Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties, Part 8

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co.
Number of Pages: 820

USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 8
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 8
USA > Nebraska > Hall County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 8
USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton counties, Nebraska, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"In consequence of this critical condition of affairs, when the Legislature met at Omaha in the old capitol, on the 4th day of July, 1866, excite- ment was exceedingly high. The party leaders were marshaled on both sides in full array, much bad blood was manifested, and it was even predicted that the session might be enlivened, after the old style, by a row in which physical force should be more potent than oratory for the settlement of dis- puted points of parliamentary practice. * In law, possession is nine points; in a Legislature, experience has never yet demonstrated that there are any other points, aud the contested seats were a foregone conclusion when it was ocularly demon- strated that the Republicans had the organization in both Houses, and could not keep it without counting in the Cass delegation, Rock Bluffs or no Rock Bluffs to the contrary notwithstanding. But the Democrats had an arrow in their quiver that seemed likely to do fatal execution. It was an adjourn- ment sine die immediately upon the organization of the Legislature, which would leave the new State suspended hetween the heavens and the earth, like Mahomet's coffin, and overthrow the labor of months in the time it should take to call the roll of the two Houses. The Cass County delegation was believed to he ready to unite with them in the expedient, and that would give them one majority in the Senate and two in the House. The Cass County delegation had a secret meeting late at night on the evening of the 5th, the organization of the two Houses having been completed, and, it was understood, agreed to be bound by a vote thus taken, which resulted in a motion to adjourn sine die.

"In the Senate the next morning a motion was made immediately after roll-call, that the Senate do adjourn sine die; and it was carried by a majority of one. The news spread like wild-fire, and in the midst of the reading of the journal in the House, Paddock arose, and, amid much turmoil, moved to

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dispense with its further reading. This was declared out of order by the Speaker, and the journal was finished. Mr. Paddock immediately moved that the House do now adjourn sinc die, and declared that no further business could be done in any event, since the Senate had formally ended its existence. The Speaker properly ruled the motion out of order, be- cause an adjournment sine die, according to Legisla- tive law, could only be had by a joint resolution. His decision was immediately appealed from, and was reversed by a vote of 21 to 15. The motion was then put, and in the midst of the most intense excitement, and activity of party leaders running to and fro, the ayes and nays were slowly called. The votes, when the list had been completed, were 19 for adjournment to 18 against. The Speaker took the tally of the clerk and paused, as if to collect his thonghts. Maxwell, of the Cass delegation, who was not in sympathy with the adjournment, had voted 'no.' The Speaker paused just long enough for Hathaway, of the same delegation, whose sym- pathies were in the same direction, to conclude that, as the delegation was not a unit, as he had supposed, he would vote to suit himself, and he changed his aye to no. The vote was announced, and the anti- State arrow missed the bulls-eye by a hair's breadth.

" As soon as this break in the programme was made, the Senators opposed to adjournment collected again in the hall, and, on motion of Cadman, took a recess till 3 o'clock P. M. At that hour a quorum presented itself and quietly and unostentatiously pro- ceeded to business as if nothing had happened, and the secretary as unobtrusively scored out with his ready pen all record of the matutinal hari-kari.

" The next day Gov. Butler read his message to the joint convention and the machinery of the quasi State was fairly under motion. * In the meantime the Senatorial candidates had been waging their individual warfare, and there were more of them ostensibly in the field than have been since noticed on a similar occasion. The military won the fight. Maj. General Thayer and Chaplain Tipton, who both won their spurs in the First Nebraska, came out ahead, and the joint convention that cast the ballot show that Tipton was elected 'the Senator from the South Platte,' and Thayer 'the Senator

from the North Platte'- a proceeding somewhat ex- traordinary, the State of Nebraska being nominated nowhere in the bond.

" The seat of war was now transferred to Wash- ington. Senators Thayer and Tipton, armed with the proper credentials as the Representatives of the State organization, departed for the capitol, and Hon. T. M. Marquette, who had been elected by the people as their first Congressman, knocked at the door of the House. On July 18, one week after the adjournment of the Legislature, on the eve of the close of the long session, a bill was passed admitting Nebraska to the Union. President Johnson put it in his pocket, and Congress ad- journed, leaving the embryo State out in the cold. Upon the reassembling of Congress in December, representatives were on hand pressing their claims and urging the National Legislature to perform its part of the implied contract in the enabling act of 1864. But the Republicans had, in the progress of their political struggles, reassured themselves of their solidity with the people, and were no longer for accessions to their strength on the floor of the Senate. There was also a growth of the stalwart feeling in favor of a franchise unlimited by a color line. The fifteenth amendment had not yet been proposed to the Federal constitution, but strong efforts were being made to accomplish its object through the action of the States in severalty. The conservative gentlemen who had framed the constitu- tion of Nebraska had inserted the word 'white. This the Republican Congress now objected to. The Representatives of the old States were now more solicitons of preserving their sectional and individual weight in Congress against the swift encroachments of the growing Northwest than in reaching out after party accessions. It was exceedingly plain that no majority less than two-thirds in each House would avail, as the President was bitterly hostile to the proposition. A bill was introduced in the Senate, however, and passed that body, admitting the State in accordance with the provisions of the act of 1864, upon the following conditions :

"SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That this act shall not take effect except under the fundamental condi- tions, that within the State of Nebraska there shall be

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no denial of the elective franchise, or of any other right to any other person, by reason of race and color, except- ing Indians not taxed, and upon the further fundamental principle, that the Legislature of said State, by a solemn public act, shall declare the assent of said State to these fundamental conditions, and shall transmit to the Presi- dent of the United States an anthentic copy of said act, upon receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, shall forthwith announce the fact, wherenpon said funda- mental conditions shall be held as part of the organic law of the State, and thereupon and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of said State into the Union shall be considered as com- plete.

"In the House for a time the fate of the bill seemed uncertain. Mr. Marquette enlisted the assis- tance of his old law instructor, Mr. Shellabarger, of Ohio, one of the most prominent gentlemen and eloquent speakers on the floor of the Representative chamber, and he took the lead in championing the bill, and made a speech in its favor, of great force and brilliancy, which was probably decisive. The bill passed the House on February 8, 1867, was vetoed by the President next day, and immediately passed over his head by the constitutional majority in both Houses.

" A new State Legislature had been chosen by the people of the Territory, at the Territorial elec- tion in October previous, consisting for the most part of the same gentlemen elected to the Territorial Council and House. On the 14th of February, Gov. Saunders issued his proclamation, calling the mem- bers of the Legislature to meet at the capital on the 20th inst., to take action upon the conditions pro- posed by Congress. The Legislature assembled and passed the bill, accepting the fundamental conditions ** on February 21. * * On March 1, the President issued his proclamation announcing the admission of Nebraska into the Union, and on. the 2d inst. Hon. T. M. Marquette presented his credentials in the House of Representatives and con- summated the bond. Mr. Marquette's promptness was not imitated by the two Senators. The XXXVIIIth Congress was about to expire two days later, and by waiting that length of time, the com- mencement of their terms of office would be dated a couple of years later, it being the custom to fix March 4th, upon which Congress commenced its official life,

as the initial point of Senatorial terms. By waiting two days, the first Congressman's actual term of office would have been multiplied by 365, but he said he was tired of Washington, and, as John Tulle had been elected his successor, though at a time un- authorized by the enabling act, he preferred to cast his lot with the expiring Congress and return to pri- vate life. He sat two days and nights, cast the decisive vote against the appropriation of $50,000 to fix up the White House according to the taste of the President, recorded his 'aye' on the famous recon- struction act, and was honorably mustered out of service.

"On April 4, Gov. Butler issued his call for an extra session, and on May 18, the Legislature came together and set in motion the machinery of the State."

From the stormy period of Territorial history, it is interesting to turn to the pleasanter and more in- viting periods of State development. In the part of this sketch devoted to State history, the subject matter will be grouped under the several guberna- torial administrations.

The first governor of Nebraska was David But- ler, of Pawnee County. Associated with him in the management of the affairs of the young State were the following officers: Thomas P. Kennard, secre- tary of State; John Gillespie, auditor; Augustus Kountze, treasurer; Champion S. Chase, attorney- general. Gov. Butler was a native of Indiana, and moved into the Territory of Nebraska in 1858. In 1861 he served in the Territorial Legislature, in 1862 was elected to the Council for two years. He took an active part in Territorial politics and headed the Republican ticket in the ever to be remembered struggle over the question of Statehood. Gov. But- ler's first official act was the issuing of a proclama- tion, dated April 4, calling the Legislature together in special session, on May 18, for the purpose of enacting needed legislation and amending existing laws to harmonize with the new form of government. Shortly after this session of the Legislature, the cap- ital was formally moved from Omaha to Lincoln, in accordance with an act of the Legislature passed the year previous. Gov. Butler, Auditor Gillespie and Secretary of State Kennard had been empowered to

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA.

select a site for a capital of the new State, and, after visiting the several locations which offered themselves, they had selected Lincoln. The con- tract for the erection of the State house was let on January 11, 1868, to Joseph Ward, of Chicago, for the sum of $49,000. The walls of the building were constructed of magnesian limestone from the Bea- trice quarries in Gage County. The building was sufficiently completed by December for occupancy, and on the 3d of that month Gov. Butler issued his proclamation announcing the removal of the seat of government to Lincoln, and ordering the transfer of the archives of the State to the new capital.

The first State and National election in which the people of Nebraska were permitted to participate occurred on November 3, 1868. An extra session of the Legislature convened at Omaha on October 27, to make the necessary provisions for the election of presidential electors, the existing laws being de- fective in this respect. The Republican State ticket was as follows: Presidential electors, T. M. Mar- quette, Lewis Allgewahr and J. F. Warner; Con- gressman, John Taffe; governor, David Butler ; secretary of State, T. P. Kennard; auditor, John · Gillespie; treasurer, James Sweet. S. A. Strick- land, Alvin Saunders, L. Gerard, T. B. Stevenson, R. W. Furnas and S. Maxwell were selected as dele- gates to the National Republican convention which assembled at Chicago on May 21, at which Gen. U. S. Grant was nominated for President, and Hon. Schuyler Colfax for Vice President.

The first session to meet at the new capital con- vened on January 7, 1869. The session was un- eventful. The most notable event in the year 1869 was the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad through the State, a full account of which will be found in a chapter especially devoted to that sub- ject. The sixth session of the Legislature, which assembled on February 17, 1870, ratified the fif- teenth amendment to the constitution of the United, States, and provided for the erection of a peniten- tiary. The sixth session adjourned on March 4, but Gov. Butler reassembled the members in extra session on the same day. In his message calling the extra session, the governor called attention to the necessity of passing a herd law and the ratifica-

tion of a certain contract made by him for the con- veyanee.of certain lands to Isaac Calm and John M. Evans, to aid in the development of the saline lands of the State. In the fall of 1870 occurred the biennial election. Both political parties were in the field with full tickets, and the Republicans were successful. The following is a list of officers elected: Governor, David Butler; secretary of State, W. H. James; treasurer, Henry Koenig; superintendent of pub- lie instruction, J. M. MeKenzie; attorney-general, George II. Roberts. The years of Gov. Butler's administration were not prolific of great events. The population of the State grew rapidly and, in 1870, had reached over 120,000. The Union Pa- cific had been built through the State, and several other railway enterprises inaugurated. With the advent of the railroads, new sections of the State were opened up for settlement, new towns sprang into existence, and the State grew in wealth and political power.

In spite of the rapid strides being made by the young State of Nebraska, everything pertaining to her State government was not as serene as a sum- mer day. Although honored with a re-election to the highest post of honor in the State, Gov. Butler did not entirely escape criticism for some of his official actions. The charge that he had appro- priated State funds for his own personal use and benefit was frequently made, and the charge be- came so emphatic that the Legislature was finally compelled to take official cognizance of it. On March 1, 1871, the eighth session of the Legislature being then in session, a committee from the House of Representatives appeared before the Senate and announced that articles had been prepared impeach- ing David Butler, governor of Nebraska, of mis- demeanor in office. Secretary of State James was immediately notified to assume the executive fune- tions, and preparations for the impeachment trial made. The Senate convened as a High Court of Impeachment on March 6, and upon the following day Gov. Butler appeared in answer to summons. With him appeared his counsel, Clinton Briggs, T. M. Marquette and John I. Redick. Hon. J. C. Myers, J. E. Doom and De Forest Porter acted as managers of impeachment, with Experience Ester-

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brook as counsel. The articles of impeachment, abridged and stripped of their legal phraseology, were as follows:

FIRST. That David Butler, governor of the State of Nebraska, being authorized and directed by joint memorial and resolution of the Legislature of the State of Nebraska, to secure the payment over to the treasurer of the State the 5 per cent of the pro- ceeds of public lands lying within the State of Ne- braska, did, in the spring of 1869, procure to be audited and allowed to the State of Nebraska afore- said, the sum of $16,881.26, for which sum a warrant was issued by the proper department at Washington, payable to the order of David Butler, as governor of said State; and that while said money was sub- ject to his order and control, he, the said David Butler, governor as aforesaid, was guilty of unlaw- fully and corruptly neglecting to discharge his duty in regard to said money, and of appropriating the same to his own use and benefit, whereby he became and was gnilty of misdemeanor in his said office.

SECOND. That the said David Butler, being by virtue of his office one of the commissioners author- ized by an act of the Legislature to expend moneys belonging to the State of Nebraska, in and about the erection of a State University, Agricultural College, and State Lunatic Asylum ; and one M. J. McBird, having a claim against the State for services per- formed by him as architect, in and about furnishing plans and specifications for said buildings, he did, in the month of August, 1869, present his said claim to David Butler for allowance and approval, who proposed in substance and to the effect follow- ing: That he, David Butler, would procure to be issued a warrant upon the treasurer of the State for the sum of $3,750, provided that said McBird should retain the sum of $2,000 only out of the pro- ceeds of said warrant, and should pay to him, the said David Butler, the sum of $1,750 of such pro- ceeds; and thereupon the said McBird did agree to said proposition ; that the warrant was issued to the said MeBird in the sum of $3,750, and that the said McBird paid to David Butler part of said money, to-wit: $1,750, whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

That the said David Butler did allow a claim

of M. J. McBird in the sum of $1,828.26 for addi- tional services, and did procure and cause to be issued two warrants, each for the sum of $914.13; and that in accordance with a scandalous and cor- rupt agreement, the said MeBird indorsed and delivered one of the warrants to David Butler, who received and kept the same; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

That David Butler, governor of Nebraska, en- deavored to induce D. J. Silver & Son, contractors for the erection of the State University, to pay him the sum of $10,000, and that he refused to settle the accounts of the said D. J. Silver & Son, until they acquiesced in such demand; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

That on the 15th day of July, 1869, the said David Butler, governor of Nebraska, did willfully and corruptly propose to lease to one Thomas F. Hall, certain saline lands belonging to the State, providing the said Thomas F. Hall would pay him the sum of $5,000, for his own use and benefit; and upon the refusal of said Thomas F. Hall to pay the sum demanded, the said David Butler did de- cline to lease said lands, contrary to his duty and his oath of office; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

That on the 1st day of January, 1871, the said David Butler did willfully and corruptly agree to procure the appointment of one Nelson C. Brock, as treasurer of the board of regents of the University of Nebraska, in consideration of the sum of $750; whereby said David Butler was guilty of a misde- meanor in office.

That on the first day of July, 1869, the said David Butler received a conveyance of certain lands to himself as an inducement and bribe to ·influence the location of the State Insane Asylum, by which he was improperly and corruptly influenced to locate said asylum in the immediate vicinity of the land so conveyed; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

THIRD. That the said David Butler, on the

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18th day of February, 1869, did unlawfully induce John Gillespie, auditor of the State of Nebraska, to issne two warrants in the sum of $1,000 cach under the pretense that they were issued for the purpose of paying one Champion S. Chase, for ser- vices rendered the State as an attorney, and that on the 22d day of February, 1869, the said David Butler did willfully and corruptly appropriate to his own use one of said warrants, whereby he did com- mit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

FOURTH. That the said David Butler did un- lawfully and corruptly enter into contract with one Joseph Ward for the completion of the State Lunatic Asylum at a contract price, i. e. 888,000, greatly in access of the sum appropriated for said building; that by the terms of said contract the foundation of said asylum was to be completed for $18,500, and that in the spring of 1870 said foun- dation was not finished, and there was dne to said Ward less than that sum on contract, yet the gov- ernor approved the estimates of said Ward and cansed the same to be allowed and paid to the amount of $45,000; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

FIFTH. That David Butler, being a member of the board of regents and ex-officio president of said board, did willfully and recklessly assent and become a party to a contract with D. J. Silver & Son for the erection of the State University and Agricultural College at a price greatly in excess of the appropriations therefor, whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

SIXTH. That in response to a resolution passed by the present session of the Legislature, the said David Butler transmitted to the Legislature a com- munication in which he stated that he had collected from the National Treasury, the sum of $16,881.26. and deposited that amount in the State treasury, that in the communication the said David Butler did falsely declare that he deposited the amount of money in the State Treasury, whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a mis- demeanor in office.

SEVENTH. That on the 30th day of July, 1870,

the said David Butler instructed James Sweet, State treasurer, to let Anson C. Tichenor have $10,000 of the school money of the State; that said sum was loaned Tichenor without the assent of either State anditor or treasurer; and that the security was known to be wholly inadequate and insufficient ; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

EIGHTII. That the said David Butler did in the year of 1869 receive the sum of $648.43, a balance of money in the hands of the Treasurer of the Board of Immigration, which he has paid into the treasury of the State, but wrongfully appro- priated it to his own use, whereby he did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

NINTH. That during the year 1870, the said David Butler did improperly execute and cause to be issued to the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad Companies a patent or patents to seventy-five see- tions of land belonging to the State, and granted by the Legislature to the Northern Nebraska Air Line Railroad Company ; whereby the said David Butler did commit and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

TENTII. That in the month of December, 1869, the said David Butler sold to one James Gerrens, a piece of land belonging to the State, for the sum of $1,920, of which sum he appropriated to his own use the sum of $1,120, whereby he committed and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

ELEVENTH. That in the month of April, 1869, the said David Butler soll to one Andrew J. Cropsey, certain lots in Lincoln, Neb., the title to which was in the State of Nebraska, for the sum of $2, 400. a portion of which he appropriated for his own use and benefit, whereby he committed and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office."

To the above articles and specifications Gov. Butler made an elaborate answer. He denied in toto the allegations made in each and every article and specification, with the exception of the first. To that article he made, in effect, the following an- swer :

That it Is true the government of the United States had donated to the State of Nebraska the five per cent on proceeds of the public lands, and the amount thereof

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was due the State of Nebraska, and that this respondent was authorized to procure the same to be paid over to the treasurer of said State; and that in the spring of 1869, this respondent procured to be audited and allowed for the State of Nebraska the sum of $16,881.26, for which amount a warrant was duly issued by the proper department at Washington, payable to the order of the respondent, as governor of said State; and that said warrant was brought to Nebraska and deposited in the First National Bank, at Omaha, to the credit of the re .. spondent, as governor aforesaid; that it is untrue that he unlawfully and corruptly neglected to discharge his duties in regard to said money, and denies that he appro- priated the same, or any part thereof, to his own use; but this respondent alleges that some time after said money was deposited as above set forth, he did, at the suggestion and with the consent of the treasurer of the State, borrow said sum of money of the State, and that at the time the respondent agreed to and did give to the State the bonds hereinafter mentioned, and agreed to secure the same by mortgages on real estate situated in the State, and the said treasurer at the same time prom- ised to draw the mortgages, and present them to this re- spondent without delay, but the treasurer, having neg- lected to prepare the same, after the lapse of considerable time, the respondent caused said mortgages to be pre- pared, and did execute to said State, in due form of law, nineteen mortgages, on as many distinct tracts of land, amounting in the aggregate to about three thousand acres of land, which mortgages, bearing date May 25, 1869, were duly executed and acknowledged by this respondent and his wife, and were, about the 1st of January, 1871, delivered to said State, duly recorded in the offices of the county clerks in the counties respectively where said lands are situated.

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Author: Goodspeed Brothers Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co. Number of Pages: 820

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co.
Number of Pages: 820