I PRI€£ FIFTY €EMTS. GOVERIR UEARY'S AMINISTRATION IN KANSAS, WITH A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE TERRITORY TJ^sTTiii jxjx."x-, issr. PHILADELPHIA: KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET. Copies sent hy Mail on receipt of price, SO cents. s «-• GEARY AND KANSAS. GOVERNOR GEARY'S ADMINISTRATION IN • KANSAS: WITH A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE TERRITORY UNTIL JULY 1857: BMBRACIN© A FULL ACCOUNT OF ITS DISCOVERY, GEOGRAPHY, SOIL, RIVERS, CLIMATE, PRODUCTS ; ITi ORGANIZATION AS A TERRITORY, TRANSACTIONS AND EVENTS UNDER GOVERNORS REEDER AND SHANNON, POLITICAL DISSENSIONS, PERSONAL RENCOUNTRES, ELECTION FRAUDS, BATTLES AND OUTRAGES. ALL FULLY AUTHENTICATED. BY JOHN H. GIHON, M.D., PRIVATE SECRETARY OF GOVERNOR GEARY. PHILADELPHIA; KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, No. 607 SANSOM STREET. 1866. I^ii Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by C, C. RHODES. In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. ^ PHEFACE In giving this work to the public, the author has been actu- ated solely by a sense of duty. Unbiassed by any partisan or personal considerations, he has related, in as plain and com- prehensive a manner as possible, the facts, as they came under his own observation, were communicated to him by iadividu- als immediately connected with the events described, or have been gleaned from other reliable sources. The writer is alone responsible for the contents of the book. During his official connection with Governor Geary, he availed himself of his opportunities for information, and has substan- tiated many of his statements, by the official documents, now on file in the Department of State at Washington, and which passed through his hands in the executive office in Kansas. / These are public property, and there has been no impropriety or breach of trust in their employment. Many important incidents have been omitted for want of sufficient corroboration j the writer having determined to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. The whole truth can only be brought to light in that great day when all human secrets and mysteries will be revealed. The author cannot be accused of any undue prejudices in (3) IV PREFACE. favor of tlie free-soil party. When he went to Kansas, all his proclivities were on the opposite side, which he did not hesi- tate to make known oli all proper occasions, and among all classes of people. The free-soilers regarded him as their enemy, and the pro-slavery leaders received him with marked favor as a new accession to their forces. With the latter he constantly associated, and his impressions were strengthened by their representations of territorial afiFairs. Hence his let- ters to the eastern papers, with which he corresponded, were severely condemnatory of the free-state party of Kansas. He resisted as long as possible the daily accumulating evidences of his error; but with many others like himself, was at length forced, though unwillingly, to acknowledge the truth of the statements contained in this volume. Governor Geary, during his administration in Kansas, observed a strict neutrality in regard to the question of slavery, and invariably pursued that impartial line of policy which his official documents indicate. He was, however, a firm and un- wavering Democrat, and for aught that has appeared to the contrary, still adheres closely to the party with which he has always been associated. The writer is also an advocate of the true principles of Democracy; but he repudiates that new plank which has been surreptitiously inserted into the Demo- cratic platform, that gives to the single idea of slavery ex- tension an ascendancy over every other consideration. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAQB Description of the Territory. — Its boundaries — rivers — prairies — woodlands — soil — climate — appearance — and general characteris- tics 15 CHAPTER 11. Discovery and early exploration of Kansas. — The Indians of the Ter- ritory. — Their reserves. — The Shawnee Mission , , , .18 CHAPTER III. Application of Missouri for admission into the Union. — The restric- tion and compromise bills of 1818-19-20. — Debates on the Kansas- Nebraska Bill. — The Organic Act of Kansas Territory , . .24 CHAPTER IV. The organic act a compromise measure. — Kansas intended for a slave state. — Conduct of the pro-slavery party. — Persecutions of free- state people. — New England Emigrant Aid Societies. — Public meet- ings. — Blue Lodges. — Invasion from Westport. — Arrival of Governor Reeder. — Judges of the Supreme Court 27 CHAPTER V. Elections. — Gen. Whitfield's politics. — Meetings in Missouri to control the Kansas elections. — The Missouri press. — The Lynching of Wil- liam Phillips. — Outrages upon the free-state citizens approved. — Destruction of the " Parkeville Luminary" 33 1* (5) VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAQH Census returns, February, 1855. — The election of March 30th. — The Legislative Assembly 38 CHAPTER VII. Removal of Governor Reeder. — Secretary Woodson. — Assumption of power by the Legislature. — Oflfice-holders all pro-slavery men. — Free-state mass meetings and conventions. — Elections for delegate to Congress. — Free-state Constitution adopted. — Dr. Charles Robin- son elected governor, — Meetings of the State Legislature. — Arrest of Robinson and others for high treason. — The Topeka Legislature dispersed by Col. Sumner . . . . . . . ,41 CHAPTER VIIL The Kansas Legion. — Patrick Laughlin. — The murder of Collins. — Outrages upon J. W. B. Kelley. — Rev. Pardee Butler set adrift in the Missouri River on a raft. — Disputes about land claims. — The murder of Dow. — Portrait of Sheriff Jones. — Arrest and rescue of Jacob Branson 47 CHAPTER IX. Governor Wilson Shannon. — Consequences of the arrest and rescue of Branson. — Meeting at Lawrence. — Military organization for de- fence. — Sheriff Jones requires three thousand men. — The governor orders out the militia. — A general call to arms. — The governor issues a proclamation. — War excitement in Missouri. — The invading arniy. — Governor Shannon's excuse 53 CHAPTER X. The governor calls upon Colonel Sumner for United States troops. — Proposition for the Lawrence people to surrender their arms. — The governor makes a treaty with the free-state generals. — Dispersion of the militia * 59 CHAPTER XI. The murder of Thomas W. Barber 65 CHAPTER XIL Pro-slavery mob at Leavenworth. — Ballot-box stolen and clerk beaten. — The jail and printing oflfice destroyed. — The election and fight near Easton. — Murder of Captain E. P. Brown. — Shannon receives authority to employ the troops. — Congressional Committee. — Arrival of Buford and his southern regiment. — Sheriff Jones shot at Law- rence. — Rev. Pardee Butler tarred and feathered . . . .70 y CONTENTS. Vil CHAPTER XIII. PAQB Charge of Judge Lecompte to the Grand Jury. — Presentment. — Ar- rests at Lawrence. — Travellers interrupted on the highways. — The murder of Jones and Stewart. — The sacking of Lawrence. — Ef^arning of the hotel and destruction of printing offices . * •-. . 77 CHAPTER XrV. Murderous assault on a pro-slavery company. — Captain John Brown. — The Potawattomie murdgrs. — Outrages of Captain Pate at Osawat- tomie. — Battle of Palmyra. — Fight at Franklin. — General Whitfield's army. — Colonel Sumner disperses the contending armies. — Murder of Cantral. — Sacking of Osawattomie. — The murder of Gay, an In- dian agent. — Outrages at Leavenworth and on the Missouri River . 86 CHAPTER XV. Removal of Colonel Sumner and appointment of General P. F. Smith. — Free-state refugees driven from Fort Leavenworth. — Immigration from the North. — Destruction of pro-slavery forts by free-state bands. — Murder of Major Hoyt. — Defeat of the pro-slavery forces at Franklin. — Colonel Titus captured by Captain Walker, and his ; house burned. — Alarm at Lecompton. — Governor Shannon makes another treaty with the Lawrence people ..... 92 CHAPTER XVL Atchison and Stringfellow call on Missouriahs for assistance.— Mr. Hoppe and a teamster scalped. — A German murdered at Leaven- worth.— Outrages upon a young female. — Shannon removed, and Woodson acting-governor. — Atchison concentrates an army at Little Santa Fe. — General L. A. Maclean his commissary. — He robs the settlers and the United States mails. — Reid attacks Brown at Osa- wattomie, who retreats and the town is sacked and destroyed. — • Murder of Frederick Brown and insanity of bis brother John. — Lane drives Atfihison into Missouri. — Outrages at the Quaker Mis- sion. — Burning of free-state houses. — Lane threatens Lecompton. — Dead bodies found and buried.— Captain Emory murders Phillips, and drives free-state residents from Leavenworth . . . .97 CHAPTER XVII. Appointment of Governor Geary. — His departure for Kansas. — Arrival at Jefferson City. — Interviews with Governor Price. — Removal of obstructions on the Missouri River. — Departure on steamboat Key- stone. — Scenes at Glasgow. — Captain Jackson's Missouri volunteers. — What Reoder did. — Arrival at Kansas City. — Description of Border Ruffians. — Who comprise the Abolitionists. — Appearance and condi- tion of- Leavenworth City , ..-.', , , . 103 Vlli CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. PAGB Arrival at Fort Leavenworth. — General P. F. Smith. — Free-state men driven from Leavenworth City. — Pressed horses. — John D. Ilender- Eon. — Vipliution of the United States safeguard. — Arrest of Captain Emory.-r-Character of his company. — Governor Geary's letter to Col. Clarkson. — Rev. Mr. Nute. — District Attorney Isacks . . 105 CHAPTER XIX. Fort Leavenworth. — Departure for Lecompton. — Barricade at Leaven- worth City. — Excuse for Border Ruffian outrages. — Terror of James H. Lane. — Hairbreadth escapes. — Anecdotes of the times. — Robbery at Alexandria. — A chase and race. — The robbers overtaken. — Arrival at Lecompton. — Letter to the Secretary of State. — Two men shot at L&compton 114 CHAPTER XX. The town of Lecomjfton. — Its location and moral character. — The ac- counts of their grievances by the pro-slavery party. — Policy indi- cated by that party for Governor Geary. — The Inaugural address. — Proclamations ordering the dispersion of armed, bodies, and for organizing the militia of the territory 122 CHAPTER XXL Gloomy prospect for Governor Geary's administration. — Determination to make Kansas a slave state. — Opposition to the new governor. — Address to the people of the slave states. — Secretary Woodson's proclamation • . 127 CHAPTER XXIL The Missouri army. — Orders to the adjutant and inspector-generals of the territory. — Dispatch to Secretary Marcy. — Dispatches from Gene- ral Heiskell. — Message from the governor's special agent. — Requi- sition for troops. — Visit of the governor to Lawrence, and return to Lecompton 133 CHAPTER XXIIL Excitement at Lecompton. — Affidavit of W. F. Dyer. — Requisition for troops. — The battle at Hickory Point. — Arrest of one hundred and one free-state prisoners. — The killing of Grayson, a pro-slavery man. Treatment of the prisoners. — Conduct of Judges Lecompte and Cato. — Trial and sentence of the prisoners, and their subsequent treat- ment .... 139 CONTENTS. iX CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE The Missouri army of invasion. — Letter from Theodore Adams. — Go- vernor Geary proceeds with troops to Lawrence, and protects the town. — The governor visits the camp of the Missourians, addresses the officers, and disbands the force 148 CHAPTER XXV. Improved condition of things. — Attempt to resurrect the courts and incite the judges to the performance of their duty. — Judges Burrell, '■ Cato and Lecompte. — The examination and trial of free-state prisoners. — Directions to Judge Cato. — Letters to the Supreme Judges. — Replies of Judges Cato and Lecompte. — Great criminals permitted to run at liberty. — Discharge of free-state men on bail. — Judge Lecompte's defence 157 CHAP3p]R XXVI. The murder of Buffum. — Warrant for the arrest of the murderer. — Partial conduct of the marshals. — Reward offered. — Indignation of free-state citizens. — Arrest of Charles Hays 166 'CHAPTER XXVIL Discharge of Hays by Judge Lecompte. — Order for his re-arrest. — Con- duct of Marshal Donalson. — Col. Titus re-arrests Hays, who is again set at liberty by Lecompte on a writ of habeas oorpus. — President Pierce and the United States Senate on the case of Lecompte. — Let- ter from Secretary Marcy asking explanations. — Governor Geary's reply. — Judge Lecompte's letter of vindication . ^ . . . 172 '^ CHAPTER XXVIIL The United States Marshal. — His deputies. — Requisitions for United States soldiers. — Visit of the governor to Topeka, and arrest of pri- soners. — An address to the citizens of Topeka. — Report of the mar- shal. — Requisition declined, and an evil practice discontinued . 181 CHAPTER XXIX. Arrival of free-state immigrants, and their treatment and discharge . 187 CHAPTER XXX. Peace and quiet prevailing. — Visit to Lawrence. — Proclamation of the Mayor of Leavenworth. — Suspension of the l'i»iuor traffic in Lecomp- ton. — Organization of militia. — Escort for wagons furnished. — An- other election 192 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXI. PAGE Notes of a journey of observation 196 CHAPTER XXXir. The capitol building. — Captain Donaldson dismisses Justice Nelson's court. — Captain Walker surrenders himself. — Dragoons required for detached service. — Bad postal arrangements. — Free-state prisoners removed to Tecumseh, — The governor at Leavenworth. — Report of a deputation sent to arrest marauders . . . ■ . . . 205 CHAPTER XXXIII. Pay of the militia. — Settlers ordered from Indian reserve. — Sales of Delaware trust lands.-^No prison in Kansas. — The capital appro- priation. — Governor Geary between two factions. — False reports. — Settlement of Hyattville.— Peace still prevailing .... 209 CHAPTER XXXIV. The Topeka Legislature. — Arrest of- its members. — Appropriation of Vermont Legislature for the suffering poor of Kansas . . . 214 CHAPTER XXXV. Meeting of the Territorial Legislative Assembly at Lecompton . . 218 CHAPTER XXXVL Act of the Legislative Assembly, to authorize courts and judges to admit to bail in all cases. — Veto message of the governor. — The bill passed. — Clarke and others bailed under the new law . . . 222 CHAPTER XXXVIL Resolution of the legislature asking the governor's reasons for not commissioning Wm. T. Sherrard — Governor Geary's reply — Con- duct of the legislators — Violence of Sherrard 227 CHAPTER XXXVIII^ Sherrard's abettors — Attempt to assassinate Governor Geary — Action of the legislature — Conduct of Judge Cato — Public indignation meet- ings — Outrage at a Lecompton meeting, resulting in the shooting and death of Sherrard * . . 233 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XXXIX. PAGE How the pro-slavery leaders in Lecompton held large and enthusiastic town meetings — Incendiary meeting at Lecompton — Calhoun's speech and sentiments — The Kansas laws not created to punish pro-slavery criminals 244 CHAPTER XL. Meeting of a pro-slavery convention at Lecompton. — Discussion be- tween Hampton and Maclean. — Sheriff Jones endorsed. — Organiza- tion of the national democratic party of Kansas. — A novel platform. — The national administration favors the pro-slavery movements in Kansas. — Analysis of the cabinet. — Governor Geary offered the United States senatorship. — Calhoun's address to the people of the United States. — Misrepresentations of its author exposed . . 262 CHAPTER XLL PaSvSage of the census bill. — Governor Geary's veto message. — The manner in which the census was taken. — Repeal of the test laws. — Adjournment of the Legislature. — Secretary Marcy and the Topeka Legislature. — Letter to the Secretary of State. — Arrest of a fugitive. — Rencontre at Topeka. — Complaint of prisoners. — Breaking up of the Kansas River 260 CHAPTER XLIL Governor Geary's instructions. — The United States troops. — Enrol- ment, mustering and discharge of the militia. — The troops withheld from the service of the governor ....... 272 CHAPTER XLIIL Resignation of Governor Geary. — His Farewell Addres* . • . 287 CHAPTER XLIV. Election of a free-state mayor at Leavenworth. — Arrest of the mur- derer of Hoppe. — Resignation of Judge Cunningham. — Appointment of Judge Williams. — Removal of Judge Lecompte. — Taking of the census. — Hon. Robert J. Walker 299 Xll i CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLV. PAGE Arrival in Kansas of Secretary Stanton and Governor Walker. — The policy of the new administration. — Disapprobation of the pro- slavery party ..^ 305 APPENDIX. Message of Gov. Geary to the Legislative Assembly ...» 309 Inaugural Address of Gov. Walker . . . • • . . 32S HISTORY OF KANSAS. CHAPTER I. Description of the Territory, — Its boundaries — rivers — prairies — wood- lands — soil — climate — appearance — and general characteristics. The territory of Kansas is a strip of land over two hundred miles in width, extending from the western boundary of Mis- souri to the highest ridge of the Rocky Mountains. It is bounded on the north by the territory of Nebraska; on the ea.st by the state of Missouri ; on the south by the Indian Ter- ritory and New Mexico ; and on the west by the territory of Utah. Its principal river is the Kaw or Kansas, which empties into the Missouri in latitude 39°, and longitude 94°, at the southern point, where that river separates tlie territory from the state of Missouri. It flows eastward to this point, receiv- ing in its course many tributaries, some of which, the Repub- lican and the Smoky Hill Forks, take their rise in the Rocky Mountains. The north-western portion of the territory is watered by the tributaries of the Platte, which flows through Nebraska ; and the eastern and southern districts by the Osage and Upper Arkansas and their branches. None of these streams are navigable. A light-draught steamboat has passed up the Kansas more than one hundred miles, to Fort Riley; but very few attempts have been made 2 , (13) 14 * HISTORY OF KANSAS. to repeat the experiment. Tliey miglit be successful, witli a boat drawing from twelve to twenty inches of water, two or three months in the year. The bed of this river is wide, and the bottom a quicksand, which is constantly shifting with the current, forming bars and changing the course of the channel. Its water is always muddy, like that of the IMissouri, whilst some of the streams that empty into it are remarkable for their clearness and purity. A number of these branches which, during the seasons of freshets, swell to streams of considerable magnitude, ate perfectly dry the greater portion of the year, although in many places pure water can be obtained a short distance below the dry surface. The only portion of the territory that possesses any peculiar value for agricultural purposes, is the eastern district, extend- ing from the northern to the southern boundary, and varying from one hundred to two hundred miles westward from the Missouri line. This district is remarkable for the exquisite beauty of its scenery, and the unrivalled fertiFity of its soil. It is a high rolling prairie, covered in the summer months with tall grass, sprinkled with an immense variety of beautiful flowers, and over which the eye has an unbroken prospect for many miles in extent. The soil is a rich black loam, several feet deep, with a po- rous clay subsoil, resting upon a limestone basis, and is capa- ble of producing hemp, maize, wheat, and all the grains, vege- tables and fruits common to temperate regions, in vast abundance and in great perfection. Timber is confined exclusively to the margins of the nume- rous rivers and creeks, along the smaller of which it consists chiefly of stunted oaks, cotton-wood, &c., insignificant in quantity and of but little value. But the banks of the Kan- sas, Osage, Arkansas, Wakarusa, and other of the more im- portant streams, are lined with wide strips of forest, embra- cing large quantities of heavy and valuable timber, among which are found white and black oak, walnut, hickory, elm, ash, sycamore, maple, cotton-wood, and other useful varieties. There is an abundance of excellent stone for building pur- poses in all this region, and good coal is said to be plentiful. The only game worth naming is the prairie-fowl or grouse, and this is not so abundant as in Illinois. But few fish are found in the streams, the varieties being chiefly the bufl'alo and catfish, the latter attaining an enormous size, and^ like those of the Mississippi Biver, scarcely fit for food. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 15 The country west of this district, for a number of miles, is ■well described in a letter dated December 27th, 1856, ad- dressed to Governor Geary by Lieutenant Francis T. Bryan, of the United States corps of Engineers, and furnishing.. an account of a journey he had just completed. ^' My route," he says, " can easily be followed on the map accompanying Stansbury's report, or, indeed, any other relia- ble map of the Territory. Leaving Fort Riley, I went up the Republican River for one hundred and five miles. This val- ley is fertile, and is cut by many creeks, with wooded banks. Out of the valley, or bottom of the river, the country is high and covered with short buffalo grass. The stone of the country is limestone. ^^ Leaving the Republican, the route led over the high prai- rie thirty-five miles to the Little Blue River, crossing several small creeks, with wooded banks. This country, I think, would be too dry for agricultural purposes. Crossing the Little Blue, the route lies along its banks for about fifteen miles, and then leaving the river, goes to the Platte, touching several water holes. From the point where the road first touches the Platte to Fort Kearney, is about fifteen miles, and along the valley of the Platte. The distance from Fort Riley to Fort Kearney we made one hundred and niBfety-three miles. " From Fort Kearney the route lay along the valley of the Platte for about two hundred miles. This valley is too well known to need any description. There is little or no wood, and the soil is sandy. Any attempt at agriculture, I think, would prove a failure. "Crossing the South Platte below the mouth of Pole Creek, we followed the creek to its head in the Black Hills. The country is generally high, grass mostly short, and no wood for most of the distance. Buffalo chips are used for fuel. Pole Creek breaks through two ranges of hills, which we called Pine Bluffs and Cedar Bluffs. These are the only points where wood can be obtained along the creek until the Black Hills are reached. Grass can be found in spots. " The route then crossed the Black Hills, where was plenty of fuel and water, but very little grr^ss. Leaving these hills, we found ourselves in the Plains of Laramie, and crossed the east branch of the Laramie River at about five miles from the foot of the hills. About four miles further appears the first 16 HISTORY OP KANSAS. fork of Laramie Kiver. Botli of these streams have good water and good grass, but little fuel. " We then struck the emigrant road near the Medicine Bow Mountains, and followed it to the crossing of the South Platte, having wood, water and grass at convenient distances. The road is over a gravelly soil, and is generally very good and hard. Hard stone, such as granites, &c., is found in these parts. •* *' Crossing the South Platte, we struck for the head of Sage Creek, over a most barren and desolate-looking country. Very little fuel or grass. Water was in abundance, and small patches of grass and clumps of trees were found in the hills. Coal was found on the South Platte, a few miles from where we crossed it, and in a situation where it could easily be worked. " Buffaloes were seen in large numbers, from the Republi- can over to the Platte, and for some days up the Platte. Then the game consisted almost entirely of deer. In the Black Hills, and through the Plains of Laramie, antelopes, wolves, and elks were seen and killed, besides prairie dogs, hares, sage chickens, &c. '^ The country through which we had passed on the outward route, was, with little exception, sterile, being too high, dry and stony to possess rnuch value in an agricultural point of view. Along the creeks were some small strips of wood land. ^'"The return route was over the same countrj as the out- ward route until we reached the east fork of the Laramie River. Then turning to the south we followed the Cache-la- Paudre to its mouth in the South Platte, passing over several very pretty valleys, and having plenty of wood and grass. Fol- lowing down the South Platte for several days, we came to where the river turns to go north. The country is the same as else- where on the Platte. Then sixty miles across a barren region of land and hills, with little water or grass, to a creek emptying into the Republican. For the first one hundred miles down the Republican the country is barren and sandy, with little wood. It then improves. The soil is better, and there are numerous creeks with wooded banks. The river bottom is of good soil, and furnishes excellent grass in large quantity, which affords pasturage to immense numbers of buffaloes. This kind of country continues on to Fort Riley. '' Along the main streams of the Platte, Republican, and Solomon's Fork, the wood is almost entirely cotton- wood. On DESCRIPTION OP THE COUNTRY. 17 the creeks which empty into them, it is generally hard wood, such as ash, elm, walnut, &c. On the Solomon's Fork, the soil of the bottom land appears even better than that on the Re- publican, and the wooded creeks quite as numerous. These bottoms are very wide in places, and covered with excellent grass. Buffaloes and elk are found in this region also, and in great numbers. " I have thus given you a hasty view of the country over which we have passed. That along the lower part of the Re- publican and Solomon's Fork appears to be by far the best that we saw, though there are some very pretty spots on the creeks in the mountains; but there is no good land in large bodies in that region." The section beyond that ti-avelled by Lieut. Bryan, embra- cing the space between the Black Hills and the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, is thus described by another writer : — ^' Here nature has presented us with every variety and aspect of soil. There are stupendous mountains, the grandeur and sublimity of which create mingled emotions of awe and terror. There are beautiful valleys, embosomed by amphitheatres of hills, where Calypso and her nymphs might have delighted to ramble, variegated by hill and dale, traversed by sparkling rivulets, and adorned with placid lakes. Fruits and flowers spangle the green sward ; vines hang in festoons from tree to tree ; cascades spring in rainbow hues from the cliffs ; pines and cedars, the growth of ages, spread their sombre shade upon the mountain sides, and the stupendous peaks, shooting up into the ekies, are crowned with a glittering coronet of snow. " A few hours' travel leads us out of this scene of primeval beauty into one in intense contrast with it. Here we find a sterile expanse of many miles in extent, covered with waving lines of sand, producing only stunted artemesia and a few other miserable plants. The rivulets are lost as they descend from the bare ridges around ; their hollow murmurs may be heard beneath the feet; and the surrounding peaks are immense piles of bare granite, which seem to have been thrown by some great convulsion into inextricable confusion." The climate is not so agreeable as in the same latitudes nearer the Atlantic sea-board. It is dry and variable. The changes of weather are frequent, sudden, and severe, the thermometer not unfrequently rising and falling thirty or forty degrees in a few hours. This is specially the case during the 2* B 1^8 HISTORY OF KANSAS. winter season. High winds are very prevalent, sweeping fiercely and almost daily over the unbroken prairies. Along the banks of the rivers and smaller streams, the only places where settlements to any extent hav^ yet been made^ bilious and intermittent fevers are as common as in mo^ southern latitudes on the Mississippi River. The progress of agriculture will not improve the condition of the country in this regard, as an unhealthy miasma must necessarily arise from turning under to any great extent the heavy sod, and ex- posing the rich soil to the atmosphere and the rays of the sun. This will in a measure be counterbalanced^ by the erection of more substantial and suitable habitations for the people, the supply of a greater variety of wholesome food, and other sources and means of health and comfort. To the want of these, as well as to the unsteady habits of a large portion of the popu- lation, may justly be attributed much of the sickness that has heretofore prevailed. CHAPTER 11. Discovery and early exploration of Kansas. — The Indians of the Terri- tory. — Their reserves. — The Shawnee Mission. '' The discovery of the valley of the Missouri is said to have been made by Father Marquette, a French missionary, about the year 1673 ; and that portion of the country now embraced in the Territory of Kansas, appears to have first been explored by M. Dutisne, a French ofiicer, sent by his government for that purpose, in 1719. At that time it was claimed as part of the empire of Louis XI Y. In 1762, it was ceded by France to Spain, and thus passed i»nder the dominion of the Spanish crown ; but subsequently, (in 1800,) it was ceded back to France. In 1801 it came intt) the possession of the United States, through the negotiation of Thomas Jefferson, by which, for fifteen millions of dollars, he purchased all the western territory belonging to the French government. When first discovered to the civilized world, and until within a very few years, the Territory of Kansas was occupied solely by a few roving tribes of Indians, whose subsistence Was obtained by hunting. There were no civilized residents, INDIAN RESERVES. 19 r in fact, until about the time of its organization, except the few Christian missionaries who went there to convert the Indians ; the soldiers by whom the forts were garrisoned ; the fur traders; and such of the Indians who had mingled with the white people in other districts, or were connected with the missions. No use was made of this country by the government, untilj it becoming necessary to remove the Indian tribes occupying districts where the progress of civilization rendered it inex- pedient for them to remain, some of its best lands were granted to them by treaty, upon which they settled, and have since possessed. These tribes are the Shawnees, Delawares, Po- tawattomies, Wyandots, Kickapoos, Ottowas, Chippewas, Sacks and Foxes, Peorias and Kaskaskias, Weas and Piankshaws. The immense tracts of land appropriated to the use of these Indians, were, at the time the treaties were severally made, considered of little importance \ but the great flood of civilized emigration that has steadily been pouring westward, has so increased their value as to render their owners the wealthiest, though the most miserable population in the world. The reservation of the Wyaudots, but few in number, was purchased from the Delawares, and is, perhaps, the most eligible and valuable in the Territory. It is the fork at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Kivers. It extends six miles from the mouth of the Kansas, and embraces twenty- three thousand, nine hundred and sixty acres. The towns of Wyandot and Quindaro, both of which promise to be of some importance, are upon this reserve. The shares in these towns have recently attracted the attention of speculators, and have reached and obtained almost fabulous prices. A Wyandot Indian, (half breed,) named Walker, is at the head of this speculative movement, and was a member of the late Legisla- tive Assembly of Kansas. He is a shrewd and intelligent man, and will make the most of his opportunities to acquire a princely fortune. Immediately above the Wyandot begins the Delaware re- serve. It stretches along the north side of the Kansas Paver westward forty miles, and to an equal or greater distance north- ward on the Missouri. It is a beautiful tract of prairie and woodland, and lies in a position to give it eminent advantages and make it especially valuable. Leavenworth City is built upon this reservation, the entire northern portion of which has for some time been covered with squatters, in violation of 2^ HISTORY OF KANSAS. the Indian treaty, and in despite of a protest issued by the chiefs of the tribe. The whole of this large reserve, however, was sold in November, 1856, agreeably to a treaty made with the Delawares on the 6th of May, 1854, except a strip on the north side of the Kansas River, forty miles long and ten miles wide. According to the Proclamation of the President, the lots were to have been sold at public auction to the highest bidder, after having been appraised by appointed commis- sioners, none of them to be disposed of, however, at prices lower than were fixed by the appraisement. But at a meeting of the squatters, it was resolved that no competition should be permitted at the sales ; that each man should be allowed to purchase his own claim at the appraised value; and to commit violence upon those who should attempt to bid against him. This arrangement was mutually agreed to by the auc- tioneer, the Indian agent, the settlers, and the speculators, many of whom had assembled from distant parts, at Fort Leavenworth, where the sales were conducted. It was argued that the settlers having improved the lands and thus enhanced their value, the government would do them injustice by allowing others to purchase, and thus deprive them of the, money and labor they had bestowed upon their claims. The proper reply was, that they had violated a treaty of the go- vernment with the Indians, in making those settlements and improvements, and instead of being rewarded were deserving of punishment for that act. But then, again, the government had neglected its duty in not driving these squatters from their settlements before the improvements were made. In allowing them to remain their right was virtually acknowledged. At all events, the lands were sold ; squatter sovereignty pre- vailed; and the Indians received more money for their pos- sessions than they had any reason to expect, quite as much as they deserved, and too much for their own best interests. The balance of this reserve is now covered with squatters, some of them having staked out and laid claims to entire sections, and the same policy is being pursued toward it as that which governed the trust lands that were sold. The half-breed Kaws, of whom there are but several, own a tract of heavy woodland, equal in value to any in the ter- ritory, directly west of the Delaware reserve on the north side of the Kansas River. This is the tract, for speculating in which. Governor Reeder and Judges Elmore and Johnson were ostensibly removed from office ; though it is alleged in SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 21 some quarters, fhat there were stronger reasons than his desire to purchase a few acres of Indian lands, that actuated the powers at Washington in this measure, so far as the governor was concerned. This reserve, like every other in the terri- tory, is now covered with squatters who are making fortunes by cutting the fine timber fcr the neighboring saw-mills, and are unmolested by the Indian agents. The Potawattomie reserve is a spacious tract west of the Kaws, and lying on both sides of the Kansas River. This reserve is also taken up by settlers, who, without being dis- turbed by the government agents, are making the best of their time by cutting the timber for fuel and building pur- poses. Just south of the northern line of Kansas, on the Missouri River, there is a reservation for the lowas, another for the Sacks and Foxes from Missouri, and a colony of half-breeds. The Sacks and Foxes from the Upper Mississippi are located on the Osage River. These reserves are small, and the tribes number but few families. The land assigned to the Kickapoos is a fine tract of prai- rie country, of about twelve hundred square miles, westward and northward of the Delaware reservation and south of the small tribes above named. The Shawnees is the most important tribe in the territory.j; They are more numerous and farther advanced than any others in civilization. Their reserve is one of the most fertile tracts of land, chiefly prairie, in Kansas. It is well watered with several considerable streams and has an abundance of excel- lent timber. It lies on the Missouri border south of the Kansas River, and covers a space of country equal in extent to about fifty miles square. While the late legislature were making arrangements for the passage of a law to take the census of Kansas preparatory to an election for delegates to form a State Constitution, about three thousand citizens of Missouri, partly to seize upon the Indian lands, and partly to be registered as voters to carry out the object of the contem- plated act, were rushing across the border and staking out claims upon this reservation. On every quarter section they laid what they call a " foundation.'' This is done by placing four poles upon the ground in the form of a square. In order im conform as they supposed, more fufly to the letter, if not the spirit of the pre-emption laws, some of these ingenious squatters, also " roofed in " .their ^' foundations.'' This waa 22 HISTORY OF KANSAS. accomplished by standing a pole upright in the centre of the square and nailing to the top of it a half-dozen shingles to re- present a roof. In looking at these singular creations, it is difl5cult to determine which most to admire, the ingenuity or the dishonesty which could prompt men to resort to such mis- erable pretexts to avail themselves unjustly of the benefit of a law, the true meaning and intent of which is too clearly and definitely expressed to be misunderstood. Having laid their foundations and shingled their houses, and thus established their claims, agreeably, as they pretend, to the requirements of the pre-emption laws, to lands granted by solemn treaty to the Indians, and having registered their names as citizens and legal voters, these worthy squatters returned to their Missouri homes, to await the election day, and then come back to exer- cise the freeman's right of sufi"rage and stultify the votes of actual and honest settlers. Should the lands be opened for pre-emption and settlement by treaty with the Shawnees, as IS anticipated, the claims made upon these shallow pretexts, will be maintained with pistol and bowie-knife, against any who may dare to question their legality. Such is squatter sovereignty as understood and practised on the western bor- ders of Missouri. On this reservation, near Westport, Mo., stands the " Shaw- nee Mission'' of the Methodist Church South. Three sections of their best lands were granted by the Shawnees to this mis- sion, which are handsomely fenced in, partly with stone, and upon which are erected several substantial and capacious brick buildings, all of which has been accomplished by government funds and per centages on Indian annuities. Two sections of the three . comprising this elegant farm, which is better improved and more profitably cultivated than any in the terri- tory, has, by skilful management on his part, become the pro- perty of Rev. Thomas Johnson, the head of the church, and late President of the Council of the Legislative Assembly. Although there are shades of difi'erence in the moral condi- tion and industrial habits of the Indians in Kansas, there are very few of them, who are likely to profit materially by the arts of civilization. It is an exception to the general rule when a full blooded Indian is found to possess any admirable traits of character. Neither education nor Christianity seems to make any marked improvement in his habits or deportmeuii He is improvident, inhospitable and treacherous, with just industry and energy enough to keep himself from starvation, # ^ INDIAN CHARACTER AND DESTINY. 23 but not enough to pay any proper regard to personal cleanli- ness. Yet it is no uncommon thing to hear white men boast of the possession of Indian blood. What peculiar enviable quality it is supposed to impart it would be difficult to deter- mine. An anecdote is told of a certain judge, the head of one of the " first families in Virginia/' who was exceedingly proud of his Indian origin. He was haughty, vain, tyrannical and somewhat celebrated for ]^^ . ill manners. In conversation with a gentleman, who happened to make a remark that dis- pleased him, the judge insolently replied: "I suppose, sir, you do not know that I have Indian blood in my veins ?" ^'No sir," was the answer, ''I did not know it, but I would fudge so from your behaviour I'' The destiny of the Indian races, is so plainly written that 11 can easily be read. The idea that they can live among and mingle with white people, acquire their habits and adopt their customs^ is not entertained by any who understand their cha- racter. They will readily learn and imitate all the evil prac- tices of civilized life, but they generally fail to profit by those which are good. ^ The recent treaties with the difi*erent tribes, are intended to give to each individual of each 'tribe his own quota of land, and not again to attempt their removal to a distant locality. The land thus acquired, they are too indolent to cultivate. It will soon pass into the hands of the crafty and grasping white man, and the proceeds be squandered in the purchase of bad whiskey. If sloth, and filth, and drunkenness fail to kill them, they must leave the white man's settlements, and wander, (who can tell where ?) fugitives and vagabonds upon the face of the earth. Another century will not have passed, when the Indians of America will have an existence only ou the pages of history. m 24 HISTORY OF KANSAS. CHAPTER III. Application of Missouri for admission into the Union. — The restriction and compromise bills of 1818-19-20. — Debates on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. — The Organic Act of Kansas Territory. The inhabitants of Missouri '^K?^ing desirous of admission into the Union, a bill for that purpose was introduced into Congress in the session of 1818-19. In consequence of Mr. Taylor, of New York, having introduced into it what was then called " the Restriction,'^ providing that involuntary slavery should not exist in the proposed new State, the bill, after having passed in the House of Representatives, was lost in the Senate. After the adjournment of Congress, the " restriction" be- came a question of very general public interest. It was liber- ally discussed in the leading journals, and speeches in relation to it were delivered to large assemblies by some of the most prominent men of the country. It was revived in Congress at its next session, which met on the 7th December, 1819, and debated in both Houses for a great length of time with a bitterness of feeling on both sides which exceeded anything that had ever been known in the national councils. At length a '' compromise" was proposed by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, fixing the line of 36° 30' as the future boundary between free and slave States. This, at first, met with little better favor in certain quarters than the absolute '' restriction," and was discussed with quite as much spirit and rancor. It finally, however, passed both Houses, and after being sub- mitted by President Monroe to all the members of his Cabinet to ascertain their opinions in regard to its constitutionality, it received his signature and became a law on the 6th of March, 1820. The distinguishing feature of this bill is embraced in the following" section : " Shot. 8. And be it further enacted, That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36° 30^ north, not within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be and hereby is, forever prohibited." ORGANIC ACT. 25 ■ It was generally- supposed that by the passage of this act the question of slavery extension in the United States was forever set at rest. But on the 7th of June, 1836, a bill was passed, without opposition, ceding to Missouri a triangular piece of land between the Missouri River and the west line of the State. By the " compromise," this tract, lying north of 36° 30', was, with all other portions of the Territories, to be forever free from slavery ; but from the period of its cession to Missouri until the present time^ slaves have been introduced and held therein. At the session of Congress for 1853-4, a bill was intro- duced which provided that all that part of the territory of the United States included between the summit of the Eocky Mountains on the west, the States of Missouri and Iowa on the east, the 43° 30' north latitude on the north, and the Territory of New Mexico and the parallel of 36° 30' north latitude on the south, should be organized into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Nebraska. This bill was introduced to the Senate by Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, on the 14th of December, 1853, and referred to the Committee on Territories, and on the 4th of January follow- ing was reported back by Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, chairman of the committee, with sundry important amendments; and subsequently the same gentleman introduced a substitute for the original bill, which provided for the creation of two ter- ritories — Kansas and Nebraska — and repealed or abrogated the compromise of 1820 respecting the extension of slavery. The debates upon this bill were even more strong, if possible, than those which resulted in the passage of the com- promise act. Nor was the interest excited confined to Wash- ington. The whole country was awakened to the importance of the measure proposed, and public meetings were held in various localities either for its approval or condemnation. Speeches especially characterized by the violence of their de- nunciations were delivered; the press teemed with partisan maledictions ; and addresses and petitions were forwarded to Congress to influence its action. In both Houses the discus- sion was carried on with a vehemence and passion rarely ex- hibited in a deliberative body. Several amendments were made to the substitute of Mr. Douglas before its final passage on the 25th of May, 1854. It received the signature of President Pierce on the 30th of 3 26 HISTORY OF KANSAS. the same month. The most important part of this act; so fai as it relates to the Territory of Kansas, is as follows : *' Sect. 19. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, beginning at a point on the western boundary of the state of Missouri, where the thirty- seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same ; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico ; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight ; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains ; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude ; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the state of Missouri ; thence south with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning, be, and the same is, hereby created into a temporary gover-nment by the name of the Territory of Kansas ; and when admitted as a state or states, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at 'the time of their admission : Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said territory into two or more territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said territory to any other state or territory of the United States : Frovided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of persons or property now pertaining to the Indians in said territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States an 1 — • • CHAPTER IV. The organic act a compromise measure. — Kansas intended for a slave state. — Conduct of the pro-slavery party. — Persecutions of free-state people. — New England Emigrant Aiil Societies. — Public meetings. — • Blue Lodges. — Invasion from Westport. — Arrival of -Governor Reeder. — Judges of the Supreme Court. The repeal of the compromise bill of 1820 by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854, was, of itself, though not so specified or implied, a sort of compromise measure. The original act as has been stated, provided for the organization of a single territory, to be called Nebraslia, which was to em- brace all that section of country which now constitutes the Territory of Kansas. The locality of the greater portion of Nebraska as thus designed; its ready access to immigration from the north ; and its peculiar adaptation as respects both climate and soil, to free labor, rendered it certain of being re- ceived into the Union at an early day as a free State. The southern politicians could not wisely and openly object to its organization upon this ground. Hence a more judicious policy, as it was less likely to meet with determined opposition aiid L 28 HISTORY OF KANSAS. condemnation, was adopted. The substitute of Mr. DougJas, though it could not prevent the erection of a new free state, would at least so far keep up the equality as also to create another state, into which slavery would be introduced. By the proposition to erect two new territories instead of one, as at first proposed, and to allow the inhabitants of each to deter- mine for themselves whether slavery should or should not be admitted, it was intended and so understood, that Nebraska should become a free and Kansas a slave state. This was, beyond all question, the object and meaning of the Kansas- Nebraska bill of Mr. Douglas, and it was so regarded, as all its acts show, by the late administration. This, in fact, is the only excuse, although by no means a sufficient one, that can be offered in extenuation of the outrages that have subsequently been committed against free-state settlers. Many members of the pro- slavery party, believing it to have been a matter understood and fixed by certain contracting powers and the heads of the general government, that Kansas was to become a slave state, in order to keep up an equilibrium of northern and southern sectional and political interests, conscientiously supposed that instead of its being a criminal ofience, it was not only justifiable, but a virtue, to persecute, even to death, all northern people who should enter the territory with a dis- position to defeat or thwart that object. All such were regarded as intruders, whom it was proper to remove at all hazards and by whatever means, however cruel or oppressive, that could be employed. This sentiment was not confined to Kansas and the adjoining State of Missouri, but was entertained by persons high in authority elsewhere, and especially at the seat of the federal government. By many it was freely acknowledged and boldly advocated. On the other hand, there were many northern men who regarded the Kansas-Nebraska act as an mtamous scheme to violate a sacred compact, and to perpetuate and extend, in opposition to every honorable principle, an insti- tution which they view with horror and detestation. No sooner was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act made known than great numbers of the residents of Missouri crossed into the new territory, seized upon its best lands, not respect- ing the rights of the Indians to their reservations, and availing themselves of the squatter sovereignty clause of the act, com- menced laying foundations for the permanent establishment of slavery. The reputed value of the lands and salubrity of the climate, THE BLUE LODGES 29 also directed tlie attention of many eastern and northern people towards Kansas, and a large emigration from tliose regions commenced at an early day. To facilitate this, " Emigrant Aid Societies" were estahlished, and under their auspices compa- nies were formed, the first of which numbering about thirty, persons, arrived in the territory on the first of August, 1854, and settled at what is now the town of Lawrence. Other parties arrived soon after, and located themselves in that and other neighborhoods. 'i'he pro-slavery party fancied it saw in the immigration of these large northern companies serious cause to apprehend the defeat of a measure that had occasioned great anxiety; been attended with many difficulties; which was of such momen- tous importance ; and until now gave promise of certain and ultimate success. It therefore resolved, as a matter of safety and interest, not only to disperse those who had already entered the territory, but to prevent if possible, the admission of all others of similar character. To this end meetings were held in various parts of the territory and in the border towns of Mis- souri, at which speeches were made and resolutions adopted of the most incendiary and inflammatory description. Some of these were so exceedingly violent and disgustingly profane, as to be unfit for publication. The tenor and spirit of them all was, that Kansas must be a slave state ; that abolitionists, and this meant all northern men not pledged to favor slavery extension, had no right t« come there, and that all such should be driven from the territory or destroyed. At one of these meetings, held at Westport, Mo., in July, 1854, an association was formed, which adopted the following resolutions : — ^^ Resolved, That this association •will, whenever called upon by any of the citizens of Kansas Territory, hold itself in readiness together to assist to remove any and all emigrants who go there under the auspices of the northern emigrant aid societies. ''Resolved, That we recommend to the citizens of other counties, particularly those bordering on Kansas Territory, to adopt regulations similar to those of this association, and to indicate their readiness to operate in the objects of this first resolution." Not content with holding public meetings, to carry out the objects specified in these resolutions, secret organizations were formed, and signs, grips and passwords were adopted, and the members bound together by secret oaths and dreadful penal- ties, for that special purpose. In the report of a committee 3* # HISTORY OF KANSAS. of Congress, appointed to investigate the Kansas difficulties growing out of the elections, the following description is given of these secret institutions : — *' It was known by different names, such as 'Social Band,' 'Friends' Society,' 'Blue Lodge,' 'The Sons of the South.' Its members were bound together by secret oaths, and they had passwords, signs and grips, by which they were known to each other. Penalties were imposed for violating the rules and secrets of the order. Written minutes were kept of the proceedings of the lodges, and the different lodges were connected together by an effective organization. It embraced great numbers of the citizens of Missouri, and was extended into other slave states and into the territory. Its avowed purpose was not only to extend slavery into Kansas, but also into other territory of the United States, and to form a union of all the friends of that institution. Its plan of operating was to organize and send men to vote at the elections in. the territory, to collect money to pay their expenses, and, if necessary, to protect them in voting. It also proposed to induce pro-slavery men to emigrate into the territory, to aid and sustain them while there, and to elect none to office but those friendly to their views. This dangerous society was controlled by men w'ho avowed their purpose to extend slavery into the territory at all hazards, and was altogether the most effective instrument in organizing the subsequent armed invasions and forays. In its lodges in Missouri the affaii's of Kansas were discussed, the force necessary to control the election was divided into bands, and leaders selected, means were collected, and signs and badges were agreed upon. While the great body of the actual settlers of the territory were relying upon the rights secured to them by the organic law, and had formed no organization or combination whatever^ even of a party character, this conspiracy against their rights was gathering strength in a neighboring state, and would have been sufficient at their first election to have overpowered them, if they had been united to a man." The pro-slavery newspapers also took up the subject, and denounced the northern immigrants in the most violent terms the English language affords, and called upon Missourians and others friendly to the institution of slavery, to drive them from the territory, or utterly exterminate them, in case of their refusal to leave. On the 6th of October, a large body of armed men, in wa- gons and on horseback, with grotesque banners and other strange devices, came from Westport to Lawrence, to disperse the settlers at that place. They demanded that the aboli- tionists should take away their tents and be off at short notice, or otherwise they would be " wiped out.'' The immigrants refused to obey this mandate, but prepared themselves in mar- tial array, to protect their property and lives. This was en- POLICY OF GOVERNOR REEDER. 31 tirely unexpected on the part of the invaders. They never imagined the possibility of the abolitionists showing fight. So, after considerable swaggering, they started back for Missouri, threatening, with huge oaths, that they would return in a week, with a force sufficiently large to compel submission to their requirements. These threats were unheeded ; the set- tlers continued to build up their town ; and the invaders did not return at the appointed time. Bands of armed men were also organized to intercept the passage of the Missouri River. These parties entered the upward-bound steamboats at Lexington and other Missouri landings, and upon finding companies of northern emigrants, deprived them of their arms, and, in many instances, com- pelled them to go back. These outrages became so frequent and intolerant, that the river was vivtually closed to all free- state travellers, who could 'only reach Kansas by taking the northern land route through Iowa and Nebraska. Andrew H. E.eeder, Esq., of Pennsylvania, having been appointed Grovernor of Kansas, arrived at Fort Leavenworth on the 6th of October, at which time the difficulties between the pro-slavery and free-state parties had not 'yet assumed a very serious or dangerous aspect. The governor was imme- diately surrounded by voluntary and patriotic advisers. Kan- sas has always been blessed with a number of this class of persons. By directing and controlling his policy, they were determined to be the governors of the governor. If he was too independent to submit to their insolent dictation, then all the machinery at their command was set in motion to thwart and embarrass his laudable undertakings. Boeder was a gen- tleman of talent and education, of unquestioned intelligence and integrity, and a lawyer by profession. He had been a life-long Democrat, and had done some service for his party. He, however, declined becoming the pliant tool of the faction that presumed to dictate his course, preferring to discharge the duties he had conscientiously assumed with justice and impartiality. This failed, of course, to give satisfaction where nothing could satisfy but adherence to the principles and an unscrupulous dispositionto promote the interests of the slavery party, whose influence was not confined to Kansas and Mis- 8t3uri, but constituted a "power behind the throne" at Wash- ington, even "more powerful than the throne itself;" and the consequence was a very brief duration of the governor's official existence. 32 HISTORY OF KANSAS. At the time Reeder was appointed governor, Samuel Dexter Lecompte was chosen Chief Justice, and Eush Ehnore and Sanders N. Johnson Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Territory. Judge Lecompte immediately affiliated with the most ultra of the pro-slavery men ; declared himself warmly attached to their ^' peculiar institution /' received their un- qualified approbation; applauded their acts; addressed thmr meetings; and went quite as far as the most exacting could possibly expect or desire. Judge Elmore was a slaveholder, and brought his slaves with him into the territory. But he was a just and conservative man, disposed to act fairly and honorably toward all classes of citizens, and disapproved of many of the outrages that were being so wantonly committed against the '^abolitionists.^' His conduct was conciliatory, and he sought rather to preserve peace among the citizens than aid in promoting contention and strife. -Judge Johnson took no part whatever in the prevailing disturbances. The two latter named gentlemen were removed from office at the same time and upon the same pretence as Governor li Reeder. They were charged with having speculated in the half-breed Kaw lands; the charge being founded upon the fact that they had stipulated for the purchase of those lands on condition of being able to obtain the consent of the govern- ment. Chief Justice Lecompte is still retained, though he was one of the early squatters upon the Delaware Trust Lands, in which he now owns a valuable estate near Leavenworth City, and has acquired considerable property in sundry pro-slavery towns. Lecompton, the capital, received his name as an acknowledg- ment of his fidelity, zeal, and devotion to the party by which it was founded. The places of Judges Elmore and Johnson were filled by the appointment of Sterling Gr. Cato, Esq., of iVlabama, and J. M. Burrell, Esq., of Pennsylvania. Judge Cato has fol- lowed closely in the footsteps of Lecompte. Judge Burrell, after remaining a short time in the territory, and becoming disgusted with the outrages and official malfeasance, it is sup- posed, to which he was compelled to be a witness, without having the power to remedy, returned to his home at Greens- burg, where he died in October, 1856. Judge Thomas Cun- ningham, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, was appointed his successor ; but he, too, after visiting the territory, resigned without ever entering upon the duties of his office. TERRITORIAL ELECTIONS. 83 CHAPTER y. Elections. — Gen. Whitfield's politics. — Meetings in Misssonri to control tha Kansas elections. — The Missouri press. — The Lynching of William Phillips. — Outrages upon the free-state citizens approved. — Destruction of the " Parkeville Luminary." The first election in the territory was held on the 29th November, 1854, and was for a delegate to Congress. There were three candidates, viz: a Mr. Flenniken, who came to Kansas with Governor Reeder; Judge J. A.Wakefield, an ac- knowledged free-state man ; and Ceneral John W. Whitfield, an Indian agent, and one of the most ultra of the pro-slavery party. That no mistake could be made in regard to Whitfield's sentiments on the slavery question, he very clearly expressed them in a speech made subsequent to the election. It is alleged, however, that previous thereto he was less positive. He then advocated the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and declared his intention to aid the actual settlers to form their own domestic institutions in their own way. His sentiments seem to have undergone a material chansce when he uttered the followins;: "We can recognize but two parties in the territory — the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery parties. If the citizens of Kansas want to live in this community at peace and feel at home, they mxisit become ' pro-slavery men ; but if they want to live with gangs of thieves and robbers, they must go with the abolition party. There can be no third party — no more than two issues — slavery and no slavery, in Kansas Territory," At the November election, large parties from Missouri, who had'entered the territory for that purpose, insisted upon voting, and having done so, returned on the same day to their homes. Of 2871 votes polled, 1729 were ascertained to be illegal, all of which were cast for Whitfield, who was elected. The fol- lowing extract in regard to this election, is from the report of the Cono;ressional Committee : ' '""''^ — i Swf *' Thus your committee find that in this, the first election in the territory, a very large majority of the votes were cast by citizens of the State of Missouri, in violation of the organic law of the territory. Of the le^gal votes cast, Gen. Whitfield received a plurality. The settlers took but little interest in the election, not one-half of them voting. This may be accounted for from the fact that the settlements c 84 HISTORY OF KANSAS. were scattered over a great extent, that the terra of the delegate to be elected was short, and that the question of free and slave institutions was not generally regarded by them as distinctly at issue. Under these circumstances, a systematic invasion, from an adjoining state, by which large numbers of illegal votes were cast in remote and sparse settlements for the avowed purpose of extending slavery into the territory, even though it did not change the result of the election, was a crime of great magnitude. Its immediate eflt'ect was to further / excite the people of the northern states, induce acts of retaliation, and I exasperate the actual settlers against their neighbors in Missouri." t Several weeks previous to this election Gen. B. F. String- fellow, Ex-Vice-President David R. Atchison, and other prominent citizens of that state, addressed large meetings in Missouri, urging the people " to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and his vile myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver." The cause, it was urged, demanded it, and '^ it was enough that the slave-holding interest wills it, from which there is no ap- peal," and if the pro-slavery party should be " defeated, then Missouri and the other southern states will have shown them- selves recreant to their interests, and will deserve their fate." These aggressions upon the rights of the settlers soon led to difficulties of a serious character. A retaliatory disposition was aroused and scenes of violence and bloodshed became quite common. The feelings evinced in certain quarters in regard to such disturbances are fully avowed in the following paragraph from the Squatter Sovereign^ published at Atchi- son, by Dr. John H. Stringfellow. '* Monday of last week a fight came off at Doniphan, K. T., in which bowie-knives were used freely. The difficulty arose out of a political discussion ; the combatants being a jM'o-slavery man and a free-soiler. Both parties were badly cut, and ive are hajypy to state that the free-soiler is in a fair way to peg out, while the pro-slavery man is out and ready for another tilt. Kansas is a hard road for free-soilers to travel." In regard to certain strictures upon Kansas outrages pub- lished in New York, the same paper discoursed as follows : — " We can tell the impertinent scoundrels of the Tribune that they may exhaust an ocean of ink, their Emigrant Aid Societies spend their millions and billions, their representatives in Congress spout their heretical theories till doomsday, and His Excellency Franklin Pierce appoint abolitionist after 'free-soiler as our Governor, yet we will continue to lynch and hang, to tar and feather, and drown every white-livered abolitionist who dares to pollute our soil." OUTRAGE UPON WILLIAM PHILLIPS. 35 Governor Reeder called an election for tlie Legislative As- sembly, to be held on the 20th of March, following. At this election outrages were committed exceeding in atrocity any- thing that had ever transpired in the history of the country Many protests were entered against the returns, which re suited in the call of an especial election, to be held on the 22d of May, for several districts, against the evidently fraud- ulent returns of which, aflSdavits and petitions had been filed. In consequence of this order of the governor, a public meeting was held on the 80th of April, at Leavenworth City, which was " ably and eloquently addressed by Chief Justice Lecompte, Ool. J. N. Burns of Weston, Missouri, and others." At this meeting it was *' Resolved, That the institution of slavery is known and recognised in tiiis territory ; that we repel the doctrine that it is a moral and political evil, and we turn back with scorn upon its slanderous authors the charge of inhumanity; and we warn all persons not to come to our peaceful firesides to slander us, and sow the seeds of discord be-, tween the master and the servant ; for, as much as we deprecate the necessity to which we may be driven, we cannot be responsible for the consequences." A committee of vigilance, consisting of thirty persons, was appointed, whose duty it was to observe and report all such persons, as should " by the expression of abolition sentiments produce a disturbance to the quiet of the citizens, or danger to their domestic relations ; and all such persons, so offending shall be notified, and made to leave the territory.^' This com- mittee found abundant employment, and was exceedingly ac- tive in issuing orders to all free-state men, who should dare to express a sentiment adverse to the institution of slavery, to quit the territory at a certain specified time, or suffer the j)enalty of death. Under its edicts many good men were driven from their homes, and their wives and children com- pelled toifflec to distant parts for safety and protection. Among those ordered to leave was Mr. William Phillips, a lawyer of Leavenworth, who had signed a protest against the election in that city. Upon his refusal to go, he was, on the 17th of May, seized by a band of men chiefly from Missouri, who carried him eight miles up the river to Weston, where they shaved one half of his head, tarred a,nd feathered him, rode him on a rail, and sold him at a mock auction by a negro, all of which he bore with manly fortitude and bravery, and 36 " HISTORY or KANSAS. then returned to Leavenwortli and persisted in remaininor, notwithstanding his life was constantly threatened and in dan- ger. He was subsequently murdered in his own house, by a company of " law and order'' men, or ''territorial militia/' under command of Captain Frederick S. Emory, simply for re- fusing to leave the town. On the 25th of May, just eight days after the perpetration of the outrage above narrated, another meeting was held at Leavenworth, over which R. R. Rees, a member elect of the Council presided. " This meeting/' the papers say, was also " eloquently addressed by Judge Lecompte," after which the following resolutions offered by Judge Payne, a member elect of the House of Representatives, were unanimously adopted : " Resolved, That we heartily endorse the action of the committee of citizens that shaved, tarred and feathered, rode on a rail, and had sold by a negro, William Phillips, the moral perjurer. " Resolved, That we return our thanks to the committee for faithfully performing the trust enjoined upon them by the pro-slavery party. *^ Resolved, That the committee be now discharged. '' Resolved, That we severely condemn those pro-slavery men who, from mercenary motives, are calling upon the pro-slavery party to submit without further action. ^^ Resolved, That, in order to secure peace and harmony to the community, we now solemnly declare that the pro-slavery party will stand firmly by and carry out the resolutions reported by the committee appointed for that purpose on the memorable 30th." Meetings were also held in numerous towns in Missouri, to approve the proceedings of the invaders at the March elec- tion, at which violent addresses were made and denunciatory resolutions were passed. The following, adopted at a meeting held in Clay county, will give an idea of their general tenor : — "Those who, in our state, would give aid to the abolitionists by inducing or assisting them to settle in Kansas, or would throw obstacles in the way of our friends, hy false and slanderoiii misrepre- sentations of the acts of those who took part in and contributed to the gloi'ious result of the late election in that territory, should be driven from amongst us as traitors to their country. " That we regard the efforts of the northern division of the Methodist Episcopal Church to establish itself in our state as a violation of \iqy plighted faith, and, pledged as its ministers must be to the anti-slavery principles of that church, we are forced to regard them as enemies to oui' institutions. We therefore fully concur with our / DESTRUCTION OF THE LUMINARY 37 friends in Platte county in resolving to permit no person belonging to the Nortbfi-n Methodist Church to preach in our county, " That all persons who are subscribers to papers in the least tinctured with free-soilism or abolitionism, are requested to discon- tinue them immediately." The Missouri press was extremely vituperative against all ■who dared to condemn the course pursued in regard to the Kansas election. The Brunswicker found fault with a con- temporary in the following choice terms : '* The last JeflFerson Inquirer is down on the citizens of Missouri who took steps to secure the election of pro-slavery men to the Terri- torial Legislature of Kansas. This is in keeping with the Inquirer's past conduct. If the editor of that paper had been in Kansas on the day of election, he would have voted with the abolitionists. That he is a negro-stealer at heart we have no doubt." ■'tj* The Platte County Limiinary, was printed at Parke ville, Mo., and was owned by Mr. Parke, one of the oldest residents, after whom the town was named. After the March election this paper ventured to condemn, though in gentle terms, the Missouri invasion ; upon which, a fe# days afterwards, April 14th, a company was formed at Platte City, and arming them- selves for the occasion, marched to Parlieville, broke to pieces the press of the Luminary, and threw it, with all the material belonging to the office, into the Missouri River. They also seized Mr. Patterson, the editor, Mr. Parke being absent, and would have killed him, but for the interference of his wife, a young and beautiful woman, who threw herself about his neck, to which she clung so firmly that it was difficult to separate them. They finally relinquished their intention, released their prisoner, and permitted him to leave the place, under the penalty of losing his life should he refuse to go or dare to return. 38 " HISTORY OF KANSAS. CHAPTER VI. Census returns, February, 1855. — The election of March 30tli. — The Legis- lative Assembly. Governor Reeder having ordered a census to be taken, the returns, on the 28tli of February, 1855, exhibited a popu- lation, exclusive of Indians, of 8,501 souls. There were 5,128 males, 3,373 females, and 3,4G9 minors. 7,161 were citizens of the United States ; 409 of foreign birth ; 242 were slaves, and 151 free negroes. There were, at this time, but 2,905 voters, which number was somewhat increased by immigration, before the election for a Legislative Assembly, which took place on the 30th of March. • This election was controlled almost entirely by citizens of Missouri, who came into the territory in large parties, took possession of the polls, drove off the regularly appointed judges and chose other* to answer their own objects, elected persons who were not ^nd never had been citizens of Kansas; and committed other atrocities, the details of which are abso- lutely too disgusting to relate. It is estimated that about five thousand Missourians, led on by men claiming respecta. bility, and certainly occupying prominent positions, visited the territory to take part in this nefarious transaction. The following extract is from the report of the Congressional Committee : "By an organized movement, wliicli extended from Andrews county in the north, to Jasper county in the south, and as far eastward as Boone and Cole counties, companies of men were arranged in regular parties, and sent i7ito every council district in the territory and into every representative district but one. The numbers were so distributed as to control the election in each district. They went to vote, and with the avowed intention to make Kansas a slave state. They were generally armed and equipped, carried with them their own provision and tents, and so marched into the territory." Another paragraph in the same report, which gives a de- tailed statement of the outrages committed at this election, carefully gathered from the examination of fitnesses under oath, asserts : "The Missourians began to leave on the afternoon of the day of election, though some did not go home until the next morning. FRAUDULENT ELECTION. 89 "In many cases, when a wagon-load had voted, they immediately started for home. On their way home they said if Governor Ileeder did not sanction the election they would hang him. " This unlawful interference has been continued in every important f^u)^ '^^JC^ event in the history of the territory. Every election has been con-j^ ,^« j-^ trolled', not by the actual settlers, but by citizens of Missouri; and,^^^ nA.'V*^^ as a consequence, every officer in the territory, legislators, except those appointed by the President, tions to non-resident voters." QS 01 Missouri; andj'T^ iZ^^^ T, from constables to,^ ^^u^ dent, owe their posi- W ff^Ur^J^^ « Instead of making any attempt to conceal or deny the frauds committed at this election, the pro-slavery people of Missouri boasted of the fact, and maintained they had as much rio;ht to vote in Kansas accordine- to the terms of the Organic Act, having been there but five minutes, as though they had been residents for as many years. The press of Missouri urged the people to go to Kansas to vote. The Liberty, Clay county, paper, contained the following : *' The election in Kansas Territory is close at hand, and we embrace this, the last opportunity we will have before the attempt, of admonish- ing Missouri and southerners that it is the part of wisdom as well as prudence to employ every means of preparation necessary to a suc- cessful combat for the issue which is suspended upon it." The Weston Reporter of March 29th (1855), says : — ♦'Our minds are already made up as to the result of the election in Kansas to-morrow. The pro-slavery party will be triumphant, we prestime, in nearly every precinct. Should the pro-slavery party fail in this contest, it will not be because Missouri has failed to do her duty to assist friends. It is a safe calculation that two thousand squatters have passed over into the promised land from this part of the state within four days." After the election, the Missouri papers were filled with jubilant expressions of victory. The Platte Argus says : ^' It is to be admitted that they — the Missourians — have conquered Kansas. Our advice is, let them hold it or die in the attempt." Protests from several of the election districts, numerously signed, having been forwarded to the governor, he refused issuing certificates to the members whose seats were thus con- tested, whereupon an open war was declared upon him by the pro-slavery party. A meeting was held at the seat of govern- ment at which the right of the governor to call a new election was denied, and a resolution passed saying that " in the event a new election shall be ordered by the governor in any dis- 40 HISTORY OF KANSAS. trict, we recommend to erery law-abiding and order-loving citizen of Kanzas Territory not to attend said election, but rely on the returns already made to sustain the claims of those returned heretofore to their seats in each house/' The governor, notwithstanding, did order a new election in six of the contested districts, which called forth the fury of the Missouri papers. Of the articles published, the following from the Bru7iswicher is a choice specimen : "We learn, just as we go to press, that Reeder has refused to give certificates to four of the Councilmen and thirteen members of the^ House. He has ordered an election to fill their places on the 22d of May. This infernal scoundrel will have to be hemped yet." The pro-slavery party took no interest in the May election, having determined not to recognize it, except in the Leaven- worth district, where they re*elected their candidates by Missouri votes. In all the other districts free-state men were elected. But upon the assembling of the Legislature their seats were refused them, and given to those elected on the 30th of March. There was but one free-state member whose seat could not be deprived him upon any pretence whatever, and this he volun- tarily resigned, leaving the entire assembly of the same political complexion. The Kansas Legislative Assembly, elected by Missouri votes, convened, agreeably to the order of Governor Reeder, at Paw- nee City, near Fort liiley, in the interior of the territory, on the 2d of July, 1855. On the 4th, an act was passed to remove the seat of government to Shawnee Mission, near the Missouri border. This bill was vetoed by Governor Reeder, but was subsequently adopted by a two-third majority, and became a law. This body was in session less than fifty working days ; but in looking over the published records of the amount of labor it performed, it might be regarded as the most industrious legislative assembly that ever had an existence. Besides its journals, embracing two good sized duodecimo volumes of seve- ral hundred pages, it discussed and adopted laws filling more than a thousand octavo pages. How this was accomplished would be a mystery to the uninitiated ; for it would have required all the time occupied by the meetings to read, at a rapid rate^ even a part of the enactments ] but the mystery is revealea when it is understood that the Missouri code was adopted without the laborious ' formality of reading, with the simple Il REEDER AND THE KAW LANDS. 41 instructions to the clerks to substitute the name of " Kan- sas Territory" wherever the "State of Missouri" occurred. There were, however, some additions made that never could have received the sanction of a Missouri Legislature These were test and election laws, so odious that even the Kansas officials, corrupt as they were, did not attempt their enforcement, and hence remained dead letters upon the statute book. The person claiming to be the author of these laws says he wrote them when under the evil influence of bad whis key, and that they passed the Houses when-^the other members were in about the same condition as he was when they were written and presented. This was as rational an explanation as could have been given for their conception and adoption. The Legislature adjourned on the 30th of August, having fixed the permanent seat of government at Lecompton. This was about as inaccessible and inconvenient a place as could have been chosen in the territory; but, as it is maliciously affirmed, that the members received from the town company liberal grants of town lots as the price of their votes, they could afford to travel somewhat out of the ordinary way, and suffer a few- trifling discomforts, especially as the public welfare was thus to be promoted. CHAPTEH VIL Removal of Governor Reeder. — Secretary Woodson. — Assumption of power by the Legislature. — Office-holders all pro-slavery men. — Free-state mass meetings and conventions. — Elections for delegate to Congress. — Free- state ConstiWition adopted. — Dr. Charles Robinson elected governor. — Meetings of the State Legislature. — Arrest of Robinson and others for high treason. — The Topeka Legislature dispersed by Col. Sumner. Governor Eeeder made a visit to Washington in the spring of 1855, leaving Kansas on the 19th of April, to consult with the administration on the affairs of the territory. When about to take his departure for the west, on the 11th of June following, he received a letter from Secretary Marcy, charging him with irregular proceedings, in the purchase of Indian lands. The governor replied to this letter, after he had again reached Kansas, explaining the circumstances in question, and showing that the charge had no foundation other than in the fact that 4 * 45 HISTORY OF KANSAS. he was one of a company wlio had proposed to purchase a por- tion of the Kaw lands, provided the sanction of the government could be obtained, otherwise the purchase was of no avail, Althouo'h this pretended speculation was the ostensible ground for his removal, of which he received official information on the 31st of July, it was evident that other reasons, not made public, had influenced the action of the administration. He did not please the southern wing of the Democratic party, and the leading pro-slavery men clamored for his dismissal. From these he had suffered every possible annoyance, even to having been assaulted and beaten in his own office by Gen. B. F. Stringfcllow, for having, as was alleged, spoken unfavorably, when in the east, of border ruffianism. The Legislative As- sembly also sent a memorial to Washington, preferring charges against him, which were not received until after his removal. The speculation in the half-breed lands, therefore, while it furnished a pretext, was not the real cause for the removal of Heeder. The secretary of the territory, Daniel Woodson, was, agreea- bly to a provision in the organic law, acting governor, from the 31st of July, until Wilson Shannon, the successoi* to Reeder, arrived in the territory on the 1st of September. Woodson was all that the pro-slavery party desired. There was nothing in which he was not willing and ready to do their bidding. He was emphatically a man after their own heart. And so well pleased were they with his soundness and pliancy, that petitions were ft^rwarded to Washington, to obtain for him the appointment of governor. There was no possible reason to fear that he would be guilty of the commission of any act that would favor the free-state people, or that would not have for its chief object the advancement of the pro-sla^'^ery cause. Previous to the removal of Reeder, the Legislative Assem- bly had passed enactments stripping the governor of almost every vestige of power, attempting even to deprive him of the privileges granted by the organic act. They arrogated to themselves the appointment of all the territorial officers, and selected none but persons of their own class, and those who were known to be of the most ultra character. In this they had strictly followed the policy of the administration, all whose appointments were of the same description ; so that, after the removal of Reeder, there was but one man. and he the postmaster at Lawrence, who held an office, either under the federal government; or by appointment of the legislature, ELECTION FOR DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. 43. or tTiroue;li their assents, wlio was not in favor of introducinoj slavery into the territory, and through any means by "which it could be effected. The free-state settlers, believing themselves the subjects of a cruel persecution; feeling they could not obtain any sympa- thy from the general government ; and knowing they might look in vain for justice at the hands of the territorial officers, held mass meetings and conventions, to discuss with each other the subject of their grievances. At one of these meetings, , a resolution was passed, requesting '' all bona fide citizens of Kansas Territory, of whatever political views or predilections, to consult together, in their respective election districts,^' and elect ''delegates to assemble in convention, at the town of Topeka, on the 19th day of September, 1855, then and there to consider and determine upon all subjects of public interest, and particularly upon that having reference to the speedy formation of a state constitution, with an intention of imme- diate application to be admitted as a state into the Union of the United States of America/' A convention, numerously attended, was held at Big Springs, on the 5th of September, at which it was resolved, that the Legislative Assembly had been fraudulently elected ; '' that j its laws had no validity or binding force ', and that every free- |/> man was at liberty, consistently with his obligations as a citi- zen and a man, to defy and resist them/' A resolution was also passed denunciatory of the judiciary, for enteriDg '' into a partisan contest, and, by extra-judicial decision, giving opinions in violation of all propriety/' It was further resolved to endure and submit to the laws of the spurious legislature "no longer than the best interests of the territory require, as the least of two evils;" and to "resist them to a bloody issue as soon as it could be ascertained that peaceable remedies should fail, and forcible resistance furnish any reasonable prospect of success;" and, in the mean time, the resolution read, " we recommend to our friends throughout the territory, the organization and discipline of volunteer companies, and the procurement and preparation of arms." They especially repudiated the election law, determined not to meet on the day appointed for election, but resolved themselves to " fix upon a day for the purpose of electing a delegate to Con- gress." Agreeably to this last resolve, the 9th day of October was set apart for the election of a delegate to Congress, at. which 44 HISTORY OF KANSAS. election Governor Reeder received two thousand eight hun- dred and sixteen free-state votes, the pro-slavery party taking no part in the election. This party had already held an elec- tion on the first of the month, when Whitfield received over three thousand votes, more than eight hundred of them, as before, polled by invaders from the neighboring state. The free-state people kept away from the polls on that occasion. Both Whitfield and Reeder presented themselves in Wash- ington, and claimed their seats as delegates. After a careful investigation of the circumstances, both were rejected, though each received his mileage. At the same time the free-state election for delegate to Congress was held, delegates to form a constitutional conven- tion were also elected. This convention assembled at Topeka, on the 23d of October, 1855, at which a state constitution was adopted, the important feature of which is, that "slavery shall not exist in the state." This Constitution was submitted to the people for ratifica- tion, on the 15th December, 1855, when it received a respect- able popular vote. At some of the election districts, disturb- ances were created, and at Leavenworth, the poll-books were seized and destroyed. But as a general thing, the election was permitted to go off even more quietly than could, under the agitated condition of the territory, have been reasonably expected. Just one 3veek after this December election, a caucus meet- ing was held in Lawrence to nominate a free-state ticket for state officers under the Topeka Constitution. At this meet- ing, Dr. Charles Robinson, received the nomination for go- vernor, who with the other candidates then nominated, was subsequently elected. The newly elected State Legislature, assembled at Topeka on the 1st of March, 1856, and proceeded to organize a state government. Dr. Robinson took the oath of office and de- livered his inaugural address. A committee was appointed to frame a code of laws for the future state, during the adjourn- ment of the Legislature. Andrew H. Reeder and James H. Lane were elected United States Senators, to take their seats when the new state should be admitted into the Union. After the transaction of this, and other important business, the Legislature adjourned until the following 4th of July. Sheriff Samuel J. Jones, whose name must necessarily figure somewhat in these pages, as a prominent agitator in all TOPEKA LEGISLATURE DISPERSED. tlie Missouri-Kansas troubles, was present at tTie above meet- ing, busily employed iu takino; notes, and especially registering the names of the most prominent participants. Through his instrumentality, Robinson and others who were active in the movement, were subsequently arrested and held in confine- ment a period of four months, on the charge of high-treason. These men frequently demanded a trial; but the government was never ready. At length, Judge Lecompte, hearing that James H. Lane was marchins; with a large armv to set them at liberty, consented to discharge them upon bail. This will be the end of the matter, as it was never any part of the pro- gramme to give them a trial. Since the above was written, and after the prisoners had been held in bail a period of full eight months, the district attorney, as was predicted, entered nolle prosequies in their cases, and they were discharged. Previous to the 4th of July, throats were freely uttered by the pro-slavery party, that the free-state legislature should not assemble, at that time, according to its adjournment. Their first intention was to disperse the members by an armed force of their own people -, but they afterwards determined upon a wiser and safer course of action. In consequence of these threats, the free-state men began to assemble at Topeka in considerable numbers as early as the 2d of July. Some of the most prominent of the party being still in prison, and others having been driven from the territory, they were unde- cided in regard to the policy best to be pursued. Both branches of the State Legislature consequently met in con- vention on the evening of July 3d, and resolved to assemble in regular session, agreeably to adjournment, at noon on the following day. In the mean time, a large United States force, under com- mand of Col. E. V. Sumner, consisting of seven companies of dragoons from Fort Leavenworth, and four companies from Fort Riley, had encamped close to Topeka, both to the north and the south of the town. Secretary Woodson, who in the absence of Shannon, was again acting-governor, accompanied the' 'troops, as did also the United States Marshal, Israel B. Donalson. On the evening of the 2d, a committee of free-state men had been appointed to correspond with Col. Sumner, and ascertain, if possible, the object of this extraordinary warlike demonstration on the part of the United States. On the 3d, the committee received from Col. Sumner the following letter; 46 HISTORY OF KANSAS. " Head Quarters, First Cavalry, "Camp at Topeka, K. T., July 3, 1850. "Gentlemen : In relation to the assembling of the Topeka Legisla- ture (the subject of our conversation last night), the more I reliect on it the more I am convinced that the peace of the country -will be greatly endangered by your persistence in this measure. Under these circumstances I would ask you and your friends to take the matter into grave consideration. It will certainly be much better that you should act voluntarily in this matter, from a sense of prudence and patriotism, at this moment of high excitement throughout the coun- try, than that the authority of the general government should be compelled to use coercive measures to prevent the assemblage of that Legislature. "I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " E. V. SUMNEK, **Col. First Cavalry Commanding." Early on the morning of the 4th the convention again as- sembled in one of the rooms appropriated to the Legislature, when they were visited by Marshal Donalson, accompanied by ex-judge Elmore, who by request of the marshal, explained the object of their errand. He read, among other things, a proclamation of President Pierce, issued on the preceding Feb- ruary, in which he declared that the laws of the Legislative Assembly as adopted at the Shawnee Mission, should be sus- tained and enforced by the entire force of the government, and concluded by delivering a proclamation to the same effect from the secretary of the tei^itory, the acting-governor. This ceremony concluded, the marshal and judge took their departure. The excitement in the town was intense, and the entire population, embracing two volunteer companies, who were out on parade, were assembled in and about the legisla- tive hall. A short time before the hour appointed for the meeting, Colonel Sumner, at the head of about two hundred dragoons, was seen approaching at a rapid rate. Having posted two field pieces so as to command the principal avenues, he drew his forces up in front of the hall aad entered the building ; and addressing the people who were there assembled, he in- formed them that under the proclamation of the President, he had come to disperse the Legislature, which duty, though the most painful of his life, he was compelled to perform, even if it should demand the employment of all the forces in his com- mand. The members present readily consented to obey his orders, and no attempt was made at an organization. The colonel was heartily cheered as he left the hall; and when ho was about marching ofi' at the head of the troops, three groans MURDER OP COLLINS. 47 for Franklin Pierce were given with such an unanimity and hearty good will by the assembled multitude, as fairly to shake the buildins, startle the horses of the soldiers, and betoken anything but a friendly feeling toward the existing adminis- tration. CHAPTER Vlir. The Kansas Legioti. — Patrick Laughlin. — The murder of Collins. — Out- rages upon J. W. B. Kelley. — Rev. Pardee Butler ?et adrift in the Mis- souri River on a raft. — Disputes about land claims. — The murder of j)ow. — Portrait of Sheriff Jones. — Arrest and rescue of Jacob Branson. It is not to be presumed that all the outrages and crimes committed in Kansas Territory were the work of the pro- slavery party. That party will have a terrible catalogue for which to account; but in the great day of retribution their political opponents will not entirely escape condemnation. The pro-slavery men were doubtless the original aggressors; but their unworthy example was too eagerly followed by many claiming to be the advocates of freedom. The one party burned houses, and robbed and murdered unoft'euding people; and the other, in retaliation, committed the same atrocities. Buford collected a regiment of men in Alabama, South Caro- lina, and Georgia; and Jones, Whitfield and others, bands of desperadoes in Missouri, which they brought into Kansas to pillage and destroy ; whilst Lane marched in his famous ''Army of the North," whose path was also nnarked with desolation and ruin. The slavery faction established its " Blue Lodges,'^ and their opposers organized their " Kansas Legion," both of which were secret associations, bound toge- ther by solemn oaths, and having signs and pass-words of re- cognition. The only difference was, that the largest and most respectable portion of the free-state party condemned the " Kansas Legion," and took no part in its operations; whilst the '' Blue Lodges" originated with, and received their chief encouragement and support from the most prominent, wealthy and leading pro-slavery men, not only in the territory, but in various states of the Union. In the summer of 1855; an Irishman, named Patrick 48 HISTORY OP KANSAS. LangMin, wlio had formerly lived in Missouri, pretended to have become a convert to the free-state principles, and was received into the fellowship of the '' Kansas Legion/' He became a very active member, and was deputized to open encampments in sundry free-state towns. After acquainting himself with all the mysteries and thoroughly understanding the working of the entire machinery, Patrick returned to the pro-slavery party and made an expose of the whole affair, telling perhaps all the truth and adding much of his own in- vention. He also became an active persecutor of the free-state men, towards whom he exhibited the most violent hostility. This led to a personal altercation between Laughlin and a man named Collidas, both of whom resided at Doniphan. They met in the vicinity of Collins' saw-mill, where himself, sons and nephews were at work, Laughlin having with him several friends. All the parties were armed. After a wordy quarrel they were about separating, upon which Laughlin reiterated some offensive language, and Collins turned toward him. One of the pro-slavery men fired, hitting Collins, who returned the shot without effect, upon which Laughlin fired his pistol at Collins and killed him instantly. A general fight then ensued, in which bowie-knives and pistols were freely used. Several on both sides were wounded, and Laughlin seriously. He was carried to Atchison, and has entirely re- covered. This scene occurred on the 25th of October, The pro-slavery residents of Atchison had previously re- solved to rid that place of all free-state settlers, and accord- ingly, on the 8th of August, they seized Mr. J. W. B. Kelley, and after having beaten and otherwise abused him, they drove him from the town. Soon after this occurrence. Rev. Pardee Butler, a preacher from Missouri, visited Atchison, and having expressed himself rather freely in condemnation of the outrage upon Kelley, he was forthwith disposed of in a summary and somewhat novel manner. The following is the Squatter Sovereign' s relation of this affair : — ^^ On Thursday last one Pardee Butler arrived in town with a view of starting for the East, probably for the purpose of getting a fresh supply of free-soilers from the penitentiaries and pest-holes of the northern states. Finding it incon- venient to depart before morning, he took lodgings at the hotel, and proceeded to visit numerous portions of our town, everywhere avowing himself a free-soiler, and preaching the MURDER OF DOW. 49 foulest of abolition heresies. He declared the recent action of our citizens in regard to J. W. B. Kelley, the infamous and unlawful proceedings of a mob; at the same time stating that many persons in Atchison, who were free-soilers at heart, had been intimidated thereby, and feared to avow their true sentiments; but that he (Butler) would express his views in defiance of the whole community. '' On the ensuing morning our townsmen assembled en masse, and, deeming the presence of such persons highly detrimental to the safety of our slave property, appointed a committee of two to wait on Mr. Butler and request his signa- ture to the resolutions passed at the late pro-slavery meeting held in Atchison. After perusing the said resolutions, Mr. B. positively declined signing them, and was instantly arrested by the committee. '' , " After the various plans for his disposal had been consid- ered, it was finally decided to place him on a raft composed of two logs firmly lashed together; that his baggage and a loaf of bread be given him ; and having attached a flag to his primitive bark, emblazoned with mottoes indicative of our contempt for such characters, Mr. Butler was set adrift in the great Missouri, with the letter B legibly painted on his forehead. *' He was escorted some distance down the river by several of our citizens, who, seeing him pass several rock-heaps in quite a skilful manner, bade him adieu, and returned to Atchison. " Such treatment may be expected by all scoundrels visiting our town for the purpose of interfering with our time-honored institutions, and the same punishment we will be happy to award all free-soilers, abolitionists, and their emissaries.'^ Butler states that Bobert S. Kelley, the junior editor of the Squatter Sovereign was one of the most active members of the mob that committed this disgraceful act, and that he as- sisted to tow the raft out into the stream, where he was set adrift, with flags bearing the following strange inscriptions : '' Eastern Emigrant Aid Express. The Bev. Mr. Butler for the Underground Bailroad." " The way they are served in Kansas.'' "For Boston." ^^ Cargo insured — unavoidable danger of the Missourians and the Missouri Biver excepted." " Let future emissaries from the north beware. Our hemp crop is sufficient to reward all such scoundrels." Many of the personal rencontres in Kansas, grew out of 5 D 50 ' HISTORY OF KANSAS. the unsettled condition of affairs in regard to the possession of lands. Most of the " claims " had been staked out by per- sons living in Missouri, who, paying no proper regard to the requirements of the pre-emption laws, had no possible right to the property they assumed to own. These claims were, be- yond all question, legally open for the actual settler. Such was the condition of a large tract of valuable woodland, at Hickory Point, bordering on the Wakarusa, on the Santa Fe road. A free-state man, named Jacob Branson, occupied a claim in this vicinity, upon which he was living, was improv- ing, and his right to which was not disputed. The adjoining claim was vacant, and Branson invited a young man from Ohio, named Dow, to take it up, which he did, and com- menced making improvements. The pro-slavery squatters in the neighborhood determined to drive off these free-state settlers, and sent an anonymous letter to Branson, filled with threats of violence, and ordering him to leave; whilst they maintained that Dow's claim be- longed to a William White, of Westport, and persisted in cutting timber from it and otherwise annoying Dow, with the obvious and avowed purpose of creating a difficulty, Dow at length gave them notice that he would not longer submit to these abuses, but would adopt measures to defend his rights. The principal aggressors in this matter were three pro-slavery men, named Franklin M. Coleman, Josiah Hargis, and Har- rison W. Buckley. On the 21st of November, Dow had an srrand to a blacksmith shop in the vicinity, to which place he was followed by these three men, who there provoked a quar- rel with him about the claim, in the course of which Buckley 30cked his gun and presented it at Dow, who entreated him "aot to shoot. He then left the shop and proceeded along the Santa Fe road toward the house of Branson, at which he boarded. Coleman followed, and soon overtook him, the other two keeping a short distance behind. Upon reaching Cole- man's house they separated, Dow walking slowly on. As soon as he reached his house, Coleman raised his gun, and aiming at Dow's back, pulled the trigger. The noise of the explod- ing cap, the gun not discharging, startled Dow, who suddenly turned towards Coleman, and threw up his arms imploring him not to fire j when Coleman deliberately put on a new cap, raised his gun and discharged a heavy load of buckshot and slugs, whijh entered the breast and heart of Dow, killing him instantly. The other two parties to this atrocious murder, soon SHERirr SAMUEL J. JONES. 51 joined Coleman, and the three appeared to rejoice over the fiendish deed. The body of Dow lay in the road, where it fell, during the whole afternoon, when Branson, hearing of the af- fair, had it removed to his own dwelling. This occurrence was witnessed by a man named Moody and a wagoner. The authorities took no action in the matter, and on the 26th of the month, a meeting of settlers was held at Hickory Point to take it into consideration. This meeting was con- ducted with the utmost propriety, simply passing resolutions condemning the murder, and appointing a committee to take the necessary steps to bring the criminals to punishment. A proposition was made to burn their houses, but this act was almost universally condemned and deprecated by a resolution. Meanwhile, Coleman had fled towards Westport, and thrown himself upon the protection of the renowned Sheriff Jones, whom he met near Shawnee Mission, and who it is time should be properly introduced to the reader. Samuel J. Jones is, perhaps, over thirty years of age, and about six feet in height, though not stoutly built. His hair is light, his complexion cadaverous, and his features irregular and unprepossessing. His eye is small, and when in repose, dull and unmeaning. He seldom looks those with whom he is conversing full in the face, though his eye constantly wan- ders about as if he was apprehensive of some unknown dan- ger. His conversation is in short and broken sentences, always well interspersed with oaths, and generally relates to his own exploits against the free-state people, of whom he has been one of the most relentless persecutors. He delights in conveying the impression that he bears a " charmed life," and in proof of his many " hair-breadth 'scapes,'' will occa- sionally exhibit a broken watch chain or a hole in his gar- ment, effected by a ball aimed at him by some unseen enemy. He is now suffering from a pistol ball, lodged somewhere about the spinal column, which he received at night while in a tent at Lawrence. Every attempt, in which the free-state men were most active, to discover the perpetrator of this outrage, proved futile, and even the most rabid friends of Jones failed to make any great capital out of the affair. He seems to have pretty well understood the case, for he has since asserted that he believes the shot was fired by a man with whose wife he had been fooling. Sheriff Jones is one of the most zealous of the pro-slavery men, and has done as much to create and perpetuate the diffi- 5^ HISTORY OF KANSAS. culties that Lave disgraced Kansas, as any other individual. He has led in bands of invaders to prevent the citizens from giving a fair expression of their opinions at the ballot-box; interfered with the elections on every possible occasion; as- sisted in the destruction of property; and done everything in his power to harass and distress free-state people, by whom he is generally held in detestation. In none of the outrages in which he has taken an active part, however, has he exhi- bited evidences of that bravery his friends attribute to him ; for in no instance has he ever interfered with, or shown fight to his political opposers, excepting when the odds were decid- edly in his favor, as respected arms and physical and numeri- cal strength. Jones is held in the highest estimation by his party, and is always consulted when there is any mischief in contemplation. He owns some real estate, all of which is en- cumbered to nearly if not its full value, and his name stands upon the bail-bonds of some of the worst men that have yet been indicted for crime by the grand juries. When Coleman told his story to Jones, the sheriff accom- panied him to Shawnee Mission, where by advice, he surren- dered himself to Grovernor Shannon, and then accompanied Jones towards Lecompton, to be examined. Upon reaching Franklin, this party were joined by Hargis and Buckley, when a most interesting scheme was concocted. Buckley was induced to swear that his life was in danger from threats made by old Jacob Branson, the friend of young Dow, and to effect the arrest of Branson, Jones induced a justice of the peace, named Hugh Cameron, to issue a peace-warrant for Branson's arrest, which was given to the sheriff for execution. A party of fifteen was then obtained as a posse, including Jones and the two accessories to the murder of Dow, who reached Bran- son's house toward midnight of the 26th, the same day upon which the meeting at Hickory Point was held. The door was burst open, and Branson arrested while in bed. In the meantime, the free-state settlers in the neighborhood, ascertained what was going on, and hastily forming a company, posted themselves at Blanton's Bridge, where they knew Jones must pass with his prisoner. Here the parties met about two hours after midnight, and the free-state men de- manded the surrender of Branson. Jones first swore terrifi- cally, and then coaxed the rescuers to allow him to proceed, as he was the sheriff of Douglas county, and in discharge of his official duty. The opposite party were inexorable and GOVERNOR WILSON SHANNON. 53 demanded that Jacob Branson should be delivered . into their hands. The sheriff then declared he would fire into them if they persisted, to which he received the reply that he might fire and be d — d; that at that game both parties nnight take a hand. Branson then left the sheriff's party, and, without any attempt at violent detention, joined his friends, who, leav- ing Jones mad with anger, and loudly vaporing in the road, marched triumphantly toward Lawrence, which town they en- tered before the sun had risen. A number of affidavits were made in regard to the arrest and rescue of Branson, by Hargis, Buckley, and Jones, of the pro-slavery, and sundry individuals of the free-state party, all of which substantiate the above relation, the principal dif- ference being in the unimportant fact, that the rescuing com- pany, agreeably to the account of the sheriff and his friends, were exaggerated to the number of thirty or forty, while themselves claim, which seems to be the true state of the case, only fourteen men. Coleman was taken to Lecompton, where he was discharged from custody upon entering bail in the sum of five hundred dollars. Just before the murder of Dow he htd been com- missioned as a justice of the peace by Grovernor Shannon. CHAPTER IX. Jjovernor Wilson Shannon. — Consequences of the arrest and rescue of Branson, — Meeting at Lawrence. — Military organization for defence. — Sheriff Jones requires three thousand men. — The governor orders out r the militia. — A general call to arms. — The governor issues a proclama- tion. — War excitement in Missouri. — The invading army. — Governor Shannon's excuse. Wilson Shannon, at the time of the occurrences narrated in the last part of the preceding chapter, was Governor of Kansas, having arrived in the territory and assumed the ex- ecutive functions on the 1st of September, 1855. The ob- jects of his appointment at that peculiar period, to such an important trust, though inexplicable to all who knew his quali- fications, was doubtless well understood by the administration. He had previously held several responsible public positions, in neither of which he did any great credit to himsolf or to 5* 54 » HISTOUY OF KANSAS. the appointing power. He was decidedly a pro-slavery man, though hailing from a free state, and in a speech he made at Westport, before entering the territory, proclaimed his deter- mination to exert to the utmost of his abilities, in his official capacity, all his influence and power to promote the interests of the pro-slavery cause. But he lacked the moral courage to accomplish the work he had promised and was expected to perform. The leaders of the free-state party soon understood the weak points of his character, and by appealing success- fully to his grosser passions, caused him so to vacillate as to render him a subject of their own ridicule and the contempt of those whom he desired to serve. He soon lost the confi- dence of all classes. The free-state people were content to have him retained in office, as they considered him less dan- gerous to their interests than one entertaining the same sen- timents but greater force of character; but those of the oppo- site side required a man who would stand firmly by them in every critical emergency. Hence they not only sought his removal, and left no means untried to annoy and embarrass him, but actually at last, succeeded in terrifying him to such an extent, that he fled alone from the territory with the apprehension that his life was really in danger from their hands. The arrest and rescue of Branson led to many serious diffi- culties. It was, in fact, the beginning of the war which was subsequently waged with such frightful consequences. Soon after he reached Lawrence, a meeting of the citizens was held, at which S. N. Wood, the leader of the rescuing party pre- sided, and at which, because of the fierce threats of Sheriff Jones, it was resolved to form a military organization, and to prepare to defend the town against an expected assault. Dr. Charles Robinson was chosen commander-in-chief of the volun- teer forces, and Col. James H. Lane to be the second in com- mand. A large fortification was thrown up on Mount Oread, a prominence commanding the main entrances to the cify, in various parts of which earthen breastworks, or redoubts, were constructed. Sheriff Jones hastened from the scene of his discomfiture to the town of Franklin, where he raved like one bereft of his reason, and swore terrifically that he would have revenge be- fore he returned to Missouri. He forthwith sent a messenger to Col. A. Gc. Boone, of Westport, and another to Governor Shannon, with the following dispatch : — ' , THE MILITIA ORDERED OUT. ^ 55 "Douglas County, K. T., Nov. 27, 1855. '• OTi .- Last night I, with a j^osse of ten men, arrested one Jacob Branson, by virtue of a peace-warrant regularly issued, -who, on our return, was rescued by a party of forty armed men, who rushed upon us suddenly from behind a house upon the road-side, all armed to the teeth with Sharpe's rifles. " You may consider an open rebellion as having already commenced, and I call upon you for three thousand men to carry out the laws. Mr. Hargis (the bearer of the letter) will give you more particularly the circumstances. " Most respectfully, Samuel J. Jones, ^' Sheriff of Douglas Co. ** To his Excellency, Wilson Shannon, " Governor of Kansas Territory." This requisition for three thousand men might excite ridi- cule were it not known that Jones had ah-eady laid his plans to obtain them from Missouri ; and of such a class as he knew would be willing to do his bidding. At this time the gover- nor had no Kansas militia to furnish the sheriff, no organiza- tion having ever been effected, and the entire territorial military force consisted of a few generals and other commis- sioned officers. The governor, however, desirous of gratifying the sheriff to the full extent of his means, issued the follow- ing dispatch to William P. Richardson, a citizen of Missouri, but a member of the Kansas Council and major general of the territorial militia. The governor dates, in true military stylC; from Head Quarters : — **Head Quarters, Shawnee Mission, K. T., "Nov. 27, 1855. " Ma.tor-General William P. Richardson, •'Sir: Reliable information has reached me that an armed military force is now in Lawrence, or in that vicinity, in open rebellion against the laws of this territory ; and that they have determined that no process in the hands of the sheriff of that county shall be executed. I have received a letter from S. J. Jones, the sheriff of Douglas county, informing me that he had arrested a man under a warrant placed in his hands ; and while conveying him to Lecompton, he was met by an armed force of some forty men, who rescued the prisoner from his custody, and bid open defiance to\he law. I am also duly informed that a band of armed men have burned a number of houses, destroyed personal property, and turned whole families out of doors. This has occurred in Douglas county ; warrants will be issued against tlicse meji and placed in the hands of Mr. Jones, the sheriff of that county, for execution; who has written to me, demanding three thousand men to aid him in preserving the peace and carrying out the process of the law. " You are hereby ordered to collect together as large a force as 56 , HISTORY OF KANSAS. you can in your division, and repair without delay to Lecorapton, and report yourself to S. J. Jones, sheriff of Douglas county. You will inform him of the number of men under your control, and render him all the assistance in your power, should he require your aid in the execution of any legal process in his hands. "The forces under your command are to be used for the sole purpose of aiding the sheriff in executing the law, and for none other. *' I have the honor to be your obt. servt., "Wilson Shannon." A similar order was addressed on the same day to Adjutant General Hiram J. i^trickler. The brigadier general of the second division, residing at Leavenworth City, also a member of the Council and editor of the Leavenworth Eerald, had received a dispatch by a special messenger, from Head Quar- *ters, and on the 28th issued the following order : — " Head Quarters of Second Brigade of Northern Division of Kansas Militia, Leavenworth City, Nov. 28, 1855. " ^0 the Militia of the Second Brigade: " Information has been received by me that a sta,te of open rebellion is now in existence in Douglas county, Kansas Territory. This is, therefore, to command the militia of my brigade of the Northern Division to meet at Leavenworth City, on Saturday, 1st day of December, 1855, at 11 o'clock, A. M., armed and equipped according to law, and to hold themselves in readiness, subject to the order of Major-General W. P. Richardson. " Bring your arms and ammunition along. i "LuciAN J. Eastin, "Brig. Gen. of 2d Brigade, Northern Division Kansas Militia." The following hand-bill was posted in various prominent places : — " TO ARMS ! TO ARMS !■ " It is expected that every lover of law and order will rally at Leavenworth on Saturday, December 1st, 1855, prepared to march at once to the scene of rebellion, to put down the outlaws of Douglas county, who are committing depredations upon persons and property, burning down houses, and declaring open hostility and resistance to the laws, and have forcibly rescued a prisoner from the sheriff. Come one, come all! The laws must be executed. The outlaws, it is said, are armed to the teeth, and number one thousand men. Every man should bring his rifle, ammunition, and it would be well to bring two or three days' provisions. Let the call be promptly obeyed. Every man to his post, and to his duty. "Many Citizens." A proclamation was issued by the governor on the 29th, setting forth that the sheriff had been molested in the discharge / MISSOURI VOLUNTEERS. S? of his official duties, a prisoner rescued from lis hands, and his life endangered, and calling upon all good citizens to come forward to assist in reclaiming the said prisoner, and to dis- perse a '' numerous association of lawless men, armed with deadly weapons, and svipplied with all the implements of war, combined and confederated together for the avowed purpose of opposing, by force and violence, the execution of the laws of this territory." Col. Boone, having received the dispatch of Sheriff Jones, immediately called upon sundry prominent men of Indepen- dence, Mo., for help, and upon receiving a letter asking fur- ther information, replied as follows : — "Shawnee Mission, Nov. 30, 5 A. M.* " To Dr. McMurrt and Col. Sam'l Woodson : ♦' Your favor was received. I thought I was too well known in the community to be thought capable of practising a hoax. The marshal has a requisition from the governor to arrest forty-two men in Lawrence, and they refuse to give them up, and he calls for volunteers, and if the citizens refuse to aid him, I cannot help it. They also say publicly thai they will take Coleman and Jones, and hang them both. " They are drilling in the open prairie every day, and have five fine pieces of artillery, and openly bid defiance to the laws. " A large number of them were seen crossing from Delaware and Leavenworth yesterday, going to Lawrence. "A member of the Legislature was from there yesterday morning for guns. We can only send twenty. Jones also sends for a wagon- load of ammunition and cannon. "Now act, or not, as you please. If you will send the cannon here, I will take it there myself. In haste. "A. G. Boone." Upon the receipt of this, the following circular was published and widely circulated. — "Independence, Mo., Dec, 2. " An express, in at ten o'clock last night, says all the volunteers, ammunition, &c., that can be raised will be needed. The express was forwarded by Gov. Shannon to Col. Woodson, and by Woodson to this place, to be transmitted to various parts of the county. Call a meeting, and do everything you can. "Drs. McMurry and Henry." The Col. Woodson here named, is a member of Congress from Missouri, but has on several occasions taken an active part among the Missouri invaders of Kansas. On the next day, another circular, still more inflammatory, and numerously signed by respecfahle citizens, was published at Independence, of which the following is a copy : — 58 HISTORY or KANSAS. ''Independence, Dec. 3, 8 P. M. "Jones will not make a move until there is sufficient force in the field to ensure success. We have not more than three hundred men in the territory. You will, therefore, urge all who are interested in the matter to start immediately for the seat of war. There is no doubt in regard to having a fight, and we all knoio that a great many have complauied because they mere disappointed heretofore in regard to a fight. Say to them, noiv is the time to shoio game, and^ if we are defeated this time, the territory is lost to the South." From Kansas City, tlie following dispatcli was sent to Platte county, to encourage the people of that neighborhood, and it was there circulated, accompanied with appeals for men, arms, money and provisions : — " Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 3, 8 P. M. *' Mr. Payne, the mayor of this city, went to Liberty to-day, and succeeded in raising two hundred men and one thousand dollars for the assistance of Jones." Many documents of this description were widely spread all along the western border of Missouri. Th(3 result wag that about fifteen hundred men were gathered in that state, who entered Kansas, and encamped on the Wakarusa, a few miles from the town of Lawrence. Concerning this invading army. Gov. Shannon uses the following apologetic language, which more than his acts, exhibits his weakness and incompetency to govern under the trying circumstances in which he suffered himself to become involved, by heeding the counsels and yielding to the mandates of a rash, passionate, and arbitrary subordinate. " These men," he says, " came to the Wakarusa camp to fight ; they did not ask peace j it was war — loar to the knife. They would come ; it was impossible to prevent them. What, then, was my policy? Certainly this; to mitigate an evil, which it was impossible to suppress, by bringing under military control these irregular and excited forces. This was only to be accom- plished by permitting the continuance of the course which had already been adopted, without my knowledge, by Generals Richardson and Strickler ; that is, to have the volunteers in- corporated, as they came in, into the already organized com- mand. A portion of these men, who were mostly from Jackson county, Mo., reported themselves to Sheriff Jones, by giving in a list of their names, as willing to serve in his posse ; and he, after taking legal advice upon the question, determined to receive them. They were accordingly enrolled.' n CALL FOR UNITED STATES TROOPS. 59 CHAPTER X. the governor calls upon Colonel Sumner for United States troops. — Pro- position for the Lawrence people to surrender their arms. — The go- vernor makes a treaty with the free-state generals. — Dispersion of the militia. Governor Shannon discovered that it was easier to raise than allay a storm among the excitable people with whom he had to deal, and was alarmed at the probable consequences of his own hasty action. He was sensible of the difficulty he would have to control the lawless invaders whom he had caused to be enrolled as Kansas militia. Some of the more judicious of the pro-slavery leaders saw the subject in its true and fright- ful aspects, and began to suggest measures to end the troubles without the threatened loss of life and property. Hence General Eastiu dispatched the following advice to Governor Shannon : — " Leavenworth, K. T., Nov. SO, 1855. "GovEENOR, Shannon: "Information has been received here direct from Lawrence, which I consider reliable, that the outlaws of Douglas county are well forti- fied at Lawrence with cannon and Sharpe's rifles, and number at least one thousand men. It will, therefore, be difficult to dispossess them. " The militia in this portion of the state are entirely unorganized, and mostly without arms. *' I suggest the propriety of calling upon the military at Fort Leavenworth. If you have the power to call out the government troops, I think it would be best to do so at once. It might overawe these outlaws and prevent bloodshed. *'L. J. Eastin, *' Brig. General, Northern Brigade, K. M." The governor adopted this suggestion as the easiest means of freeing himself from his unfortunate dilemma, and immedi- ately forwarded several dispatches to Colonel Sumner, com- manding at Fort Leavenworth, asking him to interpose the United States troops between the opposing parties, and thus prevent a collision. To all of which the colonel replied that he did not feel justified to act ''in this matter until orders were received from the government." Some of the leaders of the Wakarusa army had attempted to intercept Shannon's dis- patches to Colonel Sumner, in order to prevent the interference of the United States forces, until they could destroy the town 60 HISTORY OF KANSAS. , , of Lawrence. The following letter from Colonel Joseph C. Anderson, of Lexington, Missouri, indicates the feelings of the invading army : — *' Major-General William P, Richardson : "Sir: I have reason to believe from rumors in camp that before to-morrow morning the black flag will be hoisted, when nine out of ten will rally round it, and march without orders upon Lawrence. The forces at the Lecompton camp fully understand the plot, and will fight under the same banner, " If Governor Shannon will pledge himself not to allow any United States officer to interfere with the arms belonging to the United States now in their possession, and, in case there is no battle, order the United States forces off at once, and retain the militia, provided any force is retained — all will be well, and all will obey to the end, and commit no depredation upon private property in Lawrence. " I fear a collision between the United States soldiers, and the volunteers, which would be dreadful. " Speedy measures should be taken. Let the men know at once — to-nvjhl — and I fear that it will even then be too late io stay the rash- ness of our peojAe. Respectfully, your obedient servant, "J. C. Anderson." (( General Richardson was beginning to open his eyes, and to see that an attack upon Lawrence might not, after all, be an entirely one-sided battle. It had been ascertained, in the Wakarusa camp, that Robinson and Lane had not been wholly idle, but had collected a force of over one thousand men, many of them armed with Sharpe's rifles, and having in possession several cannon, and that they seemed as anxious for an oppor- tunity to resist as were their enemies to attack. Hence the general proposed to the governor, that, instead of assaulting Lawrence, it would be better, in order to prevent the effusion of blood, simply to demand of the citizens to surrender their arms. But the governor could not clearly perceive how the course suggested by his friend, would tend to "■ prevent the effusion of blood and preserve the peace of the territory." He knew the people of Lawrence too well to suppose they would peacea- bly surrender their arms, and thus expose themselves, in a defenceless condition, to the tender mercies of the fierce men who were thirsting for their blood; and he felt quite well assured that an attempt to deprive them of those arms by force, mig]^t lead to anything but the most desirable results.! He, therefore, preferred to follow the more sensible advice of Colonel Sumner, who said; ^^I would respectfully suggest GOVERNOR shannon's TROOPS. 61 that you make your application to the government extensively known, at once ; and I would countermand any orders that may have been given for the movement of the militia^ until you receive the answer," Accordingly, his excellency addressed communications to General Richardson and Sheriff Jones, ordering them to pro- ceed no further until he should receive instructions from Washington, in reference to the employment of the United States troops. Richardson readily acquiesced; but Jones, whose voice was '^ still for war,'' addressed the following rather indignant reply to the governor : — " Camp, at Wakarusa,\Dec. 4, 1855. " His Excellency, Governor Wilson Shannon : *' Sir: In reply to your communication of yesterday I have to inform you that the volunteer forces, now at this place and at Lecompton, are getting weary of inaction. They will not, I presume, remain but » a very short time longer, unless a demand for the prisoner is made. I think I shall have a sufficient force to protect me by to-morrow morning. The force at Lawrence is not half so strong as reported ; I have this from a reliable source. If I am to wait for the govern- ment troops, more than two-thirds of the men now here will go away, very much dissatisfied. They are leaving hourly as it is. I do not, by any means, wish to violate your orders, but I really believe that if I have a sufficient force, it would be better to make the demand. " It is reported that the people of Lawrence have run off those offenders from that town, and, indeed, it is said thai; they are now all out of the way. I have writs for sixteen persons, who were with the party that rescued my prisoner. S. N. Wood, P. K. Brooks, and Saml. Tappan are of Lawrence, the balance from the country round. Warrants will be placed in my hands to-day for the arrest of Gr. W. Brown, and probably others in Lawrence. They say that they are willing to obey the laws, but no confidence can be placed in any statements they may make. " No evidence sufficient to cause a warrant to issue has as yet been brought against those lawless men who fired the houses. " I would give you the names of the defendants, but the writs are In ray office at Lecompton. *' Most respectfully yours, "Samuel J. Jones, " Sheriff of Douglas county." Affairs remained unchanged until the 6th of the month, when the governor called a convention of officers, to consult with them in regard to his desires and purposes. They con- evened at his quarters, when, after defining his position, he " soon discovered," as he says, " but one person present who fully approved of the course which he desired to pursue. The 6 62 HISTORY OF KANSAS. others wished to go further. Some would hear of nothing less than the destruction of Lawrence and its fortifications, the deraoUtion of its printing presses, and the unconditional sur- render of the arms of its citizens. Others, more moderate, expressed a willingness to be satisfied, if the free-state party would give up their Sharpe's rifles and revolvers. Under these unfavorable circumstances, the conference broke up at midnight, having accomplished nothing beyond the inter- change of opinions on either side.'^ On the morning of the 7th, the governor visited Lawrence, and, in a lengthy interview with llobinson and Lane, sug- gested, as a means of safety to the citizens and of peace to the territory, that they should surrender their arms to General Kiehardson, which proposition was positively declined. - On the following day, prominent men of the pro-slavery party informed the governor that if the citizens of Lawrence did not give up their arms, the place would be attacked, and* that he had better consult his own safety and keep out of danger. His excellency, therefore, again hastened to Lawrence, where he found that the people had held a meeting, on the previous evening, and submitted to writing the terms on which they proposed to treat. ~ These, with few alterations, were agreed to, and received the signatures of the contracting parties, as follows : — *' Whereas, there is a misunderstanding between the people o^' Kansas, or a portion of them, and the governor thereof, arising out of the rescue at Hickory Point of a citizen under arrest, and other matters: And ivhereas, a strong apprehension exists that said mis- understanding may lead to civil strife and bloodshed: A7id, whereas, as it is desired by both Governor Shannon and the citizens of Law- rence and its vicinity, to avoid a calamity so disastrous to the inte- rests of the territory and the Union ; and to place all parties in a correct position before the world : Now, therefore it is agreed by the said Governor Shannon and the undersigned citizens of the said ter- ritory, in Lawrence now assembled, that the matter is settled as fol- lows, to wit : " We, the said citizens of said territory, protest that the said rescue •was made without our knowledge or consent, but that if any of oui citizens in said territory were engaged in said rescue, we pledge our- selves to aid in the execution of any le^al process against them ; thai we have no knowledge of the previous, present, or prospective existence of any organization in the said territory, for the resistance of the laivs ; and wc have not designed and do not design to resist the execution of any legal service of any criminal process therein, but pdedge ourselves to aid in the execution of the laws, when called upon by the proper GOVERNOR SHANNON AT LAWRENCE. 63 Ivuthorif?/, in the town and vicinity of Lawrence, and that we will use our influence in preserving order therein, and declare that we aro now, as we have ever been, ready to aid the governor in securing a posse for the execution of such process ; jjrovided, that any person thus arrested in Lawrence or its vicinity, while a foreign foe shall remain in the territory, shall be only examined before a United States District Judge of said territory, in said town, and admitted to bail; and provided further, that all citizens arrested without legal process, shall be set at liberty; and provided further, that Governor Shannon agrees to use his influence to secure to the citizens of Kansas Terri- tory remuneration for any damage suffered in any unlawful depre- dations, if any such have been committed by the sheriff's posse in Douglas county. And further. Governor Shannon states, that he has not called upon persons, residents of any other states to aid in the execution of the laws ; that such as are here are here of their own choice, and that he does not consider that he has any authority to do so, and that he will not call upon any citizens of any other state who jnay be here. " We wish it understood, that we do not herein express any opinion as to the validity of the enactments of the Territorial Legislature. "Wilson Shannon, *' Charles Pvobinson, "J. K. Lane. «' Done in La'jrrence, K. T., Dec. 8, 1855." The next day, December 9tli, his excellency issued orders* to Generals Richardson and Strickler and to Sheriff Jones, to disband their forces. His order to Sheriff Jones was in the words following : — " Having made satisfactory arrangements by which all legal pro- cess in your hands, either now or hereafter, may be served without the aid of your present j905se, you are hereby required to disband the same." The most singular part of this whole history is, that, while on a visit to Lawrence, and when stipulating a treaty with the free-state commanders, Governor Shannon furnished them with the following document : — "TO C. ROBINSON AND J. H. LANE, COMMANDERS OY THE ENROLLED CITIZENS OF LAWRENCE : "You are hereby authorized and directed to take such measures and use the enrolled forces under your command in such manner, for the preservation of the peace and the protection of the persons and property of the people in Lawrence and its vicinity, as in your judgment shall best secure that end. "Wilson Shannon. "Lawrence, Dec. 9, 1855." Governor Shannon had proclaimed the people of Lawrence 64 HISTORY OF KANSAS. tol^e an '' association of lawless men/' in open rebellion against the laws, and armed with the accustomed implements of war, . to resist the officers of the territory in the prosecution of their duty. He had caused their city to be besieged by a large army of infuriated men from a neighboring state, whom be had enrolled as his own militia, to subdue and disarm the rebels. But after continuing the siege nine or ten days, he visits these '' lawless men," who invite him to a *' convivial party,'^ in the midst of which, when the enraged army outside was for the time being forgotten, and all was hilarity and joy, the good-natured governor signs a paper authorizing the com- manders of the rebels to " use the enrolled forces under their command" in such manner as their own judgment should dic- tate, to resist his own forces should they attempt to prosecute the object for which they were called into the field. Grenerals Kobinson and Lane were skilful tacticians, and Shannon a most accommodating governor. Na wonder that Sheriff Jones should feel aggrieved and angry at being thus despoiled of his con- templated revenge. But it is due to the governor that he should be allowed to give his own explanation of this strange precedure. He says :' ** In the evening I was invited to attend a social gathering of ladies and gentlemen of the town of Laiorence, at the Emigrant Aid Society Hotel, which I accepted. There were but two rooms finished in the hotel ; they were small, and in the third story, and were, therefore, very much crowded by the company assembled. The time was spent in the most friendly and social manner, and it seemed to be a matter of congratulation on every side that the difficulties so lately threatening had. at length been brought to a happy termination. In the midst of this convivial party, and about ten o'clock at night, Dr. C. Robinson came to me, in a state of apparent excitement, and declared that their picket guard had just come in and reported that there was a large irregular force near the town of Lawrence, who were threatening an attack; adding that the citizens of Lawrence claimed the protection of the executive, and to this end desired me to give himself and Gen. Lane written permission to repel the threatened assault. I replied to Dr. Robinson that they did not require any authority from me, as they would be entirely justified in repelling by force any attack upon their town ; that the law of self-preservation was sufficient, and that any authority which I might give would add nothing to its strength. The doctor replied that they had been represented as having arrayed themselves against the laws and public officers of the territory, and that he therefore wished me to give him written authority to repel the threatened assault, so that it might appear hereafter, if a renconter did take place, that they were not acting agaimt, but with, the approbation of the territorial executive. MURDER OF THOMAS W. BARBER. 65 With this view, amid an excited throng, in a small and crorvded apartment, and without any critical examination of the paper which Dr. Robinson had just wi'itten, I signed it; but it was distinctly understood that it had no application to anything but the threatened attack on Lawrence that night. "It did not for a moment occur to me that this pretended attack upon the town was but a device to obtain from me a paper which might be used to my prejudice. I supposed at the time that I was surrounded by gentlemen and by grateful hearts, and not by tricksters, who, with fraudulent representations, were seeking to obtain an advantage over me. I was the last man on the globe who deserved such treatment from the citizens of Lawrence. For four days and nights, and at the cost of many valuable friends, whose good will I have forfeited by favoring too pacific a course, I had labored most incessantly to save their town from destruction and their citizens from a bloody fight." The sheriff's army disbanded agreeably to orders, the greater portion of it returning disgusted and enraged to Missouri, while the people of Lawrence, in anticipation of another visit at no distant day, went quietly though busily to work at in- creasing and strengthening their fortifications. CHAPTER XI. THE MURDER OF THOMAS W. BARBER. Thus ended the Wakarusa war, but not till a most fearful tragedy had been enacted. About one o'clock on the after- noon of December 6th, three men, named Thomas W. 'Barber, Robert F. Banber and Thomas M. Pierson, left Lawrence to proceed to their houses, about seven miles distant. They had progressed nearly four miles, when they saw a party of from twelve to fifteen horsemen, travelling the road leading from Lecompton to the Wakarusa camp. These were subsequently ascertained to be pro-slavery men, and among them were Gen. Richardson, commander of the Kansas militia; Judge S. G-. Cato, of the Supreme Court of the territory ; Jno. P. Wood, probate judge and police magistrate of Douglas county ; Col. J. N. Burns, a lawyer of Weston, Mo., and Major George W. Clarke, U. S. Agent for the Potawattomie Indians. The Barbers, who were brothers, and Piersou, their brother- 6* E . . HISTORY OF KANSAS. in-law, had just left the main road and taken a nearer path to the left. Upon perceiving this movement, Clarke and Burns put spurs to their horses, and dashed across the prairie, with the obvious intention to intercept them. The Barbers, therefore, slackened their pace, when Clarke, getting within speaking distance, ordered them to halt, a summons which they immediately obeyed. Richardson, Cato, and the remain- der of Clarke's party, continued in full sight and at but a short distance. Clarke, who is a thick set man, about five feet three inches in height, exceedingly loquacious, and conse- quential in his manners, and notorious for his violent opposi- tion to free-state people, commenced interrogating the Bar- bers, demanding to know who they were, where they were from, and where they were going; to all of which questions Thomas W. Barber made mild and truthful replies. Clarke then ordered them to turn their horses heads and go with him and Burns, to which demand Barber answered, " We wont," when Clarke drew his pistol, and taking deliberate aim, fired at Thomas W. Barber. Burns discharged his pistol almost at the same instant, Robert F. Barber then returned the shots, firing three times in rapid succession without efi"ect. Pierson had with him a small revolver, but could not get it out. Thomas W. Barber was without arms of any description. The parties then separated, taking opposite directions and gallop- ing their horses. They had proceeded but a short distance, when Thomas W. Barber remarked to his brother, with a smile, "That fellow shot me," and placed his hand against his side. Robert, perceiving that he had dropped the reins and was riding unsteadily, hastened to his assistance and attempted to support him; but in a little while he slipped from his saddle and fell to the ground. His brother and Pierson immediately dismounted ; but Thomas was dead. They were about to place the body upon a horse and convey it home, when looking around they saw the other party again in pursuit, and to save their lives, they left it where it lay, hastily mounted and fled. They had not gone far when the horse of Robert gave out, and upon an examination he was found to have been shot, doubtless by Burns, just behind the fore-shoulder on the right side. He died during the night. The body of Barber was afterwards carried to Lawrence, where it was buried. A fouler murder than this, or one for which there was so little excuse, has not been committed during all the Kansas excitement. MURDER or THOMAS \V. BARBER. 67 The pro-slavery men's account of this transaction is as fol- lows. Thsj state that they were on their way from Lecomptou to Franklin, and seeino: Barber's party turn aside from the road, " Colonel Burns and Major Clarke were detailed and rode to overtake the free-state men. This they did ; and, after halting them, a conversation ensued, in which the free-state men not only declared that there was no law nor order in the terrri- tory, but declined to surrender themselves in compliance with the demands of Clarke and his companions. Upon this both parties commenced drawing their arms, with the exception of one of the free-state men (who was most probably the man killed) ; this person sat on his horse a little apart from his companions. He had a switch in his hand, but drew no arms, nor did he appear to have any. Both parties 'squared to each other' and fired pistols, being the only weapons used. On the part of the pro-slavery men, Clarke was armed with a small five-inch Colt's revolver, while Colonel Burns had a navy revolver, which is heavier, and carries a much larger ball. After exchanging shots, the free-state men galloped oif. Burns proposed to send a long shot after them with his rifle ; but Clarke objected, saying, ' Let them go.' Burns is said to have admitted that he thought he hit the man he fired at, as he saw him press his hand to his side, or, as others state it, ^ saw the fur fly from his old coat.' " It is of little consequence which of the two men flred the fatal shot. Both were alike guilty, and both fired with the . intention to kill. The testimony of Pierson and Robert F. Barber seems to fix the crime directly upon Clarke, who, it is said, and none who know the man will discredit the story, boastingly declared, when he entered the Wakarusa camp, ''I have sent another d — d abolitionist to h-11 !" , ., A writer, who is decidedly pro-slavery in his tenden- cies, gives the following account of a visit, a short time afterwards, to the widow of the murdered man. After describing the dreary house, into which he entered, he says : — "Between a heavy pine table, on which a flaring tallow candle stood flickering and sweltering in its socket, and the half-curtained window, against which the sleet and bitins: winter wind beat drearily, sat a woman of some forty years of age, plainly clad in a dress of coarse dark stufi". She waa leaning forward when we entered, and seemed unmindful of all about her. It needed no introduction to tell us tha/ thia / 68 HISTORY OF KANSAS. was the widow of Thomas W. Barber. No, the thin hand which supported the aching head and half shielded the tear- dimmed eyes, as well as the silent drops that came trickling down those wasted cheeks, had already told the story. What could we say in the way of consolation ? What was the cause of Kansas and liberty to her f Could the success of a party or the advancement of a principle dry those burning tears? Could tliej/ soothe the sorrows of what she herself has called a poor heart-broken creature ? Oh, ye demagogues ! ye peace- breakers ! ye incendiary orators of both north and south, whose aim is to urge on a strife, that you yourselves are not slow to avoid ! could you but have stood beside us, in her once happy home, and have listened to the broken sentences, uttered with all that unstudied pathos which an agonized and grief-torn spirit alone can give, we hope, for the sake of our common humanity, that the lesson would have sunk deep into your hearts. Hear what she says : *' ^Tliey have left me a poor forsaken creature, to mourn all my days. Oh, my husband ! They have taken from me all that I held dear — one that I loved better than I loved my own life.' These are her very words. We have added nothing to them, nor have we taken auscht from them. " There are circumstances connected with the life and character of the man Barber, which make his death more par- ticularly to be deplored. He adds another to the long list of victims who have been sacrificed to the demon of political excitement. Barber is spoken of as a quiet, inoffensive, and amiable man; domestic and unexceptionable in his habits, and deeply attached to his wife to whom he had been married between nine and ten years. He was, moreover, the leading man among the agriculturists in his neighborhood ; a lover of fine stock ; and a careful pains-taking farmer. Such at least is the reputation he bore in Ohio, the state from whence he emigrated. He was unarmed when he received his death wound, and on his way to his home. His wife, to whom he had written to inform her of his coming, was expecting him. She is said to have loved her husband with more than ordi- nary devotion. Her sister-in-law tells us that they used to rally her, upon her almost girlish affection and solicitude for Thomas. It was her habit, when she saw him coming back from his work, to leave the house, and go forth to meet him on his way. If he failed to return at the time indicated, she grew anxious j and if his stay was prolonged, oftentimes passed I MURDER or THOMAS W. BARBER. 69 tlie night in tears ; when ill — the same informant tells us — she would hang over his bed, with all the anxiety of a mother for her child. She would seem, too, to have had a presentiment of some impending evil, for after exhausting every argument to prevent her husband from going to join the free-state forces in Lawrence, she said, ' Oh, Thomas, if you should be shot, I should be all alone indeed; remember I have no child — nothing in the wide world to fill your place.' And this was their last parting. The intelligence of his death was kept from her — in mercy — through the kindness of her friends, but only to be announced, without the slightest preparation, by a young man, who had been sent out from Lawrence, with a carriage, to bring her in to the Free-State Hotel, where hejr husband's body had been laid. Upon arriving at the house where Mrs. Barber was, he rode up, most unthinkingly, and shouted, ' Thomas Barber is killed.' His widow heard the dreadful tidings, rushed to the door, cried, ' Oh, God ! what do I hear ?' and then filled the room with her shrieks. We have heard, too, a description of the heart-rending scene, which took place when they brought her into the apartment where her husband's body lay; of her throwing herself upon his corpse, and kissing the dead, man's face ; of the fearful impre- cations, which, in her madness, she called down upon the heads of those who had separated her from all that she held dear; and these things were related to us by men, who turned shudderingly away from the exhibition of a sorrow which no earthly power could assuage. It is, moreover, stated that her companions were obliged to hold her forcibly down in the carriasre, from whence her frantic exclamations rang out along the prairie, as they conveyed her frcjp. her home to the cham- < ber of the dead." | And what became of him who thus wantonly destroyed the ^ life of an innocent and inofi'ensive man, and made such sad i havoc of that poor woman's peace ? As the pretended con- | servator of " law and order," he might subsequently have been f seen at the head of bands of kindred spirits, traversing the • S country, venting, as once did Saul of Tarsus, threats of slaughter and destruction ; robbing stores and burning dwellings ; in the I camps of infuriated armies bent upon ruin and desolation ; in the legislative halls, the most active of those assembled, help- ing to enact laws for the oppression of free men ; writing in- flammatory articles for incendiary newspapers; and finally, at the seat of the general government, in daily intercourse with the 70 HISTORY OP KANSAS. president and his cabinet, the new governor and secretary of Kansas, consulting and advising as to the policy to be pursued for the government of that abused territory. This man boasts of his willingness and anxiety to be tried for the terrible crime of which he stands accused. And this he may do with perfect safety. Such a trial before a judge who was a witness, if not a party to his guilt, would be but mockery and a farce. But he must yet appear before that Supreme Judge, at whose dread tribunal no false witness will be heard and no quibbles of law can screen the guilty soul. There the blood of the murdered man, and the tears and sighs, shrieks, groans and terrible agonies of that distracted widow, will appeal and not in vain, for retributive justice upon the destroyer's head. "Vengeance is mine! — I will repay, saith the Lord !" CHAPTER XII. Pro-slavery mob at Leavenworth. — Ballot-box stolen and clerk beaten. — The jail and printing office destroyed. — The election and fight near Easton. — Mui'der of Capt. E. P. Brown. — Shannon receives authority to employ tho troops. — Congressional Committee. — Arrival of Buford and his southern regiment. — Sheriff' Jones shot at Lawrence. — Rev. Pardee Butler tarred and feathered. • It would be impossible, in the limits allotted to this work, and to carry out its intentions, to give more than a mere pass- ing notice of the most important events that occurred prior to Governor Geary's arrival in the territory. Party spirit in- creased daily in violence, new accessions were constantly being made to each of the contending factious, and hordes of despe- radoes rushed into the country to take advantage of its dis- turbed condition, siniply to plunder and destroy, regardless of the consequences, or of who might be the sufferers. Brutal and shocking crimes were of daily occurrence, and a state of affairs existed too disgusting and deplorable for language properly to describe. The Topeka Constitution being submitted to the people, an election was held in regard thereto on the 15th of December. This went off quietly, excepting at Leavenworth City. Here a drunken mob from Platte county, Missouri, with horrid yells, MURDER OP E. P. BROWN. 71 curses and threats, attacked the house in which the votes were being polled, and beating one of the clerks almost to death, seized and carried ofiF the ballot-box. Three days afterward they assailed the Leavenworth jail, and after releasing one of their companions who was held a prisoner, burned it to the ground ; and on the 20th of the month a similar mob, in- furiated by evil passions and bad whiskey, destroyed the print- ing office of the Territorial Register j the free-state newspaper at that place. An election for officers under the Topeka Constitution was ordered for the 15th of January, 1856. The Mayor of Leavenworth, a pro-slavery man, elected by force and fraud, forbid such election being held in that city. It was therefore adjourned for that district to the 17th, at a house near Easton, twelve miles from Leavenworth. At that time armed parties of pro-slavery men stationed themselves at various places on the road, and intercepted the passage of the free-state people, whom they disarmed and drove back from the place of voting. Threats being made to take and destroy the ballot-box, and a dispatch having been sent to Kickapoo for a company of the " Rangers" to assist in that work, a party of twenty free-state men remained, after the polls were closed in the evening, to pro- tect the box. Late at night three of these, Mr. Stephen Sparks, his son, and nephew, supposing the danger over, started for their homes. When close to Easton, through which they had to pass, they were assailed by a party of a dozen armed men, who rushed upon them from a grocery where they were drink- ing and carousing. Mr, Sparks and his son retreated into a fence corner, where they drew their revolvers and kept their enemies at bay. The nephew made his escape, and spread the alarm among the free-state people, and Captain E. P. Brown, with fifteen mounted men, speedily came to the rescue of their friends. As they approached, the pro-slavery party retreated. At that moment a large body of the Kickapoo Rangers rushed upon the scene, and commanded Brown and his party to sur- render. This being refused, the Rangers commenced firing, which was promptly returned by Brown's men, and a general fight ensued, in the course of which both parties retreated to some empty houses, from which they continued their fire upon each other. This fight lasted over two hours, during which a pro-slavery man named Cook was killed, and several on each side were wounded. A short time after this rencontre, Brown, with seven others, 72 HISTORY or KANSAS. left for tlieir homes near Leavenworth., in a buggy and a one horse wagon. They had not proceeded far when a wagon filled with armed men passed them in the road, without any- thing being said on either side. Scarcely had they passed, when, at a bend in the road, two other wagons appeared, and also a party of mounted men. These were the Kicka- poo Rangers, who had thus fairly entrapped Brown and his party. Escape was impossible, and as resistance would have been certain destruction, Brown yielded to the wishes of his friends, and surrendered. Then commenced a series of cruelties never exceeded by the wildest savages. Capt. Martin, of the Rangers, being unable to restrain his men, after numerous efforts, turned away in disgust from their wanton atrocities. While, however, the most of them were engaged in tormenting Captain Brown, Martin succeeded in aiding the other prison- ers, who, in the meantime, had been confined in the store of a man named Dawson, to make their escape. The ruffians assaulted their unarmed prisoner with kicks and blows, and finally, after amusing themselves for some time in this way, literally hacked him to pieces with their hatchets, which, in imitation of the less savage Indians, they always carried. The fatal blow was given by a man named Gibson, who buried his hatchet in the side of Brown's skull, sinking it deep into the brain. Before life was extinct, his murderers carried him to his own house, when meeting l^is wife on the threshold, he exclaimed-, " I have been murdered by a gang of cowards in cold blood,'' and instantly fell dead in her arms. Can Heaven look upon such deeds and bless the cause in which they were committed ? February 16^/i, 1856. — Governor Shannon, in reply to his dispatches to Washington, received authority from the Federal Government to employ the United States troops to enforce the laws of the Shawnee Legislature. The President, in the mean- time, had issued a proclamation denouncing the acts of the Topeka Assembly, and endorsing those of the pro-slavery party. The Secretary of War had also forwarded orders to the commander of the military department of the west to support Shannon in his efforts to enforce the enactments of the Shawnee Assembly, and to disperse the Topeka Legislature. March 19. — The House of Representatives appointed an Investigating Committee to inquire into the validity of the Shawnee Legislature, and of the election as a delegate of Gen. Whitfield. This committee arrived in Lawrence on the 17th ARRIVAL OF BUFORD. tS* of April. During its sittings numerous attempts were made by pro-slaverj men to interfere with the investigations, and threats were freely uttered against the personal safety of fi'ee- state men who should furnish them with evidence. A Mr Mace, having been before the commission^ was on the same night shot at and wounded in his own house. Whilst Gkjver- nor Reeder was before the committee as a witness at Tecura- seh, a subpoena was served upon him by Deputy Marshal Fain, who demanded his immediate presence at Lecompton, to appear before the grand jury. Keeder, knowing that the sole object was to embarrass the investigation, refused to obey tbis summons. Mr. Howard, the chairman of the commission, could scarcely imagine it possible that these apparent attempts were actually intentions to interfere with their proceedings, but declared that if they were thus to be molested, he would call to their aid a sufficient force to arrest and send the offend- ing parties as prisoners to Washington. After a lengthy and thorough examination, this commission published a voluminous report, clearly setting forth the facts of the election outrages which have been briefly narrated in this book, and showing conclusively that General Whitfield and the Kansas Legisla- ture were alike elected by violence and fraud. Early in the month of April, Colonel Buford arrived in Kansas, with a regiment of men from Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. The most inflammatory appeals had been made to the patriotism of these people, and flattering promises of reward given to induce them to enlist in this service, the avowed objects of which were to drive the abolitionists out of the territory and make Kansas a slave state. Some of these proved to be worthy men, and afterwards became good citizens. But the vast majority were ''lewd fellows of the baser sort,'' who were qualified and prepared for the practice of any vil- lany, however enormous. They disgraced themselves by their violence and depredations before they reached the terri- tory, and, passing through Missouri, were a terror to some of its inhabitants. After their arrival in Kansas, Marshal Do- nalson took them into pay as his posse, and Shannon armed them with United States muskets, furnished for the use of the militia of the territory. Many of these men subsequently traversed the country as bands of highwaymen and robbers. After Governor Shannon had received authority from Wash- ington to employ the United States troops to enforce the en- actments of the Legislative Assembly, Sheriff Jones was in his 7 74 HISTORY OF KAJJSAS. glory. Writs were obtained for tlie arrest of uumerous free- state men, who were charged with sundry trivial offences, and the sheriff trooped about the country executing these writs, with companies of dragoons following at his heels. He several times visited Lawrence, where, although his very presence was jconsidered an insult and an outrage, he succeeded in making arrests without resistance. The people, though not acknowledging his authority, bowed in submission to the go- vernment forces. On the 23d of April, the sheriff entered Lawrence, with a large force of United States dragoons, and arrested a number of persons, who were held as prisoners in the tents of the soldiers. At night, Jones was in his own tent, which was lighted, and, when stooping down, some person from the oat- side fired at him, and the halh took effect in his back. The wound, though severe, did not prove mortal. This affair created a lively sensation in Lawrence. Much as the citizens despised Jones, they were averse to any outrage being committed upon him in that place, as they well knew nothing would have proved more gratifying to their enemies. They consequently held a public meeting, at which the attempt upon the life of Jones was censured in the severest terms, and a reward of five hundred dollars offered for the detection of the intended assassin. Jones and his party determined to make capital out of this affair. Although he does not seem to have been seriously injured, dispatches were forwarded^^to "Washington on the subject, and even the president considered it of sufficient importance to elicit his official action. Communications, at the same time, were circulated through Missouri, and the pro-slavery papers teemed with inflammatory articles. Of these, the following is but a fair and even moderate specimen : — "Kansas is once more in oommotion. The traitors of Lawrence have again set the laws of the territory at defiance, and this time have added murder to their crime. Sheriff Jones, of Douglas county, than whom a braver man never lived, has been murdered while in the performance of his official duties — shot down by the thieving paupers of the north, who are shipped to Kansas to infringe upon the rights of southern settlers, murder them when opportunity offers, steal their property, and if possible, to raise a storm that will cease only with the Union itself. "•The excitement in this city, during the past week, has been very great. Rumors of various kinds have reached us, and although we Eelievod a difficulty had occurred, we were not prepared to hear of OUTRAGE ON-^PARDEE BUTLER. 75 . such lamentable news, — the death of the patriot Jones. His death must be avenged, his murder shall be avenged, if at the sacrifice of every abolitionist in the territory. If the pro-slavery party vviU quietly sit still and see our friends, one by one, murdered by these assassins, ■without raising their arms to protect them, we much mis- take their character. Will they again allow a northern governor to cheat them out of their just revenge? We answer emphatically, no! If the governor of this territory and the administration at Washington jtny longer attempt to force us to assume the position of outlaws be- fore we can have justice done us, the sooner such a contingency arises the better. W^e are now in favor of levelling Lawrence, and chastising the traitors there congregated, shoTild it result in the total destruction, of the Union. If we are to have war, let it come now ! While the memory of our murdered friends, Clarke and Jones, is fresh in our memories, we can coolly and determinedly enter into the contest, let it result as it may. We do not approve of the course of the governor, | in calling out the United States troops to enforce the laws of the ter- J ritory. It looks to us as a virtual admission that the law and order f party of Kansas are not strong enough within themselves to enforce I the law." * I V The sackino; of free-state towns — the burnino- of free-state nouses — the ravishing and branding of free-state women, and turning them and their helpless children naked upon the prairies — the murders of free-state men and shocking mutila- tions of their dead bodies, — were" all nothing, and less than nothing, when weighed in the balance against this villanous attempt to take the life of Sheriff Jones. That gentleman, however, was less violent than his friends and associates, in regard to this transaction ; and he was far less anxious than they, for secret reasons of his own, to discover and arrest his assailant. On the 30th of April, the Rev. Pardee Butler, having ter- minated safely his voyage on the raft, again ventured to cross the Missouri River, and make his appearance in the pro- slavery town of Atchison, when, as he says, *' I spoke to no one in town save two merchants of the place, with whom I had business transactions since my first arrival in the territory. Having remained only a few minutes, I went to my buggy to resume my journey, when I was assaulted by Robert S. Kelly, junior editor of the tSqnafter Sovereign, and others ', was dragged into a grocery, and there surrounded by a company of South Carolinians, who are reported to have been sent out by a Southern Emigrant Aid Society." Here they exposed him to every sort of indignity, calling him a d — d abolitionist, and many of them inaisting upon hia 76 HISTORY or«:ANSAs. being instantly shot or hung. There were present those, however, who protested strongly against the outrage, when Kelly, who was the prime mover in the business, fearing the consequences of murdering his victim, said he "did not take Butler to be hanged, only tarred and feathered/' To this some demurred, calling it a "milk-and-water-style" of doing things. Eventually they concluded upon their arrangements, and, as Mr. Butler himself says : — " They stripped me naked to the waist, covered my body with tar, and then, for the want of feathers, applied cotton- wool. Having appointed a committee of three to certainly hang me the next time I should come to Atchison, they tossed my clothes into the buggy, put me therein, accompanied me to the suburbs of the town, and sent me naked out upon the prairie. " I adjusted my attire about me as best I could, and has- tened to rejoin my wife and two little ones, on the banks of the Stranger Creek. It was rather a sorrowful meeting after so long a parting. Still, we were very thankful that, under the blessing of a good Providence, it had fared no worse with us all. " The first mob that senfr me down the Missouri River on a raft — always excepting Robert S. Kelly — were courteous gen- tlemen compared with this last one. When I was towed out into the middle of the stream, I do not remember to have heard a word spoken by the men on shore. This last mob, when they left me on the border of the town, shrieked and yelled like a pack of New Zealand cannibals. The first mob did not attempt to abridge my right of speech. In reply to all the hard and bitter things they said against me they pa- tiently heard me to the end. But these men, who have come to introduce into Kaasas that order of things thai now exists in South CaroUna, savagely gagged me into silence by rapping my face, choking me, pulling my beard, jerking me violently to my seat, and exclaiming, ' D — n you, hold your tongue V All tliis was done while my arms were pinioned behind me. " Many will ask now, as they have asked already, what is the true and proper cause of all these troubles which I have had in Atchison. ' The head and front of my offending hath this extent, no more': I had spoken among my neighbors favorably for making Kansas a free state, and said in the ofl&ce of the Squatter Sovereign, I am a free-soiler, and intend to vote for Kansas to be a free state. It is true that Kelly, by lecompte's charge. 77 an after-thouglit, has added two new counts to his bill of in- dictment against me. The fii-st is that I went to the town of Atchison last August, talking abolitionism. I have not the honor of being an abolitionist. And, second, that I spoke, somehow or other, improperly in the presence of slaves. All this is not only utterly false, but the charges are ex-post facto ; for not a word was said of this the day they put me on the raft.'^ CHAPTER XIII. Charge of Judge Lecompte to the Grand Jury. — Presentment. — Arrests at Lawrence. — Travellers interrupted on the highways. — The murder of Jones and Stewart. — The sacking of Lawrence. — Burning of the hotel and destruction of printing oflBices. On the 5th of May, Judge Lecompte delivered a charge, highly partisan in its character, to the grand jury of Douglas county, of which, the following extract is in his own words : — " This territory was organized by an act of Congress, and so far its authority is from the United States. It has a Legislature elected in pursuance of that organic act. This Legislature, being an instrument of Congress, by which it governs the territory, has passed laws ; these laws, therefore, are of United States authority and making, and all that resist these laws, resist the power and authority of the United States, and are, therefore, guilty of high treason. Now, gentlemen, if you find that any persons have resisted these laws, then must you, under your oaths, find bills against such persons for high treason. If you find that no such resistance has been made, but that combinations have been formed for the pui'pose of resisting them, and individuals of influence and notoriety have been aiding and abetting in such combinations, then must you still find bills for constructive treason, as the courts have decided that to constitute treason the blow need not be struck, but only the intention be made evident." The grand jury accordingly made a presentment, as fol- lows : — "The grand jury, sitting for the adjourned term of the First District Court in and for the county of Douglas, in the Territor}' of Kansas, beg leave to report to the honorable court that, from evidence laid before them, showing that the newspaper known as The Herald of Freedom, published at the town of Lawrence, has from time to tima issued publications of the most inflammatory and seditious character, 7 * 78 HISTORY OF KANSAS. denying the legality of the territorial authorities, addressing and commanding forcible resistance to the same, demoralizing the popular mind, and rendering life and property unsafe, even to the extent of advising assassination as a last resort ; "Also, that the paper known as The Karisas Free State has been similarly engaged, and has recently reported the resolutions of a public meeting in Johnson county, in this territory, in which resistance to the territorial laivs even unto blood has been agreed upon ; and that "we respectfully recommend their abatement as a nuisance. Also, that we are satisfied that the building known as the 'Free- State Hotel' in Lawrence has been constructed with the view to military occupation and defence, regularly parapeted and port-holed for the use of cannon and small arms, and could only have been designed as a stronghold of resistance to' law, thereby endangering the public safety, and encouraging rebellion and sedition in this country ; and respectfully recommend that steps be taken whereby this nuisance Inay be removed. *'OwEN C. Stewart, Foreman." In order to accomplisli the objects of this presentment, whicli was siraply a declaration of war against Lawrence, a number of writs were made out and placed in the hands of the marshal for the arrest of prominent citizens of that place. Although it is asserted that no attempts were made to resist the marshal's deputies in serving these writs, the marshal, on the 11th of May, issued the following proclamation : — ** To THE People of Kansa'S Territory : "Whereas, certain judicial writs of arrest have been directed to me by the First District Court of the United States, etc., to be executed within the county of Douglas, and whereas an attempt to execute them by the United States Deputy Marshal was evidently resisted by a large number of the citizens of Lawrence, and as there is every reason to believe that any attempt to execute these writs will be resisted by a large body of armed men ; now, therefore, the law-abiding citizens of the territory arc commanded to be and appear at Lecompton, as soon as practicable, and in- numbers sufficient for the execution of the law. " Given under my hand, this 11th day of May, 1856. " I. B. DONALSON, *< United States Marshal for Kansas Territory." Previous to the publication of this proclamation, Buford's regiment, and other armed bands, had taken up positions in the vicinity of Lawrence, who were not only committing depreda- tions upon the property of the settlers, but were intercepting, robbing, and imprisoning travellers on the public thoroughfares, and threatening to attack the town, in consequence of which a meeting was held, and a committee appointed to address Gov- TOWN MEETINGS AT LAWRENCE. ernor Shannon, stating the facts in gentle terms, and asking his protection against such bands by the United States troops at his disposal. To this respectful application the committee received the following reply : — "Executive Office, May 12, 1856, " Lecompton, K. T. ** Gentlemen : Yoiir note of the eleventh inst. is received, and, ia reply, I have to state that there is no force around or approaching La-vvrence, except the legally constituted posse of the United States Marshal and Sheriff of Douglas county, each of whom, I am informed, have a number of writs in their hands for execution against persons ; now in Lawrence. I shall in no way interfere with either of these officers in the discharge of their official duties. "If the citizens of Lawrence submit themselves to the territorial laws, and aid and assist the marshal and sheriff in the execution of processes in their hands, as all good citizens are bound to do when called on, they, or all such will entitle themselves to the protection of the law. But so long as they keep up a military or armed organization to resist the territorial laws and the officers charged with theiT execution, I shall not interpose to save them from the legitimate consequences of their illegal acts, "I have the honor to be yours, with great respect, " Wilson Shannon. " Messrs. C. W. Toplief, John Hutchinson, W. Y. Roberts." Still desirous of averting the impending difficulties, the citizens of Lawrence held another meeting on the 13th, when the following preamble and resolution were adopted, copies of which were immediately forwarded to Marshal Donalson and Crovernor Shannon : — "Whereas by a proclamation to the people of Kansas Territory, by I. B. Donalson, United States Marshal for said territory, issued on the 11th day of May, 1856, it is alleged that 'Certain judicial writs of arrest have been directed to him by the First District Court of the United States, etc., to be executed within the county of Douglas, and that an attempt to execute them by the United States Deputy Marshal was violently resisted by a large number of the citizens of Lawrence, and that there is every reason to believe that any attempt to execute said writs will be resisted by a large body of armed men ; therefore, " Resolved, By this public meeting of the citizens of Lawrence, held this thirteenth day of May, 1856, that the allegations and charges against us, contained in the aforesaid proclamation, are wholly untrue in fact, and the conclusion which is drawn from them. The aforesaid deputy marshal was resisted in no manner whatever, nor by any person whatever, in the execution of said writs, except by him whose arrest the said deputy marshal was seeking to make. And that we now, as tfe have done heretofore, declare our willingness and determination, 80 HISTORY OP KANSAS. •without resistance, to acquiesce in the service upon us of any judicial ■writs against us by the United States Deputy Marshal for Kansas Territory, and will furnish him with a posse for that purpose, if so requested ; but that we are ready to resist, if need be, uut^ death, the ravages and desolation of an invading mob. "J. A. Wakefield, President." On the 14th, still another meeting was held at Lawrence, and a letter, signed by a large and respectable committee ap- pointed for the purpose, was sent to the marshal, in which it was affirmed " that no opposition will now, or at any future time, be offered to the execution of any legal process by your- self, or any person acting for you. We also pledge ourselves to assist you, if called upon, in the execution of any legal pro- cess. " We declare ourselves to be order-loving and law-abiding citizens ; and only await an opportunity to testify our fidelity to the laws of the country, the constitution, and the Union. " We are informed, also, that those men collecting about Lawrence openly declare that it is their attention %d destroy the town and drive off the citizens. Of course we do not believe you give any countenance to such threats ; but, in view of the excited state of the public raiud, wc ask protection of the constituted authorities of the government, declaring our- selves in readiness to co-operate with them for the maintenance of the peace, order, and quiet, of the community in which we live.'' In reply to this the marshal sends a lengthy communica- tion, intended to be bitterly sarcastic, which he closes with these words : — "You say you call upon the constituted authorities of the government for protection. This, indeed, sounds strange from a large body of men armed with Sharpe's rifles, and other implements of war, bound together by oaths and pledges, to resist the laws of the government they call on for protection. All j;>ersons in Kansas Territory, without regard to location, who honestly submit to the constituted authorities, will ever find me ready to aid in protecting them ; and all who seek to resist the laws of the land, and turn traitors to their country, will find me aiding and enforcing the laws, if not as an officer as a citizen." Whilst these documents were passing, the roads were block- aded by the marshal's posse of southern volunteers, upon which no man without a passport could safely venture. Captain Sam SACKING OF LAWRENCE. 81 uel Walker, wlio had carried one of the aboye-mentioned letters to Lecorapton, was fired upon on his return to Lawrence. Mr. Miller, who with two others had gone up to negotiate with the governor for an amicable adjustment of the pending troubles, was taken prisoner by a detachment of Buford's South Caro- linians near Lecompton, who knowing him to have been from their own state, tried him for treason and sentenced him to be hung. He contrived, somehow, to get away with the loss of his horse and purse. Mr. Weaver, a sergeant-at-arms of the Congressional Committee, was arrested while in the discharge of his duty, and carried across the Kansas River, to the kSouth Carolinian camp, wtPffre after a critical examination of his papers, he was discovered to be in the service of the United States, and released, the officer in command giving him a pass, and kindly advising him to answer promptly, if challenged, otherwise he might be shot. Outrages of this kind became so frequent that all travel was at last suspended. On the 17th of May the citizens of Lawrence, through a committee, again addressed the United States Marshal, in the words of the following letter : — "Lawrence, K. T., May 17, 1856. *'I. B. DoNALSoN, U. S. Marsual of K. T. " Dear Sir: We desire to call your attention, as citizens of Kansas^ to the fact that a large force of armed men have collected in» the vicinity of Lawrence, and are engaged in committing depredations upon our citizens; stopping wagons, arresting, threatening and robbing unoffending travellers upon the highway, breaking open boxes of merchandise, and appropriating their contents ; have slaughtered cattle, and terrified many of the women and children. " We have also learned from Governor Shannon, ' that there are no armed forces in the vicinity of this place but the regularly constituted militia of the territory — this is to ask if you recognise them as your posse, and feel responsible for their acts. If you do not, we hope and trust you will prevent a repetition of such acts, and give peace to the settlers. " On behalf of the citizens, "C. W. Babcock, *' Lyman Allen, "J. A. Perry." To this communication no reply was given. In the mean time, preparations were going forward, and vigorously prose- cuted, for the sacking of Lawrence. The pro-slavery people were to '^ wipe out " this ill-fated town under authority of law. They had received the countenance of the president — the ap- probation of the chief justice — the favorable presentment of the grand jury — the concurrence of the governor — the or- y 9 82 HISTORY or KANSAS. ders of tlie marslial, — and were prepared to consuramate their purpose with the arms of the goverument, in the hands of a militia force gathered from the remotest sections of the Union. f They concentrated their troops in large numbers around the doomed city, stealing, or, as they termed it, " pressing into the service," all the horses they could find belonging to freo state men, whose cattle were also slaughtered, without remune- ration, to feed the marshal's forces ; and their stores and dwellings broken open and robbed of arms, provisions, blankets and clothing. And all this under the j^etence of *' law and order,'' and in the name and under the sanction of the govern- ment of the United States. The marshal's army had a gallant host of commanders. There was General Atchison, with the Missouri Platte County Kifles, and two pieces of artillery; Captain Dunn, with the Kickapoo Rangers ; General Stringfellow, and Colonel Abel, his law-partner, aided by Doctor John H. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelly, editors of the Squatter Sovei'dgiiy with the forces from Doniphan, Atchison and Leavenworth ) Colonel Boone, with sundry aids, at the head of companies from West- port, Liberty and Independence; Colonels Wilkes and Bu- ford, with the Carolinians, Georgians and Mississippians; Colonel H. T. Titus, in command of the Douglas County Mi- litia; and many others, too numerous to mention. The heart of the marshal must have swelled with triumph- ant pride when he looked upon this posse comitatus, comprise ing in all not less than eight hundred warlike men. The governor must have reviewed them with that satisfaction which governors only can feel when about to accomplish a mighty undertaking, with the certainty of success. This pa- triotic host was about to engage in an enterprise that was to redound to their everlasting glory — one of the most noble ac- tions that ever called warriors to the field of battle. But where, all this time, was Sherifi" Jones, the life and spirit and power of all this chivalric host? Why had he not made his appearance, to encourage with his presence, and cheer with his voice and smiles, these patriotic forces ? By some it was Btill supposed that he was either dead or dying of the wound in his back, Jones was still behind the scenes. The time for his appearance upon the stage had not arrived, and he patiently awaited his proper cue. On the 19th of May, while thege forces were collecting for MURDER or JONES AND STEWART. 83 tbe destruction of Lawrence, a young man from Illinois, named Jones, had been to a store near Blanton's Bridge to purchase flour, when he was attacked by two of the marshal's party, who were out as scouts. To escape these men, Jones dis- mounted and entered the store, into which they followed, and there abused him. He asrain mounted his horse and left for home, the others following, and swearing that the d d abolitionist should not escape. When near the bridge, they levelled their guns (United States muskets), and fired. Jones fell mortally wounded, and soon expired. On the following morning, the 20th, several young men, hearing of this transaction, left Lawrence to visit the scene of the tragedy. One of these was named Stewart, who had but recently arrived from the State of New York. They had gone about a mile and a half, when they met two men, armed with Sharpe's rifles. Some words passed between them, when the two strangers raised their rifles, and, taking deliberate aim at Stewart, fired. One of the balls entered his temple. The work of death was instantly accomplished, and another accusing spirit stood before the bar of God. Soon after sunrise, on the morning of the 21st, an advanced guard of the marshal's army, consisting of about two hundred' horsemen, appeared on the top of Mount Or§ad, on the out- skirts of the town of Lawrence, where their cannon had been stationed late on the preceding night. The town was quiet, and the citizens had resolved to submit without resistance to any outrage that might be perpetrated. About seven o'clock, Doctor Robinson's house, which stood on the side of the hill, was taken possession of, and used as the headquarters of the invaders. At eight o'clock, the main body of the army posted themselves on the outer edge of the town. Deputy Marshal Fain, with ten men, entered Lawrence, and, without molesta- tion, served the writs in his possession, and arrested Judge G. W. Smith and G. W. Deitzler. Fain and his companions dined at the free-state hotel, and afterwards returned to the army on Mount Oread. The marshal then dismissed his monster posse, telling them he had no further use for them. It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, when suddenly another actor appeared upon the stage. The " dead" and " dying," — the immortal Sheriff Jones, — rode rapidly into Lawrence, at the head of twenty-five mounted men; and as he passed along the line of the troops, he was received with 84 HISTORY or KANSAS. deafening shouts of applause. His presence was the signal for action, and a sanction for the outrages that ensued. Atchison then addressed his forces, in language not suffi- ciently well selected for ears polite, and then marched the whole column to within a short distance of the hotel, where they halted. Jones now informed Col. Eldridge, the pro- prietor, that the hotel must be destroyed; he was acting under orders ; he had writs issued by the First District Court of the United States to destroy the Free-State Hotel, and the offices of the Herald of Freedom and Free Press. The grand jury at Lecompton had indicted them as nuisances, and the court had ordered them to be destroyed. He gave Col. Eldridge an hour and a half to remove his family and furniture, after which time the demolition commenced, and was prosecuted with an earnestness that would have done credit to a better cause. In the mean time the newspaper offices had been assailed, the presses broken to pieces, and these, with the tj^pe and other material, thrown into the Kansas River. The following ex- tract from the report of these transactions, given in the columns of the Lecompton Union, the most rabid pro-slavery paper in Kansas, the -Squatter Sovereign excepted, is too significant not to be read with interest : — '•During this time appeals were made to SheriflF Jones to save the Aid Society's Hotel. This news reached the company's ears, ani was received with one universal cry of ' No ! no ! Blow it up ! blow it up !' <' About this time a banner was seen fluttering in the breeze over the office of The Herald of Freedom. Its color was a blood-red, with a lone star in the centre, and South Carolina above. This banner •was placed there by the Carolinians — Messrs, Wrights and a Mr. Cross. The effect was prodigious. One tremendous and long-con- tinued shout burst from the ranks. Thus floated in triumph the banner of South Carolina, — that single white star, so emblematic of her course in the early history of our sectional disturbances. When every southern state stood almost upon the verge of ceding their dearest rights to the north, Carolina stood boldly out, the firm and unwavering advocate of southern institutions. " Thus floated victoriously the first banner of southern rights over the abolition town of Lawrence, unfurled by the noble sons of Caro- lina, and every whip of its folds seemed a death-stroke to Beecher propagandism and the fanatics of the east. ! that its red folds could have been seen by every southern eye! " Mr. Jones listened to the many entreaties, and finally replied that it was beyond his power to do anything, and gave the occupants so long to remove all private property from it. He ordered two com* SACKING OF LAWRENCE. 85 panies into each printing office to destroy tte press. Both presses ■were broken up and thrown into the street, the type thrown in the river, and all the material belonging to each office destroyed. After this was accomplished, and the private property removed from the hotel by the different companies, the cannon were brought in front of the house and directed their destructive blows upon the walls. The building caught on fire, and soon its walls came with a crash to the ground. TMis fell the abolition fortress ; and we hope this will teach the Aid Society a ffood lesson for the future.^' Whilst tlie work of destruction was going on at the printing- offices, the bombardment of the hotel, a strongly constructed three-story stone building, commenced. Kegs of gunpowder had been placed inside and the house fired in numerous places; and whilst the flames were doing their destructive work within, heavy cannon were battering against the walls without ; and amid the crackling of the conflagration, the noise of falling walls and timbers, and the roar of the artillery, were mingled the almost frantic yells of satisfaction that constantly burst from the " law and order" lovers of Kansas Territory. Jones himself was in ecstasies. He sat upon his horse, contemplating the havoc he was making, and rubbing his hands with wild delight, exclaimed : " This is the happiest day of my life. I determined to make the fanatics bow before me in the dust, and kiss the territorial laws; and I have done it — by G — d, I have done it l" And then followed scenes of reckless pillage and wanton destruction in all parts of that ill-fated town. Stores were broken into and plundered of their contents. Bolts and bars were no obstacles to the entrance of drunken and infuriated men into private dwellings, from which most of the inhabi- tants had fled in terror. From these everything of value was stolen, and much that was useless to the marauders was de- stroyed. The closing act of this frightful drama was the burning of the house of Dr. Robinson on the brow of Mount Oread. This was set on fire after the sun had gone down, and the bright light which its flames shed over the country illuminated the paths of the" retreating army, as they proceeded toward their homes, pillaging houses, stealing horses, and violating the persons of defenceless women. All these dreadful deeds were done by human authority. There is yet an account to render to a Higher Power ! During the perpetration of these atrocities, one of the pro- slavery intruders accidentally shot himself on Mount Oread, 8 86 HISTORY OF KANSAS' anotlier was killed by the falling of a brick from the free-state hotel, and a third had his \e»raken a new thouglit, — ^^ whoy, Ueeder, you, see — Reeder, he — wall, Reeder, then Reeder, he didn't do nothin I" " In that case/' answered the governor, '^ I'll endeavor not to do as Reeder did I" This answer was perfectly clear and satisfactory. The go- vernor was " sound," and the inquisitorial party adjourned to the bar to drink the health of the new governor, who was all right, as he didn't intend to do as Reeder had done. Active preparations for war were discernible at all the river towns. At Lexington, a large crowd was assembled on the levee, many of the persons composing it loaded with arms. But at Kansas City, the warlike demonstrations were still greater. This town is on the southern side of the mouth of the Kansas River, which, at this point, separates Missouri from the territory of Kansas. It is situated about five miles from Westport, near the eastern boundary of Kansas, where the Missouri army was concentrating, preparatory to an inva- sion of the territory. Both of these towns have become noto- rious as places of refuge for the most desperate characters, whose almost nameless crimes have blackened the annals of Kansas, and as being the resorts of numerous combinations which have been congregated to plot against its peace. In a word, they are the strongholds of the worst of the ^' Border Ruffians." Let it not be understood that this latter term is considered by those to whom it is applied as one of reproach. On the contrary, they boast of it, are proud of it, glory in it, and do all in their power to merit it; and very many of them have been eminently successful. In their manner, they assume the character of the ruffian ; in their dress, they exhibit the ap- pearance of the ruffian; and in their conversation they labor to convey the impression that they are ruffians indeed. They imitate and resemble the guerillas, ladrones or greasers of Mexico ; the brigands of Spain or Italy ; or the pirates, rob- bers and murderers of the theatre. On the levee at Kansas City stood a sort of omnibus or wa- gon, used to convey passengers to and from Westport, upon either side of which was painted in flaming capitals the words '' Border Ruffian." Standing about in groups, or running in every direction, were numbers of the men who claim for themselves that gentle appellation. A description of one of these will sive the reader some idea of their general charac THE BORDER RUFFIAN. 107 teristics. Imagine a man standing in a pair of long boots, covered with dust and mud and drawn over his trousers, the latter made of coarse, fancy-colored cloth, well soiled; the handle of a large bowie-knife projecting from one or both boot- tops ; a leathern belt buckled around his waist, on each side of which is fastened a large revolver; a red or blue shirt, with a heart, anchor, eagle or some other favorite device braided on the breast and back, over which is swung a rifle or carbine ; a sword dangling by his side ; an old slouched hat, with a cock- ade or brass star on the front or side, and a chicken, goose or turkey feather sticking in the top ; hair uncut and uncombed, coverino- his neck and shoulders ; an unshaved face and un- washed hands. Imagine such a picture of humanity, who can swear any given number of oaths in any specified time, drink any quantity of bad whiskey without getting drunk, and boast of having stolen a half dozen horses and killed one or more abolitionists, and you will have a pretty fair conception of a border ruffian, as he appears in Missouri and in Kansas. He has, however, the happy faculty of assuming a very different aspect. Like other animals, he can shed his coat and change his colors. In the city of Washington, he is quite another person. You will see him in the corridors of the first-class hotels — upon Pennsylvania avenue — in the rotunda of the capitol, or the spacious halls of the White House, dressed in the finest broad cloths and in the extreme of fashion ; his hair trimmed, his face smoothed and his hands cleansed; his manner gentle, kind and courteous ; his whole deportment that of innocence, and his speech so smooth, studied and oily as to convince even the sagacious President himself that he is a veritable and a polished gentleman, and obtain from the wise heads that form the cabinet the most important posts of trust, honor and emolument in the gift of the nation. The Keystone no sooner touched the shore at Kansas City, than she was boarded by a half dozen or more of the leading ruffians, who dashed through the cabins and over the decks, inspecting the passengers and the state-rooms to satisfy them- selves that no abolitionists were on board. And here let it be distinctly observed that an abolitionist, in border-ruffian par- lance, is not simply a man opposed to the extension of slavery, or who favors its abolishment from the states ; but every per- son born in a free state, who is unwilling to give indubitable evidences that he will do all in his power to assist in making Kansas a slave state, by means either fair or foul, at any sacri- 108 HISTORY OF KANSAS. fice and at every hazard. It is of little consequence what have been and still are his political predilections on every great na- tional question. He must know but one issue — that issue, slavery — or be branded, in the language of a resolution unani- mously passed by the Legislative Assembly, as an " ally of abolitionism.'' It will not do to assume a neutral ground; it is not sufficient to asseverate that you will give your influence to the cause of slavery. All this may be done, and you will be regarded with suspicion and treated as an enemy. More substantial proof of being '' sound on the goose'' is demanded. You must join the " Blue Lodges" — take their solemn oaths — bind yourself to murder any man who is opposed to making Kansas a slave state, and invoke upon yourself their horrible penalties in case of failure. You must steep your hands in crime deeper than the most rabid of the fire-eaters of the south. You must place yourself utterly in their power, so that you dare not quail, or hesitate, or fail to do their bidding. You must become yourself a slave, bound by stronger bonds than any that holds in servitude the veriest negro wretch — else you are an ahoUtionist. And there are men in Kansas, who, though born in free states, are sold, body and soul, to the slave interest ; men who have taken the oaths of the Blue Lodges — who boast, to prove themselves '^ sound," of the number of crimes they have committed ; the horses they have stolen ; the women they have outraged ; the houses they have robbed; the murders they have done: — men, in fact, who have became so deeply steeped in infamy that they dare not now stop, even should they never so much desire ; but who find themselves precisely in the condition of Macbeth, when hQ '"xclaimed "I am in blood, Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er." ' The abolitionists of Kansas are all northern-born men, who will not thus prostitute, degrade and destroy themselves in support of the slave power ; but who have the honesty and independence to be free, and to maintain their freedom. The Keystone remained at Kansas City only long enough for Captain Jackson to land his company with its parapherna- lia of war, a-nd to undergo a thorough inspection of the bor- der ruffian inquisitors, when she proceeded up the river for Fort Leavenworth. She left Kansas City late on the evening ARRIVAL AT FORT LEAVENWORTH. 109 of the Sth, and soon after day-break of the 9th, reached the landing at Leavenworth City, three miles below the fort. Here was given another exhibition of the wretched condition of the country and deplorable spirit of the times. In front of the grog-shops, and these comprised nearly every house on the river front; on piles of wood, lumber and stone; upon the heads of whiskey barrels; at the corners of -the streets; and upon the river bank, — lounged, strolled, and idled, singly or in squads, men and boys clad in the ruffian attire, giving sure indication that no useful occupation was being pursued, and that vice, confusion and anarchy, had undivided and un- disputed possession of the town. Armed horsemen were dashing about in every direction, the horses' feet striking fire from the stones beneath, and the sabres of the riders rattling by their sides. The drum and fife disturbed the stillness of the morning, and volunteer companies were on parade and drill, with all the habiliments and panoply of war. The town was evidently under a complete military rule, and on every side were visible indications of a destructive civil strife. The whole scene was calculated to excite feelings of commisera- tion, if not disgust for the parties, who, actuated by pride, avarice, or other even worse passions, should suffer themselves to sink so low in the scale of humanity, as to become entirely unmindful of all that elevates and dignifies the character of man. CHAPTER XVIII Arrival at Fort Leavenworth. — General P. F. Smith. — Free-state men driven from Leavenworth City. — Pressed horses. — John D. Hender- son. — Violation of United States safeguard. — Arrest of Captain Emory. — Character of his company.-^Grovernor Geary's letter to Col. Clarkson. — Rev. Mr. Niite. — District Attorney Isacks. The governor and his party landed at 8 o'clock on the morn- ing of September 9th at Fort Leavenworth, where they -were cordially received and hospitably entertained by Gen. Smith. The general was very feeble in health, and confined to his quarters. Many free-state people, who had been threatened with personal violence and driven from their homes in Leaven- worth City, had taken refuge within the enclosures of the fort, 10 110 HISTORY OF KANSAS. and were seated on the grass plots or strolling about tKt^ grounds. A handbill was posted in sundry places ordering them to leave the premises on the following day. Several of these persons directed the writer's attention to four horsemen who were passing in front of the general's quar- ters, and asserted that the horses were their own property and stolen by t^e riders. The leader of the mounted party was John D. Henderson, editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth Journal, and a rabid pro-slavery man. ^^ Captain," said a gentleman who had heard the story of the refugees, and addressing Henderson^ 'Hhat is a fine horse you are riding.'^ " Yes," was the reply. " He is a splendid animal. He is a jjrrs.'^ed horse. All these horses are pressed." " Pressed ! What does that mean ?" " Oh, pressed into the service." ''In other words, I suppose you mean the horses are stolen. Who are the owners ?" ''Why, those d d abolitionists over there. We don't call it stealing to take possession of their property." This man Henderson is by birth a Pennsylvanian; but having affiliated with the Kansas pro-slavery party, and con- nected himself with the Blue Lodges, was among those north- ern born men who were compelled to do extraordinary things, and even boast of those still more remarkable which they had not courage to perform, in order to give satisfactory assurance of their entire soundness on the "goose." Hence "Jack," as his associates call him, delights to tell of his valiant deeds in pressing horses, burning houses, and killing abolitionists ; and his course has been so thoroughly approved that he has been elevated to the dignified position of chairman of the cen- tral committee of the pro-slavery, misnamed the "National Democratic Party of Kansas." A few hours after the arrival of Governor Geary at Fort Leavenworth, a sergeant belonging to the United States troops entered the general's quarters with a serious complaint against certain of the men who claimed to be the militia, or " law and order" party of the territory. He bad been appointed a safe- guard to escort Samuel Sutherland, E. B. Whitman, and Abraham Wilder along the public highway to Fort Leaven- worth, and when within a few miles of that place a party of armed men belonging to Captain Frederick Emory's company stopped him on the road, and violated the safeguard, by forcibly CAPTAIN EiMORY. Ill taking from liiin tlic three men named, whom thej carried aa prisoners, with their horses, wagons, and othei property, into Leavenworth City. General Smith expressed himself with considerable warmth against this outrage, appeared anxious to bring the offenders to punishment, and readily granted a requisition from Governor Geary for a detachment of United States troops to proceed at once to Leavenworth City and arrest Emory and his company, and rescue the three men they had imprisoned. This detachment was forthwith dispatched, and in a few hours returned to the fort with the free-state prisoners and Emory and his company, numbering twenty men. Upon ap- pearing before General Smith, Emory produced James With- row, George H. Perrin, L. S. Boling, T. J. Clyde, D. Scott Boyle, John J. Benz, and J. M. Branaman, as the persons who had commited the alleged outrage. He spoke in rather insolent terms ; said he was not present himself, but that he approved the act and held himself responsible. The general very mildly reprimanded him, informed him that he was under arrest; then dismissed him and suffered him to return to Lea- venworth City, to laugh over the silly farce in which he had been compelled to be an actor. Emory's company were all mounted upon '^ pressed" horses, the owners of some of which were present to point out and claim them; but as there existed no courts or judges from whom the necessary legal process could be obtained, and as Gen. Smith would not listen to their complaints, they had no means by which to recover their property. Most of them preferred to submit quietly to the loss of their horses, rather than risk their lives by making any effort for their recovery. Emory and his company held their headquarters at Leaven- worth City, whence they sallied into the surrounding country to ''press," not steal the horses, cattle, wagons, and other pro- perty of free-state men, to whom they had become a terror. It was during these excursions that Major Sackettj of the United States army, found in the road near Leavenworth City a num- ber of bodies of men who had been seized, robbed, murdered, mutilated, and left unburied by the wayside. It was this same Emory and company that made the attack on Phillips's house, when Phillips was killed and his brother severely wounded. They were also present when the assassin of Hoppe brouglit in his reeking scalp, elevated upon a pole, and ap- plauded the savage deed. They were exceedingly active m 112 HISTORY OF KANSAS. warning free-state men to leave tlie city, on pain of deatli, and in placing them upon steamboats without money or proper clothing, after breaking into their stores and houses and Beizing on their effects, not even sparing the wearing apparel of women and children. Emory was a contractor for carrying the mails, and the fidelity with which he discharged this trust is evinced in the fact that on more than one occasion the mails submitted to his charge were broken open and robbed. All these things, however, seem to have met the approbation of the judicial and other constituted authorities, and for his extraordinary and valuable services Captain Emory has been appointed by President Buchanan as Register of the Land Office of the Western Land District of Kansas. The next day after the events above narrated the governor addressed the following letter to Colonel Clarkson, who had command of the territorial militia stationed at Leavenworth City :— "Fort Leavenworth, K. T., Sept. 10, 1857. "Col. Clarkson: " Dear Sir: — It seems necessary that I should address j'ou, relative to an unpleasant occurrence that took place yesterday. Not doubting that you are actuated by a desire to maintain the public peace and promote the prosperity of this territory, I am sure you will at once perceive and properly appreciate the motives which prompt me to call your attention to the fact above hinted at, and the suggestions I am about to offer. " Three men, having a passport from General Marshall, and under the safeguard of a sergeant of the United States army, were yesterday seized by a troop of your men, and carried as prisoners into Leaven- worth City. The only excuse that can be offered for an outrage of . this character, is the plea of ignorance as to the position of the party to whom reference is made. The men in your militia may not have been satisfied that the person from whom they took their prisoners, was, in truth, a United States sergeant. But in that case, their plain duty would have been to accompany him to the fort to ascertain that fact. "You will please guard against errors of this description as far as possible in future. I also request that you will at once take the necessary measures to have returned to the three persons who were seized by Captain Emory's men, their horses, wagons, and other pro- perty, precisely in the condition in which tbey were found. You will send these effects to General Smith, who will see them duly restored to their proper owners. *' Trusting that hereafter the safeguard of the United States army, and everything else in wbich the honor of the nation is concerned, will be held by you sacred and inviolable, " I am, truly yours, "John W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory." REV. E. NUTE. 113 Soon after the troops left the fort to arrest Emory, a scene occurred there strongly illustrative of the times. Rev. E. Nute, a Unitarian clergyman, had several times been arrested and imprisoned on the grave charge of being an abolitionist. He had also been robbed, almost starved, and otherwise o'uelly abused, and had just made his escape from his persecutors and fled for safety to the fort. Whilst relating his adventures to an admiring company of his associates and friends, who like himself were refugees from oppression, he espied a wagon pass- ing along the road towards Leavenworth, drawn by two horses, and containing beside the driver, two women and a goodly supply of household furniture and other movables. The rev- erend gentleman immediately recognised the horses as a favo- rite pair that had been pressed from him when last taken prisoner. AVithout waiting for a legal process, he summoned to his assistance a half-dozen friends, and demanded the driver of the wagon to halt. He then deliberately unhitched the horses and drove them away in triumph, amid the congratuJa- tions and shouts of the bystanders, leaving the driver and his female companions in their wagon in the middle of the road in a mute state of consternation. Chief Justice Lecompte and associate justice Cato, would have pronounced this act unlawful and unwarrantable, and all the judges and lawyers in the land would have agreed in the decision. Mr. Nute should have appealed to a court, or some judicial functionary — made affida- vit in regard to his stolen horses — obtained a warrant for the arrest of the thief and the restoration of his property — placed this in the hands of the marshal or sheriff, and waited patiently for its execution. Such would have been the process in ordi- nary communities, where the laws are made for the protection of the people — where courts are occasionally held — where judges deal out even-handed justice — and where officers of the law can be induced to execute writs against culprits of their own political faith. But such was not the condition of things in Kansas. There the balance of legal justice had but one scale, and Mr. Nute occupied the opposite side of the beam. Had he asked the courts or the judges, the marshals or the sheriffs, for the restoration of his horses, he might have been regarded as a madman, or at least been ridiculed for his pre- sumption. And had he waited until they reached Leavenworth City to recover them, he could only have made the attempt at the hazard if not the sacrifice of his life. At Fort Leavenworth, the governor endeavored to impress 10* H \ 114 HISTORY or KANSAS. the United States District Attorney, A. J. Isacks, with the importance of resurrecting the courts, holding more frequent terms, and arresting, bringing to trial, and legally punishing the numerous criminals that were committing with impunity atrocious outrages and disturbing the peacv3 of the country. Mr. Isacks could not agree with the governor in regard to the course of policy he advised. He was for war — war to the knife — war to the death. There was no law that could abso- lutely rid the country of abolitionists. They must be killod or driven out by force. Like other prominent pro-slavery men, he was fully imbued with the idea that no person had a right in Kansas who was not favorable to making it a slave state ; and he is said to have been one of the leaders of the secret band of '^Regulators," whose business was to call in disguise at the houses of free-state men and order them to quit the territory, and threaten them with assassination in case of their refusal. Although he received the pay of the government to prosecute offences against the laws of the territory, he seldom, if ever, was present to perform that duty on the few occasions that it suited the convenience of the supreme judges to hold, for a few days, a district court. CHAPTER XIX. Fort Leaven wortli. — Departure forLecompton. — Barricade at Leavenworth City. — Excuse for Border Ruffian outrages. — Terror of James H. Lane. — Hair breadth escapes. — Ariecdotes of the times. — Robbery at Alexan- dria. — A chase and race. — The robbers overtaken. — Arrival at Lecomp- ton. — Letter to the Secretary of State. — Two men shot at Lecompton. Fort Leavenworth is situated on an elevated piece of land on the west side of the Missouri River, three hundred and ninety-eight miles above its mouth, and thirty-one miles from the mouth of the Kansas. It is just four miles below the town of Weston, Missouri, in lat." 39° 2V 14" N. and long. 940 44/ Yi. It was established in 1827. The enclosed grounds are spacious and beautiful, and command a delightful view of the surrounding country, of many miles in extent. The buildings, all of which are constructed of brick and stone, are substantial and well arranged, and present quite an TERROR EXCITED BY LANE. 115 imposluj^ appearance. The quarters for the officers and men, are commodious and comfortable. There is a spacious hospi- tal, constructed at a cost of $15,000. The grounds adjacent belong to the government, and comprise a farm, nine square miles in extent, of rich, well improved and highly cultivated lands. The governor left the fort at about 10 o'clock on the morn- ing of September 10th, for Lecompton, the capital of the ter- ritory. He was accompanied by tlie writer, three friends, and Lieutenant Drum of the army, all of whom occupied an ambu- lance, drawn by four horses. The lieutenant was in command of an escort, consisting of a mounted sergeant of dragoons, and six infantry soldiers, who rode in a covered army wagon. The road passes a short distance westward of Leavenworth City, which was barricaded by a line of heavy transportation wagons, drawn close together, and extending along the whole western border of the town. These were intended as a pro- tection against an expected assault from Lane ; but to a mili- tary eye, it was evident that a barricade of pipe-stems would have answered a far more useful purpose. The wagons would have proved more serviceable to the attacking than to the re- pelling forces. It is due to the pro-slavery party of Leavenworth to give the reasons they assigned for their atrocities against the free- state people. The former were laboring under a serious ap- prehension that Lane was about to attack them with a large army, and their fears caused them to regard all free-state men as spies or allies of Lane ; hence the determination to drive them from the city, or assassinate them in case of their re- fusal to depart. The very name of Lane was a terror, and it was only necessary to get up a rumor that he was within a hundred miles, to produce a universal consternation. And when it was reported that he was actually approaching a pro- slavery town, a general panic and stampede was the result. Vaporing generals, colonels, captains and privates, suddenly stopped in the midst of their stories of valiant deeds, and re- membering that they had forgotten their needed arms or ammu- nition, or that the women and children must be carried to a place of safety, off they ran for shelter in the woods or else- where, creeks and rivers furnishing no obstacles to their flight. When the dreaded danger was over, or they had discovered the alarm to be unfounded, they would re-assemble, each ready to boast over hi^ bad whiskey, what terrible deeds he would 116 HISTORY OF KANSAS. have accomplislied, had the cowardly abolitionist dared to make his appearance. It was amusing to hear the many sto- ries of hair-breadth 'scapes these men had made. There was scarcely one among them who did'not seem to carry a charmed life ; for, almost every day they had been shot at, the balls whizzing past their heads or through their clothing. Accord- ing to their accounts, their adversaries must have been the worst shots that ever handled fire-arms. The deputy marshals and sheriffs exibited bullet-holes in their clothing, or through their hats, as evidences of the terrible risks they had run, in the discharge of their hazardous duties. Should one of them, at any time, hear the discharge of a gun within a mile of him, his vi\ad fancy readily imagined that he could distinctly see the ball strike somewhere near his person. On one occasion, one of these officials was relating a wonderful escape he had just effected. A man, he said, had fired at him in the road several successive shots, and as evidence of the narrowness of his escape, he presented his hat, showing two holes in it, one in front and the other in the back. " Why,'' said a listener, *' it is strange that the ball should have gone through your hat so low down^ without also passing through your head !" " Oh," replied he, nothing disconcerted, " I held my hat in my hand when he fired. But I fixed him. I returned the shot, and I saw him stagger into the bushes and fall." The body, it is scarcely necessai-y to add, was never found, nor could any traces of blood be discovered. Many anecdotes were constantly occurring, which, had they been collected, would have made an interesting volume. It was customary for the "Regulators," and others of the slavery party, to go through the streets of Leavenworth, blowing a horn, and ordering free-state men to leave in the next steamer. At one time, two Jews were attracted to the door of their house by this strange proceeding : " What dosh all dat meansh, Hans ?" asked one. "It meansh dat all who doshent like schlavery mush go down de rivers, and all who dosh like schlavery may staysh." " Well, Hans, den I tinks schlavery is de besht, so we will Btaysh," He was like many others, who adopted the slavery side of the question, as a matter of policy, to escape persecution and subserve personal interests. A Pcnnsylvanian who had done good service in the Mexi- ROBBERY AT ALEXANDRIA. 117 < can war, and wliose testimony can be relied upon, related the following : "' Upon arriving in tlie territory, I establislied my residence in Leavenworth City, where I was solicited to take command of a company of the territorial militia, or '' law and order " party. The company consisted of twenty mounted border ruffians. One night it became my duty to guard the main entrance to the city, and I took up my position in a prominent place on the road, at about one mile distant. It was a very dark night, and it was difficult to discern objects even close at hand; my men amused each other and myself, relating the daring deeds they had accomplished, and telling what great things they would do, in case of an assault. About midnight, we heard the distant sounds of horses' feet approaching at a rnpid rate. A perfect stillness took possession of my men. Not a word was uttered. Nearer and nearer, came on the ad- vancing party. At length, one of my men exclaimed, ' Lane is coming, by G-d !^ and instantly, the whole company broke and ran for the town. In vain I ordered a halt. As well might I have attempted to turn back the current of the river, as to arrest their flight. I stood alone to await the approach of the enemy, whom I found to be four scouts of our own party, returning to the city. I immediately resigned my office, feeling assured that no dependence could be placed in the courage of the men I had been chosen to command. They are great braggarts, but they will not fight. They make good assassins, but bad soldiers." The governor and party crossed the Stranger River, about noon, thirteen miles from Leavenworth, at a place called Al- exandria. The town consists of two houses, used as a post- office and stores. These had been robbed about an hour before our arrival. Several whiskey barrels, with ^heir heads broken in, lay in the road. A young man in attendance, gave a de- plorable account of the robbery. He said the attack was made by about one hundred and fifty of Lane's men, all mounted, who came with two wagons, which they filled with goods, broke open the post-office box and robbed it of letters and postage stamps, and destroyed such articles as they could not carry away. The proprietor, to save his life, had fled to the hills and hid himself in the bushes, and he was threatened with death if he should give information concerning the robbery. The governor, who had been accustomed to examine ^' mocca- sin tracks/' made a careful investigation of the premises, and 118 HISTORY OF KANSAS. at once assured Lieutenant Drum that the statements of his informant were false. He pointed out distinctly the fact that the traces upon the ground indicated the late presence of cer- tainly not over a dozen horsemen. ' He then ordered the young man to take a seat in the ambulance, to point out the direction taken by the robbers, and hastened in pursuit of them. Along the road were exhibited fearful evidences of ruffian violence. Almost every house had been destroyed, and the sites they had occupied were marked only by solitary chimneys standing in the midst of heaps of ashes. The first dwell ng approached was about three miles from Alexandria, where the governor halted and inquired of the settler if he had seen a ■ u-ge body of men pass during the morning. He was promptly answered that only '^ix horsemen had passed that way, about half an hour previ is. The governor then asked the man in com- pany why he had attempted to mislead him with a lying state- ment. The How had nothing to reply, and, after a severe rebuke, was permitted to return to Alexandria. As a reward for having told the truth, the settler's house was attacked a day or two after, and burned to the ground; his wife and half dozen children being turned out upon the open prairie^ and his crop of corn destroyed. The governor increased his speed, and having travelled two miles further, upon reaching an elevated piece of ground, saw six horsemen crossing the prairie at the distance of about half a mile. Upon observing the carriage, they turned toward it, putting their horses to a gallop, with the evident intention to attack and rob it. As they came within a few hundred yards, and preparations were being made to give them a warm recep- tion, the covered wagon ascended the hill, "thus exhibiting the character and strength of the governor's party, when the in- tended assailants instantly turned and fled in the opposite direction. They were pursued by the sergeant, the only mounted man in the company, and a more interesting chase was never witnessed. The horses were put to their utmost speed, their tails standing straight out, and making time rarely equalled on a race-course. Four of them succeeded in reaching a wooded ravine, but the other two, whose horses were not equal to that rode by the sergeant, were overtaken and commanded to halt. Upon being questioned, they repre- sented themselves as free-state men who had been driven from their homes by a party of border ruffians. The sergeant, however, recognised them as two of a party of six men whom Geary's letter to marcy. 119 lie had that morning seen leave Leavenworth City. It was subsequently ascertained that the leader of the party was a citizen of Missouri ; a prominent member of the Legislative Assembly of Kansas, and the alleged author of most of th^ odious election and test laws passed by that body during iH session of 1855. This person has boasted that he ''pressed'^ from free-state men sevenil valuable horses, which he had car- ried for safe keeping into Lexington, Missouri. Upon reaching the Kansas River, ferriage was difficult, in consequence of 'Johe low stage of the water, and it was some hours before the governor reached the opposite shore. An armed and'4'iounted sentinel guarded the Lecompton landing, and demaflded to know who the new-comers were. The only hotel in the place was reached at about eleven o'clo^-k, where the governor was introduced to Secretary Woodson,- '^'!]x- Judge Elmore and other prominent citizens. The town was in a great state of excitement, produced by a recent ti- 't of Lane, at the head of five hundred men, who had come to demand the release of the free-state prisoners, but who had already been discharged, by Judge Lecompte, on bail, after hearing of Lane's approach. Previous to his departure from Fort Leavenworth, the go- vernor addressed the following communication to Secretary Marcy, in which he clearly expresses his opinions concerning the condition of the territory at that time : — "Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, " Sept. 9, 1856. «' Hon. Wm. L. Maect, "Dear Sir: I arrived here this morning, and have passed the day mostly in consultation with Gen. P. F. Smith, in relation to the affairs of the territory, which, as I am now on the spot, I begin more cleai'ly to understand. It is no exaggeration to say that the existing ditficulties are of a far more complicated character than I had anticipated. " I find that I have not simply to contend against bands of armed ruffians and brigands, whose sole aim and end is assassination and robbery — infatuated adherents and advocates of conflicting political sentiments and local institutions — and evil-disposed persons, actuated oy a desire to obtain elevated positions; but woi-st of all, against the influence of men who have been placed in authority, and have employed all the destructive agents around them to promote their own personal interests, at the sacrifice of every just, honorable and lawful consideration. " I h"ave barely time to give you a brief statement of facts as I find them. The town of Leavenworth is now in the hands of armed bodies 120 HISTORY OF KANSAS. of men, "wlio, having been enrolled as militia, perpetrate outrages of the most atrocious character under shadow of authority from the territorial government. Within a few days these men have robbed and driven from their homes unoffending citizens ; have fired upon and killed others in their own dwellings ; and stolen horses and property under the pretence of employing them in the public service. They have seized persons who had committed no offence ; and after stripping them of all their valuables, placed them on steamers, and sent them out of the territory. Some of these bands, who have thus violated their rights and privileges, and shamefully and shockingly misused and abused the oldest inhabitants of the territory, who had settled here with their wives andrf3hildren, are strangers from distant states, who have no interest in, nor care for the welfare of Kansas, and contemplate remaining here only so long as opportunities for mischief and plunder exist. "The actual pro-slavery settlers of the territory are generally as •well-disposed persons as are to be found in most communities. But there are among them a few troublesome agitators, chiefly from distant districts, who labor assiduously to keep alive the prevailing sentiment. '• It is also true that among the free-soil residents are many peaceable and useful citizens ; and if uninfluenced by aspiring dema- gogues, would commit no unlawful act. But many of these, too, have been rendered turbulent by officious meddlers from abroad. The chief of these is Lane, now encamped and fortified at Lawrence, with a force, it is said, of fifteen hundred men. They are suffering for provisions, to cut off the supplies of which, the opposing faction is extremely watchful and active. *' In isolated or country places, no man's life is safe. The roads are filled with armgd robbers, and murders for mere plunder are of daily occurrence. Almost every farm-house is deserted, and no traveller has the temerity to venture upon the highway without an escort. " Such is the condition of Kansas, faintly pictured. It can be no worse. Yet I feel assured that I shall be able ere long to restore it to peace and quiet. To accomplish this, I should have more aid from the general government. The number of United States troops here is too limited to render the needed services. Immediate reinforcements are essentially necessary; as the excitement is so intense, and citizens generally are so much influenced by their political preju(5ices, that members of the two great factions cannot be induced to act in unison, and therefore cannot be relied upon. As soon, however, as I can succeed in disbanding a portion of those now in service, I will from time to time cause to be enrolled as many of the bona fide inhabitants as exigencies may seem to require. In the meantime, the presence of additional government troops will exert a moral influence that cannot be obtained by any militia that can here be called in requisition. "In making the foregoing statements, I have endeavored to give the truth, and nothing but the truth. I deem it important that you should be apprised of the actual state of the case ; and whatever may be the effect of such relations, they will be given, from time to time, without extenuation. MORE OUTRAGES. 121 ** I shall proceed cany in the morning to Lecompton, under an escort furnished by Gen. Smith, where I will take charge of the government, and whence I shall again address you at an early moment. "Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., "Jno. W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas." On the lOth of September, an altercation took place at Le- compton between two South Carolinians. They were personal friends, but had been drinking too freely. One of them, incensed at some remark of the other, drew his pistol and fired, and was about to repeat the shot, when his companion, after warning him, discharged into his body the contents of a gun loaded with buckshot. The wounded man lingered three or four days, in great agony, the other watching and waiting upon him during his sufferings. He was never tried for the murder, but set at liberty at an examination before one of the justices. Two or three days later, another serious shooting affair occurred in the same town. A free-state man living in the vicinity, brought in a load of beef for sale. He proceeded to one of the stores, where, meeting a number of the citizens, he got into conversation, during which he denounced the institu- tion of slavery, an offence unpardonable in Lecompton. A quarrel and fight ensued, when the free-state man ran for his life. He was pursued to a cluster of woods on the edge of the town, his pursuers firing at him a number of times, he turning to fire back. He at length dodged behind a tree, whence he fired a few more shots. Some of his assailants had run for guns, and succeeded in shooting him three times, as he at- tempted to make his escape, the balls having entered his back, abdomen, and side. He was laid, dangerously, though not mortally wounded, upon the beef on his wagon, and brought into town with his ox-team. Here his wounds were dressed. These occurrences had become so common that they attracted but little attention. Whilst this man was writhing apparently in the agonies of death on one side of the street, the sroaperiea opposite were filled with loungers too unconcerned to take any special notice of the circumstance. 11 122 HISTORY OF KANSAS. e- CHAPTEK XX. The town of Lecompton. — Its location and moral character. — The accounts of their grievances by the pro-slavery party. — Policy indicated by that party for Governor Geary. — The Inaugural address. — Proclamations ordering the dispersion of armed bodies, aud for organizing the militia of the territory. Lecompton is situated on the south side of the Kansas Kiver, about fifty miles from its junction with the Missouri, and forty miles in a south-westerly direction from Leavenworth City, upon as inconvenient and inappropriate a site for a town as any in the territory ; it being on a bend of the river, diffi- cult of access, and several miles beyond any of the principal thoroughfares. It was chosen simply for speculative purposes. An Indian 'floating claim' of a section of land was purchased by a company of prominent pro-slavery men, who found it easy to induce the legislative assembly to adopt it for the location of the capitol, by distributing among the members, supreme judges, the governor, secretary of the territory, and others in authority, a ^ . aiy number of town lots, upon the rapid sale of which each expected to realize a handsome income. It contained, at the time of Governor deary's arrival, some twenty or more houses, the majority of which were employed asgrog- geries of the lowest description. In fact, its general moral condition was debased to a lamentable degree. It was the residence of the celebrated Sheriff Jones (who is one of the leading members of the town association), and the resort of horse-thieves and ruffians of the most desperate character. Its drinking saloons were infested by these characters, where drunk* enness, gambling, fighting, and all sorts of crimes were indulged in with entire impunity. It was and is emphatically a border ruffian town, in whjch no man could utter opinions adverse to negro slavery without placing his life in jeopardy. The cor- porators, who are the contractors, have expended the $50,000 appropriated by Congress for the erection of the capitol build- ing, for which sum they can now exhibit the foundations for a house, some iron castings and tin cornices. Upon the governor's arrival he was surrounded by the lead- ing men of the place, who kindly volunteered their friendly advice and instructions in regard to the policy to be pursued. GOV. Geary's address. 123 To insur^ "his own comfort and safety, and accomplisli any good whatever in the territory, he was given to understand that it was absolutely necessary to identify himself with the pro-slavery party, and aid it with his influence and power to ^' wipe out the d — d abolitionists/' These were represented as the most wicked wretches that ever disgraced the earth. Upon their shoulders were heaped all imaginable offences. There was no crime of which they had not been guilty. Every enormity committed in Kansas was charged to their account ; whilst their accusers were and had ever been peace-loving and law and order citi- zens, who with Christian forbearance and Job-like patience had meekly submitted to outrages that no pencil could portray nor language properly depict. It was really painful to hear their plausible stories of the sufferings they had quietly and patiently endured at the hands of their northern oppressors and fiendish persecutors. The governor was too perverse and obstinate to believe that the wrong was altogether on one side, or that the cause of hu- manity or the welfare of the country was to be promoted by the course of policy he was so eloquently and earnestly soli- cited to adopt and pursue. Hence he issued the following address, in which he expressed a determination to know no party, and to recognise no sectional prejudictr^-;.V-t in the ex- ercise of his official functions to do equal and exact justice to all classes of the community — a resolution to which he rigidly adhered during his entire administration : — ** Fellow Citizens : "I appear among you a stranger to most of you, and for the first time have the honor to address you, as Governor of the Territory of Kansas. The position vpas not sought by me; but was voluntarily tendered by the present chief magistrate of the nation. \s an American citizen, deeply conscious of the blessings which ever flow from our beloved Union, I did not consider myself at liberty to shrink from any duties, however delicate and onerous, required of me by my countr}'. " With a full knowledge of all the circumstances surrounding the executive office, I have delib-erately accepted it, and as God may give me strength and ability, I will endeavor faithfully to discharge its varied requirements. When I received my commission I was solemnly sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discliarge my duties as Governor of Kansas with fidelity. By reference to the act for the organization of this territory, passed by Congi-ess ou the 30th day of March, 1854, I find my duties more particularly defined. Among other things, I am ' to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' 124 HISTORY OP KANSAS. •' The Constitution of the United States and the organic law of the territory, will be the lights by which I will be guided in my executive career. " A careful and dispassionate examination of our organic act will satisfy any reasonable person that its provisions are eminently just and beneficial. If this act has been distorted to unworthy purposes, it is not the fault of its provisions. The great leading featui-e of that act is the right therein conferred upon the actual and bona fide inhabitants of this territory ' in the exercise of self-government, to determine for themselves what shall be their own domestic institutions, subject only to the constitution and the laws duly enacted by Congress under it.' The people, accustomed to self-government in the states from whence they came, and having removed to this territory with the bona fi,de intention of making it their future residence, were supposed to be capable of creating their own municipal government, and to be the best judges of their own local necessities and institutions. This is what is termed '•popular sovereignty .'' By this phrase we , simply mean the right of the majority of the people of the several states and territories, being qualified electors, to regulate their own domestic concerns, and to make their own municipal laws. Thus understood, this doctrine underlies the whole system of republican government. It is the great right of self-government, for the esta- blishment of which our ancestors, in the stormy days of the revolution, pledged 'their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.' "A doctrine so eminently just should receive the willing homage of every American citizen. ^Vhen legitimately expressed, and duly ascertained, the will of the majority must be the imperative rule of civil action for every law-abiding citizen. This simple, just rule of action has brought order out of chaos, and by a progress unparalleled in the history of the world, has made a few feeble, infant colonies, a giant confederated republic. "No man, conversant with the state of affairs, now in Kansas, can close his eyes to the fact that much civil disturbance has for a long time past existed in this territory. Various reasons have been assigned for this unfortunate condition of affairs, and numerous remedies have been proposed. •' The House of Representatives of the United States have ignored the claims of both gentlemen claiming the legal right to represent the people of this territory in that body. The Topeka Constitution, recognised by the House, has been repudiated by the Senate. Various measures, each in the opinion of its respective advocates, suggestive of peace to Kansas, have been alternately proposed and rejected. Men, outside of the territory, in various sections of the Union, influenced by reasons best known to themselves, have endeavored to stir up internal strife, and to array brother against brother. *' In this conflict of opinion, and for the promotion of the most unworthy purposes, Kansas is left to suffer, her people to mourn, and her prosperity is endangered. "Is there no remedy for these evils? Cannot the wounds of Kansas be healed, and peace be restored to all her borders? " Men of the north — men of the south — of the east, and of the west. GOV. Geary's address. 125 in Kansas, you, and you alone, have the re"medy in your own hands Will you not suspend fratricidal strife ? Will you not cease to regard each other as enemies, and look upon one another as Ihe children of a conunou motlier, and come and reason together? "Let us banish a,\l outside influences from our deliberations, and assemble around our council board with the constitution of our country and the organic law of this territory, as the great charts for our guidance and direction. The bona fide inhabitants of the territory alone are charged with the solemn duty of enacting her laws, upholding her government, maintaining peace, and laying the foundation for a future commonwealth. " On this point let there be a perfect unity of sentiment. It is the first great step towards the attainment of peace. It will inspire confidence amongst ourselves and insure the respect of the whole country. Let us show ourselves worthy and capable of self- government. " Do not the inhabitants of this territory better understand what domestic institutions are suited to their condition — what laws will be most conducive to their prosperity and happiness, than the citizens of distant, or even neighboi'ing states? This great right of regulating our own affairs and attending to our own busirfess, without any interference from others, has been guaranteed to us by the law which Congress has made for the organization of this territory. This right of self-government — this privilege guaranteed to us by the organic law of our territory, I will uphold with all my might, and with the entire power committed to me. "In relation to any changes of the laws of the territory which I may deem desirable, I have no occasion now to speak ; but these are subjects to which I shall direct public attention at the proper time. " The territory of the United States is the common properfi/ of the several states, or of the people thereof. This being so, no obstacle should be interposed to the free settlement of this common property, while in a territorial condition. "I cheerfully admit that the people of this territory, under the organic act, have the absolute right of making their own municipal laws. And from citizens who deem themselves aggrieved by recent legislation, I would invoke the utmost forbearance, and point out to them a sure and peaceable remedy. You have the right to ask the next legislature to revise any and all laws ; and in the meantime, as you value the peace of the territory and the maintenance of future laws, I would earnestly ask you to refrain from all violations of the present statutes. "I am sure that there is patriotism sufficient in the people of Kansas to induce them to lend a willing obedience to law. AH the provisions of the Constitution of the United States must be sacredly observed — all the acts of Congress, having reference tof*this territory, must be unhesitatingly obeyed, and the decisions of our courts respected. It will be my imperative duty to see tliat tliese suggestions are carried into effect. In my official action here, I will do justice at all hazards. Influenced by no other considerations than the welfare of the whole people of this territory, I desire to know no party, no 11* I 126 HISTORY OF KANSAS. section, no north, no soutli, no east, no west — nothing but Kansas and my country. " Fully conscious of my groat responsibilities in the present con- dition of Kansas, 1 must invoke your aid, and solicit your generous forbearance. Your executive otficer can do little without the aid of the people. With a tirm reliance upon Divine Providence, to the best of my ability, I shall promote the interests of the citizens of this territory, not merely collectively, but individually'-, and I shall expect from them, in return, that cordial aid and support, Avithout 'which the government of no state or territory can be administered with beneficent effect. " Let us all begin anew. Let the past be buried in oblivion. Let all sti'ife and bitterness cease. Let us all honestly devote ourselves to the true interests of Kansas ; develope her rich agricultural and mineral resources; build up manufacturing enterprises; make public roads and highways ; prepare amply for the education of our children ; devote ourselves to all the arts of peace ; and make our territory the sanctuarj' of those cherished principles which protect the inalienable rights of the individual, and elevate states in their sovereign capacities. " Then shall peaceful industry soon be restored ; population and wealth will flow upon us ; ' the desert will blossom as the I'ose ;' and the State of Kansas will soon be admitted into the Union, the peer and pride of her elder sisters. "Jno. W. Geary." Simultaneously with this address, clearly developing the policy by which his official action was to be guided and con- trolled, the governor published the following proclamations : — ''PROCLAMATION. " Whereas, A large number of volunteer militia have been called into the service of the Territory of Kansas, by authority of the late acting governor, for the maintenance of order, many of whom have been taken from occupations or business, and deprived of their ordinai'y means of support and of their domestic enjoyments; and "Whereas. The employment of militia is not authorized by my instructions from the general government, except upon requisition of the commander of the military department in which Kansas is embraced ; and " Whereas, An authorized regular force has been placed at my disposal, sutticient to insure the execution of the laws that may be obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings; now ^'Therefore, I, John W, Geary, Governor of the Territory of Kansas, do issue this, my proclamation, declaring that the services of such volunteer militia are no longer required ; and hereby order that they be immediately discharged. The secretary and the adjutant-general of the territory will muster out of service each command at its place of r^udezvous. DErLURAliLE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS. 127 "And I command all bodies of men, combined, armed and equipped will) munitions of war, without authority of the government, instantly to disband or quit the territory, as they will answer the contrary at their peril. '•In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and afiBxed the seal of the Territory of Kansas. "Done at Leconipton, this eleventh day of September, in the yeai of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six. "Jno. W. Geary, *' Governor of Kansas Territory." " PROCLAMATION. *< Whereas, It is the true policy of every state or territory to be prepared for any- emergency that may arise from internal dissension or foreign invasion ; " Therefore^ I, John W. Geary, Governor of the Territory of Kansas, do issue this, my proclamation, ordering all free male citizens, qualified to bear arms, between the ages eighteen and forty-five years, to enrol themselves, in accordance with the act to organize the militia of the territory, that they may be completely organized by companies, regiments, brigades, or divisions, and hold themselves in readiness, to be mustered, by my order, into the service of the United States, upon requisition of the commander of the military department in which Kansas is embraced, for the suppression of all combinations to resist the laws, and for the maintenance of public order and civil government. "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of the Territory of Kansas. " Done at Lecompton, this eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six. "Jno. W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory." CHAPTER XXI. Gloomy prospect for Governor Geary's administration. — Determination to make Kansas a slave state. — Opposition to the new governor. Address to the people of the slave states. — Secretary Woodson's prcv- clamation. No man ever commenced tlie discharge of official duties under such discourao-ing auspices, or in the face of so many eiubarrassments, difficulties, and dangers, as did Governor Geary. The bitterness of party spirit had reached its acme. 128 HISTORY OF KANSAS. • Every class of the community either was or pretended to be suffering grievances that cried aloud for vengeance: AH means at paeinoatiou were regarded as fruitless, and the leaders of the conliictiiig parties neither saw nor recognised any hope of redress or peace except in the extermination of the qther. The free-state people had no reason to expect even a show of juslice from the administration at Washington. Every federal officer in the territory and every territorial officer, whether ap- pointed or elected, from the supreme judges and secretary to ,ihe deputy marshals, sherifis and clerks, were wedded to the slave power, and pledged at all hazards to its extension. x\nd the free-state party, judging from the uniform policy of the general government, very naturally supposed that the new governor was but another instrument chosen for their oppres- . sion and persecution. It was by no means remarkable, therefore, that they should not only withhold from him everything like a cordial welcome, but regard him with distrust and suspicion, and determine to throw every possible obstacle in the way of his administration. Even President Pierce and his cabinet appear to have made a mistake in the appointment of Governor Geary; for subsequent events prove, that although he succeeded in re- storing peace to the territory, he failed to accomplish the object of their desires; and when they discovered his unwa- vering determination to do equal justice to all the citizens, they withdrew from him, at the time it was most needed, their protecting care. v. - The pro-slavery party, on the other hand, had selected a governor for themselves, and were resolved not to receive with favor any other than the man they had chosen. This was John Calhoun, the surveyor-general of Kansas and Nebraska. He had been well tried, and found to be entirely '' sound on the goose." Of his attachment to their interests there was no room to doubt. Like all others of their party born in free states, he was willing and ready to commit excesses at which even the most rabid of themselves would hesitate. He con- sidered it no crime to murder northern men, and declared that he would kill an abolitionist with less compunction than he would a rat. He had the bestowment of an immense patron- age, which he took great care to render subservient to the Interests of his party. His clerks and other attaches, paid by the government to survey the lands, were enlisted in the Mis- souri army of invasion, and the horses and wagons belonging to his department were employed to transport provisions and A PRO-SLAVEKY GOVERNOR WANTED. 129 anirauiiition for its use. He would have made just sucli a governor as his party needed, and great dissatisfaction was the result of his failure to receive the af^)ointnient. The broad ground assumed by the rabid leaders of the pro- slavery party in Kansas was that an equilibrium of the slave power must be maintained at any sacrifice in the American Union, and this could only be effected by increasing the slave states in proportion with the free. As Nebraska, will unques- tionably enter the Union a free State, Kansas must be admitted with a constitution authorizing slavery. Whilst, therefore, the south was willing to give Nebraska to the north, they asked and demanded that Kansas should be ceded to the south. It was of little consequence what number of northern men located themselves in Kansas. It was assumed that thej had no right to come there, unless with the intention of assisting to make it a slave state. If they would not pledge themselves to that object they were abolitionists, allies of disunionism, and de- serving of death ; and so far from being a crime, it was a vir- tue to kill them. This was the doctrine, openly and boldly advocated, that led to the commission of the most horrid atro- cities that blackened the annals of the territory. Hence, when Governor Geary's appointment was announced, and it was understood that he was determined not to affiliate with either of the opposing factions, but purposed to hold the scales of justice with an even hand, and to sunport and carry out the doctrine of popular sovereignty in the territory, not only much dissatisfaction but considerable consternation was the result. It was feared that every darling scheme and in- famous attempt to force the institution of slavery into Kansas would be frustrated by his acknowledged integrity and well- known sagacity, industry and energy. Measures were imme- diately adopted to circumvent his plans, in anticipation of his coming. Active preparations were commenced, and carried forwai'd with surprising energy, to gather an army in Missouri and other slave states with which to overrun the territory and drive out or annihilate all the free-state people, before the new governor could be on hand to intervene his authority and pre- vent the execution of so i^iabolical a purpose. An inflamma- tory address was prepared and published, signed by Atchison, Stringfellow, Tebbs, Anderson, Reid, Doniphan, and a host of kindred spirits, most of them Missourians, accusing the free- state people of the very outrages which themselves were daily committing, and calling for assistance to punish the traitors, 130 HISTORY OF KANSAS. assassins, and robbers who had invaded tlie territory from the north. This address was exceedingly plausible, and deceived many an honest man into the espousal of a cause which he subsequently abandoned in horror and disgust. The following extracts will give a proper idea of the general tenor of this document : — " We have asked the appointment of a successor, who was ac- quainted with our condition ; who, a citizfen of the territory, identified with its interests, familiar with its history, would not be prejudiced or misled by the falsehoods which have been so systematically fabri- cated against us — one who, heretofore a resident as he is a native of a non-slaveholding state, is yet not a slaveholder, but has the capacity to appreciate, and the boldness and integrity requisite faithfully to discharge his duty, regardless of the possible effect it might have upoa the election of some petty politician in a distant state, " In his stead we have one appointed who is ignorant of our condi- tion, a stranger to our people ; who we have too much cause to fear will, if no worse, prove no more efficient to protect us than his pre- decessors. " With, then, a govei'nment which has proved imbecile — has failed to enforce the laws for our protection — with all army of lawless ban- ditti overrunning our country — what shall we do ? " Though we have full confidence in the integrity and fidelity of Mr. Woodson, now acting as governor, we know not at what moment his authority will be superseded. We cannot await the convenience in coming of our newly appointed governor. We cannot hazard a second edition of imbecility or corruption. " We must aot at once and effectively. These traitors, assassins, and I'obbers must be punished ; must now be taught a lesson they will remember. *' We wage no war upon men for their opinions ; have never at- tempted to exclude any from settling among us ; we have demanded only that all should alike submit to the law. To all such we will afford protection, whatever be their political opinions. But Lane's army and its allies must be expelled from the territory. Thus alone can we make safe our persons and property — thus alone can we bring peace to our territory. "To do this we will need assistance. Our citizens unorganized, many of them unarmed, for they came not as soldiers — thou^ able heretofore to assemble a force sufficient to compel the obedience of the rebels, now that they have been strengthened by this invading army, thoroughly drilled, perfectly equipped, mounted, and ready to march at a moment's notice to attack our defenceless settlements — may be overpowered. Should we be alite even to vanquish this addi- tional force, we are threatened with A further invasion of like cha- racter through Iowa and Nebraska. "This is no mere local quarrel; no mere riot; but it is a war! a war waged by an army ! a war professedly for our extermination. It is no mere resistance to the laws ; no simple rebellion of our citizens. ACTING-GOVERNOR WOODSON. 131 but a war of invasion — the army a foreign army — properly named the * army of the north.' "It is then not only the right but the duty of all good citizens of Missouri and every other state to come to our assistance, and enable us to expel these invaders. ** Mr. Woodson, since the resignation of Governor Shannon, in the absence of Governor Geary, has fearlessly met the responsibilities of the trust forced upon him, has proclaimed the existence of the rebel- lion, and called on the militia of the territory to assemble for its sup- pression. " We call on you to come! to furnish us assistance in men, provi- sions, and munitions, that we may drive out the ' army of the north,' who would subvert our government and expel us from our homes. " Our people though poor, many of them stripped of their all, othei's harassed by these fiends so that they have been unable to provide for their families, are yet true men ; will stand with you shoulder to shoulder in defence of rights, of principles in which you have a common if not deeper interest than they. " By the issue of this struggle is to be decided whether law or law- lessness shall reign in our country. If we are vanquished you too will be victims. Let not our appeal be in vain!" The Squatter Sovereign, an incendiary newspaper, published and edited by Messrs. Stringfellow and Kelly, at Atchison, in Doniphan county, also lent its aid to increase the excitement and embarrass the action of the governor, whose arrival was daily expected. Its articles were highly inflammatoE^, calling loudly for war and the extermination of the free- state people. Its complaints against the administration for the appointment of Geary, were uttered in no stinted terms. '^ No northern man,'^ it alleged, ''was fit to govern Kansas." John H. Stringfellow, one of the editors, is notorious for his violence. He has been arrested and indicted on sundry charges of horse- stealing and otner crimes; whilst Robert 8. Kelly, his asso- ciate, who was so conspicuous in the outrages upon Rev. Pardee , " 12th September, 1856. '* To His Excellency, J. W. Geab-y, " Governor of Kansas Territory. "Sir: Yesterday I had the honor to report to you my command of Kansas Militia, then about eight hundred strong, which was dispatched via Leavenworth. In case it may not have reached you, I now report one thousand men as territorial militia, called into the field by proclamation of Acting-Governor Woodson, and subject to yiiur orders. " I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedt. servt., " Yv'^M. A. Heiskell, "Brig. Gen, Commanding First Brigade, "Southern Div., Kansas Militia. "By order, L. A. Maclean, Adjutant." a Without a moment's hesitation, the governor determined at once to disband these troops and send them back to their homes ; and he accordingly answered the dispatches of General Heiskell, as follows : — "Executive Office, Lecompton, K. T., "September 12, 1856, IJ o'clock. " Brio. Gen. Wm. A. Heiskell. "Sir: Your first and second dispatches have been received. I will communicate with you through the person of either the secretary of the territory, or the adjutant-general, as soon as he can reach your camp, he starting from this place at an early hour this morning. " Very respectfully yours, " J NO. W. Geary, **' "Governor of Kansas Territory." Whilst the foregoing was being Written, a message was received from a special agent of the governor, dated at Law- rence, in which he says : — " I arrived here a few moments ago, and distributed the , address and proclamations, and found the people prepared to repel a contemplated attack from the forces coming from Mis- souri. Reports are well authenticated, in the opinion of the best men here, that there are within six miles of this place a large number of men — three hundred have been seen. * * At this moment one of the scouts came in, and reports the forces marching against them at Franklin, threoiBttiles oif, and '11 have flown to their arms to meet them.'' 12* 138 HISTORY OF KANSAS. This message was enclosed witli the following dispatch, and sent immediately to Colonel Cook, commanding United States forces near Lecompton : — "Executive Office, Lecompton, K. T., "Sept. 13, 1856, at 1^ o'clock, A. M. "Col. p. St. Geokqe Cook. "Dear Sir: The accompanying dispatch, just received from Law- rence, gives sufficient reason to believe that trouble of a serious character is likely to take place there. Mr. Adams, the writer of the dispatch, is the special agent whom I sent down last evening to ascertain the state of affairs. I think you had better send immediatehf to Lawrence a force sufficient to prevent bloodshed, as it is my orders from the President to use every possible means to prevent collisions between belligerent troops. If desirable, I will accompany the forces myself, and should be glad to have you go along. " Truly yours, "Jno. W, Geary, " Governor of Kansas Territory." About one hour after this dispatch was sent to the camp of Colonel Cook, say at half-past two o'clock, on the morning of September 13th, that officer, with three hundred mounted soldiers and four pieces of artillery, and accompanied by Governor Geary, left for Lawrence, which town they reached at early sunrise. Here they learned that the danger was not 80 imminent as had been apprehended. The city was fortified at every point, and the inhabitants generally under arms. There were not over three hundred men in the city. These were assembled together, and addressed at great length by the governor, who cautioned them against the commission of any unlawful acts, and promised them ample protection in case they should be attacked. He was received with much cordiality, listened to with marked attention and respect, and heartily cheered at the con- clusion of his speech. Finding no immediate necessity for his presence, and receiving intelligence that he was needed at Lecompton, in consequence of serious difficulties that had sprung up in that neighborhood, the governor made all pro- per arrangements for any emergency that might arise at Law- rence, and with Colonel Cook, and his command, returned to Lecompton in the afternoon of the same dav. OUTRAGES AT OSAWKEE. 139 CHAPTER XXIII. Excitement at Lecompton. — Affidavit of W. F. Dyer. — Koquisition for troops. — The battle at Hickory Point. — Arrest of one hundred and one free-state prisoners. — The killing of Grayson, a pro-slavery man. — Treat- ment of the prisoners. — Conduct of Judges Lecompte and Cato. — Trial and sentence of the prisoners, and their subsequent treatment. Upon his return to Lecompton, the governor found his office beset with crowds of persons, all of them greatly ex.- cited, and many seriously alarmed, in consequence of a sup- posed intended assault by a large body of men belonging to Lane's party, on the pro-slavery settlements at Ilardteville, (known as Hickory Point,) Osawkee, and the surrounding neighborhoods. It was alleged that on that day, and several days previous, stores had been broken into and robbed, horses had been stolen, cattle driven off, and other similar outrages committed ; and that there was abundant reason for appre- hension that additional atrocities were about to be committed, The inhabitants had hastily fled in terror from their dwellings, fearful that their lives were in danger, and numbers had made their way to Lecompton to seek protection and redress from the governor. Among the most importunate of the complainants was Dr. William H. Tebbs, a prominent member of the pro-slavery party. He, among others, insisted upon some immediate ac- tion being taken to secure the persons complained of, and to save the property declared to be endangered. It was quite late in the evening when the governor arrived, and during the night the excitement increased, as other settlers came in, each having some tale of horror to relate. There were no courts in session — no judges or magistrates at hand to hear these complaints and issue process against the offenders, in legal form. After much difficulty, a Mr. Dyer succeeded in find- ing a justice of the peace, before whom he swore and sub- scribed to the following affidavit, which he placed in the hands of the governor on Sunday morning, September 14th : ** Territory of Kansas, Douglas County. "Personally appeared before a justice in and for Douglas county, Kansas Territory, William F. Dyer, and being duly sworn, says, that Col. Whipple, at the head of a hundred or more men, among whom 140 HlfrORY OF KANSAS. were J. Ritchie, Ephraim Bainter, J. 0. B. Dunning;, Captain Jamison, and others not known to him, did, on Monday. September 8, 1856, rob him of six liead of mules and horses, and various articles of merchandise, amounting in value to more than a thousand dollars ; and on Tuesday following, it being the 9th of September, 1856, the same men robbed him of various articles of merchandise, amounting in value to over three thousand dollars ; and that this day, it being Saturday, September 13, 1856, the same men were assembled at Osawkee, about 8 o'clock, A. M., as he believed for the purpose of robbing and burning the town and country round about, and attacking the town of llardtville this evening. "W. F. Dyer. ♦'Subscribed and sworn this 13th day of September, 1856, before me, R. R. Nelson, "Justice of the Peace." * Upon tlie receipt of this affidavit, the statements of which were confirmed by other reliable witnesses, a requisition was made upon Colonel Cooke, as follows : — ♦'Executive Department, "Lecompton, K. T., Sept. 14, 1856. "Col. p. St. G. Cook: "Dear Sir: You will perceive by the accompanying affidavit, and from verbal statements that will be made to you by Dr. Tebbs, that a despei-ate state of affairs is existing at Osawkee and its vicinity, which seems to require some action at our hands. I strongly recom- mend that you send a force, such as you can conveniently spare, to visit that neighborhood, at the earliest moment. If such a force cannot succeed in arresting the perpetrators of the outrages already committed, and of which complaint has been made in due form, it may at least tend to disperse or drive off the band or bands of ma- rauders who are threatening the lives and property of peaceable citi- zens. The deputy marshal will accompany such troops as you may judge expedient to detail on this service. " Very respectfully and truly yours, " Jno. W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory." Colonel Cook immediately detailed a squadron of United States dragoons to pursue the alleged marauders, and protect the threatened neighborhood. They forded the river at Le- compton a little before sunset, and about midnight fell in with a party of men, of whom they made one hundred and one pris- oners, without resistance. This party was mostly mounted, and well armed with rifles, pistols and bowie-knives, and had one brass field-piece and several wagons, all of which were captured and brought into Lecompton early on the morning of Monday, September 15th. They were said to be a detachment of Lane's rP FIGHT AT HICKORY POINT. 141 forces, under command of Captain Harvey, and Iiad come from Lawrence on Saturday the loth, with a view to join a large body from Topeka. They had been engaged in an atTray at Hickory Point, about twelve miles from Lecompton, and one mile from the place at which they were taken, on the afternoon of Sun- day. The full particulars of this fight and capture of the prisoners will be found in the governor's dispatch to Secretary -Marcy, of the 16th September. The prisoners at first denied having been guilty of any overt act, and claimed to have been peaceable citizens, banded together for mutual protection. But upon being taunted by some prominent pro-slavery men ia regard to the dilemma in which they were placed, they ac- knowledged the whole story of the Hickory Point fight, and made themselves merry in describing w hat they pronounced the cowardice of the opposite party. They called it a ' free-fight/ in which they said all concerned were equally at fault. They seemed to apprehend no serious results from their capture ; and some of them even proposed to the persons who were taking advantage of their helpless condition to insult them, that they should be allowed another opportunity to fight the matter out. " We will give you two to one in nunjbers," says one, " and an equality of arms, if you will only give us an open field and fair play." Being asked if they had not read the governor's proclamation, one of the leaders readily and wittily replied, "Oh, yes, and before we commenced our fire upon the border- ruffians, we read the proclamation ta them, and commanded them to surrender in the name of the governor." A man named Grayson w^as killed by a soldier shortly after the capture of these prisoners. He was a pro-slavery man, and had been acting as a guide to the troops. He attempted to pass the guard during the night, which was dark, when being hailed, he supposed he was accosted by an enemy, and suddenly turned and shot the sentinel in the shoulder. Another of the guard, witnessing the transaction, immediately discharged his pistol, the ball from which took effect in the breast of Grayson, killing him instantly. The prisoners were conducted to the United States encamp- ment on the outskirts of Lecompton, where they were detained some time without proper shelter from the weather or sufficient rations. Their preliminary examination was procrastinated to an unreasonable and almost criminal length of time by the supreme judges. A hearing was eventually given them by Judge Cato, which was somewhat partial in its character, the / 142 HISTORY OF KANSAS. prosecuting attorney being the celebrated Joseph C. Anderson, of Lexington, Mo., a member of the Kansas Legislature, the author of some of its most obnoxious laws, and notorious for his complicity with many of the grossest outrages committed by the pro-slavery party. The judge, who but a short time previous had been found in the encampment of as lawless men as those under examination, committed the whole party for trial on the charge of murder in the first degree. Nothing would be heard in mitigation of their offence ; nor would either Judge Cato or Judge Lecompte permit them to be discharged from custody, upon any amount or character of bail, although it was notoriously true that every pro-slavery man that had been arrested in the territory, no matter how heinous the crime or positive the proof, for which he was committed, had been set at liberty upon worthless bail, by these same officials ; the murderers of Barber, of Phillips, of Bufi"um, and others, were all liberated upon ^' straw bail,'^ and some of them are now holding offices of responsibility under the federal government. It was quite palpable that some of these prisoners were com- paratively if not entirely innocent of any crime; but this fact had no weight upon the judges. They were free-state men, and that, in their estimation, was a crime sufficient to condemn them to imprisonment and death. There were, many cases of peculiar hardship, one of which may be related. A poor German, who scarcely understood the nature of the political contest that was waging in the territory, was working in his field with a wagon and two horses, when the party for Hickory Point passed his house. Some of these being on foot, jumped into his wagon, and compelled him to drive them to the scene of action. This fact was clearly established, and the wretched wife of the prisoner came on foot a distance of nearly twenty miles, bringing with her six almost naked and bare-footed children, to plead to the governor in behalf of her husband. She told the story as it really occurred; represented her hus- band as an industrious and peaceable man, who had taken ns part in any of the disturbances ; and declared that unless he was set at liberty, to procure them a livelihood, herself and children were in dano;er of actual starvation. Notwithstand- ing all this was satisfactorily established, and responsible gen- tlemen were willing to enter bail for the prisoner's appearance at court, the judges were inexorable, and refused, upon any terms, to discharge the unfortunate man. Colonel Cook finding it inconvenient to keep the prisoners TRIAL OP HICKORY POINT PRISONERS. 143 • at the encampment, and General Smith having issued an order for their removal, they were taken to a dilapidated house in Lecompton, and guarded by a company of militia under com- mand of Colonel H. T. Titus. Here their condition was truly deplorable. The building was insufficient in capacity for so many men, while no adequate means were at hand to provide them with food, clothing or bedding. Hence they were nearly starved; subject to constant insults from their guards; living in actual filth; overrun with vermin; and exposed to all the changes of the weather in the most severe and inclement sea- son of the year. The prisoners received their trial at the October term of the first district court, when some of them were acquitted, and others convicted of various degrees of manslaughter. These were sentenced to terms of confinement varying from five to T ten years, at hard labor, and to wear a ball and chain. Sheriff Jones, who was disappointed in not being allowed by the verdict to hang these prisoners, agreeably to his ex- pressed desire, was nervously anxious to see the ball and chain applied, and accordingly wrote to Governor Geary, then at Fort Leavenworth, as follows : — "Lecompton, Nov. 17, 1856. "Sir: — It is indispensably necessary that balls and chains should be furnished for the safety of the convicts under my charge, and understanding that the same can be procured by your application to General Smith, I will request that you will procure and have them sent over at the earliest day possible. " Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., " Saml. J. Jones, ** Sheriff of Douglas county. " Ilis Excellency, Governor Geary, " Fort Leavenworth." To this application the governor replied, upon reaching Le- compton ; " Executive Department, "Lecompton, K. T., Nov. 21, 1856. " Samuel J. Jones, Esq., " Sheriff of Douglas county. " Sir: In reply to yours of the 17th instant, received by me while at Fort Leavenworth, I have to remark that the master of convicts — a just and humane man — with the aid of such guard as he may re- quire, will take care of the convicts, who are, or may be placed under his charge, in such manner as may be deemed most advisable for the public interests. " General Smith has no balls and chains for the purpose indicated 144 HISTORY OP KANSAS. in your request — nor is it deemed advisable to procure any, -while the trial of the remainder of the Hickory Point prisoners is unfinished. "Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., Jno. W. Geart, "Governor of Kansas Territory." On the next day, tlie governor addressed the following com- munication to Captain L. J. Hampton, whom, in accordance with an act of the territorial legislature, creating that office, he appointed master of convicts. The remission of the ball and chain penalty excited the unconcealed auger of Jones, Clarke and other leaders of the pro-slavery party, whose male- dictions against the governor, for his clemency, were loud and unstinted. The Lecompton Union, over which they had con- trol, was unsparing in its denunciations : — " Executive Department, ♦'Lecompton, K. T., Nov. 22, 1856. "L. J. Hampton, Esq., " Master of Convicts : "Sir: I have been requested by Sheriff Jones to procure balls and chains, in accordance with 2d section, 22d ch. Kansas Statutes, for the safety of the prisoners recently convicted for manslaughter for participation in the Hickory Point fight. "Reposing especial trust and confidence in your integrit3% humanity, and discretion, I have, in pursuance of the statutes, appointed you master of convicts, and placed them under your supervision. " By the organic act, I am authorized to grant pardons and re- prieves for ' all offences against the laws of the territory ;' and esteeming the punishment as described in the said section as cruel and unusual, and especially inappropriate to the prisoners alluded to, I hereby I'emit that portion of their sentence requiring the use of 'balls and chains,' and desire you to treat the prisoners with every humanity consistent with their safe-keeping. " Your obedient servant, "Jno. W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas Territory." These prisoners were not all rough and desperate adven- turers. Some of them were gentlemen of polished education, who had graduated in the best institutions of learning, and belonged to the most respectable families in the country. It is true, they were convicted of the commission of an unlawful act J but, in order to understand the merits of their case, it is necessary that all the circumstances connected with it should be fairly weighed and duly considered. The territory was in a state of insurrection and rebellion. The whole commoinity was in arms. Aggressions had been committed by various THE FREE-STATE PRISONERS. 145 parties, ^)iicli had aroused on all sides a spirit of retaliation and revenge. These same prisoners had suffered many and great abuses from their pro-slavery enemies j and at the very time they attacked the settlement at Hickory Point, these lat- ter were marching in great force to effect their utter annihi- lation. Upon the disbanding of the militia in December, those of the prisoners that were left, one having died of privation and exposure, and others having made their escape despite the vigilance of their guards, were placed in charge of the master of convicts. Captain Hampton was a Kentuckian by birth, and a pro-slavery man; but possessed an honest heart and generous disposition. He treated the prisoners as though they were human beings, and with as much kindness and conside- ration as their relative positions would permit. He soon gained their confidence, and having no proper place for their safe confinement, and being required to keep them at work when labor could be obtained, he allowed them to go at large without a keeper, relying upon their own promise to return to his charge at any specified time. This conduct called down upon Hampton the vengeance of leading members of his party, who denounced him fiercely for his leniency, complained of him to the governor, and loudly demanded his removal from ofl&ce. The most violent of those who condemned him were Sheriff Jones, the editors of the Lecompton Union, and L. A. Maclean, chief clerk of Sur- veyor Calhoun, every one of whom was guilty of greater offences against the laws than the worst man then in charge of the master of convicts. When the pro-slavery convention, which baptized itself into the name of the '' National Democ- racy of Kansas," met in Lecompton, in January, Captain Hampton was violently assailed by Maclean, Jones and String- fellow, and his seat as a delegate contested, because, as it was maintained, his kind treatment of the free-state prisoners afforded ample proof that he was not and could not be a pro- slavery man. And for the same reason the Legislative Assem- bly refused to confirm his appointment. A good anecdote is told by a gentleman from one of the southern states, in regard to these free-state prisoners, when under the charge of Captain Hampton. Soon after his arri- val at Lecompton, he called upon the governor, and, in the course of conversation, expressed himself with considerable warmth against the prisoners who had committed such atro- 13 K 146 HISTORY OF KANSAS. cious crimes as were charged against tliem in certain newspa- pers that he had read. So horrible an idea had he conceived of the character of the men in question, that he could not find terms sufficiently strong to express his execration of their ^ deeds. He unquestionably and honestly imagined that they were moral monsters of enormous magnitude. Having ex- pressed a desire to see these terrible robbers and murderers and assassins, ,as he styled them, the governor directed him to the prison, and assured him that by paying it a visit he might gratify his curiosity. ^ He immediately staHed, and after reaching the designated neighborhood, and looking in vain for anything that resembled a prison, he approached two men^ who were enjoying them- selves with a game of quoits. "Can you tell me,'' he enquired, "where the prison is in which those great robbers and murderers are confined ?" " That's it/' said one of the men, pointing to a house near at hand. / " What ! that old building, falling to pieces, without either doors or windows? You don't want to tell me that they keep murderers and thieves and other criminals there ?" " That is the only prison we have here," replied the man, deliberately pitching his quoit. " Well," says the southern gentleman, " I want to see those desperate murderers and assassins." "I am one of them," says the quoit-player, "and that is another," pointing to his companion. " What ! you convicted felons ? You the terrible murder- ers about whom I have heard so much ?" " Yes; we are certainly two of them. The others' are gone over to the House of Representatives, to hear the members abuse the governor." " But," says the old gentleman, "they don't allow convicted murderers to go about in this way, without a guard to watch them ?" " Oh, yes," says the man interrogated ; " they used to send a guard with us, whenever we went over to the Legislative Halls, to protect us again.st violence from the members ; but they found that too troublesorne and expensive ; so they gave each of us a revolver and bowie-knife, and told us we should hereafter be required to protect ourselves." "But why don't you run away? You have every opportu- nity. There is nothing to prevent you.'" )f THE CONVICTS PARDONED. 147 '^Why, to tell the truth, we have often been persuaded to do that ; but then, you see these rascally legislators have been threatening to assassinate the governor, and we have deter- mined to remain here to watch them, and protect him/' The old gentleman had no desire to see any more of those desperate thieves, robbers, murderers and assassins. There were but seventeen convicts remaining in the custody of Captain Hampton on the 2d of March, at which time they were all freely pardoned by the governor, in compliance with numerous petitions, in which it was alleged that the prisoners had, previous to the difficulty for which they were arrested, uniformly '^maintained good reputations; that the oifence for which they were convicted, was committed in one of those political contentions, in which a great po'rtion of the people of the territory took an active part, many of whom, though equally, if not more guilty, were still at liberty, and could never be brought to punishment ; that they had already suf- fered an imprisonment of nearly six months; and that their continued punishment could neither subserve the ends of jus- tice, nor the interests of the territory/' It might, with propriety, have been added, in palliation of their oifence, that the most of those with whom they had the affray at Hickory Point, comprised a company of pro-slavery men, under the command of one Captain Ilobinson, who were then on their way to join the Missouri army, about to destroy Lawrence, and that in their march from the northern portion of the state, they had committed many and grievous depreda- tions upon the free-state settlers, and the attack upon them was partly in retaliation for the wrongs they had inflicted. 'l^S HISTORY OP KANSAS. CHAPTER XXIV. The Missouri army of invasion. — Letter from Theodore Adams. — Governor Geary proceeds with troops to Lawrence, and protects the town. — The governor visits the camp of the Missourians, addresses the ofl&cers, and disbands the forces. "Whilst the governor was making his arrangements for quelling the disturbances at Osawkee and Hickory Point, dif- ficulties of a more serious nature were demanding his atten- tion in a different direction. Messengers were constantly ar- riving from Lawrence, bringing intelligence that a large army from Missouri was encamped on the Wakarusa River, and was hourly expected to attack the town. As these men styled themselves territorial militia, and were called into service by the late acting-governor Woodson, Governor Geary commanded that officer to take with him Adjutant-General Strickler, with an escort of United States troops, and disband, in accordance with the proclamations issued, the forces that had so unwisely been assembled. Woodson and Strickler left Lecompton in the afternoon, and reached the Missouri camp early in the evening. Here Woodson found it impossible to accomplish the object of his mission. No attention or respect was paid to him by those having command of the forces. The army be had gath- ered, refused to acknowledge his authority. He had raised a storm, the elements of which he was powerless to control. Neither could the officers be assembled to receive the gover- nor's orders from the adjutant- general. The militia had re- solved not to disband ', the officers refused to listen to the reading of the proclamation; they were determined upon ac- complishing the bloody work they had entered the territory to perform. Nothing but the destruction of Lawrence, and the other free-state towns, the massacre of all the free-state resi- dents, and the appropriation of their lands and other pro- perty, could satisfy them. Vengeance was theirs — they had now the power — and it should be executed. Governor Geary was denounced by such men as Clarke, Maclean, Stringfellow and Jones,* and sentence of death was freely uttered against him, along the whole line of the encampment, should he dare to interfere. Nothing, now, could satisfy them but abolition Woodson's militia. 149 blood. This they intended to wade through, and drink to satiety ; nor would they stop at anything short of the utter extermination or "wiping out" of Kansas, everything bearing the vestige of free-soilism. Never was collected together such a fierce and furious band. Little did they imagine that for every abolitionist they ''wiped out/' a hundred others would arise to revenge his death ! Little did they think that for every drop of blood they shed, rivers of their own would have been caused to flow ! Had Grovernor Geary permitted them to execute their fiendish work, the sword of retribution would long since have fallen with dreadful power upon that murderous crew. The measure of their iniquity would have been full, and Heaven could no longer have held back the avenging arm of justice; and ere now, the slave power, which has so long been bullying the freemen of the land, would have been swept into the ocean of eternity! The delusive hope that the north will not fight, would have been dispelled; for the weight would have been felt, of thousands of more power- ful and mighty arms than any that have ever laid the lash upon negroes' backs. The entire people of the south — every man, woman and child, of the slavery party — owe a debt of gratitude which never can be paid, to Governor Geary, for his timely presence and arrest of the bloody purpose of these hot- brained madmen! Mr. Adams, who accompanied Secretary "Woodson to the Missouri camp, dispatched the following : — "Lawrence, 12 o'clock, midnight, " September 14, 1856. ** His Excellency, Governor Geary : "Sir: I went as directed to the camp of the militia, and found at the town of Franklin, three miles from this place, encamped three hundred men, with four pieces of artillery. One mile to the right on the Wakarusa, I found a very large encampment of three hundred tents and wagons. They claim to have two thousand five hundred men ; and from the appearance of the camp I have no doubt they have that number. General Reid is in command. I saw and was introduced to General Atchison, Colonel Titus, Sheriff Jones, General Richardson, &c. The proclamations were distributed. " Secretary Woodson and General Strickler had not, up to the time I left, delivered their orders ; but were about doing so as soon as they could get the officers together. " The outposts of both parties were fighting about an hour before sunset. One man killed of the militia, and one house burned at Fi^anklin. 12* 150 HISTORY OF KANSAS. " There were but few people at Lawrence, most of them having gone to their homes after your visit hei'e. "I reported these facts to the officer in command here, and your prompt action has undoubtedly been the means of preventing the loss of blood and saving valuable property. " Secretary Woodson thought you had better come to the camp of the militia as soon as you can. I think a prompt visit would have a good effect. I will see you as you come this way, and communicate with you more fully. " Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., " Theodore Adams." Before this dispatcli readied Lecompton, the governor had departed, with three hundred United States mounted troops and a battery of light artillery, and riding speedily, arrived at Lawrence early in the evening of the 14th, where he found matters precisely as described. Skilfully stationing his troops outside the town, in commanding positions, to prevent a col- lision between the invading forces from Missouri and the citizens, he entered Lawrence alone, and there he beheld a sight which would have aroused the manhood of the most stolid mortal, and which another writer has thus eloquently described : — '■'■ About three hundred persons were found in arms, deter- mined to sell their lives at the dearest price to their ruffian enemies. Among these were many women, and children of both sexes, armed with guns and otherwise accoutred for battle. They had been goaded to this by the courage of despair. Lawrence was to have been their Thermopylae, and every other free town would have proved a Saragossa. When men deter- mine to die for the right, a hecatomb of victims grace their immolation; but when women and children betake themselves to the battle-field, ready to fight and die with their husbands and fathers, heroism becomes the animating principle of every heart, and a giant's strength invigorates every arm. Each drop of blood lost by such warriors becomes a dragon's tooth, which will spring from the earth, in all the armor of truth and justice, to exact a fearful retribution. Had Lawrence been destroyed, and her population butchered, the red right hand of vengeance would have gleamed over the entire South, and the question of slavery have been settled by a bloody and infuriated baptism. There are such examples in history, and mankind have lost none of their impulses or human emotions. '■'• Grov. Geary addressed the armed citizens of Lawrence, and when he assured them of his and the law's protection, CAMP OF THE iNVADEaS. 151 tliey offered to deposit their arras at his feet and return to their respective habitations. He bid them go to their homes in contideiiee, and to carry their arms with them, as the Consti tutiori of the Union guaranteed that right; but to use those arms oulj^ in the last resort to protect their lives and property, and the chastity of their females. They obeyed the governor and repaired to their homes/' Early on the morning of the 15th, having left the troops to protect the town of Lawrence, the governor proceeded alone to the camp of the invading forces, then within three miles, and drawn up in line of battle. Before reaching Franklin, he met the advance guard, and upon inquiring who they were and what were their objects, received for answer, that they were the territorial militia, called into service by the governor of Kansas, and that they were marching to ''wipe out Lawrence and every d — d abolitionist in the country." Greary informed theiii that he was now Governor of Kansas, and commander- in-chief of the territorial militia, and ordered the olficer in command to countermarch his troops back to the main line, and conduct him to the centre, that being his proper position, which order, after some hesitation, was reluctantly obeyed. The scene that was presented as the governor advanced, wa,s one that no time nor circumstance can ever erase from his mind. The militia had taken a position upon an extensive and beautiful plain near the junction of the Wakarusa with the Kansas River. On one side towered a lofty hill, known as the Blue Mound, and on the other Mount Oread showed its fortified summit. The town of Franklin, from its elevated site, looked down upon the active scene, while beyond, in a quiet vale, the more flourishing city of Lawrence reposed as though unconscious of its threatened doom. The waters of the Kansas River might be seen gliding rapidly toward the Missouri, and the tall forest trees which line its banks, plainly indicated the course of the Wakarusa. The red face of the rising sun was just peering over the top of the Blue Mound, as the governor with his strange escort of three hundred mounted men, with red shirts and odd-shaped hats, descended upon the Wakarusa plain. There, in battle array, were ranged at least three thousand armed and desperate men. They were not dressed in the usual habiliments of soldiers; but in every iiongiuiible costume that could be obtained in that western region. Scarcely two presented the same appearance, while all exhibited a ruffianly aspect. Most of them were mounted. 152 HISTORY OF KANSAS. and manifested an unmistakable disposition to be at their bloody work. In tbe background stood at least three hundred army tents and as many wagons, while here and there a cannon was planted ready to aid in the anticipated destruction. Among the banners floated black flags to indicate the design that neither age, sex, nor condition would be spared in the slaughter that was to ensue. The arms and cannon also bore the black indices of extermination. In passing along the lines, murmurs of discontent and savage threats of assassination fell upon the governor's ears; but heedless of these, and regardless, in fact, of everything but a desire to avert the terrible calamity that was impending, he fearlessly proceeded to the quarters of their leader. This threatening army was under the command of General Jojin W. Reid, then and now a member of the Missouri Legislature, assisted by ex-senator Atchison, G-eneral B. F. Stringfellow, General L. A. Maclean, General J. W. Whitfield, General George W. Clarke, Generals William A. Heiskell, Wm. H. Richardson, and F. A. Marshal, Col. H. T. Titus, Captain Frederick Emory, and others of similar character. Some of these men have since been rewarded by the present administration with lucrative offices, if not for the valuable services they were about to render in this afi'air, at least for some others which the government has considered important. Governor Geary at once summoned the officers together, and addressed them at length and with great feeling. He depicted in a forcible manner the improper position they occupied, and the untold horrors that would result from the consummation of their cruel designs : that if they persisted in their mad career, the entire Union would be involved in a civil war, and thousands and tens of thousands of innocent lives be sacrificed. To Atchison, he especially addressed himself, telling him that when he last saw him, he was acting as vice-president of the nation and president of the most dignified body of men in the world, the senate of the United States; but now with sorrow and pain he saw him leading on to a civil and disastrous war an army of men, with uncontrollable passions, and determined upon whole.sale slaughter and destruction. He concluded his remarks by directing attention to his proclamation, and ordered the army to be disbanded and dispersed. Some of the more judicious of the officers were not only willing, but anxious to obey this order; whilst others, resolved upon mischief, yielded a very reluctant assent. General Clarke said he was for THE ARMY DISBANDED. 153 pitching into the United States troops, if necessary, rather than abandon the objects of the expedition. General Maclean didn't see any use of going back until they had whipped the d — d abolitionists. Sheriff Jones was in favor, now they had a sufficient force, of " wiping out" Lawrence and all the free- state towns. And these and others, cursed Governor Geary in not very gentle expressions, for his untimely interference with their well laid plans. They, however, obeyed the order, and retired, not as good and law-loving citizens, but as bands of plunderers aud destroyers, leaving in their wake ruined fortunes, weeping eyes, and sorrowing hearts. The question has been asked, why was this army dispersed, and permitted to depart for their homes, whilst that at Hickory Point was captured, imprisoned, tried and convicted of a criminal charge? The answer is simple. These men had been called into service by the late acting-governor, and by him given authority as the duly constituted militia of the territory. As such Governor Geary was compelled to recognise them. They had committed no overt act against the laws of which they were accused and of which he could properly take cognisance, and all that he could do was to order them to dis- perse. Had they refused, and still kept up their military organization, they would have been placed in quite a different position, and Governor Geary could then have arrested them as violators of the peace. But they obeyed his order and disbanded. On the other hand, the party at Hickory Point, though morally as good, if not better men, were in arms not only without the sanction, but in open violation of law. With the governor's proclamation in their hands, commanding all unauthorized armed bodies instantly to disband or quit the territory, they marched against and stormed a settlement, jiillinsi; one man and wounding; several others, and almost in the very commission of this unlawful and overt act, they were cap- tured by the government troops. The whole difference, there- fore, between the two parties, is, not that one was morally worse than the other, but because one was acting by and the other against legal authority. On the 16th of September, the governor dispatched the following letter to Secretary Marcy : — "Executive Department, Lecompton, K. T,, " Sept. 16, 1856. *' Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of State : "My Dear Sir: — Mj last dispatch was dated the 12th instant, in 154 HISTORY OF KANSAS. ■which I gave you a statement of my operations to that date. Since then, I have had business of the deepest importance to occupy every moment of my attention, and to require the most constant watchful- ness and untiring energy. Indeed, so absolutely occupied is all my time, that I scarcely have a minute to devote to the duty of keeping you apprised of the true condition of this territory. I have this in- stant returned from an expedition to Lawrence and the vicinity, and am pi'eparing to depart almost immediately for other sections of the territory, where my presence is demanded. " After having issued my address and proclamations in this city, copies of which have been forwarded to you, I sent them with a special messenger, to Lawrence, twelve miles to the eastward, where they were made known to the citizens on the 12th instant. The peo- ple of that place were alarmed with a report that a large body of armed men, called out under the proclamation of the late acting- governor Woodson, were threatening them with an attack, and they were making the necessary preparations for resistance. So well au- thenticated seemed their information, that my agent forwarded an express by a United States trooper, announcing the fact, and calling upon me to use my power to prevent the impending calamity. This express reached me at half-past one o'clock, on the morning of the 13th instant. I immediately made a requisition upon Colonel Cook, commander of the United States forces stationed at this place, for as many troops as could be made available, and in about an hour was on my way towards Lawrence, with three hundred mounted men, in- cluding a battery of light artillery. On arriving at Lawrence we found the danger had been exaggerated, and that there was no imme- diate necessity for the intervention of the military. The moral effect of our presence, however, was of great avail. The citizens wei*e sat- isfied that the government was disposed to render them all needed protection, and I received from them the assurance that they would conduct themselves as law-abiding and peace-loving men. They voluntarily oflered to lay down their arms, and enrol themselves as territorial militia, in accordance with the terms of my proclamations. I returned the same day with the troops, well satisfied with the result of my mission. " Dui'ing the evening of Saturday, the 13th, I remained at my office, Avhich was constantly thronged with men uttering complaints concern- ing outrages that had been and were being committed upon their per- sons and property. These complaints came in from every direction, and were made by the advocates of all the conflicting political senti- ments, with which the territory has been agitated ; and they exhib- ited clearly a moral condition of affairs, too lamentable for any lan- guage adequately to descril,*e. The whole country was evidently in- fested with armed bands of marauders, who set all law at defiance, and travelled from place to place, assailing villages, sacking and burning houses, destroying crops, maltreating women and children, driving off and stealing cattle and horses, and murdering harmless men in their own dwellings and on the public highways. Many of these grievances needed immediate redress; but unfortunately the law was a dead letter, no magistrate or judge being at hand to take ' LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 155 an affidavit or issue a process, and no marshal or sherifiF to be found, even had the judges been present to prepare them, to execute the same. " The next day, Sunday, matters grew worse and worse. The most positive evidence reached me, that a large body of armed and mounted men were devastating the neighborhoods of Osawkee and Hardtville, commonly called Hickory Point. Being well convinced of this fact, I detei-mined to act upon my own responsibility, and im- mediately issued an order to Colonel Cook for a detachment of hia forces, to visit the scene of disturbance. In answer- to this requisi- tion, a squadron of eighty-one men were detached, consisting of companies C. and H. 1st cavalry. Captains Wood and Newby, the whole under command of Captain Wood. This detachment left the camp at two o'clock, P. M., with instructions to proceed to Osawkee and Hickory Point, the former twelve, and the latter eighteen miles to the northward of Lecompton. It was accompanied by a deputy marshal. " In consequence of the want of proper facilities for crossing the Kansas River, it was late in the evening before the force could march. After having proceeded about six miles, intelligence was brought to Captain Wood, that a large party of men, under command of a per- son named Harvey, had come over from Lawrence, and made an at- , tack upon a log house at Hickory Point, in which a number of the settlers had taken refuge. This assault commenced about eleven o'clock in the morning, and continued six hours. The attacking party had charge of a brass four-pounder, the same that was taken by Colonel Doniphan at the battle of Sacramento. This piece had been freely used in the assault; but without effecting any material damage. As far as has yet been ascertained, but one man was killed, and some half-dozen wounded. "About eleven o'clock in the evening. Captain Wood's command met a party of twenty-five men, with three wagons, one of which contained a wounded man. These he ascertained to be a portion of Harvey's forces, who had been engaged in the assault at Hickory Point, and who were returning to Lawrence. They were immedi- ately arrested, without resistance, disarmed and held as prisoners. Three others were soon after arrested, who also proved to be a por- tion of Harvey's party. "When within about four miles of Hickory Point, Captain Wood discovered a large encampment upon the prairie, near the road lead- ing to Lawrence. It was the main body of Harvey's men, then under command of a man named Bickerton, Harvey having left after the attack on Hickory Point. This party was surprised and captured. "After securing the prisoners, Captain Wood returned to Lecomp- ton, which place he reached about day-break, on Monday the 15th instant, bringing with him one hundred and one prisoners, one brass field-piece, seven wagons, thirty-eight United States muskets, forty- seven Ifcarp's rifles, six hunting rifles, two shot guns, twenty revolv- ing pistols, fourteen bowie knives, four swords, and a large supply of ammunition for artillery and small arms. " Whilst engaged in making preparations for the foregoing expedi- 156 HISTORY OF KANSAS. tion, several messengers reached me from Lawrence, announcing that a powerful army was marching upon that place, it being the maia body of the militia called into service by the proclamation of Secre- tary Woodson, when acting-governor. "Satisfied that the most prompt and decisnve measures were neces- sary to prevent the sacrifice of many lives, and the destruction of one of the finest and most prosperous towns in the territory, and avert a state of affairs, which must have inevitably involved the coun- try in a most disastrous civil war, I dispatched the following order to Colonel Cook :— » *' 'Proceed at all speed with your command to Lawrence, and pre- vent a collision if possible, and leave a portion of your troops there for that purpose,' '* Accordingly, the entire available Uuited States force was put in motion, and reached Lawrence at an early hour in the evening. Here, the worst apprehensions of the citizens were discovered to have been well founded. Twenty-seven hundred men, under command of Generals Heiskell, Reid, Atchison, Richardson, Stringfellow, and others, were encamped on the Wakarusa, about four miles from Law- rence, eager and determined to exterminate that place and all its inhabitants. An advanced party of three hundred men had already taken possession of Franklin, one mile from the camp, and three miles from Lawrence, and skirmishing parties had begun to engage in deadly conflict. "Fully appreciating the awful calamities that were impending, I hastened with all possible dispatch to the encampment, assembled the officers of the militia, and in the name of the President of the United States, demanded suspension of hostilities. I had sent in advance, the secretary and adjutant-general of the territory, with orders to carry out the spirit and letter of my proclamations; but up to the time of my arrival, these orders had been unheeded, and I could dis- tQiet but little disposition to obey them. I addressed the officers in touncil at considerable length, setting forth the disastrous conse- quences of such a demonstration as was contemplated, and the abso- lute necessity of more lawful and conciliatory measures to restore peace, tranquillity, and prosperity to the country. I read my instruc- tions from the president, and convinced them that my whole coursft of procedure was in accordance therewith, and called upon them to aid me in my efforts, not only to carry out those instructions, but to support and enforce the laws, and the constitution of the United States. I am happy to say, that a more ready concurrence in my views was met, than I had at first any good reason to expect. It was agreed, that the terms of my proclamations should be carried out by the disbandment of the militia ; whereupon the camp was broken up, and the different commands separated, to repair to their respective homes. "The occurrences, thus related, are already exerting a benificent in- fluence ; and although the work is not yet accomplished, I doijpot de- spair of success in my efforts to satisfy the government that I am worthy of the high trust which has been reposed in me. As soon as circumstances will permit, I shall visit, in person, every section of >j»r* THE COURTS AND JUDGES. 157 the territory, where I feel assured that my presence will tend to give confidence and security to the people. "In closing, I have merely to add, that unless I am more fully sustained hereafter by the civil authorities, and serious diflacultiea and disturbances continue to agitate the territory, my only recourse will be to martial law, which I must needs proclaim and enforce. ' Very respectfully, &c. "Jno. W. Geary. Governor of Kansas Territory." CHAPTER XXV. Improved condition of things. — Attempt to resurrect the courts and incite the judges to the performance of their duty. — Judges Burrell, Cato and Lecompte. — The examination and trial of free-state prisoners. — Direc- tions to Judge Cato. — Letters to the Supreme Judges. — Replies of Judges Cato and Lecompte. — Great criminals permitted to run at liberty. — ■ Discharge of free-state men on bail. — Judge Lecompte's defence. The dismissal of the Missouri invaders, the arrest of Har- vey's party, and tlie departure of Col. Lane (which took place about this time) from the territory, were followed with the most beneficial effects. The prompt, bold, rapid, and decisive movements of the governor struck the numerous predatory bands with terror, and they either dispersed, or fled the coun- try ; and a happier condition of things began to be apparent on every hand. The next important measure for the governor, was to resur- rect, if possible, the courts, and infuse new life and spirit and energy into the judiciary, who had not only been entirely ne- glectful of their duties, but were actually responsible for a great portion of the evils that had so long existed. The Pres- ident cannot be reprehended for not appointing men of supe- rior legal attainments, or more than ordinary talent, to these offices } for the inducements to accept them were insufficient for men of that description. Hence, he was in a measure compelled to make his selections from other material. But still he could have obtained men of mediocre ability, who possessed at least a small amount of integrity and legal knowl- edge, and some disposition to hold the scales of justice with an even hand. He certainly could not have chosen worse 14 158 HISTORY OF KANSAS. tlian "he did for tlie necessities of the times and territory, "had hie canvassed the entire country with that sole determination. Judge Burrell was in the territory about ten days of the two years he held his appointment, the remainder of his time being passed at his residence in Greensburg, Pa., where he recently died. When Governor Geary visited the camp of Reid, as al- ready related, he found his honor, Judge Cato, performing the duties of a soldier in that ruffian army, and brought him thence to Lecompton, where, a short time afterwards, being in a tent of the militia, who had got possession of the arms of the free-state prisoners, and were making selections to ap- propriate to their own use, the judge was shot in the ankle by the accidental, discharge of a revolver in the hands of a drunken fellow, named Hull. This disabled him for a consid- erable length of time ; but, after his recovery, he became the constant companion of the most worthless characters in Le- compton, was the daily associate of George W. Clarke and L. A. Maclean, and the room-mate, mess-mate and bed-fellow of Jones and Bennett of the Lecompton Union, the honor of writing and supervising the scurrilous and lying productions of which false and abusive sheet he was shrewdly, and per- haps not unjustly, accused of sharing with Surveyor Calhoun and the other worthies named. His knowledge of law was extremely meagre, and his sense of justice by no means deli- cate or refined. Chief-Justice Lecompte was a third or fourth-rate lawyer, from Maryland ; and though notoriously indolent and sluggish, has, during his two years' residence in Kansas, accumulated in valuable property a fortune of considerable magnitude. In most of the towns laid out by pro-slavery men he owns a goodly share of choice lots, presented to him, doubtless, more in regard to his virtues and talents, than for any favors he had bestowed, or was expected to bestow, in the discharge of his judicial functions. The judge owns a handsome place near Leavenworth City, to which he is so devotedly attached, that he finds it far more convenient to discharge prisoners on straw- bail, than travel twenty or more miles to hold courts and go through the troublesome forms of trial. He can always find time to strike a profitable bargain, make a good land specula- tion, or engage in any operation that will put money in his purse; but the duties of a judge are too insignificant to receive THE COURTS AND JUDGES. 159 any special amount of attention ; hence he troubles himself but little with the matter of holding courts. An anecdote, somewhat characteristic, is almost universally told, and very generally believed, of him in Kansas. He adjourned the spring term of his court, it is said, to plant potatoes j the sum- mer term to hoe his potatoes ; the fall term to dig his potatoes ; and the winter term because he had to be at home to sell his po- tatoes. This, however, is probably somewhat of an exaggeration. When the governor returned from the Missouri camp, on the 15th, bringing Judge Cato with him, he found Lecompte at the capital, in compliance with a request forwarded to him at Leavenworth to that effect. On the 16th he had an inter- view with these two officials, in which he endeavored to im- press them with the importance to the territory and the coun- try, of proper judicial proceedings — of opening and holding courts; not only that prisoners could be justly disposed of, but that processes could be issued and criminals arrested. This, they were assured, must be done, or military law proclaimed and adopted. They both seemingly concurred in his views, and agreed to his expressed desires. At this time hundreds of persons were constantly pouring into the city, distracting the attention of the governor with j)itiful complaints of atrocious outrages that were being com- mitted upon their persons and property. It was the province of the judges to hear these complaints and endeavor to redress the wrongs the people were suffering, adopt and prosecute mea- sures for the arrest and punishment of transgressors, and pre- vent a continuance of the crimes which were distracting the territory. On the 17th the governor accompanied a detachment of troops to arrest a party of alleged criminals at Topeka ; and upon his return, on the following day, learned, to his aston- ishment, that Lecompte had already left for his home in Leavenworth ; and that, instead of making arrangements for the immediate examination of the great number of prisoners collected at Lecompton, he had appointed a court for that pur- pose, to be held three weeks subsequently, at Leavenworth City, forty miles distant, and left directions to have the prison- ers conveyed there for trial. Had he adopted this procedure for the express purpose of defeating the ends of justice, and of stultifying all the exertions of the executive for the public welfare, he could not more effectually have accomplished that 160 HISTORY OF KANSAS. object. Tt would have been possible, though extremely diffi- cult, and unnecessarily expensive, to carry one hundred and twenty or more prisoners, then in custody, fifty miles to accom- modate Lecompte; but it would have been ultog^ether imjjossihle to give those prisoners a proper hearing and just trial at a place so far distant from where their offences were alleged to have been committed. The witnesses could not have been brought together at such a distance, in times when no unpro- tected traveller could pass the roads in safety, even were there in the way no other obstacles. This, Lecompte knew ; and the whole arrangement afforded but another evidence, in addi- tion to the numbers he had already given, of imbecility and worthlessness during the entire period he had been in- office. Incensed at this conduct, and determined that the prisoners should have an early hearing in Lecompton, or be set at lib- erty, the governor addressed the following note to associate- justice Cato : — ''Executive Department, K. T., "Lecompton, Sept. 20, 1856. "Judge Steeling G. Cato: " Dear Sir: You will oblige me by fixing an early day for the exa- mination of the prisoners now held at the encampment of the United States troops in this district, and give proper and sufficient notice of the same. It is essential to the peace of the community and the due execution of the law, that this be effected at the earliest possible mo- ment. Some of these men have already been detained as prisoners six days without even a preliminary hearing. If at the time appointed and legally notified, no prosecutor appears, the alleged criminals should be discharged and permitted to repair to their homes and law- ful pursuits. " Truly yours, "Jno, W. Geary, " Governor of- Kansas Territory." In accordance with this demand. Judge Cato appointed a court and commenced an examination of the prisoners, during the prosecution of which he met with the accident mentioned, and the proceedings were postponed. The hearing and trials, however, were finally had, the result of which has been related in another place. Resolved, if possible, to awaken the judiciary to a sense of duty and obligation, or at least to obtain from them an account of their past stewardship, the governor addressed a letter of inquiry to each of the supreme judges, of which the following is a copy : — THE COURTS AND JUDGES. 161 "Executive Department, K. T,, "SepteiAber 23, 1866. " To THE Hon. Samuel D. Leoompte, " Chief Justice of tlie Supreme Court of Kansas Territory. '"Sir: Upon my arrival here I found this territory in a state of insurrection, business paralyzed, operation of the courts suspended, and the civil administratioa of the government inoperative and seei«i- ingly useless. " Mucla complaint has been made to me against the territorial officers, for alleged neglect of duty, party bias, and criminal com- plicity with a state of affairs which resulted in a contempt of all authority. " I have therefore deemed it proper to address circulars to all ter- ritorial officers, in order that, being informed of the complainta against them, they may have an opportunity to vindicate themselves tlirough my department. "• The efficiency of the executive will be much impaired or strength- ened by the manner in which his subordinates in office discharge their respective duties. " As it is my sworn duty to see that the laws are faithfully exe- cuted, I need offer no apology for requesting categorical answers to the following interrogatories: *' 1st. When did you assume the discharge of the duties of your judicial office ? "2d. What counties compose your judicial district, and how fre- quently have you held courts in each county or in your district ? " 3d. How many bills have been presented — how many ignored in your courts — how many indictments have been tried before you, and how many convictions had, and for what offences? ♦' With a brief statement of other facts and circumstances, showing the manner in which you have discharged your duties, which you may be pleased to communicate. "Very truly, your obedt. servt., "Jno. W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas Territory," Similar communications were addressed to all the territorial officers, the replies to which are not of sufficient interest to receive a place in these pages. They all amount to precisely the same thing, to wit : that not one of the officials understood his duty, or had performed it. The offices appear to have been held, not so much for any good that could be accomplished, as for their honor and emoluments. , From Judge Cato's reply, dated October 29th, it seemed that he had been in the territory about a year. He was ap- pointed to the second judicial district, composed of eight counties. He says : ^' I held court in each of said counties, except Linn, last spring and summer, beginning at Franklia 14 * L 162 HISTORT OF KANSAS. on the third Monday of April, and ending at Shawnee on the second Monday of June last." The only criminal cases that he had ever tried he speaks of thus : An " adjourned term of the court for Bourbon county was held to dispose of cases on the criminal docket, and the week was occupied in the trial of one case for murder and two for assaults with intent to kill. The case for murder resulted in an acquittal ', oae of those for assault with intent to kill, resulted in acquittal, and the other in a mistrial. These are the only trials of criminal cases held in my district." The answer of Chief Justice Lecompte is very wordy and leugthy, and, with accompanying documents, consisting of a defence of himself published in the newspapers, and an address to the members of the bar, would comprise a good-sized volume, all of which amounts to the simple fact, that, although he ar- rived in the territory in November, 1854, he had transacted no judicial business worthy of any note. He was assigned the first judicial district, comprising the counties of Doniphan, Atchison, Leavenworth, Jefferson, Calhoun and Douglas. In each of these counties one term of court, of a week's duration was required by statute to be held during the year. " All these were holden," he says, "except that for DOniphan [ia~ 1855], which I was not able to reach for failure of the boats/' and "except the last term for Jefferson county and for Cal- houn. These I did not hold because the recent commotions had just then arisen. It was considered utterly useless to hold court at either Osawkee, the county seat of Jefferson, or Cal- houn, the county seat of Calhoun, as neither juries, nor wit- nesses, nor suitors could be in attendance." " In almost all the criminal cases," he says, "presented an- terior to the publication of the statute, nolle prosequies were entered by direction of the district attorney of the United States for the territory, upon the ground taken by him, that^ there was no law in force in the territory to punish them. The consequence is that few trials arose. * * * 'pj^g Q^jy convictions I remember are, one for horse-stealing in Doni- phan, and some three or four for assuming office ; one for ma- liciously killing a horse in Atchison county ; one in Jefferson county for selling liquor to Indians ; and perhaps some eight or ten in different counties, for selling liquor without license." Thus it appears that, although crimes of the blackest dye were daily and hourly being committed, and many of the cri- minals were arrested and indicted, the only convictions that 7 THE TREASON CASES. 163 could be obtained by the district courts, with three supreme judges, and a United States district attorney, in the space of two years, was one for stealing and another for killing a horse ; three or four for assuming office ; and some eight or ten for selling liquor without license. What became of the incendiaries, the robbers, the ravishers and assassins ? These were permitted to run at large, to burn houses and crops ; plunder stores and dwellings ; violate and brand women ; steal horses and cattle ; and murder defence- less men in their own homes or on the public highways, with impunity ! Or if they were arrested, they were immediately set at liberty again, upon worthless bail, by faithless judges, or discharged because of a nolle prosequi entered by the United States District Attorney, or acquitted by a verdict easily ob- tained from a packed jury of criminals like themselves". Su- preme judges and district attornej^s had plenty of leisure and admirable opportunities to secure comfortable building lots and eligible claims, and to grow rapidly rich upon salaries insufficient to meet their daily wants; whilst the worst felons ran at large, laughing to scorn the laws, and the holding of courts were nothing better than shameless farces, in which all interested found abundant sources of amusement. The judge's account of the dismissal upon bail of the pris- oners indicted for high treason, is sufficiently interesting to present to the reader. He says — " It occurs to me as proper to add something in relation to the last term of court in Douglas county. This occurred soon after the late serious disturbances in the territory, the most serious part of which existed, as always, in this county. It seemed perfectly certain to me before I left home, that there was no probability of being able to dispose of any business. I deemed it my duty, nevertheless, in view of the peculiar im- portance of those cases pending under indictments for treason, to attend, the more particularly as the persons so indicted were held in confinement. "As I went I met large numbers of persons coming from Lecompton towards Leavenworth, and when I reached Lecomp- ton, I found it almost deserted. No full jury, either grand or petit, was in attendance j indeed not enough of both to constitute one. The country, it was well understood, was equally abandoned by all those law and order men from which a jury could be selected. Under these circumstances it was p^fectly clear that no business could be done. 164 HISTORY OF KANSAS. " The cases of Robinson and others, indicted for treason, were called. They tendered themselves ready for trial. The government was not ready ; nor was there any officer to repre- sent the government upon the trial, A motion was made by a gentleman deputed for that purpo'se, simply to continue the causes. I saw no alternative, but a trial, which, without rea- diness on the part of the government under the most peculiar circumstances, would have amounted to an acquittal, almost to a farce, and on the other hand, a continuance. The latter ultimatim was adopted. The question then remained, what was to be done with the prisoners? As they tendered them selves ready for trial, I believed that to continue them in con- finement would be oppression. I therefore discharged them on bail.'^ The United States Attorney, instead of being at Lecompton to try these cases, was in the border-ruffian army, marching towards Lawrence to massacre its inhabitants; and the '■^laio and order " men, who alone were fit, according to Judge Le- compte, to sit upon a jury, were flying in terror from Lecomp- ton, because of the reported approach of Lane. And on the afternoon of the same day upon which the alleged traitors were so generously set at liberty on bail, the guns of Lane were point- ing over the town, to discharge the prisoners, had they not already been dismissed, without the legal form of a bail-bond. How far this fact influenced the action of the judge, he has not thought proper to state. One thing is certain ; these men had already been held in custody for months without a trial ; and it is quite probable that the government would never have been ready for trial, if its Kansas ministers could have con- tinued the prisoners in confinement with any degree of safety to themselves. Had the accused been pro-slavery men, there would have been no lack of readiness on the part of the go- vernment to try the cause, nor any difficulty on that of the court to secure an acquittal. An extract from that portion of the letter of Chief- Justice Lecompte, in which he attempts to repel the charges of official defection, will afi"ord the reader some amusement even should it fail to convince him of the entire purity of the judge's ermine : — " As to the charge of ^ party bias,* he says, if it means simply the fact of such bias, I regard it as ridiculous ; because I sup- pose evgry man in this country, with few exceptions indeed, entitled to respect, either for his abilities, his intelligence, or lecompte's defence. 165 his virtue, has a 'party bias.' I am proud of mine. It haa from my first manhood to this day, placed me in the ranks of the democratic party. It has taught me to regard that party as the one, par excellence, to which the destinies of this country are particularly intrusted for preservation. ''If it be intended to reach beyond that general application, and to charge a pro-slavery bias, I am proud, too, of this. I am the steady friend of southern rights under the Constitution of the United States. I have been reared where slavery was recognised by the constitution of my state. I love the insti- tution as entwining itself around all my early and late associa- tions ; because I have seen as much of the nobility of the human heart in the relation of master and servant, and on the part of the one as well as of the other, as I have seen else- where. I have with me now an old woman who left all to come with me, when it was purely at her discretion. Another who did the same have I lost and buried with care and decency, at Fort Leavenworth. An old man has lately come to me under the care of a youthful nephew, within a few days, all the way from Maryland, and passing through every intervening free state, with a perfect knowledge of the fact, and making his own way through various interferences by his own inge- nuity. " If it mean more than the fact, and to intimate that this 'party bias' has affected the integrity of my ofl&cial action, in any solitary case, I have but to say that it is false — basely false. "In relation to the other of 'criminal complicity with a state of affairs which terminated in a contempt of all author- ity,' I will content myself with saying that it, too, is false — basely false, if made in relation to me, and to defy the slanderer to the proof of a solitary act to justify the deepest villain in such an assertion." Who, after that stout denial, will dare to question the in- tegiity or impartialiti/ of Chief Justice Lecompte ? Who can any longer doubt that to the abolitionist he has always meted out the same mercy and justice that he has bestowed upon his opponents ? Who will pretend to affirm that Hays, the mur- derer of Buffum, would not have been as readily discharged from custody even had he been a free-state man or an aboli- tionist? The judge really seems to think himself innocent of the charge of "party bias;" yet the loved institution of slavery is entwined around all his affectionS; and he could not 168 HISTORY OF KANSAS. hold liis court because ^Hhe laiu and order men'^ from wliich only he could select a jury^ had fled from Lecompton CHAPTER XXVI. The murder of Buffum. — "Warrant for the arrest of the murderer. — Partial conduct of the marshals. — Reward offered. — Indignation of free-state citizens. — Arrest of Charles Hays. "When the army from Missouri was disbanded on the morn- ing of the 15th September, the great body of it returned at once to that state, by the Westport road, committing every atrocity in their power as they passed along. They burned the saw-mill at Franklin, stole a number of horses, and drove off all the cattle they could find. A detachment, calling themselves the " Kickapoo Rangers," numbering about two hundred and fifty or three hundred men, under command of Col. Clarkson, took the road for Lecomp- ton, where they forded the river early in the afternoon, on their way to the northern part of the territory. This party was mounted and well armed, and looked like as desperate a set of ruflBans as ever were gathered together. They still car- ried the black flag, and their cannon, guns, swords and car- riages were yet decorated with the black emblems of their •murderous intentions. Six men of this detachment, when within a few miles of Lecompton, halted by a field where a poor inoffensive lame man, named David C. Buffum, was at work. They entered tlie field, and after robbing him of his horses, one of them shot him in the abdomen, from which wound he soon after died. The murderer also carried away a poney, belonging to a young girl, the daughter of a Mr. Thom, residing in the neighborhood. Almost immediately after the commission of this wanton crime, Grovernor Geary, accompanied by Judge Cato, arrived upon the spot, and found the wounded man weltering in his blood. Although suffering the most intense agony, he was sensible of his condition, and perfectly mindful of the circum- stances that had transpired. Judge Cato, by direction of the governor, took an affidavit of the unfortunate man's dying THE MURDER OF BUFFUM. 167 declarations. Writhing in agony, the cold sweat-drops standing upon his forehead, with his expiring breath he elclaimed, " Oh, this was a most unprovoked and horrid murder ! They asked me for my horses, and I plead with them not to take them. I told them that I was a cripple — a poor lame man — that I had an aged father, a deaf-and-dumb brother, and two sisters, all depending upon me for a living, and my horses were all I had with which to procure it. One of them said I was a God d — d abolitionist, and seizing me by the shoulder with one hand, he shot me with a pistol that he held in the other. I am dying j but my blood will cry to Heaven for vengeance, and this horrible deed will not go unpunished. I die a martyr to the cause of freedom, and my death will do much to aid that cause.'' The governor was affected to tears. He had been on many a battle-field, and been familiar with suffering and death ; but, says he, " I never witnessed a scene that filled my mind with so much horror. There was a peculiar significance in the looks and words of that poor dying man that I never can forget ; for they seemed to tell me that I could have no rest until I brought his murderer to justice. And I resolved that no means in my power should be spared to discover, arrest, and punish the author of that most villan- ous butchery." On his arrival at Lecompton, the governor immediately had a v/arrant drawn and placed in the hands of the United States marshal, for the arrest of the murderer, for the execution of which warrant the whole of the United States force was at his disposal. Several days elapsed, and no return was made, nor had any disposition been discovered to effect the governor's wishes in the matter. In the mean time the marshal and his deputies were ex- tremely active in obtaining and executing warrants against free-state men, some of them upon the most trivial and un- warrantable charges. To accomplish this object, requisitions were daily made upon the governor for troops, until it became so annoying to himself, and evidenced so clearly a spirit of persecution on the part of the officials, that he was compelled to refuse compliance with these requisitions. Charges for offences alleged to have been committed months before, were trumped up, and the accused were hunted down, and thrust into prison, and there held until released by the intercession of the governor, or upon an examination being demanded, no accuser or witness appeared. Mr. C. W. Babcock; postmaster 168 HISTORY OF KANSAS. at l^awrence, and several other respectable gentlemen, were arrested at Topeka, and brought to Lecompton as prisoners. As their names did not appear in the warrant held by the dep- uty-marshal who made the arrests, inquiry was instituted in regard to his conduct, when it appeared they were seized under the general appellation of '^ others," the warrant demanding the arrest of certain parties named, " and others.'' They were free-state men, or abolitionists^ and that fact was sufficient to justify the outrage. "^iVhilst these proceedings were being conducted with surpris- ing and admirable industry and activity, and additions were almost every hour being made to the swelling crowd of free- state prisoners, not one arrest had yet been made of a pro- slavery man. The murderer of Barber ran at large, and was daily in conversation with the marshal, and drinking whiskey with the sherijBF. Buffum's murderer, though known, was unsought. John H. Stringfellow, Ira Morris, James A. Head- ley, William Martin, Captain Parker, William Simmons, and many others, all pro-slavery men, and charged with serious crimes, were at liberty, though warrants against them were in the marshal's hands, and the governor had given him requisi- tions upon General Smith and Col. Cook for a sufficient num- ber of troops to secure their persons. Justly indignant at the one-sided policy that was clearly being pursued by the territorial officers, the governor addressed the following note to Marshal Donalson : — "Executive Department, K. T., "Lecompton, Sept. 18, 1856. "I. B. Donalson, Esq., " United States Marshal, K. T. "Sir: A warrant was issued a day or two since for the arrest of tlie murderer or murderers of Mr. Buffum at or near the residence of Mr. Thorn. Please report to me whether that warrant has been exe- cuted, or whether any attempt has been made to arrest the ofiendera Lu this case, and what has been the result. "Yours, &c., " Jno. W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas Terr 'tory." The reply to this note showed that, while the deputy-mar- shals were extremely active in executing warrants against free- state men, some of whom had committed no offence, they had no time to devote to such scoundrels as the assassins of Buf- fum. The marshal says : — OFFICIAL PARTIALITY. 169 '^ I have to report, that upon making inquiry of my deputy, Samuel Cramer, he informed me, that when the militia from the north side of the rifer were passing through this place on Monday last (returning to their homes), he made diligent inquiry, and used all the means in his power to ascertain who the murderer or murderers of said Buffum were, with a view to their arrest; but from the vagueness of the affidavit on which the warrant was procured, in which no names are men- tioned, nor any particular description of their persons, or any other thing about them, except "six men" in the rear or be- hind a company, he failed to identify or arrest the murderer or murderers." This reply fully satisfied the governor that every attempt to secure the murderer by means of the warrant issued, must prove futile. To put such a warrant in the hands of Samuel Cramer, whose prejudices against the free-state and in favor of the slavery party were unsurpassed in bitterness by those of any other man in Kansas, was equivalent to giving him an order for the criminal's escape. Hence other measures were pursued to accomplish the ends of justice. The governor em- ployed secret agents to visit Atchison county, the residence of the Kickapoo Rangers, and by making careful and diligent inquiries, to obtain some clue to the perpetrators of the deed in question. He also issued a proclamation, offering "a reward of five hundred dollars for the arrest and conviction of the murderer or murderers of David C. Bufi'um, of Douglas county, to be paid immediately upon the conviction of the author of this great outrage." The consequence was, that the peace, which by his prompt, fearless, and energetic action, the governor had promoted, was again threatened and in danger. The free-state people were justly incensed at the wrongs they were suffering, and for which they saw no means for redress. Their relatives and friends were being torn from them, without cause, and incar- cerated in a filthy prison, without proper food or clothing, or accommodations fitted for dogs, for weeks and months, without a conviction for crime, or even a trial, whilst well-known rob- bers aod murderers of the opposite party were permitted to come to their very prison doors and insult them with oaths and jeers. Murmurs of discontent arose on every hand, and, like the distant hum of the ocean, or the far-off muttering of thun- der, rolled into the executive office. Many who had placed 16 170 . HISTORY OF KANSAS implicit confidence in the governor, and who looked patiently to him for protection and redress, began to question his integ- rity and impartiality, and suspect him^f having a secret com- plicity with the other federal and territorial officers, who, without an exception, were their enemies and persecutors. Even his expressed determination to secure the assassin of Buffum, and his proclamation to that effect, they began to regard as intended only to blind and deceive. The free-state people thought they saw no hope for themselves save in Grod and their own right hands, and they began to take down from their resting places, and make ready, their arms. They pre- ferred to fall defending their lives and property with these, than suffer and die like slaves. Nor were they hasty or un- reasonable. The wretched prison-house was crammed with their associates, many of them innocent of any offence save that of being opposed to slavery; whilst, if one of the ruffians was arrested by mistake or compulsion, he was instantly re- leased by the judges upon what was known to be worthless bail. At length, early in November, relialble information was re- ceived, that the murderer of Buffum was a man named Charles Hays, a member of the band of Kickapoo Rangers, and living in Atchison county. A new warrant was accord- ingly issued for his arrest, the marshal ordered to execute it without delay, and in a few days Hays was brought a prisoner to Lecompton. A grand jury, composed entirely of pro-slav- ery men, on hearing the positive and overwhelming testi- mony against him, found a true bill, and committed him for trial, on the charge of murder in the first degree. Whilst the governor was congratulating himself upon the certainty of bringing this murderer to punishment, and thus vindicating him- self from the charge of complicity with the other officers in screening from justice all pro-slavery offenders, as well as re- storing the failing confidence in his impartiality, there were par- ties busily at work to thwart him in his just determination, and embarrass still more than ever his administration. LECOMPTE DISCHARGES THE MURDERERS. 171 CHAPTER XXVII. Discharge of Hays by Judge Lecompte. — Order for his re-arrest, — Conduct of Marshal Donalson. — Col. Titus re-arrests Hays, who is again set at liberty by Lecompte on a writ of habeas corpus. — President Pierce and the United States Senate on the case of Lecompte. — Letter from Secretary Marcy asking explanations. — Governor Geary's reply. — Judge Lecompte's letter of vindication. On the 10th. of November several members of the free-state party, all gentlemen of intelligence and respectability, and citizens of the territory, called upon the governor to protest against the abuses they were suffering from the partial manner in which the government was conducted. They complained loudly and emphatically of the fact that while no efforts were made to arrest pro-slavery criminals, or that if arrested, they were immediately discharged on bail, numerous free-state men were being seized almost daily by the officers, thrust into prison, and there detained, all their importunities to give bail being repulsed by Judge Lecompte and other pro-slavery magis- trates. The governor was vindicating his own policy, and the im- partial and independent course of the grand jury as evinced by their recent action at Lecompton. They had found true bills, he said, against a number of prominent pro-slavery men, among whom was Charles Hays for the murder of Buffum. The men indicted, he continued, are pro-slavery men, and have position and influence in the community ; and yet their posi- tion has not been so exalted as to screen them from the search- ing scrutiny of an independent grand jury, though summoned uoder pro-slavery auspices. The governor dwelt upon the murder of Buffum, described it as it really occurred, narrated the circumstances of his interview with the dying man, and said that he had left no means untried to secure the murderer, and that it was a cause of great gratulation to him that the grand jury had so promptly done their duty in the matter after the officers had succeeded in makins; the arrest. Now, concluded the governor, you perceive that a disposition does exist to do equal and exact justice, and that a determina- tion prevails to bring criminals of all parties to punishment. He had scarcely completed the last sentence when several persons entered, one of them remarking that Judge Lecompte 172 HISTORY OP KANSAS. had admitted Charles Hays, the murderer of Buffum, to bail, and that SherijBf Samuel J. Jones, a man notoriously not worth a dollar, was on his bail-bond. The governor was astounded. He could scarcely accredit what he heard. All his arguments were scattered to the winds. He no longer doubted his true position. The cloud was dis- persed, and he saw precisely where he stood. He was alone in the territory. He was not only not supported by a single officer sent there by the general government, but every one of them was exerting his influence and power to oppose his efforts to do justice to the people and secure the peace he had effected. He saw himself surrounded by a combination of official traitors, banded together to embarrass all his just opera- tions for the public good. He had devoted much time, ex- pended over two hundred dollars, and offered a reward of five hundred more, to secure the person of one of the foulest mur- derers that ever disgraced the human form. No sooner had he accomplished this object — at a time when it was of the utmost importance to allay the rising excitement of an aggrieved peo- ple, and to satisfy them of his honest intentions to do justice to all men — than the chief-justice steps forward and sets the criminal free. He saw at a glance that he must now assume weighty responsibilities, and act independently and for him- self, as the government had surrounded him with men who were resolved upon frustrating the impartial policy he had come to enforce. No other course was left to keep down the smoul- dering volcano that was about to break forth with fearful vio- lence, or prevent a civil war, the elements for which were gathering. He knew that he must act promptly and decisively, and in such a manner as to convince the people of the terri- tory that he looked with detestation upon the conduct of Le- compte, and was disposed to annul his action. No other policy was left, else in another day a thousand bayonets would have glistened in the sunbeams, and a thousand strong hearts, aroused to vengeance, would have been marching toward Le- compton to set at liberty the free-state prisoners, and chastise, as they merited, those who held them in unjust confinement. " You see how it is, governor,^' said the free-state men ; ^' all our statements are confirmed. Did not Judge Lecompte refuse to entertain a motion to have evidence in the case of the free-state men charged with the Hickory Point murder, to ascertain whether the offence was bailable, as it afterwards turned out to be by the verdict of the jury only finding man- GOV. GEARY RE-ARRESTS HAYS. 173 slaughter ? lu these cases the motion to admit to bail waa made before hill found, when the right was unquestionable ; but in the case of Bulfum, after the grand jury had maturely considered the matter, and found a true hill against Charles Hays for murder in the first degree, this murderer is imme- diately bailed, and without authority of law or precedent for so glaring an act, is set at large. The free-state men," conti- nued they, '^ can no longer expect even-handed justice, and their only hope must be in physical force." The governor replied that he was conscientious on the sub- ject ; he was instructed to preserve the peace of the territory, and to exercise his discretion as to the means to be employed ; and was sworn to, and would at all hazards, discharge his duty as he understood it. He boldly pronounced the action of Chief Justice Lecompte in dismissing the murderer of Buffum, after the grand jury had found a hill of indictment against him for murder in the frst degree, as a judicial outrage, and under the circumstances, without precedent, as highly dis- courteous to himself, he having been the means of arresting Hays, and should have been consulted ; as greatly calculated to endanger the 'public peace, and to destroy the entire in- fluence of the policy he was laboring day and night to inaugu- rate; and to bring the court and judiciary into contempt. He declared that he would treat the decision of Judge Le- compte as a nullity, and proceed upon the indictment for murder to re-arrest Hays as though he had merely escaped, and would submit the matter to the president, feeling assured that he would permit no judicial officer to forget his duty and trifle with the peace of the territory by making decisions abhorrent to public justice, and grossly steeped in partiality. He ac- cordingly issued the following warrant : "Executive Department, K. T., '• Lecompton, Nov. 10, 1856. "I. B. DoNALSON, Esq., "Marshal of Kansas Territory. "Sir: An indictment for murder in the first degree having been duly found by the grand jury of the territory against Charles Hays, for the murder of a certain David C. Buffum, in the county of Douglas in this territory, and the said Charles Hays having been discharged upon bail, as I consider in violation of law, and greatly to the endan- gering of the peace of this territory : "This is therefore to authorize and command you to re-arrest the Baid Charles Hays, if he be found vrithin the limits of this territory, 15* 174 HISTORY OF KANSAS. Rnd safely to keep him until he is duly discharged by a jury of hia country, according to law. " Given under my hand and seal at the city of Lecompton, the day and year first above written. SEAL. V ^ "Jno. W. Geary, '* Governor of Kansas Territory.'-' This warrant was handed to Marshal Israel B. Donalson, who was in the executive ofl&ce during; the foreo-oino; occur- rences. He, however, declined to execute it, saying he would take time to consider the matter, and give his answer in writing. The marshal retired, and the governor immediately made out a duplicate warrant, and placed it in the hands of his spe- cial aid-de-camp, Col. H. T. Titus, with orders to take a file of men and execute it without delay, as, lohile the marshal was considering the matter, Hays would escape. Colonel Titus promptly obeyed the order, and departed on his mission, the re- sult of which is given in the following report : — >J " Lecompton, Nov. 12, 1856 ." His Excellency, J. W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory. *' Sir : In pursuance of your warrant of 10th instant, I proceeded to the residence of Charles Hays and arrested him, brought him to this place, and now hold him subject to your further order. *' Your obedient servant, " H. T. Titus." In the meantime Marshal Donalson had considered the matter, and declined to execute the order for the re-arrest of Hays, concluding his answer in writing with the following paragraph ; — " Your determination, as expressed this evening, (if I re- fused to execute your order), to suspend me or procure my discharge by the president, induces me to say that I have some days since determined to discontinue my present official rela- tions with this territory ; and I now desire the favor of you to assure the president of my gratitude for his confidence and kindness, and ask him to relieve me from my present position as soon as may be convenient.'' Hays remained in the custody of Colonel Titus until Gover- nor Geary visited Leavenworth City, on the 17th November, to attend the public sales of the Delaware lands. During his absence Hays was again discharged by Judge Lecompte on a INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE. 175 writ of habeas corpus, as shown in the subjoined communica- tiou from Colonel Titus : — "Lecompton, Nov 21, 1856. ♦' His Excellency, John W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas Territory, "Sir: I have the honor to state that during your recent absence from this place, a writ of habeas corpus, issued by Chief Ju&tice Le- compte, was served upon me, by which I was commanded to produce the body of Charles Hays before him, with the cause of his detainer : " That in obedience to the writ, I caused the body of Hays to be produced before Judge Lecompte, and returned as the cause of his detention the finding by the grand jury of a true bill of indictment against him for murder in the first degree, committed upon the per- son of one David C. Buifum, together with your warrant, commanding the re-arrest of the said Hays and his detention until his discharge by a jury of his country according to law. " I have further to state that Judge Lecompte discharged the said Hays from my custody notwithstanding my return, and that he is now at large. I have the honor to remain, ♦* Your obedient servant, * " H. T. Titus." The governor did not attempt to interfere with this writ of habeas corpus. His action in the case had satisfied the free-state people that he had no complicity whatever with the partial policy of the other officers, and that he would do them justice to the full extent of his power. He therefore contented himself with forwarding to the president and secretary his executive minutes^ containing a history of the circumstances as above related, and showing the necessity for a less partial judiciary in order to preserve the peace of the territory, and enable him to enforce their own instructions. President Pierce forthwith nominated Mr, C. O. Harrison, of Kentucky, to the Senate, as sficcessor to Lecompte, without, however, issuing a writ of supersedeas, which was a sufficient reason for the Senate to withhold their confirmation of Mr. Harrison's appointment. Neither the president nor the Seriate were disposed to assume a responsibility in the matter ; and Judge Lecompte, not being superseded, remained in office, to the enthusiastic delight of the pro-slavery party, and to the still further annoyance of Governor Geary, and the embarrass- ment of his honest and judicious administration. While the question was pending before the Senate, which wns nothing more than one of those political farces so often enacted to dazzle the vision of the people, who are not per- 176 HISTORY OP KANSAS. mitted to look beliind the scenes. Secretary Marcy forwarded the following dispatch to Governor G-eary : — " Department of State : . " Washington, 4th February, 1857. «' To John W. Geary, Esq., " Governor of Kansas, Lecompton. ** Sir : — The original letter of which the inclosed is a copy, was brought to the notice of the president, a few days since, by Hon. James A. Pearce, of the United States Senate. The discrepancies between the statements of this letter and those contained in your official communication of the 19th of September, last, are such, that the president directs me to inclose you the copy for explanation. *' I am, sir, respectfully, your obed't serv't. "W. L. Marcy." To this insulting epistle the governor immediately made the following laconic reply : — *' Executive Department, Kansas Territory, "Lecompton, February 20th 1857. ** Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, ' " Secretary of State. "Sir: — Your dispatch of 4th instant, enclosing me a copy of Judge Lecompte's letter in the Hays case, and calling my attention ' to the discrepancies between the statements of that letter, and those contained in your (my) official communication of 19th of September, last,' and requesting ' explanation,' was received by last mail. "In reply, I have simply to state, that 'what I have written, I have written,' and I have nothing further to add, alter, or amend on this subject. "My executive minutes, faithfully chronicling my official actions, and the policy which dictated them at the time they occurred, and my various dispatches to the government, contain but the simple truth, told without fear, favor, or affection, and I will esteem it a favor to have them all published for the inspection of the country. ose, and relieved 260 HISTORY OF KANSAS. " ^ ■US from the necessity of doing extrajudicially, that wliicli can be done so mucli more effectually and satisfactorily in the name and by the authority of the law — redressing the wrong of our fellow-citizens and restoring them to their ris-hts in Kansas. *'I have no doubt, with the men we had, of the result. I have no doubt we should have driven Lane and his band, and all confederate bands, from the soil of Kansas, but I am not prepared to say I would have preferred it so. I think it better for the peace of the country and for the good of all, that it should be as it is, and hence I then thought, and now think, the arrival of the new governor most opportune for us, for Kansas, and for the lohole country, in suspending the strife which had been forced upon us, in such a manner as regarding our honor and our rights we could not decline it, and which threatened to involve the whole country in a civil and sectional war." CHAPTER XLI. Passage of the census bill. — Governor Geary's veto message. — The manner in which the census was taken. — Repeal of the test laws. — Adjournment of the Legislature. — Secretary Marcy and the Topeka Legislature. — Letter to the Secretary of State. — Arrest of a fugitive. — Rencontre at To- peka. — Complaint of prisoners. — Breaking up of the Kansas River. The crowning act of the legislature was the passage, near the close of its session, of what is called the ''Census Bill.'' This was the most infamous scheme to rob thousands of free- men of their right of the elective franchise, that has ever been devised in this or any other country. The bill was created with much care and cunning, by certain prominent United States senators at Washington, and sent to Lecompton, with orders for its adoption without alteration or amendment. It provides for the taking of a census, preparatory to an election to be held in June, 1857, for delegates to a conven- tion to frame a state constitution, to be presented to the next Congress for its approval. At the election no citizen is allowed to vote, who was not in the territory on or before the 15th of March. The census takers and judges of election are the sheriffs and other ofl&cers appointed by the pro-slavery party^ and bound to its interests. THE CENSUS LAW. 261 Agreeably to tliis regulation, the hundreds of free-state meu who had been forcibly driven from their claims and homes du- ring the past year's disturbances, and who, in consequence of the difficulty of travel, could not return until after the 15th of March, were disfranchised, as were also the thousands of emigrants that were expected to arrive after that period, and prior to the day fixed for the election. Whilst on the other hand, thousands of Missourians could simply cross the border into the territory, register their names as voters, and return to their homes to await the election. But even that trouble was at length considered unnecessary, for the sheriffs and census takers found it more convenient to carry their books into Mis- souri and there record their names. Although this was really done, the names of many of the most prominent and oldest free-state residents of the territory were never registered. Under the regulations of this bill the free-state people wisely concluded to take no part whatever in the election ; for it was a matter of certainty that there was no possibility of justice being done them, and their participation in the fraud in any way would only be to give it their sanction. Had they resolved to vote, and showed a majority of three to one, the judges would have had no difficulty in returning them in the minor- ity. The past history of the officials was a sufficient guarantee of what might be expected from their future conduct. To pretend that such men as Sheriff Jones would do anything like justice to the free-state residents, is simply an insult to the common sense of all who understand the history of the country. But even the possibility of the free-state people coming for- ward to vote, was guarded against by the insertion of a clause in the bill, intended for their intimidation, that the voting should be viva voce. Another feature of the bill is, that although it was framed expressly to defraud the free-state cit- izens of their rights, it requires them to pay a tax to assist in the accomplishment of the fraud. Upon ascertaining the nature of this act, Governor Geary, before its passage, sent for the chairmen of the committees of the two branches of the Legislature, General Coffey of the Council and Colonel Anderson of the House, and informed them that if they would consent to add a clause referring the constitution that might be formed by the convention to the citizens of the territory, for their sanction or rejection, before its being submitted to Congress, he would waive all other ob- jections, and give it his approval. The reply was, that that 262 • HISTORY OF KANSAS. suggestion had already been fully considered and discussed, and could not be adopted, as it loould defeat the only object of the act, which was to secure, heyond any 'possibility of fail- ure, the territory of Kansas to the south as a slave state. Any alteration in the bill would be fatal to their projects. Even should they allow the spring immigration to take part in the election, their plans would be frustrated. This, they said, was their last hope, and they could not let the opportunity pass unimproved. They had already, in anticipation of the passage of the bill, so apportioned the territory, and made such other preliminary arrangements, that the success of this grand pro- ject was placed beyond the reach of any contingency that might now occur. The bill was passed by both houses and sent to the governor for his signature, who returned it with the following ob- jections : — ^^ Gentlemen of tlie Council of Kansas Territory: " After Mature consideration of the bill entitled ' An Act to provide foi the taking of a census, and election for dele- gates to convention,' I am constrained to return the same without my approval. " Passing over other objections, I desire to call your serious attention to a material omission in the bill. " I refer to the fact that the Legislature has failed to make any provision to submit the constitution, when framed, to the consideration of the people, for their ratification or rejection. ^' The position that a convention can do no wrong, and ought to be invested with sovereign power, and that its constituents have no right to judge of its acts, is extraordinary and un- tenable. " The history of state constitutions, with scarcely an excep- tion, will exhibit a uniform and sacred adherence to the salu- tary rule of popular ratification. " The practice of the federal and state governments, in the adoption of their respective constitutions, exhibiting the wis- dom of the past, will furnish us with a safe and reliable rule of action. '' The federal constitution was first proposed by a conven- tion of delegates from twelve states, assembled in Philadelphia. This constitution derived no authority from the first conven- tion. It was submitted to the various states, fully discussed In all its features, and concurred in by the people of the states VETO MESSAGE. 263 in conventions assembled ; and tliat concurrence armed it with power and invested it with dignity. Article seventh of the constitution makes the ratification of nine states, three-fourths of the number represented in the convention, essential to its adoption. " In the adoption, not only of the federal constitution, bu< of nearly all the state constitutions, the popular ratification was made essential; and all amendments to those of most of the states are required to pass two legislatures, and then bo submitted to the people for their approval. " In Kentucky, especially, all amendments to the constitu- tion must pass two legislatures, and for two years be submitted to the vote of the people, upon the question of convention or no convention, on the specific amendments proposed. '' Treaties made by ambassadors are not binding until duly ratified by their respective governments, whose agents they are. " Members of the legislature or of conventions are but the agents of the people, who have an inherent right to judge of the acts of their agents, and to condemn or approve them, as in their deliberate judgment they may deem proper. '' The fundamental law of a commonwealth so inseparably connected with the happiness and prosperity of the citizens, cannot be too well discussed, and cannot pass through too many ordeals of popular scrutiny. " What delegates to conventions may do or what omit, can- not be known until they have assembled and developed their action. If the whole power be vested in them without re- course over to the people, there is no guarantee that the popu- lar wishes will be fairly and fully expressed. ^' Although the people may have voted for a convention to form a state constitution, yet they have by no just rule of con- struction voted away the usual and universal right of ratifi- cation. '' Special instructions, covering every point arising in the formation of a constitution, cannot be given in the elections pi-eliminary to a convention ; and it is, therefore, proper that the action of the convention, necessarily covering new ground, should be submitted to the people for their consideration. "The practical right of the people to ordain and establish governments is found in the expressive and beautiful pream- ble to the federal constitution — ' We the people,' &c., 'do or- dain and establish this constitution.' 264 HISTORY OF KANSAS. " Let tlie constitution of Kansas be ratified and established by tbe solemn vote of the people, surrounded by such safe- guards as will insure a fair and unbiassed expression of the actual hona fide citizens, and it will remain inviolably fixed in the affections of the people. '^ In his report upon the Toombs bill, its distinguished au- thor thus logically enumerates the various steps in the forma- tion of a constitution : ' the preliminary meetings; the calling of the convention ) the appointment of delegates ; the assem- bling of the convention ; the formation of the constitution ] the voting on its ratification ; the election of officers under it.' "In the same report, the author most justly remarks : — ■ ' Whenever a constitution shall be formed in any territory, preparatory to its admission into the Union as a state, justice, the genius of our institutions, the whole theory of our repub- lican system, imperatively demand that the voice of the people shall he fairly expressed, and their will embodied in that fun- damental law, without fraud or violence, or intimidation, or any other improper or unlawful influence, and subject to no other restrictions than those imposed by the Constitution of the United States.' " The voice of the people fairly expressed, and its embodi- ment in the fundamental law, should be the earnest desire of every citizen of a republic. " But how can the voice of the people be fairly expressed, and their will be embodied in the organic law, unless that law, when made, be submitted to them to determine whether it is their will which the convention has proclaimed ? " The leading idea and fundamental principle of our organic act, as expressed in the law itself, was to leave the actual hona fide inhabitants of the territory ' perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way.' The act confers almost unlimited power upon the people, and the only restriction imposed upon its exercise is the Constitu- tion of the United States. '' The great principle, then, upon which our free institutions rest, is the unqualified and absolute sovereignty of the peo- ple ; and constituting, as that principle does, the most positive and essential feature in the great charter of our liberties, so it is better calculated than any other to give elevation to our hopes and dignity to our actions. So long as the people feel that the power to alter the form or change the character of the government abides in them, so long will they be impressed VETO MESSAGE. 265 with that sense of security and of dignity which must ever spring from the consciousness that they hold within their own hands a remedy for every political evil — a corrective for every governmental abuse and usurpation. " 'This principle must be upheld and maintained, at all haz- ards and at every sacrifice — maintained in all the power and fulness — in all the breadth and depth of its utmost capacity and signification. It is not sufficient that it be acknowledged as a mere abstraction, or theory, or doctrine ; but as a practi- cal, substantial, living reality, vital in every part.' " The idea of surrendering the sovereignty of the territo- ries, the common property of the people of the several states, into the hands of the few who first chanced to wander into them, is, to me, a political novelty. Is it just that the terri- tories should exercise the rights of sovereign states until their condition and numbers become such as to entitle them to be admitted into the union on an equality with the original states ? "In speaking of the proper construction of the Organic Act, its distinguished author remarks : — ' The act recognises the rights of the people thereof, while a territory, to form and regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and to be received into the union, as soon as they should attain the requisite number of inhabitants, on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever.' " In the report before alluded to, the author says : — ' The point upon which your committee have entertained the most serious and grave doubts in regard to the propriety of endors- ing this proposition, relates to the fact that, in the absence of any census of the inhabitants, there is reason to apprehend that the territory does not contain sufficient population to en- title them to demand admission under the treaty with France, if we take the ratio of representation for a member of Con- gress as the rule.' " In accordance with the foregoing views, I remarked in my first message to your body, that Hhe durability and imper- ative authority of a state constitution, when the interests of the people require a state government, and a direct popular vote is necessary to give it sanction a7id effect, will be the pro- per occasion, once for all, to decide the grave political ques- tions which underlie a well regulated commonwealth.' And in another portion of the same message, I said : — ^Justice to 23 266 HISTORY OF KANSAS. the country and the dictates of sound policy, require that the legislature should confine itself to such subjects as will pre- serve the basis -of entire equality; and when a sufficient popu- lation is .Jiere, and they choose to adopt a state government, that they shall be " perfectly free/' without let or hindrance, | to form all their domestic institutions in their own way, and to dictate that form of government, which, in their deliberate judgment, may be deemed proper.' ''The expressions, ' i^^quisite number of inhabitants,' 'suf- ficient population,' — and others, of similar import, can have no other meaning than that given them by our leading states- men, and by the common judgment of the country, to wit : — ' the ratio of representation for a member of Congress.' " The present ratio for a member of Congress, is 93,420 in- habitants. What, then, is the present population of Kansas; or what will it be on the 15th of March next ? as after that time, no person arriving in the territory can vote for a mem- ber of the convention under the provisions of this bill. " At the last October election, the whole vote polled for delegate to Congress, was four thousand two hundred and seventy-six ; (4276 ;) while the vote in favor of a convention to frame a state constitution, was but two thousand six huu' dred and seventy. (2670.) " It is a well known fact, to every person at all conversant with the circumstances attending the last election, that the question of a state government entered but little into the can- vas, and the small vote polled for a convention is significantly indicative of the popular indiiference on the subject. " No one will claim that 2670 is a majority of the voters of this territory, though it is a majority of those voting, and it is conceded that those not voting are bound by the act of those who did. "The bill under consideration seems to be drawn from the^] bill known as the Toombs Bill; but in several respects it diP' fers from that bill, and in these particulars it does not furnish equal guarantees for fairness and impartiality. The former secured the appointment of five impartial commissioners to take and correct the census, to make a partial apportionment among the several counties, and generally to superintend all the preliminaries so as to secure a fair election, while by the present bill all these important duties are to be performed by probate judges and sheriff's, elected by and owing allegiance to a party. It differs in other important particulars. The bill VETO MESSAGE. 267 of Mr. Tobrabs conferred valuable rights and privileges upon this territory, and provided means to pay the expenses of the convention; while this bill does neither. ''If we are disposed to avail ourselves of the wisdom of the past, we will pause some time before we throw off our territo- rial condition, under present circumstances, by the adoption of a state government. " The state of Michigan remained a territory for five years after she had the requisite population, and so with other states ; and when they were admitted, they were strong enough in all the elements of material wealth to be self-supporting. And hence they knocked at the door of the union with that manly confidence which spoke of equality and self-reliance. '' California was admitted under peculiar and extraordinary circumstances. Her rich mines of the precious metals at- tracted a teeming population to her shores, and her isolated position from the parent government, with her superabundant wealth, at once suggested the experiment of self-government; and at the time of her state constitution, ratified by the vote of the people, the population of California entitled her to two representatives in Congress. '' I observe by the message of the governor of Minnesota, that the population of that thriving territory exceeds 180,000. The taxable property amounts to between thirty and thirty- five millions of dollars. And in view of these facts, -and of the large increase of agricultural products, cash capital, etc., the governor favors a change from a territorial to a' ^tate overnment. -'To this end he suggests that a convention be , died to form a constitution ; that an act be passed for the ''diking of a census in April, and for such other preliminary OS as are necessary; and that if the constitution be ^ rati- '' hy the people' at the next October election, it shall be '••;^^!3nted to Cono-ress in December followins;. ^^ ** These facts furnish an additional argument why the con- stitution should be submitted to the people, as the majority, preferring a territorial government, and thinking a state government premature, may desire to avail themselves of that opportunity to vote aga^t any state constitution whatever. " Burthened with heavy liabilities ; without titles to our lands; our public buildings unfinished; our jail and court- houses not erected ; without money even to pay the expenses of a convention ; and just emerging from the disastrous effects of a bitter civil feud ; it seems unwise for a few thousand pec- 268 HISTORY OF KANSAS. pie, scarcely sufficient to make a good county, to discard the protecting and fostering care of a government, ready to assist us with her treasures and to protect us with her armies. '^ Jno. W. Geary, ^' Governor of Kansas Territory. " Lecompton, K. T., February 19, 1857." Notwithstanding these objections, the bill was adopted, without discussion, by an almost unanimous vote of both branches of the Assembly. The pro-slavery party were in rap- tures. They did not pretend to conceal their exultation. They freely boasted that they had now the advantage of their polit- ical adversaries, and that the question of slavery in Kansas was no longer a matter of uncertainty. So positive were they that the whole affair was entirely at their own disposal, and that the territory would soon become a slave state, that they went to work to select officers for its management, ridicul- ing any expression of doubt in regard to their success. J The new secretary of the territory, Mr. Stanton, and also Governor Walker, have endeavored to convince the free-state people that it is the intention of the pro-slavery convention to submit the constitution they may frame, to the people of the territory for their ratification, previous to its being presented to Congress. If these gentlemen are sincere in the expression of this opinion, they have been most successfully blindfolded by the persons from whom they received their ideas of Kan- sas affairs before entering upon the duties of their mission. The very reverse of this was the avowed intention of the pro- slavery leaders. That the people should have no voice in the matter, was the object of their chief concern. Hence, none should vote save those who were registered as being in the territory prior, to the 15th of March ; and hence the early election in June, and the putting off the meeting of the con- vention until September, that no time would be allowed to pass between the termination of their labors and the organi- zation of Congress. The principal operators in this scheme did not hesitate to aver that their only hope was in getting the constitution through Congress despite. the wishes of the ma- jority of the inhabitants, which would not be the case should it be submitted to the popular vote. The fairness of their intentions may be learned from the manner in which the census has been taken, the apportion- ments made, and the character of the parties who are nomina« SECRETARY STANTON's ArPORTIONMENT. 269 ted as delegates to the convention. Such names as Hender- son, Calhoun, Boliug, Jones, &c., should certainly encourage the free-state settlers to hope that justice will be done them. The taking of the census was a mere farce and a gross impo- sition. No returns were made of some of the largest towns in the territory, and even whole counties were neglected. To have carried out the letter of the law in this regard, would have been a useless trouble and expense, as the whole matter was settled when the law was passed. A writer, who dates from Lecompton, May 25, 1857, says : — '^ A proclamation has been issued for the delegate election, by Mr. Stanton, as acting governor. An apportionment of rep- resentation has been made by him. Out of thirty-six counties, as organized by the authorities, only twenty-one have even a nominal representation. The census has only been taken in ten of these, and in only some portions of these ten. In six of these twenty-one counties thus reported, no census was taken, but a list of voters was taken from their old poll-books ; this having been done after the time for taking the census had expired. The other five are counties forming parts of districts which are mentioned because they are connected with others ; but in these no census was taken, and no former vote or representation on account of former vote, has been allowed. By this proclamation three-fifths of the settled counties of the territory are allowed no representation. In these there are at least two-fifths of the people in the whole territory, and including the emigration of this spring, one- half. " There are twenty counties to the south of the Kansas river, lying in a great solid mass, and filled with free-state towns and settlements, teeming with active life and industry; in one-half of them the great majority of claims are taken, and all are about as well settled as the majority of counties in most of the western states, and the whole of these are left without a particle of representation by this proclamation !" One part of the plan, as explained to Governor Geary, is to adopt a constitution in which no reference whatever shall be made to the subject of slavery; aad this fact has been an- nounced in the administration organs as an evidence of the conciliatory disposition of the pro-slavery party of Kansas. But the pretended merit of this scheme will disappear as soon as it is understood that slavery already exists in the territory, by statute ; and even though no mention may be made of it in 23* 270 HISTORY OF KANSAS. the eonstitution, it will still remain an established institution of the new state. The pro-slavery papers of the country have also claimed for the late Legislative Assembly much credit for having repealed the odious and oppressive test and election laws created at the preceding session. But in this matter a reprehensible decep- tion has been practised. In repealing certain sections of these euactments, the legislature took especial care to permit others to remain upon the statute books, which contain all their most obnoxious features ', so that, in fact, no improvement has been made. These acts, which " are disgraceful to the age,'^ are claimed, as has already been said, to be the production of a member from Missouri, who, in explanation of their existence, has since said : " Well, I wrote them one night when I was drunk, and presented them more for fun than anything else ; but they were unanimously adopted, all the members being as drunk as myself; though none of us intended that they should ever be enforced.^^ The plea of insanity, well sustained, is all-sufficient in a court of law ; that of drunkenness does not excuse the conduct of an offender. The Legislative Assembly adjourned at midnight, on the 21st of February, when the members of both houses, with all the clerks, door-keepers, and other attaches, called upon the gov- ernor, in a body, to pay their respects, previous to their departure for their several homes. This was a sort of salvo for the wholesale abuse of which he had been for six weeks the constant subject. Jan. 23d. — A letter was received from Secretary Marcy, in which he expresses great concern about the meeting of the Topeka Legislature, already noticed. He says: — '' I learn, with regret, that a body of men calling themselves a Legislature, are about to assemble at Topeka. The Presi- dent's views in relation to the origin and purpose of such an assemblage, assuming the name and function of a legislative body, are fully set forth in his message to Congress of the 24th day of January, 1856, a copy of which accompanied your instructions. The title used is, in itself, an unwarrant- able assumption. There .can be but one legal legislative as- sembly in Kansas, and that, the one organized under the. law of Congress. The assembling of the body referred to under the name and in the character of a legislature, is a procedure which ought to receive no countenance, whatever may be the PETITION OF PRISONERS. 271 assurances of any individuals as to tlie acts which it will or will not do." 26/A. — A dispatch from the governor to the Secretary of State, of this date, contains the following paragraph: — '' The peace of the country remains unimpaired, and I have daily the most gratifying evidence of the general feeling of security which pervades all classes of the community. Not- withstanding, there are some amongst us who cannot exist much longer without commotion. I am closely watching their movements, and am determined to maintain peace at every hazard." In the same communication the necessity of additional land offices is urged, and also the disposal at an early day of the residue of the Delaware Trust Lands. 2Sth. — A requisition, through the hands of Charles P. Arnold, was received by Governor Geary from Governor Wise of Viro-inia, for the arrest of a fugitive from that state named J. L. McCubbin, charged with the larceny of nine hundred dollars. Governor Geary immediately dispatched a force of dragoons in company with Mr. Arnold and a deputy marshal, in pursuit of McCubbin, who was arrested, and sent back to Viro-inia. 31st — A communication having appeared in the Topelia Tribune, written by its special correspondent, and reflecting somewhat severely upon Judge Elmore, the latter met Mr. Kagi, the author, in front of the Court House, in Tecum seh, and attempted to chastise him by striking him across the head with a cane. Kagi drew a pistol and inflicted a severe flesh wound in the thigh of Elmore, when the latter fired several shots at Kagi, who had started to run, one of which slightly wounded him in the side. Neither of them was seriously injured. An attempt to create an excitement on this occasion proved a failure. March od. — The prisoners at Tecumseh petitioned Governor Geary to do something toward the amelioration of their condi- tion. They represented that for four days the only article of subsistence they had was coffee. The person who had con- tracted to furnish provisions, had stopped the rations because of the marshal having neglected to pay his bills. Qfh. — The ice in the Kansas river, which had been frozen over for a long while, broke up in consequence of a freshet produced by heavy rains which had continued several days. .• 272 HISTORY OF KANSAS. All communication between the north and south sides of the river was, for the time being, consequently suspended. CHAPTER XLII. Governor Geary's instructions. — The United States troops. — Enrolment, mustering and discharge of the militia. — The troops withheld from the • service of the governor. Soon after his appointment, and before his departure for the west, Governor Geary received the following instructions : — "Department of State: " Washington, August 26, 1856. ♦' Sir : The present condition of the territory of Kansas renders your duties as governor highly responsible and delicate. In the in- structions heretofore conamunicated to your predecessor, in February last ; in the annual message to Congress of the 24th of the previous December ; and in orders issued from the War Department (printed copies of which are herewith furnished), you will find the policy of the President fully presented. It is first, to maintain order and quiet in the territory of Kansas ; and, second, if disturbances occur therein, to bring to punishment the offenders. "Should the force which has been provided to attain these objects prove insuificient, you will promptly make known that fact to the President, that he may take such measures in regard thereto as to him may seem to be demanded by the exigencies of the case. "It is important that the President should be kept well informed as to the state of things in Kansas, and that the source of the informa- tion should be such as to insure its accuracy. You are therefore directed by him to communicate constantly with this department. Such facts as it is deemed important to have early known here, you will cause to be transmitted by telegraph as well as by mail. " The President indulges a hope, that, by your energy, impartiality, and discretion, the tranquillity of the territory will be restored, and the persons and property of the citizens therein protected. "I am, sir, &c., "W. L. Margy." " His Excellency, John W. Geary, " Governor of Kansas Territory." In order that the governor might have ample means to carry out these instructions, and ''to maintain order and quiet in the territory of Kansas, and if disturbances occurred therein, to bring to punishment the offenders,' he was not GOVERNOR Geary's instructions. 273 only given discretionary powers as to the expenditure of money, but was directed, if he found the United States forces inade- quate, not only to muster into the service the militia of the territory, but to avail himself of requisitions made upon the governors of other states. A letter received from the secre^ tary of state was as follows : — "Department of State: "Washington, September 2, 1856. " Sir : Eeliable information having reached the President that armed and organized bodies of men, avowedly in rebellion against the terri- torial government, have concentrated in such numbers as to require additional military force for their dispersion, you will have the militia of the territory, completely enrolled and organized, to the end that they may on short notice be brought into the service of the United States. Upon requisition of the commander of the military depart- ment in which Kansas is embraced, you will furnish by companies, or regiments, or brigades, or divisions, such number and composition of troops, as, from time to time, you may find, on his report to you, to be necessary for the suppression of all combinations to resist the laws of the United States too powerful to be suppressed by the civil autho- rity, and for the maintenance of public order and civil government in the territory. "I am, sir, &c., "W. L. Mabcy. " To His Excellency, John W. Geary, " Governor of the Territory of Kansas. Lecompton." A dispatch was also forwarded to General Smith, by the secretary of war. From the instructions this contains, as well as from the tenor of other documents that will be found in this chapter, it is quite palpable that the administration at Washington had been utterly deceived in regard to the true condition of thino;s in Kansas, and was laboring; under the strange hallucination that all the difficulties existing there were attributable to free-state settlers and invaders. These were the only persons who were supposed to be violating ''the peace and quiet" of the territory; these were the only offenders whom Governor Geary was expected to '' bring to punishment;'^ these were the parties against whom the troops were to be em- ployed; and hence it is not difficult to account for the fact that the countenance of the administration was withheld and the troops withdrawn from him, as soon as it was ascertained that he had so far misunderstood his instructions and the wishes of his employers, as to cause the arrest of a pro-slavery mur- derer. All went well so long as he continued to cram the filthy jail with free-state prisoners; but his fate was sealed S 274 HISTORY OP KANSAS. when he exhibited a disposition to punish their political oppos- ers. This was no part of the programme, and the powers at Washington were astonished that Geary did not understand, or, understanding, did not lend his aid to further their policy. The following is a copy of the dispatch from the secretary of war: — rp " War Department: " Washington, September 3, 1856. "Sir; Your dispatch of 22d August and its enclosures sufiBciently exhibit the inadequacy of the force under your command to perform the duties which have been devolved upon you in the present unhappy condition of Kansas by the orders and instructions heretofore com- municated. To meet this exigency, the President has directed the governor of the territory to complete the enrolment and organization of the militia, as you will find fully set forth in the enclosed copy of a letter addressed to him by the secretary of state ; and the president has directed me to say to you that you are authorized, from time to time, to make requisitions upon the governor for such militia force as you may require to enable you promptly and successfully to execute your oi'ders and suppress insurrection against the government of the territory of Kansas, and under the circumstances heretofore set forth in your instructions, to give the requisite aid to the officers of the civil government who may be obstructed in the due execution of the law. Should you not be able to derive from the militia of Kansas the adequate force for these purposes, such additional number of militia as may be necessary will be drawn from the states of Illinois and Kentucky, as shown in the requisition, a copy of which is here enclosed. '*The views contained in your instructions to the officers command- ing the troops, under date of August 19, are fully approved, and accord so entirely with the purposes of the executive as to leave but little to add in relation to the course which it is desired you should pursue. The position of the insurgents, as shown by your letter and its enclosures, is that of open rebellion against the laws and consti- tutional authorities, with such manifestation of a purpose to spread devastation over the Land as no longer justifies further hesitation or indulgence. To you, as to every soldier whose habitual feeling is to protect the citizens of his own country, and only to use his arms against a public enemy, it cannot be otherwise than deeply painful to be brought into conflict with any portion of his fellow-countrymen ; but patriotism and humanity alike require that rebellion should be promptly crushed, and the perpetration of the crimes which now dis.- turb the peace and security of the good people of the territory of Kansas should be eflFectually checked. You will, therefore, energeti- cally employ all the means within your reach to restore the supremacy of law, always endeavoring to carry out your present purpose to pre- vent the unnecessary efl'usion of blood. " In making your requisitions for militia force, you will be governed by the existing organization of the army and the laws made and pro- Tided in such cases. When companies, regiments, brigades, or divi- INSTRUCTIONS TO GOVERNOR GEARY. 275 Bions are presented to be mustered into tlie service of the United States, you will cause them, before they are received, to be minutely inspected by an officer of your command, appointed for the purpose. *' Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "Jefferson Davis, " Secretary of War. ** Major-General Persifer F. Smith, " Commanding Department of the West." The following, sent by telegraph to the governor, establishes the fact beyond a doubt, that the government regarded all the offences as coming from one party, the free-state; because, while it points out, with exaggeration, outrages alleged to have been committed by that party, it makes no mention of, nor reference to, the still greater enormities perpetrated by the pro-slavery agitators and invaders : — ** Washington, September 9, 1856. " To J. W. Geary. " I presume the orders sent by Colonel Emory on the 3d instant have already reached you. If the militia which those orders made subject to the requisition of General Smith are not sufficient for the exigency, notify me by telegraph. The insurrectionary invasion of the territory by the way of Nebraska, and the subsequent hostile attacks on the post-office at Franklin, and on the dwellings of Titus and of Clarke, seem to have stimulated to unlawful acts of the same character on the borders of Missouri. The President expects you to maintain the public peace, and to bring to punishment all acts of violence or disorder by whomever perpetrated and on whatever pretext. And he relies on your energy and discretion, and the approved capacity, decision, and coolness of character of General Smith, to prevent or suppress all attempts to kindle civil war in the territory of Kansas. A commu- nication on the same subject has this day been telegraphed to General Smith, by the secretary of war, with positive directions that no parties or bodies of armed men shall be allowed to carry on military opera- tions in the territory, save such persons as are enrolled by him into the service of the United States. "W. L. Marcy, "Secretary of State." It is true that the honorable secretary of state here directs the governor to ^^ bring to punishment all acts of violence or disorder, by lohomever perpetrated, and on whatever pretext y* but, at the same time, while he distinctly points to every of- fence that could be charged against the free-state men, even to a hostile attack upon the house of Clarke, which house had never been molested, he seems to have been entirely oblivious of the fact that General Reid and Captain Pate and General Whitfield; at the head of armed bands of Missourians, had 276 histohy of Kansas. invaded tlie territory, sacked towns, robbed post-offices, burned houses, ravished and branded women, stolen horses and cattle, destroyed crops, and committed other enormities too horrible to imagine or describe. He seemed insensible of the fact, that a band of marauders, under the command of this very man Clarke, whose house is falsely alleged to have been assailed, had pillaged stores and dwellings, and after having murdered a man in the most brutal manner, buried him a few inches below the ground, leaving his hands sticking out for tomb-stones ; and at the time the secretary was writing his dispatch, an immense army was congregating in Missouri, carrying black flags as the indices of their murderous intentions, for the purpose of in- vading Kansas, under the authority of the governor, to destroy free-state towns and massacre their inhabitants. These were not the men whom Governor Geary was expected to " bring to punishment;'' for he no sooner dared to lay his hand upon the worst assassin of them all, than he was clearly given to understand that his services were no longer needed. Immediately after the dismissal of the volunteers called into service by Secretary Woodson, as related in another chapter, Governor Geary gave the requisite instructions for the enrol- ment of all the actual citizens of the territory, with a view to the proper organization of the militia, to be mustered into the service of the government whenever exigencies should seem to require. It was soon apparent that several companies would be needed to assist the civil authorities to execute warrants, to guard the prisoners of the territory, and to aid in the mainte- nance of the peace in various localities. General Smith being made aware of this fact, he made requisition, as follows, upon the governor, for three companies, one of cavalry and two of infantry, to be mustered into the regular service of the United States : — " Head Quarters, Department of the West, "Fort Leavenworth, September 17, 1856. *♦ His Excellency, J. W. Geary, " Governor of the Territory of Kansas. *' Sir: By virtue of the authority given me by the President of the United States, a copy of which is in your possession, I have the honor to make a requisition on you for two companies of militia, infantry, for the service of the United States. " Each company to consist of one captain, one first-lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, two musicians, and seventy-four privates. *' The companies, when ready, will be mustered into the service of THE KANSAS MILITIA. 277 the United States by an officer who will be detailed for that purpose by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke from his command. " With the highest respect, your obedient servant, " Pkrsifer F. Smith, ** Bt. Major-General commanding Department." On the 28 til, a similar requisition was made ^' for one ccm- .pany of cavalry, to consist of one captain, one first-lieutenant, one second-lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, two bu- glers, one farrier and blacksmith, and seventy-four privates.'^ These companies were forthwith organized and duly mustered intojhe service for the period of three months, by United States officers detailed for that purpose. One of these infantry com- panies was raised at Lawrence, and was composed entirely of free-state men, under the command of Captain Samuel Walker. The others were enrolled and stationed at Lecompton, and were all of the pro-slavery party, the mounted company commanded by Captain John Wallis, and the infantry by Captain John Donaldson. In all they numbered nearly two hundred and fifty men. Colonel H. T. Titus having been commissioned by the governor, as his aid-de-camp, had special direction of these troops. Peace being thoroughly established in every part of the ter- ritory, and the militia wearying of their inactivity, became desirous of returning to the pursuits of civil life, and on the 19 th of November the free-state company at Lawrence ad- dressed a communication to the governor, signed by the captain and all his men, as follows : — ''The undersigned, members of the Kansas militia, mustered into the service of the United States, at Lawrence, K. T., in obedience to your call, would respectfully submit, that when our services were required, the territory was distracted with internal feuds and threatened with invasion by those from abroad who had no residence in the country, then, since, or prospectively. " We were ready to give assistance in staying the hand of violence, which had laid this country waste, to some extent depopulated it, and made life insecure. We trusted you were sincere in your professions to act justly towards the settlers, and we cheerfully left our ordinary occupations to aid, so far as we could, in restoring peace and quiet to this unfortunate territory. "We have watched your course since your arrival amongs* us as our executive, with much anxiety, and although we haff- 24 278 HisTOKr OF Kansas wislied to see you do what you have not done, still we are Ben- sible, and bear it in grateful remembrance, that, by your activity and energy, you have done much towards the restoration of that feeling of protection that all who live under organized governments have a right to expect. We thank you for it, and trust confidently that you may not forget that we are part and parcel of this great republic, although we may difi'er from our neighboring state on some political subjects. ^' We now feel that you have the power and will to protect the citizens of the country, and that, therefore, our services are not required. If you think such is the case, we request to be permitted to return to our several occupations, with the assurance that should you require our assistance in the future, you may be sure that right and justice to all will always be the object of our best efforts, and should you call for them, they will be given to you with unreserved zeal and fidelity.'' Upon the receipt of this petition, the governor addressed a let- ter to General Smith, informing him of the continuation of the general peace, and that the services of the militia could be dis- pensed with, and suggested "the propriety of mustering them out of the service, in order that they might retire to their homes, and gratify their desires in the pursuits of peace." A few days afterwards, on the 25th, a similar request to that of Captain Walker, was received from Captain Donaldson and his company. This had seventy-eight signatures, and read as follows : — "We, the undersigned, officers and members of Company A, 2d Regt. Inft. Kansas Militia, believing that the policy adopted by your excellency, which has been so rigidly carried out, has produced such happy results that we can no longer serve you to advantage; whilst, therefore, acknowledging our appreciation and admiration of that peace and quiet which has been restored once more by your noble efi"orts, we respectfully ask to be discharged honorably from the service." On the same day, the following communication, signed by Captain Wallis and all his men, was also received : — " The general peace pervading the territory, indicating that the object for which we were called into service has been ac- complished, should it meet your approbation, we are now desi- rous of quitting the tented field, and returning to our homes. PAT OF THE MILITIA. > 279 our families and friends, where we hope, under your effective administration, to be permitted peaceably and safely to attend our varied avocations. These hopes are inspired by what we have seen of your success in quelling the disturbances by which our territory has been so sadly distressed. Confiding in your integrity and ability, you have our most devout wishes that peace may attend your administration, and that the reward of patriotism may be yours." These communications were respectively answered by the governor, their compliments to his integrity and efficiency ac- knowledged, and the means ..immediately adopted to comply with the request of the petitioners. A correspondence having been opened on the subject with General Smith, he appointed the 1st day of December, by especial desire of the governor, to muster the two pro-slavery companies out of service at Fort Leavenworth, and the other at. Lawrence. It then appeared that the paymaster had no appropriation for the payment of these troops ; hence the governor, in a letter to General Smith, says : — ''I send by Major S. Woods a warrant of my own private funds, payable to your order, for fifteen hundred dollars, to be handed over to the paymaster for the purpose of paying the privates and non-commissioned officers. * * * j(^ appears to me that if application be made to the department, payment would be ordered to the volunteers, and I would be immediately reimbursed." In reply to this the governor was informed by communica- tion from head-quarters, that no instructions could be given for the payment of the militia " until an appropriation for that purpose is made by Congress," and hence it would be necessary for the governor " to make arrangements with some individual to disburse" the fifteen hundred dollars he had forwarded "to the men to be discharged." Secretary Woodson was accordingly chosen for that purpose, and the militia were dismissed from the service, having been paid with the governor's private funds, although mustered by direction of the president, and on requi- sition of the commander of the military department of the west. Peace continuing to prevail, the governor had in the mean time announced the fact to General Smith, and suggested that, for the comfort of the regular troops, their services not being X 280 HISTORY OF KANSAS. immediately required, they sTiould be withdrawn to Fort Lea- venworth for winter-quarters, which was accordingly done, one small company of infantry, under Captain Flint, being left to guard the prisoners at Tecumseh, and a company of twenty- three dragoons, under Captain Newby, being quartered on the GJ-rasshopper Creek near Lecompton. Such was the gratifying aspect of affairs through the entire fall and winter, until the peace was again threatened by the almost daily outrages of Sherrard and his friends, the predic- tions of the Lecompton Union, and at last, the personal insult offered to the governor on the 9th of February, and the open endorsement of that act by a large portion of the members of the legislature. Before this latter occurrence, a number of peaceful citizens had called upon the governor, urging the necessity for the presence at Lecompton of a small force of United States troops to protect them against the threatened disturbances. Finding, from his own experience, that this alarm was not altogether groundless, as he had before supposed, he dispatched a messenger with the following requisition to Gen- eral Smith : — ** Executive Department, Kansas Territory, "February 9, 1857. * Major-General Persifbr F. Smith, " Commanding Department of the West. "Dear Sir: Tliere are certain persons present in Lecompton, who are determined, if within the bounds of possibility, to bring about a breach of the peace. During the last few days a number of persons have been grossly insulted; and to-day an insult has been offered to myself. A person named Sherrard, who some days ago had been appointed Sheriff of Douglas county, which appointment was strongly protested .against by a respectable number of the citizens of the county, and I had deferred commissioning him. This, it appears, gave mortal offence to Sherrard, and he has made up his mind to assassinate me. This may lead to trouble. It must be prevented, and that by imme- diate action. I require, therefore, two additional companies of dragoons, to report to me with the least possible delay. / think this is absolutely necessary, and I trust you toill immediately comply with my request. I write in great haste, as the messenger is about leaving. "I wish you would keep an eye upon Leavenworth City, as I hear of troublesome indications there. I am confident that there is a con- spiracy on foot to disturb the peace, and various pretexts will be, and have been used to accomplish this fell purpose. " I am perfectly cool, and intend to keep so ; but I am also more figilant than ever. << Very truly, your friend, " Jno. W. Geary." WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES TROOPS. 281 It soon became known throiigli tlie town that the governor had sent a messenger to Fort Leavenworth for troops, and the fact afforded ground for merriment to the crowds of ruffians who hung about the groggeries, ready to commit any atrocity by direction of certain prominent men ; they having received later intellio:ence from the seat of e:overnment than his excel- lency, and been satisfactorily assured that the United States forces were no lono;er under his control. Information to this effect was conveyed to Governor Geary, who treated it with- the .scorn he supposed it merited. What, then, was his astonishment, when the messenger returned from General Smith with the following answer : — ** Head Quarters, Departtuent of the West, "Fort Leavenworth, Feb. 11, 1857. *' His Excellency, John W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory, (( Lecompton, K. T. "Governor: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yo^r ? letter of the 9th instant, in which you 'require immediately, two additional companies of dragoons to report to you in consequence of your confidence that there is a conspii-acy on foot to disturb the peace' — and also acknowledge the receipt of a previous letter requir- ing a battalion to be sent to you in view of the large immigration expected here in the spring, ^ "If you refer to the laws you will observe that the president iSr authorized to call the military and naval forces into action, to : 1st, repel invasion ; 2d, to suppress insurrection ; and 3d, to repress com- binations to obstruct the execution of the laws, too strong for the civil power. Insults or probable breaches of the peace do not autho- rize the employment of the troops. " Besides, all the forces here have just been designated by the sec- retary of war, and are under orders, for other service more distant j and even the companies near you will have to be recalled. They are-* sufficient to repress any breach of the peace, and I cannot move them | until the weather improves. { " But even they are to be employed to aid the civil authority only-.^ in the contingencies mentioned in the laws above referred to. The garrisons to be left in the territory will be available if the president directs their employment. " The contingency under which the troops were acting I consider to have ceased. Without the grossest imprudence on the part of the civil authorities in Leavenworth, I see not the slightest probability of any disturbance there ; and on inquiry, I can hear of none from various inhabitants. With the highest respect, " Your obedient servant, " Persifbr F. Smith, '• Brevet Major- General commanding." 24* 282 HISTORY OF KANSAS. This was the first official information he had received of thf fact that the government, which had sent him to Kansas, to suppress insurrection, preserve the peace, and punish offenders, with the largest promises of support and assistance, had secretly taken from him even the means to protect his own life against assassins, who being apprised of the action at Washington, and encouraged by it, were plotting his destruc- tion. When he took possession of the government of Kansas, he was to have control, not only of all the regular forces in the territory, to be used at his discretion, when he considered exigencies required their employment, but he was empowered to enrol all the militia of the territory^ and muster them into the service, and to call upon the governors of Kentucky and Illinois for two additional regiments. Noiu, having conquered a peace by his indomitable energy, and saved the country from an impending civil war, and finding the peace again threat- ened and his own life in danger, in order to obey his instruc- tions to " preserve the peace" he had established, and bo governed by ^' the exigencies of affairs as they should be pre- sented to HIM on the spot,'' he calls upon General Smith for a few soldiers, who, in reply, tells him that the troops are no longer under his control; " the contingency under which they were acting I consider to have ceased;'' "besides, all the forces here have Just been designated by the secretary of war, and are under orders, for other service more distant, and even the companies near you will have to be recalled!" Never was a grosser insult ever offered to an official. And why? Governor Geary had accomplished the ostensible object of his mission to Kansas. He had put an end to a destructive civil war, and from chaos, confusion, and wretchedness, brought peace, prosperity and happiness. True; but he had done more than that. He had arrested a pro-slavery murderer, and when a partial chief justice had set him at liberty, he persisted in bringing him to justice and punishment, agreeably to the letter of his instructions. Other pro-slavery murderers, and the companions of such, made their complaints at Washington ; Calhoun and Clarke declared that Geary should be removed for that act; they had sufficient influence to accomplish their threats, and succeeded to perfection. Whilst things were in this condition, and the indignation meeting of honest citizens was about to be held at Lecompton on the 18th of February, Judge Cato, as has been related, called upon the governor, requesting him to interpose his WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES TROOPS. 283 authority to disperse the meeting. The judge knew that the governor had no authority to interpose — he knew that he had been stripped of all military power, and that to appear at the meeting in person, would simply have been to present a mark for the bullet of the assassin, which, of all things, was then the most desired. At that time Captain Newby's small com- pany of dragoons was on the north side of the Kansas River, which was impassable, in consequence of the ice having just broken up, and might just as well, for all the use they could have rendered the governor, have been in the Fejee Islands; and Captain Flint's company of infantry were ten miles off at Tecumseh. Besides, both these companies were ordered to report themselves at Fort Leavenworth, as soon as the weather would permit them to travel, which they did, Captain Flint's company stopping at Lecompton, and taking with it the only soldier the governor had left to guard an iron safe containing the public documents, and moneys belonging to himself and others. Shortly after the receipt of the foregoing letter of General Smith, the governor returned the following reply, which did not reach the general at Fort Leavenworth, he having departed for Washington: — '♦Executive Department, K. T., "Lecompton, March 2, 1857. *'Major-General P. F. Smith, " Commanding Department of the West. "Dear Sir: Your letter of 11th February was duly received, and my most serious consideration has been given to its contents. " i regret to be compelled to differ from you in the opinion that * the contingency under which the troops were acting' has ♦ ceased.' It seems to me that a proper view of the existing condition of things in the territory would lead to a different conclusion. " The peace that now prevails is not only threatened by irresponsi- ble individuals, but its destruction is boldly proclaimed by the news- paper organ of a clique or faction of sufficient influence and numbers ♦to obstruct the execution of the laws,' and 'too strong for the civil power.' That attempts have been made to execute these threats and verify these predictions, you have already received conclusive assur- ances. "That the presence of the troops here has been needed up to the present moment, and that it has held in check those determined to create disturbances, is quite apparent ; and that their removal at this time, when their presence is daily becoming more needful, will be attended with serious and perhaps calamitous results, is very probable. ♦* Besides, the large incoming immigration of peaceful settlers re- 284 HISTORY OF KANSAS. quires protection, which cannot be given by anj civil posses that can be raised, in consequence of the bitter feelings existing among the advocates of conflicting political sentiments on the highly exciting question which so long kept the territory in a state of feverish agita- tion and even anarchy. "Large combinations will doubtless be formed to resist attempted and even threatened violations of the law — and invasion and insurrec- tion, with their fearful consequences, may be anticipated. " The presence of the troops, even should their active service never be required, will be sufficient, perhaps, to 'repel invasion,' which there is reason to expect — ' suppress insurrection,' which has been predicted by seeming authority — atid 'repress combinations to ob- struct the execution of the laws too strong for the civil power,' which seem to exist. " The withdrawal of all the troops at this time would, in my opi- nion, be the signal for the lawless to commence difficulties, which their presence alone may entirely prevent. A little care to guard against evils which we can foresee, may prevent others of greater magnitude which are beyond our comprehension. " In view of these facts, I must respectfully ask, that Captain Newby's company may be permitted to remain in this vicinity during the present mouth, or, at least, until I shall be able to communicate with and receive an answer from the authorities at Washington, upon the subject. The importance of the matter will doubtless suggest itself to your mind, and grant a ready compliance with this request. **An immediate answer will oblige, most sincerely, "Your friend and obedient servant, "Jno. W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory." In view of the facts so clearly established by the foregoing documents — that General Smith had declined furnishing Go- vernor Geary with troops at the time he supposed their ser- vices were needed; that the general declared the secretary of war had ordered all the forces to other and more distant ser- vice; and that even the few soldiers still near the governor had been ordered to report themselves at Fort Leavenworth, as soon as the weather would sufficiently moderate to enable them to travel, — it is somewhat remarkable that General Smith, after the resignation of Governor Geary, should have addressed the following communication to Secretary Davis : — " Baltimore, March 28, 1857. "Hon. Jefferson Davis, "Senator, "Dear Sir : I received a letter a few minutes since from the editor of the Evening Star, requesting me to ' substantiate a contradiction you make to some assertion in the Herald of Governor Geary.' I happen to have my letter-book, and send you a copy of my letter to WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES TROOPS. 285 governor when he 'required' a squadron of dragoons to be sent lira. He had already Captain Newby's and Captain Flint's com- the to hi panies of troops under his control, and he stated no case that would justify reinforcing them in the middle of the winter. I declined sending them, evidently without your interference in the matter, for you were in Washington. His letter is of the 9th February and my answer of the 11th. I exercised the discretion left me by the presi- dent, for I saw there was no need of them. " I send the copy to you, for I do not think myself at liberty to publish part of an official correspondence without authority from higher authority. "Moreover, I think your simple contradiction is sufficient; the affair will not offer to Governor Geary any advantage in pursuing it, unless he provokes proof of what the Ilerald says, and that is on record in the Department of the West. " I have copies of my letters, but his are on file in the office of the Department of the West. "I repeat, that with my knowledge of all that took place the go- vernor will not pursue the matter. " With sincere respect, your obedient servant, '* Persifbr F. Smith, Bt. Maj.-Gen. Comm'g Dep't of the West." In the general's letter to tlie governor lie says ; " All the forces here have just been designated hi/ the secretary of war ^ and are under orders for other service more distant.'' In the letter to General Davis he says: "I declined sending them, evidently without your interference in the matter, for you were in Washington." What General Smith means by saying that the simple contradiction of Secretary Davis will be sufficient to disprove the fact that the troops had been withdrawn from Governor Geary's service, it would be extremely difficult to comprehend. It is certain that the troops were withdrawn, and from the followiug communication to the Adjutant-Gen- eral of the United States, it would seem at the suggestion of General Smith himself: — Head-Quarters, Department of the West, "Fort Leavenworth, Saturday, Nov. 11. "Colonel: Since my last communication nothing of importance has happened in the department. After the success of the measures taken a few weeks since to prevent the gross outrages on the law, then threatened, and to suppress the disorders then existing in the territory, order and tranquillity have gradually resumed their legiti- mate sway; the laws have again been put in operation, and the admi- nistration of justice revived. Deserted farms are again occupied, fences rebuilt, fields put under cultivation, and the ruins of houses, destroyed by fire, replaced by more durable habitations ; the roads are covered with travellers, unarmed and secure ; and the towns 286 HISTORY OP KANSAS. thronged with persons selling their produce and purchasing from the stores. All these evidences of restored order have enabled me, with the concurrence of the governor of the territory, to recall the troops from the active duty on which they have been employed, and to esta- blish them again at their proper posts, where they are to pass the winter. As there are no secure prisons yet built for territorial autho- rities to us'Upon the new plan, which Governor Walker promulgates for the settlement of the Kansas difficulty, we cannot venture an opinion before we scrutinize it in detail. There is one point, however, upon which we can give an instant and emphatic judgment; and that is, the proposition to submit the constitu- tion of Kansas to a popular vote. In respect of general policy, such a step would inevitably involve very disastrous conse- quences. In the.f[i^t place, it would inflame and prolong the controversy, and wouid ultimately throw Kansas into the arms of the abolitionists. But any discussion of the measure in re- gard of expediency is unnecessary and irrelevant, since the convention which is to frame a state constitution for Kansas is endowed with no authority to submit their work to the popular vote. The act by which the convention is assembled ascertains and limits its powers, and in that act there is not one word about submitting the constitution to the people. The conven- tion can do nothing for which there is not an express authority in the law ; and as there is neither an express nor implied au- thority in the law to submit the constitution of Kansas to the vote of the inhabitants of the territory, the step would be an 308 HISTORY OF KANSAS. illegal and invalid usurpation of power. The proposition is too plain to allow of controversy. Submit it to any lawyer in the land, from Chief Justice Taney or Reverdy Johnson to the poorest pettifogger in the most obscure country village, and the instant answer will be that the convention in Kansas has no right to subulit the constitution to a popular vote. The jour- nals of the north concede the point, and declaim against the law calling the convention on the ground that it makes no pro- vision, for a popular vote on the constitution. Why then does Grovernor Walker raise the question ? It is especially surpris- ing that he should assume an undeniably untenable position." There is no probability of a renewal of the civil war that disgraced the territory previous to the arrival there of Governor Geary. The recent immigration of free-state settlers has so swelled their numbers, that no attempt will again be made to drive them from the territory, coerce them into any unjust position, or in any way disturb them by armed forces from Missouri or elsewhere. It is well understood that an under- taking of this kind would inevitably resuH in a certain and calamitous defeat. The only ground for hope now left to the pro-slavery party, is in the action of the convention to meet in September next. Should the constitution framed by that body be rejected by Congress, as justice demands, in consequence of the illegality of the convention itself, or from any other cause, the Kansas difficulties will soon be settled, by the admission of that beautiful territory as a free state into the Union. NoTB. — The report that Judge Lecompte had been removed, ap- pears to have been without foundation. He still occupies the posi- tion of Chief ijustlce of Kansas. Fugitt or ^^i^gert, charged with the murder and scalping of Koppe, was recently tried and acquitted at a court over which Lecompte presided. It is certain that no pro- slavei'y oflfender can be convicted in Kansas under existing circum- stances, however heinous his crime or positive the proof of his guilt. APPENDIX. MESSAGE OF GOV. GEARY TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. Gentlemen of the Council and of the House of Represent' atives : The All- Wise and "beneficent Being, who controls alike the destinies of individuals and of nations, has permitted you to convene, this day, charged with grave responsibilities. The eyes, not only of the people of Kansas, but of the entire Union, are upon you, watching with anxiety the re- sult of your deliberations, and of our joint action in the execution of the delicate and important duties devolving upon us. Selected at a critical period in the history of the country, to discharge the executive functions of this territory, the ob- ligations I was required to assume were of the most weighty importance. And when I came seriously to contemplate their magnitude, I would have shrunk from the responsibility, were ., it not for an implicit reliance upon Divine aid, and a full con- \fidence in the virtue, zeal and patriotism of the citizens, with- out which the wisest executive suggestions must be futile* and inoperative. To you, legislators, invested with sovereign authority, I look for that hearty co-operation which will enable us success- fully to guide the ship of state through the troubled waters, into the haven of safety. It is with feelings of profound gratitude to Almighty God, the bounteous Giver of all good, I have the pleasure of an- nouncing, that after the bitter contest of opinion through (309) 310 HISTORY OP KANSAS. which we have recently passed, and which has unfortunately led to fratricidal strife, that peace, which I have every reason to believe to be permanent, now reigns throughout the terri- tory, and gladdens, with its genial influences, homes and hearts which but lately were sad and desolate ; that the rtibber and the murderer have been driven from our soil ; that burned cabins have been replaced by substantial dwellings; that a feeling of confidence and kindness has taken the place of dis- trust and hate ; that all good citizens are disposed to deplore the errors and excesses of the past, and unite with fraternal zeal in repairing its injuries; and that this territory, unsur- passed by any portion of the continent for the salubrity of its climate and the fertility of its soil ; its mineral and agricul- tural wealth ; its timber-fringed streams and fine quarries of building stone; has entered upon a career of unparalleled prosperity. To maintain the advance we have made, and realize the bright anticipations of the future; to build up a model com- monwealth, enriched with all the treasures of learning, of vir- tue and religion, and make it a choice heritage for our chil- dren and generations yet unborn, let me, not only as your executive, but as a Kansan, devoted to the interests of Kansas, and animated solely by patriotic purposes, with all earnestness invoke you, with one heart and soul, to pursue so high and lofty a course in your deliberations, as, by its moderation and justice, will commend itself to the approbation of the country, and command the respect of the people. This being the first occasion offered me to speak to the Leg- islative Assembly, it is but proper, and in accordance with general usage, that I should declare the principles which shall give shape and tone to my administration. These principles, without elaboration, I will condense into the narrowest com- pass. . " Equal and exact justice" to all men, of whatever political or religious persuasion; peace, comity and friendship with neighboring states and territories, with a sacred rejjard for state rights, and reverential respect for the integrity and perpetuity of the Union ; a reverence for the federal constitution as the concentrated wisdom of the fathers of the republic, and the very ark of our political safety; the cultivation of a pure and energetic nationality, and the development of an excellent and intensely vital patriotism ; a jealous regard for the elective franchise, aud the entire security and sanctity of the ballot- GOVERNOR Geary's mesbage. 311 ^box ; a firm determination to adhere to the doctrines of self- government and popular sovereignty as guaranteed by the Or ganic Law; unqualified submission to the will of the majority; the election of all officers by the people themselves ; the su- premacy of the civil over the military power ; strict economy in public expenditures, with, a rigid accountability of all pub- lic officers; the preservation of the public faith, and a cur- rency based upon, and equal to, gold and silver ; free and safe immigration from every quarter of the country; the cultiva- tion of the proper territorial pride, with a firm determination to submit to no invasion of our sovereignty ; the fostering care of agriculture, manufactures, mechanic arts, and all works of internal improvement ; the liberal and free education of all the children of the territory ; entire religious freedom ; a free press, free speech, and the peaceable right to assemble and discuss all questions of public interest; trial by jurors impar- tially selected ; the sanctity of the habeas corpus ; the repeal of all laws inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States and the Organic Act, and the steady administration of the government so as best to secure the general welfare. These sterling maxims, sanctioned by the wisdom and expe- rience of the past, and the observance of which has brought our country to so exalted a position among the nations of the earth, will be steady lights by which my administration shall be guided. A summary view of the state of the territory upon my ad- vent, with an allusion to some of my official acts, may not be inappropriate to this occasion, and may serve to inspire your counsels with that wisdom and prudence, by a contem- plation of the frightful excesses of the past, so essential to the adoption of measures to prevent their recurrence, and enable you to lay the broad and solid foundations of a future common- wealth which may give protection and happiness to millions of freemen. It accords not with my policy or intentions to do the least injustice to any citizen or party of men in this territory or elsewhere. Pledged to do '^ equal and exact justice" in my executive capacity, I am inclined to throw the veil of oblivion ever the errors and outrages of the period antecedent to my arrival, except so far as reference to them may be necessary for substantial justice, and to explain and develope the policy which has shed the benign in-fluences of peace upon Kansas, and which, if responded to by the legislature in a spirit of / 312 HISTORY OF KANSAS. kindness and conciliation, will contribute nmcli to soothe those feelings of bitterness and contention, which in the past brought upon us such untold evils. I arrived at Fort Leavenworth on the ninth day of Septem- ber last; and immediately assumed the executive functions. On the eleventh I issued my inaugural address, declaring the general principles upon which I intended to administer the government. In this address I solemnly pledged myself to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discharge my duties as Governor of Kansas with fidelity; to sustain all the provisions of the Organic Act, which I pronounced to be ^'eminently just and beneficial;'^ to stand by the doctrine of popular sovereignty, or the will of the majority of the actual bona fide inhabitants, when legitimately expressed, which I characterized ^'the imperative rule of civil action for every law-abiding citizen.'' The gigantic evils under which this territory was groaning were attributed to outside influences, and the people of Kansas were earnestly invoked to suspend unnatural strife; to banish all extraneous and improper influ- ences from their deliberations; and in the spirit of reason and mutual conciliation to adjust their own differences. Such suggestions in relation to modifications of the present statutes as i deemed for the public interests were promised at the proper time. It was declared that this territory was the common property of the people of the several states, and that no obstacle should be interposed to its free settlement, while in a territorial condition, by the citizens of every state of the Union. A just territorial pride was sought to be infused; a pledge was solemnly given to know no party, no section, nothing but Kansas and the Union; and the people were earnestly invoked to bury the past in oblivion, to suspend hos- tilities and refrain from the indulgence of bitter feeling ; to begin anew; to devote themselves to the true and substantial interests of Kansas; develope her rich agricultural resources; build up manufactures; make public roads and other works of internal improvement; prepare amply for the education of their children ; devote themselves to all the arts of peace,^ and make this territory the sanctuary of those cherished principles which protect the inalienable rights of the individual, and elevate states in their sovereign capacities. The foregoing is a brief summary of the principles upon which my administration was commenced. I have steadily GOVERNOR Geary's message. 313 adhered to them, and time and trial have but served to strengthen my convictions of their justice. Coincident with my inaugural were issued two proclama- tions, the one, disbanding the territorial militia, composed of a mixed force of citizens and others, and commanding^ '' all bodies of men, combined, armed and equipped with munitions of war, without authority of the government, instantly to dis- band or quit the territory, as they would answer the contrary at their peril." The other, ordering '' all free male citizens qualified to bear arms, between the ages of eighteen and forty- five years, to enrol themselves, that they might be completely organized by companies, regiments, brigades and divisions, and hold themselves in readiness to be mustered, by my order, into the service of the United States, upon a requisition of the commander of the military department in which Kansas is embraced, for the suppression of all unlawful combinations, and for the maintenance of public order and civil government." The policy of these proclamations is so evident, and theii beneficial effects have been so apparent, as to require no vindi cation. The territory was declared by the acting-governor to be in a Btate of insurrection; the civil authority was powerless, — entirely without capacity to vindicate the mnjesty of the law and restore the broken peace; the existing difficulties were of a far more complicated character than I had anticipated ; pre- datory bands, whose sole aim, unrelieved by the mitigation of political causes, was assassination, arson, plunder and rapine, had undisturbed possession of some portions of the territory, while every part of it was kept in constant alarm and terror by the advocates of political sentiments, uniting according to their respective sympathies, in formidable bodies of armed men, completely equipped with munitions of war, and resolved upon mutual extermination as the only hope of peace; unof- fending and peaceable citizens were driven from their homes; others murdered in their own dwellings, which were given to the flames; that sacred respect for woman, which has charac- terized all civilized nations, seemed in the hour of mad excite- ment to be forgotten; partisan feeling, on all sides, intensely excited by a question which inflamed the entire nation, almost closed the minds of the people against me; idle and menda- cious rumors, well calculated to produce exasperation and destroy confidence, were everywhere rife ; the most unfortunate suspicions prevailed; in isolated country places no man's life 27 / 3l4 HISTORY OP KANSAS. was safe; robberies and murders were of daily occun'ence; nearly every farm-house was deserted; and no traveller could safely venture on the highway without an escort. This state of affairs was greatly aggravated by the interference of promi- nent politicians outside of the territory. The forefroins; is but a faint outline of the fearful condition of things which ruled Kansas and convulsed the nation. The full picture will be drawn by the iron pen of impartial history, and the actors in the various scenes will be assigned their true positions. I came here a stranger to your difficulties, without preju- dice, with a solemn sense of my official obligations, and with a lofty resolution to put a speedy termination to events so fraught with evil, and which, if unchecked, would have floated the country into the most bloody civil war. Hesitation, or partisan affiliations, would have resulted in certain failure, and only served further to complicate affairs. To restore peace and order, and relieve the people from the evils under which they were laboring, it was necessary that an impartial, independent and just policy should be adopted, which would embrace in its protection all good citizens, with- out distinction of party, and sternly punish all bad men who continued to disturb the public tranquillity. Accordingly my inaugural address and proclamations were immediately circu- lated among the people, in order that they might have early notice of my intentions. On the fourteenth day of September, reliable information was received that a large body of armed men were marching to attack Hickory Point, on the north side of the Kansas River. I immediately dispatched a squadron of United States dragoons, with instruction to capture and bring to this place any persons whom they might And acting in violation of my proclamation. In pursuance of these instructions one hun- dred and one prisoners were taken, brought here, and com- mitted for trial. While a portion of the army was performing this duty, I was advised that a large body of men was approaching the town of Lawrence, determined upon its destruction. I at once ordered three hundred United States troops to that place, and repaired there in person. Within four miles of Law- rence, I found a force of twenty-seven hundred men, consist- ing of citizens of this territory and other places, organized as territorial militia, under a proclamation of the late acting GOVERNOR Geary's message. S15 governor. I disbanded this force, ordering the various com-i panies composing it, to repair to their respective places of ren- dezvous, there to be mustered out of service. My orders were obeyed ; the militia retired to their homes ; the effusion of blood was prevented; the preservation of Lawrence effected; and a great step made towards the restoration of peace and confidence. To recount my various official acts, following each other in quick succession under your immediate observation, would be a work of supererogation, and would occupy more space than the limits of an executive message would justify. My ex- ecutive minutes, containing a truthful history of my official transactions, with the policy which dictated them, have been forwarded to the general government, and are open to the inspection of the country. In relation to any alterations or modifications of the territo- rial statutes which I might deem advisable, I promised in my inaugural address to direct public attention at the proper time. In the progress of events, that time has arrived, and you are the tribunal to which my suggestions must I stJubmit-. ) ted. On this subject I bespeak your candid attention, as it'i has an inseparable connection with the prosperity and happi- ' ness of the people. It has already been remarked that the territories of the United States are the common property of the citizens of the several states. It may be likened to a joint ownership in an sstate, and no condition should be imposed or restrictions placed'^i'pon the equal enjoyment of the benefitis arising there- from, which will do the least injustice to any of the owners, or which is not contemplated in the tenure by which it is held, which is no less than the Constitution of the United States, the sole bond of the American Union. This being the true position, no obstacle should be interposed to the free, speedy and general settlement of this territory. The durability and imperative authority of a state constitu- tion, when the interests of the people require a state govern- ment, and a direct popular vote is necessary to give it sanction and effect, will be the proper occasion once for all, to decide the grave political questions which underlie a well regulated commonwealth. uj Let this, then, be the touch-stone of your deliberati^-^ •liif^t no law which will not clearly bear the ^. »>• ' ' IP 816 ' HISTORY OF KANSAS. to this standard, it is your solemn duty to sweep them from the statute-book. The territorial government should abstain from the exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, and should permit all doubtful questions to remain in abeyance until the formation of a state constitution. On the delicate and exciting question of slavery, a subject which so peculiarly engaged the attention of Congress at the passage of our Organic Act, I cannot too earnestly invoke you to permit it to remain where the Constitution of the United States and that act place it, subject to the decision of the courts upon all points arising during our present infant con- dition. The repeal of the Missouri line, which was a restriction on popular sovereignty, anew consecrated the great doctrine of self-government, and restored to the people their full control over every question of interest to themselves, both north and south of that line. Justice to. the country and the dictates of sound policy re- quire th^] ;he legislature should confine itself to such subjects as will preserve the basis of entire equality; and when a suf- ficient population is here, and they choose to adopt a state government, that they shall be " perfectly free," without let or hindrance, to form all their domestic institutions " in their own way," and to dictate that form of government which in their deliberate judgment may be deemed proper. Any attempt to incite servile insurrection and to interfere with the domestic institutions of sovereign states, is ex(^;-emely reprehensible, and shall receive no countenance from me. Such intervention can result in no good, but is pregnant with untold disasters. Murder, arson, rapine and death follow in its wake, while not one link in the fetters of the slave is weakened or broken, or any amelioration in his condition secured. Such interference is a direct invasion of state rights, only calculated to produce irritation and estrangement. Every dictate of self-respect — every consideration of state equality — the glories of the past and the hopes of the future — all, with soul-stirring eloquence, constrain us to cultivate a reverential awe for the constitution as the sheet-anchor of our safety, and bid us, in good faith, to carry out all its provi- sions. , Many of the statutes are excellent, and suited to our wants and condition, but in order that they may receive that respect GOVERNOR Geary's message. 317 and sanction wliicli is the vital principle of all law, let such be abolished as are not eminently just and will not receive the fullest approbation of the people. 1 trust you will test them all by the. light of the general and fundamental principles of our government, and that all that will not bear this ordeal, be revised, amended or repealed. To some of them which strike , my mind as objectionable, your candid and special attention is respectfully invited. By carefully comparing the Organic Act, as printed in the statutes, with a certified copy of the same from the depart- ment of state, important discrepancies, omissions and addi- ^ tions will be discovered. I therefore, recommend the appoint- ment of a committee, to compare the printed statutes with the original rolls, on file in the secretary's office, to ascertain whether the same liberty has been taken with the act under which they were made. Of the numerous errors discovered by me in the copy of the Organic Act as printed in the statutes, I will refer to one in illustration of my meaning. In the 29th section, defining the executive authority, will be found the following striking omission — " against the laws of said territory, and reprieves for offences.^' This omission impairs the executive authority, and deprives the governor of the pardoning power for ofi'ences committed " against the laws of the territory," which Con- gress, for the wisest and most humane reasons, has conferred upon him. The Organic Act requires every bill to be presented to the governor, and demands his signature, as the evidence of his approval, before it can become a law. The statutes are defec- tive in this respect, as they do not contain the date of ap- proval, nor the proper evidence of that fact, by having the governor's signature. Your attention is invited to chapter 30, in relation to county boundaries. The boundary of Douglas county is im- perfect, and in connection with Shawnee county, is an absur- dity for both counties. The boundary lines of all the counties should be absolutely established. Chapter 44, establishing the probate court, also requires attention. The act is good generally, so far as it relates to the organization and duties of the court. But all provisions in this and other acts vesting the appointment of probate judges, county commissioners, and other public officers, in the Legislative Assembly, should at once be repealed, and the un 27* 318 HISTORY OP KANSAS. qualified right of election conferred upon the people, whose interests are immediately affected by the acts of those officials. The free and unrestricted right of the people to select all theii own agents, is a maxim so well settled in political ethics, and springs so legitimately from the doctrines of self-government, that 1 need only allude to the question to satisfy every one of its justice. The "people must be perfectly free" to regulate their own business in their own way; and when the voice of the majority is fairly expressed, all will bow to it as the voice of God. Let the people, then, rule in everything. I have every confidence in the virtue, intelligence, and " sober thought" of the toiling millions. The deliberate popular judgment is never wrong. When, in times of excitement, the popular mind may be temporarily obscured from the dearth of correct information or the mists of passion, the day of retribution and justice speedily follows, and a summary reversal is the certain result. Just and patriotic sentiment is a sure reliance for every honest public servant. The sovereignty of the people must be maintained. Section 15th of this act allows writs of habeas corpus to be issued by the probate judge, but leaves him no authority to hear the case and grant justice; but refers the matter to the *' next term of the district court." The several terms of the district court are at stated periods, and the provision alluded to amounts to a denial of justice and a virtual suspension of *' the great writ of liberty,'' contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the United States. Many provisions of chapter 66, entitled " elections," are objectionable. Section 11th, requiring certain "test oaths" as pre-requisites to the right of suffrage, is wrong, unfair, and unequal upon citizens of different sections of the Union. It is exceedingly invidious to require obedience to any special enactment. The peculiar features of these test oaths should be abolished, and all citizens presumed to be law-abiding and patriotic until the contrary clearly appears. Sworn obedience to particular statutes has seldom secured that object. Justice will ever commend itself to the support of all honest men, and the surest means of insuring the ready execution of law, is to make it so pre-eminently just, equal and impartial as to com- mand the respect of those whom it is intended to affect. Section 36th deprives electors of the great safeguard of the purity and independence of the elective franchise : I mean the right to vote by ballot ; and after the first day of Novem- GOVERNOR. Geary's message. 819 ber, 1856, requires all voting to be viva voce. This provision taken in connection with section 9th, which provides that ''if all the votes offered cannot be taken before the hour appointed for closing the polls, the judges shall, by public, proclamation, adjourn such election until the following day, when the polls shall ag,ain be opened, and the election conti-nued as before,'' &c., offers great room for fraud and corruption. Voting viva voce, the condition of the poll can be ascertained at any mo- ment. If the parties having the election officers are likely to be defeated,' they have the option of adjourning for the pur- pose of drumming up votes ; or in the insane desire for vic- tory, may be tempted to resort to other means even more reprehensible. The right of voting by ballot is now in- corporated into the constitutions of nearly all the states, and is classed with the privileges deemed sacred. The arguments in its favor are so numerous and overwhelming that I have no hesitation in recommending its adoption. The election law should be carefully examined, and such guards thrown around it as will most effectually secure the sanctity of the ballot- box and preserve it from the taint of a single illegal vote. The man who will deliberately tamper with the elective fran- chise and dare to offer an illegal vote, strikes at the foundation of justice, undermines the pillars of society, applies the torch to the temple of our liberties, and should receive severe pun- ishment. As a qualification for voting, a definite period of actual inhabitancy in the territory, to the exclusion of a home elsewhere^ should be rigidly prescribed. No man should be permitted to vote upon a floating residence. He should have resided within the territory for a period of not less than ninety days, and in the district where he offers to vote, at least ten days immediately preceding such election. All the voters should be registered and published for a certain time previous to the election. False voting should be severely punished, and false swearing to receive a Vote visited with the pains and penalties of perjury. In this connection your attention is also invited to chapter 92, entitled "jurors." This chapter leaves the selection of jurors to the absolute discretion of the marshal, sheriff, or constable, as the case may be, and affords great room for par- tiality and corruption. The names of all properly qualified citizens, without party distinction, should be thrown into a wheel or box, and at stated periods, under the order of the courts^ jurors should be publicly drawn by responsible persons. 320 HISTORY OF KANSAS. Too many safeguards cannot be thrown around the right of trial by jury, in order that it may still continue to occupy that cherished place in the affections of the people so essential to its preservation and sanctity. Some portions of chapter 110, ^^ militia," infringes the ex- ecutive prerogative, impairs the governor's usefulness, and clearly conflicts with the organic act. This act requires the executive to reside in the territory, and makes him " com- mander-in-chief of the militia." This power must be vested Bome place, and is always conferred upon the chief magistrate. Section 26 virtually confers this almost -sovereign prerogative ^' upon any commissioned officer," and permits him, ''whenever and as often as any invasion or danger may come to his knowl- edge, to order out the militia or volunteer corps, or any part thereof, under his command, for the defence of the territory," &c. ; thus almost giving " any commissioned officer" whatever, at his option, the power to involve the territory in war. Section 12th provides for a general militia training on the first Monday of October, the day fixed for the general election. This is wrono;, and is well calculated to incite to terrorism. The silent ballots of the people, unawed by military display, should quietly and definitely determine all questions of public interest. The other sections of the law, requiring the appointment of field and commissioned officers, should be repealed. All officers should derive their authority directly from their re- spective commands, by election. To make the military system complete and effective, there must be entire subordination and unity running from the commander-in-chief to the humblest soldier, and one spirit must animate the entire system. The 122d chapter, in relation to '' patrols," is unnecessary. It renders all other property liable to heavy taxation for the protection of slave property ; thus operating unequally upon citizens, and is liable to the odious charge of being a system of espionage, as it authorizes the patrols, an indefinite number of whom may be appointed, to visit not only negro quarters, but " any other places" suspected of unlawful assemblages of slaves. Chapter 131, '^ pre-emption," squanders the school fund, by appropriating the school sections contrary to the organic act, which provides " that sections numbered sixteen and thirty- six, in each township in Kansas Territory, shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of being applied to schools in GOVERNOR Geary's message. 321 said territory, and in the states and territories to be erected out of the same ;" contravenes the United States pre-emption kws, which forbid trafficking in claims, and holding more than one claim ; and directs the governor to grant patents for lands be- longing to the United States, and only conditionally granted to the territory. This act is directly calculated to destroy the effect of a munificent grant of land by Congress for educa- tional purposes. The territory is the trustee of this valuable gift, and posterity has a right to demand of us that this sacred trust shall remain unimpaired, in order that the blessings of free education may be shed upon our children. Every state should have the best educational system which an intelligent government can provide. The physical, moral and mental faculties should be cultivated in harmonious unison, and that system of education is the best which will effect these objects. Congress has already provided for the support of common schools. In addition to this, I would recommend the Legislature to ask Congress to donate land lying in this terri- tory for the establishment of a tftiiversity, embracing a normal, agricultural and mechanical school. A university, thus en- dowed, would be a blessing to our people; disseminate useful and scientific intelligence; provide competent teachers for our primary schools j^ and furnish a complete system of education adequate to our wants in all the departments of life. The subject of roads, bridges and highways, merits your especial attention. Nothing adds more to comfort, conve- nience, prosperity and happiness, and more greatly promotes social intercourse and kind feeling, than easy and convenient inter-communication. Roads should be wide and straight, and the various rivers and ravines substantially bridged. Railroads should be encouraged; and in granting charters, the Legislature should have in view the interests of the whole people. — The prosperity of the territory is intimately connected with the early and general construction of the rapid and satis- factory means of transit. While on the subject of internal improvement, I would call to your notice and solicit for it your serious consideration, the opening, at the earliest period, of a more easy means of com- munication with the sea-board than any we at present enjoy. One great obstacle to our prosperity is the immense distance we occupy from all the great maritime depots of the country by any of the routes now travelled. This can be removed by the construction of a railway, commencing at an appropriate 322 HISTORY OF KANSAS. place in this territory, and running southwardly through the Indian Territory and Texas, to the most eligible point on the Gulf of Mexico. The entire length of such a road would not exceed six hundred miles, much less than half the dis- tance to the Atlantic, and at an ordinary speed of railroad travel could be traversed in less than twenty-four hours. It would pass through a country remarkable for beauty of scenery, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate, and which has pro- perly been styled "the Eden of the world;" and would open up new sources of wealth superior to any that have yet been discovered on the eastern division of the continent. It would place Kansas, isolated as she now is, in as favorable a position for commercial enterprises as very many of ^the most populous states in the Union, and furnish her a sure, easy, and profit- able market for her products, as well as a safe, expeditious and economical means of obtaining all her needed supplies at every season of the year. You will not fail at once to perceive the importance of this suggestion. Not only Kansas and Ne- braska, but the entire country-west of the Mississippi, will be vastly benefited by its adoption. The advantages to Texas would be incalculable. And should you be favorably impressed with the feasibility of the plan, I would advise that you com- municate, in your legislative capacity, with the legislature of that state, and that also of the territory of Nebraska, in re- gard to the most efi'ectual measures for its speedy accomplish- jnent. Chapter 149, permitting settlers to hold three hundred and twenty acres of land, is in violation of the pre-emption laws, and leads to contention and litic;ation. Chapter 151, relating to " slaves," attacks the equality which underlies the theory of our territorial government; and destroys the freedom of speech, and the privileges of public discussion, so essential to uncloak error, and enable the people properly to mould their institutions in their own way. The freedom of speech and the press, and the right of public dis- cussion upon all matters affecting the interests of the people, are the great constitutional safeguards of popular rights, liberty and happiness. The act in relation to a territorial library, makes the auditor ex-officio librarian, and gives him authority to audit his own accounts. These offices should be distinct, as their duties conflict. The congressional appropriation for a territorial library has aOYERNOR GEARY^S MESSAGE. 323 been expended in tlie purchase of a very valuable collectio» of books. Time and space will not permit- ne to point out all tbe in consistencies and incongruities found in the Kansas statutes. Passed, as they were, under the influence of excitement, and in too brief a period to secure mature deliberation, many of them are open to criticism and censure, and should pass under your careful revision, with a view to modification or repeal. Some which have been most loudly complained of have never been enforced. It is a bad principle to suffer dead-letter laws to deface the statute-book. It impairs salutary reverence for law, and excites in the popular mind a questioning of all law, which leads to anarchy and confusion. The best way is to leav^ no law on the statute-book which is not uniformly and promptly to be administered with the authority and power of the government. In travelling through the territory, I have discovered great anxiet}'- in relation to the damages sustained during the past civil disturbances, and everywhere the question has been asked as to whom they should look for indemnity. These injuries, — burning houses, plundering fields, and stealing horses and other property, have been a fruitful source of irritation and trouble, and have impoverished many good citizens. They cannot be considered as springing from purely local causes, and as such, the subjects of territorial redress. Their exciting cause has been outside of this territory, and the agents in their perpetration have been the citizens of nearly every state in the Union. It has been a species of national warfare waged upon the soil of Kansas : and it should not be forgotten that both parties were composed of men rushing here from various sections of the Union; that both committed acts which no law can justify; and the peaceable citizens of Kansas have been the victims. In adjusting the question of damages, it appears proper that a broad and comprehensive view of the subject should be taken; and I have accordingly suggested to the general government the propriety of recommending to Con- gress the passage of an act providing for the appointment of a commissioner, to take testimony and report to Congress for final action, at as early a day as possible. There is not a single officer in the territory amenable to the people or to the governor; all having been appointed by the Legislature, and holding their offices until 1857. This system 324 HISTORY OP KANSAS. of depriving the people of the just exercise of their rights, cannot be too strongly condemned. A faithful performancgiof duty should be exacted from all public officers. ^ As the executive, I desire that the most cordial relations may exist between myself and all other departments of the government. Homesteads should be held sacred. Nothing so much strengthens a government as giving its citizens a solid stake in the country. I am in favor of assuring to every industrious citizen one hundred and sixty acres of land. The money appropriated by Congress for the erection of our capitol has been nearly expended. I have asked for an addi- tional appropriation of fifty thousand dollars, which will scarcely be sufficient to complete the building upon the plan adopted by the architect. Where crime has been so abundant, the necessity for a ter- ritorial penitentiary is too evident to require elaboration, and I have therefore suggested a congressional appropriation for this purpose. The Kansas River, the natural channel to the west; which runs through a valley of unparalleled fertility, can be made navigable as far as Fort Riley, a distance of over one hundred miles, and Congress should be petitioned for aid to accomplish this laudable purpose. Fort Riley has been built, at an ex- pense exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, with the ex- pectation that the river was navigable to that place, and doubt- less the general government will readily unite with this terri- tory to secure this object. A geological survey, developing the great mineral resources of this territory, is so necessary as merely to require notice. Provision for this useful work should immediately be made. The early disposal of the public lands and their settlement, wil- materially advance our substantial prosperity. Great anx- iety prevails among the settlers to secure titles to their lands. The facilities for this purpose, by but one land-office in the territory, are inadequate to the public wants, and I have con- sequently recommended the establishment of two or more additional land-offices, in such positions as will best accommo- date the people. After mature consideration, and from a thorough conviction «f its propriety, I have suggested large congressional appropri- ations. The coming immigration, attracted by our unrivalled GOVERNOR Geary's message. 825 Boil and climate, will speedily furnish tlie requisite population to make a sovereign state. Other territories have been for years the recipients of congressional bounty, and a similar amount of money and land bestowed upon them during a long period, should at once be given to Kansas, as, like the Eureka state, she will spring into full life, and the prosperity of the territory, and the welfare and protection of the people coming here from every state of the Union, to test anew the experiment of republican government, require ample and mu» nificent appropriations. As citizens of a territory, we are peculiarly and immedi- ately under the protecting influence of the Union, and, like the inhabitants of the states comprising it, feel a lively inter- est in all that concerns its welfare and prosperity. Within the last few years sundry conflicting questions have been agi- tated throughout the country, and discussed in a spirit calcu- lated to impair confidence in its strength and perpetuity, and furnish abundant cause for apprehension and alarm. These questions have mostly been of a local or sectional character, and as such should never have acquired general significance or importance. All American citizens should divest them- selves of selfish considerations in relation to public affairs, and in the spirit of patriotism make dispassionate inquisition into the causes which have produced much alienation and bitter- ness among men whom the highest considerations require should be united in the bonds of fraternal fellowship. All Union-loving men should unite upon a platform of reason, equality and patriotism. All sectionalism should be annihi- lated. All sections of the Union should be harmonized under a national, conservative government, as during the early days of the republic. The value of the Union is beyond computa- tion, and no respect is due to those who will even dare to cal- culate its value. One of our ablest statesmen has wisely and eloquently said, " Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glo- rious Union ? No treason to mankind since the ore-anization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to" destroy it. Pie would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his fel- low man. He would stop the progress of free government, and involve his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty which warms and animates the 28 826 HISTORY OF KANSAS. hearts of liappy millions, and invites all tlie^ nations of the earth to imitate our example." That soldier-president, whose exploits in the field were only equalled by his wisdom in the cabinet, with that singular sa- gacity which has stamped with the seal of prophecy all his foreshadowings, has repudiated, as morbid and unwise, that philanthropy which looks to the amalgaoiation of the American with any inferior race. The white man, with his intellectual energy, far-reaching science, and indomitable perseverance, is the pecular object of my s^^mpathy, and should receive the especial protection and support of government. In this tei*- ritory there are numerous " Indian reserves," of magnificent extent and choice fertility, capable of sustaining a dense civil- ized population, now held unimproved by numerous Indian tribes. These tribes are governed by Indian agents, entirely independent of the executive of this territory, and are, indeed, governments within a government. Frequent aggression upon these reserves are occurring, which have produced collisions between the Indian agents and the settlers, who appeal to me for protection. Seeing so much land unoccupied and unim- proved, these enterprising pioneers naturally question the pol- icy which excludes them from soil devoted to no useful or legitimate purpose. Impressed with the conviction that the large Indian reserves, if permitted to remain in their present condition, cannot fail to exercise a blighting influence on the prosperity of Kansas, and result in great injury to the Indians themselves, I shall be pleased to unite with the legislature in any measures deemed advisable, looking to the speedy ex- tinguishment of the Indian title to all surplus land lying in this territory, so as to throw it open for settlement and im- provement. For official action, I know no better rule than a conscientious conviction of duty — none more variable than the vain attempt to conciliate temporary prejudice. Principles and justice are eternal, and if tampered with, sooner or later the sure and in- dignant verdict of popular condemnation against those who are untrue to their leadings, will be rendered. Let us not be false to our country, our duty, and our constituents. The tri- umph of truth and principle, not of partisan and selfish objects, should be our steady purpose — the general welfare, and not the interests of the few, our sole aim. Let the past, which few men can review with satisfaction, be forgotten. Let us not deal in criminations and recriminations ; but, as GOVERNOR Geary's message. 827 far as possible, let us make restitution and offer regrets for past excesses. The dead, whom the madness of partisan fury has consigned to premature graves, cannot be recalled to life ; the insults, the outrages, the robberies and murders, '^ enough to stir a fever in the blood of age," in this world of imperfec- tion and guilt, can never be fully atoned for or justly punished. The innocent blood, however, shall not cry in vain for redress, as we are promised by the great Executive of the Universe, whose power is almighty and whose knowledge is perfect, that he i' will repay/' " To fight in a just cause and for our country's glory, is the best office of the best of men." Let "justice be the laurel" which crowns your deliberations ; let your aims be purely pat- riotic, and your sole purpose the general welfare and the sub- stantial interests of the whole people. If we fix our steady gaze upon the Constitution -and the Organic Act as '' the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night," our footsteps will never wander into any unknown or forbidden paths. Then will this Legislative Assembly be as a beacon light, placed high in the pages of our history, shedding its luminous and benign influence to the most remote generations ; its members will be remembered with veneration and respect as among the early fathers of the magnificent commonwealth, which, in the not dis- tant future, will overshadow with its protection, a population of freemen unsurpassed by any state in this beloved Union for intelligence, wealth, religion, and all the elements which make and insure the true greatness of a nation ; the present citizens of Kansas will rejoice in the benefits conferred ; the mourning and gloom, which too long, like a pall, have covered the people, will be dispersed by the sunshine of joy with which they will hail the advent of peace fou:^ded upon justice; we will enter upon a career of unprecedented prosperity; good feeling and confidence will prevail ; the just rule of action which you are about to establish, will be recognised ; the entire country, now watching your deliberations with momentous interest, will award you their enthusiastic applause; and above and over all, you will have the sanction of your own consciences, enjoy self-respect, and meet with divine approbation, without which all human praise is worthless and unavailing. * Jno. W. Geary. Lecompton, K. T., Jan. 12^ 1857. S28 HISTORY OF KANSAS INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ROBERT J. WALKER, GOVERNOR OF KANSAS TERRITORY. Delivered in Lecompton, Komsas Territory, May 27, 1857. Fellow-citizens of Kansas : — At the earnest request of tlie President of the United States, I have accepted the posi- tion of governor of the territory of Kansas. The president, with the cordial concurrence of all his cabinet, expressed to me the conviction that the condition of Kansas was fraught with imminent peril to the Union, and asked me to iindertake the settlement of that momentous question, which has intro- duced discord and civil war throughout your borders, and threatens to involve you and our country in the same common ruin. This was a duty thus presented, the performance of which I could not decline consistently with my view of tbe sacred obligation which every citizen owes to his country. The mode of adjustment is provided in the act organizing your territory — namely, by the people of Kansas, wh^, by a majority of their own votes, must decide this questi'^n for themselves in forming their state constitution. Under our practice the preliminary act of framing «v state constitution is uniformly performed through the instrun^ental- ity of a convention of delegates chosen by the people them- Belves. That convention is now about to be elected )»y you ander the call of the territorial legislature, created and still recognised by the authority of Congress, and clothed by it, in the comprehensive language of the Organic Law, witn full power to make such an enactment. The territorial legislature, then, in assembling this convention, were fully sustained by the act of Congress, and the authority of the convention is distinctly recognised in my instructions from the President of the United States. Those who oppose this course cannot aver the alleged irregularity of the territorial legislature, whose laws in town and city elections, in corporate franchises and on all other subjects but slavery, they acknowledge by their votes and acquiescence. If that legislature was invalid, then are we without law or order in Kansas, without town, cit-y, or county organization; all legal and 'judicial transactioiiis aie GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 329 void, all titles null, and anarchy reigns througliout our bor- ders It is my duty, in seeing tliat all constitutional laws are fairly executed, to take care, as far as practicable, tbat this elec- tion of delegates to the convention shall be free from fraud or violence, and that they shall be protected in their delibe- rations. The people of Kansas, then, are invited by the highest au- thority known to the constitution to participate freely and fairly in the election of delegates to franie a constitution and state government. The law has performed its entire appropri- ate function when it extends to the people the right of suf- frage, but it cannot compel the performance of that duty. Throughout our whole union, however, and wherever free government prevails, those who abstain from the exercise of the rio-ht of suifrao-e authorize those who do vote to act for them in that contingency, and the absentees are as much bound under the law and constitution, where there is no fraud or violence, by the act of the majority of those who do vote, as althou^ all had participated in the election. Otherwise, as voting must be voluntary, self-government would be im- practicable, and monarchy or despotism would remain as the only alternative. You should not console yourselves, my fellow-citizens, with the reflection that you may, by a subsequent vote, defeat the ratification of the constitution. Although most anxious to secure to you the exercise of that great constitutional right, and believing that the convention is the servant, and not the master of the people, yet I have no power to dictate the pro- ceedings of that body. I cannot doubt, however, the course thev will adopt on this subject. But why incur the hazard ofthe preliminary formation of a constitution by a minority, as alleged by you, when a majority, by their own votes, could control the forming: of that instrument ? But it is said that the convention is not legally called, and that the election will not be freely and fairly conducted. The territorial legislature is the power ordained for this purpose by the Congress of the United States ; and in opposing it you resist the authority of the federal government. That legisla- ture was called into being by the Congress of 1854, and is recognised in the very latest congressional legislation. It is recognised by the present Chief Magistrate of the Union, just chosen by the American people, and many of its a.ets are now 28* 330 HISTORY OF KANSAS. in operation here by universal assent. As the governor of the territory of Kansas, I must support the laws and the consti- tution ; and I have no other alternative under my oath but to see- that all constitutional laws are fully and fairly executed. I see in this act, calling the convention, no improper or un. constitutional restrictions upon the right of suffrage. I see in it no test-oath or other similar provisions objected to in re- lation to previous laws, but clearly repealed as repugnant tq the provisions of this act, so far as regards the election of delesrates to this convention. It is said that a fair and full vote will not be taken. Who can safely predict such a result? Nor is it just for a majority, as they allege, to throw the power into the hands of a minority, from a mere apprehension — I trust entirely unfounded — that they will not be permitted to exercise the right of suffrage. If, by fraud or violence, a majority should not be permitted to vote, there is a remedy, it is hoped, in the wisdom and justice of the convention itself, acting under the obligations of an oath, and a proper respon- sibility to the tribunal of public opinion. There is a remedy, also, if such facts can be demonstrated, in the refusal of Con- gress to admit a state into the Union under a constitution im- posed by a minority upon a majority by fraud or violence. Indeed, I cannot doubt that the convention, after having framed a state constitution, will submit it for ratification or rejection, by a majority of the then actual hona fide resident settlers of Kansas. With these views, well known to the president and cabinet, and approved by them, I accepted the appointment of gover- nor of Kansas. My instructions from the president, through the secretary of state, under date of the 30th of March last, sustain ^^ the regular legislature of the territory'' in ^^ assem- lllng a convention to form a constitution f' and they express the opinion of the president that '^ when such a constitution shall he suhmitted to the people of the territory, they must he protected in the exercise of their right of voting /or or against that instrument; and the fair expression of tKe popidar will must not he interrupted hy fraud or violence.'' I repeat, then, as my clear conviction, that unless the con- vention submit the constitution to the vote of all the actual resident settlers of Kansas, and the election be fairly and justly conducted, the constitution will be, and ought to be, rejected by Congress. There are other important reasons why you sho''^ .14 - GOVERNOR WALKER^S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 831 pwTH- in the election of delegates to tins convention. Karisas is K) become a new state, created out of the public domain, and will designate her boundaries in the fundamental law. To most of the land within her limits the Indian title, unfortu- nately, is not yet extinguished, and this land is exempt from settlement, to the grievous injury of the people of the state. Having passed many years of my life in a new state, and re- presented it for a long period in the Senate of the United States, I know the serious encumbrance arising from large bodies of lands within a state to which the Indian title is not extinguished. Upon this subject the convention may act by such just and constitutional provisions as will accelerate the extinguishment of Indian title. There is, furthermore, the question of railroad grants made by Congress to all the new states but one (where the routes could not be agreed upon), and, within a few months past, to the flourishing territory of Minnesota. This munificent grant of four 'millions and a half of acres was made to Min- nesota, even in advance of her becoming a state, under the auspices of her present distinguished executive, and will en- able our sister state of the northwest speedily to unite her railroad system with ours. Kansas is undoubtedly entitled to grants similar to those ju.-st made to Minnesota, and upon this question the conven- tion may take important action. These, recollect, are grants by Congress, not to companies, but to states. Now, if Kansas^ like the state of Illinois, in granting hereafter these lands to companies to build these roads, should reserve, at least, the seven per cent, of their" gross annual receipts, it is quite certain that so soon as these roads are constructed, such will be the large payments into the treasury of our state that there will be no necessity to impose in Kansas any state tax whatever, especially if the constitu- tion should contain wise provisions against the creation of state debts. The grant to the state of Illinois for the Illinois Central Railroad, passed under the wise and patriotic auspices of her distinguished senator, was made before the pernicious system lately exposed in Washington had invaded the halls of Con- gress ; and, therefore, that state, unlike most others which obtained recent grants, was enabled to make this great reser- vation for the benefit of the state. This constitutes of itself a conclusive reason why these railroad grants should be re- 332 HISTORY OF KANSAS. served in tlie ordinance accompanying our state ec Lstitution, so that our state might have the whole benefit of the grant, in- stead of large portions being given to agents appointed to obtain these grants by companies substantially in many cases for their own benefit, althouoh in the name of the state. There is another re^ison why these railroad grants should thus be reserved in our ordinance. It is to secure these lands to the state before large bodies of them are engrossed by speculators, especially along the contemplated lines of railroads. In no case should these re- servations interfere with the pre-emption rights reserved to settlers, or with school-sections. These grants to states, as is proved by the official docu- ments, have greatly augmented the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, increasing their value, accelerating their sale and settlement, and bringing enhanced prices to the govern- ment, whilst greatly benefiting the lands of the settler by fur- nishing him new markets and diminished cost of transporta- tion. On this subject, Mr. Buchanan, always the friend of the new states, in his recent inaugural, uses the following lanfruage.: — "No nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with so rich and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. In administering this important trust, whilst it may be wise to grant portions of them for the improvement of the re- mainder, yet we should never forget that it is our cardinal policy to reserve the lands as much as may be for actual settlers; and this at moderate prices. We shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new states, by furnishing them a hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and our children's children, as well as those exiled from foreign shores, who may seek in this country to improve their condition and enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty.'' Our American railroads, now exceeding twenty-four thou- sand miles completed, have greatly advanced the power, pros- perity, and progress of the country, whilst linking it together in bonds of ever-increasing commerce and intercourse, and tending, by these results, to soften or extinguish sectional pas- sions and prejudice, and thus perpetuate the union of the states. This system it is clearly the interest of the whole country shall progress until the states west of the Mississippi shall bo intersected; like those east of that river^ by a nctwi^rk of rail- GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 333 roads, until the whole, at various points, shall reach the shores of the Pacific. The policy of such grants by Congress is now clearly established ; and whatever doubts may have prevailed in the minds of a few persons as to the constitutionality of such grants, when based only upon the transfer of a portion of the public domain, in the language of the inaugural of the presi- dent, ^'■for the improvement of the remainder," yet when tl^ey are made, as now proposed in the ordinance accompanying our constitution, in consideration of our relinquishing the right to tax the public lands, such grants become, in fact, sales for ample equivalents, and their constitutionality is placed beyond all doubt or controversy. For this reason, als(^ and in order that these grants maybe made for ample equivalents, and upon grounds of clear, constitutional authority, it is most wise that they should be included in our ordinance, and take effect by compact when the stcxte is admitted into the Union. If my will could have prevailed as regards tlie public lands, as indi- cated in my public career, and especially in the bill presented bv me, as chairman of the committee on public lands, to the Senate of the United States, which passed that body, but failed in the House, I would authorize no sales of these lands except for settlement and cultivation, reserving not merely a pre-emp- tion, but a homestead of a quarter-section of land in favor of every actual settler, whether coming from other states or emi- grating from Europe. Great and populous states would thus rapidly be added to the confederacy, until we should soon have one unbroken line of states from the Atlantic to the Pacific, giving immense additional power and security to the Union, and facilitating intercourse between all its parts. This would be alike beneficial to the old and to the new states. To the working men of the old states, as well as of the new, it would be of incalculable advantage, not merely by affording them a home in the west, but by maintaining the wages of labor, by enabling the working classes to emigrate and become cultiva- tors of the soil, when the rewards of daily toil should sink below a fair remuneration. Every new state, besides, adds to the customers of the old states, consuming their manufactures, employing their merchants, giving business to their vessels and canals, their railroads and cities, and a powerful impulse to their industry and prosperity. Indeed, it is the growth of the mighty west which has added, more than all other causes combined, to the power and prosperity of the whole country, whilst at the same time, through the channels of business and commerce, it has 834 HISTORY OF KANSAS. been building up immense cities in the easl^rn, Atlantic, and middle states, and replenishing the federal treasury with large payments from the settlers upon the public lands, rendered of real value only by their labor; and thus, from increased exports, bringing back augmented imports, and soon largely increasing the revenue of the government from that source also. Without asking anything new from Congress, if Kansas can receive, on coming into the Union, all the usual grants, and use them judiciously, she can not only speedily cover herself with a network of railroads, but, by devoting all the rest to purposes of education, she would soon have a complete system of common scKbols, with normal schools, free academies, and a great university, in all of which tuition should be free to all our people. In that university the mechanic arts, with model workshops, and all the sciences should be taught, and espe- cially agriculture in connexion with a model farm. Although you ask nothing more in your ordinance than has been already granted to the other new states, yet in view of the sacrifice of life and property incurred by the people of Kansas, in establishing here the great principles of state and. popular sovereignty, and thus perpetuating the Union, Con- gress, doubtless, will regard with indulgent favor the new state of Kansas, and will welcome her into the Union with joyful congratulations and a most liberal policy as to the public do- main. The full benefit of that great measure, the graduation and reduction of the price of the public lands in favor only of set- tlers and cultivators, so often urged by me in the Senate and in the Treasury Department, and finally adopted by Congress, should also be secured in our ordinance. Having witnessed in new states the deep injury inflicted upon them by large bodies of their most fertile land being monopolized by speculators, I stiggest, in accordance with the public policy ever advocated by me, that our entire land tax, under the constitution, for the next twenty years should be confined exclusively to unoc- cupied land — whether owned by residents or non-residents — as one of the best means of guarding against a monopoly of our choice lands by speculators. I desire, in fact, to see our convention exercise the whole constitutional power of a state, to guard our rights and interests, and especially to protect the settlers and cultivators against the monopoly of our public do- main by speculators. As regards the school lands of the now states, the following GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 835 views will be found in my reports of tlie 8tli of December, 1847, and 9th of December, 1848, as Secretary of the Treasury of the United States : "The recommendation contained in my last report for the establishment of ports of enfty in Oregon, and the extension there of our revenue Jaws, is again respectfully presented to the consideration of Cono-ress, tosfether with donations of farms to settlers and emigrants, and the grant of a school section m the centre of every quarter of a township, which would bring the school-house within a point not exceeding a mile and a half in distance from the most remote inhabitants of such quar- ter township.'^ And again : '' My last report recommended the grant of one section of jLand for schools in every quarter township in Oregon. * * * * * * Congress, to some extent, adopted this recom- mendation by granting two school sections in each township, instead of one, for education in Oregon ; but it is respectfully suggested that even thus extended the grant is still inadequate in amount, whilst the location is inconvenient, and too remote for a school which all can attend. The subject is again pre- sented to the attention of Congress, with the recommendation that it shall be extended to California arfd New Mexico, and also to all the other new states and territories containing the public domain." . Acting upon the first of these recommendations, but not carrying them fully into effect, Congress doubled the school- section grants — an advance upon the former system. But, in my judgment, the benefits intended will never be fully realized until four school sections, instead of two, are granted in every township, locating the school section in the centre of every quarter township ; thus, by only doubling the school sections, causing every section of the public domain in the new states to adjoin a school section, which would add immensely to the value of the public lands, whilst at the same time, affording an a*dfiquate fund not only for the establishment of common schools in' every township, but of high schools, normal schools, and free academies, which, together with the five-per-cent. fund and university grant before referred to, would place Kansas in a few years, in point of science and education, in the front rank of the states of the American Union and of the world. This is a subject always regarded by me with intense interest, inasmuch as my highest hope of the perpetuity of our Union, 836 HISTORY or KANSx\S. and of tlie continued success of self-government, is based upon the progressive education and enlightenment of the people, enabling them fully to comprehend their own true interestAS, the incalculable advantages of our Union, the exemption from the power of demagogues, the control of sectional passions and prejudice, the progress of the arts and sciences, and the accu- mulation of knowledge, which is every day more and more becoming real power, and which will advance so much the great interests of our whole country. These noble grants for schools and education in some of the new states have not produced all the advantages designed, for want of adequate checks and guards against improvident legis- lation ; but I trust that the convention,, by a d'istinct consti- tutional provision, will surround these lands with such guaran- tees, legislative, executive, judicial, and popular, as to require the combined action of the whole under the authority of the legislature in the administration of a fund so sacred. It will be observed that these school sections and the five- per-cent. fund, or their equivalent, have always been made good to the new states by Congress, whether the lands were sold in trust, for Indians, or otherwise. Upon looking at the location of Kansas, equidistant from north to south, and from the Atlantic to the I'acific, I find, that, within reasonable boundaries, she would be the central state of the American Union. On the north lies the Ne- braska territory, soon to become a state; on the south the great and fertile Southwestern Indian Territory, soon, I hope, to become a state also. To the boundary of Kansas run nearly all the railroads of Missouri, whilst westward, north- ward, and southward, these routes continued through Kansas would connect her directly with Puget Sound, the mouth of the Oregon river, and San Francisco. The southern boundary of Kansas is but five hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and the same railroad through the great Southwestern Indian Territory and Texas would connect her with New Orleans, with Galveston, with all the roads of Arkansas, and through Texas to San Francisco, and other points upon the Pacific; northward and eastward our lines would connect with the roads of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, and the lakes of the north. It is the people of Kansas who, in forming their state con- stitution, are to declare the terms on which they propose to enter the Union. Congress cannot compel the people of a GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 337 territory to enter tlie Union as a state, or change, without their consent, the constitution framed by the people. Con- gress, it is true, may for constitutional reasons refuse admission, but the state alone, in forming her constitution, can prescribe the terms on which she will enter the Union. This power of the people of a territory in forming a state constitution is one of vital importance, especially in the states carved out of the public domain. Nearly all the lands of Kansas are public lauds, and most of them are occupied by Indian tribes. These lands are the property of the federal government, but their right is exclusively that of a proprietor, carrying with it no political power. Althoucfh the states cannot tax the constitutional functions of the federal government, they may assess its real estate within the limits of the state. Thus, although a state cannot tax the federal mint or custom-houses, yet it may tax the ground on which they stand, unless exempted by state autho- rity. Such is the well-settled doctrine of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1838 Judge McLean, of the Su- preme Court of the United States, made the following deci- sion : — " It is true the United States held the proprietary right under the act of cession, and also the right of sovereignty until the state government was established; but the mere pro- prietary right, if' it exist, gives no right of sovereignty. The United Stiites may own land within a state, but political juris- diction does not follow this ownership. Where jurisdiction is necessary, as for forts and arsenals, a cession of it is obtained from the state. Even the lands of the United States within the state are exempted from taxation by compact." By the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, so justly favorable to the rights and interest of the new states, especially those formed out of the territory acquired, like Kansas, since the adoption of the constitution, it is clear that the ownership of the public lands of such territory is vievred by the court exclusively as a proprietary right, carry- ing with it no political power or right of eminent domain, and affecting in no way the exercise of any of the sovereign attri- butes of state authority. When Kansas becomes a state, with all the attributes of state sovereignty coextensive with her limits, among these must be the taxing power, which is an inherent element of state authority. I do not di-spute the title of the government to the public lands of Kansas, but I 29 . W 338 HISTORY OF KANS..S. do say that tliiB right is that of an owner only, and that, when Kansas becomes a state, the public lands are subj ect to taxation by state authority, like those of any individual proprietor, unless that power is relinquished by the state in the ordinance, as- suming the form of a compact, by which the state is admitted into the Union. This relinquishment of the taxing power as to the public lands, so important to the general government, and which has heretofore been exacted by Congress on their own terms from all the new states, is deeply injurious to the state, depriving her almost entirely of the principal recourse of a new state by taxation to support her government. Now that this question is conclusively settled by the Supreme Court of the United States, as a consequence of their recent decision, it is proper for the state, in making this relinquishment of the right to tax the public lands, to annex the conditions on which she consents to such exemption. This should be done in the constitution upon terms just to Kansas and to the federal government. * Should Kansas relinquish the right of taxing the public lands for equivalent, she should, in my judgment, although sustained by irresistible conclusions from the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and sound constitutional views of state rights, place the question in its strongest form, by asking nothing more than has been granted to the other new states, including the grants for education, railroads, &c. She will thus give the highest proof that she is not governed by sordid views, and that she means to exact nothing from Congress that is unjust or unusual. I cannot too earnestly impress upon you the necessity of removing the slavery agitation from the halls of Congress and presidential conflicts. It is conceded that Congress has no power to interfere with slavery in the states where it exists; and if it can now be established, as is clearly the doctrine of the constitution, that Congress has no authority to interfere with the people of a territory on this subject, in forming a state constitution, the question must be removed from con- gressional and presidential elections. This is the principle affirmed by Congress in the act organ- izing this territory, ratified by the people of the United States in the recent election, and maintained by the late decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. If this principle can be carried into successful operation in Kansas — that her GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 339 people shall determine what shall be her social institutions — the slavery question must be withdrawn from the halls of Congress, and from our presidential conflicts, and the safety of the Union be placed beyond ^1 peril; whereas, if the principle should be defeated here, the slavery agitation must be renewed in all elections throughout the country, with in- creasing bitterness, until it shall eventually overthrow the government. It is this agitation which, to European powers, presents the only hope of subverting our free institutions, and, as a conse- quence, destroying the principle of self-government through- out the world. It is this hope that has already inflicted deep injury upon our country, exciting monarchical or despotic interference with our domestic as well as foreign afi"airs, and inducing their interposition, not only in our elections, but in diplomatic intercourse, to arrest our progress, to limit our influence and power, depriving us of great advantages in peaceful territorial expansion, as well as in trade with the nations of the world. Indeed, when I reflect upon the hostile position of the European press during the recent election, and their exulting predictions of the dissolution of our Union as a consequence of the triumph of a sectional candidate, I cannot doubt that the peaceful and permanent establishment of these principles, now being subjected to their final test in Kansas, will terminate European opposition to all those measures, which must so much increase our commerce, furnish new markets for our products and fabrics, and by conservative, peaceful progress, carry our flag and the empire of our constitution into new and adjacent regions indispensable as a part of the Union to our welfare and security, adding cofiee, sugar, and other articles to our staple exports, whilst greatly reducing their price to the con- sumer. Nor is it only in our foreign intercourse that peace will be preserved and our prosperity advanced by the accepted fact of the permanence of our government, based upon the peaceful settlement of this qu'estion in Kansas, but at home the same sentiment will awaken renewed confidence in the stability of our institutions, give" a new impulse to all our industry, and carry us onward in a career of progress and prosperity exceed- ing even our most sanguine expectations; a new movement of ]jur()pean capital will flow in upon us for permanent invest- meut; and a new exodus of the European masses, aided by the 840 HISTORY OF KANSAS. » pre-emption principle, carry westward the advancing column of American states in one unbroken phalanx to the Pacific. And let me ask you, what possible good has been aocom plished by agitating in Congress and in presidential conflicts the slavery question? Has it emancipated a single slave, or improved their condition? Has it made a single state free where slavery otherwise would have existed? Has it accele- rated the disappearance of slavery from the more northern of the slaveholding states, or accomplished any practical good whatever? No, my fellow-citizens, nothing but unmiti- gated evil has already ensued, with disasters still more fearful impending for the future, as a consequence of this agitation. There is a law more powerful than the legislation of man — more potent than passion or prejudice — that must ultimately determine the location of slavery in this country; it is the isothermal line; it is the law of the thermometer, of latitude or altitude, regulating climate, labor, and productions, and, as a consequence, profit and loss. Thus, even upon the mountain heights of the tropics slavery can no more exist than in northern latitudes, because it is unprofitable, being unsuited to the constitution of that sable race transplanted here from the equatorial heats of Africa. Why is it that in the Union slavery recedes from the north, and progresses south ? It is this same great climatic law now operating for or against slavery in Kansas. If, on the elevated plains of Kansas, stretching to the base of our American Alps — the rocky mountains — and including their eastern crest crowned with perpetual snow, from which sweep over her open prairies those chilling blasts, reducing the average range of the thermometer here to a temperature nearly as low as that of New England, should render, slavery unprofitable here, because unsuited to the tropical constitution of the negro race, the law above re- ferred to must ultimately determine that question here, and can no more be controlled by the legislation, of man than any other moral or physical law of the Almighty. Especially must this law operate with irresistible force in this country, where the number of slaves is limited, and cannot be increased by importation, where many millions "^of acres of sugar and cotton lands are still uncultivated, and, from the ever-augment- ing demand, exceeding the supply, the price of those great staples has nearly doubled, demanding vastly more slave labor for their production. i If, from the operation of these causes, slavery should not GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 341 exist here, I trust it by no means follows that Kansas should become a state controlled by the treason and fanaticism of ab- lition. She has, in any event, certain constitutional duties to perform to her sister states, and especially to her immediate neighbor — the slaveholding state of Missouri. Through that great State, by rivers and railroads, must flow, to a great ex- tent, our trade and intercourse, our imports and exports. Our entire eastern front is upon her border ; from Missouri come a great number of her citizens; even the farms of the two states are cut up by the line of state boundary, part in Kansas, part in Missouri ; her citizens meet us in daily inter- course; and that Kansas should become hostile to Missouri, an asylum for her fugitive slaves, or a propagandist of abolition treason, would be alike inexpedient and unjust, and fatal to the continuance of the American Union. In any event, then, I trust that the constitution of Kansas will contain such clauses as will forever secure to tho state of Missouri the faithful per- formance of all constitutional guarantees, not only by federal, but by state authority, and the supremacy within our limits of the authority of the Supreme Court of the United States on all constitutional questions be firmly established. Upon the south Kansas is bounded by the great south- western Indian territory. This is one of the most salubrious and fertile portions of this continent. It is a great cotton growing region, admirably adapted by soil and climate for the products of the south, embracing the valleys of the Arkansas and lied rivers, adjoining Texas on the south and west, and Arkansas on the east, and it ought speedily to become a state of the American Union. The Indian treaties will constitute no obstacle any more than precisely similar treaties did in Kansas ; for their lands, valueless to them, now for sale, but which, sold with their consent and for their benefit, like the Indian land of Kansas, would make them a most wealthy and prosperous people; and their consent, on these terms, would be most cheerfully given. This territory contains double the area of the state of Indiana, and, if necessary, an adequate portion of the western and more elevated part could be set apart exclusively for these tribes, and the eastern and larger portion be formed into a state, and its lands sold for the benefit of these tribes (like the Indian lands of Kansas), thus greatly promoting all their interests. To the eastern boundary of this region on the state of Arkansas, run the railroads of that State; 4o her southern limits come the great railroads from 842 HISTORY OF KANSAS. Louisiana and Texas, from New Orleans and Galveston, wliich will ultimately be joined by railroads from Kansas, leading througb this Indian Territory, connecting Kansas with New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico, and with the Southern Pacific railroad, leading through Texas to San Fransisco. It is essential to the true interests not only of Kansas, but of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri, and the whole region west of the Mississippi, that this cotermin- ous south-western Indian territory should speedily become a state, not only to supply us with cotton, and receive our pro- ducts in return, but as occupying the area over which that portion of our railroads should run which connect us with New Orleans and Galveston, and by the southern route with the Pacific. From her central position, through or connected with Kansas, must run the central, northern, and southern routes to the Pacific ; and with the latter, as well as with the Gulf, the connection can only be secured by this south-western ter- ritory becoming a state, and to this Kansas should direct her earnest attention as essential to her prosperity. Our country and the world are regarding with profound in- terest the struggle now impending in Kansas. Whether we are competent to self-government — whether we can decide this controversy peacefully for ourselves by our own votes, without fraud or violence — whether the great principles of self-government and state sovereignty can be carried here into successful operation — are the questions now to be determined, and upon the plains of Kansas may now be fought the lasi great and decisive battle, involving the fate of the Union, of state sovereignty, of self-government, and the liberties of the world. If, my fellow-citizens, you could, even for a brief period, soften or extinguish sectional passions or prejudice, and lift yourselves to the full realization of the momentous issues intrusted to your decision, you would feel that no greater responsibility was ever devolved upon any people. It is not merely shall slavery exist in or disappear from Kansas ; but, shall the great principles of self-government and state sover- eignty be maintained or subverted. State sovereignty is mainly a practical principle, in so far as it is illustrated by the great sovereign right of the majority of the people, in forming a state government, to adopt their own social institutions ; and this principle is disregarded whenever such decision is sub- verted by Congress, or overthrown by external intrusion, or by domestic fraud or violence. All those who oppose this principle & GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 343 are the enemies of state rights, of self-government, of the constitution and the Union. Do you love slavery so much, or hate it so intensely, that you would endeavor to establish or exclude it by fraud or violence, against the will of the majority of the people ? What is Kansas, with or without sla- very, if she should destroy the rights and union of the states ? Where would be her schools, her free academies, her colleges and university, her towns and cities, her railroads, farms, and villages, without the Union, and the principles of self- government ? Where would be her peace and prosperity, and what the value of her lands and property ? Who can decide this question for Kansas, if not the people themselves ? And if they cannot, nothing but the sword can become the arbiter. On the one hand, if you can and will decide peacefully this question yourselves, I see for Kansas an immediate career of power, progress, and prosperity, unsurpassed iuj^he history of the world. I see the peaceful establishment of our state con- stitution, its ratification by the people, and our immediate ad- mission into the Union, the rapid extinguishment of Indian title, and the occupancy of those lands by settlers and culti- vators ; the diffusion of universal education ; pre-emptions for the actual settlers ; the state rapidly intersected by a network of railroads; our churches, schools, colleges, and university carrying westward the progress of law, religion, liberty, and civilization ; our towns, cities and villages prosperous and pro- gressing; our farms teeming with abundant products, and greatly appreciated in value; and peace, happiness and pros- perity smiling throughout our borders. With proper clauses in our constitution, and the peaceful arbitrament of this ques- tion, Kansas may become the model state of the American Union. She may bring down upon us from north to south, from east to west, the praises and blessing of every patriotic American, and of every friend of self-government throughout the world. She may record her name on the proudest page of the history of our country and of the world, and as the youngest and last-born child of the American Union, all will hail and regard her with respect and affection. On the other hand, if you cannot thus peacefully decide this question, fraud, violence, and injustice will reign supreme throughout our borders, and we will have achieved the undy- ing infamy of having destroyed the liberty of our country and of the world. We will become a byword of reproach and obloquy ; and all history will record the fact that Kansas wag 844 HISTORY OF KANSAS. the srrave of tbe American Union, Never was so momentous a question submitted to the decision of any people; and we cannot avoid the alternatives now placed before us of glory or of shame. May that overruling Providence who brought our forefathers in safety to Jamestown and Plymouth — who watched over our colonial pupilage — who convened our ancestors in harmonious councils on the birthday of American independency — who gave tis Washington, and carried us successfully through the strug- gles and perils of the revolution — who assembled, in 1787, that noble band of patriots and statesmen from north and south who framed the federal constitution — who has augmented our numbers from three millions to thirty millions, has car- ried us from the eastern slope of the Alleghanies through the great valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri, and now salutes our standard on the shores of the Pacific — rouse in our hearts a love of the whole Union, and a patriotic devotion to the whole country. May it extinguish or control all sectional passions and prejudice, and enable us to conduct to a success- ful conclusion the great experiment of self-government now being made within your boundaries. - Is it not infinitely better that slavery should be abolished or established in Kansas, rather than tliat we should become slaves and not permitted to govern ourselves ? Is the absence or existence of slavery in Kansas paramount to the great ques- tions of state sovereignty, of self-government, and of the Union ? Is the sable African alone entitled to your sympathy and con- sideration, even if he were happier as a freeman than as a slave, either here or in St. Domingo, or the British West In- dies or Spanish America, where the emancipated slave has receded to barbarism, and approaches the lowest point in the descending scale of moral, physical, and intellectual degradation ? Have our white brethren of the great American and Euro- pean race no claims upon our attention ? Have they no rights or interests entitled to regard and protection ? Shall the des- tiny of the African in Kansas exclude all considerations con- nected with our own happiness and prosperity ? And is it for the handful of that race now in Kansas, or that may be here- after introduced, that we should subvert the Union and the great principles of self-government and state sovereignty, and imbrue our hands in the blood of our countrymen ! Import- ant as this African question may be in Kansas, and which it is your solemn right to determine; it sinks into insignificance GOVERNOR walker's INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 845 compared with the perpetuity of the Union and the final suc- cessful establishment of the principles of state sovereignty and free government. If patriotism, if devotion to the constitu- tion and love of the Union, should not -induce the minority to yield to the majority on this question, let them reflect, that in no event can the minority successfully determine this question permanently, and that in no contingency will Congress admit Kansas as a slave or free state unless a majority of the people of Kansas shall first have fairly and freely decided this ques- tion for themselves by a direct vote on the adoption i0-- the constitution, excluding all fraud or violence. The minority, in resisting the will of the majority, may involve Kansas again in civil war ; they may bring upon her reproach and obloquy, and destroy her progress and prosperity ; they may keep her for years out of the Union, and, in the whirlwind of agitation, sweep away the government itself; but Kansas never can be brought into the Union with or without slavery except by a previous solemn decision, fully, freely, and fairly made by a majority of her people in voting for or against the adoption of her state constitution. Why, then, should this just, peace- ful, and constitutional mode of settlement meet with opposition from any quarter ? Is Kansas willing to destroy her own hopes of prosperity, merely that she may afford political capital to any party, and perpetuate the agitation of slavery throughout the Union ? Is she to become a mere theme for agitators in other states, the theatre on which they shall perform the bloody drama of treason and disunion ? Does she want to see the solemn actSf of Congress, the decision of the people of the Union in the recent election, the legislative, executive, and judicial author- ities of the country all overthrown, and revolution and civil war inaugurated throughout her limits ? Does she want to be " bleeding Kansas" for the benefit of political agitators, with- in or out of her limits ; or does she prefer the peaceful and quiet arbitrament of this question for herself ? What benefit will the great body of the people of Kansas derive from these agitations ? They may, for a brief period, give consequence and power to political leaders and agitators, but it is at the expense of the happiness and welfare of the great body'of the people of this territory. Those who oppose slavery in Kansas do not base their op- position upon any philanthropic principles, or any sympathy for the African race ; for in their so-called constitution, framed at Topeka, they deem that entire race so inferior and degraded 846 HISTORY OF KANSAS. as to exclude tliem all foi ever from Kansas, whether they be bond or free — thus depriving them of all rights here, and de- nying even that they can be citizens of the United States ; for, if they are citizens, they could nof constitutionally be ex- iled or excluded from Kansas. Yet such a clause, inserted in the Topeka constitution, was submitted by that convention for the vote of the people, and ratified here by an overwhelming majority of the anti-slavery party. This party here, therefore, has, in the most positive manner, affirmed the constitutionality of that portion of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States declaring that Africans are not citizens of the United States. This is the more important, inasmuch as this Topeka con- stitution was ratified, with this clause inserted, by the entire Republican party in Congress — thus distinctly affirming the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the Union, that Af- ricans are not citizens of the United States ; for if citizens, they may be elected to all offices, state and national, including the presidency itself; they must be placed upon a basis of perfect equality with the whites, serve with them in the militia, on the bench, the legislature, the jury box, vote in all elec- tions, meet us in social intercourse, and intermarry freely with the whites. This doctrine of the perfect equality of the white with the black, in all respects whatsoever, social and political, clearly follows from the position that Africans are citizens of the United States. Nor is the Supreme Court of the Union Jess clearly vindicated by the position now assumed here by the published creed of this party, that the people of Kansas, in forming their state constitution (and not Congress), must decide this question of slavery for themselves. Having thus sustained the court on both the controverted points decided by that tribunal, it is hoped they will not approve the anarchi- cal and' revolutionary proceedings in other states, expunging the Supreme Court from our system by depriving it of the great power for which it was created, of expounding the con- stitution. If that be done, we can have in fact no unity of government or fundamental law, but just as many ever-vary- ing constitutions as passion, prejudice, and local interests may from time to time prescribe in the thirty-one states of the Union. I have endeavored heretofore faintly to foreshadow the wonderful prosperity, which would follow at once in Kansas the peaceful and final settlement of this question. But, if it GOVERNOR WALKER^S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 347 should be in tlie power of agitators to prevent sucTi a result, nothing but ruin will pervade our territory. Confidence will expire, and law and order will be subverted. Anarchy and civil war will be reinaugurated among us. All property will greatly depreciate in value. Even the best farms will become almost worthless. Our towns and cities will sink into decay. Emigration into our territory will cease. A mournful train of returning settlers, with ruined hopes and blasted fortunes, will leave our borders. All who have purchased property at present prices will be sacrificed, and Kansas will be marked by universal ruin and desolation. Nor will the mischief be arrested here. It will extend into every other state. Despots will exult over the failure here of the great principles of self-government, and the approaching downfall of our confederacy. The pillars of the Union will rock upon their base, and we may close the next presidential conflict amid the scattered fragments of the constitution of our once happy and united people. The banner of the stars and stripes, the emblem of our country's glory, will be rent by contending factions. We shall no longer have a country. The friends of human liberty in other realms will shrink des- pairing from the conflict. Despotic power will resume its sway throughout the world, and man will have tried in vain the last experiment of self-government. The architects of our country's ruin, the assassins of her peace and prosperity, will share the same common ruin of all our race. They will meet, whilst living, the bitter curses of a ruined people, whilst history will record as their only epitaph : These were the de- stroj/ers of the American Union, of the liberties of their country and of the world. But I do not despair of the republic. My hope is in the patriotism and intelligence of the people; in their love of country, of liberty, and of the Union. Especially is my con- fidence unbounded in the hardy pioneers and settlers of the west. It was such settlers of a new state devoted to the constitution and the Union, whom I long represented in the Senate of the United States, and whose rights and interests it was my pride and pleasure there, as well as in the treasury department, to protect and advocate. It was men like these whose rifles drove back the invader from the plains of Orleans, and planted the stars and stripes upon the victorious field of Mexico. These are the men whom gold cannot corrupt nor foes intimidate. From their towns and villages, from their m 318 HISTORY OF KANSAS. farms and cottages, spread over the beautiful prairies of Kansas, thej^ will come forward now in defence of the constitution and the Union, These are the glorious legacy they received from our fathers, and they will transmit to their children the price- less heritage. Before the peaceful power of their suffrage this dangerous sectional agitation will disappear, and peace and prosperity once more reign throughout our borders. In the hearts of this noble band of patriotic settlers the love of their country and of the Union is inextinguishable. It leaves them not in death, but follows them into that higher realm, where, with Washington and Franklin, and their noble compatriots, they look down with undying affection upon their country, and offer up their fervent prayers that the IJnion and the consti- tution may be perpetual. For recollect, my fellow-citizens, that it is the constitution that makes the Union, and unless that immortal instrument, bearing the name of the Father of his Country, shall be maintained entire in all its wise provi- sions and sacred guarantees, our free institutions must perish. My reliance also is unshaken upon the same overruling Providence which has carried us triumphantly through so many perils and conflicts, which has lifted us to a height of power and prosperity unexampled in history, and, if we shall maintain the constitution and the Union, points us to a future more glorious and sublime than mind can conceive or pen describe. The march of our country's destiny, like that of His first chosen people, is marked by the foot-prints of the steps of Grod. The constitution and the Union are '^ the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night," which will carry us safely under his guidance, through the wilderness and bitter waters, into the promised and ever-extending fields of our country's glory. It is His hand which beckons us onward in the pathway of peaceful progress and expansion, of power ^nd renown, until our continent, in the distant future, shall be covered by the folds of the American banner, and, instructed by our example, all the nations of the world, through many trials and sacrifices, shall establish the great principles of our constitutional confederacy of free and sovereign states. ^ R. J. Walker. THE END. { KING & BAIRD, PRIiT s 07 Sansom St., Philadelphia. ^^um m^ m^mm BOOK AND JOB PRmTm& STEREOTYPING, ELECTROTYPING, TRANSLATING, WOOD ENGRAVING AND LITHOGRAPHING. Checks, Letter Headings, Hand-Bills, Show Cards, Notes, Note Headings, Bill-Heads, Receipts, Drafts, Bills of Lading, Envelopes, Circulars. 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