USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 26
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services except his actual expenses. Although the display was not as complete as the one made at the Columbian Exposition five years before, Wyoming took two gold medals, five silver medals and one bronze medal upon the mineral and agricultural products exhibited. The actual expense (not including the cost of the floor space and the expenses of Mr. Crawford) was less than one thousand dollars.
CAMPAIGN OF 1898
In 1898 a full complement of state officers was to be elected and three tickets were placed in the field. The republicans nominated De Forest Richards for governor ; Fenimore Chatterton, secretary of state; LeRoy Grant, auditor of state ; George E. Abbott, treasurer of state ; Thomas T. Tynan, superintendent of public instruction ; Jesse Knight, justice of the Supreme Court; Frank W. Mon- dell, representative in Congress.
The democratic candidates were: Horace C. Alger, governor; David Miller, secretary of state ; Charles H. Priest, auditor of state ; Luke Voorhees, treasurer of state; Jerome F. Brown, superintendent of public instruction; Charles E. Blydenburgh, justice of the Supreme Court; Constantine P. Arnold, representa- tive in Congress.
E. B. Viall was nominated for governor by the people's party ; Shakespeare E. Seeley, for secretary of state; J. F. Pierce, for auditor of state; John M. Rouser. for treasurer of state; Mrs. M. A. Stocks, for superintendent of public instruction ; William Brown, for representative in Congress. No nomination was made by this party for justice of the Supreme Court.
The election was held on Tuesday, November 8. 1898, and it resulted in a victory for the entire republican ticket. Governor Richards' plurality was 1,394. and the other republican candidates were elected by substantially the same vote.
DE FOREST RICHARDS' ADMINISTRATION
De Forest Richards, fourth governor of the State of Wyoming, was born at Charlestown, New Hampshire, August 6, 1846. He was educated at the Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, and at Phillips' Andover Academy. Shortly after the close of the Civil war he went to Alabama, where in 1868 he was elected to the Legislature. From 1868 to 1871 he was sheriff of Wilcox County, Alabama, and he was then elected county treasurer for two terms. He continued in business at Camden, Alabama until 1885, when he re- moved to Chadron, Nebraska, and engaged in the banking business. In 1886 the First National Bank of Douglas, Wyoming, was organized and Mr. Richards was elected president. He then became a resident of Douglas : remained at the head of the bank until his death; was actively engaged in mercantile and live stock operations, and also took a commendable interest in public affairs. He was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1889 : was mayor of Douglas from 1891 to 1894: was elected to the state senate by the republicans of his district in 1892; was nominated and elected governor of the state in 1898; and was re-elected in 1902. He did not live to complete his second term, his death occurring on April 28, 1903. Governor Richards was prominent in the Masonic
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fraternity, having attained to the thirty-second degree, and he was also a member of the Shrine. At one time he was grand master of the Wyoming Grand Lodge. He took the oath of office on January 2, 1899, and the other state officers elected in the preceding November were installed in their respective offices on the same date.
FIFTH LEGISLATURE
The fifth session of the State Legislature commenced at Cheyenne on Janu- ary 10, 1899. John McGill, of Albany County, was elected president of the Senate, and Levi R. Davis, of Weston County, was chosen speaker of the House. The message of Governor Richards was very brief. After referring to the constitutional provision making it the duty of the governor to communicate to the Legislature at the beginning of each session information concerning the state, he said: "It naturally follows that the information to be conveyed to you should be of a practical nature, based on experience rather than theory, and therefore, after a conference between ex-Gov. W. A. Richards and myself, he. impelled by the deep interest he feels in the welfare of the state that he has served so faithfully and well, has volunteered to prepare a message, which I here- with transmit, making it a part and parcel of this document," etc.
The message prepared by the retiring governor was replete with information regarding the finances and institutions of Wyoming. It gave detailed accounts of the rebuilding of the General Hospital at Rock Springs, the Fort Mckinney reservation, which was given to the state by act of Congress in 1895, the part taken by Wyoming in the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha in 1898 and the awards taken by the state, complete information as to the part taken by the state in the Spanish-American war up to that time, and announced that the state treasury showed a balance on hand of $103.785.69 at the conclusion of the year 1897.
By the act of February 17, 1899, the Big Horn Hot Springs, which had previously been granted to Wyoming by act of Congress, were "placed under the control of the state board of charities and reform and forever set aside for the treatment and care of diseases for sanitary and charitable purposes." The board was authorized by the act to lease the lands and water privileges, with the stipulation that all buildings erected upon the reservation should be according to plans furnished or approved by the board. It was further provided that gambling and the sale of liquor should be strictly prohibited, and the board was required to appoint a superintendent to see that the provisions of the act were carried out and the regulations of the board properly observed.
Among the appropriations made by this Legislature was one of $789.15 to reimburse ex-Gov. William A. Richards for money advanced on account of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha in 1898, and one of $1,000 for the purpose of establishing a branch of the state fish hatchery at Sundance, Crook County.
One important act of the fifth Legislature was that declaring county com- missioners to be a county board of health, the mayor and council in incorporated cities, and the president and trustees in incorporated towns to be boards of health in their respective municipalities. Each of these local boards of health was authorized to appoint a health officer, who should be a regularly licensed and practicing physician, to act as an adviser to the board. The county and munici-
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pal board of health were empowered to adopt and promulgate rules and regula- tions to be observed in times of epidemic of contagious diseases; to provide for quarantine and the isolation of persons affected by such epidemic ; to adopt such means as they might deem necessary for the abatement of nuisances, the cleaning up of unsanitary premises, etc., in the interest of the general health and comfort of the community.
OUTLAWRY
In the spring of 1899 a train robbery was committed near the little station of Wilcox, in the western part of Albany County, and the robbers escaped to the mountainous districts farther north. In June Sheriff Hazen, of Converse County, was killed while in pursuit of the train robbers, who then found a refuge in the wild parts of Johnson County. Governor Richards was asked to send assistance to capture the outlaws. He ordered a detachment of Company C, of Buffalo, of the Wyoming National Guard, to report to the sheriff of Johnson County, and in his message to the Legislature of 1901 he reported the expenses of this action to be $963.30.
About the same time the governor of Utah called upon Governor Richards to aid in the capture of some bandits who had killed some of the officials of that state who were trying to arrest them. The governor directed Sheriff Swanson, of Sweetwater County, to organize a posse and render what assistance he could in arresting the bandits. Although no funds were available for such purposes, Sheriff Swanson raised a posse and at the commencement of the next session Governor Richards recommended an appropriation to reimburse that official. "It gives me pleasure," said the governor in his message, "to report that organized outlawry has ceased to exist in this state and that the notorious 'Hole-in-the- Wall gang' and kindred organizations have been practically broken up. The state is undoubtedly more free from the depredations of such criminals than ever before in its history."
ELECTION OF 1900
In the presidential campaign of 1900, the republicans renominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for President, and Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, for Vice President. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was again nominated by the democrats for President, and Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, was named for Vice President. This was a republican year in Wyoming. The republican presidential electors-Bryant B. Brooks, A. E. Bradbury and Ervin F. Cheney-received 14 .- 482 votes, while the highest number received by any of the democratic electors was 10,164. No state officers were elected in Wyoming this year. Frank W. Mondell, the republican candidate for representative in Congress, defeated J. C. Thompson by a vote of 14.539 to 10,017.
SIXTH LEGISLATURE
Wyoming's sixth State Legislature began its session at Cheyenne on Tues- day, January 8, 1901. In organizing the two branches for the transaction of business. Edward W. Stone, of Laramie County, was elected president of the senate, and Jerome S. Atherly, of Albany County, speaker of the house. On
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January 23, 1901, the two houses met in joint session for the purpose of electing a United States senator. Francis E. Warren received fifty-two votes and John E. Osborne received three votes. Mr. Warren was therefore declared elected United States senator for a term of six years, beginning on March 4, 1901.
By an act passed at this session, the governor was authorized to appoint three persons, one of whom should be a physician, as a state board of health, the physician to be the secretary of the board. The state board of health thus created was given power to investigate the pollution of streams, to obtain analyses of the water used for domestic purposes by incorporated towns and cities and to recom- mend improvement of waterworks systems, to cooperate with the local boards of health, to have the management or oversight of hospitals, to examine public buildings and report upon their sanitary condition, and to make quarantine regu- lations for the suppression of epidemics of infectious diseases.
The question of the permanent location of the seat of government, the state university, the insane asylum and the state penitentiary was ordered "to be submitted to and determined by the qualified electors of the state at the general election to be held on Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in the year 1904." The act also provided that every city, town and village should be eligible, that said towns, cities and villages should be nominated in the same manner as that provided by law for the nomination of candidates by petition and the names of cities, towns and villages should be printed on the ballots. Each voter could vote for one place for the location of each of the institutions named in the act.
By an act approved by Governor Richards on February 14, 1901, the name of the Stinking Water River, in Bighorn County, was changed to the Shoshone River, and it was directed that the latter name be used by all state officials and employees when referring to the stream.
GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE
On February 16, 1901, Governor Richards affixed his signature to an act authorizing and requiring the county commissioners of the several counties in the state to levy a tax of one-eighth of a mill on each dollar's worth of taxable property, for the purpose of building a residence for the governor of Wyoming. The capitol commission was directed to obtain a site and supervise the erection of the building, which, when completed, should be the property of the state.
Shortly after the adjournment of the Legislature, the capitol commission purchased a site on the corner of Twenty-first and House streets for $3,000 and as soon as the fund resulting from the tax levied was sufficient, work was com- menced on the building. The first governor to occupy the residence was Bryant B. Brooks, who in his message to the Legislature on January II, 1905, announced the completion of the building and gave the cost to the state as follows :
Site $ 3,000,00
Building
23.717.29
Furniture
4,500.00
Improving the grounds
2,036.00
Total
$33.253.29
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Further improvements, garage, outbuildings, etc., that have since been made have brought the total up to $42,600. Prior to the erection of this residence, the governors of Wyoming were compelled to rent or lease a house to live in during their respective terms of office, something not always easy to accomplish. With the completion of the state mansion, the governor has been situated so that he could entertain his visitors in a manner befitting the dignity of his office.
PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION
During the summer of 1901 the Pan-American Exposition was held at Buffalo, New York. Wyoming prepared no exhibit, but before the opening of the fair the management requested Governor Richards to appoint representative citizens of the state to serve on the boards connected with the exposition. In response to this request, the governor appointed Joseph M. Carey and J. L. Torrey as honorary vice presidents, and Mrs. Francis E. Warren and Mrs. Clarence D. Clark as honorary members of the board of lady managers.
ELECTION OF 1902
In 1902 the republicans renominated all the state officers, except the state treasurer, for which office Henry G. Hay was nominated. Charles N. Potter for justice of the Supreme Court, and Frank W. Mondell for representative in Congress. At the election, which was held on November 4th, the entire republican ticket was elected. Richards' plurality over George T. Beck, the democratic candidate for governor, was 4,466. Frank W. Mondell defeated Charles P. Clem- mons for representative in Congress by a vote of 15,808 to 8,892. This year, for the first time in Wyoming, the socialist party had a ticket in the field, their candi- date for governor receiving 552 votes.
SEVENTH LEGISLATURE
Gov. De Forest Richards' second term began with the opening of the seventh State Legislature on January 13, 1903. His message to the Legislature at the commencement of the session was an exhaustive account of the condition of the state institutions and finances, with suggestions and recommendations for their improvement.
This session of the Legislature appropriated $100,000 to the state board of charities and reform, for the support and maintenance of the penitentiary, the insane asylum, the Wyoming General Hospital, the deaf, dumb and blind asylum, etc. The board, by another act, was required to establish a home for soldiers and sailors on the old Fort Mckinney reservation in Johnson County and an appro- priation of $2,500 was made for putting the buildings in repair and removing the soldiers in the temporary home at Cheyenne to their new quarters.
On February 21, 1903, the governor approved the act to tax gifts, legacies and inheritances. By the provision of this act all inheritances descending to parents, husband, wife, children, brothers and sisters, amounting to ten thousand dollars or more, are taxed two per cent. To all other beneficiaries, five per cent.
Tax levies were ordered for building an addition to the penitentiary at
GOVERNOR'S MANSION, CHEYENNE
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Rawlins, and for the establishment of a branch of the Wyoming General Hos- pital at Sheridan. For the latter institution the proceeds derived from the tax levy to an amount not exceeding twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars were placed at the disposal of the state board of charities and reform, which was authorized to obtain a suitable site, by donation of otherwise, and to superintend the erection of the buildings.
Other acts passed at this session were those appropriating the sum of $3,000 for a branch fish hatchery at Saratoga; requiring the school trustees in the various school districts of the state to cause the American flag to be displayed upon each school house, flagstaff or tower during the hours school is in session ; throwing open mineral lands to exploration, occupation or purchase under the same rules governing the location of mining claims; providing for the sale of pure and unadulterated foods and appointing a state chemist; and authorizing county commissioners to offer bounties for the destruction of predatory wild animals.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION
On February 23, 1903, Governor Richards approved an act of the Legislature authorizing him to appoint seven commissioners to take charge of the work of collecting and arranging an exhibit of Wyoming's products at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, at the exposition celebrating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, and appropriating the sum of $25,000 to defray the expenses of such exhibit. Pursuant to the provisions of the act, Governor Richards appointed as the com- missioners Clarence B. Richardson, Robert B. Homer, Bryant B. Brooks, Willis G. Emerson, George E. Pexton, Charles A. Badgette and William C. Deming.
The commissioners met at the state capitol on March 20, 1903. and organized by the election of Robert B. Homer, president ; Bryant B. Brooks, vice president ; William C. Deming, secretary. Mr. Homer resigned soon after his election and Mr. Brooks was elected in his place. J. L. Baird was appointed to the vacancy on the board caused by the resignation of Mr. Homer, and W. H. Holliday was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles A. Badgette.
The agricultural exhibit was prepared under the direction of Prof. B. C. Buffum, of the State University ; John H. Gordon, of Cheyenne, was employed to prepare for exhibition a collection of Wyoming woods and such minerals as might be available in the state museum : State Geologist H. C. Beeler gave valu- able assistance in the arrangement of the mineral display; and the educational exhibit was prepared under the supervision of Thomas T. Tynan, superintendent of public instruction. As far as it was practicable, the commission tried to show not only the raw material, but also some finished article manufactured from it. The railroad companies operating in the state agreed to transport materials for the various exhibits free of charge. Through this generous cooperation and the energy of the commission, Wyoming was one of the comparatively few states that had its entire display in place on the opening day of the fair.
Monday, July 11. 1904, was "Wyoming Day" at the exposition. On that day Acting-Governor Chatterton and his staff were present and a large number of Wyoming people were in attendance to celebrate in a proper manner the four- teenth anniversary of the state's admission into the Union. The exercises were
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held in the Hall of Congresses. Music was furnished by a band belonging to a regiment of the Illinois National Guard and the Indian band from the Indian school in Wyoming. David R. Francis, president of the exposition commission, delivered an address of welcome and the response was made by Bryant B. Brooks, president of the Wyoming commission. Addresses were made by Samuel T. Corn of the Wyoming Supreme Court, Joseph M. Carey and Henry A. Coffeen.
Wyoming took 124 prizes upon the state's displays and private exhibits. These awards consisted of four grand prizes, thirty-three gold medals, forty- seven silver medals and forty bronze medals. Over fifty thousand pamphlets giving information concerning the resources of Wyoming. Two thousand Wyo- ming people visited the exposition while it was in progress, and at the close the state commission turned back into the treasury $5,658.23 as an unexpended balance of the original appropriation of $25,000.
CHATTERTON'S ADMINISTRATION
The death of Governor De Forest Richards occurred on April 28, 1903, and on the same day Fenimore Chatterton, who had been elected secretary of state at the preceding general election, became acting-governor to serve until the election in November, 1904.
Fenimore Chatterton was born in Oswego, New York, July 21, 1860. While he was still in his childhood his parents removed to Washington, D. C., where he attended Columbiana College and studied law. In 1878 he came to Wyoming as a clerk in the post store at Fort Steele, of which he later became the proprietor. This store he sold in 1888, when he was elected treasurer of Carbon County and probate judge. Two years later he was elected to the first state senate of Wyo- ming and was twice reelected, serving three consecutive terms. In 1892 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated the next year and began practice at Rawlins. In 1894 and again in 1896 he was elected county attorney of Carbon County and in 1898 was elected secretary of state. At the close of his first term in this office he was again elected and upon the death of Governor Richards became acting-governor. From 1894 to 1896 he was grand master of the Wyoming Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, in which order he has received the thirty-second degree, and in 1900 he was one of the organizers of the Kurtz & Chatterton Mining Company. When Bryant B. Brooks was elected governor in 1904, for the unexpired term of Governor Richards, Mr. Chatterton continued as secretary of state until succeeded in January, 1907, by W. R. Schnitger.
CAMPAIGN OF 1904
In 1904 the republican candidates for President and Vice President were Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, and Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana. The democrats nominated Alton B. Parker, of New York, for President, and Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, for Vice President. The candidates of the people's party were Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, and Thomas H. Tibbles, of Ne- braska, for President and Vice President, respectively. Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, was nominated by the prohibitionists for President, and George
-
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WV. Carroll, of Texas, for Vice President, and the socialist candidates were Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, for President, and Benjamin Hanford, of New York, for Vice President.
The republican candidates for presidential electors in Wyoming were: Ora Haley, James M. Wilson and Atwood C. Thomas. The democrats nominated George T. Beck, A. L. Murray and A. V. Quinn, and the people's party, Peter Esperson, John Gaiselman and William W. Paterson. These were the three leading political organizations in the state at that time.
Vacancies were to be filled in the offices of governor and treasurer of state. due to the death of Gov. De Forest Richards and the resignation of Henry G. Hay. The republicans nominated the following ticket: For governor, Bryant B. Brooks; treasurer of state, William C. Irvine; justice of the Supreme Court, Cyrus Beard; representative in Congress, Frank W. Mondell.
The democratic candidates were: John E. Osborne, for governor; H. C. Alger, for treasurer of state; Samuel T. Corn, for justice of the Supreme Court ; T. S. Taliaferro, Jr., for representative in Congress.
James W. Gates was the candidate of the people's party for governor : Frank Ketchum, for treasurer of state: Herman V. S. Groesbeck, for justice of the Supreme Court; and William Brown, for representative in Congress. The socialists made no nomination for justice of the Supreme Court, but named George W. Blain for governor; David Gordon for treasurer of state, and Lemuel L. Laughlin for representative in Congress.
The election was held on November 8. 1904. The republican presidential electors carried the state by a plurality of 11,559, having a clear majority over all the electors nominated by the other parties. For governor, Brooks received 17.765 votes to 12,137 cast for Osborne, and for representative in Congress. Mondell defeated Taliaferro by a vote of 19,862 to 9,803.
It will be remembered that the Legislature of 1901 provided for submitting to the voters at the general election of 1904 the question of permanently locating the seat of government, the State University, the insane asylum and the peni- tentiary. For the seat of government Cheyenne received 11,781 votes; Lander, 8,667 ; and Casper, 3,610, with a scattering vote given in small numbers to several other cities and towns. The State University was located at Laramie, which city received 12,697 votes. Evanston received 12,593 votes as the site of the insane asylum. and the penitentiary was located at Rawlins by a vote of 12,042.
BROOKS' ADMINISTRATION
Bryant B. Brooks, who was elected governor of Wyoming in 1904, was born at Bernardston, Massachusetts, February 5, 1861, a son of Silas N. and Melissa M. (Burrows) Brooks. When he was about ten years of age his parents removed to Chicago, where he was educated, graduating in the Chicago High School in 1878. The next year he attended a business college in Chicago, after which he went to Nebraska, where he became interested in the cattle business. From 1880 to 1883 he "rode the range" in Wyoming, and in the latter year he organized the cattle firm of B. B. Brooks & Company, with headquarters on the Big Muddy Creek eighteen miles southeast of Casper, making a business of raising high grade cattle on a ranch of some seven thousand acres, a large part of which
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