Approval was given to the platform and candidates of the national convention ; sumptuary legislation was opposed ; the metropolitan police system was denounced; and tariff reform was demanded.
This year the Prohibitionists placed a full ticket in the field. Their convention met at Hutchinson, July 18, and nominated candidates as follows: Governor, J. D. Botkin ; lieutenant gov- ernor, R. J. Freeley ; secretary, L. K. Melntyre : auditor, Gabriel Burdett ; attorney general, S. A. Hyer ; superintendent, Miss S. A. Brown; associate justice, J. O. Pickering. Besides the usual declarations on the liquor traffic, the resolutions favored gov- ernment ownership of railroads and telegraphs; the election of president, vice president, and United States senators by popular vote, and opposed alien land ownership.
The Republican convention was held at Topeka July 26, and the following ticket was named: Governor, Lyman U. Hum- phrey ; lieutenant governor, A. J. Felt ; secretary, William Hig- gins ; auditor, Timothy Mccarthy ; treasurer, J. W. Hamilton ; attorney general, F .. B. Kellogg ; superintendent, G. W. Winans ; associate justice, W. A. Johnston. The platform declared in
*It was said afterward that Robinson did most of the shooting ; but there were four- toon men in the party, and the chances are that all were oqually guilty.
fF. W. Frasius was afterward substituted for Mooro.
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favor of "home against the saloon"; demanded a strict enforce- ment of the prohibitory laws; and advocated the enactment of laws to protect American workmen against Chinese, convict and pauper labor. The prohibition of trusts and the reduction of interest to six per cent were demanded.
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