History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

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Long before the legislature convened the active brains of the Yankton men were busy with schemes for the organization which should re- dound to the advantage of that town in the con- test for the location of the capital. Sioux Falls was ambitious for the honor, but Bon Homme and Vermillion were the most formidable op- ponents. As will be seen, Yankton and Ver- million each had two councilmen, while Bon Homme had but one, while in the house, by reason of the division of the section into the districts of East and West Vermillion, that place had four representatives, while Yankton and Bon Homme had but two each. The Yankton men at once saw the necessity for an alliance with the Bon Homme people. Therefore they adroitly proposed to make John H. Shober president of the council and George M. Pinney speaker of

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

the house, thus giving to Bon Homme the chief positions in both bodies. The Bon Homme men were highly flattered by this proposal and ac- cepted it, though its consummation was predi- cated upon a written agreement that Yankton should be made the capital, but coupled with this was a further agreement that the penitentiary should be located at Bon Homme. The slate so agreed upon went through.

The men who composed this legislature were well suited for the occasion, all of them frontiers- men of the rough-and-ready type, but many of them possessing keen intellects and several of them were trained and successful lawyers. There was a freedom and lack of conventionality in the situation which appealed strongly to the wild side of men and led them to do and to tolerate many things which they would have almost unanimously discountenanced under other cir- cumstances ; nevertheless the enactments of the session were in the main wise and resulted in the general good.

In a series of letters contributed to the Sioux City Register during this session by Hon. Moses K. Armstrong, under the soubriquet, "Log- roller," this legislature was called the "Pony Congress," and the name has clung to it.

Early in the session an incident occurred which created a sensation and which to this day is recalled with interest by the old-timers. It grew out of the location of the capital. Although Speaker Pinney held his office through the writ- ten agreement upon which he entered to support Yankton for the capital, he weakened when the bill came up for final action and, leaving the speaker's chair, took the floor and moved that the word "Yankton" be stricken from the bill and "Bon Homme" be inserted in lieu thereof. This motion failing, he then moved that Vermillion be substituted for Yankton and the motion pre- vailed and the bill which originated in the council passed the house with the Vermillion amend- ment. The council refused to concur and after a bit of parliamentary skirmishing, out of which the Vermillion men secured the location of the Territorial University at that place, the house receded from its amendment and Yankton se-

cured the capital. In the light of events it is thought that the Vermillion men made a pretty fair trade.

The conduct of Speaker Pinney exasperated the Yankton men beyond endurance. At that period the test of honesty in a statesman was to stay bought and they justly felt that Pinney had violated the very rudiments of political honor. They resolved to visit summary punishment upon him. The plan of operations adopted was as follows : Jim Somers, the noted desperado, was sergeant-at-arms of the house, and Jim was to seize Pinney and throw him bodily from the window; the speaker's chair was then to be declared vacant and a new speaker elected. It was a good plan, but unfortunately some of the conspirators leaked and information came to the ears of Pinney, who immediately appealed to Governor Jayne for protection. A company of militia had been recruited the previous winter at Yankton, by Captain Nelson Miner, but had not yet been mustered into the service of the United States. It had, however, been authorized by acting Governor Hutchinson, who had com- missioned its officers, and Governor Jayne called upon Captain Miner for a detail to keep the speaker in his chair. Captain Miner ordered Second Lieutenant Plughoff and ten men, of whom Sergeant A. M. English was one, to pro- ceed to the house of representatives with loaded guns and there preserve order. This order was obeyed, to the utter indignation of the house, which august body refused to do business while the soldiers were present. The house members left the hall. The council took the matter up and by resolution demanded of the Governor an ex- planation of his conduct. This reply of the Governor's was referred to a committee of which Downer T. Bramble was chairman, who reported on April 9th that the action was taken by the Governor upon the requisition of "one G. M. Pin- ney, who had cowardly and scandalously re- ported that he feared violence from the people." The matter was settled by the resignation of Pinney, the withdrawal of the soldiers and the election of John L. Tiernon speaker. This latter selection was made from the humorous

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conception that it would be a good joke to elect a man speaker who knew absolutely nothing of parliamentary law.

Though Pinney had been disposed of as speaker, Jim Somers and his crowd did not pro- pose to be deprived of their fun. "Gov." Frank M. Ziebach relates the following story, sup- plementary to the legislative proceedings : "Shortly after the Pinney episode in the house, I saw the ex-speaker enter a saloon on Broadway a short distance from my printing office. I knew that a party of legislators were congregated there and I expected a demonstration and kept an eye out from the window, which opened be- side the case where I was working. Pinney had barely time to walk from the door to the bar when a crash came and I saw the former speaker come forcibly through the window of the saloon bearing the sash with him. The sardonic countenance of Jim Somers appeared through the opening behind him."

The Pony congress did not escape from a boisterous consideration of the slavery question. At that date the nation was in the first throes of the Civil war and everywhere the slavery ques- tion was the paramount topic. Governor Jayne was an uncompromising abolitionist, and among the flowers of rhetoric, prophecies of future greatness for the territory and practical recom- mendations for local government which char- acterized his first message, the Governor had earnestly recommended that the legislature pass an inviolable act forever prohibiting slavery in every form in Dakota. The legislature was very largely Democratic and had but little sympathy with the Governor's abolition views, and the Democratic leaders resolved to see him and go him one better, so they prepared and introduced a bill which was seriously considered and the subject of much heated argument, providing that it should be a felony for a colored person to enter the territory and further providing for the prompt removal of any who should set foot upon Dakota soil.

In other respects the political feeling of the times was demonstrated in the legislative pro-

ceedings. The school law passed at this session permitted only white children to attend the public schools. The "governor's bill," prohibit- ing slavery and voluntary servitude, was defeated in both houses.

Dr. Wallace, of Bon Homme, was pulled up at the instance of the Governor for uttering dis- loyal sentiments and a legislative investigation followed. More than thirty witnesses were ex- amined. It was proved that the Doctor had in the course of an argument used the language: "The war is unjust. It was brought on by Re- publicans and should be fought by Republicans. If I were to fight I would fight with the South." In the course of the proceedings it developed that Dr. Wallace was an incessant debater, ever seeking opportunity for argument, and it mat- tered little to him upon which side he spoke. He would take the other side anyway and usually was able to take care of himself. That the offensive language was used in one of these im- promptu debates. While the investigation was in progress, he addressed the committee with trembling voice and tearful eyes : "I have in my life," he continued, "taken the oath of allegiance in four different states and territories of the Union and I am now ready to renew that oath every morning and evening." He was at once vindicated by acquittal. He then insisted in again taking the oath of allegiance, which was administered.

Another matter of great concern related to the enactment of a bill extending the right of citi- zenship to all half-breeds who could read, write or speak the English language. The half-breeds outnumbered all the other voters in the territory and to the passage of the bill Governor Jayne was very strongly opposed and made a desperate and effective fight against it. In his opposition to the bill he came in conflict with Hon. Jesse Wherry, receiver of the land office, a Kentuckian, who favored it. They got into a personal alter- cation at the Ash Hotel on the evening of May 7th and engaged in a hair-pulling, choking, striking game of fisticuffs in which the Governor had rather the better of the argument, as he had

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before the legislature. The bill passed the house by one majority, but was defeated in the council by the same vote.

Ninety-one general laws were passed at this session, among them a code of civil procedure, adapted from New York, of six hundred and seventeen sections, and a code of criminal pro- cedure of two hundred sixty-two sections. Twenty-five special laws were passed. These conferred citizenship on a number of half-breeds, including among them Frank LaFramboise, J. B. LaPlant, Frank Chadron and Charles F. Picotte. Divorces were granted to Sarah Tripp from William Tripp, and Minnie Omeg from C. Omeg. These special divorces were strenuously opposed by Bligh Wood and the Norwegian members, who were opposed to divorces upon principle and, having provided a general court procedure by which a divorce could be regularly procured, they felt that it was altogether outside the province of the legislature to grant divorces directly and without judicial investigation. Thirteen ferry charters were granted. An act passed chartering the Missouri & Niobrara Valley Railroad Company, with two million dol- lars capital, with power to build a railroad from the Sioux river by way of the Niobrara to the South Pass in the Rocky mountains. In addition to Erastus Corning and a dozen other eastern capitalists, every member of the legislature was included among the incorporators and first board of directors. It may be wise to indicate that the road was not huilt. The following towns of South Dakota were incorporated: Elk Point, with John R. Wood as president and Eli Wixson recorder : Richland, with Chief Justice Philomen Bliss as president and M. M. Rich as recorder ; Yankton, William Miner as recorder and Henry C. Ash, Charles S. White and Justus Townsend as trustees, the president to be one of the trus- tees; Bon Homme, Reuben Wallace, president, Daniel Gifford, recorder; Springfield, with Charles M. Cooper, president, and Richard M. Johnson, recorder.

At this session the counties of Bon Homme, Brughier, Clay, Cole, Gregory, Hutchinson, Jayne, Lincoln, Minnehaha, Brookings, Deuel,

Sheyenne, Todd and Yankton were created and county governments provided for several of the more populous of them. Sheyenne county occupied a section lapping over into North Dakota, but approximately what is now Roberts county ; Deuel was the equivalent of the present Deuel and Grant; Brookings and Minnehaha divided Moody between them; Lincoln was ap- proximately as at present ; Cole was the present

RED CLOUD.

Union ; Clay, Yankton and Bon Homme were little different from the present boundaries ; Charles Mix included the present Douglas, while the upper portion and Brule were included in Brughier ; Hutchinson and Jayne were approxi- mately the present Hutchinson and Turner. Brookings, Minnehaha and Lincoln were in- cluded in one county government at Sioux Falls. The county seat of Cole county was fixed at Victoria, on the claim of Joseph Chapillion, on

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section 10, town 89, range 48, which would place it somewhere near the present village of McCook. but it was provided that at the next general election the county seat might be permanently located by popular vote. We shall have occasion to know more of this election. Vermillion was made county seat of Clay; Yankton and Bon Homme, respectively, of their namesake counties ; Papineau, on the claim of Mr. Papineau, on the Missouri river, was made the county seat of Charles Mix, and Mixville, on the Niobrara, of Todd county ; Gregory was attached to Todd, Brughier to Charles Mix, Hutchinson to Bon Homme, Jayne to Yankton and Denel to Brookings counties.

The session lasted from the 17th of March until the 15th of May and the closing scenes beggered everything in the way of hilarity which have characterized the many wild and woolly ses- sions of succeeding years. The weather was fine and for three days and nights before the finish the members indulged in an open-air caronsal which was a continuons performance. Hon. Moses K. Armstrong thus describes it, leaving out all reference to the fair charmers who were a prominent feature of the festivities: "For three nights before the adjournment camp fires could be seen in the streets from dark until day-

light around which were seated, wigwam style, electioneering parties of councilmen and rep- resentatives, all happily drinking, eating, singing, snoring, speechmaking and milking cows. I happened to cross the street one morning at the peep of day and there I beheld, beside a smould- ering camp fire, two lusty legislators,. Maloney and McBride, holding a kicking cow by the horns, and a third, John Stanage, pulling his full weight at the cow's tail. On either side of the milkless heifer sat Councilmen Bramble and Stutsman, flat upon their unfailing foundations, with pails in hand, making sorrowful, but vain attempts at teasing milk enough from the farrow quadruped to make their final pitcher of eggnog. Off on one side lay the corpulent Representative Donaldson sprawled upon his belly and convulsed with laughter and in front of the scene stood the eloquent Lawmaker Boyles, with hat and coat and boots off, making a military speech and im- ploring the cow to give down in behalf of her country."

Notwithstanding the wild ways, the coarse fun and horseplay of these primitive legislators, both pride and regret are mixed with our amuse- ment as we recall the men and their work. All in all, the good vastly outweighed the evil in the work of the Pony congress.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE POLITICS OF 1862.

The year 1862, notwithstanding various other diversions, including the Indian war, was a year of politics in Dakota Territory. While the first legislature was in session the political game was played to the limit. As early as March it was understood that Governor Jayne was to contest with Captain Todd for the delegateship to con- gress and had perfected an organization which included the major portion of the federal of- ficials. It will be recalled that at his first election Captain Todd ran as an independent candidate. upon his own motion and without a convention nomination. He was of Democratic proclivities, though a strong Union man, and many, it may be said that most, of the men prominent in the territory were of the same political faith. Be- fore the close of the first session politics were at a white heat. General conditions at this juncture were very promising. In his Log- roller letter of July Ist Hon. Moses K. Arm- strong thus pictures the rosy-hued outlook : "Our territory begins to put on her robe of brightness. Farmers are joyous over their pros- perous fields, which promise a bountiful harvest. The roads are lined with immigrant teams and our green hills and plains are covered with the droves of cattle of new homeseekers. On every hand, by every grove and brooklet can be seen the smoke arising from the newly-erected cabin of some hardy immigrant who has come to open a farm under the homestead act."

In the same letter Mr. Armstrong lets a little light in upon the political situation from the

standpoint of the anti-administration party : "The official organ of the officials at Yankton is weekly opening assaults upon our present delegate for not attending to the 'interests of the people.' Yes, 'the people,' the 'dear people,' all at once. We, the people, hold a dear place in the affections of our truant and aspiring officials. But the people know their business and they know by whom they have been well treatedl. They know too that not a government official has built a house, fenced a lot, or expended two hundred dollars in the territory since its organization. However, some of them occasionally have the nerve and daring to take their families across the line of Iowa, venture into the territory and then hastily return to the states to snivel about the slow growth of towns, lack of enterprise and isolation from dear society on the frontier.

"Not many years ago the wife of Governor Ramsey, of one of our western territories, was living in a little cabin and at the same time was recognized as one of the most accomplished ladies in the northwest. Are our officials too proud, too good, or too rich to live with us? Do they think that the pioneers of the west were born full grown and wild upon the plains and must therefore bow at the dash of broadcloth and the swell of dignity and set to and build houses and donate property to induce salaried officials to enter the territory in the discharge of their duty? If they need houses, let them build them. If they want property, let them buy it. They have money, we have none."

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

Both nominations were made at mass con- ventions held at Vermillion. Governor Jayne, by the Republican and Union convention of July 16th, in which "every one who supports the ad- ministration of Abraham Lincoln and approves of his policy and principles and who are in favor of the vigorous prosecution of the war until the rebellion is crushed out and the supremacy of the constitution and law completely established," was invited. The party was unorganized and the call for the convention was signed by seventy- three citizens, among whom were most of the federal officials and many others still prominent in Dakota. Captain Todd received his nomina- tion from a "people's union convention," held on the 25th of July, called "for the purpose of nominating a candidate for delegate to congress in opposition to the candidate to be nominated by the Republican union convention on July 16th."

The campaign was vigorously prosecuted, Governor Jayne having the support of the Yank- ton Dakotian and of the Dakota Republican, while Captain Todd was without local newspaper support. Outside of the "ring" talk, the real argument of the campaign was the pull which the respective candidates were presumed to have with the President. Jayne was "Lincoln's neighbor, friend and physician." Todd was "the cousin of Mrs. Lincoln and everybody knew that Mrs. Lincoln was the real president," and so the fight went on. The election took place on Mon- day, September Ist, right in the very heat- of the Indian excitement, only two days after Gov- ernor Jayne had called every able-bodied man to arms.

Even an Indian uprising, with all its attend- ant and prospective horrors and dangers, could not deprive the primitive Dakotan of his political diversion and he voted early, late, often, vocif- erously and muscularly. Then, in addition to open and glaring frauds, there were irregularities which, coupled with the frauds, should have vitiated the entire proceedings. In Cole county there was a county-seat fight on between Elk Point and Richland. At the election held in the Brule creek precinct there appears to have been

both fraud and irregularity. Governor Jayne's proclamation, calling out the militia, was issued on Saturday, August 30th, and was carried to Brule Creek the next day, when the settlers as- sembled to organize a militia company on Sunday evening at the house of a settler, Timothy Andrews. Great excitement prevailed and many of the settlers were talking of leaving Dakota at once for safety. Some one suggested that it was too bad to leave before the election and then it was proposed that as the election was called for Monday that they wait until after midnight and then proceed to vote. This was done and about thirty votes were cast. Next morning it was found that many of the settlers, in their alarm, had left without voting, so their votes were cast for them by proxy, running up a return of seventy-one votes in the precinct, sixty-three of which were for Governor Jayne. In Bon Homme precinct the election was held at the house of G. M. Pinney, who was a strong Jayne man. John H. Shober led the Todd contingent in the neigh- borhood. At noon Moses Herrick took the ballot box home with him. When the polls closed thirty-nine votes had been cast, a majority of which were for Jayne. Twenty-six open ballots had been cast for Todd. John H. Shober called upon all of the voters present who had voted for Todd to stand in a line. Twenty-two lined up. They then raised so much of a ruction that the judges abandoned the ballots and boxes and Shober and his friends obtained possession of them at six o'clock in the evening, appointed a new set of judges and clerks and held a new election, twenty-two votes being cast for Todd and none for Jayne. This second vote was re- turned to the territorial canvassers. At the Charles Mix polls, about one hundred Iowa soldiers from Fort Randall voted. Everywhere there were charges, sustained by testimony, of voting by non-residents and of the corrupt use of money.

The territorial returning board consisted of Governor Jayne, Secretary Hutchinson and Chief Justice Bliss ; Hutchinson and Bliss acted, Jayne taking no part, owing to his own candi- dacy. The vote was canvassed on October 22d,

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Brule precinct being counted and Bon Homme and Charles Mix thrown out as fraudulent and irregular. The vote cast in the three precincts so in question was as follows :

Todd. Jayne.

Brule Creek

8 63

Bon Homme 22

...

Charles Mix

7 138

Minnehaha

. .

224

According to the return of the board, counting Brule and disregarding Bon Homme, Charles Mix and Minnehaha, and without Pem- bina, from which at this time no return had been received, the board found two hundred and thirty-seven votes for Jayne and two hundred and twenty-one for Todd, giving Jayne a majority of sixteen and consequently the cer- tificate of election. Todd at once began a con- test, serving notice of the same upon Jayne in November and the taking of the testimony oc- cupied most of the following winter, and was taken into congress by Captain Todd, where it dragged along far into the second year of the term. The legislature of 1863-4 took the matter up and reviewed the action of the returning board and in a report made and adopted on January 12, 1864, found that the vote of Charles Mix should have been counted, making a net majority for Jayne of one hundred forty-seven votes. This action of the legislature led Chief Justice Bliss and Secretary Hutchinson to unite in send- ing to congress the following somewhat re- markable paper, which as it epitomizes the entire matter is here reproduced :

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

The undersigned, chief justice and secretary of the territory of Dakota and canvassers of the vote of 1862 for delegate to congress and territorial audi- tor and treasurer, respectfully represent:

That the legislative assembly of said territory just closed have passed joint resolutions relative to our action as canvassers of said vote * which we understand have been forwarded to your body. We would have preferred the silence we have hither- to observed, but inasmuch as the same is designed to impeach before your honorable body the proceed- ings of the undersigned as such canvassers, we are

compelled in vindication of our action, and not to influence yours, in the contested election case of Todd and Jayne, now before you, we respectfully sub- mit:

1st. While we regard the supervision of our pro- ceedings as impertinent and intermeddling, we might, nevertheless, respect their acts as evidence at least of popular opinion were we not fully aware that they in no just sense represent the people of Dakota in this thing; because in those counties where the members voting for said resolutions were really elected, they would have been easily defeated had it been believed that they would identify themselves with the ballot box stuffing and election frauds of 1862. * * *

2d. The proceedings of the canvassing board were carefully considered and designed to do justice and rebuke fraud and protect our young territory from the political crimes which had disgraced the early history of some of our neighbors. Secondary to this, yet deeply impressing to us, we felt that the honor of the great Republican party, in a limited sphere, was in our keeping. We had voted for and desired the election of Governor Jayne, as delegate; us en- gineered by the Buchanan Democrats he had but we also desired to protect him and from the dishonor of schemes principally to the exclusion of earnest Republicans ad-

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998