USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. I > Part 21
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SALOONS IN 1875
We note in an issue of the Joplin Mining News, published during the summer of 1875, that the city had seventy-five saloons open both day and night and in most of them a full orchestra giving free concerts every evening, with matinees Wednesday and Sunday afternoons. The fol- lowing are the names of some of the popular bars: Healthwood bar, Board of Trade, and the Steam Boat saloons, the Golden Gate, Miners' Drift. Bullock & Boncher's. the Bon Ton, the Palace, and the Briek Hotel bar.
One of the popular places was Blackwells bar, and there something
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new and exciting was always being pulled off. In November, 1876, Mr. Blackwell arranged for the entertainment of his patrons, a fight be- tween a Cinnamon bear which was brought up from the hills of Arkansas and six blooded bull-dogs. One thousand two hundred people witnessed the fight which was won by the bear.
SCHIFFERDICKER'S GARDEN
On March 7, 1876, Schifferdicker's Garden, a popular picnic ground and pleasure resort was opened with a large attendance. The garden was located on Turkey creek about a quarter of a mile east of Castle Roek and was a most attractive natural wild. Joplin celebrated the Fourth there in 1876.
The population of Joplin, based on the census of the three school districts taken in June, 1876, was 10,375, and it is probable that during
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SCHIFFERDICKER'S GARDEN IN 1876
the summer of that year the place was at the height of its early-day prosperity.
Excepting in East Joplin and West Joplin from First to Sixth streets, where the houses were built with some regularity, the majority of the houses were built in the Creek valley and around the mining activities at Lone Elm, Swindle hill and what is now North Heights, and all during the period mentioned houses were going up at the rate of fifty a week.
The author remembers walking over Lone El one Sunday in the early part of August, 1876, and noting the activities of the day. Re- turning to that portion of the town, the following Sunday, he counted with his father one hundred new houses that had been built during the week. It must be kept in mind that the small box-house of that day did not require as much time to erect as the cottage and bungalow of today.
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The Joplin Daily News of August 1, 1876, says that "there are now one thousand mines in the Joplin Distriet being operated, and houses are being built at the rate of fifty a day. The weekly pay-roll for miners, smelters, teamsters, mechanies, etc., aggregates forty thousand dollars per week."
THE LUPTON RIOT
During the month of May, 1874, Police Judge Jacob Hogle filed a charge with the city council, accusing the city marshal, J. W. Lupton, with malfeasance in office, setting up in his complaint that the marshal had arrested certain people who had not been brought before the judge for trial, and had collected from them money in the way of costs which had not been accounted for. The people referred to were gamblers and women of ill-repute. Mr. Lupton denied the charge. The council, sit. ting as a court, removed him from office and appointed W. B. McCraeken as marshal in his stead. Mr. Lupton denied the right of the council to try the case and refused to vacate the office.
Mr. McCraeken, who had been appointed by the council to act as marshal, with a view of taking possession of the city jail, went to the holdover and began trying to pick the lock. Mr. Lupton, who happened along about that time, asked him what he doing and Mr. MeCraeken re- plied that he had been appointed marshal and was there trying to open the jail door. Mr. Lupton said that he need not go to that trouble, that he would open the door for him; thereupon he took from his pocket a large brass key which opened the outside door to the calaboose. Open- ing the door, he shoved Mr. MeCraeken inside and locked the door again, with the newly appointed marshal as a prisoner. After being in jail for a few hours, Mr. MeCracken told Mr. Lupton if he would let him out that he would resign; and after being let out of the jail tendered his resignation to the mayor, who accepted it. The city council in special session appointed W. S. Norton as marshal.
Mr. Norton was a determined man and equally as muscular and athletic as Lupton and immediately proceeded to take possession of the jail. Taking two deputies with him to the jail, he proceeded to remove the hinges from the door and, leaving the two officers there to guard the building, he took the door to a blacksmith shop in East Joplin and had new hinges and hasps made. While he was away Mr. Lupton, with two friends, swooped down on the officers left in charge and overpowered them. Upon returning from the blacksmith shop and perceiving what had been done, Mr. Norton drew his revolver, a '45 Navy, and started toward Lupton. Mr. Lupton quickly drew his pistol and started to meet Norton. At this juncture, Judge Davis, of the common pleas court, rushed between the combatants and "commanded peace in the name of the state" and bloodshed was averted.
Then the council through the city attorney, instituted ouster pro- ceedings against Mr. Lupton in the Jasper county court of common pleas at Carthage, and R. A. Cameron, acting as special judge, decided
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in favor of the city and issued a writ of ouster against Mr. Lupton, who at once appealed the case to the circuit court.
That night a large body of Mr. Lupton's friends gathered in front of the city jail and were about to take possession. The crowd was in an ugly mood and it looked for a time as if there was going to be a battle between the ex-marshal's numerous friends and the law-and-order posse which was assembled at the city hall.
Among those who were in the law-and-order party were P. Murphy, E. D. Porter, C. J. Workizer and others, armed for the fray and there to stand by the mayor and preservation of the city hall.
At the suggestion of City Attorney McAntire, the riot act was read to the angered mob and after a speech from the city attorney, in which he informed the people of the finding of the court, they disbursed, but not until D. P. Ballard, the attorney for Lupton, had corroborated the statement of Mr. MeAntire.
The crisis came the next day, June 4th. In the meantime Mr. Lupton returned from Carthage, where he had filed his appeal bond, and an- nounced to his friends that the ease was not disposed of and a mass meeting of his friends was called for 5 o'clock in the afternoon to pass resolutions condemning the city council and also to retake the city jail. The people stood around on the streets and disenssed the matter and it looked as if trouble could not be averted.
Mr. MeAntire, the city attorney, told the people that the appeal of Mr. Lupton did not alter the matter; that the finding of the court would stand until reversed by the higher court and urged them to go to their homes and abide by the law. Mr. Lupton's friends insisted that the court had not issued the writ of ouster, but that it was held in abey- anee pending the trial in the higher court. Mr. McAntire then asked the leaders if they would desist, if he brought them the records of the decree from Carthage, and they said, "Yes." It was then past one o'clock and a trip to Carthage and return must be made in less than four hours.
Daniel Collins, the liveryman, said he had a team that could make the trip, and Wm. Byers, H. Gildmaeher, P. Murphy and others volunteered to pay for the team should the hard drive on that day (the thermometer stood at 90°) kill the horses.
Mr. MeAntire made the trip to Carthage in one hour and ten minutes and, after seenring a certified copy of the decree, started for Joplin, making the return-trip in one hour and twenty minutes, but in time to save the day, for the meeting had just organized. Driving up to the city hall and throwing the lines to a friend in the erowd, which was gathered in front of the city building, he rushed up-stairs to the meet- ing. When he entered the door someone called "Have you got the papers?" Pulling the legal document from his pocket, he walked up to the speaker's stand and said "Here they are," and, realizing that they had lost, one of the Lupton men moved an adjournment and the deposed marshal agreed to await the result of the appeal. Thus ended Vol 1-12
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the riot and Mr. McAntire's ride went down in the early history of the town as the event which averted a crisis .*
BLOWING UP OF THE HANNIBAL L. & Z. COMPANY'S PLANT
As mentioned before in our zinc story in the early mining operations, no attention was paid to jack. When it began to have a value, a diffi- culty arose as to just how the zinc ore should be sold; also to whom the zinc in the dump piles belonged.
The early contracts made between the land owners and miners made no mention of zinc. The method of ascertaining the value of lead was as follows: When lead spelter on the St. Louis market sold for seven eents the raw material in Joplin was worth twenty-five dollars a thou- sand. In this way the price to be paid for lead at any time was fixed and it was a very easy matter to figure the royalty and the price ac- cording to this fixed rule; but with the zinc included it had a different base. The several buyers paid for each lot what it seemed to be worth. taking into consideration the market and grade of mineral and so there was no fixed rule to determine its value. The price paid at different mines also varied.
The miners contended that the zinc should be neutral and sold by the miner in the open market and to the best advantage, the miner being the judge of the time and place to sell. The land owners held that selling indiscriminately jeopardized the royalty for the reason that a correct record of the sales could not be kept unless the sales were handled from the general office. This difference between the miners and the land own- ers resulted in a riot which lasted for three days, during which time the men crowded the streets and held numerous little meetings to dis- cuss the proposition and ended in the destruction of the Furnace of the Hannibal Lead and Zine Company in the Picher field on July 20, 1874.
About two o'clock in the morning of that day a party of forty or fifty masked men made their appearance at the furnace and ordered the men to gether up their personal effects. After escorting the working force to a plaec of safety, a mile or so away, a large quantity of powder was placed in the building and an attached fuse lighted, when the mask- ers fled. About half past two the charge exploded, blowing the building and machinery to atoms and setting the debris on fire. The explosion awakened the people and the hook and ladder truck hurried to the scene. but no good could be accomplished, as the furnace was a mass of ruins. Some twenty odd citizens were arrested for complicity in the act, but no convictions were ever made, the evidence against the accused parties being insufficient.
CITY ELECTIONS OF OCTOBER, 1874
The city election following the Lupton trouble was an exciting one, great interest centering in the marshal contest. The officers elected to
"Mr. Lupton won in the higher court and received from the city the fees which the marshal's office had earned during the time he was deprived of the office, and at the city election In October following he was again elected to the position by a large majority.
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serve Joplin for the next year were: Mayor, Patrick Murphy ; council- men, F. E. Williams, Monroe Clark, P. L. Swartz, John Lewis, T. W. Cunningham, and J. A. Taylor; marshal, J. W. Lupton; city attorney, John C. Trigg; treasurer, A. E. Blackwell.
The following were the appointed officers *: City clerk, J. A. Reed ; assessor and collector, T. A. McClelland ; fire warden, J. W. McClehour ; street commissioner, J. C. Gaston.
PATRICK MURPHY
Patrick Murphy, the fourth mayor of Joplin, was a native of Ireland and at the time of his election was thirty-five years of age. having been born January 6, 1839.
Mr. Murphy came to America at the age of ten and was brought up on a farm in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. In 1859 he crossed the plains and in Angust, 1860, struck a fine gold prospect in Colorado. After the war he engaged in the freight business and operated a large overland traffic. During his experience as a freighter he crossed the plains thirty-one times. Quitting the frontier in 1866, he came to Jasper county, settling at Carthage where he engaged in merchandising in partnership with W. P. Davis. Mr. Murphy was married at Carthage. November 19, 1868, to Miss Belle Workizer. His coming to Joplin and his early connections with the history of Joplin have already been men- tioned.
Mr. Murphy was an exceptional man and perhaps did more for West Joplin than any other one man. and his liberal policy of disposing of town lots, his public spirit and large confidence in Joplin made him a fitting executive, so that his administration was marked by innumerable acts of eivic progression. The late Judge Gaston, shortly before his death, in speaking of him to the author, thus describes Patrick Murphy : "He was a prince of good fellows and generous to a fault."
It would hardly be justice to the part Mr. Murphy played in Joplin's history to pass his name with a mere formal notice. and in order to show the character of the man and his great influence in the community. we will relate here the following stories which show him as he was in private life
During his mining career Mr. Murphy took a lease on the Gordon land and was developing those diggings. One day Mr. Murphy came to the shaft where two men were working and calling to them said : "Well. boys, how is the ground looking ?" "All right, Mr. Murphy, we think we shall strike good dirt soon, but if it is all the same to you we want to lay off for a couple of weeks and make a little grub stake. our money has given ont."
Taking two ten dollar bills from his pocket, he dropped them down in the mine and said : "If that will help out, I'd like to have you work on a little longer." They did, and the next week struck it big. making
*Under the old city charter the police judge held for two years and Judge Hogle held over. Before his term of office was ended he died. and D. J. M. Loop was appolnted to fill out the unexpired term.
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for themselves a little fortune and for the big-hearted son of Erin a niee sum in royalty.
In the Leadville Hollow items, published in the Daily News in Au- gust, 1874, there was the following little comment about Mr. Murphy : "Pat Murphy favored the Shakerage Mine with a visit today and all of the miners feel encouraged by his words of comfort and cheer.
"We appreciate advice from him because it comes from a man who had made his way up in the world. But the best thing about Pat Murphy is he acts the same as his words.
"A few kind words followed by a little assistance has put many a miner on his feet, and if Joplin had more Pat Murphys this place would not only have the best miners in the state, but the happiest and most contented set of people in the whole land."
The above compliment was well deserved and shows how very popular he was with the miners of Joplin.
TOWNSHIP ELECTIONS IN 1874
The township elections held in Joplin and Galana townships in April, 1874, to elect township officers under the new township organization aet resulted as follows.
Joplin township : Justice of the Peace-L. R. Thomas.
Constables-O. B. Hamlin and W. A. Lamkin.
Trustee-J. C. Orner.
Collector-W. H. Kilgore.
Assessor .- J. M. Piekett.
The vote of the First Ward School District was as follows : Commis- sioner-MePherson, 57: Webster, 52; Ormsby. 4. For director, Thomas and Ballard were eleeted.
Galena township : Trustee-J. B. Sargeant.
C'lerk-J. W. MeAntire.
Assessor-D. K. Wenrich.
Collector-J. G. Mathews.
Justices of the Peace-Geo. Orear, and Jerry Clark.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN NOVEMBER, 1874
On the morning of November 4, 1874, at about 2 o'clock, a most destrnetive fire broke out in East Joplin in a small shed in the rear of a bakery on East Main street. The alarm was given and the citizens of both towns rushed to the scene of the conflagration and the fire com- pany, with the new Babeoek engine and the hook and ladder trnek, hur- ried to the scene, but with all its heroie work it was unable to cheek the fire. as it had gained too great a headway and in less than two hours the entire block between John and Galena avennes was swept away, the loss being estimated at $75,000 and no insurance. The block was at once rebuilt .*
* In justice to the fire department, it must be mentioned that all of the fire fighting apparatus was drawn by members of the volunteer companles and citizens who came to their assistance, and it will readlly be seen that by the time a company could be assembled the fire was well under headway; and pulling the big chemical engine and hook and ladder truck up the east town hill was no small task.
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THE JOPLIN HOTEL
During the fall of 1874 J. H. McCoy interested a number of the lead- ing citizens in a project to build an up-to-date hotel, and the Joplin Hotel Company was organized. Work on the foundation was begun in November, 1874, and the building, a three-story brick was ready for occupancy the middle of April, 1875.
J. M. Maderie, Sr., was the first manager of the hostelry and it was formally opened to the public with a grand reception and ball. On Sunday, April 24th, the first Sabbath after the opening there were one hundred and thirty-five guests for dinner.
The old Joplin Hotel was a historic building and until 1906, when it was torn down to make way for the Connor, it was the rallying plaec of all the old-timers.
THE JOPLIN HOTEL
The building of this hotel made Fourth and Main streets the center of the business activities of the early day. The old-time Joplinites al- ways spoke of the Joplin House as the "Brick Hotel." In the city elec- tions of the 'seventies and 'eighties the "Briek Hotel Ring" was a polit- ical bugaboo.
The other popular hotels of the middle 'seventies were the Occi- dental, Broadway and Galena ; the Southwestern, the Bateman, the Me- Fall (later the St. James), the American House, both First and Main : and the Pacific House, Second and Virginia. The Pacific was a forty- room house and was the second hotel in size.
THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
By act of the legislature passed February 5. 1874. a court of com- mon pleas was established in the city of Joplin. This court had the fol- lowing jurisdiction within the limits of Joplin and Galena townships :
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First, original and conenrrent jurisdiction in all cases, both law and equity, with the circuit court of Jasper county, Missouri (except where the title to real estate was involved), and concurrent jurisdiction with justices of the peace, except where they have exclusive jurisdiction ; second, power to issue injunctions, above named exceptions applying, and to hear and determine matters of habeas corpus the same as circuit courts : also exclusive appellate jurisdiction from Joplin police court. and in case of appeals from justices of Joplin and Galena township. At this time there were four terms of the Jasper county common pleas court held at Carthage, and three extra terms for the transaction of probate business. Galen Spencer was elected judge of the court and served until January 26, 1875, when the legislature passed an act abolishing the court and providing that three terms a year of the common pleas court which was called at Carthage should be held at Joplin, and three terms of said court at Carthage, making six terms a year in the county. This act, abolishing the Joplin court, also ordered the clerk (the judge of this court was by the act creating the court made, the judge, ex-officio elerk his court) of the Joplin court to transfer to the clerk of the Jasper county conmon pleas court the records of the Joplin court. Both the Joplin court and the Jasper county courts of common pleas were courts of record.
In 1877 the legislature passed an act establishing a circuit court at Joplin each year, in June and December, and two at Carthage, in Sep- tember and March. The circuit clerk has since kept a deputy at Joplin and keeps an office there.
THE LAND OWNERS' ASSOCIATION
March 20, 1875, the smelters and land owners of Joplin formed an association for their mutual protection and mutual interests. The fol- lowing were the officers: John B. Sergeant, president; John H. Taylor, secretary ; W. P. Davis, treasurer.
The formation of this association was misunderstood by the miners, many of them believing that it was formed in the nature of a trust and with a view of crushing the labor interests, although such was not the case. But the agitation continued and did not abate until the McCorcle Smelter in East Joplin was burned, supposedly because of the forma- tion of the Land Owners' Association.
JOPLIN'S FIRST CIRCUS
In June, 1875, Dan Rice's cireus showed in Baxter Springs. A num- ber of Joplin people went over to see the performance, among them Daniel Collins, the Broadway liveryman. The show was on Saturday and at the close of the afternoon performances Mr. Collins presented to the management a proposition to take the aggregation of animals and all to Joplin for a performance the next day, Sunday afternoon. The prop- osition did not look good to the showman. The performances could not
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be advertised and it was necessary to take the tents, horses and animal cages overland to Joplin, fording two streams, Spring river and Shoal creek, and then return in time to load the show on the cars and make the next town in time for a show Monday ; but he said in a joking way to Mr. Collins, if he would like to undertake the venture, that he would rent him the show for a day.
Mr. Collins knew a good thing when he saw it and accepted the prop- osition, agreeing to deliver the show in Baxter by 3 o'clock A. M. Mon- day and to pay all the performers the extra salary for the trip to Joplin. After the night performance, the tents were torn down and the entire aggregation started overland for Joplin, arriving in the mining metrop- olis about nine o'elock in the morning. It was not necessary to advertise the show. for in those days business houses were all open until noon on Sunday and some of them all day, and the streets were crowded with the miners and their families doing their week's trading. So when the red wagons began rolling down West Main street and heading for a vacant place between the two towns, half the population which thronged the street followed the circus to the show grounds and watched with in- terest the putting up of the big tent.
Everything was in readiness by 1 o'clock and the ticket wagon opened. The circus, which, by the way, was a good one showed to an audience which taxed the capacity of the tent, and Mr. Collins reaped a rich reward for his show venture. After the performance the tents were again struck and the aggregation returned to Baxter in time to load and make the next town on schedule time. The big house at this performance established Joplin's reputation as a show town, and each season since some one or more of the great traveling shows has visited "the city that Jack built."
JOPLIN'S FIRST THEATER
During 1875 a company was organized which erected the Joplin Theater building, on Main street between Fourth and Fifth where now stands the Bartlett building. The theater was a one-story structure forty by one hundred feet, and built out of oak lumber according to the prevailing style of architecture of that day, a plain box-house ar- rangement. The stage, however, was arranged with four different set- tings.
1875-7 were the palmy days of this theater. Most play houses have a general fixed kind of amusement and have a reputation for the presenta- tion of some kind of play, such as tragedy, comedy, melodrama, vaude- ville, etc., but the Joplin was confined to no one class of amusements. Some very good attractions were presented, but the amusements for the most part were designed to please the floating population which made life in Joplin one constant round of excitement.
The following interview, published in the Kansas City Globe in Mareh. 1890, gives an idea of the unique manner in which the Joplin
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miners overcame the money question, following the panie of 1873, and also the popularity of the "show" in Joplin during the pioneer days. "Way back in the 'seventies," says J. J. Lodge, of the Midland Theatre, "I was traveling through the southwest with Zera Seeman and Kit Clark. I had him out, and we were giving a gift show. Seeman did the sleight-of-hand and magic business, and we gave away every night gold watches, furniture, etc. During our trip we made a week's stand at Joplin. I lost a great opportunity to make a fortune prospecting, or rather digging a test shaft. The capital of the prospectors had given out and they wanted me to grub-stake them. I didn't think there was any- thing in it, but before we left town they had struck rich mineral and both made a fortune.
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