! IIIMMM llflt!!!!. F& fe Class. Book P-y ^ 'C^_ Copyright )J _^42X- ?■ Z COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB 1837—1891 UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM KANSAS FOR THE FOURTEEN YEARS FROM 1877 TO 1891 "A PIONEER OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA" "The history of hit life is the history of Kansas" BY WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY, A.M., Hon. WITH PORTRAIT AND MAPS CHICAGO BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY 19 13 ty COPYRIGHT, 1913 BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY PUBLISHED, NOVEMBER, 1913 THB-PLIMPTON- PRESS NORWOOD- MASS- U'S- A ©CI.A3 58629 ' , PREFACE The object of this book is to present in a direct and simple way the leading events in the life of Preston 13. Plumb. It has, however, a higher purpose than the mere exaltation of any name. A book which does not render service to society is worse than useless. Inter- woven there will be found something here of pioneer life, the founding of a great State, the passing of the old order, a change in the destiny of the Republic, the coming of a new era, and the influence of these on our industrial and political life. There will appear visions of the sword shaken over the land, and we shall see marches over the red roads of the Ozarks, on the prai- ries, through the rolling woodlands of .Missouri, across the Greai Plains, and in the Rocky Mountains. There will arise to view the shock of battle, the dead and dying on bloody fields, the crime and glorv of war — an iridescent phantasmagoria of the baseness and sub- limity of human passions and human actions. These are some of the reasons for this book. It is hoped that others will appear in its reading. Of Senator Plumb it must be said that he was a peculiar man. He was emotional and sympathetic — capable of friendship. Pioneer influences shaped Plumb's life and developed his intellect. lie was an intense and independent American, and neither usage, precedent, nor party bound him. Tie was the apostle of the West, and Kan- sas was his inspiration. For in her rise she had ren- dered substantial service to the nation. ITer course destroyed slavery. Iler struggles produced liberal, vi PREFACE freedom-loving, and patriotic people. One of her Sena- tors, Plumb's fellow-soldier and friend, saved the Union when revolutionists had decreed its subserviency to the Republican party and impeached the President. Plumb, knowing that the Civil War had caused incon- ceivable misery and suffering could not approve the course of his party in reconstruction; but supported Greeley, and became the friend of the South. In the efforts of his party to withhold (if not destroy) in- dustrial liberty, he stood for the people, and became in a sense the forerunner of the present movement toward democracy in America. As to his adopted State there seemed to rest always on Plumb a sense of responsibility for the material progress of Kansas. This burden he could never es- cape. It was a personal matter, a feeling of individual moral obligation which he never could shake off. He seemed not to realize that his portion of the work of developing the natural resources of Kansas and provid- ing for the population which was to spread to her ut- most bounds, was, in fact, no greater than that of any other citizen except as he had greater opportunities for achievement. He made the interest of Kansas and her people, present and prospective, his concern from the time he left his printing office in Ohio until the day of his death. And this was not wholly by design, nor was it to obtain favor or political preferment. It was inherent in him, a part of him, a spontaneous and in- voluntary manifestation of the soul. Through all his mistakes which, as he was but mortal, were many — through all his lapses and faults which, as he was but human, were serious indeed — Plumb's life was an effort to acquit himself conscientiously of the weight and pressure of the unseen hand laid on him by the Infinite. William E. Connelley. Topefca, Kas., March 15, 1913. CONTENTS Preface v CHAPTEE PAGE I The Plumb Family 3 II Preston B. Plumb 7 III Kenyon College 11 IV The Xenia News 16 V The First Trip to Kansas 23 VI First in Kansas 30 VII Bleeding Kansas 35 VIII Second Trip to Kansas 43 IX Mariposa 51 X Emporia Town Company 59 XI Emporia 63 XII The Lecompton Constitution .... 73 XIII The Leavenworth Constitution ... 78 XIV Troubles in Southern Kansas .... 83 XV The Bar and the Legislature .... 86 XVI Supreme Court Beporter — First Practice 95 XVII Emporia and the Civil War 98 XVIII The Eleventh Kansas 107 XIX Cane Hill 112 XX Prairie Grove 115 XXI Buck & Ball 126 XXII VanBcren 130 XXIII Chief-of-Staff 133 XXIV The District of the Border .... 136 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXV Collapse of the Military Prison . . . 145 XXVI The Lawrence Massacre 151 XXVII The Pursuit of Quantrill 158 XXVIII Provost Marshal 168 XXIX Independence — Humboldt — Olathe . . 176 XXX The Price Raid 180 XXXI Wyoming . . . 193 XXXII Plumb as a Soldier 202 XXXIII Back to Civil Life 209 XXXIV Banker 216 XXXV Texas Cattle— Mining 221 XXXVI Election to the Senate 224 XXXVII Assuming Duties of Senator .... 233 XXXVIII Forty-Sixth Congress 237 XXXIX The Nomination of Garfield .... 245 XL Forty-Seventh Congress 248 XLI Funding Act — Treasury Surplus . . . 251 XLII Civil Service 257 XLIII Reelection 261 XLIV The Forty-Eighth Congress .... 265 XLV Blaine 274 XLVI Forty-Ninth Congress 278 XLVII Railroad Passes 287 XLVIII Diplomatic Service 289 XLIX Fiftieth Congress 293 L Department of Agriculture .... 306 LI Harrison 309 LII Third Election 312 LIII Deep-Harbor Convention 316 LIV Fifty-First Congress 319 LV Oklahoma 327 CONTEXTS CHAPTER PAGE LVI Inspiration for Drama 334 LYII Silver 340 LVIII Public Lands 352 LIX The Tariff 3G3 LX Sugar 377 LXI Newspapers 3S1 LXII Habits and Characteristics .... 386 LXIII Capacity for Work LXIV Charity 399 LXV A Helpful Man 402 LXYI Stories Ill L.W1I Influence in the Senate 417 L.W'III The Last Campaign 420 I. XIX I.wr [LLNES8 and Death 427 LXX The Last Rites 432 APPENDICES Appendix A 439 App] \dix B -11!) Index i.v. THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB CHAPTER I THE PLUMB FAMILY The Plumb family is of Norman origin, and came into Britain with William the Conqueror. The progen- itor of the family was Robertus Plumme, who, some- thing more than a cenl ury after Hastings, appears on the Great Roll of Normandy for the year 1180: and on the same roll for 111)5 his name stands as Robert Plume. The record is complete and the succession unbroken to the Plumbs of this day. 1 Migrations strengthen races. It would be interest- ing to note how the people of Southern Scandinavia from their low-lying ocean shores, their nmd-banks and sounds and bays, their swamp-forests and salt-marshes, look to the sea and beat about the bounds of the known world. They fastened upon Britain, they became the scourge of the Mediterranean coasts, they seized north- ern Europe and founded the Russian Monarchy, and their battle-axes rang on the iron gates of Constanti- nople. Their brethren to the south destroyed the Ro- man Empire. These ruthless Northmen overran some iThe authority from which the facts concerning the Plumb family were drawn is The Plumb Genealogy, by II. B. Plumb, Peeley, Lu- zerne County, Pa., Second Edition. 1893. It begins with Robertus Plum on the Great Roll of Normandy, liso, and traces his descendants down to the present day. 3 4 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB principalities of France and there became Frenchmen — the Normans. In course of the development of the countries taken and held by these barbarians who turned the world upside down, the Normans formulated a claim to England, and William led his hosts over-sea and conquered and held it. In the mailed ranks of those adventurous hordes were the first Plumbs known to us, the forbears of all of that name now living in England and America. Beyond that they are hidden by that veil of obscurity which time hangs between us and the ancient days. John Plume was the progenitor of the Plumbs in America. He sold Ridgewell Hall, Essex, England, and came, in 1G35, in his own ship, to Wethersfield, Connecti- cut, where he was one of the first settlers and propri- etors. Ichabod Plumb, a descendant of John Plume, was born at Middletown, Connecticut, March 11, 1777. From Middletown he moved to Hartford. In the fall of 1804 he moved from Hartford to Worthington, Ohio, where he lived two years, then moved to Berkshire, Dela- ware County. On the main street of the village he built his shop. There he was a blacksmith, and he manufac- tured wagons. He tilled a considerable farm, and he built and operated a mill for carding wool. He was an Episcopalian, and he was the principal member of the Episcopal Church which he had caused to be established at Berkshire. He was a Major in the Ohio State Militia, and he bore that rank in the War of 1812, though an account of his services has not been preserved. Of the sons of Ichabod Plumb one was David Plumb. He was born at Berkshire, Ohio, July 9, 1812, and was bred to the trade of wagon-maker, though he did not be- come a blacksmith. He remained strong in his attach- ment to the Episcopal Church; and he supported him- self and family by working at his trade. 2 2 At Marysville, Ohio, David Plumb entered into partnership with THE PLUMB FAMILY 5 At Berkshire, December 14, 1836, David Plumb was married to Miss Hannah Maria Bierce. The Bierce family is one of the oldest in New England, having come into Massachusetts in the days of Governor Winslow. Members of the family settled in Connecticut at an early day, and in the general westward trend their descend- ants passed into New York. Immediately after the Involution Hugh White, of Middletown, Connecticut, together with others, secured a patent to land in Oneida Countv, New York. In 1784 thev moved there and made a settlement which later became Whitesborough. These were the first white settlers in the State west of the Germans living then on the Mohawk. Whites- borough was on the Indian trail leading to the Great Lakes at what is now the city of Buffalo. Many Con- necticut people followed the White colony and settled at Whitesborough, Utica, and other towns in Oneida County, which remains to this day a community with marked New England characteristics. 3 Winslow Bierce was one of the pioneers who went with Hugh While into the wilderness of Central New- York. He was born in Connecticut in 1774, and his family furnished many western pioneers. Lucius V. Bierce moved from Cornwall, Connecticut, to Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, in 1816, where he died Nov. 11, 1876, aged seventy-five. 4 Winslow Bierce lived at Utica, New York, where lie kept a hotel and dealt in horses, lie was forceful and energetic, and a successful business man. In 1817 he moved to Berkshire. Hannah Maria Bierce was four years old when her one Thomas Turner for the purpose of manufacturing an improved plow for breaking land. This plow had a steel mold-board, which was made by Turner, and all the woodwork was made by Plumb. They patented this implement and made and sold it quite extensively. 3 For an account of this settlement see Historical Collections of New York by Barber and Howe. 1842, p. 3N2. * See Tracts, Western Reserve Historical Society, Vol. II, p. 4. 6 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB father moved from " York State " to Berkshire, where she grew to womanhood. She was ambitious and of a sanguine temperament. Perseverance and persist- ence were her strongest traits. She was possessed of a glowing enthusiasm. Failure of plans did not dis- courage her. Her energy was inexhaustible, and her industry was tireless. And we shall see that with these qualities she endowed her children. 5 e In speaking of his mother George Plumb said: "My mother was very active and my father just as quiet as men ever are. He read a great deal but never said much ; he had a good memory. My mother was a great talker, a small woman and very energetic. She was ambitious and always had great plans for her children." CHAPTER II PRESTON B. PLUMB The birth of liim of whom this biography is written, was October 12, 1837, at Berkshire, Delaware County, Ohio. He was the first-born of David and Hannah Maria (Bierce) Plumb. lie was called Preston. At Berkshire the schoolmaster boarded at the house of David Plumb, and wished to take Preston to school when he was in his fourth year. The parents feared he would only make trouble there, but when the teacher insisted, they permitted him to go. Once at school, he fell to work just as he saw the other pupils doing, and he made good progress. Whatever was put into his hands he mastered. lie was overflowing with energy, and this made him adventurous, resourceful, and dar- ing, lie was of a practical turn and was never idle. While he enjoyed the sports and amusements of the boys of his own age and engaged in them with all Ins might, he never wandered about the streets and lanes. As soon as he was strong enough to do so he wished to work at something. What he saw others do he at- tempted, and he was elated and sometimes excited when he had succeeded in his efforts. 1 i When he was six years old a serious accident resulted from his fervor, as his sister rememhered : " It was when we lived in Berlin Township, after we left Berkshire. Mother rode up to Berkshire and left Preston and me with father. He was busy in his shop and did not pay much attention to us. Preston came running to me. much elated, and said. 'Ellen, come out here, I can chop wood.' I went out, not knowing the danger. He picked up a heavy axe and began to chop. I was near him and the axe slipped and came down on my foot." 7 8 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB When about ten years old he went with others to a wood to celebrate the Fourth of July. Near this wood was a barn in which were chained two pet bears. Swings for the children were erected in this barn. Preston was helping swing the girls, when he slipped and fell within reach of one of the bears, which im- mediately seized him. The children ran. The growl- ing of the bear which had him, with the scent of blood, maddened the other bear, and while they were fighting he rolled himself out of their reach. His wounds were found to be serious. The weather was extremelv hot, and it was not believed he could survive his injuries. But he recovered, though he carried to the grave scars from tooth and claw. While he was in bed he read Merle d'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, getting then his first knowledge of the life and character of Martin Luther. Intimate friends of Plumb will remember that in his youth he was called " Bony " by his companions. He received the name from this circumstance: Near the old country schoolhouse where he went to school, in the long winters of Ohio, there was a considerable pond. Skating on the ice in this pond was one of the amuse- ments of the pupils. One spring when the ice had melted somewhat and was broken into blocks the boys made it the means of showing their reckless spirit, crossing the pond by jumping from one piece of ice to another. It was finally decided that the pond could not be again crossed in that way. Plumb declared that he could cross it once more. The boys said he could not do it — that no one could do it. He ran swiftly to the pond, and, by bounding lightly and quickly from block to block, crossed it. In the old McGuffey Third Reader, in use in the schools of that day, there is a picture of Bonaparte crossing the Alps to illustrate a lesson from Scott's Life of Napoleon. When Plumb sprang to the bank on the other side of the pond they exclaimed, CHILDHOOD 9 " Bonaparte has crossed the Alps ! " From that time they called him " Bony," and he carried that name eyen to Kansas. 2 Of the influence of the mother in this family it may be said that she was always planning great things for her children to accomplish in life. She had perfect faith in the ability of her children to carry out the plans she made for them, and she was singularly suc- cessful in imparting this feeling. She inculcated the expectation of success; and she taught that failure and discouragement should but moye them to greater ex- ertions, and that a tiling begun mnst be completed. All this was impressed more by attitude and example than by precept, more by the feeling existing in the home than bv discourse. She did not minimize the misfor- t/ tunes of disease, or death, or those dispensations of Proyidence which render futile all efforts of the most industrious, but where success was possible even under the most adverse conditions, she belieyed it should be attained. It was the desire of David Plumb that none of his .sons should follow the family trade of wagon-maker. Preston sometimes worked in the shop beside his father, doing that which his strength and skill would permit him to undertake. But for a boy of his ability, directed by the ambition and solicitude of a mother such as his, the business of a wagon-maker did not promise a satis- factory future. .Mature character reflects largely the influences which 2 No middle name was given him and he never adopted one, but he did add the letter B for a middle initial, as he believed it Improved the form of bis signature and made his name more easily used in conversation, the habit of addressing one by the initials being much in vogue at that time. In recent years there has been some newspaper discussion as to what this initial stood for. Among numerous conjectures the one most in favor was that it was for Bierce, the family name of his mother. It was suggested by the name " Bony." but be did not adopt that name. lie invariably wrote his name, /'. Li. I'lumb. 10 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB predominate in the environment of the childhood home. The virtues of thrift, work, reliance on self, ingenuity and perseverance were found in the homes of the pio- neers of Ohio. These, in addition to those referred to herein, were found in use and practice in the home of David Plumb. CHAPTER III KENYOX COLLEGE In the spring of 1S43 David Plumb moved from Berk- shire to a farm in Berlin Township, where he remained until the spring of 1846, when he settled at Marysville, county-seat of Union County, Ohio. There he opened a shop and followed his trade. His children attended the schools of the town. By the year 1849 his son Preston had made all the progress possible in the schools at Marysville. He was anxious to continue his studies, but his father was not able to bear the expense of send- ing him to college. It was necessary for him to strike out for himself, and he determined to do it. Bishop Philander Chase, a native of New Hampshire, settled at Worthington, Ohio, in 1817, and established the Worthington Female Seminary. There, in 1818, he was made the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Ohio. In 182G he founded Kenyon College at Gambier, Ohio. This college was first chartered as a theological seminary, and through the efforts of Bishop Chase was endowed with land, of which it had some eight thousand acres of the best in the Stale. Later it was made a general school with various departments, the one to which boys were admitted being called Milnor Hall. 1 The college, in 1849, maintained a church paper, The i " Away off to the right, among the trees, is Milnor Hall, and scattered about in various directions near and far, private dwellings, offices and various structures, some plain and others adorned, some in full view and others partly hid by the undulations of the ground, trees and shrubbery." — Hoice's Historical Collections of Ohio, edition of 1847, under Knox County. 11 12 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Western Episcopalian, a publication issued largely in its own interest. In the office of this paper were printed the catalogues and such other documents as it was neces- sary for the college to publish. The Plumbs, then living at Berkshire in an adjoining county, knew Bishop Chase and were familiar with his work in Ohio. Arrange- ments were made for Preston to go to Kenyon College, where he was to work in the printing office to pay his way at Milnor Hall. He went there in the summer of 1849, when he was not quite twelve years old. The expenses of living at Kenyon College were what we should consider small at this time. The annual charges were: For instruction, $30.00. For board at the college table, $40.00. Boom rent in a room with a stove, $4.00. Boom rent in a room with a fire-place, $6.00. 2 As to regulations we are told that the boys had " to sweep their own rooms, make their own beds and fires, bring their own water, black their own boots, if they were blacked, and take an occasional turn at grubbing in the fields or working on the roads." And, it is added " the discipline was somewhat strict and the toil per- haps severe, but the few pleasures that were allowed were thoroughly enjoyed. A sophomore was commanded to the room of a professor, and severely beaten with a rod. For the first time in his life a Mississippi fresh- man received bodily chastisement, and even Mr. Spooner, the vice-president, took care to see that it was well laid on." 3 iHoxce's Historical Collections, edition of 1896, Vol. 1, p. 988, says: " The college formed a large landed estate, and kept a hotel and shops, mills and stores. One looks curiously to-day at its inventory of goods — pots, pans, tubs, saucers, spoons, white dimity, bed curtains, mixed all up with oxen, cows and vinegar." 3 This strict discipline and severe toil seems to have produced good results, few schools having to its credit men who rose to higher sta- KENYON COLLEGE 13 Just how long Plumb remained at Kenjon College is not known. He did not remain long enough to take a degree. Nor do we know the proportion of his time spent in the printing office. In many of the sketches of his life published in the Kansas papers when he was first elected United States Senator it is stated that he was three years in the printing office in which he was apprenticed to learn his trade, and some of them in- directly mentioned Kenyon College, the Emporia News giving the name of the college publication. There is good reason to believe that he was there about three years. He returned to Marysville to work as compositor on the Tribune of that town. C. S. Hamilton was then both editor and proprietor of that paper. Early in 1852 an issue of the paper was so poorly printed that it could not be read, and J. W. Dumble, then foreman in a printing office at Mi. Gilead, Ohio, criticised its ap- pearance. Hamilton rode horseback the forty miles to Mt. Gilead to induce Dumble to go to Marysville and take charge of the Tribune office. Dumble bad not long been in charge of that office when Plumb was taken on tions in life. Some of them were P. P.. Hayes, President of the United States; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War under President Lincoln; David Davis, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme <'<>nrt, United States Senator from Illinois and acting Vice-president ISNI-NM; Henry Winter I >avis, the statesman and author ; David Turpie, United States Senator from Indiana; and many others. Secretary Stanton often said, " If I am anything, I owe it to Kenyon College." President Hayes wrote, "That, with the exception of the four years spent in the Union army, no other period of my life, in cherished recollections, could be compared with the time I spent at Kenyon College." That eminent statesman and jurist, Salmon P. Chase, was a student at Kenyon College; he was Governor of Ohio and United States Senator from that State, and he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Another noted son of Kenyon College was William Walker, chief of the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky and principal man of the tribe after its migration to Kansas in 1843; he made the first effort to organize a Territory west of Missouri and was Provisional Governor of Nebraska Territory. This is a brilliant roll, not surpassed perhaps by that of any other school west of the Allegbanies. 14 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB the force, "as an apprentice," as Dumble says. This was his first work as a printer outside the Western Episcopalian office, and, as he was young and boyish in appearance, he may have been regarded as an apprentice. Concerning Plumb's work, Dumble adds : " He mani- fested a wonderful tact at the labor of typesetting, and soon became an expert." It is the recollection of his brother George that Plumb did not work continuously in the Tribune office — that at times there was not enough work to keep all the force employed. Josephus Plumb took his first lesson in type- setting in the office under the eye of his brother and rapidly acquired proficiency in the art. No doubt he was entered there as an apprentice, a circumstance which might have confused Dumble when in after years he came to write what he could recall of the youth of Preston B. Plumb, who at Marysville, perfected himself in his craft. Some months after Plumb went to work in the Tribune office another paper was started in Marysville. The proprietor was Joseph Cassell, and his paper was in- tended to be a rival of the Tribune. The office was an extensive one, and it was the design of Cassell to do book-printing and binding, to manufacture blank-books, and to do general commercial printing, as well as to publish his paper. Cassell failed, and the press stood idle in the closed office. Plumb proposed to Dumble that they buy the plant of the defunct journal. They discussed the matter from every point of view, carrying it finally to the proprietor of the Tribune. He had nothing of encouragement to offer, of course, for it was to his advantage to have the rival paper remain dead. But notwithstanding the attitude of Mr. Hamilton, which was to have been expected, they persisted in their inclination to buy the office and revive the paper. See- ing that they were disposed to go on with their plans, Hamilton sought to defeat them, knowing that the new KENYON COLLEGE 15 proprietors would have many claims to public favor which the old management had not been able to com- mand. He proposed that the office be moved to some other town. He offered to give the boys one hundred dollars toward the purchase price if they would take the plant out of the county. Plumb bad no money, and Dumble must have had little or none. Plumb appealed to his parents. He was sure of his ability to revive the paper and put it on a paying basis. His mother entered heartily into his plans. The home was mortgaged and the office purchased mainly with the proceeds. Where to take it was the next ques- tion, and Xenia was selected — why, we do not know. The office was taken there and the Xenia Ncics estab- lished. The first issue of the paper was the 24th of February, 1854. It was a six column folio — columns of the old measurement, wider than is usual at this time. The paper was neatly printed and almost devoid of typographical errors, giving it a fine appearance. Plumb seemed to have managed the business. At the time of the first issue of his paper he was but four months past his sixteenth birthday. CHAPTER IV THE XENIA NEWS The principal difference between the two great political parties prior to 1850 was one of interpretation of the Federal Constitution. The Democratic party had contended for a strict construction, counting the consti- tution a compact between sovereign States, insisting that the government formed under it was limited to those functions explicitly authorized by its terms. The Whigs believed that by the adoption of the constitution the States were merged into a nation with the right to do any and all things necessary for its growth and main- tenance whether directly specified in that instrument or not. They were known as loose constructionists, and were favorable to protective tariffs, internal improve- ments, and national bank currency, and they came finally to insist that the Federal Government could and should control slavery in the Territories. They were the successors of the Federalists, from whom they in- herited their principles and tendencies, which had been formulated chiefly by Alexander Hamilton. Neither of these parties was sectional, and up to 1850 the Whigs did not constitute an anti-slavery party, nor the Democrats a pro-slavery party. In 1848, for Presi- dent the Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, a slave-holder, and did not adopt a platform. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass, of Michigan, on a strict construction platform. The Whigs were success- ful, but in 1850, Henry Clay, their leader, proposed a compromise of the conflicting claims growing out of 16 THE XENIA NEWS 17 slavery and related questions. The principles of this compromise were enacted into laws, that having the greatest influence on the future of the country being the Fugitive Slave Law, which was much more stringent than any former statute on the subject. Fugitive slaves were to be by Federal officials restored, wherever found, to their owners without trial by jury, and all citizens were expected to aid in such restoration. The people of the North objected to being set to slave hunting for Southern masters, and some States enacted what was known as personal liberty laws, designed to protect free negroes and fugitive slaves; and the Underground Rail- road, over which fugitive slaves were assisted to reach Canada, became a well-organized and efficient insti- tution. The Fugitive Slave Law killed the Whig party. Its dissolution furnished the material for numerous small groups, none of them of enough importance to be called a national party. The Northern Whigs called them- selves Anti-Nebraska Men, as they opposed the first attempts to organize a Nebraska Territory west of Mis- souri and Iowa. The Barnburners became the Free- Soil Democrats. All shades of political opinion were represented by groups, down to Hunkers and Know- Nothings. As the slavery conflict developed there came a gradual realignment of parties, most of these minority groups going over to the Anti-Nebraska Men, who, in 1855, had called themselves the Republican parly, and in 1850 a National Republican party was organized. The new party was in fact successor to the Federalist and Whig parties, and it inherited their loose construc- tion principles, the policies of protective tariff, internal improvements, national bank currency, and it added the burning issue of opposition to the extension of slavery. The Democratic party became a pro-slavery party, and the institution of slavery entered on a contest for un- limited extension. Political excitement stirred the 18 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB country, and fires of strife were lighted which burned down to the field of Appomattox. With the pioneers from New England there came into Ohio an efficient system of public education, and the common intelligence was high throughout the State. Where the sons of New England had settled there was marked opposition to the Democratic policy of slavery-extension. To Canada, through Ohio, was the shortest route to freedom for the fugitive slave, and there the Underground Railroad reached its highest efficiency. Political contests were heated and campaigns were bitter, and while the Dem- ocratic party was strong in Ohio, the State settled cer- tainly and surely to the Eepublican column. It was in the murky days of those times that Plumb founded the Xenia News. The Plumbs were strong Anti-slavery people from the time the slavery question became the absorbing question of national politics. What their political affiliation had been up to that time is not known, but, like other families, they probably were divided. Preston B. Plumb had decided convic- tions and felt deeply on the engrossing events of the time, and it is known that he spoke through his paper in no uncertain terms, though no files of the News for the first two years are extant. The audacity of this boy of sixteen in going to a strange city where the press was already ably repre- sented to found an entirely new journal is worth some attention. Xenia is sixty-four miles northeast of Cin- cinnati, and in 1854 had some five thousand inhabitants. It was a town of culture and the home of distinguished people. William Davis Gallagher was a poet famous in his day. He founded the Backwoodsman in 1830, when but twenty-two, and became one of the foremost editors of the West. Coates Kinney also was a poet whose reputation was established in 1849 when he pub- lished his " Rain on the Roof," and his " Ohio Centennial Ode" was a production of high order. When a boy THE XENIA NEWS 19 of fourteen William Dean Howells was living with his father's family on the Little Miami two or three miles from Xenia, and his poem " Lost Boyhood " is intended to preserve the memories of his residence there. White- law Eeid was born near Xenia, 1 and he rose to fame by a brilliant course in journalism, succeeding Plumb as editor of the Xenia News after its consolidation with the Torchlight. Granville Moody, a great preacher in his day, lived in Xenia, and a friendship was formed between him and Plumb which was broken only by death. The Kansas-Nebraska bill had been before Congress exactly one month when the first number of the Xenia News appeared. Feeling was intense, and there never was a more propitious time for starting a newspaper. Plumb, deeply imbued with the anti-slavery sentiment, as his forefathers had been, vigorously opposed the bill. In addition to his editorial work in opposition he employed a minister, then popular for his sturdy anti- slavery attitude, to write for the paper a series of arti- cles on the subject. 2 While Plumb devoted time and space to national af- fairs he did not neglect local matters. He seems to have known instinctively that the success of a paper depends on a full and intelligent digest of the current events of the community where ii is published. He was, in fact, a pioneer in this field, now recognized as the basis of success in newspaper management. 3 The local depart - i ITp was born Oct. 27, 1837. riunib was born Oct. 12, 1837. 2 Tbls minister, Rev. J. D. Liggett, afterwards moved to Kan- sas, and, later, to Detroit, from wbicb city, .May 4, 1892, he wrote a letter to B. F. Flenniken, giving an account of bis association with Plumb. While there are some errors in his account, due to lapse of memory, it is mainly correct and is valuable as being the only account which shows much of Plumb's life at Xenia. « Jacob Stotler published an article in the Sumner County (Kansas) Press, which was printed in the Memorial Volume, p. 21. In it he says: Plumb conducted a column in his paper under the striking head, 20 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB nient of the country newspaper was then little known. On this subject his partner afterwards wrote of the paper as follows : The location was a good one, the paper prospered, and is now alive. We were both strangers in Xenia, but did the best we could. Young Whitelaw Eeid (now famous as the author of Ohio in the War, and at present editor of the New York Trib- une) was a clerk in a dry goods store under the office. He was a sharp bright young man, and a great favorite with all, and well posted on Xenia people and Xenia history. Young Eeid on many occasions wrote up society notes and locals for us, always under the ban of secrecy, as it might injure the trade in the store were it known that he was writing for the Xenia News. The real success of the paper, however, resulted from the energy and ability of Plumb. " Plumb was ener- getic, forceful, of remarkable courage and get-up," writes one of his partners. " He did everything about the paper; set type, run the hand-presses, gathered news; anything there was to be done; was quick to arrive at conclusions; very positive; at times of quick temper, but soon over it." Another partner, Liggett, wrote the following : "» He was a good printer, i.e., was a rapid and accurate type- setter and pressman. All the press work on country papers was done by hand power. Mr. Plumb was, for his age, un- usually mature and manly, intelligent, energetic and industrious. The following incident will illustrate his rare pluck and persis- tence which were characteristic of him through life. There was an election of county officers and neither political party had made any nominations. There was a free fight for all the offices. The big prize was the office of treasurer, for which there were sixteen candidates, one of whom was the editor of the other paper of the town, and as a consequence the printing of all the tickets, with their almost endless combinations, came to our office. Plumb was the only pressman, and for several days he " Our Pine Box." The name was a misnomer for Plumb, because we do not believe he ever sat on a store box long enough to catch an item. He rather caught them on the fly. THE XENIA NEWS 21 ran that press almost day and night, and the result was a felon on the middle finger of his right hand, but he never let up on his job. I pleaded with him in vain to quit and let the tickets alone. About sundown of the day before election the last order for tickets was filled, when one of the candidates for treasurer came into the front room where I was and said he wanted ten thousand more tickets, printed different from what he had. I said it could not be done in our office for any amount of money, as our only pressman had a felon on his right hand and should not do any more. Plumb overheard the conversation and spoke right out, "0 pshaw, take the order; I'll print the ticket-." I protested in vain. He took the job and finished it at one o'clock the next morning. Durable sold his interest in the paper to Plumb, but when he did so is not known. On this point the state- ments of the partners arc in conflict. Dumble was with the paper as late as 1856. Plumb sold the Dumble in- terest, to J. D. Liggett, whom lie had employed to write the articles on the political tendencies of the times. Alter Liggett bought into the business Plumb lived in his home until he came to Kansas. Of this period and the habits of Plumb, Liggetl wrote: This relation continued for about two years, during most of which time he hoarded in my house. He was never idle. When he came to his meals he always had seme honk at hand to read if he was detained, and his reading was always of standard authors. II- read rapidly and remembered well what he read. In March, 1856, Plumb advertised for a foreman for his office, and Jacob Stotler rode eighteen miles to Xenia ami secured the place. The printers told Stotler that Plumb was a hard master and difficull to please, and predicted thai he would not remain three weeks. Stotler found that Plumb was exacting but fair and just — that be bated a lazy man or a shirk — and that it was an easy matter to get along with him. A warm friendship soon developed between Plumb and Stotler and it continued without interruption for thirty-five 22 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB years — until Plumb's death. Concerning Plumb's life at Xenia Stotler wrote: He was then a slim awkward boy of nineteen [eighteen] but with the same habits of industry that characterized his entire career. In the Xenia News office Plumb began his earnest life work. He took to politics naturally. The old paper there was published by Eobert McBratney, who afterwards came to Kansas and died some years ago. The young editor had an am- bition to beat his competitor on all occasions and generally did so. We remember that in the summer of 1856 he went into the party convention and overturned the plans of McBratney and the politicians and won a substantial victory for his new paper. While he was full of the life and fun of youth, his associates in Xenia were mostly men considerably older than himself. Even then he was consulted by the leading men of the town. His power to see the effect of action was always wonderful. With his other work at Xenia, Plumb studied law un- der Colonel Lowe. He devoted to this study what time he could spare from the arduous labors of his office. As much as he loved newspaper work and as well as he was doing in it, he intended and even then expected to enter on a wider field and seek greater opportunities than those presented in the office of a country newspaper. At Xenia Plumb began to find himself — began to put his powers to the test — began to discover his ca- pacity — began to see what he might be able to do in conflict with other men — began to feel that his achieve- ments were to be limited only by the degree of energy he exerted — first began to feel that thrill of joy which rewards him who seriously enters the battle and over- comes. CHAPTER V THE FIRST TRIP TO KANSAS The first act in the great tragedy of enslaving Kansas was closed with the sacking of Lawrence by the Border- Kuffians, May 21, 1856. Kansas lay prostrate and bleeding. Slavery had been established in the State and was triumphant and exultant. In this extremity the Free-State people appealed for help to the loyal North. Many of them were sent to tell abroad the out- rages suffered by those who stood for freedom. Anions those who went forth to cry the cause of libertv was Marcus J. Parrott, a South Carolinian who had reached Kansas through a residence in Ohio. lie was an orator and an ardent Free-State man. In June he made the tour of Ohio. On Saturday, the 14th, he addressed a meeting at Xenia and reviewed the action of the Border- Ivuffians in Kansas. Plumb attended the meeting and was deeply moved by what he heard there. Be wrote an account of the meeting while still burning with in- dignation. This account appeared in the News on June 20th, the first issue after the meeting and says: He (Parrott) confirmed all the reports of outrage committed by the prowling marauders from Missouri and other states, upon the unoffending people of Kansas, which many self-wise persons affect to deny. Eighteen out of the nineteen election districts in the Territory were overrun by a large body of armed men on the day of the election of members of the legislature, and the elections were carried by the grossest fraud and outrageous vio- lence. After the invaders had thus seized the legislative power, the next step was to disfranchise all the Free-State men by re- quiring them to take the oath to support all the obnoxious laws 23 24 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB they had enacted, before they could be permitted to vote. A more bold and tyrannical usurpation than this could not be con- ceived of. The people were thus driven back upon their original rights, and pursued the justifiable course of establishing a pro- visional government of their own. But for pursuing this course of policy the bloodhounds of slavery had been let loose upon them, to murder, rob, burn, steal and otherwise destroy their property. The people of the Territory are poor and cannot hold out for a long time, under the wholesale robberies that are permitted upon them, unless speedy and efficient aid is afforded them. Mr. Parrott's object was to solicit such aid for his suffer- ing brethren in Kansas. The Reverend Granville Moody and other citizens addressed the meeting, after which resolutions were adopted expressing sympathy w T ith the Free-State peo- ple of Kansas, approving their course in taking up arms in their own defense, and pledging material aid. The sum of three hundred dollars was raised at the meeting, a committee was appointed to secure more, and five delegates were selected to attend a general convention of several States for a similar object to be held at Cleve- land on the 20th. Plumb had ended his article by say- ing, " It is the duty of all who have the means to spare to devote them at once to this sacred cause." Plumb w 7 as thoroughly aroused. The file of his paper shows he had hung upon the news from Kansas from the very first. When he heard the voice of Kansas plead- ing for justice the crisis of life confronted him. To that time his energy had been exerted to bring success to a precarious enterprise, and his paper had so taken root that it flourished long beyond its competitors and lives to this day. Prudence, no doubt, held up her hand in warning, but her solicitude w^as unheeded. Such a crisis comes upon every soul — comes once, then comes no more. It is not opportunity, for that stands per- sistently beside man through life, but it is " the hour of fate." For Plumb it meant the abandonment of his purposes to that time, but " The way of life is wonder- THE FIRST TRIP TO KANSAS 25 ful. It is by abandonment," says Emerson in his most confident mood, and in justification writes for us that saying of Cromwell — " A man never rises so high as when he knows not whither he is going." It is not likely that Plumb reached his decision through any gen- eralizations of moral philosophy, but his determination was grand. Going to his partner, he said : " Joe, I am going to Kansas and help fight this outrage down, or die with the Free-State men." " I protested," Mr. Dumble afterwards wrote, " but go he would, and go he did." l Plumb started at once. At Cincinnati he took berth on a boat bound for St. Louis, where he arrived Tuesday morning, June 24th. The Missouri River had not yet been completely closed to emigrants bound for Kansas. On the 26th he wrote a letter to his paper 2 in which he said: Tuesday morning, last, 1 woke up to find myself in the " Mound City." The scene which first presented itself to my view was one of active hustle and busy life; over one hundred steamboats were lying at wharf loading and unloading, while the wharf itself was piled high with goods of all kinds. At Cairo we had quite an addition i to our crowd in the shape of a brother-in-law of Col. Jeff Buford, whose exploits in Kansas, at the head of his Alabama ruffians, are well known to your readers. This young Bprig was direct from Alabama, and I sup- pose him to he a perfect type of the iire-eating chivalry of the i This is found in the letter of J. W. Dumble which was printed In the Meigs County, Ohio, Veres, already noticed. Dumble musl have remained in the office of the Z< nia \< ws as a compositor, or. possibly, as foreman, after the Bale of bis interest. J. D. Liggett was the part- ner of Plumb at the time he decided to go to Kansas. But Liggett may not yet have paid Dumble for his interest in the paper. And Plumb may have gone with the same announcement to Liggett. In any event there is no doubt that Dumble records the exact facts. He says: "One morning young Plumb came to the office all excitement over some fresh outrage perpetrated by tbe Border-Ruffians." Then followed tbe conversation given in tbe text. 2 Published in the issue of July 4. 26 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB South, inasmuch as he fully justified all the Kansas outrages and the beating of Sumner. His opinion of the whole matter was that if the President had sent a posse of soldiers into Law- rence and arrested Henry Ward Beecher while he was preaching treason to the d d rebels, there would have been an end to the whole affair! This is but a solitary specimen of many equally ridiculous, of the ignorance of the greater part of the South in regard to the real state of affairs in Kansas. . . . St. Louis contains about 100,000 inhabitants. The amount of shipping business done here is enormous. Even in this, the dullest season of the year, the wharf is filled to overflowing with freight, which does not seem to diminish in the least, although boats are constantly departing, bearing away enormous loads of it. St. Louis is the* dirtiest, filthiest city it has ever been my mis- fortune to have been in. The streets are narrow and dirty ; the houses are dingy and small ; the people are dirty. The number of foreigners is very great. The heat is intense at present; yesterday the thermometer stood at 105 in the shade, and three persons died from effects of the excessive heat. Plumb remained at St. Louis until Tuesday, July 1, when at 1 :30 p. M. he continued on his way to Kansas over the Pacific Railroad. 3 The time spent in St. Louis was devoted to a gratification of his desire even at that time for knowledge of how great business affairs were conducted. His letter to the Xenia News 4 contains an account of the manner in which the Pacific Railroad had been financied and shows that he had made himself familiar with the country through which it passed. His former letter had exhibited complete knowledge of political conditions in Missouri, the names of the candi- dates of the various parties, and how the election was likely to turn. Arriving at Jefferson City about half-past eight, and having less than two hours at night to remain there, Plumb was able to discover that it was not much of a business town : " It is a place of about 2000 inhabitants, a Now the Missouri Pacific Railroad. * Published in the issue of July 18. THE FIRST TRIP TO KANSAS 27 contains the State House, penitentiary, and other public buildings, but it is not a place of much business." About ten o'clock p. m., he boarded the steamer Cataract, running to Weston in connection with the railroad, and continued his journey up the Missouri. He was anxious to see Lexington, where the Chicago Company of Free-State people had been disarmed a few days before, but as the boat passed this town in the night he did not see it. Under the head of " Slavery's Defenses " he described the fortifications he saw in Missouri : At Liberty (Liberty Landing) there were stationed two pieces of brass six-pounders, pointed toward the river, in order to blow out of the water any boat which was suspected of having on board " damned Abolitionists," and which refused to land. I saw upwards of twenty pieces of cannon, of different sizes, sta- tioned along the river bank, in Missouri, at different points, and all of them had been posted there for the same avowed object — that of preventing companies of " Abolitionists " from going into the Territory of Kansas. At Liberty we encountered a boat going down from which we learned that a company of Illinois emigrants, eighteen in number, had been disarmed at L«;r worth City, and sent back, and that it was the intention of the "Border Ruffians" to search every boat going up the river at that point, and send back all the Abolitionists they could find. This news created a little flutter on hoard, and, in consequence, a couple of men from New Bampshire concluded to go ba , and at the iu\t landing they got off the boat to wait until they could get on board a boat going down stream. There were Beveral arm< d Missourians aboard who were going up to Leaven- worth to " stay until after the election " in the Territory. The only accurate account of the turning back of these Illinois emigrants extant was written by Plumb in his next letter to the Xenia News and is given to show the fury of the Border-Ruffians at that time. The Illinois company, which was disarmed and sent back at this place, came up Wednesday on the steamer Arabia. Their rifles and revolvers were stowed away in sacks and boxes, and 28 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB they were not armed at all, themselves, but the moment they were landed the boxes and sacks were broken open, and the arms taken out. Their carpet-sacks and trunks were also opened, and searched, and a sum of money taken. About sixty blankets, a large lot of plows, axes, hoes, and other agricultural implements were also taken and not returned. After having taken every- thing they could lay hands upon they put the emigrants on board a boat which was going down to St. Louis, and ordered them never to return to the Territory under the pains and penal- ties of death ! Before they were sent away, however, they were taken before the mayor of the town and tried for treason against the United States! A messenger had been dispatched to the Fort for United States troops to protect the emigrants, but did not arrive until they had been sent away. Four of them es- caped at Leavenworth and another of them managed to get aboard another boat after proceeding down the river about three hundred miles, and came back there on Saturday morning, and went over to Lawrence immediately. There was a story long current that Plumb had ar- rived at Leavenworth with these Illinoisans and that he had a narrow escape with his life. It was said that Nicholas Verres Smith, a dashing and daring young Kentuckian who had recently arrived in Kansas in com- pany with his brother-in-law and guardian, H. P. John- son, and settled on Pilot Knob, rode into the ruffian mob and saved Plumb's life. It is impossible at this time to say how the story originated. The Illinois peo- ple arrived at Leavenworth on Saturday, June 28, while Plumb was still in St. Louis, and he did not even see them as they returned down the river. He knew Smith many years in Kansas and elsewhere as a brilliant but erratic writer. H. P. Johnson came near defeating Charles Robinson for the nomination of Governor at the election under the Wyandotte Constitution. Both were Free-State men. Johnson had brought his slaves from Kentucky to Kansas and set them free. He was made Colonel of the Fifth Kansas and was killed at the head of his troops charging into Morristown, Mo., Sept. 17, THE FIRST TRIP TO KANSAS 29 1861, the first Federal officer killed west of the Mis- sissippi. 5 s In a letter to the St. Louis (Mo.) Glolc-Democrat, date not known. Colonel Richard J. Hinton gives an elaborate account of this matter, and while erroneous as to Plumb, it preserves valuable his- torical matter. Hinton was usually accurate in his writings. He, iu this instance, confounded two incidents, one of which occurred as riumb went down the Missouri River on his way back to Ohio: Here is a more curious history linking the past with the present. Hampton Perry Johnson was another high-spirited daring Kentuck- ian. He had married a Miss Smith, and with her had taken the guardianship of her younger brother and sister. Johnson and the Smiths came to Leavenworth, bringing their slaves with them. They took land on Pilot Knob, near Leavenworth, overlooking what is now part of the city. There with the work of their slaves, they made a home. It was in 1^".';. Yming Smith was about to enter Harvard. He was the handsomest youth on all the border. One day a boat landed at I eavenworth and put off a company of Illinois colonists. A Pro-Slavery mob gathered. The decree was that the colonists must go back down the river. No more Free-State men must come in by way of the Missouri River. One of the colonists, a young prin- ter from Xenia, Ohio, demurred to the decision He announced his decision to stay on Kansas soil. The mob threatened. The printer talked back. It didn't take long to work op a feeling of fury. A rope was brought to hang the bold youth of nineteen years. Just then young Smith rode down upon the mob and scattered it. and saw the printer boy safe on board the boat The printer went down the river, but a few weeks later he came back into Kansas by an- other route and with a rifle on his shoulder. Who was he'.' Pres- ton P.. Plumb. Youiil: Smith? Ob! Nicholas Verres Smith went to Harvard, married the daughter of Horace Greeley, became famous in a way as the handsomest man in the United States, and a few years ago rendered a hill to another Kentucky gentleman for performing the part of best man at the wedding. CHAPTER VI FIRST IN KANSAS At Kansas City, which he passed at six o'clock Thursday, Plumb saw on the river bank the iron orna- ments for the new State-house at Lecompton. A num- ber of Missourians embarked there for Leavenworth. They were armed to the teeth and depraved in appear- ance. It was near four o'clock on the morning of the " Glorious Fourth," as he wrote, that Plumb arrived at Leavenworth and set foot on Kansas soil. The Ruffians were at the landing in force, and the boat was searched for Sharps' rifles. The noisy landing of so many Mis- sourians distracted the vigilance of the local guard, and Plumb went on shore without having been searched, although he was carrying a suspicious-looking bundle which had been entrusted to his care by a party at St. Louis to be delivered in Leavenworth. That everyone he saw in the town was armed with a " Colt " seemed odd to him. Be found the location of the city beautiful — " such as I cannot do justice to." He walked to Fort Leavenworth in the afternoon, where he found but forty soldiers, the others having been sent to Topeka to dis- perse the Free-State Legislature. He learned much about the business management of the Fort and returned to town in time to see numerous bands of Ruffians re- turn from the various barbecues which had been held in the country round about. He did not fail to note critically the material composing the army of subjuga- tion. A number of Buford's men w T ere there, as were seventy-five of the companv which had come in from 30 FIKST IN KANSAS 31 Georgia a few days before. A large number of the " Law and Order " citizens passed under his notice. Al- together he saw some three hundred men under arms, and of them he wrote : " A rougher-looking set of men I certainly never saw. Thev were about ha If -drunk, and made the air ' hideous ' with their blasphemy and imprecations." Some of the Pro-Slavery residents assured Plumb that if a fair expression could be had at the polls Kansas would be free. One of these owned four slaves, and an- other held a public place under the President. The lat- ter was pleased when told that Buchanan would be beaten in the North. But Plumb found that the Georgia bullies regarded as abolitionists and traitors all men who were not for Buchanan. The newspapers, which he did not fail to visit, In- found divided in sentiment, the Herald favoring tie 1 Border-Ruffians, and the Journal, edited by S. S. Good, of Ohio, standing for Fillmore for President. Plumb spent two days in Leavenworth, and on Satur- day morning lie left by singe for Lawrence, where he arrived about three o'clock that day. 1 He did not re- main long in the town but went about four miles west to visit friends from Ohio, and remained a day or two, then went on to Lecompton. There he found the Ter- ritorial officers, as well as Sheriff Jones, and lie found, also, that one-third of the inhabitants, about one hun- dred, were "armed loafers that were used as a posse to enforce behests of a drunken nigger-driving crew of of- ficials, who are sinking tie- life-blood of a five people under the sanction and patronage of the Executive of this i Great and Glorious Republic.'" Plumb found iThe events of this trip are recorded in letters written by Plinnb to the Xi nia Xncs. The letter from which the foregoing was drawn was written from Lawrence, Jnly (5th, and published July 25. His next letter was from Lecompton, and is also found in the issue of the 25th. 32 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB that the Pro-Slavery people would not brook anything but the most abject submission, and that Governor Shannon had sold himself to them body and soul and taken to drink, as his life had been in danger from both sides from his first appearance in the Territory. Sheriff Jones admitted that a majority of the actual settlers were in favor of Kansas becoming a Free State, but said it should be made a slave State " although the price of it be the dissolution of the Union." He read to Plumb letters from the South promising men and money in abundance for the subjugation of Kansas. And Plumb was indignant beyond expression at what he saw, and with hot blood he wrote a good description of the evils under which the Free-State people suffered. Here are his words: On every hand I see evidences of the devastation and ruin which had visited this beautiful country and rendered families houseless and hearthstones desolate under the cover of " Law " and in a vile and infamous attempt to fasten upon the settlers of Kansas a blighting institution which lives upon the degrada- tion and slavery of the white laborer and the degeneration of our white race. The " half has not been told " of the suffering and ruin that has taken place here. The Border-Euffian cut- throats boast of outrages which, for the sake of humanity, I could wish were not true, but which are oftentimes worse than they represent them to be. And the Government, which should pro- tect citizens in the exercise of their rights, pays for the com- mission of these outrages out of the National Treasury! If a Pro-Slavery man wishes to commit a depredation, he goes to Jones, who is also Deputy U. S. Marshal, and gets a commission as a Deputy, summons his posse from among the horde of South- ern cut-throats who are always around, and proceeds to the com- mission of his outrages against Free-State settlers; and as they are under the orders from a U. S. Deputy Marshal, of course the Government has to pay for it. The Slaveocracy have determined to tax the people of the Territory to pay the expenses of this bogus Legislation, and pay such men as Jones, Shannon, Donalson, Lecompte, Atchison and Stringfellow for oppressing them. But the people will not suffer taxation for that purpose. They will die first! A short time before the election last fall this omnipresent Jones went out into FIRST IN KANSAS 33 the Territory and demanded of each settler the sum of one dollar for the privilege of voting! Not a man would pa}' him. The matter was then dropped until both elections had been held, when another attempt was made to collect it, which also failed; and so will all attempts to collect any tax ordered by the present Government. Although there is no killing going on at present, the stealing has by no means ceased. Almost any night horses and cattle are stolen from Free-State men; and I have it on unquestionable authority that Clark, an Indian agent in the Territory, and one of the murderers of Barber, is now paying an expert thief ten dollars a head for horses and mules stolen and delivered at the Indian Mission. These things have been represented to the Government, but no note is ever taken of any outrages committed on Free-State men. And such being the case, the time for making reprisals has come, and for every man killed on the Free-State side two will die on the other; and for every horse stolen from the Free-State men, the slaveryites will suffer in like proportion. And let Governor Shannon himself beware! I have conversed with the settlers of Kansas at the plow and at the hearthstone, and have shared their homely fare, and although men of peace, they know their rights, and knowing, will main- tain them. And if Shannon will get drunk and insult defense- less women he will not live to repeat the cowardly art. Many of the settlers from the North Look upon themselves as deserted by their brethren, and having forborne until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue, are only anxious to die as becomes men, with their faces to their foes and arms in their hand.-. Plumb visited the Free-State prisoners, introducing himself as from Ohio, "which was a sure passport to their good-will." They wore then guarded by Captain Saekett and his men, and wore more humanely treated than they had formerly been. The health of the camp was good, and the prisoners were hopeful of better times. lie talked with Governor Robinson about Kansas and her people, her troubles and her hopes. On the 10th of July Plumb left Lecompton to go to Topeka, which town, as well as others, he doubtless visited, but his let- ters describing them have not boon preserved. He was fascinated with the Territory and said: Kansas is beautiful, beautiful beyond description! The 34 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB .breezes that sweep over her fair and fertile plains are health- giving and redolent with the perfume of thousands of sweet- scented flowers. On his return to Ohio Plumb had a personal experi- ence with the Border-Ruffians. He went down the Mis- souri, the blockade of which was then complete against Free-State people. Every boat was infested with a Ruf- fian patrol, and at Lexington he stood in grave danger from that going down with him. Indeed, he might have lost his life but for the interference of Colonel Philip D. Elkins, an Ohio man, living then at Westport and himself a Border-Ruffian. He protected the young editor and kept him company to St. Louis. 2 2 This is written from the statements of the late Senator Stephen B. Elkins. CHAPTER VII BLEEDING KANSAS " Bleeding Kansas " was the war-cry of 1856. It stirred the land like a blast from the trump of battle, which it was. Violence developed in the first attempt to establish a Territorial Government. The invasion of Kansas bv armed bands of Missourians had resulted in the election of a Legislature composed largely of non- residents — citizens of Missouri. This foreign body came to be known as the " Bogus Legislature." It enacted statutes for the government of Kansas and at- tempted to fasten the institution of slavery firmly on the Territory, fixing penalties of unusual severity for the infraction of any of its slavery decrees. The Anti-Slavery people found it impossible to ac- quiesce in such a system. They found that it had been designed for their expulsion and for the eradication of the principles they held on tin- subject of slavery. Under this code they could, if they chose to remain in Kansas, do one of two things — repudiate these prin- ciples or stand in opposition to the laws. There was no middle ground. The first of these expedients was not to be thought of, and resistance of the usurpation of their rights was the only alternative left them. The condition thus imposed upon them meant a conflict, and because of the persecutions under which they suffered they determined "to resist to the bloody issue" the entire enactment of " Bogus " laws. This decision was, by the Pro-Slavery partisans, deemed a challenge, and the position of the Free-State 35 36 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB men was counted treasonable. The result was the Wa- karusa War, precipitated by the militant Missourians. This war was compromised, and the issue was postponed — not settled. Each side was then committed to a course of action, and both foresaw a bitter struggle. The country took sides and fell into two political sec- tions, each of which was appealed to for aid by its partisans in Kansas. Plumb met and was moved by the advocate of freedom, and, having been from the in- ception of the Nebraska question an intense champion of the anti-slavery cause, went to Kansas as we have seen. The appeal of the South had not been in vain, and its cause had developed in Kansas. The power of the Territorial government had been wrested from the of- ficials appointed for its administration, and was exer- cised and directed almost wholly by public sentiment in the slave States as interpreted and promulgated by aliens in Kansas. These came early in 1856. They were followers of Buford and were from almost every Southern State. They prowled in armed bands from forts and posts about most of the settlements. They lived principally by theft, and with them murder be- came a business. They followed, with improved methods, the course of their predecessors, the martial Missourians, who had overrun the Territory at every election and voted with arms in their hands. The Free-State men had set up a State government and adopted the Topeka Constitution, which they de- manded should be recognized by Congress, and a friendly House gave it much encouragement. While Topeka was the legal seat of this opposition government, Lawrence was the fortress of the Free-State movement, the home of its leaders, and foremost in defiance of the barbarous measures of the " Bogus Legislature." Against Law- rence raged the Wakarusa War, the principal quarters of the invading Missourians having been at Franklin, BLEEDING KANSAS 37 four miles away. This war, suspended in December, 1855, was resumed in the spring of 185G. The bands of Buford were reinforced by predatory Missourians who crossed the border at the solicitation of the Ter- ritorial officials. The House Committee to investigate the Kansas troubles was then taking testimony in the Territory. The nature of the evidence given and the manner of procedure followed by the Committee angered the crusaders for slavery. The attempt to ar- rest; Reeder, the deposed Governor, now gone over to the Free-State side, and his defiance of the Ruffians added fuel to flames already 1 turning high. On May 21, 1856, the slavery forces sacked Lawrence by direc- tion of the Territorial courts, whose judges had decreed the destruction and abatement of the Free-State hotel and newspapers. John Brown, on the road to aid Law- rence, turned back after its destruction and slew five Ruffians on the Pottawatomie. The battle of Black- jack soon followed, and John Brown captured the Pro- Slavery forces, but was compelled by tin- United States troops to release them. Osaw atomic was pillaged by Whitfield, who was the Territorial Delegate to Congress by grace of Missouri votes. Then began a guerrilla war- fare which Plumb found in progress on his first trip to Kansas. Though it was burning low at the time, he was not deceived, writing to his paper that it was the calm before the storm. Later developments proved the accuracy of his forecast, and he returned to Ohio to seek and bring to Kansas such material aid as he could secure. The National Republican convention met June 17, 1856, at Philadelphia, and nominated Fremont for President. The platform was mainly Kansas, and the inhibition of slavery and polygamy the issues. James EL Lane, the foremost political leader in Kansas, en- tered actively into the canvass for Fremont. He spoke in many of the Northern States, and his theme was 38 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Kansas. He made a deep impression by his impas- sioned descriptions of the wrongs under which the Free- State people lay. Many people of the North set out to find homes in this troubled land. The closing of the Missouri River to this emigration turned the tide through Iowa and Nebraska, and Chicago became the outfitting point. By the middle of July some six hun- dred Kansas colonists were gathered in Iowa. There have been few more adroit political managers than Lane. The master-stroke of the Fremont cam- paign was planned and executed by him. It was the heralding of the entrance into Kansas of the six hundred colonists as an invasion by the Army of the North under his command; and with rare skill he contrived to have this done by Pro-Slavery press and people. Coupled with it there was to be a sharp decisive campaign against the Border-Ruffian forts and camps surrounding Lawrence. He counted that the effect on the country would be marked, that the interest excited would be in- tense, that feeling in the North would be wrought to a high pitch, and that the election of Fremont would fol- low as a result. That Buchanan probably was elected by frauds in his interest in Pennsylvania is ample proof of the wisdom of Lane's policy. The details of his cam- paign in Kansas are set out below. On the 5th of August the Free-State men routed the Georgians camped near Osawatomie. They fled to Fort Saunders, on Washington Creek, in Douglas County, which, with this reinforcement, became a formidable post, and the Free-State settlers around it were driven out and their houses burned. Lane placed himself at the head of the emigrant column in Iowa. Many of the colonists had set out for Kansas as the result of his eloquence. About three hundred of them were armed, and these hailed his ap- pearance as their leader with cheers and were formed into a sort of military organization. They marked their BLEEDING KANSAS 39 route with heaps of stones (afterwards known as Lane's chimneys) for the guidance of others known to be com- ing that way. This new route into Kansas became widely known as the Lane Trail, and along its course forts were established at Plymouth and Lexington, in Brown County, and Holton, Jackson County. The Kansas line was crossed on the 7th of August. The advance of this pioneer column, as Lane had judged, was regarded with increasing apprehension and alarm by Pro-Slavery interests and people. This Army of the North was the ominous storm-cloud, the in- carnation of abolitionism, threatening the fortunes of slavery. Imperfect knowledge of its character, its real purpose, and its equipment furnished an inexhaustible source of conjecture and speculation. Improbable stories of the nature and design of this militant migra- tion were spread broadcast. Every member of it was supposed to be a volunteer soldier armed with a Sharps' rifle and bent on the uprooting of the institution of slavery in Kansas. At the Nebraska line Lane and John Brown left the Army of the North to hurry to the field. Captain Samuel Walker, with thirty* men, had gone from Law- rence to meet the emigrants. The intelligence borne by Walker determined Lane to reach Lawrence, one hundred and fifty miles away, at the earliest possible moment. He rode the entire distance without halt, all his comrades falling behind, and entered Lawrence at three A.M., on the 11th, having been thirty hours in the saddle. Once in the field, he struck with boldness and vigor. On the evening of the 12th Captain Joseph Cracklin, by Lane's direction, assembled his company of eighty-one men and marched to Franklin, four miles from Lawrence. On the way, Lane, who had kept his presence secret, made known to the men that he was in the field again and at their head. The men greeted him heartily and the march was continued with en- 40 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB thusiasm and confidence. At Franklin there were some fifty Border-Ruffians quartered in the house of one Crane, postmaster and a justice of the peace under the " Bogus " Laws. Crane's dwelling was a sort of block- house, and was defended by a cannon. Being well armed and deeply solicitous for several barrels of whisky, the Ruffians stubbornly defended the place, and held it until a wagon loaded with hay and set on fire was pushed against their stronghold, when they at- tempted to escape. Some of them were captured, and the cannon and whisky fell into the hands of the victors, the former taken along for use in the campaign and the latter poured into the streets. From Franklin Lane moved against Fort Saunders. On the morning of the 14th a company of the Army of the North under Captain Shombre and known as the Chicago company joined Lane; it having arrived at Topeka the day before and being ordered immediately to the front, The body of Major Hoyt, murdered two or three days before, was found on the morning of the 15th. This discovery enraged the men, and they de- manded to be led against the fort at once. At two o'clock the assault was made. The garrison fired one round and then escaped from the fort by a wooded ravine, and the Free-State men entered a deserted post, where they found much stolen property and forty good muskets. The following day the house of Colonel H. T. Titus, called Fort Titus, fortified and held by about thirty men, was attacked by Lane and bombarded with the cannon captured at Franklin, which was charged with balls made from melted type of the Herald of Freedom. The fort was taken after Titus and others had been wounded. The next day Governor Shannon appeared at Lawrence in the interest of the Pro-Slavery party and negotiated a truce and exchange of prisoners. These victories of the Free-State forces caused great excitement in Kansas and the Pro-Slavery party issued BLEEDING KANSAS 41 an announcement which ended with — " Lane's men have arrived ! — Civil War has begun ! " The rising storm created consternation in the slavery ranks throughout the land. Along the border feeling arose to a high pitch, and indignation changed to bit- terness and a grim determination to prosecute the war to a successful issue. Governor Shannon resigned, and Daniel Woodson, Territorial Secretary, became Acting- Governor. Woodson was an active Pro-Slavery man. On August 26, a manifesto was issued calling the slaver}* hosts to war, ending with this bloody injunc- tion : " Let the watchword be - extermination total and complete.' " In response the Border-Ruffians assembled under Atchison, Stringfellow, Reid, Doniphan, and others, to the number of three thousand. They invaded Kansas, burned Osawatomie, beleaguered Lawrence, and were prevented from executing their design of exter- mination by the arrival of the newly-appointed Gov- ernor, John W. Geary. The nation was aflame, and " Bleeding Kansas *' was the cry which all but swept the Republican party into power in its first national campaign. Lane's management of the Kansas crusade produced spectacular results and broughl him a national reputation for political acumen which ended only with his life. In the Xenla 'News of August 20 there is a review of Kansas events which shows that Plumb was watch- ing with keen interest the current of a Hairs in the Ter- ritory. He believed the hour had come when Freedom demanded the united efforts of the North — that hour which he was sure would strike and for which he only waited. " For Northern men to rush speedily to the aid of their brethren in Kansas,'' he writes, " is the only remedy now left for the evils that afflict that Ter- ritory. We are sorry to say it. We hoped we never would have to say it — but it is said. We say again to all young men, who can go to Kansas, - get up and go at 42 THE LIFE OF PKESTON B. PLUMB once.' Let your watchword be ' To arms ! To the rescue ! ' ere it be forever too late." In the same issue of the paper is the following an- nouncement : " Messrs. P. B. Plumb, of this office, B. W. Leigh McClung and P. B. Walker, left Xenia on yes- terday morning for Kansas Territory. They have gone to serve their country by serving the cause of justice as the exigencies of the present crisis may demand. We wish them success and hope thousands of others in the free States will follow your example. Were two thou- sand such young men in Kansas to-day, the contemplated invasion of that Territory would never take place, and if it did, a speedy exit of the invaders would follow." TITAPTER VIII SECOND TRIP TO KANSAS For the purpose of visiting his parents, Plumb re- turned to Xenia by way of Marysville. The children, coming home from school, found him in conversation with his mother. He gave a good account of the coun- try, and his father then decided to move to Kansas, starting soon to look for a suitable location. David Plumb was at Lawrence in September when the town was threatened liv the I *> order-Ruffians, but was saved by the United Stales troops under the direction of Gov- ernor Geary. At thai time David Plumb saw John Brown at the fortifications along Massachusetts Street and was ready to do his part for the town's defense. On his way out of Kansas lie was arrested and taken from the stage at the crossing of Stranger Creek, and inarched to Leavenworth, where he was released. Plumb had returned to Xenia to close up his affairs during "the calm before 4 the slorm" in Kansas. The storm broke, however, before he had sold out his busi- ness, and he again hurried away. He had some knowl- edge of the means relied on by the Free-State men in the coming conflict, and he went to Chicago and of- fered his services to the National Kansas Committee, then the great directing head of the Kansas emigration from the North. By the committee he was sent on to Iowa City, then the western terminal of railroad ex- tension, with letters to Dr. Bowen, the resident agent there, arriving about the first of September. At Iowa City Plumb formed a company which he led into Kansas as a guard for the cargo he carried. Captain Alfred 43 44 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB C. Pierce, now of Junction City, was his first recruit at Iowa City. B. W. Leigh McClung and P. B. Walker had come with him from Xenia. The other members of the company were William Eldridge, Samuel F. Tap- pan, Curtis, Pellett, Smith, Johns, and a drill-master whose name has not been preserved. O. A. Curtis, father of Senator Charles Curtis, joined the company at Winterset, Iowa, and three or four others were added before the arrival in Kansas. Plumb was the Captain of this company, which was called " the Grizzlies," and which was governed by military regulations. It was drilled every day, for each man ex- pected to have to fight the Border-Ruffians when he reached Kansas. The necessity for a company of escort arose from the nature of the lading which Plumb was to carry on the journey. Through Dr. Bowen he had secured three wagons and a team of horses for each wagon. In these wagons, as they arrived by rail, were packed two hundred and fifty Sharps' rifles, two hundred and fifty Colt's revolvers, two hundred and fifty Bowie-knives, twenty thousand rounds of ammunition for the rifles and revolvers, one brass twelve-pounder cannon and its carriage, and some supplies for use on the way. This warlike cargo had been sent to Dr. Bowen by New England friends of Kansas. Many partisans of the South were to be found in Iowa City, and they were alert and watchful. When the cannon arrived they made a sneaking raid on Plumb's camp and attempted to steal both the cannon and the horses. This made caution necessary, and about four o'clock on the 3d of September Plumb left the town, drove ten miles out and camped. Later in the evening Dr. Bowen and James M. Winchell, afterwards a resident of Osage County and President of the Wyandotte Constitutional convention, rode to the camp to see the company depart for Kansas. They found the men assembled and ready SECOND TRIP TO KANSAS 45 to plunge into the night on their journey, and Dr. Boweu made these young crusaders a speech, and closed by saying, " If the Border-Ruffians succeed in taking your lives, may the noble cause in which you die give you a passport to a better world." Plumb had never made a speech, but now his en- thusiasm was running high. He had been assigned an important and responsible mission — one on which even the freedom of Kansas might-depend. He felt that some response was required of him. He believed that which was burning within him would be sufficient if he could but get it fairly expressed. In the falling shades of night he stood apart from his fellows and spoke out vehemently and gesticulated awkwardly, shaking his head and even his shoulders in earnesl emphasis. He found no lack of words — more rose from the fullness of his heart than he could utter — ami he closed with these: " I have seen Kansas. I know t he perils of her liberty-loving people. I have seen the Border-Ruffians and the desolation of their work. I need no introduc- tion to them. I accepl the responsibility <»f this great trust you have to-day confided in me; and these muni- tions of defense, if we live, shall be delivered to those for whom they were intended." Plnmb w;is not yet nineteen. All things eonsidered, fle-re is nothing in the annals of Kansas which surpasses this enterprise and this speech. The route of the company was through Sigourney, Oskaloosa, Knoxville, [ndianola, Winterset, Quincy and Tabor, to Nebraska City, and the country through which it lay was but sparsely inhabited, that from Nebraska City to Topeka showing more settlers. At the crossing of Skunk River a drowning man was res- cued by Pierce, and at Sigourney some cheese was purchased which proved poisonous; and it required all the skill of the local physician to save some of the com- pany from death. The company kept to the road early 46 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB and late, and only those who drove teams rode on the wagons. Plumb was dressed usually only in trousers and shirt, and he wore high-heeled boots. He and Pierce walked together much of the time, going gen- erally ahead of the teams. At Winterset some opposi- tion from Southern sympathizers was encountered. Plumb talked incessantly of the Fremont campaign, which he believed would terminate in success. Tappan had a copy of Whitter's poems, and the whole company often joined in the soul-stirring "Kansas Emigrant's Song." "We cross the prairies as of old The pilgrims crossed the sea. Plumb was not able to carry the tune, but he made a great deal of noise in his efforts to do his part of the singing. O. A. Curtis would harangue the company on Kansas and freedom at every opportunity. At Tabor a dinner was given in honor of the company, which rested there a day in the enjoyment of the hos- pitality of the freedom-loving settlers, many of whom were from Ohio. The march had been a forced one to that point in the interest of the " treason prisoners " at Lecompton, but there news of their release was re- ceived.. All through Iowa settlers fleeing from Kansas were met, but this did not affect the enthusiasm of the company. The Missouri River was crossed at Nebraska City. There Lane and thirty of his men were found, just in from an engagement with the Border-Ruffians at Hickory Point and getting out of Kansas in obedience to the proclamation of Governor Geary. He made a speech, the eloquence and tact of which was praised by Thomas W. Higginson, who was present, and the report of which greatly impressed Ralph Waldo Emerson. It inspirited Plumb and his company, and they set forward SECOND TRIP TO KANSAS 47 on their way with hearty zeal, though they knew they were entering on the dangerous stage of their expedition. From this point they found other companies on the trail, some of them large, but Plumb kept his men apart and to themselves. At Brownsville the party of James Redpath was overtaken. Albert D. Richardson and one of the sons of Old John Brown were with Redpath. Near Holton a hostile band was descried in the dis- tance, and the wagons were corralled and everything made ready to withstand an attack from Border-Ruf- fians, but it proved to be a roving band of Pawnee In- dians. Halfway from Holton to Topeka some of the company refused to go on to the camping-place which had been selected by Plumb. They wished to camp back from the others. Plumb became suspicious of their designs and ordered them forward with the com- pany. They refused to obey. He was face to face with a mutiny. Pistols were drawn. Plumb prevailed, and the mutinous members sullenly marched on. The night before Plumb arrived at Topeka he and those of his company deemed most trustworthy took the cannon and its trappings into a tangled thicket, where they were carefully concealed. The remaining part of the cargo was evenly distributed to the three wagons and deeply covered with blankets, horse-forage, and camp equipage. This was done to hide the arms from sight of the United States troops, whom they ex- pert ed to encounter at Topeka. The examination of their wagons was not Yi'vy thorough, and they were dismissed and told to proceed. The company arrived at Topeka on the morning of the 26th of September, having camped near Indianola, four miles away, since the night of the 24th. Plumb delivered the arms to those to whom they were consigned. Some of the pistols were delivered to James Redpath, as the fol- lowing receipt will show: 48 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Topeka, Kan., Sept. 27, 1856. Received from Captain Plumb, of the " Grizzlies," seventy- six five-inch Colt revolvers for the four companies of Kansas emigrants under my command. Jas. Eedpath. Before the company arrived at Topeka Tappan left it and disappeared, having heard that the troops would arrest him for his part in the Wakarusa War. Houses in Topeka were searched for him, but he was not found. December 14, 1856, he wrote a statement, now to be found in Volume I, Kansas Historical Collections, in which he claimed to have been the principal figure in this expedition. While it is inconsistent and does not agree with what he wrote later on the subject, it does preserve some valuable details. He says: I happened to be on my way to Kansas in the latter part of August. At St. Louis, I judged from reports that I could not go up the river. I went to Chicago. There I received an order for a cannon at Rock Island, which I took to Iowa City. At Davenport, I met Winchell, on the 2d day of September ; reached Iowa City same evening. On the 3d, our cannon arrived. On the 4th, Dr. Bowen bought one pair of gray horses for the cannon wagon. Besides these, he bought a large bay horse and a sorrel, and a covered wagon; also another covered wagon and a span, one black horse and a small bay mare. That day, the 4th of September, the revolvers arrived from the East. On the 5th we packed up — put provisions, cartridges and all in the wagons. Dr. Bowen also furnished one tent and two dozen blankets. On the evening of the 5th, Winchell and Dr. Bowen rode out to our camp, ten miles from Iowa City. Winchell said he was going back to Iowa City and take the stage to Tabor, where he would meet us. Dr. Bowen gave me $50 to pay ex- penses of our party on the way. While we were at Iowa City, during the night, someone attempted to steal our horses, and also our cannon. They also broke open a storehouse and de- stroyed forty Government muskets, thinking they belonged to us. " At Knoxville I had $30 left. Our loads were heavy, and it was raining, so I hired an extra team for three dollars per day, and we paid his expenses. We paid him $33. Higginson paid, at Nebraska City, $30 for us and $80 for Lane's party. SECOND TRIP TO KANSAS 49 We met, all through Iowa, people fleeing from Kansas. At Nebraska City, we received a message from Eldridge to remain until he came up. Lane told us we could go in without any trouble. Kigginson here took charge. "We encamped two miles from town, opened our boxes, and gave each man a rifle, revol- ver, cartridges and knife, to use in the Territory, but not to carry out — that is, those who had none. Higginson paid me back the money I had expended for flour and meal, at White Cloud, out of my private purse. By this time we had been eaten out. At Plymouth, we gave Redpath some ninety odd revolvers; we had 200 in all, at starting. At Nebraska City, some persons joined us. Plumb gave out twenty-seven rifles; the balance, seventy-three, he handed over to the Central Committee, and ninety-two revolvers, and bowie-knives whose number I do not know; also, one-half keg of Sharps' rifle balls; cannon we buried at Topeka. Plumb's bill of blacksmith ing, etc., was $20. We had fifteen men to feed every day, until we got to Tabor. At Topeka we sent a man back named Chubbs; a short man (four feet ten), light complexion, long visage, light eyes, light- brown hair, walked a li - gged, short bow-legs. Chubbs went with Mr. Trott, of Topeka, who had a wagon to get the cannon, which we had buried twelve miles south of Lexing- ton (?). Chubbs rode the black mare, bought in Iowa City. Chubbs ran away with that horse, disappearing towards Nebraska City. In a letter to the author, written January 16, 1901, Tappan says: " 1 left Washington, D. C, returning in Sept. '56, through Iowa with men and munitions of war." There is quite a difference here from what he wrote in 1856 — " I happened to be on my way to Kansas in the latter part of August. At St. Louis, I judged from re- ports that I could not go up the river. I went to Chi- cago." It will be observed that he lias the cannon buried twelve miles south of Lexington and also at Topeka. In another letter to the ant hor he says : " I had 300 Sharps' ritles, 300 Colt's revolvers, 300 Bowie knives, one cannon — 12 pounder, 20 kegs of powder, and 20,000 rounds of fixed cartridges for rifles and revolvers." In the face of this discrepancy in Tappan's figures those of Captain 50 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Pierce were given as more likely to be correct. Tappan seems to have claimed some, if not all, the responsibility of the expedition, but the receipt shows that Plumb was Captain and commander, as the company understood him to be and as he was in truth and fact. CHAPTER IX MARirOSA Plumb was disappointed in not having an opportunity to do battle against the Border-Ruffians. He found a season of comparative quiet, but believed it would be of short duration. Not to be absent from the Territory when it should again require his help, he determined to establish a settlement at once and remain within easy call to arms. At Topeka he found a hearty welcome at the office of the Kansas Tribune, published by W. W. Ross, formerly of Ohio. lie visited Lecompton and pos- sibly Lawrence and other towns, and Bought informa- tion about differenl portions of the Territory. He purchased axes, saws, augers, and such other tools as pioneers might require in erecting houses in the wilder- ness. His entire company, except Tappan and O. A. Curtis, remained with him. lie decided to ascend the Kansas River in search of a suitable location for his town. In Iowa he had purchased an ox-team, and this with two of the horse-teams, he took with him, the wag- ons loaded with implements and supplies. At Juniata, four miles above the mouth of the Blue River, he camped. From this point he sent Pierce, Johns, and Curtis to explore the valley of the Blue, assigning them one of the horse-teams. Before continuing his jour- ney he wrote to the Xenia News. Some parts of his letter are necessarily given here : In Camp, neab Juniata, K. T., Friday night, October 3rd, 185G. WESTWARD! STILL WESTWARD! " No pause nor rest, save where the streams That feed the Kansas run ! " 51 52 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB You may be surprised that your correspondent who wasn't exactly " raised in the woods " should be so suddenly struck with that fatal disease commonly known as the " Western Fever." But it is even so, and the poet above quoted has not half ex- pressed the intensity of the fever which now possesses me. After numerous " hair-breadth escapes " and " adventures by flood and field " we arrived at Topeka, K. T., on Friday, Sept. 26, " safe and sound." As you know, we found everything com- paratively quiet — no excitement, except in regard to the action of the Governor, of which, I suppose, your readers have been fully advised ere this, whose course has created considerable talk and astonishment. Things look quiet now, but I am of the opinion that it is but the calm which precedes a storm of great violence. Not wishing to be absent from the Territory in case troubles should again break out, I came to the conclusion to spend the winter here, and as I have determined, some time since, to make Kansas my home, I concluded the best plan would be to " take a claim " and build me a cabin. I can assure your numerous readers that such an operation, to me, contains fully as much of the real as of the romantic, and is what I consider quite an undertaking. I am not alone, however, as I am but one of a company of ten young men who are now seeking " elbow-room " for the purpose of laying out a town, and selecting suitable claims for farming purposes. The business is new to all of us, and we have nothing but strong arms and willing hearts with which to carry through the enterprise ; yet we have high hopes and expectations. Whether or not they will ever be realized, is for the future to unfold. I have become so captivated with outdoor life that it is quite doubtful if I ever shall live under any other canopy than that which it is the privilege of the meanest to enjoy. I feel the strengthening influence of an en- tire outdoor existence already, and each and every day lends a new charm to this rough mode of living. I shall be off in the morning on a buffalo hunt, to be gone until our exploring committee return. I have seen some por- tions of Nebraska and Iowa, and I admire both very much, but Kansas far surpasses either. The soil is richer, the water better, the timber equally as good, and Kansas abounds in mineral wealth. The future Kansas, if consecrated to Freedom, will be glorious. It will soon realize the poet's description of the future of the West: " Broad on either hand The golden wheat-fields glimmered in the sun, And the tall maize the yellow tassels spun. MARIPOSA 53 Smooth highways set with hedge-rows of living green, With steepled towns, through shaded vistas seen, The school-house murmur'ng with its hive-like swarm, The brook-bank whitening in the grist mill's storm, The painted farmhouse shining through the leaves Of fruited orchards bending at its eaves, Where live again, around the Western hearth, The homely old-time virtues of the North ; Like varying strophes of the same sweet hymn From many of a prairie's swell and rivers brim, A thousand church-spires sanctify the air Of the calm Sabbath with their sign of prayer." Let the laboring men of the North come to Kansas imme- diately and assist in making it a Free State, and the above de- scription will be more than realized, and they will, of course, reap corresponding benefits from its prosperity. riumb did not await the return of his exploring party, but continued on his way up the Kansas River. At Fort Riley, Robert Wilson, post-sutler and Border- Ruffian, threatened to disarm him. Plumb defied him, and was permitted to go on his way. Good bridges were found across all the Btreams, the Government hav- ing provided for their construction in L855. A mile from the present town of Salina Plumb laid out his town, which in honor of Fremont's California estate, he named Mariposa. The "call of the wild'* allured tie- party and it was not without a struggle thai a location was made. Writing from " Buffalo Region, K. T., Oct. 20, 1856," he said : The impetus which the novelty and excitement of our nomadic existence of the past few weeks had given us was so great tbat it was with reluctance that we yielded to the superior attractions and advantages of the country around us and concluded here to make a final halt. For the past two or three days previous to our arrival here we had been traveling over the broad and track- less prairies with the sun for our guide; and as the distance be- tween the habitations of men and ourselves increased the stronger grew our desire to see more of that " Far West " so famed in 54 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB " song and story " ; and whose border we had just crossed, until at last we had begun to discuss the propriety of continuing our " tramp " to New Mexico or Utah ! But Kansas was our watch- word; and here in the most beautiful and fertile portion of the Territory we have " squatted " and here we intend remaining, having commenced the necessary preparations for the winter, in the shape of cabins, etc. Our nearest neighbors are the soldiers at Fort Riley, fifty miles distant. One attraction which has its influence in arresting our wandering steps, is the abundance of all kinds of game, such as buffalo, elk, antelope, turkeys, etc. It would most probably be amusing to the " typos " in the News office, who have witnessed my feats in the " art preservative of arts " to see how like a " master " I swing a four-and-a-half pound axe ! I am second to but one out of a dozen of athletic fellows. I am not a " bad hand " in a herd of buffalo with a Sharps' rifle, but as Mac. (McClung) disputes the palm with me, I will only add that I am a " good shot." As winter approached it became evident to the colo- nists at Mariposa that a period of idleness was ap- proaching, something Plumb could not endure. He still owned his interest in the Xenia News, and as he had decided to make his home in Kansas he thought it well to return to Ohio, and dispose of his paper. For this purpose he left Mariposa, which he was never to see again. At Chapman Creek he met the exploring party under Pierce, now on the way to Mariposa. Pierce and his companions had made a fair exploration of the lower portion of the valley of the Blue. They found fine land, but they were beset by Border-Ruffians. They concluded that the first railroad through Kansas would run up the main branch of the river and be built in ten years, which, it was, though the Civil War intervened. Plumb had a stock of fine buffalo meat, and he cooked a good dinner — buffalo meat, potatoes, rice, etc. He made a fine report of the resources and beauty of the country about Mariposa. It was agreed that he might go on to Ohio and try to induce people to come and settle at their new town. When Pierce arrived there he began a survey of the townsite, which he made with MARIPOSA 55 a lariat. A hewed-log house eighteen by twenty -six feet was put up, and preparations to spend the winter in comfort perfected. In the issue of the Xenia News of December 12, 185G, is the announcement of Plumb that he had sold his interest in the paper to John T. Hogue, who afterwards wrote that he paid Plumb eighteen hundred dollars for it. "My own connection with the News has been both pleasant and profitable beyond my expectation," he said, "and I dissolve it with many regrets. And I shall carry with me to my new home in the Far West the liveliest feelings of gratitude to those kind friends who gave to me, an entire stranger, 1 lie encouragement which resulted in the establishment of the News." In the same issue is a paragraph to the effect that Plumb had gone again to Kansas and taken James Ilamil, Robert Hunter and John Hunter with him, and continues, 'Mlis energy, ambition, and enterprise will doubtless secure him a good degree of success anywhere. He does not, by any means, belong to that class of young men who are apt to fail." Plumb returned to Kansas immediately. lie stopped at Lawrence and was employed by G. W. Brown to be foreman in the oflire of the Herald of Freedom, recently revived after its destruction by the Border-Ruffiana when Lawrence was sacked. A printer, afterwards famous in his profession, was then a compositor on the paper, and often recounted Plumb's first appearance in the office. On the evening previous he saw a very tall, slender young man in a bookstore ordering a vol- ume which was not carried in stock, ne was possessed of those striking mannerisms which became noted in Kansas at a later day. He stood very erect and fre- quently tossed up his head, which he appeared to incline to the right in the act, as though looking at an upper corner of the room, lie had a haughty bearing which disappeared when he had been a few minutes in conver- 56 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB sation, and bore all the characteristics of a man of ability and strong personality. The next day the pro- prietor of the paper brought in the new foreman and introduced him to the office force, and the printer recog- nized in him the young man he had seen in the book- store. This probably was late in December. January 3, 1857, there is in the paper an enthusiastic article on Mariposa : I will not upset your preconceived notions of beauty in Nature by a minute description of this "... Green land stretching to the evening star Fair views skirted by primeval trees, And flowers hummed over by desert bees." Nor will I excite your speculative propensities by raising visions of " Smoky Hill " Railroad stock, selling at fabulous per cent, above par; all of which, however, will be realized in time. Mv friend, Jack Lantern, Journeyman Cordwainer, No. 14 Corn- hill, Mariposa, K. T., who is supposed to be in spiritual com- munication with future railroad presidents, has confided to me, under the injunctions of strictest secrecy, that the snort of the " Iron Monster," as he bestrides a great tri-rail track of enormous width, opening with thunder and pomp our country to the wealth of the Indies and " Marts of far Cathy," will be heard in the valley of the Smoky Hill, and that an enormous depot for his especial accommodation, will be speedily erected at the aforesaid Mariposa, where, although numberless " corner lots " have gone off " like hot cakes," there are, in the language of the auctioneer, " a few more of the same sort left." Not only did Plumb conduct the mechanical depart- ment of the Herald of Freedom, but he found time to write numerous letters to the Xenia News on conditions in Kansas, the first of these bearing the date of January 12, 1857. He was a frequent attendant on the Legisla- ture then in session in Lecompton. " The Legislature is a very rough-looking assemblage, and is peculiarly notice- able for the amount of liquor consumed by it," he wrote on January 16. Of the town he said, " The drunken- MARIPOSA 57 ness and immorality for which it is characteristic make it an object of loathing to all decent men. Whisky reigns supreme." On the 17th he wrote, " Yesterday Dr. Stringfellow, and several others were arrested for horse-stealing, and admitted to bail to answer the charge. G. W. Clarke, the murderer of Barber, was also arrested, on a charge of murder, and also admitted to bail." Plumb was even then in favor of prohibiting the sale of liquor in Kansas, and on February 3d wrote an account of the destruction of all liquor in Lawrence by the ladies of that town, saying, " This is the second time the noble ladies of this place have resorted to this summary method of ridding themselves of the influence and presence of the ' destroyer.' Here, as elsewhere, the women are found first and foremost in all good works. All honor to the brave women of Kansas." In this letter he describes the town of Mariposa in glowing terms, calling at tent ion to six different squares reserved for churches, four for schools, and large plats for pub- lic parks. Although absent from his town Plumb was the recog- nized head of th«> enterprise. Pierce wont to Lawrence to s»'o him about the first of January, and remembers how his hopes were renewed by talking to Plumb and reading his boosting article in the Herald of Freedom. lie returned to Mariposa, taking John Hunter with him and carrying an old Yager musket which Plumb had given him. But to the Ohio boys the valley of the Smoky Ilill bore a bleak aspect that winter. McClung set out for Lawrence late in January, and Pierce went down with him. They fell in with Chief Shingwassa's band of mixed Kaws and Pottawatoniies returning with seven- teen scalps, and McClung was offered the chief's daugh- ter for wife if he would join the Kaw tribe, which he might have done but for the unfortunate circumstance of a poor supper in the wigwam. The others drifted 58 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB away, and Plumb then bought an interest in the Em- poria Town Company and turned his face towards the valley of the Neosho. 1 In the Mariposa enterprise Plumb had not labored wholly in vain though it swallowed up most of his means. It is said he had to borrow money to buy a small interest in the Emporia Town Company. But at Mariposa he had felt the fascination of the true pioneer for the wilderness. Contact with Mother Earth gave him capacity and human sympathy. He had seen boundless opportunity in the endless plains of Kansas. Plumb became the first distinct and typical Kansan, and the first inspiration which made him so, he got in his pioneer experience in the Valley of the Smoky Hill. i Plumb made two trips from Ohio to Kansas and returned to Kansas in the last half of 1856. CHAPTER X EMPORIA TOWN COMPANY The course of the " Bogus " Legislature, in its session of 1857, was closely followed by Plumb in his letters to the Xenia News, that of February 2Gth noting its de- mise: It closed its labors by a grand spree, on Friday night last, about two o'clock. They passed an act to punish rebellion against the Territory of Kansas, and defining the same. Rebel- lion, forsooth ! As if the people who form the government have not a right to remove it when it becomes a nuisance and ceases to earn' out the object for which it was established! The crime of rebellion is not known in popular governments where the power rests with the people directly. It is only in despotic governments, where tyrants are always seeking to strengthen and perpetuate their tyranny. So in Kansas. The Governor signed this bill, and of course will have to enforce it. They bad better be making extensive preparations for hanging and imprisoning the rebels! The punishment is death or imprisonment for twenty years! Notwithstanding those repressive measures in the in- terest, of slavery in Kansas, emigrants from the North began to arrive early in 1857. They came in such num- bers that never again did the Border-Kuffians make general war in the Territory. In the letter noticed above Plumb continues: The first boat-load of emigrants landed at Leavenworth a few davs since. Among them was Mr. John Hammond, of Yellow- Springs, Ohio, who will make Kansas his home. There were about three hundred emigrants on board. Of this number, about two hundred have passed through Lawrence, on their way into 59 GO THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the Neosho country, which is decidedly the best of Kansas now open, and in reach from this place. New towns have been laid out all along the Cottonwood and Neosho, which are in a thriv- ing condition. One was located in the fork of the Neosho and Cottonwood a few days since, and before twenty-four hours had elapsed $2500 worth of shares had been disposed of, and a new issue made at higher rates. The secret of this is Yankee enter- prise, in establishing steam mills, a printing press, etc., imme- diately on the ground. This new town " in the fork of the Neosho and Cot- tonwood ' : was Emporia. The company for its estab- lishment was formed in Lawrence by G. W. Brown of the Herald of Freedom, G. W. Deitzler, Lyman Allen, and Columbus Hornsby. Richard J. Hinton was to have been a member, but could not raise the money with which to pay for his interest. Brown informed Plumb, who was still his foreman, of Hinton's failure to pay in his portion of the money, and offered the share to Plumb. The mere ownership of an interest in a town- site did not appeal to Plumb, but if he could have part in the actual building of the town and be a factor in the growth of the community and the country round about and participate in the ever-increasing business bound to follow, then he would take the Hinton interest, which he did. It was arranged that he should establish a newspaper at the new town as soon as the material could be brought in, and Plumb decided to make Em- poria his future home. He went at once to Cincinnati and purchased from the Western Type Foundry there the complete equipment for his printing office, securing payment for some part of the bill by executing mort- gages on various lots in the new town. It was necessary, also, to provide a working force for the office, and for this purpose he went on to Xenia, where he in- duced his old foreman, Jacob Stotler, and other young men, to go to Emporia. This was in March, and Plumb was so anxious to get his paper under way early in the year that EMPORIA TOWN COMPANY 61 he went back to Cincinnati and accompanied his material on the boat to St. Louis. There he hoped to get it on board a boat which he knew was to depart for Kansas on a certain day, and when he arrived he saw lying above him the Kansas boat preparing to get under way. He hastily loaded his newspaper equip- ment on drays and sent it up to the wharf of the Kan- sas steamer. Then he went in haste to a paper store and purchased a stock of material for his new office. With this consignment of the things he was to buy in St. Louis he hurried to the river. The boat was getting into mid-stream when he was seen coming down the levee at the head of a profession of rattling carts and frantically hailing the receding craft, which, after a time, swung to and came back to the Landing. On board, to his surprise and satisfaction, he found his father and all his family on the way to Kansas to settle at Mariposa. While his supplies were being put on board he told his father of the change in his plans — told him of the valley of the Neosho and Emporia and how to get there. Plumb himself did not come up on that boat. At Kansas City David Plumb remained several days to buy oxen to take his family to Emporia in a wagon he had made in Ohio and brought with him. Once on the Santa Fe trail and fully under way the prairies ap- peared. Away on the horizon a house glittered in the fitful sun of April. It remained in sight most of the day, dissolving into a tiny shack when reached, and be- ing the only building on the Olathe townsite. Frey P. McOee had a house of entertainment at One Hundred and Ten Mile Creek, six or eight miles from Burlin- game, but finding that David Plumb was from Ohio and an anti-slavery man, declined to receive him for the night, though it was cold, and the son, Josephus, was very ill. The utmost that could be done was to get the sick bov into the negro quarters for the night. David 62 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Plumb was eight days on the road from Kansas City to Emporia, arriving there on the 8th of April at sundown. He found men unloading some cottonwood lumber, of which three settlers built a house the next day, and he moved into it on the evening of the 9th. It was the first house on the townsite and he moved out of it as soon as he had found a claim. CHAPTER XI EM FORI A Emporia is twenty miles south of the old Santa Fe Trail, the ancient highway from the Missouri to Mexico. It is six miles from the junction of the rivers which flow on either side, and it was beyond the fringes of tim- ber then growing along their banks. There was not so much as a shrub on the townsite, which was covered with a coarse sedgy grass known as "blue stem" or "prairie grass," with a sod so thick and tough as to be frequently used in building the walls of dwellings. The trails of the Osages and Sacs and Foxes crossed at that point, and the title to a portion of the town land was perfected by laying upon it a Wyandotte Indian "float," a species of land warrant peculiar to Kansas. 1 Only those men who have sen it can realize the deso- lation of a Western prairie lying dead in the grip of winter. The endless and undulating waste is thickly i In the treaty concluded with the Wyandot tribe of Indians at Upper Sandusky March 17. 1842, the Government, as an inducement to tlit> Indians to make the treaty, agreed to grant by patent in fee- simple to Isaiah Walker and thirty-four other Wyandots G40 acres of land each, "out of any lands west of the Missouri River set apart for Indian use, not already claimed or occupied by any person or tribe." The Wyandots moved to Kansas in 1S44, but none of Un- persons entitled to do so took up any of these tracts for some years. When Kansas Territory was established it was impossible to secure absolute title to much of the land, as the surveys were incomplete. Then the Wyandots owning them began to sell these patents, for as they could he located on any public land they gave absolute title at once. As they could be laid on any portion of the public domain they were called " floating claims" or " floats." That used to secure title to the townsite of Emporia was obtained from Isaiah Walker. C3 64 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB covered with red-brown grass, withered and lifeless. This melancholy prospect is gashed with channels of vagabond streams wandering to all quarters and along which grow fringes of deciduous timber. The inter- laced tops of the trees, leafless and bare, stand a blue- black silhouette sharply out against leaden or opaline skies, and often in violent agitation from the action of ceaseless winds. But when winter is dead and the swaying winds have sunk to gentle breezes; when the snows have vanished and the rains have fallen; when the song birds have returned, and the waterfowl come over the moors and wake the solitude of the streams — then is revealed a transformation incapable of realiza- tion by those who have never beheld it. The pale-green grass becomes a living carpet gorgeously painted with the flame of innumerable wild flowers. The trees put on a dress of striking color to adorn and define the land- scape. The sky softens to silver and amethyst, and the salubrious air quickens like wine. It was the season of such transformation in the year 1857, that the building of Emporia began. Canvas- covered wagons carrying families began to arrive while the snow still lay in the ravines and on the north ex- posures. Sawmills were set up in the broadest reaches of timber, and small rough houses began to appear on the townsite, while rude cabins of logs rose about the skirts of the woods. The Town Company erected a ho- tel, and those who proposed to engage in mercantile pursuits put up buildings for stores. Early in May Plumb began to assemble at Emporia the various parts of his newspaper equipment. The strenuous life of 1856 had told against his health, which was now precarious. He had suffered from recurring hemorrhages of the lungs during the winter, but his will was iron, and he was in a constant glow of contagious enthusiasm. His press had not been brought out from the Missouri River, a matter which gave him some EMPOEIA 65 concern, for the spring had been wet and the trails were heavy. Stotler had been working in the office of the Herald of Freedom since his arrival in Kansas, and Plumb now assigned him the task of getting the press to Emporia. James H. Holmes, one of John Brown's ardent followers, had given up service under the grim old Puritan and had taken a claim at one of the cross- ings of the Neosho, which came to be known as Holmes's Ford. He had become possessed of a stout wagon and five yoke of oxen. He was sent, together with David Plumb, then living on his claim near the town, with his wagon and three yoke of oxen, to Old Wyandotte, at the mouth of the Kansas River, to bring out the press and other heavy appliances for the printing office. The teams bad to be doubled at every creek and heavy grade, and they were on the road three weeks, arriving at Em- poria about the first of June. On the 6th of June the first number of the Kanzas News was issued at Emporia, It was a six-column folio modeled after tin- Xenia News, from which it got its name. It was ably written, well printed and of good appearance. The leading article was in advocacy of free homesteads of one hundred acres to be given actual set- tlers on the public domain, and said, " we are at war with slavery because thai institution crushes labor and degrades industry. Therefore, we are in favor, as the basis of all true progress, <>f placing every man and woman in a position of industrial independence.'' Three years later Stotler, then proprietor of the paper, wrote an account of how the first number was published. There were just three houses in Emporia at that time — the hotel, the store, and a small building temporarily used by Mr. Storrs for a store and dwelling: size 14x16 feet. The type for the first number were " set up " in one of the chamber-rooms of the hotel, while the sheets were "worked off" in what i^ now the parlor. Piles of newspaper bundles did service respectively as "Editor's table," "Bank," and "Stone" stand. The editor 66 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB (Plumb) was "press-man," and occasionally he went to the " case " to set up an editorial. The issue of the second number, it was announced, "would be delayed two weeks in order to give a chance to fix up matters in the office." But the editor was taken sick with the smallpox just before the second number was ready to be issued, which delayed it several days longer. At that time no post-office had been established at Emporia. It was a Free-State town, and the Pro- Slavery authorities were not disposed to aid it in any way, so the first issue of the paper was sent to Lawrence to be mailed, as were following issues for some time. Mail for Emporia was directed to " Box 500 " at Law- rence and was carried down by any traveler or emigrant who might be going that way. A post-office was established at the Columbia townsite, a mile and a half away, but the mail for Emporia was deposited by the carrier in a hollow tree at Holmes's Ford. These condi- tions made it difficult for Plumb to get his exchanges promptly. The Kanzas News was at once recognized as a vigor- ous advocate of the Free-State cause. In fact, it be- came the leading paper of the Free-State party in the Territory and was the last to consent to the abandon- ment of the old name when the Republican party was organized. " The News was surprisingly well edited," wrote Stotler. " It took rank at once with the best in the Territory, and never occupied a doubtful position on any question. Plumb seemed to know everything at twenty, and what surprised his friends was where he learned so much." The whole community looked to Plumb as the leader, though he was not twenty until the October following the founding of his second successful newspaper in June. The advice of no other man in Kansas was ever so much sought by neighbors and friends. He directed everything. No enterprise was undertaken until he had been consulted. He pointed out vacant claims, aided EMPORIA 67 settlers to get located, helped to build houses, and looked after the comfort of everybody. At Lawrence he had lived in the home of Mr. N. S. Storrs, who moved to Em- poria and was living in the third house on the townsite when the first number of the News was printed. It had rained the day he arrived and the night was cold. He could get no rooms at the hotel and took his family to this small house to sleep. Plumb came in about ten o'clock and hoard of it. He went to the house, and knocking on the door, said, " Is that you, Storrs? Is .Mrs. Storrs in there?" "Yes," said Storrs, "we are all in here." " Have you any bedding? " asked Plumb. " Very little," replied Storrs, " only a double shawl for .Mrs. Storrs and the baby." " Here, give her my blan- ket," said Plumb — and he departed and slept without one. It was at this time that Plumb contracted the small- pox. Burlingame was the halfway station between Emporia and Lawrence. Plumb had to go to Lawrence frequently, and he often made the trip on foot. Return- ing from thai town aboul the middle of June, he stopped at Burlingame for supper. Smallpox had made its ap- pearance in the settlement, and Plumb heard that a Mr. Wright, from Ohio, had been stricken with the dis- ease and taken to a lonely cabin far out on the prairie and quarantined there. Plumb condemned this action as cruel and resolved to help the sufferer. He secured blankets and had a basket filled with such delicacies as he could get at the hotel, and these he carried to the cabin, which, as it was at night, he reached by aid of a lantern. He found the man extremely ill and remained with him through the night. The next day he went about the settlement in search of better quarters for his patient and found a man and wife who had both had smallpox. These he induced to receive the sick man into their home, himself paying them the excessive com- pensation always demanded for such services. He 68 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB could get no one to help hiin, and it was with difficulty that he could obtain a wagon to carry the man to his new quarters, but he did at length get one and moved the man himself. The man recovered. Plumb went on to Emporia and was soon down with the disease. He had taken the precaution to have those exposed to it at Emporia vaccinated. A cabin north of the town was prepared for him and he was taken there, and McClung, his companion through Iowa and at Mariposa, attended him through his illness, the deep pits of which marked his face for life. McClung was then a young physician and he went through the Civil War as Surgeon in an Ohio regiment and later became eminent in his profes- sion at Xenia. Emporia made substantial progress in 1857. The winter came on cold. There were no plastered dwell- ings, and carpets were tacked on the walls to keep out the winter wind. Early in the spring settlers began to arrive, and many came that summer and fall. In one family there were two daughters, perhaps the first young women at Em- poria. One of them, still living there, loves to talk of those pioneer days. " The people were mostly young and hopeful," she has said, " and the country looked so bright and promising that it seemed all we had to do was to break the prairies and bring forth anything we wished. And that was the case, for we broke the prai- rie and brought forth a civilization and made a land of bounteous plenty." She recalls the expedients which the young people devised for their entertainment, Her father lived one winter in a house adjoining that in which Plumb and his friends had their room. She sometimes heard them discussing the most satisfactory manner of adjusting their limited stock of garments to the social requirements of the time. One might say to Stotler, " Jake, you will have to work to-night ; can't I wear your vest? " Or this to McClung, " Mac, you are EMPORIA 69 not able to get out to-night; can't I wear your coat? It is better than mine." " But," she adds, " none of them ever asked to wear Plumb's coat, for he rarely took it off." He wore a suit of gray until he wore it out completely. Judge Bailey, afterwards Plumb's law- partner and Justice of the Supreme Court, wore a suit of blue from the time he came from New England until his election to the Supreme Court. Reflecting on those days she says, " We had better times than people have now. We had left the past behind us, and we had the fu- ture to make. We enjoyed the present. We could live in a one-room cabin and have a good time and enjoy life." Every new house was dedicated with a dance. All the young people were expected to be present. Plumb was not a graceful dancer, but he danced with all his might — with head, hands and feet, and enjoyed himself, as all did. After the dance Judge Bailev was alwavs sent home with the girl who lived farthest out in the coun- try, seeming never to notice thai lie was imposed on for the sake of the joke. Once Plumb had just returned from Lawrence, probably OH foot, ami was asleep in a chair by the stove in his office. A lodge of (rood Tem- plars was being organized in the next building and smoke drifted into the room. The cause was sought, and the roof of Plumb's printing-office was found to be on fire. A bucket of water was poured down the stove- pipe, completely drenching him. lie was very angry and used some emphatic expressions, supposing it a prac- tical joke, of which there were many in the early days of Emporia. One of the self-constituted firemen re- monstrated with him — "Why, man, your office was burning up, and we were putting out the fire!" "Well," said Plumb, somewhat mollified, "can't a man have a little bonfire of his own without being wet down with cold water?" The ague was the plague of the pioneers. It seemed to rise with miasmatic exudations from the virgin soil 70 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB newly broken. It was a protracted malady, rarely fatal, and was notorious for the converse modes of its tortures, the victim shivering and quaking from a frosty temperature to-day and perhaps suffering from a scorching fever on the morrow. The skin became yel- low and the countenance drawn. It sapped the strength and vigor of the settlers, and some of them became dif- fident and despondent. Most of them, however, fought it off and finally wore it out, jesting about it even while racked and shaken by it. The people were not long without the enjoyment of Christian privileges. The pioneer preacher was Rev. G. C. Morse, famed as one of the devoted " Andover Band." 2 He cast his lot w 7 ith this outpost of civiliza- tion and did his full share in making it an outpost of Zion. He took a claim and roughed it like his frontier neighbors. The ague did not spare him, and often while suffering from it he held church services wherever he could assemble the people. He cut logs on his own claim for the church he intended to build and set so good an example in toil and patience under difficulties that his influence spread into all the Territory. He lived to see a great church rise in the city of his adop- tion, due largely to his sacrifices, though it is doubtful if he ever took to himself any great credit for his labors and his privations. A surviving pioneer whose family first knew him at Emporia made this mention of one of his early Sunday services: We went to church to-day. Mr. Morse, if he is able to get about at all, always goes to town on Sunday, and if he can get a few people together and find a place to gather them in, there 2 The Kansas Andover Band was composed of Richard Cordley, S. D. Storrs, G. C. Morse, and R. D. Parker. It was formed at Andover Theological Seminary in the summer of 1856 to make Kansas the field of labor for its members. The Kansas troubles inspired these young men then entering the ministry, and they became a power for good in Kansas. See Pioneer Days in Kansas, by Richard Cord- ley, for a full account of their labors. EMPORIA 71 is preaching. "We stopped in front of the hotel, thinking they might be having services in the hotel parlor. Billy went in and soon returned with a tall, slender man. His hair was rather long, and he had a jerky way of throwing his head, as if trying to keep a particularly long lock out of his eyes. Indeed, all his movements seemed to be abrupt and full of energy. He was dressed in a suit of light gray cloth, with a felt hat of the same color — all looked as if they had had a good bit of wear. They must have been of good stuff, for I do not remember his wear- ing any other suit in those early days. Billy introduced him as Preston B. Plumb. He said, "Certainly, we are going to have church, but come in, and Billy and I will hustle around and locate the church." After some time he returned and said their meeting would be in a little unfinished dwelling, which was sided up and had a roof and floor, but no doors or window-glass. In going out we passed through the hotel office, which was full of men that I am sure were not there when we went in. Mr. Plumb introduced them. Some of them were from Xenia, Ohio, and we claimed them for neighbors. We seemed to be objects of par- ticular attention, and afterward burned that there were twenty- five young men in Emporia, and only two young ladies. The whole crowd started for church, Mr. Plumb leading the way, telling us of tin's beautiful valley, the fertility of the soil, of Emporia's future possibilities and probabilities, emphasizing all he said with quick, decisive manner. Boards had been laid on some trestles for scats. We found Mr. and Mrs. Morse and two women there, and those who came with us formed the coiiLrrega- tion. Mr. Morse preached a good sermon, although he looked as if ho had just conquered a chill and was keeping the fever in subjection until he got home. His grit and perseverance were always a marvel to me. Mi-. Plumb and his companions gave us Borne fine singing. For many years they contributed this part of the church service cheerfully. Mr. and Mrs. Morse rode home with us. He told us they would soon have a church-home in Emporia — that he had com- menced felling trees to be used in its building, and had been handicapped by this abominable ague, but that he would soon get the better of that. Mow this church home was finally obtained has been told by Mis. Morse, as follows: Dr. Morse organized the Congregational Church at Emporia in 1858. The first building of this church was erected in 1860. 72 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB I met Senator Plumb very soon after we arrived in Emporia, and the first thing I noticed was the way he went about any busi- ness transaction. He was the inspiration of the town. He was struggling to get a start, was publishing the paper of the town and seeking to get a railroad headed towards it. He was the head and front of every enterprise to benefit and build up the town and that part of Kansas, then the extreme frontier. When the subscriptions to build the church were asked he put down his name for ten dollars — the largest subscription obtained, the next largest being five dollars. The building cost about seven hundred dollars. Some people stipulated that their subscrip- tions should be paid by furnishing oxen to haul logs, lumber, or stone, and some paid in logs and lumber; and some paid by furnishing chains for hauling the logs to mill to be sawed. When the second building was erected Senator Plumb subscribed seven hundred dollars, but paid about one thousand dollars. He always contributed liberally to the support of the church and was quite a regular attendant at the services, though he really leaned to the Methodist Church. Pioneer life gives strength. In America it has ab- sorbed the attention of the greatest minds and developed our greatest men — Washington, Jefferson, Benton, Clay and Lincoln. Emporia was a stake in the occu- pation of our domain. The details of its growth were small things, but their fostering was fraught with por- tent and begot in those who worked them out the capability requisite for dealing with the greater prob- lems of our national life. CHAPTER XII THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION The Lecompton Constitution was the last stand of the slave power in Kansas. The cause had been des- perate, and the Pro-Slavery leaders in Kansas believed it already lost. The Lecompton Constitution was not an expression of the sentiment of even the Pro-Slavery party in Kansas. It was of foreign origin. All its details were planned in Washington. The secrecy, mys- tery, and intrigue used to forward it were mainly new weapons in the hands of the Kansas representatives of the slavery interests. They were familiar with bluster, open force, noisy and murderous invasions by Border- Ruffians on election days, and fraud, the last of which was finally resorted to by the leaders of the Lecompton movement upon the failure of the imported methods. This constitution had its inception in the Bogus Leg- islature. When, however, the time for carrying it into effect had arrived the National House of Representatives was not subservient to slavery demands, which made it necessary to rely <>n Territorial authority for the in- itiative and consummation of this last effort to make Kansas a slave state. The Second Territorial Legis- lature met January 12, 1857, and on the 10th of Feb- ruary passed a bill for a Constitutional Convention at Lecompton. The provisions of the bill were purposely ambiguous, and Geary, the newly-appointed Governor, vetoed it for the reason that no provision was made to submit the contemplated constitution to a vote of the people, but the veto was overridden. Geary fled the 73 74 TIIE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Territory to save his life, and Robert J. Walker was ap- pointed in his stead. Walker was a man of ability and reputation, and a practical politician. Kansas was a fine field for the exercise of his powers, but the wily Governor overreached himself and was repudiated by the Buchanan administration. He had rendered the Free-State cause some good service, but whether from good-will or to defy the Pro-Slavery party, then con- demning his actions, there is some question. As a part of the Lecompton scheme he proposed that the Free- State men should take part in the Territorial elections, and the " voting question " was uppermost in Free- State councils most of the year 1857. It involved a change in the policy of the Anti-Slavery forces and pro- duced diversity of opinion, as well as some discord and excitement. In July the Free-State party met in convention at Topeka to discuss the question. No decision was reached, but another convention was called to meet at Grasshopper Falls in August, to take definite action. Lane was appointed to organize the people to protect the ballot-boxes at the approaching elections and tender the services of the force to Governor Walker for that pur- pose. In this work Lane divided the Territory into mil- itary districts and made necessary appointments of as- sistants, one of which was conferred on Plumb, and is here given: Headquarters Kansas Volunteers For the Protection of the Ballot-Box, Lawrence, July 20, 1857. Whereas, the people of Kansas, in convention at Topeka, July 15, 1857, did adopt the following resolutions: Resolved, That General James H. Lane be appointed by this convention, and authorized to organize the people in the several districts, to protect the ballot boxes at the approaching elections in Kansas. Now, Therefore, in pursuance of the authority thus vested in me by the people of Kansas, I do hereby constitute and appoint THE LECOMPTOX CONSTITUTION 75 P. B. Plumb, Superintendent of Enrollment, Fourth Brigade, Second Division. [Included Emporia.] This appointment is conferred upon said P. B. Plumb by vir- tue of confidence entertained by me in his patriotism and in- tegrity, well knowing that in his hands every duty appertaining to the aforesaid position will be faithfully discharged. Given at the office of the Adjutant General. J. H. Laxe, Organizing. M. F. Conway, Adjutant General. 1 While the Kansas News contains no reference to the attendance of Plumb at the convention at Grasshopper Falls, now Valley Falls, in Jefferson County, it is known that he was there and had a prominent part in its de- liberations. As J. S. Stewart, one of the first settlers of Allen County, and a delegate to the convention, neared Prai- rie City someone on a wiry pony galloped down the Old Santa Fe Trail and met him. It was Plumb, also on his way to the convention.* i The Divisions of the State and announcement of officers were sent out in General Order No. 2, widely published in the Free state papers of the time. Printed copies were also made, a few of which are pre- served in the library of the State Historical Society. There is a photographic copy of this commission of appointment in the library of .Mrs. l'. B. Plumb. It was printed in the Hiawatha World and Topcka, Commonwealth, but on what dates lias not been ascertained. -Statement of Stewart, June 28, 1010. He said: I was mounted on a good horse, but I had some trouble to keep pace with my chauce acquaintance, who soon demonstrated that he was a hard rider. He seemed an overgrown boy. very tall and slim, but with an air about him that showed him a person of force and push. He soon said he was Preston B. Plumb, of Emporia, and that he was on his way as a delegate to the convention to be held at Grass- hopper Falls the following day. We forded the Kansas River. Plumb was enthusiastic over Kansas and had no doubt that it would be a free state but did not minimize the struggle it would take yet to make it free. I think Plumb addressed the meeting more than once but as I was on some of the Committees and not present all the time, cannot say. and I do not remember to have heard him. I think Plumb was on a committee of twenty-five of which I was chairman. 76 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB It was decided that the Free-State party, relying on the assurance given by Governor Walker, should par- ticipate in the election of a delegate to Congress and of a Territorial Legislature in October. Fear of Lane's forces kept the Border-Ruffians out of the Territory ex- cept at a few points on the line of Missouri, where a large number of fraudulent votes were cast. For re- jecting the returns from these points and declaring the election of the Free-State candidates for the Legisla- ture, and later calling this Legislature into special ses- sion, both Walker and his Secretary, Stanton, were re- moved from office by President Buchanan. The Free- State party had won the Legislature; and the special session in December 1857, ordered that the Lecompton constitution be submitted to a vote of the people, some- thing never contemplated by those back of that instru- ment, and it was almost unanimously rejected. For- gery was resorted to by the Lecompton adherents, the leaders of whom left the Territory through fear of vio- lence, and the scene of conflict was changed to Wash- ington, where much money and patronage were used to force the discredited constitution through Congress. But it failed. In all this Lecompton struggle Plumb bore an active and effective part. Every issue of his paper contained strong articles and able editorials against the attempt to enslave the future State. His article on " Revolu- tion " has not been surpassed by any writer on Kansas Territorial times. He was one of the last to consent to the voting policy, 3 believing it an abandonment of 3 The Free-State men, having a government of their own, did not vote at the elections held under the Bogus Laws. They held their own elections. Governor Walker wished to destroy the government of the Free-State men, and proposed that they vote in the Territorial elections, promising that the elections should be fair. The movement in the Free-State party to accept the invitation of Governor Walker to participate in the election held under the Territorial laws was called the " voting policy." It was finally adopted. Governor Walker THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION 77 the Topeka Constitution, but he accepted the decision of the Free-State party and did all in his power to make the new policy a success. kept his promise, rejecting the fraudulent votes east, and giving the Territorial Legislature to the Free-State men. That was the be- ginning of the end of Pro-Slavery rule iu Kansas. CHAPTER XIII THE LEAVENWORTH CONSTITUTION The Leavenworth Constitution was the counter move- ment of the Free-State people against the Lecompton Constitution. It was devised, framed and sent to Con- gress while the Lecompton Constitution was being pressed by the Pro-Slavery interests at Washington and in Kansas. The Topeka Constitution had held the Free- State forces together until the emigration of 1857 had enabled them to participate in the Territorial election, where they won the Territorial Legislature. That the Lecompton Constitution might be submitted to a vote of the people, Acting-Governor Stanton convened the Legislature in special session December 7, 1857. The session was very brief, but the regular session began at Lecompton January 4, 1858. The loss of the Terri- torial Legislature by the Pro-Slavery forces had put them at a disadvantage, and the only means now left them for making Kansas a slave state was the Lecomp- ton Constitution. They knew it could be forced on the people only by fraud and violence, to both of which they were ready to resort. Some of the leaders of the Free-State party, anxious to begin the realization of the benefits to come with the material development of the Territory, which they believed would immediately follow its admission, were not strong in their opposi- tion to the Lecompton movement. They insisted that the evils of this slave constitution, now that the Free- State party had control of the legislative power and an increasing majority at the polls, could be overcome by 78 THE LEAVENWORTH CONSTITUTION 79 the State Government which they believed themselves strong enough to organize. This, of course, was a sor- did view of the matter and an utter repudiation of what the Free-State men had contended for with arms in hand. To oppose more effectively the Lecompton Con- stitution and counteract whatever disaffection might exist in their ranks, the Free-State men who were moved alone by patriotism forced a direct opposition issue in the movement for the Leavenworth Constitution. And as Congress had not provided an enabling act for the Lecompton Constitution, of which it was taking favor- able notice, the Free-State men believed they might law- fully proceed without special Congressional direction. For authorizing the special session of the Legislature Acting-Governor Stanton had been removed, and James W. Denver, Commissioner of Indian affairs, who chanced to be then in the Territory, was appointed to his place. The active opposition of Denver, to the movement for the Leavenworth Constitution succeeded in casting doubt on the legality of the Legislative acl authorizing the convention. 1 Hut notwithstanding the antagonism of the Acting-Governor, the movement was carried forward. The delegates were elected March 9, 1858, about nine thousand yotes having been cast. On the 23d of March they met at Minneola, a town in Franklin County, which the Legislature had made the Territorial capital over the veto of the Governor. It developed that many members of the Legislature were stockholders in the town company, and the matter came soon to be known as the "Minneola swindle." The Territorial officials refused to take their offices to the new capital, and by the time lixed for the meeting of the convention the scandal had become notorious. i See address delivered by Denver at the Old Settlors' Meeting, Bismarck Grove, Lawrence, September 3, 1884, reprinted in Vol. 3, Kansas Historical Collections, p. 359 et scq. Some of Lis statements are much exaggerated. 80 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Many of the delegates wished to adjourn to some other place, but others, who had large interests in the new town, threatened to desert the Free-State party and break it up if such adjournment was taken. The mat- ter was debated all night. Lane, who had been elected president, took the floor in favor of adjournment and delivered one of the most dramatic and powerful speeches of his life. 2 The convention adjourned to Leavenworth, where it met on the 25th of March. Eighty-four members were in attendance. At Leaven- worth Lane resigned as president, and M. F. Conway was elected to that place. Samuel F. Tappan, a mem- ber of the company of " Grizzlies " and one of Plumb's companions through Iowa and Nebraska, was secretary. This convention was perhaps the most brilliant body which ever assembled in Kansas. Many of these dele- gates afterward attained distinguished honors. There was Lane, the sword and shield of the Free-State move- ment, later United States Senator, a Major-General, and one of the chief advisers of President Lincoln. Thomas Ewing, Jr., was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Colonel of the Eleventh Kansas, a Brigadier-General, and Commander of the District of the Border; he was 2T. Dwight Thacher, a delegate, thus described this speech: The night was far spent. The candles had burned down in their sockets. The debate had been long, and at times angry. Some of the members were deeply interested in Minneola, and in their excitement they threatened that if the convention should adjourn from Minneola they would abandon the Free-State party and break it up. This threat aroused the sleeping lion in Lane. He came down from the chair, where he had presided with great fairness during the debate, and took the floor. All eyes were upon him. The drowsy members sat upright. As he proceeded with his speech the interest intensified, and members began to gather round him, sitting upon the desks and standing in the aisles. I shall never forget the scene — the dimly- lighted room ; the darkness without ; the excited men within ; little Warren, the Sergeant-at-Arms, standing unconscious upon the floor, with partly outstretched arms, and wholly carried away by the speech ; and Lane himself aroused to a pitch of excitement which I never saw him manifest on any other occasion during his whole career. — See Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. 3, p. 13. THE LEAVENWORTH CONSTITUTION 81 elected to Congress from Ohio, and was a lawyer in New York City. Robert B. Mitchell was a fine soldier, a Major-General, and Governor of New Mexico. J. M. Walden became a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. H. P. Johnson, a Colonel in the Union army, fell at the head of his troops at Morristown, Mo. Martin F. Conway was the first member of Congress from Kansas. Edward Lynde was Colonel of the Ninth Kansas. There were James M. TVinchell, S. N. Wood, T. Dwight Thacher, William W. Ross, James S. Emery, and many others who had fought in the Free-State ranks, and who were long foremost in the public affairs of Kansas. Plumb was a delegate from his county. This was his first experience in a deliberat ive body. He was just past twenty, but had the appearance and manner of one of mature life and intellect. lie took a prominent part in the proceedings of the convention, his intense ear- nestness, his common-sense views, his devotion to the Free-State cause, all serving to secure him recognition and attention. lie acquitted himself well. The favor- able impression he made was of much assistance to him later in life, and the friendships formed there continued long into the future. The attachment between him and Ewing resulted in mutual confidence and reciprocal favors for many years. His observation of the political methods of his associates gave him an insight into the manner of solving great political problems. 3 His service s The Leavenworth Constitution was the most able and perhaps the besl constitution of the four formed for Kansas. The old Free-State or Topeka Constitution was the model after which it was written, hut it was greatly superior in every way. All class distinctions were obliterated and the free negro was a competent elector. In fact, it was held by some that the right of unrestricted suffrage was con- ferred on women, the term "universal suffrage" being construed as giving the right, which, in all probability, it did. The western boundary of the state was fixed at the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The constitution was viciously assailed hy the Pro-Slavery party. The struggle to avoid admission under the Lecompton Constitution 82 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB in this convention was one of the events of his life of which he always spoke with pride and satisfaction. engrossed the attention of the people, and while the Leavenworth Constitution was adopted, the vote was small, and it was buried in the archives of the United States Senate when presented to that body with a prayer that Kansas be admitted with it as the fundamental law. CHAPTER XIV TROUBLES IN SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS THAT part of the Territory on the Osage about the old Trading Post founded by Chouteau was early in- vaded by Border-Ruffians. Missourians voted there for members of the " Bogus Legislature." James Mont- gomery first appeared as champion of the Free-State people at that election. The issue there was the same as at Lawrence and Osawatomie — resistance of Free- State settlers to Border-Ruffian outrage and oppression. G. W. Clarke, one of the murderers of Barber, recruited a force in Missouri which marched from Fort Scott to aid in the destruction of Lawrence ami other Free-State towns in the summer of L856. This force was pursued by Montgomery with one hundred ami twenty men. A battle was fought August 25 on Middle Creek, nine miles from Osawatomie, in which the Missourians, though they numbered one hundred ami fifty, were defeated and dispersed, leaving two wounded men, their camp equi- page, and a cooked dinner on the field. Later in the year Clarke returned to that region at the head of four hundred Border-Ruffians, and expelled the Free-State men and placed Missourians on their hinds. The unfortunate settlers were plundered of their personal property also. They returned in the summer of 1857 and endeavored, by peaceable means, to recover their property. While violence had somewhat subsided in the Territory, the Border-Ruffians holding these lands refused to surrender them to their rightful owners. They appealed for help to the Pro-Slavery So 84 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB court at Fort Scott, where they preferred many criminal charges against the Free-State claimants, causing their arrest and imprisonment " at Fort Scott in cells unfit even for felons to inhabit," wrote General James H. Lane, who had been appointed by the Territorial Legis- lature to organize and command the militia. 1 Lane ordered Colonel J. B. Abbott, Dr. Gilpatrick, and Rev. J. E. Stewart to repair to the troubled district and es- tablish a squatter court for the settlement of the con- troversies which were at the bottom of the difficulties. The decisions of this court were not satisfactory to the Pro-Slavery men in possession of the lands of the Free- State settlers. When the court had disposed of the cases on the Little Osage, the militia under its direction and the settlers who had been restored to their rights were attacked by a posse commanded by the U. S. Marshal. The attack was successfully resisted and some of the posse killed. General Lane, in the meantime, was assembling and organizing the militia. On December 17, 1857, he had appointed Plumb to a position on his staff. 2 Learning that a force of Federal troops might be sent to the scene of these troubles, Lane sent " General Phillips and Plumb in advance " to bear this intelligence, and fol- lowed immediately with a considerable force under Gen- erals Stratton, Whitman, Shore, and Lenhart, arriving at Mound City after the attack of the posse on the i This appointment was December 16, 1857, by the Legislature hav- ing a Free-State majority by the rejection of the fraudulent Oxford and McGhee returns. 2 Only the notice of this appointment remains. In the library of Mrs. P. B. Plumb there is a photographic copy of this notice as follows : Hd. Quarters Kansas Militia, Dec. 17, 1857. Sir: You are hereby notified of your appointment as Aid De camp to the Major Genl. under the act entitled an act for the Organization and Regulation of the Militia passed Dec. 16, 1857. J. H. Lane, Maj. Genl. TROUBLES IN SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS 85 squatter court. His total force was about four hundred men. Camp was made about two miles west of the town. The settlers were enrolled under the Militia act and preparations made for a stand against the Ruffians, the officers of the courts at Fort Scott, and even the Federal soldiers. Scouting parties were sent out to in- form the people that all actual settlers would be pro- tected without reference to their political opinions. The expedition was kindly received by the people, who cheerfully submitted to its authority. When the pacification of the district had been af- fected and Lane was on the point of disbanding his forces, the scouts came in and reported that troops \\<-re marching on the camp to attack it. Lane disposed his men to receive them and to 6ght if he found it neces- sary, holding his position until assured that the troops had returned to Fori Scott. Haying received written assurance from the Federal Judge at Fori Scott that the Free-State prisoners should have protection and fair treatment, Lane left two companies in the field to protect the inhabitants ami disbanded the remainder of his forces, making his report on January l.~. 1858. This winter campaign of a month in Southern Kansas was Plumb's first military experience. His activity and readiness f or duty brought him favorable notice from the officers, and the acquaintance formed then with many men who afterwards became prominent in Kansas affairs and the Civil War ripened into friendship. 3 a This account is taken mainly from the report of General Lane, which is found in House Journal, pp. 84-5, L858. It is the hest authority of this expedition which has been preserved, and is brief and general in its terms. CHAPTER XV THE BAR AND THE LEGISLATURE The intention to make the practice of law his profes- sion was not relinquished by Plumb through the turbu- lent times in which he was striving in the Free-State ranks for the freedom of Kansas. He and his friend McClung maintained an office in Emporia for the sale of lands and the preparation of such legal documents as had to be written there. But he looked forward to the time when he could command means and find op- portunity to enter on a thorough course of study of the law. This was known to his friends at Lawrence in the spring of 185G. 1 i Of that period Hon. William Higgins, Secretary of State and long prominent in Kansas affairs and Grand Army matters in Kansas and Oklahoma, says : I met Preston B. Plumb at Lawrence when he was working on the Herald of Freedom before he started the Kansas News. During my stay of four months there Plumb and I were much together. We both liked outdoor pleasures, strolling in the woods and over the hills and valleys. He was a jolly-hearted fellow, interesting, and a great advo- cate of freedom and against Kansas becoming a slave state. He was a great admirer of Kansas and its possibilities. His predictions of its future greatness were amusing. They seemed the inspiration of a dreamer or one gifted with supreme imagination ; and the results he predicted seemed impossible, but we both lived to see most of them come true. In those days Plumb was without vices. He neither swore, drank, nor used tobacco in any form. He watched over and took care of the printers who were sporty, and when they were in need he shared his bed and bread with them, and for his attention and kindness they called him the Good Bishop. He loved to be with printers. He had no desire for society. He was a constant reader of papers and books of value. His ambition was to be a lawyer, and that was the only ambition in the way of professions that I ever heard him mention. But his great desire of those days, next to owning a 8G THE BAR AND THE LEGISLATURE 87 During the years immediately following the founding of Emporia Plumb led a strenuous life, as, indeed, he always did. It then required many times the energy and exertion to accomplish anything that it does to-day, for there were no railroads, no telegraph, and for some time no stages and no mails. The tough, wiry ponies of the West were the main reliance, and often Plumb could not get even one of these. Then he walked, for he permitted nothing to be neglected. He made the trip to Lawrence and return on foot many times — seventy- five miles being the distance between the points. If, however, there was a pony to be had he went on horse- back. 2 "I have," wrote Captain Heritage, "seen newspaper, was to own land in Kansas if it became a free state. lie wished to become an orator, or, at least, a good speaker, and be talked much about tbe great orators. He was to be found at all public meet- in^, where be was a good listener. I beard him make his first speech in Kansas. It was at a Free-State meeting. Sam Walker was talk- ing when Plumb and I entered. He was telling of some outrage recently committed by the Border-Ruffians, and Plumb became rest- less and excited. He said be would like to talk. I urged him to do so, but he hesitated. All at once he jumped to his feet, and without displaying any weakness, he started in. He enlisted attention and seemed to have been inspired with ideas, and words to express them. His unpolished ways as a speaker, and his blunt way of presenting bis forcible language brought out cheers. When he sat down he had made a bit and did not know it. He had fixed an impression on the citizens gathered there that he was a young man of force with an indi- viduality and intelligence which would aid to make Kansas a free state. ^ F. P. MacLennan, proprietor of the Topcku State Journal, gave the author the following on this subject: Jacob Stotler often told me that Plumb was supposed to be dying of consumption in the early days of Emporia. He would be seized with a paroxysm of coughing so severe that it was feared he would die as a result of it, and a severe hemorrhage of the lungs sometimes followed it. Plumb recovered quickly after the coughing tit was over. And nothing could dampen or impair his enthusiasm and optimism. Stotler was deeply concerned for Plumb's health in those days, and was always anxious when a fit of coughing seized him. His friends feared he could not stand the hardships of a soldier, but tbe war cured bis consumption. Stotler said that when news was scarce at Emporia and times be- came dull Plumb would frequently startle his associates and com- 88 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Plumb start out horseback for Topeka or Lawrence or Kansas City when there was some little cloud in the sky as big as your hand about a railroad or something. I followed him once to Burlingame. The man who kept up with him had a hard task. He sat first on one side of the pony and then on the other and could ride farther in a day than any man I know of. He had so much steam in him ! " Once on his way to Lawrence Plumb said to Dr. Bailey, then living at Burlingame: " You might as well go along with me to Lawrence. It will be a fine ride ; and we will be back to-morrow. I should like your company." Bailey said he would go, and brought out his pony. Before he could get into the saddle Plumb was mounted and thirty yards out on the road. " And," said Bailey, " that is as near as I got to him on the ride to Lawrence. He was a hard rider. And it was the same on returning the next day. I trailed behind. We did not talk, for I was busy keeping in sight. But such was the way of Plumb. He did everything in such an intense way that I knew his action was entirely natural. He would not wait. He was not moody nor unsocial. And such was the per- sonality of the man that I enjoyed my trip, and I know he enjoyed my company." 3 Plumb early made efforts to get a railroad into the Neosho Valley. He was one of the incorporators of the panions by announcing suddenly, and without any previous intima- tion, and regardless of the time of day, " I believe I will go to Lawrence and find out what is going on." To decide was to act. In ten minutes be would be on his way. If it was late in the afternoon be would go east ten or twelve miles to Duck Creek and stop over night with his friend, Oliver Phillips, then go on to Lawrence the next day. Sometimes he rode a slim, tough pony, and was a hard rider. Often the pony was not at band, then Plumb would walk to Lawrence and back. s This was told the author by A. H. Turner, Esq., Chanute, Kansas, where Dr. Bailey lived long and where he died. Bailey and Plumb remained warm friends until death, and Plumb, when in that part of the state, always visited the Doctor. THE BAR AND THE LEGISLATURE 89 Jefferson City & Neosho Valley Railroad, and was Sec- retary of the company, one of the first meetings of which was held at Lawrence, October 21, 1857. He spent much time and energy on this proposed road, but it was then too early to build railroads so far out on the Great Plains, and this one never was built. The Southern Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad was chartered about the close of the Ciyil War, and Plumb became interested in it. He was Secretary of the local company, and largely through his efforts a construction company was induced to build the road. It is now a part of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas sys- tem, and runs from Junction City to Parsons, though it was originally intended that it should extend to Fort Gibson. The Republican party was formally organized in Kansas at a convention held at Osawatomie, May 28, 1859. Horace Greeley was present and delivered an address. Plumb was in attendance, and an advocate of the step, and many of the measures he had long favored were incorporated in the platform which was adopted. The account of the convention which ap- peared in his paper was evidently written and published before his return, but the facts were furnished by him. Concerning the platform it says: " While it is strictly and distinctively Republican in every feature, it is yet so broadly catholic and liberal that even professional fault-finders will be at their wits' end to find aught against. Every plank is of solid oak, and the joiner work of the best description." The first general convention of the Republican party in Kansas was held at Topeka on the 12th of October, 1859, to nominate State officers under the Wyandotte Constitution. 4 To this convention Plumb was a dele- * The constitution under which Kansas was admitted into the Union was formed hy a convention convened at Wyandotte, now 90 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB gate, and lie and John A. Martin (afterwards Governor) were secretaries. Plumb bad, by this time great in- fluence in the councils of his party, and here he did much for Thomas Ewing, Jr., his associate in the Leavenworth convention, who was a candidate for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At his instance, too, L. D. Bailey, his townsman, was a candidate for As- sociate Justice of the same tribunal. Both were nom- inated by acclamation. It is doubtful if any other man secured so much from this convention as Plumb. It was held on his birthday. He was twenty-two — but in trial, effort, hardship, achievement, he had passed through enough for a long life, and if he had never ac- complished anything more he would have had a name in the history of his adopted State. There is some reason to believe that Plumb attended a law school at Cleveland, Ohio, in the winter of 1858-9, but that he did so is not certainly known. In the winter of 1S59-G0 he was in Cleveland at a law school, — also in the winter of 1860-61. He completed the course early in 1861, returning to Emporia late in Feb- ruary. With him came H. G. Plantz, doubtless a fel- low-student at Cleveland, and the law firm of Plumb & Plantz was announced. 5 Plumb was admitted to the bar at Burlington, Kansas, immediately after his re- turn from Cleveland. His law practice was interrupted by war's alarms. On the 8th of September the town of Humboldt was sacked by guerrillas under command of one Matthews, who had been an Indian trader, and who had married an Osage woman and lived near where Oswego was later established. The people in the valley of the Neosho were alarmed, and Plumb enlisted nine- Kansas City, Kansas, in July, 1859, by act of the Territorial Legisla- ture. It is the present constitution of the State. s Mention of the return of Plumb and the arrival of Plantz is to be found in the Kanzas ~Navs, February 23, 1861. The law card of the firm appears in the issue of March 2d. THE BAR AND THE LEGISLATURE 91 teen young men at Emporia and rode rapidly to the pillaged town. Two companies were on the ground when he arrived. Colonel J. G. Blunt took command of the assembled force and pursued Matthews, coming up with him near the line of the Indian Territory. In the skirmish which ensued the guerrillas could not be forced to battle, but Matthews was killed and his force dispersed. In this campaign Plumb first met Blunt, and this was the first experience of each of them in the Civil War. In November, 1861, Plumb was elected a member of the Legislature. But for this election he would have enlisted in the army in 18G1. He was urged by the people to accept the place in the Legislature and secure them some much desired relief from the injustice of Territorial legislation, especially thai relating to county boundary lines, and this he consented to do, though he had intended- to enlist in May." In the Legislature Plumb was one of the few mem- bers in eveiv such botlv who transact its business. The most important matter demanding attention was the abuse of the treasury by certain State officials. Early in the session it developed that the provisions of the law had been violated in the sale of State bonds. At the instance of Martin Anderson, afterwards Major in the Eleventh Kansas, a committee was appointed to investigate the transactions of these officers of State, and this committee, on the 13th of IYbruary, 1862, re- ported the following resolution: Resolved, That Charles Robinson, Governor, John W. Robin- son, Secretary of State, and George S. Hillyer, Auditor of the State of Kansas, he and they are hereby impeached of high mis- demeanors in office. This resolution was unanimously adopted on the fol- lowing day. Being authorized and directed by the « Letter of William ITiggins to the author. 92 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB House to appoint a committee to conduct the impeach- ment cases in the trial before the Senate, the Speaker named Preston B. Plumb, Azel Spaulding, F. W. Pot- ter, W. R. Wagstaff and Davies Wilson to be such com- mittee. Plumb did the hard work of the prosecution. On the 20th day of February he reported on behalf of his committee, which was called the Committee of Managers of Impeachment Cases, eight articles of im- peachment of John W. Robinson, Secretary of State. On the 26th he reported seven articles of impeachment of George S. Hillyer, Auditor of State. And on the same day he reported five articles of impeachment of Charles Robinson, Governor of Kansas. These reports were all adopted — the articles against Governor Rob- inson by a vote of fifty-three to seven, and those against the others, unanimously. The trial of the impeachment cases began on the sec- ond day of June, 1862, and adjourned without day on the sixteenth day of that month. The defendants were represented by able counsel. The proceedings of the Court of Impeachment, which was the State Senate, make a considerable volume, the printing of which was superintended by John J. Ingalls, but which had been reported by Richard J. Hinton. It is a rare and valu- able work. In the trial the evidence introduced established and sustained generally the charges brought by the House. The Secretary of State and the State Auditor were found guilty and were removed from office. As affect- ing Governor Robinson different conditions were shown and he was acquitted. There was no party rancor in these impeachment cases. They were the result of a desire of the people of Kansas to secure an honest and capable administra- tion of their affairs. Very little damage was caused to the financial reputation of the State, and at the close of the Civil War Kansas made ample provision for the THE BAR AND THE LEGISLATURE 93 payment of all her obligations. The credit of the State has been what financiers call " gilt-edged " to this day. Here closes a period in the life of Plumb. It had been his intention to enlist in the Union army with the first call for troops. But circumstances over which he had little control made this impossible. Until another call for troops, which he was sure would come soon, he served as Reporter for the Supreme Court and prac- ticed his profession. Perhaps the reason for his not enlisting in one of the first Kansas regiments should be definitely stated here. Emporia was in Breckenridge County, and within about two miles of the south line of the county. The founders of the town were confident of its superior location and future growth. But to secure a satisfac- tory development in the early days of Kansas it became necessary that the town should be made a county seat. Efforts in this direction were made from time to time, but they proved barren of results. The matter could not be accomplished while the county lines remained as first laid down. It was clear that a radical readjust- ment of county boundaries would have to be effected, a matter in the province of the Legislature. There is little doubt that Plumb would willingly have sacrificed his own interest in Emporia to his desire to enter the army, but there were further considerations. He had induced many people to invest in the property of the town and establish themselves in business there. On their account and in their behalf there was a per- sonal obligation resting upon Plumb. All they had was involved in the success or failure of the town. They insisted that he be elected to the Legislature to secure such an adjustment of lines as should place Emporia in a position to be made the county seat, and to this he finally consented. To accomplish the desire of Emporia it became neces- 94 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB sary to wipe out Madison County, the county to the south. The counties as far west as Emporia had been established by the Pro-Slavery Legislature, which ac- counts for the name of Breckenridge County. This name was changed to Lyon County, in honor of General Nathaniel Lyon, the hero of Wilson Creek, where the first troops from Emporia had received their baptism of fire. By the action of the Legislature the location of Emporia w r as near the center of the new county and became the county seat. All this was brought about with much less friction than could have been expected, for county-seat contests in Kansas have generally caused serious clashes between interested parties and rival towns, sometimes resulting in the loss of life. In this case a suit in the Supreme Court was the final settle- ment, and everybody acquiesced in the decision. Having discharged his obligations to the settlers of Emporia Plumb was free to enlist, which he did at the first call for troops made after the adjournment of the Legislature. CHAPTER XVI SUPREME COURT REPORTER — FIRST PRACTICE The first term of the Kansas Supreme Court was begun in January, 1S62. The court was organized at that time. At this term Plumb was admitted to prac- tice in the Supreme Court, being the ninth attorney on the roll. 1 His first case in that court was filed on the day of his admission. It is No. 86, and it was one of the most important which the court had to determine in the first years of its existence, the title being " The State of Kansas on the relation of F. G. Hunt vs. Calvin Meadows." The first entry made in the record (on the 10th of January) is, "Now conies the said plaintiff by P. B. Plumb, Attorney, and moves the court to grant a writ of mandamus against the said defendent, whereupon it was ordered by the court that this cause be further heard on Monday morning, February 3d, 1862." Plumb won his case, which involved the legality of many of the acts of the Territorial Legislature. This Legislature was in session when Kansas was admitted as a State, and it continued to enact laws for some time afterwards. 2 Meadows was Register of Deeds of Madi- i See Record A, p. 114, Kansas Supreme Court. It was Friday, January 10, 1S02. F. P. Baker and N. P. Case were admitted on the same day. Baker was afterward editor and proprietor of The Topcka Commnnwralth, long the principal newspaper in Kansas. 2 The Territorial Legislature was in session at the time the act of admission was passed, and continued to transact business for several days afterward. The acts passed by this body, after admis- sion, were afterwards declared valid by the Supreme Court of the 95 96 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB son County, which had been dismembered by the Legis- lature, and half its territory added to Breckenridge County. The people of Madison County resented the action attaching them to other counties and refused per- mission to transcribe from their records the deeds and mortgages affecting the lands given to Breckenridge County. Out of this refusal rose Plumb's suit. Plumb was the first Reporter of the Kansas Supreme Court. The date of his appointment has not been pre- served. It was then (and yet is) the practice of the court to have the instrument of appointment written out for the signature of the Justices. When signed, these appointments were handed to the clerk to be re- corded in the proceedings of the day of their date. Plumb evidently neglected to have his appointment re- corded. As it was the first made, and there being no precedent, the necessity for its record may not have occurred to him. The only official notice shown in the records concerning it is as follows: Supreme Court, January Term, 1863. The following paper was ordered to be filed and entered upon the Journal of the Court — to wit : Lewis Carpenter, Esqr., is hereby appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court in the room and place of P. B. Plumb, Esqr., resigned. Topeka, March 18, 1863. 1ST. Cobb, L. D. Bailey, Samuel A. Kingman - . Chief Justice Ewing's resignation was dated Pea Ridge, Arkansas, October 20, 18G2. He was then Colonel of the Eleventh Kansas. Plumb was Major of the same regiment. They were together in the field, and it is probable that the resignations of both were sent in State in the case of Hunt vs. Meadows. — Supreme Court Reports, Vol. 1, p. 14. The decision is in the same volume, p. 91, et. seq. SUPREME COURT REPORTER 97 at the same time. 3 Carpenter was murdered by QuantrilPs guerrillas at the sacking of Lawrence, August 21, 1863. No volume of Reports was published by Plumb. The decisions of the Supreme Court up to the time of his resignation did not furnish enough matter for a volume. In the Reports his name is carried as the first Reporter, where it is stated that he resigned in October, 1862. 3 The resignation of Ewing as Chief Justice was presented to the Supreme Court, January 6, 18H3, by Nelson Cobb, who had been appointed by the (Jovernor to fill the vacancy. See Supreme Court Record of that date. CHAPTER XVII EMPORIA AND THE CIVIL WAR That the country in that part of the Neosho Valley of which Emporia was the center should be able to furnish men for the army in 1861 is one of the remarkable things about early Kansas. There were no railroads, no lines of transportation, only occasional mails to most villages, and the settlers had arrived mostly after May, 1857. Farms were merely claims with cabins about which were a few acres of " broken " prairie, or stumpy " clearings " on the wider bottoms. But even here the war spirit ran high, and some of the first Kansas sol- diers were from Emporia. In the village Literary So- ciety the state of the Union was ably discussed every week by Plumb, Judge Bailey, McClung, and others, among them William F. Cloud, formerly a soldier in the War with Mexico. It was in this society that it was decided that Plumb must not enlist until the Legislature elected in the fall of 1861 had adjourned, that he might there attend to some matters vital to the future of Emporia. On April, 27, 1861, three companies were organized in Emporia — The Emporia Guards, 55 men; Captain, William F. Cloud — The Emporia Artillery, 47 men; Captain, A. J. Mitchell — The Emporia Cavalry, 20 men. On the 13th of May, thirty-three men enlisted, and on the 14th the Emporia Guards tendered their services to 98 EMPORIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 99 the Governor. They left for Lawrence on the 24th, and on the 20th of June they became Company H, Second Kansas Volunteer Infantry. The day before they de- parted for Lawrence a beautiful flag was presented to them by the women of Emporia, one of whom delivered a patriotic address as she tendered it to the standard- bearer. 1 Father Fairchild, a pioneer Methodist min- ister, spoke with eloquence and deep feeling. The com- pany was in the fierce battle of Wilson Creek, where it lost four killed and eleven wounded. For the number of men engaged this was one of the severest battles of the Civil War. The Lieutenant wrote home: Our little flag the ladies gave us is completely riddled with shot and shell. And the brave one who carried it will not carry it home again. Tell the donors it has not been disgraced. You know the odds we fought against! I feel proud of our little Emporia Company. The State will never be disgraced by us. Our boys fought like devils for five long hours, and when the field was cleared the Kansas Second was the last to follow and cover the whole force. The home-coming of this company is described by one of the women who helped to make the flag: 2 Sadly they marched up the aisle. Father Fairchild, who had prayed over them and blessed them and sent them to battle such a short time ago, received them with tears rolling down his wrinkled cheeks. They placed their flag in his hands. He un- folded it. We saw it full of bullet-holes, ragged and battle- si ained. He pointed to the dark stains on the staff where the blood of our bravo young soldier had trickled down, and told us how even in the struggle of death he had borne it up until a i Miss Fannie Yeaklcy, living now in California. Mrs. Anna Watson Randolph says the flag was made of a cloth called then " wool delaine" much like the fabric now known as challls. They either bought the red and white at a local store, or sent to Lawrence for it. They were unable to get any blue fo r the field, and Mrs. Edward Borton gave them enough blue cashmere from a dress pattern which her mother had sent her. 2 Mrs. Anna Watson Randolph, living now at Emporia. 100 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB comrade could take his place. It was the target for the whole rebel army, having been chosen the flag of the Second Kansas regiment because of its lightness. We sobbed and cried aloud. It was our first experience of the horrors of war. The old man pushed his long white hair back till it covered the collar of his shabby coat, straightened himself and said : " Boys, we thought to crush this rebellion in three months. How sadly we were mistaken ! Now we are ready for volunteers for the war, no matter how long it lasts. These poor boys must rest awhile. Others must take their places. The stars must float over every State in the Union. Not ragged, powder-stained and full of bullet-holes, as this poor flag. But her field must be bluer and her stars brighter. Every nation must fear and respect the Eed, White and Blue." 3 Another company was soon raised at Emporia, and when it marched away few able-bodied men were left in the community. They went to Fort Leavenworth about the middle of September, 1861. And again did the women make a flag and present it to those going forth to fight for their country. The address of presen- tation has been preserved : 4 A little over three months ago the ladies of Emporia pre- sented to Company H of the Kansas Second a flag as a testi- monial of their sympathy in behalf of the cause of Constitu- tional Liberty now imperiled by traitors. That flag has since waved over one of the most bloody conflicts ever known in this country. That flag, all bullet-torn as it is, we hope will be returned to its donors and be carefully preserved as a mute and eloquent memorial of the patriotism of those who fought be- neath its folds — especially of those brave and gallant soldiers who fell while bearing it aloft. While we mourn for our rnar- s By order of General Fremont the word " Springfield " was inscribed on this flag. The battle was called the battle of Spring- field at that time, though it had been fought ten miles from that city. The flag is now in the Collection of the Kansas Historical Society. * It was delivered by Miss Mary Jane Watson, sister of Mrs. Anna Watson Randolph, and the Emporia News, September 21, 1861, says, " It was couched in beautiful language and was appropriate and to the point." EMPORIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 101 tyred dead and mingle our tears with the bereaved widows and fatherless and look with pity on the scars of our returning neigh- bors and friends, it is a consolation to know that that flag has not been disgraced. You citizen-soldiers are about to take the places of your slaughtered neighbors, and the ladies of Emporia have with their own hands made this beautiful flag, emblem of our national power, and have deputed me to present it to you on their behalf. I charge you to guard it well. Bather would we receive our brothers enshrouded in its folds than that they should desert it in danger. Go, then, and take with you the flag, and with it our blessing and prayers. Strike for our Country ! Let Libertv and L T nion be your inspiring watchword — God and Humanity your battle- cry. To no soldiers who fought for the Union could this patriotic appeal have been more appropriately made or the flag it brought with it more implicitly entrusted. At Fort Leavenworth they were mustered in as Com- pany II, Eighth Kansas. In the spring of 1SG2 this Com- pany was transferred to the Ninth Kansas, becoming Company B of that regiment. Those who lived returned home only when disabled by wounds or at the close of the War. One of the women who sent them into the field with blessings ami prayers reminded the survivors in reunion many years afterward that their good-bv was more serious and tragic than the parting with the first company; that it was for the war, and there was little hope that the war would soon end; that they were sent awav with cheers, but that sorrowfully the women re- turned to their lonely homes; that many of those women plowed and sowed and reaped that the children might be fed — that their burdens were great, but that they bore them with as much heroism as those who faced the cannon. 5 Such were the sacrifices mrde for the Union by the c Some of this company were given a supper by a poor widow who lived near Emporia, and one of the young ladies present has written : I remember being at Mrs. Fawcett'S when she was preparing a supper for some of the boys of Company E. She said, " Now, girls, 102 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB loyal and patriotic outpost on the Great Plains — the frontier village of Emporia. It must be remembered, also, in this connection, that there were dangers to be faced at home. The savage Indian tribes of the Plains were being urged by emissaries of the Southern Con- federacy to fall on the weakened and exposed frontier settlements of Kansas with torch, tomahawk, and scalp- ing-knife in indiscriminate slaughter. And spies from Texas spent months in the country colonizing cut-throats to raid and destroy the thin fringe of settlers in the valley of the Neosho. Some of these, claiming to be Union men and refugees, settled in Emporia; and, to make their stratagem more complete and plausible, brought their families with them. Fortunately they were unmasked and imprisoned before they could ac- complish their cowardly and bloody purpose. By the aid of their confederates they escaped, and the settle- ment was in a state of fear and apprehension until the end of the war. That Emporia, under such conditions, should send away to battle for the Union all her able-bodied men reveals a devotion to the cause unequaled even in loyal Kansas. This devotion was largely the result of the course and influence of Plumb. The people adhered to the policy developed in the News. They were, in ac- cordance with this policy, the last to abandon the Free- State party, to which their attachment had been almost fanatical. Dissensions were not permitted to arise. The settlers were a unit in sentiment and purpose and were never troubled by divided or distracted councils, — all the result of Plumb's leadership, which always make everything good and have plenty of it, for it may be a long time before the boys will have anything but army rations to eat." With this company were going her only son, her son-in-law, and her daughter's fiance, who was killed in Missouri. We laid the dead body of her daughter in Maplewood on the day which would have been her wedding-day. Her son helped carry his wounded Captain from the battlefield at Frairie Grove. EMPOKIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 103 took the form of serving in the ranks, of unselfish devo- tion to the people and their welfare, of sacrifices in their interests. This was the secret of his power to the end. Following the reverses of McClellan before Richmond, President Lincoln, in July, 1SG2, issued a call for three hundred thousand volunteers to serve " three years or during the war." The quota of Kansas, under the call, was three regiments of infantry. The Governor of Kansas had not inspired the President with a favorable opinion of either his ability or patriotism, and James EL Lane, one of the United States Senators from Kansas, whose attitude left no question of his loyalty and devo- tion to the Union cause and the President, was au- thorized by the War Department to recruit this quota, and, under certain restrictions, to select the officers of the troops when mustered into service. Lane had been commissioned a Major-General in the Army, and in 18G1 had led an invasion of Missouri. On the Gth of August he authorized Thomas Ewing, Jr., then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to raise one of these regiments in a territory embracing almost one-third of the State and including Lyon County — the name of the disloyal Breckenridge having been discarded for the county and the name of the hero of Wilson Creek substituted. The friendship of Ewing and Plumb drew them together in this matter. Plumb was authorized to recruit a com- pany in six counties, including his own. 6 In the News, o The appointment of Plunil) is in the library of the Kansas State Historical Society — 37c — Archives Department, and is as follows: Headquarters Rectg. Comn. District 11th Regt. K. V. Leavenworth City, August 12, 18G2. To Preston B. Plumb, Esqr., Sir: You are hereby notified that you have been appointed a recruiting otlicer with the rank of Second Lieutenant to recruit a Company of Infantry for the service of the United States for the term of three years or during the war. In the details of this service you will be governed by general order 104 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB August 1G, lie advertised — " 100 Men Wanted," and gave notice that Ewiug would hold " War Meetings " at Neosho Rapids, August 22; at Emporia, August 23; at Americus on the evening of the 23d; and at Council Grove, August 25. In the issue of the Neics, August 30, in a notice headed, " More Bounty," Plumb an- nounced that " A fund is being raised in Emporia for the purpose of paying to the needy families of those who enlist in the Lyon County Company, a bounty of Twenty Dollars each per annum until the War is closed." He headed the subscription with f 100 per annum. A farmer from up the Neosho who owned good teams and a car- riage took Ewing about the country to his meetings. Ewing was an able man, but cold in temperament. His speeches were well received, as were all loyal speeches, No. 75 " Current Series," a copy of which is herewith enclosed, excepting that all reports referred to therein will be made to this office. When mustered into the service of the U. S. you will report immediately at this office for orders. Thomas Ewing, Jr. Commr. of Rect'g Leavenworth, Dist. Department of Kansas. Endorsements : The witbin appointment is approved and referred to Brig. Genl. Blunt, Comdg. Dept. of Kansas with the request that Lieut. Plumb be mustered into the service of the U. S. By order of J. H. Lane, Recrt'g. T. J. Weed, Maj. & A.A.A.G. Headquarters Dept. Kas. Fort Leavenworth, August 12, 'G2. The Mustering officer will comply with the within. By order of Brig. Gen. J. G. Blunt. Jas. M. Graham, Capt. & A.A.A.G. Headquarters Dep. of Kansas. Muster Office, August 12, 'G2. 1 certify that I have this day mustered into the U. S. Service for 3 yrs. or the war P. B. Plumb, to serve as recruiting officer rank of 2d Lt. of Infty Subject to conditions of General Order 75 compliance with within appointment. 2d. Lt. Lewis Thompson, 2d. U. S. Cavalry. Mustering Officer. EMPORIA AND THE CIVIL WAR 105 but the enthusiasm was aroused by Plumb, who spoke after him at each appointment and whose speech was a heart to heart talk of neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend. He did not minimize the sacrifice of enlistment under the circumstances, but put the matter on the ground of duty to the Union. The men were secured but it required them all. The 'News said only the editor and the " devil " remained in the printing office, and that the editor could not resist another call. " Our town is about dried up," it says. " Since the boys left it is a rarity to see a man." And of the departure of the recruits it has the following: The soldiers who enlisted under Plumb took their depar- ture on Tuesday morning. Before they left they -were presented . . . with a splendid flag, made by the ladies. The presentation '■eh was made by old Father Fairchild, and the flag was re- ceived by Plumb in one of his happiest efforts. The scene at parting was very affecting, parents, sisters, daughters, wives, chil- dren and friends were present to bid the soldiers farewell, many of them feeling that it was the last parting on earth. Few eyes that did not shed bars, but all felt that the sacrifice must be made. Stout hearts tr< I. Twenty teams had been fur- nished by the generous citizens to convey the boys to Fort Leav- enworth. As tie ed over the hill, cheers on cheers went up from the Long lines of wagons, and were responded to by the citizens left behind. One of the worthy women of Emporia was a little girl when these men wont away in obedience to the call of the country and in recognition of duty. She saw them go. That scene bus remained with her. At one of their recent reunions she 1 pictured this parting and other ex- periences of those days of trial and sorrow: If you look closely you can see it all, and you may see little sad groups gathering here and there. The old father's shoulders are stooped, the mother is trying to look brave, the little ones are openly weeping. The wife with head thrown hack and firm- shut mouth will not quiver. What means it all? For in each group are one or two upon whom each one gazes as we gaze on the face of our dead. 106 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Presently, as if by signal, these special ones walk slowly out and form into ranks and we see who they are — the fathers, brothers, sons, and lovers, human sacrifices on the altar of our country. Willingly they are given and willingly they went. As they stand there a woman with a flag comes forward giving it to them as an offering of love and trust, bidding them defend it with their lives, if necessary, and bring it back to them. And they did, but its bright folds were battle-scarred and storm-riven, like the men who brought it. The old flag is still with us, and long may it stay to teach its lessons of faithfulness, courage and love of country. But they did not all come back. I see a picture of a few men leaving the ranks in this ceaseless march bearing the form of a comrade, which they silently lay in its last resting-place — the last act they can do except as they sit by the camp-fire to write to the weary, waiting ones at home. We see, too, those twenty teams that Plumb called for to carry those men to Leavenworth. Where did he get the drivers ? Or did those brave women drive their own loved ones to the Fort? We see that village and most of the farms deserted of men, stores closed until those women could gather themselves together and take up the burdens. Those years of war and struggle! As I look at them now with a woman's understanding I cannot conceive how we endured ! CHAPTER XVIII THE ELEVENTH: KANSAS Camp Lyon, at Fort Leavenworth, was the regimental rendezvous. Plumb arrived there with one hundred and forty enlisted men. He was emphatic in his declaration to the examining surgeon that none of his men should be rejected. Six were, however, rejected because of youth and immaturity, but Plumb had them enlist as musicians. 1 On Sept ember 10, 1862, one hundred and one of the accepted men were mustered in as Company C, Eleventh Knnsns, and the remaining thirty-three were mustered into Company E, same regiment, of which E. G. Ross, of Topeka, was Captain. Plumb was Cap- tain of Company C. The last company was mustered on the 14th, and the regimental organization was com- pleted. Thomas Ewing, Jr., was Colonel, Thomas Moonlight was Lieutenant-Colonel, and Plumb was chosen Major. Lemuel T. Heritage, who had served as First-Lieutenant of Company 15, Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and a lifelong friend of Plumb, was then elected Captain of Company C. Plumb was mustered in as Major Sep- tember 25, 1802. Before the regiment was armed an order from Gen- eral James G. Blunt was received directing it to join him forthwith in the field. lie had just fought the sec- ond battle of Newtonia and was in pursuit of the enemy. The only infantry arms at Fort Leavenworth at that time were antiquated Prussian muskets (made in 1818) which had been purchased by that fatuous soldier. Gen- i Statement of Pr. (J. W. Iloirehoom, the examining surgeon. 107 108 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB eral Fremont. These guns were of ancient pattern, of enormous bore, and one-fourth heavier than the old En- field or Springfield gun. They were brass-finished, and of extra length. They were hastily drawn and issued to the men, who, after viewing them, and especially after hefting them, wondered if the regiment was to be as- signed to duty as light artillery. Colonel Ewing had had no experience in war, and it was his idea that the men could march thirty miles a day. Moonlight, who had seen service in the regular army, told him fifteen miles a day was as much as in- fantry could make. But Ewing was impatient to join Blunt, and he had his way. The result was that the men were scattered along the road for miles. At Paola, a few wagons were secured for the foot-sore, and from Mound City the guns were carried in wagons to Fort Scott. Beyond Fort Scott the march was made to con- form more to reason, and was through Drywood, Pres- ton, Carthage, and Newtonia to Pea Eidge, Arkansas. From Fort Scott the regiment escorted an ammunition train and was accompanied by Blair's Battery. Gen- eral Schofield was in command of the Army of the Frontier, at Pea Eidge. The regiment arrived there October 19th, and was reviewed by General Schofield, after which it was dined by the Tenth Kansas and as- signed to General Blunt's Division — the First — and by him assigned to the Third Brigade, commanded by Colonel Cloud (from Emporia) of the Second Kansas Cavalry. Kansas was the object of intense hatred by the South- ern Confederacy. She had successfully resisted the ex- tension of slavery into the Territories and changed the destiny of the Union as conceived by the South. Ef- forts were made from the very first to invade the State in force and lay it waste. Hordes of guerrillas were maintained on her borders to rob and murder, burn THE ELEVENTH KANSAS 109 and destroy, and run to cover in Missouri, Arkansas, and the Indian country. The resources of the Con- federacy west of the Mississippi were sacrificed in a last forlorn and disastrous effort to overrun and destroy Kansas when it was evident that the Price raid would have availed nothing for the cause of the South if it had been successful. In the execution of one feature of the settled policy of the Union — the protection of Kansas from inva- sion — Northwestern Arkansas became an area of con- tention and active military operations. It was, in fact, the outpost for the protection of both Missouri and Kansas. This was first recognized by General Lyon when he made Springfield the principal point of defense of St. Louis. To hold this field was the work assigned the Army of the Frontier in the winter of 1S02-G3. With the object of raiding Kansas and capturing Fort Scott, where there were stores of military supplies, Gen- eral D. H. Cooper took possession of Old Fort Wayne, Cherokee Nation, just beyond the Arkansas line west of Bentonville, and began there to assemble his forces. To dislodge him General Iilunt marched from Pea Ridge on the night of the 20th of October with the Eleventh Kansas and other troops. On the night of the 21st he marched from Bentonville, and at daylight of the 22d surprised Cooper in his camp and scattered his men. Captain Crawford, of the Second Kansas, led the principal charge and captured four brass field pieces. The Eleventh Kansas had the infantry advance and marched on double-quick six miles, throwing away blankets, overcoats and knapsacks in the hurry and eagerness to take part in the battle, but arrived just in time to see the enemy disappearing in confusion and disorder. It was jestingly said that when the Confed- erate troops saw the Eleventh Kansas, long drawn out in columns of twos, descending the winding road with 110 THE LIFE OF PBESTON B. PLUMB their ancient brass-bound muskets glittering in the morning sun, they were seized with panic and precipi- tately fled, believing the whole Federal army armed with diabolic contrivances was upon them. 2 The First Division of the army marched from Fort Wayne to Little Osage, six miles south of Bentonville, and went into camp. Companies D and E, Eleventh Kansas, with Major Plumb in command, were sent to Brown's Mill, ten miles to the southwest of the camp. Major Plumb sent foraging parties into the surround- ing country and gathered all the wheat and much of the corn of the country. The loyal citizens were paid for their grain, but from the disloyal it was taken. Other mills on the mountain streams were seized, and in them the wheat was ground for use of the army, as was much of the corn. Many of the people were loyal to the Union and were in danger there. These, black and white, Major Plumb organized into a party which he sent into Kansas where they would be beyond danger, using for the purpose wagons and teams taken from the disloyal. At Cincinnati, near the Cherokee line, the Confederates had taken possession of a large tannery, known as Kobinson's tannery, to manufacture leather to furnish Hindman's army with shoes. Major Plumb destroyed both the half-tanned leather and the tannery. 2 G. M. Walker was at the battle of Old Fort Wayne, of which he relates the following incident: We had marched all night. We heard firing in front of us ; the order " Double Quick " was given, and we started forward on the run, or as near a run as could weary men who had marched all night carrying heavy muskets and forty rounds of 72 caliber ammunition. While thus making the best speed we could, Adjutant Williams met us with " Hurry up, boys, or all will be lost." We needed encourage- ment. This was not very encouraging. Then Colonel Moonlight met us with " Hurry up, boys, or you will miss all the fun." We were not in for fun. Then Major Plumb met us with " Hurry up, boys ; you are needed." We had gone from a sense of duty, and here was the message we needed ; every man who heard it was goaded to do his best. In these three sentences, or orders, I read the characters of the men who gave them. THE ELEVENTH KANSAS 111 In the two weeks lie was at Brown's Mill lie had ren- dered the country incapable of maintaining a large Con- federate force and had contributed largely to the sup- port of the Union forces camped at Little Osage. CHAPTEK XIX CANE HILL The Confederacy determined to drive the Army of the Frontier from Northwest Arkansas and regain that country, and this General Hindman was ordered to pro- ceed at once to do. He assembled his forces at Fort Smith and Van Buren and made preparations for an ac- tive and vigorous winter campaign. General Blunt kept fully informed of the movements of Hindman. On the 14th of November he removed his entire force to Lind- say's Prairie, a fine stretch of open country on the south side of Flint Creek and extending into the Cherokee Na- tion. There he waited impatiently two weeks for trains to arrive with supplies of ammunition and rations. No offensive movements could be undertaken until these sup- plies had been received, and in the meantime Hindman sent Marmaduke with eight thousand cavalry and a bat- tery of artillery to occupy Cane Hill, a village just north of the Boston Mountains and about thirty miles south of Lindsay's Prairie. This was but the advance of the Confederate army, and on the 26th of November General Blunt learned that Marmaduke would be joined by Hindman with his entire force on the 28th. On the night of the 26th the supply trains arrived. Four days' rations and eighty rounds of ammunition were is- sued to the men. On the morning of the 27th, with five thousand men and thirty pieces of artillery, without transportation or commissary, those trains having been parked on Lindsay's Prairie, Blunt moved to attack and defeat Marmaduke before Hindman could reinforce 112 * Fold-out Placeholder This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at a future date. ft * Fold-out Placeholder d-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at a future date. CANE HILL 113 him, and arrived at Cane Hill at eleven o'clock on the 28th. Marmaduke was found in strong position on the heights about the village. The march of the Union troops had been a forced one and the infantry did not arrive on the field until after the artillery had been en- gaged an hour. The Eleventh Kansas, hearing the can- non, marched at quick-step and double-quick five miles. Coming on the field, Major Plumb led the left wing for- ward to the hill overlooking the hamlet of Boonsborough, where he was followed by the batteries of Eabb and Hopkins. 1 The rebels were soon driven from the hills about the town and forced south along the Van Buren road, the Eleventh Kansas and Rabb's Battery follow- ing closely to Kidd's Mills. To this point the fighting had been through woods and fields, but there the Eleventh came into the road, which was followed to the west range of the Boston Mountains. There the battery was compelled to wait for additional horses, and the Eleventh Kansas passed it and formed on the flat summit. With other troops, the regiment, with line varying from a quarter to a half-mile as permitted by the ground, slowly drove the enemy along the hills and through the ravines. In this fighting, which lasted about an hour, the Confederates lost a number of their officers and continued their retreat. When they were out of sight Colonel Ewing formed the Eleventh in a field and moved forward four miles in support of the batteries in the valley of Cove Creek, just above the i Thomas Barber, Company C. saw Plumb's horse shot from under him at this point; he says: The Eleventh was charging on the retreating rebels — had driven them back by the charge. A part of the Sixth Kansas came into the charge from an oblique direction and took position just by the side of the Eleventh and overlapped it a little. I remember that Plumb's horse was shot and disabled. Plumb had no time to get another one. but kept his place in the charge on foot, running abreast of the charging column. 114 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB gorge. There the battle was finished by the brilliant charge of the Sixth Kansas, which encountered an am- bush in which Colonel Jewell was mortally wounded. Marmaduke was driven back on Van Buren in con- fusion, though the battle had been on ground of his own selection. His troops largely outnumbered those of Blunt, and were well fortified on hills defended with artillery. In this preliminary battle for the possession of North- west Arkansas the Union troops had won an important victory and wrested from the enemy a position of strategic value. The Eleventh Kansas had never be- fore been under fire, but the men fought like veterans, and in his official report Colonel Ewing said, " There was no lack of spirit or courage evinced by any officer or private belonging to it." In addition to its fighting, the regiment marched not less than thirty-four miles that day. In this, its initial experience of real war, the Eleventh Kansas acquitted itself well and gave as- surance of that honorable record afterwards made by it. CHAPTER XX PRAIRIE GROVE The defeat of Marmaduke at Cane Hill and his ex- pulsion from the region north of the Boston Mountains did not change the purpose of General Hindman. He was well informed as to the strength and position of General Blunt's army, and he knew that the nearest troops which Blunt could call to his aid were more than a hundred miles away. Hindman's army con- sisted of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and numbered about twenty-five thousand men, though in his official reports he insisted that he had only twelve to fifteen thousand. He had six thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery. 1 He believed he could march from Van Buren to Cane Hill, fifty miles, and defeat Blunt before he could be reinforced. It is probably true that lack of supplies prevented him from taking all his troops on his campaign against Blunt, but he had at least fifteen thousand effective troops in the field, prob- ably more, although he reported eleven thousand in ad- dition to his artillery. He believed it was necessary for him to achieve some success at once, if his army was to be held intact. Both ammunition and food were short. There was a spirit of insubordination in his ranks. Many of his men were conscripts, Union men, who had been forced into the Confederate army, and they had no sympathy with the Southern cause. Num- bers of them were deserting every day. Hindman, while i See official reports, Series 1, Vol. XXII, Part 1 Rebellion Records, pp. G7-158 for number of troops on each side. 115 116 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB an able officer, was unpopular, and even then the Con- federacy was failing west of the Mississippi. But if a decisive victory could be won in Northwest Arkansas, and Kansas and Missouri thrown open to invasion, a better face would be put on the cause in the Southwest. These were the considerations which actuated the Con- federate commander. General Hindman moved north from Van Buren on the 3d of December. So certain was he of success that he ordered a regiment of Confederate Indians to occupy Evansville, a village immediately west of Cane Hill, to prevent the escape of Blunt in that direction. On the nieht of the 4th the rebel force bivouacked at Oliver's store, on Lee's Creek, at the mouth of Cove Creek. Up Cove Creek the march was slow, but by the evening of the 6th the entire army had reached the junction of the Cane Hill and Fayetteville roads, at General Price's old headquarters, on the farm of John Morrow, about eight miles southeast of Cane Hill. It did not, how- ever, reach this point, without opposition from Blunt. On the 3d of December Captain Samuel J. Crawford, Second Kansas, was sent down Cove Creek with a part of his regiment, and at Oliver's he met and skirmished w r ith Marmaduke's advance. The next day Captain A. P. Russell, Second Kansas, was sent to scout down Cove Creek, where he met the enemy in increasing force. Crawford was again sent out on the 5th with two or three companies of his regiment and resisted the advance of Marmaduke up Cove Creek most of the day. Near night he posted Captain John Gardner, with two companies, at the junction of the Cane Hill and Fayette- ville roads, and as it was certain that he would be at- tacked by an overwhelming force and pushed back at daylight, Crawford was to send out substantial rein- forcements during the night. From that point to Cane Hill the advance of Hindman was to be stubbornly fought. For some cause the reinforcements were not Fold-out Placeholder This fold-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at a future date. Fold-out Placeholder j-out is being digitized, and will be inserted at a future date. PRAIRIE GROVE 117 sent to Captain Gardner, although General Blunt as- sured Crawford that they should be sent and gave the proper orders. Of this Crawford learned at daylight of the 6th while discussing conditions with a group of officers at the headquarters of Colonel Cloud. These officers did not believe with Crawford that a general battle might be fought that day — certainly within a day or two — in the vicinity of Cane Hill and possibly between the town and the position of Captain Gardner. " In thirty minutes," said Crawford, " vou will see a %/ 7 7 «- courier from Captain Gardner on a foam-covered horse coming around that hill. His command is, I fear, cut to pieces." Within fifteen minutes the courier appeared, and Crawford, who had taken the precaution to have his men ready, secured orders and at once started with five companies of the Second Kansas to the assistance of Captain Gardner, whom he found had been driven a mile and a half, but formed across the mad and falling back slowly before a greatly superior force, fighting at every step. Crawford formed just behind him and ordered him to file by and form in the rear. In a short time General Blunt sent other troops down the Cane Hill road, among them Major Plumb with two companies of the Eleventh Kansas. Plumb was the ranking officer at the front; and, although hotly en- gaged, Captain Crawford offered him the command. "Plumb was a patriot and never stood on fine points of military usage," said Crawford. 2 "lie was an in- fantry officer, and most of the troops at the front were cavalry and then in line fighting back the advance of the enemy, and he insisted that a cavalry officer retain the command, requesting me to continue in that capacity. I agreed to do so and pointed out the position where I desired him to post his men." Other reinforcements were sent out, and the position was held, but at times it 2 Statement made to the author April 27, 1911. 118 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB was a difficult matter. Crawford, afterwards a Colonel, and, later, Governor of Kansas, bears witness that Plumb handled his men admirably and fought well all day, though it was the second time he had ever been under fire. Toward night the main weight of the battle fell on him, and he held his ground, and the day ended with the whole force of Hindman checked on Reed's Mountain six miles southeast of Cane Hill. At night the officers who had been at the front throughout the day were relieved, and Plumb and Captain A. P. Russell rode back to Cane Hill with Crawford. Russell had a presentiment that he would be killed the next day, and gave some directions as to the disposition of his effects. He could not be shaken in his belief — and the next day fell while fighting manfully. 3 During the night of the 6th Major Plumb was sent back to the front with reinforcements, where he re- mained on Sunday the 7th, until after General Blunt's army had moved out of Cane Hill to meet Hindman. An officer of the general staff found him there and in surprise inquired if he did not know that Cane Hill had been evacuated and that Hindman had passed on north. Plumb said he knew it. " Then what are you staying here for? " asked the officer. " I haven't had any orders to fall back," replied Plumb. The officer, on his own responsibility, ordered Plumb back, and he joined his regiment north of Cane Hill just as the artil- lery firing was heard and the march to Prairie Grove began. When General Blunt was convinced that he was to be s The fighting here this day, December 6, was a most important engagement. It seems to have been overlooked by historians. See Rebellion Records, Series 1, Vol. XXII, Part 1, pp. 60-66, for the official reports of it. There it is called the battle of Reed's Mountain. The best account of this battle is to be found in Ea7isas in the Sixties, by Samuel J. Crawford, who was in command. See pp. 72-76, in- clusive, where the subject is treated as the battle of the Boston Mountains. PRAIRIE GROVE 119 attacked by Hindman with greatly superior numbers he determined to hold his ground and call to his aid the Second and Third Divisions, camped then on the old Wilson Creek battle-field ten miles southwest of Springfield, Mo. General F. J. Herron was in com- mand, and on the morning of the third, he received the telegraphic order of General Blunt to join him at Cane Hill as quickly as possible. Within three hours he moved with the Third Division and was immediately followed by the Second. That night he camped at Crane Creek, in Stone County, Mo., where it is crossed by the famous Wire or Telegraph road, which led from Springfield, through Fayetteville, to Van Buren. He kept to this road, passing rapidly over it, reaching Elk- horn Tavern (Pea Ridge) on the evening of the 5th. There he received an order from General Blunt to for- ward his cavalry force at once, which he did, sending it on sixteen hundred strong under Colonel Dudley Wickersham ; it arrived at Cane Hill near midnight of the Gth. General nerron arrived at Fayetteville at four o'clock Sunday morning (the 7th), having marehed all night, and pushed on expecting to join General Blunt at Cane Hill about ten o'clock. He intended to follow the Van Buren road to Prairie Grove Church and there take the road leading soul Invest to Cane Hill. From the vicinity of Fayetteville information reached General Hindman of Herron's near approach, and early on the night of Saturday the Confederate commander de- termined to move his army up the Fayetteville road to meet and defeat Herron before he could join Blunt — after which he would fight it out with Blunt. Colonel J. C. Monroe, with his brigade of Arkansas cavalry, was ordered to engage the Union forces on the mountain southeast of Cane Hill at daylight and deceive them as long as possible, and at four o'clock Hindman moved toward Fayetteville with the remainder of his army. 120 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Marmaduke's cavalry led the march, and shortly after daylight it came upon Herron's advance — the First Arkansas Cavalry — about halfway between Fayette- ville and Cane Hill. The cavalry of Herron's Second Division had come up with the First Arkansas and stopped to rest and feed their horses, intending to start on to join General Blunt at dawn. There seem to have been no precautions taken to guard against surprise. The attack was sudden and fierce, and the Union cavalry fled in panic and disorder, pursued by at least three thousand Missouri cavalry, including Quantrill's guer- rillas, under Shelby. At seven o'clock this rabble, with bloodthirsty guerrillas on its heels, ran into the Union infantry advance, led by General Herron, six miles south of Fayetteville, and it was with difficulty that the mad rout was checked. General Herron had himself to shoot dead one of the panic-stricken cavalrymen as an example of the fate of all who would not halt, face about and fight. Taking four companies of infantry, some cavalry, and a section of artillery, General Her- ron drove Marmaduke's outriders back four miles to Illinois Creek, beyond which he found Hindman's whole army in a strong position. The command of Shelby, with the prisoners and train taken shortly before, was just ascending to this position from the creek valley when it was opened on with two pieces of artillery, which served only to increase its speed. General Herron now made a survey of the Confed- erate position. It was in an extensive grove of timber on a singular elevation, which extends from east to west across the Fayetteville and Van Buren road which cuts through it in a southwesterly direction. The eleva- tion rises from a prairie or plain. It slopes gently to the south, but on the north it presents a sharp escarp- ment. The grove on the ridge joined larger bodies of timber at either end. At the south side of the grove the Cane Hill road turned sharply southwest toward PRAIRIE GROVE 121 that village. In the fork of the road a mile south of the Confederate position, stood the Prairie Grove Church. North of the elevation there is a wide valley through which a small stream flows into Illinois Creek, and much of which had been cultivated, the dead stalks of the corn still standing in the fields. Beyond this valley, to the north, is a prairie, and some timbered hills which rise to the same level as the hill on which is Prairie Grove. In front of the Confederate position, along the north fringe of the grove, on the slope, stood some dwellings surrounded by enclosures; and about tlie fields were rail fences. The survey revealed a Con- federate line more than two miles in length, and while there wore no means of ascertaining the number of the enemy, enough could be seen to indicate certainly that the Union forces were far outnumbered. By cutting a road through a thicket half a mile be- low the ford on Illinois Creek, Herron got Murphy's battery into fine position facing the enemy's center. This battery ho divided into two sections, which he placed six hundred yards apart, both concealed by the thicket from the enemy. Two regiments of infantry were thrown to the right of the battery and one to the left. Colonel Orme was sen! across Illinois Creek al the ford with the Second Brigade of the Third Division, and ordered to divide his battery as Murphy's had been, station his infantry in the rear, and open at once. Colonel Bertram was ordered to take the first Brigade across the creek and form on the right of Orme, dividing his battery as had the others. Most of these preliminaries were completed before eleven o'clock, and some of them perhaps as late as twelve, on Sunday morning. General Herron gives the hour as ten o'clock. Murphy's battery opened the battle, and under his fire all the remaining batteries crossed the creek and were soon in positions in line of those with Orme and Bertram. In ten minutes General Herron 122 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB had eighteen pieces doing most effective work, and they were replied to with twenty-two of the pieces of Hind- man, the firing of which never approached even fair gunnery. The fire of Herron's artillery was terrible and deadly from the first. Some of the Confederate guns were dismounted, and their artillery horses lay dead in heaps of four to six in every position taken. In an effort to abate this awful storm of lead and iron against which nothing could long stand, Hindman threw heavy infantry columns against the Union right. But this was without avail. They were always stopped by the Union artillery and pursued in their return to their own lines. Herron ordered the Nineteenth Iowa and Twentieth Wisconsin to turn them back again after the battle had been in progress for some time, which was done with such fierce enthusiasm that the rebel lines were rolled back a thou- sand yards, and a battery of four pieces was captured. To meet and stay this onslaught, Hindman sent forward every available man, and such numbers fell on the Union charging line that it could not bring off the cap- tured battery, and retired without it. This was late in the afternoon, and at that moment there appeared on the rebel left masses of men in blue. They emerged from the woods which fringed the prairies as a long-confined flood bursts its banks. The rush and roar of their coming were as the sound of storm-driven seas. They poured forth, seemingly in inextricable con- fusion — cavalry, infantry, artillery, officers and sub- alterns, brigades, regiments, companies and squadrons — a throng wrought to the extreme of excitement, frenzy, madness. Every artillery horse was bestridden by a man plying a merciless lash, and was running as if com- ing down the home-stretch — neck straightened, ears flattened, eyes wild, nostrils dilated. Clinging to the guns and caissons were the artillerymen, flung and tossed like sailors on tempest-beaten wrecks. The cav- alry, lying over saddle-horns, burst from the bordering PEAIIIIE GKOVE 123 thickets under whip and spur. The infantry, keeping even pace in this mad race, came into the open, hatless, coatless, accouterments streaming out behind, but with guns tightly clutched and ammunition safe. Over and above all floated the Stars and Stripes; and the showing of regimental banners halted men, straightened tangled ranks, formed columns, fashioned the confused mass into an orderly battle-line straight and rigid as a steel bar. Because of the failure of a scouting column to report the movement north of Hindman's army General Blunt was in ignorance of the exact conditions confronting him on the morning of the 7th. He was still expecting an attack at Cane Hill and disposed his lines to receive it. At ten o'clock, when it was certain that the enemy in his front was only covering sonic maneuver, he moved in the direction of his base of supplies at Rhea's Mills, a few miles north. He was anxiously awaiting some intelligence from ( reneral 1 terron, whom he had expected to arrive at Cane Hill in the forenoon by the road turn- ing toward the west at Prairie Grove Church. That a battle must be fought that day Genera] Blunt knew, and when no enemy of consequence appeared he had set out to find one. lie moved cautiously, and was ready for an attack from any quarter. The booming of General Herron's artillery was the first definite information which readied him. He knew at once what had hap- pened and where the battle would be. And so did the army, which moved as one man toward Herron's posi- tion. General Blunt announced the arrival of his armv on the field by two cannon-shots, and as he did not know the positions occupied by the contending forces, the balls fell among the Union skirmishers. General Herron furnished him exact information by the time his line was formed, and General Blunt quickly fronted the left wing of the Confederate battle-line, taking position near the skirt of woods extending from the grove down to the 124 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB foot of the slope, but with his men in the clear and both wings of his army extending into open fields. And not a moment too soon did he form there, for the battle was reaching a critical juncture. The last of Hindman's infantry had arrived, which, together with Marmaduke's cavalry, Hindman was throwing forward to crush General Herron's right. It was to move by the rebel left over the field just occupied by the Union line, and General Blunt's men received this onset and turned it back after hard fighting. The right wing of the Eleventh Kansas formed in the edge of the woods and was led by Colonel Ewing, and the left under Moonlight formed in support of the batteries of Rabb and Hopkins. The left wing advanced halfway up the slope, fixed bayonets for a charge at the crest, and lay down to await the order to advance, which was given as the rebel infantry appeared four ranks deep driven by the cavalry regiments acting as file-closers. The fire of the Eleventh checked them for only a moment, and a fierce struggle ensued. The Eleventh was forced back, sometimes with line broken, but always closing quickly, to a fence below the top of the hill, where a stand was made. The posi- tion could not be held, but the main line was maintained until the enemy fell back at dark. The artillery had been protected and had played at short range on the enemy with double charges of grape and canister with terrible effect. As night was falling the batteries were just in the act of firing on a body of infantry coming out of the woods. Plumb believed it was the right wing of his regiment and prevented the fire. He rode forward and found it to be Colonel Ewing, as he had supposed, and whom he had saved by his watchful care. 4 4 Those survivors interviewed mostly say that Plumb commanded the left wing of the Eleventh Kansas in the battle. The official re- ports give this honor to Colonel Moonlight, but he was an artillery officer, and no doubt gave some of his attention to the operation of the guns. In his report Colonel Moonlight specially mentions the services of Major Plumb on the field and pays a high tribute to his courage and ability. PRAIRIE GROVE 125 Hindman had done his best. His assault on Blunt's line had been desperate, but unsuccessful. Having doubt of the loyalty of much of his infantry, he drove it into action with his cavalry, as we have seen. One of his regiments deserted on the field. At nightfall he was defeated, and saw that he must retreat, and he feared that even retreat was impossible. By the abuse of the usage of the flag of truce he secured time osten- sibly to bury his dead and attend his wounded, but which he utilized in getting his men on the road back to Van Buren, practically abandoning both his dead and wounded. With him disappeared the hope of the Confederacy in Missouri and Northwest Arkansas. His defeat was decisive. 5 r ' The reports of the officers of both sides are published in Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXII, Part I, pp. 07-158. CHAPTER XXI BUCK & BALL The advance of the Union army found at Cane Hill the equipment of a small printing office in a log cabin at the edge of the town. The type was scattered over the floor and in the yard, and the press was in pieces and parts of it had been destroyed. When the Eleventh Kansas arrived it camped about the cabin, and Major Plumb took charge of the newspaper plant. It had been in use in the Cherokee Nation, and was sent to Cane Hill when the war began. The type was about equally divided between English and Cherokee charac- ters. Plumb called to his aid a number of Kansas news- paper men, Crawford, Eoss, and others. They patiently assorted the type, enough of which remained to set up a small paper. The large type had been carried off by the soldiers who first discovered it, and there was not enough left for a title-head. After cutting one letter from a block of wood, the name of the proposed paper was set up — Buck & Ball. This name described the charge of the ancient guns with which the Eleventh was armed, three buckshot and a seventy-two caliber ball. The motto adopted was an exclamation of John H. Kitts, a soldier of the Eleventh, a peculiar character, a Yankee, a good printer, and one of the compositors on the paper, and was " Kansas is Pisen to the Hull on 'em." Another of his expressions is given, " Caliber 72 — Gives the Eebels H— 1." 1 i A Baptist missionary, Jones, established the Jones Mission among the Cherokees a few miles west of Cincinnati, Arkansas, about 126 BUCK & BALL 127 Six columns were set and the forms made up for one side of the paper, which had been made to conform to the size of the army foolscap, the only supply of paper available. Capital letters were few and proper names did not always have them. Sometimes italic letters were, of necessity, used with others. The old press was tinkered to the point where it could be used, and fif- teen hundred copies printed on one side. Great inge- nuity was exercised in getting a supply of paper. All the foolscap the Eleventh had or could get was used. Some wall paper was found, and that w r as worked off. Just as the last sheets were being printed Major Plumb was ordered to the front, to the top of Reed's Mountain, where he helped hold the Confederate army in check on the 6th. On the 7th as he passed through Cane Tlill he looked in on the printing office. There was the half-printed edition on the floor. He rolled the sheets into a bundle which he tied with a cord. As he reached the door an ambulance came by, the lasl to leave. Plumb threw the bundle into the ambulance and went on with his regi- ment. About the third day after the batile of Prairie Grove, when the regiment was back at Cane Hill, he went in search of his paper and found it in the ambu- lance. An account of the battle of Prairie drove was 1832. lie taught the Indians, principally full-blood Cherokees, anti- slavery sentiments. When one was converted to the belief against slavery he was given a pin <»r badge to wear, 'rinse were known as "Pin" Indians, often mentioned in the annals of the Civil War. This is tlio origin of the name. At this mission there was printed an edition of the Bible in the Cherokee language. When the Civil War began these missionaries could not remain in the Cherokee Nation, and they returned north. They were in debt to merchants a* Cane Hill, and they hauled the press, type, forms, and other appliances of their ofliee to that town and turned them over to the merchants as security for the debts. That is how it came that Plumb found a press and printing material at Cane Hill. Sequoyah, possihly the greatest Indian that ever lived, worked as a printer at the Mission. He was a Pin Indian. 128 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB written, as were some editorials, and these were put in type; forms for the other side were made up, and the paper was run off. The first and fourth pages were printed first, being dated December 6, 1862. The sec- ond and third pages were printed in the last impres- sion, and contain an account of the battle and other oc- currences on the 7th and later. It was the intention to continue the publication, but General Schofield doubted the propriety of so doing, and only the one number was issued. The paper is valuable for various reasons. It con- tains excellent accounts of the battles and movements in which the Eleventh took part. It is a striking ex- ample of the intelligence and enterprise of the Union soldiers. In almost every regiment were machinists, printers, and mechanics of all trades. Shops for the manufacture of any commodity could have been supplied with competent workmen. The Confederate soldier was generally a farmer and without knowledge of me- chanical arts. The editorials written by Major Plumb were good — as true to-day as when penned. One of them is given: Eighteen months ago Western Arkansas was prosperous with peace and plenty. The sounds that met the ear were those of lowing herds in the valley, the ring of the woodsman's axe on the hills, and childhood's innocent sport in the groves. The sights that greeted the vision were the fields of growing grain ; and the comfortable cahin or more pretentious mansion, on the hill-side the ahode of domestic virtue and happiness. An intelligent, in- dustrious people were enjoying the fruits of their toil in the security and peace guaranteed to them by the mild and benefi- cent government under which they lived. But the leading men of Arkansas drew the State after them into the vortex of rebellion — the people at large condemning the sentiment but offering no resistance. The effect is now visible everywhere. Contending armies have crossed and recrossed, and where they have passed nothing has grown. Desolation has fol- lowed in their track. The sounds of war are in the valleys and on all the hills. Scarce a fireside circle that does not mourn BUCK & BALL 129 some one of its number slain in battle. The substance of the country goes to support the armies, while women and children suffer with hunger and cold. And the end is not yet ! So long as the rebellion lasts, the misery and horrors of war will go on multiplying and increasing. The Union army is increasing in numbers, efficiency and determination each day. It is gradually overrunning the South, and within another twelve months its armies, contracting the circle which they have now formed, will meet on the banks of the Mississippi and Arkansas and in the center of the cotton States. Men of "Western Arkansas ! Most of you went into this rebel- lion against your own convictions ! Will you continue in it to your own utter ruin, and that of your country? You have it in your power to bring peace back to your borders. Unite with the Union Army in driving out those who are in arms against the Government, and you can then return in peace to your homes. If you do not the Government must continue to treat you as its enemies. Your choice is between peace and war — peace in the Union and war against it. Choosey* ! 2 2 The only known copy of this paper is in the library of Mrs. P. B. Plumb. CHAPTER XXII VAN BUREN That Hindman was making efforts, after the battle of Prairie Grove, to rally his demoralized forces in West- ern Arkansas, was known to General Blunt, who decided to attack him at Van Buren and Fort Smith and dis- perse his army. The details of the forward movement were arranged on Christmas night at a conference be- tween Blunt and Herron. At three o'clock on the morn- ing of the 27th, two columns marched on Van Buren, — General Herron from Prairie Grove over the Wire Road; and General Blunt from Rhea's Mills, by the road down Cove Creek. The snow on the Boston Mountains was melting. The different streams forming Cove Creek flow down from these mountains, and it was running full of ice-cold water. The Eleventh Kansas reached the creek about ten o'clock in the morning. In its course through the mountain denies the stream winds across the narrow valley from hill to hill. In twenty miles the road crosses it some thirty-six times. There were no bridges, and the infantry were compelled to wade it at every cross- ing. At first the water was little above the shoe-tops, but this depth increased at every ford. Early in the afternoon the sun sank below the mountain-tops and a cold wind swept up the icy gorge. At many of the crossings the water was waist-deep, swift as a mill-race, filled with ice and melting snow, and it chilled the un- fortunate soldiers to the marrow. The shoes of some of them fell to pieces in this hard usage, and those of all became dilapidated. The march continued far into 130 VAN BUREN 131 the night. Plumb was distressed beyond measure at this unforeseen condition of the road and the resulting misery. He rode continually up and down the line en- couraging the men and sympathizing with them, but he permitted no grumbling. " He appealed to the men to do their duty and discharge fully every requirement, no matter what the hardship — otherwise their action was not patriotic," says one of the men who suffered on that fearful march. Late at night, passing out of the mountain gorge and leaving the crooked stream, the regiment camped and built large fires about which the men stood and dried their clothing. The next morning, after a rest of only two or three hours, they were early on the road, and ar- rived at Van Buren but little behind the cavalry. The advance of General Blunt's army met the Con- federate pickets in force three miles below the month of Cove Creek, and pursued them six miles to Dripping Springs. There, on the north side of a hill and west of the road, was found a brigade of Texas cavalry, an out- post of ITindinan's army. This force was charged and scattered, and it passed panic-stricken through Van Buren, eight miles distant. Those who had time to do so boarded a ferry-boat to cross over to Bindman's camp, and the others scatered along the north bank. General Blunt arrived soon. He saw three steam- boats just leaving the Van Buren late ling, and sent troops to capture them. They were loaded with Con- federate supplies. These, and another boat found there, were burned, together with most of their lading. Plumb and the surgeon of his regiment were among the first to enter Van Buren after the charging cavalry. As they walked along a street near the river, a battery on the other side opened on the town. The first shots fell near them. General Blunt ordered his artillery to hurry forward. In half an hour one of the batteries came through the streets of Van Buren on a swift gal- 132 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB lop. The guns were placed in position and soon silenced the Confederate battery. This action was decisive. The Confederates made little resistance and the engagement completed the rout of Hindman's army. Without rations and ammuni- tion, it retreated down the Arkansas River. Much suffering resulted. Rain and snow soaked the roads and chilled the men. Desertions increased, as many as six hundred men leaving in one day. Some ten days after the action at Van Buren, the miserable remnant of Hindman's splendid army reached Little Rock, where it was quartered in the buildings of the penitentiary. CHAPTER XXIII CHIEF OF STAFF From Van Buren the army returned to Rhea's Mills. There General Blunt was succeeded by General Scho- field, who moved to Elm Springs, twelve miles north of Fayetteville. Late in January, 1863, a campaign against Little Rock, by way of Batesville, was planned, but it was not carried out. After marching about thirty miles east from Elm Springs, the army was ordered north to the vicinity of Springfield, Mo. Rain and snow al- ternated for many days. White River was running high when reached at a point near the Missouri line. It is a large swift stream, and it seemed that no way would be found to get the army over it. Colonel Ewing ordered Plumb to establish a ferry. In his retreat from Missouri General Sterling Price had fastened a long chain across the road, at Cross Hollows, to delay the pursuit of General Siegel. Plumb had seen this chain, and it now occurred to him to utilize it. While his men were bringing lumber for boats from a mountain mill, he had the chain brought up and stretched across the river. By ropes and pulleys, the boats, now completed, were attached to the chain, making a safe and commo- dious ferry by which the army was put over the stream. 1 i The chain was brought from England. It was wrapped around the trees and so securely fastened that it took Plumb's men some time to cut it loose. Colonel William Weer, Tenth Kansas, was try- ing to put his regiment over White River in wagon-beds wrapped with tarpaulins when the Eleventh Kansas arrived at the crossing. Colonel Weer's plan was a failure, and Colonel Ewing said Plumb could build a ferry by the next day. which he did, completing it In ten hours. 133 134 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB The Eleventh Kansas camped at Crane Creek, thirty miles south of Springfield, where there was a heavy mortality from measles and other diseases. Gloom fell on the camp, which was afterwards spoken of as " The Valley of the Shadow of Death." From this point the Eleventh moved to Camp Solomon, in Law- rence County, fifty miles west of Springfield. On the 17th of March it was ordered to Forsyth, Mo., where a Confederate force was supposed to be operating, but at the crossing of James River it was learned that the enemy had disappeared. General Schofield ordered all Kansas troops of the First Division to Fort Scott, where, on the 27th of March, they were given a furlough for thirty days and allowed to visit their homes. In the meantime Ewing had been made a Brigadier- General. Moonlight was promoted to the rank of Colonel and Plumb to Lieutenant-Colonel. On the reas- sembling of the Eleventh at Fort Scott it was sent to Salem, Mo. From there the Second and Third Divi- sions, Army of the Frontier, were sent to Vicksburg, and the cavalry sent to Southeast Missouri. General Ewing was given command of the District of the Bor- der, which included a part of Western Missouri and most of Kansas. The Eleventh marched to Washing- ton, Mo., where it took boat for Kansas City. Upon the return of the army from Van Buren, Major Plumb was appointed on a General Court-martial of thirteen officers, which organized at Fayetteville, Jan- uary 1, 1863. Colonel Samuel J. Crawford was a mem- ber, and Colonel Thompson, of an Iowa regiment, was elected president. This Court held sessions at Fayette- ville, Huntersville, Cassville, Totten's Headquarters, and Springfield. Many cases were heard and disposed of, and the Court adjourned at Springfield on the 13th of March. Plumb impressed the Court with his industry, his common sense, and his capacity for work. He was strict in his findings but just and humane. During this CHIEF OF STAFF 135 time Plumb was with his regiment only occasionally — on the march from Huntsville and once or twice at the camp on Crane Creek. Because of the loss of men in battle and from sick- ness the Eleventh was reduced below the minimum, and on that account the promoted officers could not be mus- tered into their new positions for some time. At Kan- sas City General Ewing made Major Plumb his Chief -of- Staff. As a reward for the splendid service the Eleventh had rendered, General Schofield ordered it mounted and • hanged from infantry to cavalry. Plumb had much to do in securing this change. CHAPTER XXIV THE DISTRICT OF THE BORDER The State of Kansas north of the thirty-eighth paral- lel, and the two western tiers of counties of Missouri north of the same parallel and south of the Missouri Biver constituted the District of the Border. 1 General Ewing reached Leavenworth June 15, and assumed command at Kansas City a day or two later. His task was an arduous one. The eighty-five miles of border-line running straight south from his headquar- ters had been little less than a battle-line for the pre- ceding eight years. In 1855 the Missourians had crossed it by thousands to compel the Kansas people to obey the Bogus Laws. Invasions had occurred be- fore that date, and they had continued up to the arrival of General Ewing. The border wars had never wholly ceased. Except in Linn County, Kansas, there had been no disposition to cross the line into Missouri, and there the provocation had been great. Up to 1801 Kansas had suffered much at the hands of Missouri — her towns had been sacked, her homes desolated, and her citizens slain. In fact, the war had raged seven years in Kan- i Vol. XXII, Part II, p. 315, Rebellion Records. The area included in Kansas was about 52,000 square miles, and in Missouri about 4,800 square miles. The Missouri portion of the District included the counties of Jackson, Lafayette, Cass, Johnson, Bates, Henry, and parts of Vernon and St. Clair. The District was, from east to west, four hundred and sixty miles long. In Kansas it was, from north to south, one hundred and thirty-five miles wide. In Missouri the District embraced a territory eighty-five miles from north to south and sixty miles from east to west. 136 THE DISTRICT OF THE BORDER 137 sas before it spread to the other parts of the Union, and through it all Kansas had stood on the defensive. Now that the old foes of Kansas were the foes of the Union and in open rebellion against it, opportunity came for settling old scores. The Federal Government, which had stood back of Missouri in the fifties, now be- came the bulwark of loyal Kansas. The old order of things was reversed. The Missourian who desired to fight regularly for the Confederacy had to follow Price out of the State to do it. Almost every voter in Kansas, and many not yet of voting age, enlisted in the armies of the Union. In expelling the armed Confederates from Missouri these Kansas soldiers bore their part, and it cannot be denied that thev did it willinglv and well. In Missouri there remained many who were dis- loyal. Various causes prevented their enlistment and continuous service in the Confederate army, the desire to engage in the irregular and unrestrained warfare of the guerrilla being uppermost. In that mode of oppo- sition to the Union forces private revenge could be taken and the property of the helpless seized. Men without the courage to become soldiers in the Confederate arm- ies formed armed bands for murder and robbery. Of them it was truthfully said : During the war they became guerrilla- and bushwhackers under Price, Anderson and Quantrill ; assassins; thugs; poisoners of well?; murderers of captive women and children; Backers of de- fenseless towns; house-burners; horse-thieves; perpetrators of atrocities that would make the blood of Sepoys run cold. 2 Their pretext was that of protecting their homes, al- though but for their presence and persistent perpetra- tion of barbarous and bloody deeds their homes would have been in little danger. They quartered themselves on the disloyal and such of the loyal as they did not de- 2 Ingalls, in " Catfish Aristocracy." 138 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB spoil and murder. From brakes and coverts they at- tacked small bodies of Federal soldiers passing from post to post, scouts, lonely dwellings, transportation trains, unimportant villages — anything and every- thing where there was little danger to themselves and opportunity for bloodshed and spoil. These bands had the full and unreserved support and approval of Con- federate officers, who regularly mustered them into the Confederate armies, and with whom they co-operated as occasion favored. Their operations never contributed anything to the success of the Confederate cause, never imperiled any material Union post or position, never did any good for themselves or anyone else, but did do immeasurable harm to themselves, their cause, their families, and their native State. The Federal Govern- ment was lenient and long-suffering in its attitude toward them, but their constant and increasing barbar- ity forced the Union to sweep their country with fire and sword as the only adequate means for their sup- pression. The chief of these marauders was Quantrill, a rene- gade Ohioan. His bloody deeds shocked the world ; but even that did not meet the demands of the disloyal ele- ment in Missouri; he was dethroned, and Todd, more brutal and diabolic, was elevated to his place. Quan- trill had no love for the Confederacy; but Todd's devo- tion to it was fanatical. Bill Anderson had all the bloody attributes of Todd, but was made of baser clay and possessed lower instincts. In the District of the Border were also a score of lesser guerrilla captains, Parker, the Youngers, and others, all bent on the mur- der of Missouri Union men whether soldiers or non- combatants, and with a thirst for robbery which it took the law thirty years to quench after the war was over. When General Ewing assumed command of the Dis- trict of the Border he found his Missouri counties over- run with this banditti. It lurked in every thicket and THE DISTRICT OF THE BORDER 139 prowled arotmd every outpost. It crossed the border- line and sacked helpless villages in Kansas, and, return- ing to Missouri fastnesses, left a trail of blood and ruin. The conditions were greatly aggravated by the presence in Kansas of sordid and unpatriotic men, who, as Gen- eral Ewing said, were preying on the misery of Missouri and stealing themselves rich in the name of liberty. This warfare was not wholly between Kansas and the people of Missouri. Indeed, it had its deepest bitter- ness between the people of Missouri themselves, neigh- bor against neighbor. Of those who remained at home, or who returned after a temporary service, the sympa- thizers with the Confederacy far outnumbered those who loved the Old Flag. These latter were almost all expelled or murdered by the former. Of those who fled from home the majority went to Kansas, where they either enlisted in Kansas regiments, or sought favor- able occasions to visit their old homes with arms in their hands to even up former differences with neigh- bors. There were many Missourians in every Kansas regiment. In every county in Missouri the loyal men enlisted in the Union army. These soldiers, whether in Missouri or Kansas regiments, were far more bitter towards their former neighbors and fellow-citizens than were the Kansans. They were nearly always moved by personal grievances. Up to June, 1863, much of the hard and thankless task of repressing the guerrillas in the Missouri portion of the District of the Bonier had devolve. 1 on Colonel William R. Penick, with his regiment, the Fifth Mis- souri, lie was stationed at Independence and was a brave and capable officer, a tireless worker, a hard rider, and the heads of the guerrillas and their sympathizers were given many a hard knock. Some semi dance of order was maintained and the bushwhackers held in check, though his force was wholly inadequate for the work assigned him. Many of the disloyal pretended 140 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB to be Union men in order to secure protection and to spy more effectively on the Union troops in the interest of the guerrillas. This element raised a great outcry against Penick, accusing him of cruelty and the crimes of which the guerrillas were guilty. They deceived the Federal authorities and the Provisional Government of Missouri. The Fifth Missouri was ordered to be mus- tered out of the service, and for that purpose it went by boat to St. Joseph, passing General Ewing at Fort Leavenworth on the 16th of June. When General Ewing had looked over his field he was appalled at the conditions and the magnitude of the task assigned him. On the 20th of June he wrote General Schofield that the whole border thirty miles into Kansas was greatly disturbed, and that it would take little more than the present demonstration of guerrillas to stampede the whole country. Three gangs of bushwhackers in Cass and Jackson counties had already grown formidable since the re- moval of Colonel Penick's regiment. Yager and his band of outlaws had, in May, ridden west over the Santa Fe Trail beyond Council Grove, committing many robberies and murders, and had returned to Missouri with small loss. General Ewing found awaiting him an urgent demand for six companies of cavalry to pro- tect the country along the Santa Fe Trail as far west as Larned, and while he recognized the justice of the request, he had no troops to spare for the purpose. 3 The guerrillas killed four Union men and one girl, and wounded nine, in a German settlement near Lexington on the 14th of July. 4 After the removal of the Fifth Missouri, guerrillas crowded up to the bounds of Kan- sas City. Citizens were murdered and their homes burned almost daily in Jackson County, and conditions 3 See correspondence between Ewing and Schofield, Vol. XXII, Part II, p. 341, et. scq., Rebellion Records. 4 Id. p. 3G7. THE DISTRICT OF THE BORDER 141 were worse in the outlying portions of the District. General Ewing wrote, on August 3d, that : About one-half the farmers in the border tier of counties of Missouri in my District, at different times since the war began, entered the rebel service. One-half of them are dead or still in the service; the other half, quitting from time to time the rebel armies, have returned to those counties. Unable to live at their homes if they would, they have gone to bushwhacking, and have driven almost all avowed Unionists out of the country or to the military stations. And now, sometimes in bands of several hundred, they scour the country, robbing and killing those they think unfriendly to them, and threatening the settlements of the Kansas border and the towns and stations in Missouri. 5 Continuing, General Ewing said that about two- thirds of the families on the occupied farms of that re- gion were related to the guerrillas, and were actively and heartily engaged in feeding, clothing, and sus- taining them. The physical character of the land greatly favored guerrilla warfare, and the presence there of the families caused the presence of the guerrillas. It was impossible to clear the country of them as long as the families remained, and General Ewing proposed and was granted permission, to send the families of the most active guerrillas out of his District to some point in Arkansas accessible by steamboat, there to remain until the war ended. This was the inception of Order No. 11. One of the class responsible for the conditions which General Ewing found confronting him was a certain B. F. Parker, a Colonel in the Confederate army, but now returned and roaming at the head of a band of bushwhackers in Johnson County. He issued a proc- lamation, June 10, 1803, instructing his men to murder all prisoners taken from the Union armies, and saying that he had himself "executed" one Major and four 5 Id. p. 428. 142 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB privates in retaliation for the hanging of Jim Vanghan at Kansas City, May 29, after trial by court-martial for murdering Union men. 6 Parker was killed at Well- ington, Mo., about the middle of July, but his proclama- tion was faithfully obeyed by all the guerrilla bands. In fact, it was the practice of the guerrillas to murder all prisoners long before the public announcement made by Parker. On July 3d General Ewing addressed the citizens of Olathe. The policy he announced was just. But the address was unfortunate in that it was taken by the guerrillas to indicate that General Ewing intended to make greater efforts to prevent Kansas people from mak- ing reprisals in Missouri than to suppress the guerrilla bands. These outlaws became bolder and their num- bers increased day by day. Commenting on the Olathe address, Quantrill said : " Ewing commands the Dis- trict, but I run the machine." In July a reign of terror- existed in Johnson County, Mo., and widows knowing who had murdered their husbands were afraid to give the authorities any information. In the southern por- tion of the District a condition of anarchy had followed the removal of the Fifth Missouri. The forces under General Ewing were insufficient for the requirements of the District. Cavalry was needed, and on the 11th of July General Schofield ordered that the Eleventh Kansas be mounted and changed from in- fantry to cavalry. But there were no carbines for the regiment and it was necessary for the men to retain for a time their unwieldy old muskets. On the 31st of July General Ewing had present for duty in the District of the Border one hundred and two officers and twenty-five hundred and forty-six men. With this small force he was expected to garrison and patrol, battle over and protect nearly sixty thousand « See issues of Kansas City Journal, May 30 and June 27, 1863. THE DISTEICT OF THE BORDER 143 square miles of territory, including an Indian frontier of vast extent, the supply-line from Fort Leavenworth, to Fort Scott for General Blunt's District of the Fron- tier, and one hundred miles of bloody border-line. General Ewing's plans for guarding the border were the best that could be made with the troops at his disposal. To prevent the invasion of Kansas he established posts or stations on and along the State-line south of Kansas Citv to the limits of his District. These stations were usually about twelve miles apart, and were : Westport ; six miles out. Shawnee Mission; three miles from Westport. Little Santa Fe; ten miles south of Westport; com- manded by Captain Charles F. Coleman, Company D, Ninth Kansas, with his company and a detachment of Company M, Fifth Kansas Cavalry, in all, about eighty men. Aubry; twelve miles south of Little Santa Fe; com- manded by Captain J. A. Pike, Company K, Ninth Kan- sas, with his own company and Company D, Eleventh Kansas; both companies made a force of about one hun- dred men. Coldwater Grove; thirteen miles south of Aubry; commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles S. (Mark, Ninth Kansas, with Company E, of his own regiment. All the troops south of Little Santa Fe, in the District of the Border, were under the immediate command of Colonel Clark. Roekville; thirteen miles south of Coldwater Grove; commander and number of men not found. Trading Post; on the Marais des Cygnes, fifteen miles south of Roekville; Captain B. F. Goss, Company F, Ninth Kansas. Barnesville ; in north part of Bourbon County ; a gar- rison of one or two companies, but not shown in the returns. 1U THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Patrols were to pass constantly from post to post, at hourly intervals. Important information was to be passed along by a line of couriers to headquarters at Kansas City. If a hostile force appeared it was to be pursued instantly, and if too large to be attacked by the pursuers, help was to be summoned from other posts. Couriers Avere to be sent to alarm the Kansas border towns, where the defense was mainly composed of militia quartered usually in their own homes and sometimes difficult to assemble. CHAPTER XXV COLLArSE OF THE MILITARY PRISON The most unfortunate event in the administration of General Ewing was the Lawrence Massacre. An inci- dent which was responsible for many of the barbarities committed in the sacking of that defenseless town was the collapse at Kansas City of the military prison for women. It was made the excuse for many inhuman crimes later committed by the guerrillas. In the midst of such conditions as existed in the Dis- trict of the Border it was inevitable that women should become spies for the bushwhackers and commit other violations of military regulations. Women had been arrested before General Swing's arrival. On the 2<;th of June a number of prisoners were senl from Fort Leavenworth to Kansas city, among them ten women, two of whom were sisters of Jim Vanghan, the outlaw executed May 29th. These women were treated with great consideration, being quartered at the Union Hotel under guard. When Hill Anderson found it necessary to leave his home at Council drove in the night on a stolen horse in the spring of 18G2 to escape punishment for various crimes, he sought the border and there engaged in in- discriminate robbery, lie was arrested and disarmed by Quant rill for preying on Confederate sympathizers. After his release he was in a way subject to Quantrill until that outlaw was repudiated by his followers. An- derson removed his sisters from Kansas and for a year thev lived on the border, stopping finally with the Alun- 145 146 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB day family on the Missouri side of the line near Little Santa Fe. Both parents of this family were dead, one son was in Price's army, and three daughters were at home — Sue Munday, Martha (or Matt) Munday, and Mrs. Lou Munday Gray, — whose husband probably was a bushwhacker. The Munday girls and the three Ander- son sisters were arrested as spies. On the same day others were arrested, among them, a Miss Hall, Mollie Grandstaff, Charity Kerr, Mrs. Nannie Harris Mc- Corkle, Mrs. Sue Vandiver and Mrs. Arminna Selvey, the two latter being daughters of William Crawford, who, by marriage, was the uncle of Cole Younger. There were other arrests, but it is not known how many women were imprisoned when the building in which they were quartered collapsed. Among them, however, was Miss Alice Van Ness, whose daughter, Fay Temple- ton, achieved fame as an actress. The Union Hotel could not accommodate such a num- ber of prisoners, and to those already quartered there were now added the newcomers. G. M. Walker, of Com- pany C, Eleventh Kansas, was Sergeant of the Guard when the prisoners were brought in. He took them to the prison for men, but they refused to enter this build- ing even when shown that their apartments were entirely separated from those of the men. Then a frame build- ing on the west side of Main Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets, one story in front and two stories in the rear, and with a porch, was prepared for them. It was with difficulty that they were made to enter this build- ing, the Anderson girls being the leaders in abuse of the Union, its soldiers, generally, and those at Kansas City in particular. There w r as a three-story brick building on the east side of Grand Avenue, in McGee's Addi- tion, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets, on each side of which were two-story buildings in the second story of which men formerly had been imprisoned. It was No. 1409, Grand Avenue. That part of the city was at COLLAPSE OF THE MILITARY PRISON 147 the time little settled, there being; no buildings in the block opposite on the west side of the avenue, which was then the main thoroughfare to Westport. This build- ing had a frontage of about twenty-five feet. The stair- way to the second floor, from the front, and all access to the third story had been permanently closed. An old Jew had a store of cheap goods on the first floor — a medley of merchandise, including flashy jewelry, cloth- ing, groceries, and liquors. The second floor was reached only by an outside stairway in the rear of the building. 1 The second floor of the building was the prison. There were three rooms, in one of which was segregated one, possibly two, women of known bad character, the other prisoners refusing t speak to them, though they were Quantrill's trusted spies. The women separated into groups, which, if not hostile, were indifferent, and between which there was little communication. The first guard was a detail from the Twelfth Kansas and was si rict wit ii the women. Major Plumb had the guard changed. Those who would pledge their word that they would not try to escape were permitted to visit stores accompanied by a guard under orders to remain back far enough so that the prisoners could converse without being overheard. The Captain of the Guard was Frank Parker, Company C, Eleventh Kansas. 2 There were friendships between members of the guard ami ollieers at headquarters and some of the women, and it is even asserted that a soldier of Com- pany I, Eleventh Kansas, married one of the prisoners. Parker sent to Little Santa Fe for the bedding of the i There is a conflict in the statements of those who remember the building. Some say it was but two stories in height, and Mrs. Sue Womack, one of the women imprisoned there, says the entrance from the front had not been closed. With one exception it is agreed that it was on the east side of the Street and fronted west. 2 On September 19, 1910, he made a statement to the author on this subjei-t. 148 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Munday home to be used by the Munday and Anderson girls. Cards and musical instruments were provided, and sometimes officers from headquarters visited the prison in the evening and were entertained with music. It is established beyond question that these women were treated with respect and kindness. On the day of the collapse of this building Lieuten- ant John M. Singer, Company H, Ninth Kansas, was Captain of the Provost Guard. Early in the day the Captain of the guard at the building sent a request to Singer to examine it, saying that he feared it was no longer safe. Singer found the walls cracked and mor- tar-dust on the ground. He reported to General Ewing, who sent his Adjutant to examine the building. The Adjutant believed the building safe, but the Captain of the Guard was uneasy. When the prisoners had been given their dinner he requested Thomas Barber, a mem- ber of his company, to examine the prison. Barber's recollection is that there were prisoners on both the second and third floors, and that he and Parker went to the third floor. He saw the walls slowly separating from the ceiling, and advised Parker to get the women out of the building with all haste. Parker shouted: " Get out of here ! This building is going to fall ! " Barber, some of the women, and one or two guards ran down the stairs, and as they reached the ground the building collapsed, falling inward. A great cloud of dust arose from the wreck, and for an instant nothing could be done. Soon some of the uninjured crawled from the ruins. A courier was at once sent to headquarters, and Major Plumb hurried to the prison. A crowd of five thousand people assem- bled. The women were in a state of excitement, were abusing the Government and the Union troops, and as- serting that the building had been undermined with intent to kill them. The crowd was in sympathy with them and jeered the guard. Major Plumb ordered up COLLAPSE OF THE MILITARY PRISON 149 other troops and threw a cordon about the premises. He ordered the troops to fix bayonets and force a num- ber of citizens to help rescue the wounded and bring out the dead. The uninjured were sent to the Union Hotel, where thev were guarded until another house could be made ready for them. The wounded were taken to the military hospital, where a ward was given them. The names of four of the dead are now remem- bered: Charity Kerr, Mrs. Vandiver, Mrs. Selvey, and Josephine Anderson. 3 The charge that the Federal soldiers undermined this prison was absurd. There never was a particle of evi- dence to support it. When asked why she believed the building had been undermined Mrs. Womack (Sue Munday) said, "I know it was, because I saw the sol- diers going into the Jew's store as thick as bees all day." This was the only circumstance she could mention to support her declaration. There is perhaps no doubt about the soldiers having gone into the store, but the fact that the proprietor was permitted to sell liquors might account for their visits. And the Jew was caught in the collapse and injured. If he had known of any intention to wreck (lie building he would not have been there, and no mining could have been carried on in his room without his knowledge. On what date the build- ing fell has not been established, but it was about two weeks before the Lawrence .Massacre, and was made one of the excuses for that horrible affair. The charge that this prison was undermined was taken up by the guerrillas all along the border. Ee- s The statement of Mrs. Womack says Mrs. Vandiver and Mrs. Selvey were killed. Charity Kerr was a cousin of Cole Younger. In his Quantrill and the Border Wars the author, following Cole Younger's autohiography. included Nannie Harris among those killed. Iter sister, Mrs. Eliza Deal, now living in Kansas City, Kansas, says that Nannie Harris was not injured. 150 TIIE LIFE OP PKESTON B. PLUMB venge was the cry. Betaliation was demanded. Quan- trill, planning, threatening, cajoling, persuading, never could have induced the guerrillas to undertake the raid on Lawrence but for the collapse of this building. It came at an opportune time in his career and he made the most of it. CHAPTER XXVI THE LAWRENCE MASSACRE The flood in the tide of the Confederacy came in July, 1863, and the recession which followed in the same month indicated that the secession movement would end in failure. AVhen Vicksburg fell and Lee was defeated at Gettysburg the Southern cause was lost. And along the border the guerrillas reached their greatest strength in the summer of 1863. In the waning of the Confed- eracy much of its Western force abandoned the field and returned home. Great accession to the guerrilla ranks resulted. In July Quantrill saw that by com- bining the forces of the border captains enough men could be assembled for a master-stroke. They were called together and a plan proposed, but nothing was done beyond calling another meeting. In the meantime the military prison for women had collapsed. In Au- gust when the guerrilla chiefs gathered at the rendez- vous, Quantrill, by the skillful use of that unfortunate occurrence, succeeded in enlisting them in his design to destroy Lawrence. Lawrence had been the chief locality of resistance to the plan of the South to make Kansas a slave State. Kansas had won her freedom, which had, in effect, de- stroyed slavery. This was the prime cause for the ha- tred of Kansas, and made it the refuge for many of the loyal citizens exiled by Missouri. Lawrence had been the principal point of attack in the old wars waged by the Missotirians, many of whom were in the bushwhacker bands in 1863. The former bitterness remained, and 151 152 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB it could be more easily fanned to a flame than could the general animosity against the State or against any other town. In his designs against Lawrence Quantrill was but playing a part. II is implacability was a personal mat- ter. In 18G0 he had lived at Lawrence under the as- sumed name of " Charley Hart/' where he led a double life and was guilty of many crimes. He was both Bor- der-Ruffian and abolitionist. Pretending to be engaged in securing passengers for the Underground Railroad, he was a kidnapper of free negroes whom he sold into bondage in Missouri. Entrusted with the care of es- caped slaves, he returned them to their masters for re- wards. Being high in the councils of a band of thieves, he invaded Missouri for the purpose of robbery. Tak- ing advantage of conditions, he despoiled Pro-Slavery residents in Kansas of their horses and cattle. Such a course can run only for a limited time, and in due season Quantrill found himself under indictment at Lawrence for robbery and arson. It became necessary for him to seek other fields, in doing which he conceived and executed a plot to betray and murder some of his associates. Under pretext of obtaining thirty slaves to be sent over the Underground Railroad from Kansas to Canada, he induced some young anti-slavery enthu- siasts of Atchison County to accompany him in a foray against Morgan Walker, a planter and slaveholder in Jackson County, Mo. There he betrayed his compan- ions to death, at least one of whom he murdered with his own hands. He remained with the Missourians and rose to be chief of the border-guerrillas. In this ca- pacity he had sacked Aubry and Shawnee and had plun- dered Olathe and other Kansas towns. 1 That the border might feel some sense of security and the Federal troops relax somewhat the severity of their i For an extended account of the life and operations of Quantrill, see Quantrill and the Border Wars, by this author. THE LAWRENCE MASSACRE 153 patrol of the State-line, Quantrill contented himself by spreading disquieting rumors and doing little in that region for some weeks. The last invasion of the coun- try in Kansas adjacent to that through which he pro- posed to pass was made by Bill Anderson on the 31st of July. On the high land south of Argentine, Wyan- dotte County, at a cross-roads known as " the Junction," lived one Saviers, whose son, Al. Saviers, was a noto- rious Red Leg and Jayhawker. 2 Anderson attacked the Saviers house, but was beaten off by the old gentleman and his daughters. The guerrillas then went west a quarter of a mile to the house of Wright Bookout and killed him. Two miles northwest of the Junction they murdered Stephen J. Payne and plundered his prem- ises. They went then to the house of Stephen Perkins, a prominent and loyal man, to kill him, but he escaped. After burning the Perkins house the guerrillas burned two other dwellings, both on the lands of Shawnee In- dians; after which they went up the Kansas River to the house where Anderson's sisters had lived and where he had been previously hiding. Taking the family at this house with them, the bushwhackers escaped to Mis- souri before pursuit could be made. 3 2 The "Red Legs " were Federal scouts on the border during the civil War. The uaine came from the red leggings which they wore. As a scourge of the border they were little inferior to Quantrill's guerrillas. The term "Jayhawker" was applied along the border at the beginning of the war to irregular troops and pillaging hands on both sides. It was accepted by some of the Kansas soldiers, and s i came to be the name by which all of them were known. It now includes all Kansas people. The origin of the name is unknown, that given by Wilder and Ingalls being erroneous. The name was in use in Texas and the West many years before Kansas was a Territory. 3 Major Plumb sent his brother, George Plumb, in pursuit of Anderson on the morning of August 1st. The guerrillas could not be overtaken. Thomas J. Payne, son of Stephen J. Payne, lives yet at Argentine and has furnished au account of this raid into Wyandotte County. 154 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB This was a daring raid. The murders were com- mitted within four miles of General Ewing's headquar- ters and inside his lines. The general rendezvous of the guerrillas was on the Blackwater, Johnson County, Mo., at the farm of Cap- tain Pardee. On the night of the 18th of August, every captain arrived there with his command. On the 19th the march on Lawrence began. Great caution was ob- served. Extensive scouting was done to detect the pres- ence of any Federal force. After riding ten miles toward Kansas, camp was made early in the afternoon. Here Quantrill addressed his men and told them where they were going. Before it was dark the guerrillas were again moving. South of the Little Blue they came upon Colonel John D. Holt, who had one hun- dred and four men, and he joined the expedition. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 20th the guerrilla column was on the head of the Grand Kiver, four miles from the Kansas line. There the last addition to the guerrilla force was made, a company of fifty men join- ing it from points to the south. The guerrillas num- bered four hundred and forty-eight men, as follows : The original force 294 Holt's command 104 The last reinforcement 50 Total 448 At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th Quantrill moved toward the State-line from a dense wood in which he had been concealed. He crossed the line at the southeast corner of Johnson County, near Aubry, one of Ewing's posts commanded by Captain J. A. Pike, with about one hundred men. Here began that strange list of untoward circumstances which so much aided the guerrillas in their daring raid. Captain Pike, so the guerrillas assert, marched his men out on the prairie THE LAWRENCE MASSACRE 155 and saw the bushwhackers ride by him into Kansas. He made no effort to halt them, nor did he at once send a courier to alarm the other posts. He did not pursue. He did nothing that his position of post-commander required him to do, except to finally send a courier north. Of his conduct, General Ewing, in his official report, said: I'nhappily, however, instead of setting out at once in pursuit, he remained at the station, and merely sent information of Quantrill's movement to my headquarters, and to Captain Cole- man, commanding two companies at Little Santa Fe, 12 miles north of the line. Captain Coleman, with near 100 men, marched at once to Aubry, and the available force of the two stations, numbering about 200 men, set out at midnight in pur- suit. But Quantrill's path was over the open prairie, and diffi- cult to follow at night, so that our forces gained but little on him. By Captain I' rror of judgment in failing to follow promptly and closely, the .- means of arresting the terrible blow was thrown away, for Quantrill would never have gone as far as Lawrence, or attacked it, with 100 men close on his rear. Passing Aubry, the guerrillas dismounted and allowed their horses to graze an hour. Resuming their march at dusk they passed through Spring Hill and turned northwest towards Gardner, which they reached at eleven o'clock. Three miles wesl they lefl the Santa Fe Trail and marched north several miles. It was neces- sary to have guides, fnv which service the farmers were impressed, and when they no longer knew the roads they were shut, ten guides having been killed in one stretch of eight miles. A mile west of the Quaker set- tlement of Hesper the guerrillas found at home an old man named Stone. He was recognized by George Todd, who brained him with an antiquated musket. Bere they found a young German whom they mounted be- hind one of their number and forced to guide them into Lawrence. The Wakarusa was forded at the Blue- Jacket Crossing, and the old Pro-Slavery town of 156 THE LIFE OF PKESTON B. PLUMB Franklin was reached at dawn on the 21st of August. There they were marching in columns of four, many of them asleep strapped to their saddles, and were counted by a resident physician, who found them to number four hundred and fifty. In coming up to the summit of the ridge beyond Franklin the guerrillas straggled, but once at the top the formation was perfected, the column of fours resumed, and the descent upon Lawrence, now in plain view, arranged. Gregg was sent forward with five men to enter the doomed town and see if it was safe for the army to fol- low him in. But here some of the bushwhackers lost heart and said the venture was too great. They coun- seled retreat, or at least a drawing off until conditions were better known. Quantrill said he would enter the town if he had to go in alone, and when he advanced he was followed by the whole command. Lawrence was unprotected and helpless. Two camps of recruits were her only troops; these numbered less than thirty and were unarmed. The arms provided for the defense of the town had been taken from the citizens and locked up. Quantrill had been expected often, but had failed to come, and it had become the settled con- viction that he would never appear at the gates of Law- rence. But there he was. Gregg found the camp of white recruits as Quantrill came up with him, and it was instantly ridden down and most of the recruits killed. The colored recruits fled at sight of the guerrillas and nearly all escaped. The citizens were aroused by horse- men galloping madly through the streets, and the rising roar of firearms. The Eldridge House was surrendered on promise of protection for the guests, and this prom- ise was kept. Men appeared in the streets only to be shot down. The torch was applied to dwelling and store. Terror seized the men when the situation was realized. They were shot as they ran to cover. Or if they were concealed by their wives their homes were THE LAWRENCE MASSACRE 157 burned over them while raving bushmen stood by to murder them if they should try to escape. Stores and liquor shops were looted and burning dwellings ran- sacked for plunder to carry back to Missouri. Women and children were stripped of jewelry, ornaments, and keepsakes by guerrillas, now drunk and reckless. Hus- bands were torn from the arms of shrieking wives and murdered. "Wounded men were cast into seething flames to die by fire. There was no mercy. While the loot of the town was being packed on horses to be carried into .Missouri those appointed to the work of destruc- tion rode headlong, firing with deadly aim and yelling like fiends. When burning buildings fell in on trapped men the air was renl with shouts of exultation. Above the tumult rose triumphant cries for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy. When the town was destroyed, the loot secured, and not another man in sight to be murdered, Quant rill prepared to leave. Nearly two hundred citizens and non-combatants were dead in the ruins. The vengeance of the guerrilla chief was satis- tied. As he was calling in his bloody band his guards came down from Mount Oread and reported pursuing columns approaching. Leaving a detail under Gregg to found up the drunken and unruly, Quantrill hurried south. Be left a city in ashes, innocent dead in every st :vci, and hundreds of widows ami orphans crying wildly through the gloom or standing hopelessly about their smoldering homes. And on the flag under which he fought he left a blood-stain which only the charity of the sufferers can ever efface. CHAPTER XXVII THE PURSUIT OF QUANTRILL * At eight o'clock on the night of the 20th of August, Captain Coleman, at Little Santa Fe, received a dis- patch from Captain Pike, saying that Quantrill, with seven hundred men, was camped on the head of the Grand Eiver, eight miles to the east Quantrill was, in fact, at that hour approaching Spring Hill, Kansas, twelve miles west of the State-line, and he had been in Kansas at least four hours; and on the prairie near Squiresville his men had dismounted and allowed their horses to graze an hour. A second dispatch from Pike reached Coleman fifteen minutes later. It stated that Quantrill had passed into Kansas with eight hundred men. Captain Coleman at once sent couriers to Kan- sas City with that information. He also sent a messen- ger west to notify the towns of the presence of the guer- rillas. He hurried with his men to Aubry and assumed command there. This gave him about one hundred and eighty men, and at midnight he took the trail of the guerrillas. The first courier of Captain Coleman arrived at Kan- sas City at eleven-thirty, and the second courier came in an hour later. General Ewing was absent, having gone to Leavenworth. Major Plumb, as Chief-of-Staff, i Ewing and Plumb were both severely criticised at the time and for years afterwards. For that reason the pursuit of Quantrill is treated at length. No one should be shielded. The writer made a personal examination of the country through which the pursuit was conducted, and sought every source of information on the subject that the facts might be written here. 158 THE PURSUIT OF QUANTRILL 159 was in command. As soon as possible after the arrival of the second dispatch he was on his way to Kansas with seventeen men — all the mounted men immediately available at Kansas City. 2 At Westport he added thirty men to his command. The dispatch of Captain Cole- man — that Quantrill had entered Kansas with eight hundred men — was the only information he had of the situation. At daylight on the morning of the 21st he arrived at Olathe. There he found the garrison in arms, the men having been roused by the long roll on the arrival of Captain Coleman's courier. While he was making inquiries a great column of black smoke boiling like a thunder-head shot into the sky far to the westward. Observing it a moment, he turned to his men and said, " Quantrill is in Lawrence." Lieutenant Cyrus Leland, Jr., was at Olathe, and was given per- mission to join the pursuit. Taking the few mounted men found at Olathe, Major Plumb rode across 1he coun- try straight for Lawrence. He sent < teorge Plumb with a few men to alarm the people living along the Kansas River, believing the guerrillas might try to return to Missouri that way." At Blue-Jacket Crossing of the Wakarusa, some six miles southeast of Lawrence, with but thirty men re- maining, his force having been reduced by details to 2 For the exact time of the arrival of the dispatches at Kansas City see the <>ili<-ial report of General Ewing, Rebellion Records, Series I. Vol. XXII. Part I, p. r>79. In the same volume, immediately following the report of General Ewing will he found all others re- lating to the Quantrill raid. sSamui-l Boies, of Lawrence, was saved by Qnautrill to drive the ambulance carrying the guerrillas wounded there. He escaped. He says, in Kansas City -Journal, August 29, 1863: "Quantrill avowed his intention to march to Osawatomie, laying everything waste as he went. At Rothrock's, or Ulrich's, where he stopped to water his horses. Lane first came up with the pursuit, and as Quantrill's men were off the road to the west, Quantrill first thought they would be able to head him off. In that case, he avowed his intention of turning back and marching down the Kaw Valley to Missouri." ICO THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB scout and cany dispatches to Kansas City, Plumb found Captain Coleman just ahead of him. 4 Clouds of dust and columns of smoke south of Law- rence indicated that Quantrill was retreating on the Fort Scott road and laying waste the country. Plumb took command of Coleman's force. He recrossed the Wakarusa and made all haste south to the Santa Fe Trail at Baldwin, which point he reached ahead of the guerrillas, his appearance saving it and Prairie City from the torch. The sky was without a cloud, the day calm and still, the country parched and dusty, and the heat excessive. The gallop of twelve miles from the Wakarusa to the Santa Fe Trail completed the exhaus- tion of the horses, all of which had made more than sixty-five miles without rest, 5 Some horses had dropped dead in the road ascending the divide traversed by the old Trail. After burning most of the houses in and about Brook- lyn, Quantrill, driven by fear of Lane who was pressing his rear, started down the Santa Fe Trail towards Baldwin. From a high point in the road he saw Major Plumb's column marching up the Santa Fe Trail to meet him. Quantrill left the Trail and turned to the south to avoid Plumb, intending to regain the Trail at * Thomas Barber, Company C, Eleventh Kansas, has said to the author that Plumb sent a number of dispatches to Ewing at Kansas City and that these were sent to Leavenworth. Major Martin Ander- son, Eleventh Kansas, went in pursuit of Quantrill on the 21st, and Barber was with him. They met a courier with a dispatch from Plumb, which urged Ewing to place troops along the State-line, and numb' supposed that Ewing would be in Kansas City as soon as he could return from Leavenworth. Captain Coleman and Major Plumb both crossed the Wakarusa. In a letter to his mother, written August 29, 1SP>3, Cyrus Leland, Jr., says, " Major Plumb came up with Captain Coleman just east of Franklin." b In his official report General Ewing says : " By this time the horses of our detachments were almost exhausted. Nearly all were young horses, just issued to the com- panies, and had marched more than sixty-five miles without rest and without food." THE PURSUIT OF QUANTRILL 161 Baldwin; but after having gone a mile he decided that this could not be done. The guerrilla leader was dis- concerted, and after a hurried conference with his guides and captains, retraced his course to a point near Brook- lyn, where he turned south on the Fort Scott road. From the point where he turned back he sent a scouting party to reach and destroy Baldwin and Prairie City if possible, and in any event to keep between Plumb's men and the guerrillas. 6 When the guerrillas were pushed off the Santa Fe Trail the citizens led by Lane in pursuit kept to the road until they met the Union troops. Whether Lane and Plumb met at this time is not clear. 7 The militia regiment of that region was rapidly assembling. Sandy Lowe, Colonel of the Twenty-first Kansas Militia, had summoned his men and joined the pursuing citizens. s o Statement of Captain William II. Gregg, who always speaks of tlic site of Brooklyn as Black-jack Point. Whether this is the real Black-Jack and the name was given later through Ignorance to those groves some miles east where John Brown captured II. Clay Pate, is not known. 7 Cyrus Leland, Jr., is positive they did not meet here. Lieutenant John M. Singer is fully as positive that they did. He says that a little south of this point he heard Lane urging Plumb to turn the troops over to him — Lane — and that some high words passed when Plumb refused. It is certain that Lane demanded of Plumb the com- mand of the troops. Lane was. for some cause, far behind Ins citizens when they charged through the lane following Captain Coleman, and his controversy with Plumb would account for the detention. s Lowe had been active In the border wars as a loyal man. Because of an Indignity to which his wife had been subjected by the guerrillas he made the war a personal matter. It is said that he slew from time to time the twenty-eight guerrillas, mostly by assassination, who mistreated his wife and child. Three of his companies were about Baldwin ; those of Captain Sprague, of Prairie city : Captain Pingree, of Baldwin; and Captain Jackson P.. '11, of Black-Jack. 'William \V. Junkin, of Baldwin, was in Captain Pingree's company. He said to the author that Colonel Lowe did not succeed in getting many of his men together. The time was too short. Junkin captured a guerrilla and took him to Lowe, who immediately shot him dead, saying as he did so: "That makes forty of them I have killed. I had killed thirty-nine before this one." His act and the reflection he expressed thereon seemed to give him immense satisfaction. 162 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB After a brief conference Plumb divided bis command, sending Captain Coleman to fall on the guerrilla rear, and intending himself to go with the militia south to a ford on Ottawa Creek to stand across the road. When Plumb started from Kansas City, he sent an orderly to the quarters of Lieutenant John H. Singer with an order to form his men and follow into Kansas. Singer made a rapid march on the trail of Plumb, coming up while the conference was in progress. Plumb inquired how many horses Singer had that could still trot, and sixty were found. They were given to Captain Coleman who secured in his own command enough in addition to make two hundred men. With these he charged through the lane running north of William C. Black's house to the Fort Scott road, and was followed by the citizens who had come with Lane, and others under Leland. This left Plumb with about one hundred soldiers on horses which could not be forced into a trot because of exhaus- tion. With these and Colonel Lowe's militia he started south to form the ambush at the crossing of Ottawa Creek. At Prairie City he heard the firing and uproar of Captain Coleman's charge on the guerrillas, and find- ing that it would be impossible for him to keep up with the militia on the way to the ford, he turned west and went to Captain Coleman's aid. He arrived at the Fletcher farm as Captain Coleman was driven back through the cornfield, and checked the guerrillas, who did not cross the north fence. Passing to the south of the field, Quantrill gave Cap- tain Gregg a rear-guard of sixty men and ordered him to remain facing the field until the guerrilla force had crossed Ottawa Creek, after which he followed them. The ford was not more than half a mile from the corn- field, and was not the ford on the main road, which was some five miles away. 9 It was necessary for Major eThe heavy traffic between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Scott to supply the army of General Blunt went over this Fort Scott road. THE PURSUIT OF QUANTRILL 163 Plumb to reform bis troops for the pursuit, putting those in front who had horses that were still able to trot, and these were mostly the militia and citizens under Lieutenant Leland. They charged the guerrilla rear- guard many times that afternoon, but when the cavalry would appear Captain Gregg would retreat through a second line which he kept always back of him, then form across the road near the retreating column. The Fed- eral soldiers were from a mile to three miles in the rear all the time. Major Plumb's horse failed from heat and exhaustion in the afternoon, and George Plumb took one for him from a farmer. After he got this fresh horse Major Plumb rode much with Leland. 10 Quantrill's guide on the retreat from Lawrence was one of his own men, James Beets, a Border-Kuffian resident of Miami County up to the "War. As he approached Paola, the guide either became confused or wished to lead the guerrillas into that town. " Quantrill rode forward and asked the guide where he was taking them to," says Boies. "The guide replied thai the town be- fore them was Morristown, Mo. Quantrill looked a mo- ment and then cursed the guide, telling him that the town was Paola; that a heavy force was there, and they The teamsters drove over the best ground they could find. South of the Fletcher farm there were numerous branches of this road- — all crossing Ottawa Creek at different points. The author went twice in the fall of I9t0 to And the ford at which Quantrill crossed. He found flvo fords at which it is claimed Quantrill crossed. All of these fords were in use iu the summer of lsc. - !, and it was impossible for the militia to know where Quantrill would cross or which ford to ambush, [f they wcif at any ford ii was : u one Quantrill did not use, for there is no account of any opposition at a ford. Captain Gregg saw Quan- trill enter the timber at the ford before he started to follow him, aud says that Quantrill would not have ordered him to face the Federal troops with only sixty men until he was five miles away. George Plumb says the guerrillas crossed Ottawa Creek near the field on the Fletcher farm. 10 See I. eland's Official report. Rebellion Records, Scries I, Vol. XXII. Part I, p. 592. General Lane was also at the front most of the time. 164 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB would be cut to pieces if they proceeded." This oc- curred on top of the " Big Hill," a mile and a quarter west of Bull Creek, which runs on the west side of Paola. While the guerrillas were halted there, the mi- litia came up and charged them. Quantrill turned his whole command, rode back, met the charge and fought the militia, which held the guerrilla force ten minutes, hoping the cavalry would be able to come up, but had finally to fall back. After a brief council with his offi- cers, at the top of the hill, Quantrill left the road, going up Bull Creek and away from Paola. It was dark be- fore Major Plumb again reached the top of the hill. There was not a guerrilla in sight, and, supposing that Quantrill had gone into Paola, he marched in that di- rection. In the afternoon Ben Ellis had arrived at Paola and alarmed the citizens. Captain B. F. Simpson was at home, and he set about the defense of the town. There were but twelve soldiers there. About four o'clock Cap- tain Nicholas Beuter, Company C, Twelfth Kansas, ar- rived with his company. Simpson got as many citizens as he could, and by dark he had about three hundred men and soldiers under arms. Scouts reported the guerrillas approaching, and Simpson decided to ambush them at the ford of Bull Creek. There was no water in the ford, but for a hundred yards immediately above it there was a stretch of deep water lying parallel with the road, shallow next to the road and deep on the east side against a high, steep bank, on the top of which grew a thicket of willows. Simpson believed that after the day's march over the waterless prairie the horses of the guerrillas would become unmanageable when they came to this pool and crowd in to drink. He formed his men in the willows along the top of the steep bank intending to fire when the horses had rushed into the water. Shortly after the ambush was formed two hundred more soldiers arrived, and these were THE PURSUIT OF QUAXTRILL 165 posted in ambush also, but nearer the ford. Simpson sent six men to scout along the road towards the Big Hill. They returned a little ahead of Major Plumb's command, which was advancing along this road to- wards Paola — very little ahead of it. They reported that there had been a battle on the Big Hill, and that the guerrillas were following and would be on them in a minute — supposing Major Plumb's men to be the guerrillas. Simpson made his final arrangements to de- liver an effective fire and follow it with a vigorous at- tack on both flanks of the guerrilla column. Major Plumb's men reached the creek, and their horses did exactly what SimpsoD had expected those of the guer- rillas to do — rushed into the water and threw the whole line into confusion. In trying to prevent this .Major Plumb gave orders in a loud voice. Simpson recognized Plumb's voice as he was giving the order to fire and called out— "Is that yon. Plumb?" "Yes," said Plumb, as he recognized Simpson's voice. Tims by the merest chance were the Union troops saved from the ambush designed for the guerrillas. Plumb was told thai the guerrillas had nol appeared al the for.l. The Union forces then wenl into Paola, finding there Lieutenant-Colonel C. S. Clark, the rank ing officer, and also in command of all the forces south of Little Santa Fe. Plumb's authority ceased. When Clark look the direction of affairs all vigor was lost. Scouts located Quantrill's camp five miles north of Paola, and the troops wished to attack him there but ('lark would nol permit ii to be done, though he had at least four hundred men who were comparatively fresh. It was daylight the morning of the 22d when he left Paola, and he was fifteen miles behind the guerrillas. He came in sight of them four or live miles east of the State-line, but they retreated, leaving their wounded. General Ewing said, "There has been no failure to 166 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB exert every possible effort to catch Quantrill, except at Paola, Friday night, when a great occasion was lost." » At ten-forty-five A. M., on the 21st, General Ewing received dispatches from Major Plumb. At Fort Leavenworth there were five companies of an Ohio regi- ment outfitting for Fort Laramie. These were armed at once. At one p. m. General Ewing started from the fort. He crossed the Kansas River at De Soto, being delayed five hours in getting his men over. He, too, complains of the awful heat of that day, saying that: " Four men of the Eleventh Ohio were sun-stricken, among them Lieutenant Dick, who accompanied me, and who fell dead on dismounting to rest." At Lanesfield, Johnson County, General Ewing spent the night of the 21st. On the morning of the 22d he heard that Quan- trill had passed east. Then he left his command and followed the pursuing troops into Missouri, coming up with them five or six miles east of the State-line, after which the pursuit was directed by him. He and Gen- eral Lane had a number of stormy interviews, and there is no doubt that the forthcoming Order No. 11 was discussed by them. 12 ii Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XXII, Part II, p. 447. 12 Order No. 11 is the most famous order issued on the border dur- ing the Civil War. There are conflicting accounts of how and where it was written. There is evidence that in the field on the morning of August 22d Senator Lane exacted from General Ewing a promise that the order should be issued. Senator Stephen B. Elkins told the author that the order was written at the house of Solomon Houck, at Westport, Mo., and that he and Senator Plumb were present when it was written. Mrs. Nannie Harris McCorkle, a prisoner in the mili- tary prison for women at Kansas City, told her sister, Mrs. Eliza Deal, that Major Plumb wrote the order — that he was directed by General Ewing to write it and did so. Following is a copy of " General Order No. 11 " : Kansas City, Mo., August 23, 1863. All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri, and that part of Vernon County included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's THE PURSUIT OF QUAXTRILL 167 Mills, Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville, and except those in Kaw Township, Jackson County, north of this creek and west of the Big Blue, embracing Kansas City and Westport, are hereby ordered to remove from their places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who within that time prove their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence, will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be sworn. All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of Kansas except the counties on the eastern border of the State. All others shall remove out of this district. Officers commanding com- panies and detachments serving in companies will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed. All hay or grain in the field or under shelter, in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove, within reach of the military stations after the 9th of September next, will be taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and a report of the amount so turned over made to the district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners; and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain anil hay found in such districts after the Oth of September next, not convenient to such stations, will be destroyed. CHAPTER XXVIII PROVOST MARSHAL When General Ewing assumed command of the Dis- trict of the Border he appointed Major Plumb Provost Marshal. The appointment gave general satisfaction. 1 Under caption of " Justice Done " the Kansas City Journal, July 4, 1863, says: "Every hoof of stock which we mentioned the other day as having been driven off from loyal citizens of this county, has been returned to its rightful owner. The result of this affair is in the highest degree creditable." There are many such notices. Of Major Plumb's administration there was but one complaint. General Ewing realized that the enforcement of Order No. 11 would be a delicate and difficult matter, and to show that he was not moved by any spirit of revenge or retaliation, he requested General Schofield to detail Colonel R. T. Van Horn for service at Kansas City, his home. General Ewing appointed Colonel Van Horn Provost Marshal because of his personal acquaintance with the people of the district. He took charge of his office early in September 2 and performed his duties with such tact and judgment that even those who suf- fered most were ever after his friends. One of the cases i In speaking of it the Kansas City Journal said : " Gen. Ewing has just appointed as his Provost Marshal, Major P. B. Plumb — an old resident of Kansas and a life-long anti-slavery man and Republi- can, and a man who is emphatically down on all kinds of speculation, whether in or out of the army." 2 Exact date not found. 168 PROVOST MARSHAL 169 in process of adjustment when he was appointed was that of A. L. H. Crenshaw, a citizen of the " Six Mile" neighborhood, eight miles southeast of Inde- pendence. Crenshaw was arrested August 24, 1863, three days after the Lawrence Massacre, for having in his posses- sion a letter to a Colonel Page, of the Confederate army, given him for delivery by one Wiley Aiken, who was also arrested. Crenshaw claimed to be loyal, though it was not denied that he harbored guerrillas, and that his property was never molested by them. He had taken out a Federal license as a stock-trader and had on hand about sixty mules and some other live-stock. He was thrown into jail at Independence, where he was questioned by Captain Graham, Acting Quartermaster, who demanded as the price of his release that the loca- tion of Quantrill's camp should be revealed. He denied all knowledge of the guerrilla camp, and Captain Gra- ham burned his house and confiscated his hay and Grain for the Government under the military rules then in force. Four days after his imprisonment at Independ- ence Crenshaw was taken to Kansas City and placed in a cell in the courthouse, from which he was taken the following night by one Logan, a Government de- tective, and beyond question a bad character. Logan claimed to have an order from Major Plumb for the removal of Crenshaw from his cell to answer questions about his property. Crenshaw was threatened with death and terrorized by Logan. One Kingsley, chief of detectives, took Crenshaw from his cell on what he claimed was an order from Major Plumb and forced him to sign bills of sale for almost no consideration for his mules and some other property. Even the agreed consideration was not paid him by Kingsley, but later the Government paid him full value for all property except the mules, which General Fwing turned over to a contracting company, directing that it pay Crenshaw 170 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the value of the mules, which it failed to do. 3 About the time lie was turning over the affairs of the district to Colonel Van Horn, Major Plumb detailed a guard and commanded it in person while it removed Crenshaw in an ambulance to the hospital of the military prison at Independence. While in the hospital he complained of the treatment to which he had been subjected by the detectives, Logan especially. General Ewing convened a court-martial, before which Logan was tried and by which he was sentenced to serve ten years in the Alton penitentiary. A member of the court-martial made the following statement of the case. 4 It is true that Crenshaw was outrageously used by Logan, the detective. This villain, Logan, laid the plans to get the property and executed it under the authority granted him for acting as detective. But it is not true that this brutal treatment of Crenshaw by Logan was done by authority, consent or knowledge of Major Plumb or General Ewing. Mr. Crenshaw told me of his treat- ment at the hands of Logan. I was on duty as " Officer of the Day " at the time. I informed Major Plumb and General Ewing of the matter. Logan was arrested, and General Ewing called a court-martial, of which I was a member. Logan was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years at Alton penitentiary. The feeling of exasperation among our officers and men at Logan's conduct in this matter was loud, deep and general at the time. He was as brutal a villain as ever cut a throat or scuttled a ship, but we did not know it when he was put on duty as a detective. s See report of the House Committee on War Claims, 43d and 45th Congresses. * Captain L. F. Green, in the Baldwin (Kansas) Ledger, April 9, 1889. On the subject of loyalty Captain Green says: As to Crenshaw being a Union man it would take too long to tell the various grades, degrees and shades of " Union men " like Cren- shaw, who infested the " banks and braes and streams around " among the Sni hills of old Jackson County, Mo. The class to which Crenshaw belonged had to carry a memorandum book to see which government they " swore to support " last. Captain Lindsay, of Pasadena, Cal., would be a good witness as to Crenshaw being a Union man. PROVOST MARSHAL 171 General E. B. Brown, of Missouri, revived this mat- ter against Major Plumb in 1864. Many of the Mis- souri officers in the Union army were at heart utterly disloyal. They stipulated as a condition on which they would enlist that they should never be required to do service outside of Missouri. General E. B. Brown was in command of the District of Central Missouri, adjoin- ing General E wing's district. After Ewing had made unsuccessful efforts to suppress the guerrillas he wrote to General Schofield " That it was utterly impossible to prevent harboring of bushwhackers and suppress their raids as long as the District immediately east was under the command of a rebel sympathizer." 5 Imme- diately after the Quantrill raid this class of Missouri Union officers and men began an attack on General Schofield, hoping to have him removed — which would have meant the removal also of General Ewing. It was the design to have the Missouri portion of the District of the Border attached tot lie n to Platte Bridge, one hundred and thirty miles to the northwest, where headquarters were established. Colonel Plumb was expected to guard the Old Oregon Trail from Fort Laramie to the South Pass, a distance of nearlv three hundred miles. Along this trail there was a telegraph line which required attention, as the Indians w T ere con- stantly cutting it. And it was his duty to see that the Indians did not cross to the south of the North Platte. The Trail formerly passed up the north bank of the river, but in 1805 it had been changed to the south side to Platte Bridge. The crossing of the North Platte had been first at the mouth of Deer Creek, thirty miles east of Tlatte Bridge, where an old bridge still stood. 196 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Here there was a station, and the floor of the bridge was removed for spaces of several feet in two or three places to prevent the Indians using it. The other sta- tions east to Port Laramie were La Prelle Creek, La Bonte and Horseshoe. West from Platte Bridge were the stations of Bed Buttes and Sweetwater, the latter near the mouth of the stream of that name. Up the Sweetwater were stage stations, but no stations for troops east of South Pass. Trails up the Arkansas, the Smoky Hill, and the South Platte met at Denver. From Denver to Fort Laramie the trail passed St. Vrain's Fort, where it crossed the South Platte, ascended Cache La Poudre Creek to Fort Collins, held a north course to Fort Wal- bach at Cheyenne Pass, at the head of Lodge Pole Creek, and thence down a branch of the Laramie to Fort Lar- amie. From Fort Collins the trail turned a little to the west and crossed the head branches of the Laramie and the Medicine Bow, on through Bridger's Pass to Green Biver; this was sometimes called the Bridger Trail. Fort Halleck was built in 1863, on this road, west of Medicine Bow Range. The Overland Stage passed over this route. The road up the North Platte was used much by emigrants and freighters. The cam- paign was for the purpose of keeping these routes open and the telegraph lines in operation; and to the east- ward was added the protection of settlers and ranch- men. Colonel Plumb established regimental headquarters at Camp Dodge about seven miles out from Platte Bridge, near the foothills of the Laramie Range, where wood and water were at hand. Major Adams was sent with Companies D and L to Deer Creek. Company I was sent to Sweetwater station, fifty miles to the west, and Company H was soon added to his force. The ra- tions at Fort Laramie were found sufficient for only twenty days, and were expected to last through the WYOMING 197 summer. And ammunition for the carbines carried by the Eleventh had not arrived from Fort Leavenworth. Under these discouraging circumstances Colonel Plumb entered on the discharge of his arduous and dangerous duties. Colonel Moonlight found his position at Denver irk- some and unsatisfactory and applied for a place requir- ing more activity. In compliance with this request he was put in command at Fort Laramie. There, on May 3d, he organized an expedition to Wind River to dis- perse a camp of Cheyennes supposed to be in the valley of that stream. As this camp was said to contain three hundred lodges Moonlight believed that to defeat and disperse it would give peace to the Overland trails. He took with him five hundred cavalrv, of the Eleventh Kansas, Eleventh Ohio, and Seventh Iowa, and reached the Wind River country on the 12th. The scouts could find no sign of recent Indian occupations, and the ex- pedition returned without accomplishing anything. Colonel Plumb commanded the troops of the Eleventh Kansas. The Indians followed Moonlight closely on his return, and by depredations soon made their presence known at many stations along the telegraph line. Two hundred Indians attacked Deer Creek station on the 20th of May, and were repulsed, seven of them b< ing killed, but they captured twenty-six cavalry horses. With thirty men Colonel Plumb pursued the Indians and killed one of them, but could not recover the horses. On June 3d six Indians appeared on the bank opposite the post at Platte Bridge and made efforts to have troops pursue them. A messenger was sent to Camp Dodge to apprise Colonel Plumb who, ordering thirty men to follow him at once, set out alone for the post. As he rode from camp private Wellhouse took out his watch to time the ride to the bridge — seven miles away and in plain view from the camp. Plumb went at his utmost speed, sinking out of sight in the depressions and 198 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB rising to view on the swells lying across the road. He drew rein at the post twenty-one minutes after leaving Camp Dodge. At the bridge he took ten men and pur- sued the Indians, making a hard run of five miles before coming within range, when he opened fire, killing a horse and wounding two Indians. Half of Colonel Plumb's men had fallen behind, seeing which the Indians turned and charged, but they were received with a volley which sent them back. As they fled sixty Indians came into view and charged down Dry Creek, half a mile to the left, with the purpose of cutting off Plumb and his few men, but at that moment the men from Camp Dodge came in sight, and the Indians changed their plan. Some of them fled to the right and were pursued by seven soldiers, whom they led into ambush where two were killed. Night coming on the pursuit was abandoned, and Plumb returned to Platte Bridge. On June 11th Colonel Moonlight ordered some Indian troops and their families taken to Julesburg. These mutinied at Horse Creek and escaped after fighting the escort, in which they were aided by many hostile In- dians who had all the time been in touch with them. On hearing this Colonel Moonlight started, with a force made up of California, Ohio, and Kansas troops, to punish the Indians. After a hard ride of two days he halted at Dead Man's Fork to get breakfast and allow the horses to graze. About ten o'clock two hundred Indians appeared and stampeded the horses, of which seventy-four were lost, including that of Colonel Moon- light. The expedition could do nothing but return to Fort Laramie, one hundred and twenty miles distant. The saddles were burned and the men took up the march, Colonel Moonlight and the others without horses, on foot. It was mostly the California troops who lost their horses ; they had served under General Connor, to whom they complained, showing that they had protested against turning the horses out to graze. General Con- WYOMING 199 nor ordered Colonel Moonlight to Fort Leavenworth to be mustered out. After the discharge of Colonel Moonlight Governor Crawford commissioned Plumb Colonel of the Eleventh Kansas, but as the renewal of the order to muster out cavalry regiments was made about that times he was never mustered in as Colonel. In history the year 1865 is known as the bloody year on the Plains. The Indians appeared in great force along the Bridger Trail, then the Overland Stage Line. By the middle of June many stations had been burned, the stage horses driven off and travel stopped. On the 11th of June General Connor, by telegraph, ordered Colonel Plumb to take Companies A, B, F, L and M, of his regiment, proceed to Fort Halleck, and reopen the line. Colonel Plumb arrived at Fort Halleck on the 24th of June, and at once distributed his troops from Fort Collins to Green River, about four hundred miles. For two hundred miles of this distance the Indians had driven off all the stage-horses, and these had not been r< -placed by the Overland Company. Colonel Plumb had to use his cavalry horses to haul coaches, and as the drivers had left the line because of the danger from Indians, soldiers were detailed as drivers. No trip was made without seeing Indians, and often they were en- countered in large numbers. The distance to be pro- tected was so great and the troops so few in number that large escorts for the coaches could not be furnished, ten men being the maximum force at any station. The coaches were often run only at night. The attacks of Indians were successfully met, and the stage line main- tained through all difficulties. The Overland Com- pany was astonished that communication was preserved. Colonel Plumb displayed so much abilitv in this work that Ben ilolladay, owner of the Overland Company, urged him to retire from the army and become manager of the Overland lines from the Missouri River to the 200 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Pacific Coast. The term for which Colonel Plumb had enlisted expired with the close of the war, but he rejected the flattering offer. He would not leave his regiment while it stood in such danger as it faced at that time. But here in the Rocky Mountains in the management for the Government of the Overland line, beset with perils and almost unsurmountable difficulties, Colonel Plumb took his first lessons in the management of a great enterprise. On the 26th day of July, 1865, was fought the battle of Platte Bridge. A number of the Eleventh Kansas were massacred by the Indians and the station was in peril. Major Martin Anderson was in command. On the 13th of August the Eleventh Kansas was re- lieved from service and ordered to Fort Leavenworth to be mustered out, its term having in fact expired with the close of the war, when it would have been mustered out, by direction of the Secretary of War, but for the order of General Connor. Most of the Eleventh Kansas were mustered out at Fort Leavenworth about the middle of September, 1865. On their way from the mountains to that post they were dismounted at Fort Kearny, as their horses were much needed by General Connor. This made it neces- sary to march from Fort Kearny to Fort Leavenworth on foot, and was regarded as unfair, and caused dis- satisfaction. Colonel Plumb made every effort to have the order countermanded, but without success. He then hired wagons in which the sick were taken to Fort Leavenworth. In the Adjutant General's report, State of Kansas, 1867, at page 220 in the Official Military History of Kansas Regiments, is the following: (By Telegraph from Fort Laramie, September 3, 1865.) To Lieut. -Col. Plumb, Fort Kearny: You are about to leave this District, and before you do so these headquarters desire to thank you for the energy and ability WYOMING 201 you have always manifested in the discharge of your duties. Less than this could not well be said and do justice to you. By command of Brigadier-General Connor. George F. Price, Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General. CHAPTER XXXII PLUMB AS A SOLDIER No better regiment than the Eleventh Kansas was in the armies of the Union. It was composed of farmers and of mechanics from the shops in small towns. They enlisted from a sense of duty. The regiment received its baptism at Cane Hill. It kept even pace with the cavalry to Prairie Grove. On that bloody field it withstood terrible assaults on the Union lines. It waded Cove Creek eighteen hours in pursuit of Hindman. It fought guerrillas along the border. It stood across the path of General Price at Lexington and Little Blue. It checked and turned the Confederates after the Union defeat at Byram's Ford. It crossed the Plains in terrible winter storms. At Platte Bridge a detachment of it held the Indians in check and saved the day. It operated the Overland Stage line along the Bridger Trail and maintained communication between the Missouri River and the Pa- cific Coast. Through it all — in the Ozarks, on the border, across the Plains, and in the Rocky Mountains — this regiment was an example of patriotism. Colonel Plumb was the representative man of the Eleventh Kansas. He was not in the army because he loved war, but because his country called him. His sole desire was to see the struggle brought to a close at the earliest moment. He contributed to that end by a strenuous devotion to duty, which he performed with modesty. He had great influence in his regiment, for 202 PLUMB AS A SOLDIER 203 he loved men and had faith in them. By nature he was sympathetic and helpful. He was democratic and unconventional, and the humblest man could enter his presence with full assurance of receiving attention to any matter he might wish to present. Plumb relied on the manhood and patriotism of his soldiers. He knew that the same purpose which moved him caused them to enlist in the army. He understood them. Between them and himself there was a bond of sympathy. He bore many of the burdens of the Eleventh Kansas. A comrade, speaking on this point, once said : l 1 was regimental postmaster. There was no provision to furnish the soldiers with stamps for their letters, and they were constantly writing to their wives and children. A letter could pass through the mails if it contained the frank of a commis- sioned officer. Hundreds of these letters were brought to Major Plumb for his frank. I have known him to remain up until three o'clock in the morning writing his frank on them. Every day he would have as many as a hundred — often several hun- dred if any movement of the troops had been ordered. He had to write his name and rank on each letter. He could never be prevailed on to leave a portion of this work for the next day, always saying that some anxious wife or mother would be pain- fully disappointed to receive no letter, when the neighbors re- ceived theirs. Plumb always stood for the soldier both in and after the war. He was our companion and our friend. He never failed us. He always retained his interest in us and his love for us. The Eleventh Kansas was the pride of his life, and he felt a brother's relation to every man in it. Colonel Plumb was a resourceful soldier. Difficult and dangerous marches of the Eleventh were generally under his direction. Incidents illustrating this are manv. One of his men savs : 2 When the army got into the Spring River country of South- west Missouri heavy rains set in and the streams were overflow- ing their banks, making it very difficult for the army to cross i Stephen TT. Fairfield, Company K. Eleventh Kansas. 2 John Warner, Company G, Eleventh Kansas. 204 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB them. Plumb was with the men in the advance, and would ride into the streams and explore them, and would mount men on his horse behind him and carry them over. All the bridging was done under his direction. Plumb was sympathetic in temperament and felt deeply for his men when they had to undergo any hardships. The Eleventh was an infantry regiment at first, and I have seen Major Plumb carrying the guns of half a dozen men at one time on a march. These men were not well or were lame and could not march rapidly. Plumb, an officer, was mounted, and he would carry knapsacks and guns for the sick men. Speaking generally of Colonel Plumb as an officer, one of his soldiers said : 3 Plumb was with the regiment almost all the time. He had great solicitude for the soldiers under him and was in complete accord and sympathy with them. He had no pride of rank that would suffer him to erect any official barrier between him- self and his men. He fared as they did in rain or shine, sleet or snow. He was always looking out for their interest and com- fort. He was never a red-tape officer. He took his share of every hardship his men had to endure. The love Plumb bore his comrades may be illustrated by the case of one Moore. Plumb retained an interest in his bank after he was elected Senator. Moore bor- rowed money from the bank, securing the same by mort- gage on his cattle. Calamity struck him, and he left the country. When the cattle were counted some were missing and the bank lost some money. Moore was seized in the Panhandle country and brought back to Emporia for trial. He appealed to Plumb, who wrote one of the leading criminal lawyers in the State to defend Moore ; and the defense was successful. For the attorney managed to let the jury know that Senator Plumb did not desire a conviction. In such cases Plumb usually paid the debt for the delinquent, and in many instances extended him additional aid. It was a Robert J. Harper, Manhattan, Kansas. PLUMB AS A SOLDIER 205 not in his heart to see an old soldier suffer for mere misfortune. 4 A member of Plumb's old company retained a vivid recollection of the march of the Eleventh from Fort Riley to Fort Laramie : 5 We arrived in Ft. Kearny on the 4th of March and were ordered to prepare for the march to Fort Laramie on the 7th. All went well for four days, then came rain, sleet and high winds. After three days of miserable weather we camped^ in a cedar thicket after marching twenty miles before breakfast through sleet and snow. That night about two hundred men lined up before the Colonel's tent and begged him to let us rest a full day in this sheltered spot, as many of the men were with- out horses and had to walk. His reply was : " A good soldier will always obey orders, and mine were received yesterday by telegraph to continue our march to Julesburg at the best pos- it: speed. While I sympathize with you in this, the hardest march of your service, 1 beg you to help me fully obey the order from our commanding officer. I will let those on foot use my two horses while I walk to Julesburg." One man said: " Colonel, I can't ride your horse and see you walking." Major Anderson, one of the principal petitioners for a day of rest, re- plied to Colonel Plumb as follows: " Colonel, the Lord is going to give us a fine day to-morrow, and we will have reveille at three in the morning and resume our march by daybreak." We crossed the river at Julesburg and remained there until one hundred and ninety-eight horses came from Leavenworth to remount those who had lost their horses in the Price raid. Colonel and I were at Julesburg when the horses came in, with twenty of our men driving them. The river was wide, and slush ice was running, which made it a fearful-looking stream to cross. It had suddenly turned very cold. There were only ten bags of corn for the twenty-five cavalry of Captain Murphy at Julesburg Station, and the' Colonel said our horses must ho taken acm-. He ottered $50 for a pilot. Murphy's men had crossed many times, but not one of them would try it now. The Colonel said to me: "You and I have the best horses and are both accustomed to swimming Kansas rivers. Let us try." 4 Compiled from statement of F. A. Brosan, a lawyer in Omaha, Nebraska, who formerly lived in Emporia and knew the circumstances. • ThmiKis Barber. Tlie account is taken from a letter written by Barber to his father from Fort Laramie, June 8, 18GD. 206 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB Turning to Captain Murphy, he ordered him and his men to help our men drive the horses in after us, which they did. The first plunge was about one hundred feet from the shore, but by keeping our horses headed up the stream they reached a shoal in about fifty feet, when the Colonel motioned, the boys to go farther downstream and avoid the hole we got into. Then we got along very well till we got almost to the north bank, where a deep channel had recently been cut out about one hundred feet wide. This took us and all the loose horses into swimming water, but the drivers escaped by going lower down. When we got to our camp we were all covered with ice, and there was no fire. We were pulled from our horses and carried into tents and covered with blankets. Henry E. Palmer, a prominent citizen of Omaha, was Captain of Company A, Eleventh. Kansas. He paid high tribute to Colonel Plumb, both as man and soldier, saying: I saw Plumb constantly in the campaign in Arkansas, and at the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove. Plumb was a tall and very slim young man, with a pale face, and seemed to have suffered from consumption. But he was able to do more office work as Chief-of -Staff, and more hard riding, than any other man I knew in the army. He was brave in battle, for I saw him and particularly noticed him at Prairie Grove. I married Betty Houck, of Westport, Mo. When the Eleventh Kansas was ordered to the Plains I made an effort to be allowed to remain at home until the birth of our baby, but could not secure that leave. I left home on the 16th of February and the child was born on the 18th. A messenger was sent after me to Fort Riley, but did not come up with me. I left for Fort Kearny with my men. The weather was frightfully cold, and the roads were blocked with snow and ice. We did not get to Fort Kearny until the 4th of March. There was then a telegraph line to Fort Kearny and beyond. I had directed my wife to telegraph me at Fort Kearny. I went into the telegraph office and was handed a telegram from my father-in-law saying both wife and baby were dead. The shock was awful. I went out and met Plumb and General Mitchell. Plumb knew something had happened, for I was weeping, and he asked me what it was. I handed him the telegram. Plumb read it, steadied himself a minute, then burst into tears. He did not try to conceal his sorrow. I said I was going to the stage office and take the PLUMB AS A SOLDIER 207 stage home, even if I were hanged for it. General Mitchell said I must not do it as the Secretary of War had ordered that no man have any leave. But I went on to the stage office. Plumb went with me and did not try to dissuade me from going home. At Leavenworth I found an order for me to aid the court- martial boards there, and this order I believe was the result of Colonel Plumb's efforts in my behalf. These are some of the things which gave Plumb that place in the affection of his men which no other officer of his regiment had. He bound his men to him by ties which were broken onlv in death. Major Thomas J. Anderson, of Topeka, was the son of Major Martin Anderson, of the Eleventh Kansas, and he gave this instance of the enduring affection of Plumb and his men for one another. Once Plumb was to address the old soldiers at an encampment at Topeka. Major Martin Anderson decided to surprise his old comrade. He got all the Eleventh Kansas soldiers into line and marched them to the station. Plumb got off the train in a hurry, as he always did, and ran against the line. There stood his old regiment. lie knew per- sonally every man. He was overcome with emotion, lie could not restrain his feelings, and wept. It was some time before he could speak. "And," said Major Anderson, " no one ever loved his men more than Plumb loved his regiment. And they worshiped him." If the purpose of war is pomp and glory — if military fame rests on the ruthless driving of men regardless of consequences or feeling — if war is to be regarded as the proper field for intrigue for personal aggrandizement ■ — if military reputation consists in acquiescence in these principles and their practice — Colonel Plumb was not a good soldier. If, on the other hand, war may be engaged in to up- hold our country and sustain our flag — if it is patriotic to battle for that destiny which our forefathers defined for us — if it is the duty of the soldier to disregard self 208 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB and personal ambition in the service of his country — if it is to be expected that a soldier is to discharge every duty with that fidelity which alone can satisfy con- science — if it counts to act with true courage on every battlefield — if military reputation must rest on devo- tion, bravery, humanity — then Colonel Plumb was a good soldier. CHAPTER XXXIII BACK TO CIVIL LIFE While at Fort Riley preparing for the campaign in the Rocky Mountains, Plumb was visited by his brother George, whom he urged to join him, saying that service in the Union army was the only legitimate business for loyal men as long as a foe to the Government remained in the field. The brother urged his term of three years from which he had just been discharged; also that he was needed at home. Then Colonel Plumb proposed that they form a partnership to engage in farming and stock-raising, which was agreed to. Plumb arrived at home in September, 1805. He lived first with his brother George, a tenant on the farm keeping house. They worked hard during the day and talked over prospects and plans at night. At this time two pieces of land comprised almost all the real property of Colonel Plumb. Of his one-fifth interest in the Emporia Town Company, he had but two lots left, most of the others having been given to en- terprises to benefit the town or to the poor. The value of all his property did not exceed three thousand dol- lars. But he saw a rosy future. To a friend he said : l There is going to be a chance to make some money in the next five or ten years which neither of us may ever have again. I have determined to avail myself of it. I shall devote all my energy and powers to securing my share of it. We have had a good time as boys together in Emporia ; now we are men, and it i Article of Jacob Stotlor, Memorial Volume, p. 20. 209 210 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB is time for us to do something for ourselves. I shall pursue this course, and I advise you to do the same. Raising cattle was the principal industry of the coun- try to the south and west of Emporia. The area of pasturage was unlimited. There were few settlers be- yond Emporia, and an adjacent county extended to the Vest and south lines of the State. 2 Texas herds began to appear in the Indian country, and even in Kansas. Colonel Plumb and his brother were interested in native cattle. In the summer of 1866 he was away from home much on this business, and in October he visited Ohio. In his absence his friend Stotler proposed his name for the Legislature. It had been his intention to devote all his time to business and eschew politics. He did not reply to Stotler's letters on the subject of his candidacy, supposing that his indifference would cause his friends to make another selection. And this might have been done had not the opposing candidate spread a report that Plumb was no longer an Emporia citizen — that he was no longer identified with the town. When he heard this he came home. He arrived the afternoon preceding the election. In the few hours remaining be- fore the polls opened he worked with his usual energy. He sent his brother George to the eastern part of the district, and went himself to the western part. Most of the voters had served under him in the army, and he was elected by a vote of more than two to one. Having been elected, Colonel Plumb became a candi- date for Speaker of the House, and upon the assembling of the Legislature, January 8, 1868, he was chosen for that position. There was much to be done at the ses- sion; in fact, it was one of the most important ever held. The real work of building the institutions of the State had never been seriously taken up, most of 2 Marion County. It was two hundred and seventy-six miles long and one hundred and five miles wide. BACK TO CIVIL LIFE 211 the resources and energy of the young Commonwealth having been employed in suppressing the Civil War and protecting the border. The soldiers had returned, and settlers were pouring in. The finances of the State re- quired careful attention, and credit had to be estab- lished for the sale of bonds for the erection of public buildings. The ratification of the Fourteenth Amend- ment to the Constitution of the United States was to be considered. Forty-three counties applied to have their boundaries changed and defined. Plumb applied him- self to the disposition of this formidable array of busi- ness. He would tolerate no loitering, no dilatory move- ments. He was prompt himself, and he required that members be on hand. With, such discretion and dis- patch was the work conducted that the session was ad- journed on the 3d of March. On the 25th of February Plumb's resolution endorsing the impeachment of Presi- dent Johnson passed the nouse by forty-seven to twenty- eight. Much miscellaneous business also had been transacted, including the assumption by the State of the claims for services and damages in the Price raid, and the submission of three amendments to the State Consti- tution. No other Kansas Legislature ever did so much in so short a time. In connection with his cattle-business Colonel Plumb sometimes passed through Butler County on his way to the Indian country-. By chance he became acquainted there with a widow from Ashtabula County, Ohio, who was anxious to dispose of her Kansas property and re- turn to her former home. He aided in closing up her affairs. Through the friendship which resulted Colonel Plumb met her niece, Miss Caroline A. Southwick, living then with her mother near Ashtabula. Her father, Abijah Southwick, born at Salem, Mass., died in 1865. His ancestors were English Quakers who settled at Salem about the year 1650, where they were persecuted because of their faith. They were banished, and a son 212 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB and daughter ordered sold into slavery in Virginia or the Barbadoes to discharge fines imposed upon them. No shipmaster cruel enough to carry them away could be found, and they escaped this brutal decree. When the persecution subsided the family returned to Salem. 3 Abijah Southwick was a strong Anti-Slavery man, and his home near Ashtabula was one of the principal sta- tions on the Underground Railroad in Ohio, as many as forty fugitive slaves at one time having been concealed, cared for, and safely forwarded. Colonel Plumb and Miss Southwick were married at the home of the bride's mother, Ashtabula County, Ohio, March 8, 18G7. Six children were born to them, of whom five survive. They went immediately to Emporia and began housekeeping in a one-story three-room " box '" house at the corner of Merchant and Second Streets. One of the rooms was a lean-to kitchen. In this house they lived about three months, when they moved out to Plumb's claim, or preemption, their lioine for the next three vears. Colonel Plumb was a candidate for re-election to the Legislature in 1867, and was returned practically with- out opposition. The Legislature met in January, 18G8. He refused to be a candidate for speaker. He favored his old time Free-State associate, Judge G. W. Smith, of Douglas County, who was elected. The session was un- important. An Ohio cousin of Plumb, a lawyer, wished to establish himself in Kansas. He wrote to Plumb to arrange a partnership for him. The law firm of most prominence in the country about Emporia then was that of Ruggles and Brown. At the election in November, 1867, Brown s The Southwick family is one of the oldest in New England. Its founder in America was Lawrence Southwick. It was his son and daughter who were ordered sold into slavery. The ballad " Cassandra Southwick," by Whittier, is founded on this instance of Puritan in- tolerance. BACK TO CIVIL LIFE 213 was elected Judge of the Ninth Judicial District. Ruggles lived at Americus, a few miles above Emporia, and Plumb rode there one evening to urge his cousin as partner when Brown should go on the bench. Robert M. Buggies was a fine lawyer. He had been a printer and had known Plumb since the founding of Emporia. He could not be brought to accept the cousin as partner, but as Plumb was leaving, said to him, " Why can not you become my partner? " They discussed this pro- posal far into the night and came to an agreement, the new firm to be known as Buggies and Plumb. 4 They came at once into a large ami lucrative practice. It extended to all parts of the State, and even beyond its borders, including the business of cattle-growers in Texas, the Indian country, Kansas, and New Mexico. There were then few railroads, and the courts could be readied only by si age and private conveyance. Law- books and papers had to be carried around as in the days of (he old circuits. The firm stood ;it the head of the Kansas bar. Said W. A. Johnston, long Chief Jus- tice Kansas Supreme Court: Plumb was a good lawyer. The firm of Ruggles and Plumb was at the head of the 1km- of the State. They had many cases ore tli«- Onited States Courts at Leavenworth. They were both good lawyers, and they tried their cases hard — I'm- ad that was in them; and they were hard to beat in a lawsuit. Their business was said to be worth more than that of any other law- firm in Kansas. Judge (diaries B. Graves, of the Kansas Supreme Court, had this to say of Plumb: I went to Emporia a young lawyer desirous of acquainting myself with the members of the bar there and hearing them try their cases. I first heard Plumb in a criminal suit, defending a man for stealing cattle. The evidence w r as all against him, 4 The announcement of the now firm appeared in the Emporia News, November 15, 1867. 214 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB and I was curious to know what Plumb could say in behalf of his client. Plumb made a fine argument, reasoning close to human nature, and showing many phases of the case I had not thought of. While he did not acquit the man he did hang the jury. Speaking of Plumb as a lawyer, Archibald L. Wil- liams, twice Attorney General and long one of the fore- most lawyers of the Western bar, said: When Plumb was in a case those opposed to him felt that they must cover every point, and when they supposed that they had done so they would be surprised at something he would bring up which they had never thought of. He talked freely on the general points and always reserved his strongest argument to be used in an emergency. Lawyers knew Plumb was keen in argu- ment, and they always tried to have their cases water-proof, but when Plumb got on his feet he invariably found a hole in their side of the case. The distance Plumb rode to attend to his law busi- ness seems incredible in these days of easy traveling. Completing a case at Leavenworth one day, he might set out at night on horseback for Fort Scott, or for the Indian Country, or for Texas. He knew the settlers as no other man knew them — as they drove a schoon- ers" across the prairies, as they staked out their claims on the Upper Arkansas, the Cimarron, the Smoky Hill. Emporia was an outfitting point in those days. April 23, 1868, the Wichita Town Company met at Em- poria to discuss plans for laying out their town, and their Secretary was directed to prepare a map of Wich- ita. It was so of other towns in the Southwest. Plumb saw them founded, saw the counties organized and es- tablished, and knew personally every man of conse- quence who settled in them. The late Eugene F. Ware, long Plumb's intimate personal friend, said : Plumb, at a very early date, took out a sort of paternal, pro- prietary patent to the Neosho Valley and everything west of it in Kansas. Later, he kind of stretched this patent so it covered BACK TO CIVIL LIFE 215 the whole State. It covered business and politics and held good as long as he lived. Nobody ever questioned its validity or bind- ing force that I ever heard of. Touching Plumb's relation to the settlement of Kan- sas, Judge Henry C. Sluss, of Wichita, said : In 1870 I was in Marion looking for a location. One Sunday afternoon Plumb drove into that town. He had some law-books and papers in the buggy and had come to try an important law- suit which was to be called the next day. He was quite busy looking through his books and papers, but I managed to see him at meals and odd times. I got from Plumb a good idea of all that part of Kansas. He seemed to know everybody and to have a marvelous knowledge of all the Southwest. As a result of meeting him I settled in Wichita. I did not know how to get back to the railroad. When he found that his case would be ilt laved a little he allowed me to drive his team as far as Em- poria. I had never seen him before, but he seemed to take great pleasure in helping me. And in all the many years I knew him afterwards he was the same — always the same. CHAPTER XXXIV BANKER The Emporia National Bank was established June 4, 1872, and was successor to a private bank, the first in the town. 1 Plumb's first visit to Washington City was to secure the charter for this bank. His applica- tion was refused on the ground that there was not suf- ficient population and wealth about Emporia to support the bank, the First National Bank having just been established. Plumb called on Senator Pomeroy and stated his case. " Call on me to-morrow morning, Col- onel Plumb, and your charter will be lying right there on my desk," said the Senator. And, sure enough, when he called there was the charter. 2 He was made president of the bank, and gradually withdrew from the practice of the law. The effects of the panic of 1873 were felt all over the country. Plumb began in January to strengthen the bank. The capital stock was increased from $50,000 to $75,000. In September a further increase of $10,- 000 was made. In a new and growing country the i J. R. Swallow & Co. See Andreas's History of Kansas, " Lyoii County," for dates. It was the Emporia Banking and Savings Association before being made the Emporia National Bank. The first certificates of stock were issued February 1, 1872. Plumb's certificate was dated June 1, 1872. 2 Told tbe author by Colonel John C. Carpenter, Chanute, Kansas. When Plumb inquired of Senator Pomeroy how he had managed the matter the Senator said : " The Comptroller of the Currency has not yet been confirmed by the Senate. I told him this application was right and should be granted and that if the charter was not issued at once he would never be confirmed. And that brought him to time." 216 BANKER 217 demand for money always exceeds the supply, and pay- ment of obligations must often wait on maturity and marketing of crops and live-stock. In 1873 banks failed in all parts of the country, and it taxed all the resources of Plumb to save his bank. Long afterwards he said the hardest work and the most worry of his busi- ness life was to save the Emporia National Bank in 1873. But he carried it through in good condition, the most satisfactory feature of the matter being that he had not forced any patron into bankruptcy, and had saved a number from that disaster. There are still extant accounts of many instances il- lustrating Colonel Plumb's humanity in connection with his banking business. He was also the main re- liance of anyone in distress. A pioneer lawyer 3 said of him : Many of the first settlers of Morris County borrowed money from him in early days when times were hard. If his bank could not let them have the money, Plumb would loan them his own money. There are many well-to-do citizens about Council Grove whom Plumb tided over from vear to year in early days and carried until they could get on their feet. Another pioneer 4 remembers the kindness of Plumb. He was putting a townsite on the market when a crisis in his affairs developed. He had to have three thou- sand dollars at once, and banks regarded his enterprise with disfavor. After all others had failed him, he sought Plumb and stated his case. Plumb let him have the money. One of the merchants of Emporia went there at an early day and opened a store. 5 After some years he was able to purchase an interest in the building he » John Maloy, Council Grove, a pioneer who knew Plumb in the early settlement of Kansas. * W. F. Shamleffer, long Mayor of Council Grove. c George W. Newman. 218 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB occupied. The owner was over-cautious and drew up a very exacting bond requiring compliance with many conditions under heavy penalties. The purchase was completed in Plumb's bank, where the owner became somewhat excited and talked loudly. Plumb came out and inquired the cause of the trouble, and when told he said they might go on with the sale; that he would sign the merchant's bond and that the bank would sign it if that was demanded. One of Plumb's neighbors had this to say of his kind- ness : 6 I took a homestead but could not live on it all* the time. My friends wrote me that my homestead would soon be " jumped," and that I ought to pre-empt it and save it. I had fifty dollars, but needed two hundred to make the payment on the land. I went to the bank to get it, and the cashier inquired what security I could give. I could give no security. I went back to work and watched for Colonel Plumb to come by on his way to dinner, and when he passed I followed him around the corner and ex- plained my needs. " Come into the bank when I get back," said Plumb. I did so, and he told the cashier to let me have the money. That money saved my home. In 1871 a contractor in Emporia was stricken with typhoid fever. 7 He had just completed a bridge over the Cottonwood, and was to move his outfit to Atchison to work on the Atchison branch of the Santa Fe Bail- road. His illness upset his plans. He had little money, and he owed some workmen, one of whom attached his tools, of which he was informed by his foreman. The physician found that something had disturbed his pa- tient, and when told what it was, said to the sick man, " Do not worry. I will bring a man who will attend to this matter." He soon returned with Colonel Plumb, who heard the story and said, " Mr. Lewis, do not trouble yourself about this. I will go to Cottonwood e T. H. Lewis. 7 L. W. Lewis, brother to T. H. Lewis. BANKER 219 Falls and attend to it. You do just as the doctor tells you and leave this business to me." Plumb could not prevent the sale, but he paid all the bills, judgments, and costs, and turned over the tools to the foreman. When the contractor was well enough to do so he went to see Plumb, who exhibited the bills he had paid, and said that was all that was owing. He would not accept a cent for his services. This same contractor went to Colorado, but affairs went ill with him there, and he returned to Emporia and went to work in a lumber yard for $1.50 a day. He bid on the construction of a countv bridge and secured the contract, but could not give the required bond. He thought of Plumb, who signed his bond. But he had no tools to work with. " How much do you need for tools?" asked Plumb. "About $250," replied the con- tractor. Plumb drew up a note and the contractor signed it, Plumb endorsed it and handed him $250. But Plumb refused to aid this contractor once. He was a candidate for Clerk of the District Court. Plumb was then in the Sena I e. The candidate canvassed the county and was certain he could get the office if Sena- tor Plumb would help him, and of this aid he had little doubt, Plumb got home two days before the conven- tion and Lewis hurried in to see him. '' You are beaten. You will not get the office. I will not help you," said Plumb. The candidate was greatly surprised and cha- grined and went home witli drooping spirits. In the convention he was beaten, but went to see Plumb, who took him aside and said: "What did you want with that office? It pays about a thousand dollars a year and lasts two years. When you were once in, one man would come and borrow your derrick, another would borrow your wheel-barrows, and another your shovels and crowbars. When your tw T o years were up you would not have a single tool. When I drive out I see a fine stone house and am told vou built it. I see a 220 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB good stone bridge and am told the same. Now you go on with your business, and if you need any money call on me." The next year he had plenty of work. At the end of the season he had his bank book balanced and met Plumb as he was leaving the bank. " Let me see that book," said Plumb. The contractor handed him the book. It showed a balance of f 11,000. " How much do you owe?" asked Plumb. "Two thousand dollars will pay every cent I owe," said the contractor. " That office will be vacant next year, and I am for you," said Plumb. " Thank you, Senator, I do not want any office." CHAPTER XXXV TEXAS CATTLE — MINING Senator Plumb was engaged in the Texas-cattle business after he had taken the presidency of the Em- poria National Bank, though he never had more than an indirect connection with it. About 1871 Major Calvin Hood and others from Sturgis, Michigan, settled in Emporia. In the fall of the following year the first Texas cattle to appear in Lyon County were 1 driven into the country south of the Cottonwood. There was no market for those cattle in that country at the time, and the owners had difficulty in disposing of them, nood assisted in the final dis- position of them, and in so doing learned something of the manner of handling Texas cattle; and he believed there was money to be made in dealing in them. In the spring of 1872 he induced Plumb to furnish the means necessary to engage in this trade. A partnership was formed. In addition to Plumb and nood it included a Mr. Hughes, Texan, a man familiar with all phases of the cattle business in the Southwest. The bank could not supply so large a sum to any one company as this enterprise required. And Plumb did not wish to loan the money of the bank to an association of which he was himself a partner ; so, he secured the money on his own credit from friends in Ohio. At that time the Texas cattle raisers were organized into associations which, every spring, fixed the prices at which their cattle of various ages should be sold. A drover was at liberty to gather such cattle as he de- 221 222 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB sired. A county inspector examined the herd so as- sembled and noted in his returns to the county au- thorities the number of cattle of each and every brand found in the herd, as well as the age of the animal bear- ing the brand. He then designated what was known as a " road brand." The herd was marked with the road brand, when it was ready to be driven North. Before moving the cattle the drover had to come to some agree- ment with the various owners from the ranges of whom he had drawn his cattle — paying so much in hand and having so much due and payable at the end of the sea- son, or conclusion of the drive. Sometimes the county inspector was authorized to make this agreement, es- pecially in the early days of cattle-driving. The more the drover could have stand over, the less ready cash he required, and first payments were always as small as could be secured. It would often happen that a whole herd was secured from a single ranchman, but that was not the rule. Hood would notify Plumb, when his herds were gathered and his terms with the stockmen fixed, about how much money was needed to make present payments and meet the expense of driving the cattle North. Plumb would furnish the money, which was the extent of his connection with the company, except, of course, that he had his share of the profits, or bore his part of the loss, as the case might be. The partnership was continued about seven years. It was of varying suc- cess, but on the whole it made money. The excitement produced by the discovery at Lead- ville, Colorado, of ore bearing silver carbonate was in- tense and widespread. Men from all parts of the coun- try went there hoping to secure a mine or an interest in one. Great fortunes were quickly made by Senator Tabor and others. In 1879 Plumb went to Leadville, where he soon be- TEXAS CATTLE — MINING 223 came interested in a number of properties. Among others associated with him in their ownership were James G. Blaine and Stephen B. Elkins. One of these prospects — Small Hopes — developed into a good mine. It paid dividends amounting to $100,000 a month for thirty-three consecutive months; and, in all, paid $5,000,000. It began to decrease in 1883, and declined in production rapidly. Of all the prospects secured by Plumb, the Orion, the Boreel, and four or five others became producers after his death. A number of them never did pay anything. The mining enterprises en- gaged in by Senator Plumb considered altogether, paid, but a good many of his mining investments never yielded returns worth while. CHAPTER XXXVI ELECTION TO THE SENATE Colonel Plumb retained his interest in political af- fairs. It is doubtful, however, if he had any intention of again accepting public office. He was a prominent member of the Eepublcan party in Kansas, but was in- dependent in his views and actions. The best instance of this was in his support of Greeley for the Presidency in 1872. 1 Greeley had been the friend of Kansas in the Anti-Slavery struggle — her most powerful friend. The New York Tribune was the political chart of the Free-State men. Plumb was outspoken in his support of Greeley, who lost the state by a vote of about two to one. 2 i There was effected in Kansas an organization of the Liberal Republican party in that year. Its State Convention was held at Topeka, September 11. Charles Robinson, ex-Governor, was its presi- dent. Many prominent men in Kansas were delegates, among them, S. J. Crawford, J. R. Hallowell, Pardee Butler, Joel Moody, Samuel A. Riggs, E. G. Ross, S. N. Wood and General William Larimer. Eugene F. Ware edited the Fort Scott Monitor in the interest of the Greeley movement. 2 W T illiam Higgins, long a power in Kansas politics, Secretary of State, and afterwards of Oklahoma, in a letter to the author, May 30, 1910, said : I can say I know more about Plumb declaring for Greeley than any other man. In our early comradeship as printers he and I were great lovers of Greeley. We both believed in him and what he wrote or said in the Tribune was our law. I received a letter from Plumb announcing that he was going to support Greeley ; and he wanted to know what I would do. In that letter he said: "I love Greeley, I believe he will make a great Executive, and I don't care about their branding me as a deserter from the Republican party — I am not." 224 ELECTION TO THE SENATE 225 Notwithstanding Plumb's desire to remain in private life, it was inevitable that he should be called into the public service. His part in the Free-State struggle, his founding of pioneer settlements on the Smoky Hill and the upper Neosho, his early newspaper work, his service in the army, and his financial success after the war made him one of the commanding figures in Kansas. And when the Southwest had grown so that it had to be reckoned with politically it offered Plumb as its rep- resentative and best man, and demanded his election to the United States Senate. But the mention of his name even for that high office had not waited on the development of the State. When for political purposes, an outcry had been made against him and General Ew- ing after the Quantrill raid, two men sealed a compact to work for Plumb for Senator until he should be elected.' So persistent was i he use of his name for that p)ace that he could not but take some notice of it, and it became fixed in his mind that if he should stand for another office it would be thai of United States Senator. In the summer of 1S73 William P. Hackney, of Winfield, urged Plumb for the position in an interview which was widely published. He received a letter from Plumb Plumb's biff heart and sense of loyalty to the man ho loved and believed In were his reason for supporting Greeley in 1872, and nothing more. 8See Wichita Eagle, November 1801. statement in editorial of the proprietor, M. M. Murdock, who barely escaped with his life at the Lawrence Massacre, and who was perfectly familiar with all the facts concerning the event: In September, 1863, no little criticism was being indulged in, by those who did not understand the situation, of Plumb's supposed want of aetion in failing to head off Quantrill and his murderers, Plumb at the time being Major in command of a battalion of the Eleventh Kansas. lion. Jacob Stotler and the now editor of the Eagle being both indignant at the unmerited abuse of their friend, entered then Into a compact, scaled by vows and handshakes, that as soon as the war was over they would commence to advocate Plumb for the United States Senate and never cease talking In their respective papers to that end until success or failure had marked the effort. 226 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB thanking him, but saying that his time for election to the Senate had not come. The Senatorial election in January, 1874, was to fill a vacancy. Following an investigation of the means used to secure his election, Alexander Caldwell resigned. To the vacancy Governor Osborn appointed Robert Crozier, who could serve only until action by the Legis- lature. The friends of Colonel Plumb insisted that he stand for the election, and he went to Topeka to direct his campaign. He did not expect to win, for he had not been a candidate, had not canvassed the State, and had not organized a political following. He made a very creditable showing, having on the first ballot, seventeen votes ; on the second, twenty-one votes ; on the third, seventeen votes; on the fourth, twenty-five votes; and on the fifth and last ballot he had twenty-one votes. James M. Harvey, who had been Governor of the State from 1868 to 1872, was elected. Colonel Plumb's friends immediately held a meeting and organized for the coming campaign. 4 * Few " issues " entered into the campaign. Plumb opposed open- ing the Indian Territory to settlement on the ground that Kansas was a new State and much in need of settlers ; and that many people from Kansas would go to the new country. The other candidates favored the opening of this Indian country. The Greenback party was then quite strong in Kansas and had the sympathy of many Republicans, among them Plumb. He was committed to some of their principles, and the only declaration made by him during the contest before the Legislature was in response to a communication from citizens of Wabaunsee County, and is as follows : Topeka, January 22, 1877. Eon. Welcome Wells, and others: Gentlemen : I am in receipt of yours of this date. I was opposed to the passage of the resumption act and am in favor of its repeal. I believe the national bank act should be repealed, the currency authorized by it retired and legal tender notes issued by the govern- ment substituted therefor, coupled with a practical prohibition of the issue of state bank or other so-called wild-cat money. I am in favor of building up the productive industries of the West as an act of justice, and as essential to the restoration of prosperity to the entire country. If called to act upon these questions in an official capacity my ELECTION TO THE SENATE 227 The Legislature which chose the Senator was elected in the fall of 1876. Colonel Plumb addressed the peo- ple at various places. However, the foundation of his election was the convention which met at Wichita on the 18th of August to nominate a candidate for Con- gress from the Third District. There were but three districts. The third included approximately all that part of the State south of the Smoky Ilill and west of the east line of Shawnee County — almost the south half of the State and now embracing more than fifty counties. Colonel Plumb was urged to be a candidate for Congress, but he had no desire to serve in the House. He favored Judge Thomas Ryan, of Topeka, who with Plumb's aid, was easily nominated. This assured Plumb the support of Judge Evan. In the convention a delegate opposed to Judge Ryan criticised Plumb for having advocated the election of Greeley. An old Free-State man, also a delegate, de- fended both Greeley and Plumb, saying that any Repub- lican might have been for Greeley ; that many of the besl Republicans in Kansas had favored him and remained in the party; that Greeley was entitled to the gratitude of every Kansan, and that his support could never be made a test of Republicanism in Kansas. This speech destroyed much of the party feeling in the State against those who had supported Greeley. On the evening of adjournment Colonel Plumb de- livered an address. The house was packed. He was beginning to see his destiny and was animated by a sense of power. The writer has talked with many who were present, and, one and all, they declare the speech one of the best they ever heard. The audience was deeply impressed with the personality of Plumb. The votes shall be oast in furtherance of the views above expressed, to which I have been long committed. Very truly yours, P. B. Plumb. 228 THE LIFE OP PEESTON B. PLUMB new master of politics had spoken, and the delegates dispersed to their homes persuaded that Kansas would not fail him at the Senatorial election. The Legislature met on the 9th of January, 1S77. The leading candidates against Colonel Plumb were: James M. Harvey, standing for re-election. Thomas A. Osborn, who had been Governor from 1872 to 1876. T. C. Sears, General-Attorney for the Missouri, Kan- sas and Texas Railroad; he lived at Ottawa; the rail- road influence of the State was for him. Walter L. Simons; he had lived at Fort Scott, but was then living at Osage Mission (now St. Paul), in Neosho County. David P. Lowe; he lived at Fort Scott; had been elected to Congress in 1870 and 1872; in 1872 he had been appointed United States Judge for Utah, but had resigned and returned to Kansas. To that time there had never been a caucus in Kan- sas to select the party candidate for Senator. The cus- tom was for each member of the Legislature to vote for his choice on each ballot. In this Legislature there were one hundred and sixty- five members, almost all Republicans, and it required eighty-one votes to elect a Senator. The first ballot was taken on the 23d of January, 1877. Plumb had twenty-four votes. This was his lowest number. On the second ballot he had twenty-five votes ; on the third, thirty votes. On the thirteenth ballot which was taken on the 30th of January, he had forty-nine votes. Har- vey then withdrew from the contest. On the fourteenth ballot Plumb had fifty-three votes; on the fifteenth, he had fifty-seven. These gains frightened the other can- didates, and they combined to effect an adjournment of the joint session before another ballot could be taken. When the joint session was adjourned all knew the crisis was at hand. It was seen that unless everv ele- ELECTION TO THE SENATE 229 ment of opposition could be consolidated against him Plumb was certain to be elected. That this league against Plumb might be accomplished, a caucus was agreed to. The exact number of the Legislature in at- tendance is not known, but an examination of the news- papers of that day warrants the conclusion that enough to have defeated Plumb were present — perhaps one hundred. An effort was even made to have Plumb's supporters attend the caucus, and to secure his sanc- tion of it ; but he knew he had nothing to gain and might have much to lose by such a course. AYhen it was seen that a majority of the Legislature was present at the caucus there was high hope of de- feating Colonel Plumb. Strict secrecy was imposed. No speeches were permitted, and balloting was im- mediately commenced under a rule that the nominee must Lave the entire vote of the caucus. From half- past seven until two in the morning the voting con- tinued without result. When any candidate showed material gains the friends of the others attacked aim tooth and nail, voting for outsiders in his territory. Bad feeling w;is engendered, and it became apparent that no union could be secured in the caucus. One l>y one members left it until less than a majority remained. These tinallv united on Judge Lowe, the weakest of Plumb's opponents. Those who abandoned the caucus usually found their way at once to Plumb's headquar- ters. His following was greatly encouraged, for it was plain that his star was in the ascendant. When the result of the caucus was known it was con- ceded that it had failed in its purpose and that Colonel Plumb could not be defeated. With the new day came a new sentiment. In the Leavenworth fttumlard is found the following: The name of the gallant defender of his State and country, the young orator of the West, was in every mouth. The conta- gion affected not the legislators alone, but the State dignitaries, 230 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the business men of the capital, and all classes of society. Scarcely more than the formal registration of the overpowering voice of the people was the ballot at high noon of that day ; and long ere the result could be announced by the Speaker, the deaf- ening cheers that went up, alike from the floor of the House and the crowded galleries, told that the exciting and long protracted Senatorial contest was at an end. The election was on the 31st of January, 1877, and as soon as the result was declared a committee was sent to conduct Colonel Plumb before the Legislature. He entered with a face as pale as death. His welcome was cordial, cheer on cheer rising from the thronged floor and galleries. He did not dare trust himself for any extended address, for he was sympathetic and emotional and might be overcome, but he returned his thanks in a few appropriate words. 5 Topeka friends secured a special train to Emporia on the day following the election. On his home-coming- many men of prominence in Kansas, regardless of party, were the guests of the Senator-elect. The train reached Emporia at noon Thursday, February 1, and Colonel Plumb was greeted by a great throng. An address of welcome was delivered, and to this the Senator happily responded. 6 s It was said that in his confusion he inadvertently began his ad- dress with " Gentlemen of the Jury." This caused laughter and a diversion which relieved the tension of all, after which Colonel Plumb recovered his self-control. s The following account of the home-coming was published in the Emporia Ledger, February 2d : Hon. William Jay was appointed master of ceremonies, and escorted Colonel Plumb when he stepped from the car to the sidewalk in front of the Windsor House. The Colonti worked his way to this point quite cheerfully, but tediously, there being so many hands extended at every step to be shaken. When, at length, he had reached the side- walk and Mr. Jay had introduced him as our next United States Senator, Dr. J. J. Wright delivered a welcome address, in substance as follows : Col. Plumb : — The pleasing duty is assigned me of putting in words, as best I may, the heartfelt rejoicing and sincere congratula- tions of these, your immediate friends and fellow-citizens, in your ELECTION TO THE SENATE 231 The election of Plumb was well received by the people. The press was pleased and complimentary. Many papers published sketches and reviews of his life and public services. That of the Atchison Champion' 1 is a fair expression of the State press: No citizen of Kansas, will, we think, ever have just cause to regret Colonel Plumb's election. He is a man of ability, and what is equally, if not more important, he is a man of high character and unquestionable integrity. Tried in many positions he has always proven equal to any duties. He was a vigorous, earnest and fearless writer when he filled the editorial chair; he proved himself an able and suc- cessful lawyer when he practised at the bar ; he was a brave, gal- lant and loyal soldier during the war, winning numerous selection to the United States Senate. This is an impromptu gather- ing of your neighbors, who are here irrespective of party affiliations. The citizens of Emporia feel a just local pride in this result. Know- ing you, we have faith In you. and we are confident that after you have entered upon the duties of your office, the people of the entire State will learn, if they do not know already, that in you they have an honest, capable and faithful representative. In conclusion, permit me to renew the congratulations which our hearts feel more than my words express. Colonel Plumb, although moved by emotions that almost choked his utterance, responded as follows: Among all the congratulations I have received since my election to the United States Senate, none have so deeply Impressed me as these 1 have been favored with here to-day. Your kind, friendly feelings touch me to the heart. I have lived with you nearly twenty-one years. When I look back to the time when I first saw the naked prairie on which our beautiful city now stands, it seems like a dream. Our city is celebrated for its enterprise and public spirit, and Emporia is really a synonym for the people of the whole State. It has been said that Kansas is indebted to me in a measure for its present prosperity. I am more indebted to Kansas than it is to me. I was attracted hither by the heroic struggles of the early pioneers in the vindication of republican principles, and I have always been gener- ously and kindly treated by the people of Kansas. I thank you heartily for this impromptu gathering. In the discharge of my official duties I shall endeavor to satisfy the people of the whole State. I shall be partial to no section. I will do the best to represent the whole State. I ask your support and prayers. Again I return you my heartfelt thanks. 7 Owned and edited by Colonel John A. Martin, of the Eighth Kansas, and afterwards Governor of Kansas four years. 232 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB and deserved promotions: he served several times in the Legis- lature, where he was distinguished as a wise, practical and in- dustrious law-maker; and as a business man he not only enjoys the confidence of commercial circles in a very large degree, but has established a widespread reputation for enterprise, energy and sagacity. Young, resolute, alert and capable, he will, we think, prove himself a worthy, influential representative of the young Commonwealth with whose romantic history and substan- tial development his life has been, for twenty-one years, so in- separably associated. By a petition of two hundred and thirty-six of her principal citizens and business men, Lawrence invited Senator Plumb to be her guest at a social entertainment to be given in his honor. 8 He designated the 8th of February as the day for the occasion. His reception was very cordial and the day closed with a banquet. 9 s This petition is in the library of Mrs. P. B. Plumb. It was signed by ex-Governor Robinson. 9 An account of the day and its entertainment is in the Lawrence Republican-Journal, February 9, 1S77. CHAPTER XXXVII ASSUMING DUTIES OF SENATOR By proclamation of President Grant the Senate was convened in special session on the 5th of March, 1S77. On that day Senator Plumb was sworn and entered on his Senatorial career. Among those sworn with him were Blaine, Windom, Teller, and Benjamin H. Hill. On the roll of the Senate were the names of Roscoe Conkling, Thomas F. Bayard, John Sherman, Allen G. Thurman, Joseph E. McDonald, Oliver P. Morton, W. B. Allison, and many others who had already attained fame in the national councils. The Senate has rarely had at any one time more eminent men than in the Forty-fifth Congress. On the 9th of March committee assignments were an- nounced. Plumb was sixth on Committee on Military Affairs, fifth on Public Lands, and fourth on that on Mines and Mining. He regarded his place on the Committee on Public Lands as the most desirable of his assignments. 1 President Hayes convened Congress in special ses- i It is said that ex-Senator Pomeroy suggested to Plumb that the Committee on Public Lands afforded the greatest opportunity for him to be of -civic.' to the people of Kansas. Kansas had then much public land. Pomeroy had been on that committee. A. A. Thomas had been the Register of the Land Oifice at Cawker City, Kansas, I.iii was a lawyer in Washington City when Plumb was elected to the Senate. lie says that Plumb studied the public lands thoroughly, being often at the office of the Department of the Interior for that purpose. "He met officials there at night to dig and delve into the methyls employed in the handling of the public domain. And soon he was one of the best authorities in the United States on public land questions," said Mr. Thomas. 233 231 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB sion on the 15th. of October, 1877. Plumb's seat was No. 76, the last but one, outside the regular rows, a poor one, near the door of the east cloak-room. He ig- nored that Senatorial tradition which imposes on a new member a long probationary silence. In January, 1878, he became active in the debates, and on the 31st of that month the consideration of a bill reserving to a com- petent person successfully contesting or purchasing a homestead claim, the exclusive right to file on such claim at any time within thirty days. He had previously sub- mitted a report from the Committee on Public Lands favorable to the bill, which was debated and passed without amendment. February 6th he joined in the debate on the bill to further exempt the deposits of sav- ing banks from taxation, and opposed the bill, calling attention to the fact that in New England, New York, and New Jersey such deposits to the amount of $773,- 360,300 were exempt from taxation. Of this amount $226,638,000 was in Massachusetts. In Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Ten- nessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin every single dollar of deposits was taxed. It was no wonder, he said, that money was cheap in New England. He made the principal argument and declared that such a law was an injustice to the West and South. On the 25th of February Plumb introduced a reso- lution directing the Secretary of the Interior to inquire of the Government directors of the Union Pacific Rail- road Company what security had been taken, whether stocks, bonds, or other forms of indebtedness, for aid extended to branch lines. The question raised by that inquiry became an important issue twenty years later. That Plumb did not hesitate even at that time to stand alone against the Senate when he believed him- self in the right was well exemplified in the case of Dr. ASSUMING DUTIES OF SENATOR 235 William A. Hammond, former Surgeon-General of the Army. Dr. Hammond had, by court-martial, been found guilty of corruption in office in the fraudulent purchase of supplies. August IS, 1864, President Lin- coln approved the sentence of the court that Dr. Ham- mond be dismissed from the service and be forever dis- qualified from holding any office of trust or profit. A bill for relief from this sentence came from the House and was considered by the Senate March 12, 1878. Dr. nammond had become eminent in his profession, being then in receipt therefrom of an annual income of $60,- 000. Senator Plumb did not hope to prevent the pass- age of the bill, but said : I was in hopes that some one of the Senators in favor of this 1 > 1 1 1 would vouchsafe to the Senate an explanation of the reasons why it should pass. For myself, while I have no hope that the liili will fail to pass, I feel that I have a duty to perform which will not permit mo to remain silent. ... It is, I think, an un- warrantable interference by Congress with the affairs of the Army and with the action of courts which it has established for tiif purpose of administering ju-diee in the Army. ... It is in effect saying to persons aggrieved by the action of courts-martial that Congress can he induced by the operation of social and po- litical influences to set aside thai action. This inevitably weakens authority ami destroys discipline. I say no one certainly can impugn the justice, the good faith, or the kind-heartedness of Abraham Lincoln. He knew every ^inirli' step of that trial which was taken. He was as well advised as any man could possihly have been of any ulterior purpose which might have been had in view by the Secretary of War, . . . After a patient and care- ful examination of the proceedings, lie certified to them, and directed that the sentence of the court-martial be carried into effect. What do we find as a basis for this proposed action? This report is based upon the fact that this man is eminent. Con- gress therefore puts its action upon the ground that he is em- inent. . . . We are proposing here a way to reinstate this man alone in his former position in the Army because he is eminent in his profession. The consideration of the bill ended, as shown by the 236 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Record, as follows : " The yeas and nays were ordered ; and being taken, resulted — Yeas 55, nay 1, as follows." Then is given the roll-call showing that the one negative vote was cast by Plumb. 2 2 The Washington Post published a stanza designed to make Plumb the object of ridicule : A PLUMB LINE "Belisarius" Plumb was uncommonly gammond When he raised his wild whoop against Dr. Hammond, But his spirit was great, and Kansas' brave Son Should henceforth be rated a Plumb No. One ! And yet — such is life — there are those who think Plumb Would have figured still better had be been born dumb! Colonel John C. Carpenter, of Chanute, was in Washington at the time, and in conversation with a Senator was asked why Kansas sent a man to the Senate who could take such a stand. He replied that Kansas knew exactly what she was about, and that soon the Senate would know why she had elected riumb to that body. Judge Thomas Ryan said : Plumb was a man who was not very much disposed to lie down and go to sleep in the Senate until he got a little old. I always thought the following was done to discipline him, though I don't know. He was very active in a certain measure and made one or two speeches on it in his vigorous, forceful style, and although he did not have any help at all, he fought it to a finish. My recollection is that he insisted on an aye and no vote, and I guess Plumb voted alone, but he was right, absolutely right. CHAPTER XXXVIII > FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS SPECIAL SESSION. The failure of the appropriation bills in the last ses- sion of the Forty-fifth Congress made a special session of the Forty-sixth Congress necessary. It was called by President Hayes for the 18th of March, 1879. The Democrats had a majority in both branches, and it was their policy to curtail the power of the Government. AYith that object in view " riders " were attached to the appropriation bills. Under existing laws the army could be used to keep peace at the polls at elections for members of Congress. A "rider"' to the Army Bill prohibited this practice. The votes cast at elections held for members of Congress might be counted by Federal Supervisors, and a "rider" to the Legislative Bill repealed this provision, as well as that authorizing Federal Marshals to make arrests at the polls. The Judiciary Bill carried a "rider" prohibiting the pay- ment of Federal Marshals for "services in connection with elections." The Republicans opposed these measures on the ground that they constituted an attempt to coerce the Execu- tive branch of the Government. The bills were vetoed by the President, and the appropriation bills were finally passed without " riders," a victory for the Republican party. Army matters always received careful attention from Senator Plumb. In discussing the Army Bill at this session he expressed his ideas of what an army should 237 238 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB be. He said it was an organization created for the pur- pose of fighting, and, that incident to that purpose, was the creation of a staff department to aid in the develop- ment of the fighting functions. The essential part of the army is that which does field duty — the only part of an army which ever had to be drafted. " Nobody," said he, " ever heard of an engineer, or a quartermaster, or a commissary, or a pay-master, or a surgeon having to be drafted." The man who serves in the ranks, as he thought, should have the best care, the best pay, and an opportunity for promotion. To the common sol- dier was due the grateful consideration of the United States for his services during the war and afterwards. Plumb rarely praised the officers of the army as consti- tuted in his day. At this session Plumb made an effort to have the law for the prevention of epidemic diseases apply to cattle. He insisted that the National Board of Health be given jurisdiction in epidemic and contagious diseases of cat- tle. There were no restrictions prohibiting the intro- duction of pleuro-pneumonia by bringing in cattle having that malady. The cattle of the United States, he said, formed an important part of the food-supply of the country, as well as a considerable portion of its wealth. Both the value of the cattle and the neces- sity for wholesome food required that every precaution be taken to prevent and eradicate cattle diseases. SECOND SESSION. This session began December 1, 1879. The Senate Committees were selected on the second day, Plumb be- ing given places on three standing committees, — Mili- tary Affairs, Mines and Mining, and Public Lands. He was also on a select committee to investigate the re- moval of the Northern Cheyennes. At this time he se- cured seat No. 55, his choice of Senate seats, which he retained until his death. The seat was variously num- FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS 239 bered at different sessions; it is on the main aisle, on the right-hand side entering the Senate Chamber, third or back row. Senator Allison sat on his right. The political aspects of this session were similar to those of the extra session. The Democrats failed in their efforts to have the vetoed " riders " enacted into law. The decision of the Supreme Court sustaining the General Election Law weakened the opposition of the Democratic party to that measure, and this weakness was reflected in Congress. Some effort was made to amend the laws applying to the count of the electoral vote, but nothing was accomplished, and the country entered on another election with the same laws but not the same conditions of 1876. While there was a dearth of effective politics in this session much business was transacted, and the country made substantial progress. Senator Plumb was active in the debates of all important matters, and made ma- terial advance to an influential position in the Semite. He was rapidly mastering the application of legisla- tive action to the principles of government, lie bad a faculty for details, and the Senate was often aston- ished at his familiarity with the intricate mazes run- ning through the administration of the Departments. Be kept ever abreast of the changing conditions there. Plumb's service in the Senate, taken as a whole, resem- bles nothing else so much as the course in a college. It was a progression. The country was fast drawing away from the conditions produced by the Civil War and re- construction. New countries were being entered by railroads, and settlers were taking up the waste-places. Industrial development was rapid. States were in process of formation, and daily progress brought daily change. To keep up with these changes, to understand them and their immediate and ultimate consequences, to be equipped and ready to deal promptly and intelli- gently with any result of this development was the task 240 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB Plumb set for himself. At this session of Congress he began to feel himself well settled in his work. The self- imposed and self-constructed harness was adjusted in all its parts, and he began to bear easily that ever in- creasing burden which grew to such enormous pro- portions that at last it crushed him. In matter of paying the States five per cent, of the proceeds of the public-lands sales in their bounds for use in public improvements Plumb favored the States. The obligation of the Government so to do was contained in the acts admitting States in which public lands were situated. These acts were contracts, as he said, which the States could not enforce; they were compelled to look to Congress. His argument on this subject was one of the best of the session. Many technical and in- volved features of the question were reduced to plain and simple principles. The growth of the West demanded a constant en- largement of the territory covered by mail routes, as well as increased facilities in communities where serv- ice had already been established. To secure efficiency in this service was one of the growing burdens which Plumb bore all the time he was in the Senate. In this as in other matters complete knowledge of existing con- ditions enabled him to make suggestions which pro- duced satisfactory results. In speaking on this subject in March, 1880, he said : I am not speaking for Kansas alone; I am speaking for the entire frontier. If you stick at giving increased service to the people who have gone there on the supposition that they would be met by mail facilities, facilities to be increased from time to time as circumstances should warrant, then, as I say, we have made a discrimination against the very class of people who most ought to meet with favor here. He was always careful to see that the Indians were accorded their legal rights under treaties. He, however, FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS 241 entertained all the prejudices of the pioneers against them as a people. He regarded them as incapable of any high degree of development and unsuited for higher occupations. On one occasion he said : You could turn all the Indians that could be educated at the Carlisle Barracks for the next fifty years into Pennsylvania and the Indians would starve to death in competition with the people of Pennsylvania. The only thing an Indian is fit for, when it comes to an industrial occupation, is the lower branches of agri- culture; something that is in its nature passive, something which requires no perceptible intelligence. He is no more capable of improvement in the sense in which we ordinarily use the term than a wild beast. . . . "When it comes to talk about educating them and in making them a factor of civilization, that is one of the things which cannot possibly result from anything we can do. This was the opinion of nearly all who came in con- tact with the Indians in the conquest of America. The altitude of Senator Plumb was that of nearly every man on the frontier from Jamestown to Astoria. Perhaps under our system of dealing with the Indians this view is correct. But where a dilTerent method has been adopted the Indians have responded to efforts made in their be- half. Senator Plumb saw the error of our course and in the following session held it up to public scorn and insisted that the Indians be educated along lines that were suited to their capacity: I say it is rank injustice to the Indians; I say it is the essence of inhumanity to the Indians; and I say it as one who believes that the Government has obligations of humanity to the Indians which ought to be properly discharged. The trouble about all this treatment of the Indians is a trouble which has recently broken out. It grows out of the belief recently generated that an Indian can be taken from his wild state and educated as a white man can be educated. . . . Mr. President, the extinction of the Indian race will be a fitting comment on this policy. I remember a good many years ago reading an account of a man who had invented and put in 242 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB use delicate machinery for the purpose of lifting the eyelids of bats that they might be enabled to see by daylight. Every bat whose eyelids were lifted dropped dead, but the inventor said he should continue until at least one bat, if the last of his race, should have the benefit of sight in the daylight. ... To impose upon the Indians the theories of civilization that are applicable to white men ... is a violation of the nature, of the laws, of progress, and the result is inevitable. So far as our methods of education are concerned Plumb was right. They are not suited to the condi- tions and needs of the Indians. The National Republican Convention met at Chicago, June 2, 1880. Senator Plumb was a delegate. THIRD SESSION. In short sessions of Congress there is never much time for general legislation. The appropriation bills require the full attention of Congress. Garfield had been elected President by a decisive majority, and no immediate advantage could accrue to the opposition from pressing political questions. The claim of Ben Holladay for damages alleged to have been sustained by him during the Civil War in the transportation of the mails from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City over the " Overland Mail Route," was brought before Congress at this session. It was for nearly half a million dollars, and was not dis- posed of for many years. Senator Plumb opposed the claim from the first, believing it to be unjust and the result of the afterthought of Holladay in the days of his declining fortunes. As we have seen, Colonel Plumb had been stationed at Fort Halleck, on this line, in 1865, with a part of the Eleventh Kansas, and for a time he had operated mail coaches with his cavalry horses, his men acting as drivers and escorts. He was familiar with many of the items set out in the claim, had seen the station-buildings and knew their value, as well as FORTY-SIXTH CONGRESS 243 the value of corn and other supplies. He was certain that the claim was for losses which had been enormously exaggerated. His speeches on this claim are valuable to the historian, and contain much information to be found nowhere else. On the 15th of February Plumb introduced an amend- ment to the Constitution of the United States, provid- ing that " The manufacture and sale of all intoxicating liquors, and the importation of such liquors from for- eign countries, except for scientific, medical, and me- chanical purposes, in any portion of the United States and the Territories thereof, are forever prohibited." The bill for extinguishing the Indian title to lands in the Indian Territory through a Commission was de- bated at this session. Plumb offered many amend- ments to the bill, all calculated to protect the rights of the Indians under their lien lies. There were many sharp passages between him and Senator Hoar, Plumb rending once from a history of Massachusetts an em- barrassing extrad showing how the Indians of that State had been destroyed. On the question of the amount of interest the Govern- ment would pay on its funded debt Senator Plumb was frequently heard. He insisted that the bonds could be funded at a rate not exceeding three per cent. In the debates it was said that in New York there were two men who could at any time command $50,000,000 in greenbacks, and, with these bills, raid the Treasury and deplete the gold reserve. To this riumb replied that the greenbacks were not by their terms redeemable in gold. And that to sell securities enough to raise such a sum would so reduce their value or the value of the properties they represented that any profit which might be made with the gold would be more than offset by losses. He was in favor of paying the obligations of the Government in any kind of money wanted, provided it was required for legitimate business. But in case 244 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB someone came with $25,000,000 or $50,000,000 in green- backs only to raid the Treasury in his own interest and said " I want gold " it would be the privilege and duty of the Secretary to say, " Bring up your cart and take silver." That reply would stop any such raid. Plumb had early introduction to the scheme to an- nually raid the Treasury by means of the River and Harbor Bill. There never has been any other measure before Congress equal to that bill for large appropria- tions and small results. In his judgment such meager returns for the enormous expenditures resulted from lack of a definite plan or system of carrying on the work. He had never known of the completion of any particular piece of work. He opposed the expenditures of money on streams incapable of being made perma- nently navigable and to produce a navigation " to carry turpentine and coon-skins " to market, claiming that by the precedent, Kansas streams ought to be made navigable. He could show along them a product of enough volume and value to warrant the work — 40,- 000,000 bushels of wheat and 200,000,000 bushels of corn, in addition to live-stock and many other things. CHAPTER XXXIX THE NOMINATION OF GARFIELD In 1880 the greenback movement was receding. It had never seriously threatened the supremacy of the Republican party in Kansas, but it had caused some anxiety. Its principal distinction is that it was the forerunner of Populism. Kansas was a Blaine State, but having within her borders thousands of old soldiers it was but natural that there should be a strong sentiment for General Grant. The State was entitled to six votes in the National Republican Convention. To avoid a factional division in the party ten delegates were elected. Of these four were for Grant, and were called contestants. The ten were seated with but six votes. 1 It appears, however, that the whole number voted. The ballots show that four votes were always cast for Grant, and six were cast for Blaine and finally for Garfield. 2 It has been held that Garfield was loyal to Sherman and that he would have refused the nomination had not Senator Hoar, Chairman of the Convention, " taken him off his feet "' at a critical moment. This is not borne out by the experience of some of the Kansas delegates. Senator Plumb was at the head of the Kansas dele- gation. B. F. Simpson was next in influence; all were the politieal and personal friends of Plumb. Through i See Wilder's Annals of Kansas, entry for June 8, 1880, second edition, p. 880. 2 See Buleh's Life and Public Career of James A. Garfield. •_'ir, 24G THE LIFE OF PBESTON B. PLUMB Simpson Senator Conkling sought the Kansas vote for Grant, but Simpson referred liim to Plumb. Conkling saw Plumb and tendered him a blank sheet of paper with the request that he bring Kansas to the support of Grant and write a stipulation for any political favor whatever on that sheet, assuring him that the paper would be signed by himself and Senators Cameron and Logan, and, if required, it would be signed by General Grant, then at Milwaukee, and returned in the morning before the convention assembled. This offer Plumb re- ported to Simpson, and it was discussed by them in an indifferent way. The State convention had by resolu- tion pledged the support of Kansas to Blaine. While Senator Plumb was not unfriendly to General Grant he would do nothing against the expressed sentiment of his State. Immediately after supper on Monday Plumb requested Simpson to go with him to Garfield's room in the Grand Pacific Hotel. Garfield was evidently expecting Plumb and met him at the door. They sat down on Garfield's large canvas-covered trunk in a corner of the room and apart from the others — Major Swaim, a judge ad- vocate in the army, and Sherwin, postmaster at Cleve- land, Ohio. These sat with Simpson at a table. Other delegates came in, among them Campbell, of West Vir- ginia, and Benjamin Harrison, both of whom sat at the table. While Garfield and Plumb were engaged in earnest conversation, those at the table talked of the break from the leading candidates which all believed to be near. The Wisconsin delegation had but one purpose, which was to make some deal by which their delegate, Cassidy, should be appointed to the first va- cancy which should occur in the Supreme Court. This was generally known to the delegates. When those in the room were planning for Garfield to profit by the coming break in the convention they came down to Wisconsin. Harrison said he knew Cassidy well and THE NOMINATION OF GARFIELD 247 would go out and find him and bring him in. Cassidy's pretensions to the Supreme Court were not taken seri- ously by anyone, and what he should be given if he would throw the Wisconsin delegation to Garfield at the right time was the question. Simpson spoke promptly and said, " Give him anything he wants. 1 ' The crowd laughed, and all looked at Garfield. Simpson feared he had spoken too plainly and said so. Garfield replied, " No, Simpson, you are just in earnest." At this juncture Plumb rose suddenly and said to Garfield that he would see him later, and he and Simp- son returned to Kansas headquarters at the Palmer House. There Plumb left Simpson. It was not later than eight o'clock. Plumb returned after midnight; he did not say where he had been, but from what he did say Simpson was certain that he had again seen Garfield and was sure of his nomination. The Blaine votes of Kansas went to Garfield the next day. CHAPTER XL FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS SPECIAL SESSION OP THE SENATE. A special session of the Senate was called for the 4th of March, 1881, to confirm the cabinet and other appointments of President Garfield. The Senate was then evenly divided between the two great parties, and standing committees were secured to the Eepublicans by the deciding vote of the Vice-Presi- dent. Senator Plumb, at this time, secured his first committee-chairmanship — that of Public Lands. He was also placed on the committees of Appropriation and Agriculture. The session was devoted to executive business. Few legislative matters were mentioned. On the day be- fore adjournment a resolution was reported requiring certain Departments to submit rolls of their employes. On this resolution Senator Plumb made known his views on the Civil Service. He did not favor the estab- lishment of an office-holding class at Washington. He opposed the civil-service principle as it was then under- stood and has since developed, and for good reasons. He believed that the business of the Government could be satisfactorily done only by a well-planned system of rotation in office. He could not believe a man who had worked in an office for twenty-five years was equal in efficiency to one of the same capacity who had worked but two or three years. The younger man would be more vigorous and bring to his work more enthusiasm. It was his idea that the new blood of the country, the men representing new communities, new interests, and 248 FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS 249 new ideas should be given opportunity to work for the Government. Their presence there would make the De- partment more responsive to the "business needs of the country. He believed in overhauling things occasionally and letting in the light — in exhibiting to the people the manner in which their affairs were transacted. It was his judgment that a person should be dismissed from the public service while still able to make his way in the world, and not become helpless on the hands of the Government. Failure to do this would inevitably bring the civil-pension list, which is now being advocated. SECOND SPECIAL SESSION OF TIIE SENATE. The accession to the Presidency of Chester A. Arthur, on the death of President Garfield, made necessary a second special session of the Senate within a year. It began on the 10th and adjourned on the 29th of October. Only executive business was transacted. Nelson W. Aldrich, of Rhode Island, was present first at this session, having been elected to the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Burnside. FIRST SESSION OF CONGRESS. The first session of the Forty-seventh Congress be- gan on the 5th of December, 1881. It was of unusual length, adjourning on the 6th of the following August. The most important matter of general legislation con- sidered at this session was the Funding Act. The pur- pose of this act was to reduce the interest on the Gov- ernment bonds to three per cent. Plumb favored it. President Hayes, however, vetoed it, and much dissatis- faction resulted. Senator Sherman introduced a bill having in view the same purpose. Its terms were very different from the former bill and Senator Plumb op- posed it. He succeeded in amending it, but it was never satisfactory to him. 250 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB At this session Plumb attacked the policy of ac- cumulating vast reserves in the National Treasury. The money was thus taken out of the channels of busi- ness and locked up. He proposed to fix the amount of the reserve at $100,000,000, but was of the opinion that even that sum was twice as much as it should be. It was his judgment that the money should be used in pay- ment of the public debt and thrown back into circu- lation. SECOND SESSION. The regular short session began on the 4th of De- cember, 1882, and expired by constitutional limitation on the 3d of March, 1883. The appropriation bills oc- cupied most of the time. Nothing of a political nature was brought forward by either party, and the session was uneventful. Senator Plumb was in charge of some of the appropriation bills. By the ready and intel- ligible use of statistics he made his speeches effective. He had ever on his tongue's end an inexhaustible sup- ply relating to the subject he expected to discuss thor- oughly. Statistics had, of course, always been em- ployed in the Senate by orators, but Plumb simplified them, verified them at the Departments and combined them with appropriate and convincing documents. He reduced their use to a sort of science, and his figures were always intended to enlighten, never to confuse. After his use of them with such telling effect in his speech criticising the administration of the General Land Office under Mr. Cleveland and in his debate on the Funding Bill their use in a similar manner was com- mon in the Senate. There was some debate on the civil service at this session, and on this subject Senator Plumb expressed himself freely and with force. He was never satisfied with civil service as it was established. He suggested a different method, but could not secure its adoption. CHAPTER XLI FUNDING ACT — TREASURY SURHXS TriE question of funding certain portions of the pub- lic debt came up for consideration in the Forty-seventh Congress. The Forty-sixth Congress had passed a law to redeem the bonds bearing a high rate of interest with the proceeds from the sale of bonds bearing in- terest at the rate of three per cent., and also to redeem bonds to an amount not to exceed $50,000,000 with the surplus gold and silver coin in the Treasury. This was a House Bill. In the Senate Plumb voted for it, and was criticised by some of his party associates for doing so. John Sherman was Secretary of the Treas- ury. To strengthen the public credit, as he believed, he led the movement to demonetize silver and make the (iovernment bonds payable in gold. This was a new condition applied to the public debt. It changed the contract in favor of the bondholders, adding many hundred millions of dollars to the obliga- tions of the Government. The bondholders were op- posed to surrendering bonds drawing five or six per cent, interest for bonds drawing but three per cent. Through his own influence and that which he could exert through the national banks, Sherman, as Secre- tary of the Treasury, caused President Ilayes to veto the funding bill. This veto proved very unpopular. National banks came to see that they had been deceived. Sherman had in the meantime been elected to the Sen- ate. On the first day of the session he introduced a funding bill for bonds bearing interest at three per 251 252 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB cent, to the amount of $300,000,000, the proceeds from the sale of which were to be used to redeem outstand- ing bonds to the same amount. The bonds to be re- deemed were specified in the bill. Those bearing the higher rates of interest were not included. No pro- vision was made for the use of any money in the treasury for the payment of bonds, nor was any part of the sur- plus revenues to be used for the purpose. The interest rate was the only feature of the bill vetoed by President Hayes which Sherman incorporated in his bill. And later he modified it by reducing the amount of bonds to be used under it to $200,000,000. Senator Plumb opposed Sherman's bill for a number of reasons. Plumb's opposition always meant all he could do to carry the day and win. He criticised the omission of the bill to take into consideration the sur- plus revenues, then running up to more than $100,000,- 000 annually. In the Senate on the 12th of January, 1882, he delivered a strong speech against the bill. It is replete with details. He arraigned Senator Sherman and called him to account for favoring interests always inimical to the people, for being eternally for the bond- holders and against the Government. Sherman was an able man, and finance was his specialty. The Sen- ate and the country were amazed that Plumb should challenge his views — so boldly antagonize him. But Plumb felt supreme confidence in himself. He had reached that development of his powers when he was sure of his ability to maintain himself against any of his associates in the Senate. He surprised even his friends by the array of statistics he presented and the skill with which he marshaled his figures. This speech marked an era in the Senatorial career of Plumb. Thereafter he ranked as one of the big men of the Senate. He refused to recognize the right of anv man, no matter what his eminence, to impose *j 7 what he believed to be unjust conditions on the people. FUNDING ACT — TREASURY SURPLUS 253 He made a number of speeches on this bill, fairly de- feating Sherman, and, by amendment, putting his own impress on the measure. Plumb opposed the practice of accumulating an ex- traordinary reserve in the Treasury for redemption pur- poses. It sometimes amounted to one-sixth of the total circulating medium of the country, and while held in the Treasury was of course withdrawn from business, which was embarrassed to that extent. It was his idea that the reserve should be reduced and fixed at a certain sum, $100,000,000, though he believed $50,000,000 to be enough. He said the Secretary should be deprived of discretion in the matter of the amount of this fund : We have had a constant bugbear about this question, which has been an insult to the intelligence of the people. It has been assumed that financial questions were not to be settled on a common-sense basis, but on some juggle — by a play upon words, upon some patent plan of which a certain class of persons had a monopoty, and in which the body of the people had no part or lot, and in which their only share was to bear without complaint the burdens put upon them. I would rather to-day have the judgment, the common sense, the sublimated common sense, which is said to be the foundation of law, possessed by the com- mon people of the United States — by the mechanics, m - chants, farmers — and upon which the stability of the Govern- ment depends more than upon the peculiar plans or features of administration, than depend, alone on the judgment of men who claim to be experts on this question. It is a question that affects the farmer on his farm, the homesteader on his claim, and the merchant in his counting house, just as much as it affects the banker, just as much as it affects the bondholder, just as much as it affects the capitalist. It affects all the people near and remote, large and small ; and legislation should be designed for their benefit. It is the nearly universal judgment of the people of the United States that the Treasury keeps on hand more money than is needed. It is estimated that we have about $1,200,000,000 altogether of circulating medium. More than one-sixth of that is held in the Treasury of the United States idle and largely unnecessary. It is too much. It is embarrass- ing the business of the country; it is in the way of its enterprise, its growth, and development. 254 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB On the point that the public debt ought to be paid as rapidly as possible Plumb produced figures to show that with the surplus revenue then collected by the Government f 135,000,000 could be paid annually: It should be done in order that this country may present to all the world the striking contrast which exists between a debt- paying and out-of-debt Republic, a Government resting wholly upon free consent of the governed, and the monarchical countries of the Old World where a national debt is considered a national blessing and where it is one of the means whereby class-rule is maintained. . . . Five hundred million dollars of the debt' — more than one- third of the total — represented by what is known as the Win- dom bonds, is in the best possible condition to meet this desire and determination for payment. It can be paid literally day by day, and thus not only save interest but prevent an undue and unwise accumulation of the money of the country in the Treasury while it is needed in the channels of business. Under this happy condition of things the debt is disappearing like snow under the shining sun. A year ago when this subject was under consideration a 3%% bond, or ratber a 5 and Q>'% bond extended at 3^% interest, maturing at the option of the Government and never at the option of the holder, was something which had not entered into the mind of any person in this Chamber or elsewhere. When the new administration came in it was confronted with this problem : Should it go before the people carrying upon its back the legacy of the preceding administration that left the country an unnecessary expenditure of $1,250,000 a month? The then President of the United States and his constitutional advisers felt that it would crush the Republican party in every State of this Union if they did so, and something had to be done to protect the party and save the country from this enormous expense. The question was whether an extra session of Congress should be called, and the President halted between two opinions. It was the absorbing question. There are a dozen men under my eye who earnestly counseled with the President and his con- stitutional advisers as to the policy to be pursued. There was divided counsel. An extra session was believed by many to be the only remedy, and others believed the remedy to be worse than the disease. But all agreed that the disease was bad enougb. It looked like defeat in either event and all because of the FUNDING ACT — TREASURY SURPLUS 255 veto which the Senator from Ohio Olr. Sherman) so strongly commends. Let us take the national debt out of the way, and if the national banking system is good enough to stand by itself it is good enough to be adopted de novo. If it is good, enough to commend itself to the judgment of the American people irrespec- tive of the existence of the national debt, then I think the American people as represented on this floor and in the other branch of Congress will be able to find it out. All the way through, whenever we come to discuss economic questions, when we come to discuss financial questions, we are embarrassed by the consideration that we have got a national debt pressing upon us and that we must not do certain things because it touches the national debt, or we must do it because of the national debt. I say that every interest in this land is embarrassed by this question of the national debt — the tariff, internal-revenue, taxation, questions of finance — and until we get rid of that we shall never be able to discuss these questions upon a platform which is solely and only for the best interests of tbe country and its people There has been a good deal of talk about the foreign trade of this country, and we have had talk about free ships and about tariffs as entering into the consideration of this subject. It may be, as no doubt it is, an assumption on the pari of some one who docs not live within the sound of the roar of salt water to talk about matters of this kind. Wo have been in the habit of leav- ing to those who lived on the shores of our great ocean the dis- cussion of these questions, those of us who live in the interior limiting ourselves to voting appropriations and following the suggestions they make. I say for myself that the foreign trade of this country, the shipping interest of this country, will never be revived until we have completely reversed our policy of internal improvements, until we have filled up this great nation with railroads. Con- temporaneous with the sweeping of our shipping from the ocean, as a consequence of the rebellion came the national debt, and Boston and New York and all the money centers of this country, in place of putting their money back in shipping, put it into the national debt, representing not new enterprises, not new creations, not new schemes for the development of the country, but representing property that was destroyed, houses burnt, powder burnt, cannon, muskets, munitions of war generally, everything that was destructive ; and the national debt to-day represents a hole in the ground; it represents nothing on the top of the earth and nothing created, except the union of these 256 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB States, good enough, it is true, for what it cost, but entirely apart from the purpose for which I am discussing this question. Had the policy urged by Plumb been adopted the public debt would have been reduced every year. The money represented by it would now be in circulatiou — would now be transacting business and contributing to industrial activity and material prosperity instead of representing loss, a deficit. But that would have pleased the people and displeased the rich, so it was not done. CHAPTER XLII CIVIL SERVICE Early in the movement for the establishment of an efficient civil service Plumb declared his position on that subject. On the 22d of December, 1882, he said : We have now a good civil service, as has been universally con- fessed. It might be better; and when we come to the discussion as to what will make it better there is where we differ. I believe myself, seriously, that it needs new blood ; that it needs rotation rather than permanency. Other people think differently. I can see, I think, the shadow of a coming civil-pension list and of an official class in the efforts of those people who now, either openlv or insidiously, are demanding that there shall be permanency of tenure. The civil-pension list has not yet come, though as a result of the permanency of tenure, which has come, it is inevitable. The Departments are rapidly filling up with old men. One of the most distressing scenes to be witnessed in Washington is that of dependent relatives carrying these old clerks daily into the De- partment offices and seating them at desks where they sil all day helplessly staring into vacancy, or, at most, fumbling aimlessly among unimportant papers. So far as work goes they cannot turn a hand, cannot lift a finger. They draw salaries. Younger clerks must be had in sufficient number to do their work, swelling the rolls and the expenses of the Government enormously. The official class, the coming of which Senator Plumb feared and predicted, has arrived. It is entrenched at Washington. The Government has not the courage to 257 258 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB attack it. Powerful newspapers champion it. No man there speaks of it but to commend it. It was the idea of Senator Plumb that tenure in office should be limited. No employee should be re- tained beyond the period when he can earn a living at some other calling. He should be made to understand that and urged to prepare for it, and then compelled to again take up the burden of life while still able to do good work at trade or calling. He should not be permitted to become a dead weight on the country. The one argument in favor of the present plan is that the experience of the clerk should not be lost to the Government after it has trained him. On this point Plumb said: I am reminded of what occurred in one of the Depart- ments of the Government when I suggested that some little rotation which would let in somebody from west of the Mississippi would be a good thing; and when the head of the Department said to me, " I cannot run this Department without the men that I find here," and pointing to a man who came into the room, he said, " Without that man I would be like a ship at sea without a rudder." It only illustrates what is the fact, that the man who comes into the position of a cabinet minister to hold during the pleasure of the President, and at the utmost during a four years' term, desiring to be rid of the annoyance and responsibility that would come from questioning his em- ployees in regard to their capacity, or from any way disturbing the existing order of things, for fear he would find a hornets' nest about his ears, simply sits down in the hole which is made for him. If he is square and the hole happens to be round, they round him off; and if he is round and the hole is square, he is made square so as to fit it. That is the function of a cabinet minister with reference to the personnel of those who render ser- vice under him, and it is inevitable that it should be so. Men who are Cabinet Ministers like their ease as well as any- body else, and they find their ease and their comfort in taking tilings as they find them, and in keeping them so. The letters being brought to them regularly every morning to be signed, in accordance with the universal custom of the Department, it is easier to sign them than it is to make innovation, reflecting as they do how easy it is to carry on the business of a great CIVIL SEKVICE 259 Department with a lot of clerks indurated and brought up to a certain perfunctory performance of the duties in such a way that the business of the day is ground around and brought up to the front of the party who is to sign the papers and is to become nominally responsible for the performance of that duty, as though it were a piece of machinery, oiled and warranted not to get out of gear. Mr. President, we shall never have any responsibility in executive places under a system of that kind. We have got to run the Ithurial spear of public opinion through the whole busi- ness and keep it there, turning it round and round, and make the service every day and every year responsible to the changing phases of public opinion, to a quickening sense of public opinion, and make the men whom we elect to office and put at the head of this great establishment personally responsible for every single person in it, by reason of some power of selection we give them under the law, and by reason of the duty we impose upon them of performing the public business economically and faithfully and honestly. Senator Plumb knew the evils of the old spoils sys- tem to be equally as great as the evils he saw in a permanent tenure of ottiee under civil service. Any plan which avoids one evil must take care not to foster the other. His ideas were given in this debate: It seems to me that which is necessary to meet the public opinion of which I have spoken is a 1 > i 1 1 which should briefly put upon the President of the I'nited States the duty of establishing rules and regulations which should draw into the service com- petent persons in all its branches, and from the different por- tions of the country in proportion to their representation in the lower branch of Congress, and irrespective of any recommenda- tions of any person in official life whatever, upon rules which should fix, as nearly as rules can, qualifications suitable for the discharge of the duties to which these different persons are called; and then which, in addition to that, should prevent solic- itation entirely, or the recognition of solicitation, in the appoint- ments, and which should similarly prevent the assessment of employees in the public service. Such a bill would meet this public demand; and I think that is as far as we ought to go — we want, as I think, to impose duty and responsibility upon the President. We do not want to put in the shadow of that fierce light which is said to beat upon the throne, and which ought to 260 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB beat upon it in a nation in which all are sovereigns, that which takes away from the responsibility of the occupant of the throne. Senator Plumb continued: Yet we are setting up here an irresponsible tribunal, one with- out any popular connection, without any popular responsibility, which is to continue, President or no President, Democratic or Republican, to simply determine the clerical qualifications of the persons who are to be appointed as clerks and who, in turn, of course, depute that to somebody else; leaving out of account absolutely those things which are of a thousandfold more con- sequence in the faithful discharge of duties, the moral character and qualification of men, which are not to be determined by examination at all, and which cannot be determined by answer- ing any particular set of questions, nor by the certificate of any- body. That the evils of the permanency of tenure which lie pointed out might not follow Senator Plumb offered this amendment: That all persons appointed as the result of the examination herein provided for shall hold office six years, unless sooner removed for cause, and at the expiration of said period may be reappointed to the same grade of office without re-examination; but no person shall be permitted to remain in the service more than twelve years, and shall be ineligible to be reappointed to any of the grades for which examination is herein provided after such service. But it was rejected. The result is much worse than even he predicted. The British Circumlocution office ridiculed by Dickens has been duplicated at Washing- ton. What Senator Plumb sought was a clerical force which, through its creation, was responsible, prompt, efficient, always responsive to public opinion, — which reflected the best features of our social life and retained its vigor and virility. CHAPTER XLIII REELECTION In 1882 Governor St. John stood for election to a third consecutive term. In Kansas the custom was that public officials should have two terms provided the first one was satisfactory to the people. St. John was opposed by a faction in the Republican party which was not in favor of the prohibitory liquor laws, for which it was supposed he was largely responsible. Plumb was in favor of these laws. The campaign was an exciting one. Republican clubs were organized to support the Democratic candi- date for Governor. It was feared that, the demoraliza- tion might extend to the whole State ticket and even to the Legislature. Plumb made speeches all over the State, large audiences greeting him everywhere, lie and Governor St. John went much together, closing the canvass with a monster meeting in Wyandotte (Kansas City, Kansas). The tide had turned in favor of the Republican ticket, but too late for the party to receive the full benefit. G. W. Glick, an Ohio Democrat, a pioneer in Kansas, a man of great force and probity, and the personal friend of Plumb, defeated St. John by a substantial majority. The Legislature was largely Republican. There was no opposition in the Republican party to Senator Plumb, and many influential Demo- crats favored his reelection. No such political condi- tions had existed in Kansas up to that time. A short review of the work of Plumb for his State, apart from 261 262 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB that for the general Government, may serve to explain this situation. In his six vears in the Senate Plumb had broadened, grown, strengthened day by day. He had subordinated everything to his senatorial duties. All the interests of Kansas were protected. More than $1,500,000 had been returned to the State for military expenditures during the Civil War, for Indian depredations, and other claims. He had secured the first money ever appropriated for Federal buildings in Kansas. In 1881 the sum of $30,000 was allowed for the erection of bar- racks at Fort Leavenworth, and, the following year, $90,000 for improvement at that fort. He had begun the movement for Training Schools, the assembling there of supplies for western forts, and other additions to its equipment* which makes Fort Leavenworth one of the great military posts of the country. Kansas had received $270,000 under the terms of the bill requiring the Government to pay over to the State five per cent, of the proceeds of the sales of public lands in their bounds. Amendments to the land laws in favor of the settler and the homesteader had been enacted. He had protected the settlers on abandoned military and In- dian reservations, giving them first right to purchase their claims at appraised value. Additional Govern- ment land offices had been established. The postal service had been extended to all parts of Kansas, new routes and improvements on old ones being so fre- quently noticed in the papers that Wilder in his Annals quotes the following: Senator Plumb has secured postal-car service on the Kansas Pacific Eailroad, and on the Frisco from St. Louis to Wichita, beginning July 1. During his first term Plumb's mail averaged about sixty-five letters a day. To these he replied with his own hand. They were on all conceivable subjects, and some of them required elaborate replies. REELECTION 263 It was the desire of Plumb that he be reelected on his record. If the people were satisfied with it he wished them to approTe and endorse it. He was re- elected on the 24th of January, 1883, by a vote of 127 to 36. In casting his vote, Judge L. W. Borton of Clyde, Cloud County, a Democrat, said that he " de- sired to represent his constituents by voting for Pres- ton B. Plumb, the urim and thummim of Kansas." The press was cordial in its comment on his reelec- tion, and this was not confined altogether to the Kansas papers. The Kansas City Times, Democratic and rabidly partisan, said, " Senator Plumb is in the prime of life, vigor and mature manhood. He is eminently a man of practical affairs, who has attained to accurate knowledge of the forces which move the public ma- chinery of this country." But it was the commendation of the home papers that moved Plumb. The judgment of his neighbors, those with whom he had struggled on the prairies and on the battlefields, the poor man on the frontier and the settler in his cabin, those for whom he had so often stood as champion in the Senate — what (hey said meant more to him than the plaudits of the mighty. The Topchn Capital said: The reelection of Senator Plumb by the full vote of his party in the Legislature, and practical!}' without opposition from any source, is an event that deserves recognition with bonfires and illuminations. Taking it in all its hearings, it is one of the most significant occurrences in the history of the State. It signalizes a new departure, a long step forward, a sort of bap- tism of decorum and decency that must exalt the good name of Kansas as hardly any other one thing could. . . . Kansas has reached the period of maturity. . . . The compliment and honor of such an election can hardly lie overestimated. It seems in- credible that a man should really have been elected Senator in Kansas, and for a second term, without being present, or with- out so much as passing around a box of cigars. Ko doubt Senator Plumb himself finds it difficult to realize that he has actually been reelected in this spontaneous and exception;! 1 way, well as he knows that he deserves it. A triumph so signal and 2G4 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB so flattering cannot fail to materially advance bis standing and influence at the seat of Government and in the country at large. He is the only one so far of the Republican Senators seeking reelection who has succeeded without a struggle. That fact will have its weight, we may be sure; and Kansas will reap the advantage of it in her Senator's increased power to promote her interests. We but echo the general sentiment of the State — not of Republicans simply, but the best element of all parties when we cordially congratulate Colonel Plumb upon a victory which is alike highly honorable to him and markedly creditable to Kansas. The Topeka Commonwealth was the leading paper in Kansas at the time. On its editorial staff was Captain Henry King, who lias so long and ably edited tlie St. Louis Globe-Democrat. It said : The reelection of Senator P. B. Plumb, by the Legislature, yes- terday, was a handsome tribute to a worthy public servant. Senator Plumb has made an industrious and capable officer, has at all times demeaned himself in a manner creditable alike to himself and the State, and his endorsement was so hearty and sincere, and so nearly unanimous, that it makes it possible for him to exert a greater power and influence in Washington than has ever been exercised by any citizen of our State. Colonel Plumb is peculiarly a man of the people. His political exalta- tion has not changed him in the least, and never will. Having spent the best years of his life in our State, he has encountered all the vicissitudes incident to the frontier, and whatever in- fluences preferment may exert upon the average member of the human family, it has failed to have any upon Colonel Plumb. He is an earnestly practical man, and in his intercourse with people carries a conviction of honesty and earnestness that cap- tivates. The average citizen finds something in him to admire. Quick to perceive, and ever ready for instant action; always hopeful and never lacking for ready expedients; a sympathetic heart and hand always ready to assist the unfortunate, he has so endeared himself to the people of Kansas, that to reelect him is but the simple carrying out of that kind regard and confidence so universally expressed at the polls last November. CHAPTER XLIV THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS The Forty-eighth Congress met December 3, 1883. The Senate was controlled by the Republicans. Sen- ator Edmunds, of Vermont, was the temporary Presi- dent of the Senate. The House had a Democratic ma- jority, and John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, was elected Speaker. The most important legislation attempted was that of fixing the Presidential succession. A bill for this purpose passed the Senate. It was rejected by the I louse, and did not become a law until 1885. It was expected that consideration of the tariff would occupy most of the time of the session. William R. Morrison, of Illinois, prepared a bill and introduced it in the House. There Randall, of Pennsylvania, a pro- tectionist Democrat, had great influence. He organized in his party in the House a strong opposition to any reform of the tariff, and succeeded in defeating the Morrison Bill before the Senate had an opportunity to consider it. This left the tariff an issue for the Presidential campaign of 1881, and it became the most important question. The reform of the judiciary, both State and national, was even at that time strongly demanded. No heed was taken when attention was called to the abuses which had marked the administration of justice by the courts. At that period labor was discontented, and marked hostility between it and capital developed. The 265 2GG THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Knights of Labor extended its organization over the country in 1883, and the boycott, of Irish origin, was first resorted to in America. The question of maintaining the national-bank circu- lation in sufficient volume was considered. At that time there was a disposition to pay off the public debt and release the dead capital tied up in it for use in industrial development. The arguments made and principles announced by Plumb are pertinent to-day. December 12, 1883, he said, " I do not believe it is a question in which the bondholders have any interest, legal or moral, to be considered — I think the bond- holder himself may be entirely left out of the account. The payment of the public debt is a question of public policy, not a question as to whether a man who has the bonds of the Government wants his money or not." The destruction of the national-bank system was al- ways thrown across the path of those who advocated the payment of the national debt. This was usually done by Senator Sherman. To this feature of the ques- tion Senator Plumb addressed himself, and said: If the element of flexibility, if the element of extension, is left out of the national-bank system, it possesses no merit what- ever, because it goes without saying, I think, that the Govern- ment of the United States can issue a piece of paper directly, which shall be of as great value, as perfectly safe, as absolutely current as a national bank can issue, because it comes back to the same source. So, therefore, the national-bank system, both because it cannot enlarge now, even if the reduction of the public debt was to stop, would prove inadequate for the future, and because of the fact that the bonds are to be paid and en- tirely wiped out, and that very soon, preventing it even from maintaining its present status for any length of time. For these two reasons that system might as well be left out of account in any prognostication about the public debt. Something else must take its place. And it is the wisdom of statesmanship, of good judgment, of patriotism to provide now, or begin to provide now, for something which shall take its place. Plumb was willing to go as far as anvone in com- THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS 267 mending national banks for the good that was in them. The national-bank system was a wise one in its incep- tion. It had performed a most useful function at a time of great peril to the country, and had provided banks for discount and deposit purposes. He was not in favor of a currency based on State, county, or town- ship bonds, saying that a return to a State-bank cur- rency would be preferable to such a system. For every dollar of national-bank circulation that should be surrendered he favored the issuance of an equivalent dollar in Treasury notes. It would not be necessary that the new notes should be legal-tender, but it would be no trouble to keep them at par. They would then serve the same end as the legal-tender notes and be just as useful as the notes of the national banks. At this session Plumb supported a measure intro- duced by Senator Miller, of New York, for the forma- tion of a Senate Committee of Agriculture and Forestry. Comparing the farmers of the country with the people of the District of Columbia, who, he said, were given a million and a half to two millions out of the national treasury annually, he insisted that it was not merely a matter of grace but a matter of right that seven- twelfths of the people of the United States should be given that recognition which was accorded to a small portion of them in that District. The farmers had never received practical recognition at the hands of Congress. They pay a larger proportion of the taxes of the United States than any other class of people. Everything they use is taxed, and in favor of nothing that they raise is anything done, ne was in favor of extending them substantial recognition. In those times no session of Congress passed without the consideration of the forfeiture of land grants which had not been earned by railroads. At this session Plumb succeeded in restoring to the public domain a number of such grants, among them one to the Iron 2G8 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Mountain and Southern Railroad from Pilot Knob, Mis- souri, to Helena, Arkansas. Against the aping of foreign frivolities Senator Plumb never failed to register protest. An ensign in the Navy had been tendered a decoration by Austria and applied to Congress for permission to accept it. The matter came up in the Senate in January, 1884, and mustered enough votes to pass, but Plumb opposed it, saying: I think we have enough toadyism in all branches of our serv- ice that have contact with foreign people. I have observed something of that even in the diplomatic service. I think, on the whole, we have some men in the diplomatic service who are more proud of the distinctions they get at the hands of the Govern- ments to which they are accredited than they are of the com- mission by which they are accredited. I think it is a good time to inculcate a wholesome American sentiment, and have it under- stood that we shall not hereafter give permission to any one of our officials to be decorated by any foreign Government whatso- ever. It seems to me, Mr. President, as though we are just getting as a nation into this condition, that the only things we import into this country are the vices, the frills, the furbelows, and the fashions from abroad, and the only thing we export is a class of people who are but too glad to get out of this country and spend their money disporting themselves among foreign people. I am told that we have consuls abroad who spend a good deal of their time in berating the country whose commission they bear and whose salary they regularly draw. I am in favor of protecting this country as much as I can against the importation of these ideas, against these un-American habits, and for incul- cating in all branches of the public service a good, old-fashioned, wholesome love of American principles and American institu- tions. Dudley C. Haskell was a worthy Kansan. He rep- resented the Second District in Congress. In the tariff debates he had shown great ability, and he was in fact the leader on the Republican side. He was a man of sturdy virtues. He was a pioneer in Kansas and was one of Senator Plumb's earliest friends. His death THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS 269 was sudden and unexpected and caused a shock in Kansas. On February 27, 1884, memorials were pro- nounced for him in Congress. That of Plumb bears evidences of previous preparation, something a speech or address of his rarely received. The first para- graph is: Mr. President, respect for the dead is a pervading instinct of our common humanity. To honor the memory of the departed is regarded as a sacred trust, to the faithful discharge of which affection and friendship are irrevocably committed. Nor is any good man's fame and memory left to the sole guardianship of those who knew and loved him in life. There is something in the silent helplessness of the coffin and the sepulcher that appeals with peculiar and pathetic force to the chivalry of human nature. The discord of party passion, the conflict of individual interest, the fierce rivalry of personal ambitions, and all that is base and unworthy in the struggle for precedence and supremacy retire in silence from that presence whose mastery over the combined forces of nature is attested by the unnum- bered dead of all aires. **->■■ On the 18th of April, 1884, Plumb presented the ap- propriation bill for the Post-Office Department. lie moved that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the bill, that its firsi reading be dispensed with, and that it be read by paragraphs for amendment, which was done. Then he briefly sketched the main features of the bill — the conditions of the postal-service, growth of the Department, source of income, and amount of revenue expected. He submitted a tabular statement complete in every detail of the administration of the postal-system. To every question he replied promptly and with such complete information that one might have supposed that he had spent his life in that particu- lar branch of the service. And before the hour for ad- journment the bill, carrying fifty millions of money, had passed. The account of its consideration fills six- teen pages of the Congressional Record, but Plumb had not once taken his seat, ne stood the whole time at 270 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB his desk ready to make full and instant reply to all questions. In the spring of 1884 there was an epidemic of the foot-and-mouth disease among the cattle of Kansas. Governor Glick convened the Legislature in special ses- sion, and sent a telegram requesting Plumb to secure the aid of the Government in stamping out the plague. On the 17th of March he secured the passage by the Senate of a bill appropriating $50,000 for the suppres- sion of the disease in Kansas and other States and Territories. The session closed July 7, 1884. SECOND SESSION. The Second Session of the Forty-eighth Congress be- gan December 1, 1884. Blaine had been defeated for the Presidency. It was a session of expectancy. The country had not in the past twenty-four years had a Democratic President, and there was a sense of uncer- tainty. This was noticeable in Congress, where a dis- position to wait on the movement of the incoming administration developed. On the 4th of December there came up the question of the leasing of Indian lands to cattlemen. Plumb saw that the breaking-up of the Indian government in the Indian Territory could not long be postponed. He was not willing, he said, that the opportunity should pass without calling attention to the fact that much of the land in the Indian Territory and elsewhere em- braced in reservations was fit for agriculture, and that it was land which the Indians did not need. The pub- lic domain was being exhausted of its fertile lands, and it was proper for Congress to consider whether it was not time to open some of the Indian lands for settle- ment at an early day. He called attention to the tract of land suitable for that purpose, to which the Indian THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS 271 title had been extinguished — the Oklahoma portion of the Indian Territory. This tract had been acquired by the Government from the Creeks when it was the intention to move all the Indians of the country into one body. This idea had been abandoned, and the lands were unoccupied. " The time has come," said he, " to commence the process of settling up the Indian Terri- tory, and thereby settling that branch of the Indian problem." He called attention to the fact that he had himself introduced a bill at the previous session of Congress opening to settlement the country known as Oklahoma. This bill had not passed, but it had served the purpose of notice of what the Indians might expect in the very near future. At this session the matter of a pension for the widow of General George H. Thomas was considered. It was a special bill, for under the general laws she was not entitled to a pension. Senator Plumb had always op- posed the granting of pensions to widows who were already rich unless it could be done under existing law and without a special bill. In this instance he was willing to make an exception, saying: I think there was no more meritorious soldier who wore the blue than General Thomas, no one who was more entitled to the gratitude of the nation thai] he, and no one who, in my opinion, was more ignored during his lifetime when the oppor- tunities presented themselves for his promotion, than General Thomas. There are few bills which caused more discussion than the appropriation bills for the District of Co- lumbia. There has always been a feeling that in the District there was a dependence on the Government for more than it should pay, and that for that reason the city was extravagant and careless in expenditures. Sometimes these appropriation bills have occupied weeks of the Senate's time. The influence of Plumb 272 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB was never better shown than in his management of the District Bill. On the morning of the 8th of February he demanded its consideration. It was a House Bill and had been amended at many points by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Plumb stood at his desk for hours explaining the bill and its amendments. He submitted interminable statistics and tabular state- ments. He did not take his seat until the bill was passed, which was at an early hour, and the Record shows that much other business was transacted later on the same day. It was the opinion of Senator Plumb in 1885 that it would soon be necessary for Congress to legislate on the subject of labor in its relation to capital. In op- posing the importation of foreign labor under contract, he said: "We are on the threshold of not only legislation, but of the formation of public opinion perhaps preceding such legislation in regard to the very intricate relations between labor and capi- tal; and it is proper, I think, that in the beginning of this controversy, and as the first step toward the settlement of the question, we should inhibit the importation of labor under con- tract. There was not a session of Congress when Plumb did not find cause to attack and oppose the River and Harbor Bill. This was not because he did not believe in the improvements contemplated in the bills. He very much desired the permanent improvement of the harbors and navigable streams of the country. In the transportation by water he saw the solution of many problems vexing both foreign and domestic trade. But in his opinion the policy then pursued by the Govern- ment would not produce deep harbors and navigable rivers. He attacked the bill brought in at this session on the ground that the money proposed to be spent would produce no permanent results whatever. The main difficulty w T as in the failure to determine what it THE FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS 273 was necessary to do on any particular harbor or river, and then go at the work there and complete it so it would be out of the way and the stream or port permanently opened to commerce. The plan in use gave some money toward a work with the expectation of giving more to it every year — just enough to keep someone forever pottering along without doing anything worth while. He cited instances where work had been under way continuously for twenty years without a particle of progress toward its completion. He men- tioned one case of flagrant misuse of funds which had come under his own observation. An appropriation of #300,000 for the improvement of a certain location on the Mississippi River had been wholly expended for bonis, snag-pullers, scows and other equipment. There was not a dollar left to be devoted to the work for which the money was appropriated, and the machinery pur- chased lay rotting and rusting in the river, while the " engineer " waited for another appropriation. Most of the money carried by these bills was worse than wasted. If some system could be devised whereby the money spent would accomplish lasting good lie would favor a continuance of the appropriations; otherwise he should oppose them. CHAPTER XLV BLAINE Kansas was a Blaine State as long as the " Plumed Knight" was a factor in national politics. In 1876 Kansas voted for his nomination, and in 1880 most of the Kansas delegates voted for him as against General Grant. While the sentiment in Kansas was unchanged in 1884, there were conditions which caused many to doubt the wisdom of giving Blaine the nomination for President. Ex-Governor St. John was regarded as the apostle of prohibition. Although he had suffered de- feat in Kansas, the prohibitory laws were in favor there, and he was strong with the churches and temper- ance organizations. He had been mentioned as the probable nominee of the Prohibition party for Presi- dent. After his defeat some of the leaders of the Republican party in Kansas believed him politically dead. Plumb was of a different opinion. He saw that prohibition was a permanent policy of Kansas, and de- sired that St. John be sent by the Republican party as a delegate to the national convention. So many opposed this that Plumb did not insist on it, but he warned one and all that prohibition had come to stay in Kansas, and that opposition to it or its advocates was unwise. St. John did not wish to be a delegate, but he did wish to have the convention take a friendly view of the movement he had so earnestly favored. He be- lieved this course would strengthen the Republican party. He did not expect an endorsement of prohibi- 274 BLAINE 275 tion, but he hoped for a general expression favoring temperance. Another thing which Senator Plumb found himself at variance with was the Blaine sentiment. He was anxious that his party should not lose the election, and he was not convinced that Blaine was the strongest man it could put forward. President Arthur was a candidate. His administration had overcome the dif- ficulties under which it assumed control of the Gov- ernment and had won the confidence of the country. While Senator Plumb admired Blaine and was on very friendly terms with him, he believed it better for the party that President Arthur be nominated. He had said to his friends in Kansas that he did not wish to be a delegate. He knew the extent and force of the devotion in the State to Blaine and did not wish to oppose it. His duty, as it appeared to him, however, became every day more plain. A few days before the State convention assembled at Topeka, Plumb dispatched a messenger to Kansas to say lie had decided that lie must go as a delegate to Chicago, and that it was his judgment that no instruc- tions should be given the delegates. But when the con- vention was called on for an expression of its preference for candidates, Blaine received 202 votes out of a total of 280 present. Logan had 48, and Presi- dent Arthur had but 6. Notwithstanding this vote, the enthusiasm for Blaine, and the known position of Plumb, he received 250 votes on the first ballot for dele- gat es-at-large and was placed at the head of the dele- gation. At Chicago it was found impossible to prevent the nomination of Blaine, but Senator Plumb delivered a part of the Kansas delegation to President Arthur. Kansas had been largely settled by veterans of the Union Armies. They admired General John A. Logan. It was deemed necessary to have a former soldier on the 27G THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB national ticket, and the Kansans were for General Logan. Senator Plumb placed him in nomination for Vice-President and he was nominated. 1 St. John attended the convention. Miss Frances Willard had secured through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union two hundred thousand names to a petition asking the convention to take an attitude fa- vorable to the temperance cause. She presented the peti- tion to the proper committee, and in doing so made an appeal for the homes and for the young people of America. She was respectfully heard and politely bowed out, and was succeeded by a delegation of distill- ers and brewers. The committee exhibited the petition left by Miss Willard, and in a spirit of levity asked what should be done with it. The brewers replied that it might as well be kicked under the table, and that disposition w T as made of it. When the convention ad- journed it was found on the floor where it had been trampled under foot and spat upon. When she heard this Miss Willard urged St. John to accept the nomina- i The newspapers said Senator Plumb was one of the few speakers in the convention who could be heard by all. His voice reached every part of the hall. As Plumb left his seat on the floor to take the platform B. F. Simpson, who was with the Kansas delegation, said to him, " Plumb, don't bob your head too much in that speech," a pleasantry referring to the Senator's habit of unconsciously tossing up his head. It was always claimed in Kansas that Logan's nomina- tion was the result of the action of the Kansas delegation, which is well described in the following quotation written from an account which appeared in the TopeJca Commonwealth. THE BLACK EAGLE AND THE KANSAS BOOSTEB The TopeJca Commonwealth says that the nomination of Logan was entirely a Kansas affair. The idea had not been broached at all till it was started in our delegation. Hon. Cy Leland went around to the chairman of as many delegations as he could reach and said, " Plumb is going to nominate Logan ; we want you to second the nomination." In this way he got fifteen delegates to agree to make speeches, each one supposing that his was the only one to be made. This tied those States to Logan and forbade them bringing out or agreeing to support any other candidate. BLAINE 277 tion of the Prohibition party, which he did. He made a vigorous campaign and received many thousand more votes in New York than would have elected Blaine. Thus, the very thing which Senator Plumb had fore- seen and endeavored to forestall had come to pass. In the campaign of 18S4 Senator Plumb was very active. Blaine was in daily communication with him. He made speeches in many parts of the United States. It was his opinion that the election was won for Blaine, but lost by him when he foolishly stopped in New York City. And he was convinced that many fraudulent votes were cast against Blaine in New Y r ork. CHAPTER XLVI FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS The change of the Presidency from the Republican to the Democratic party carried with it many changes of public policy and brought forward many political questions, the most important of which was that of the civil service. President Cleveland administered the Pendleton Act in good faith and extended its provisions to many branches of the Government. The pressure on him for office was great, and he was sometimes ac- cused of violating the civil service laws. His first mes- sage dealt with this question at length; and it also urged a reduction of the tariff. Vice-President Hen- dricks died at Indianapolis, November 23, 1885. This emphasized the necessity of fixing the Presidential suc- cession, and the law for that purpose is the only one of importance enacted by the first session of this Con- gress. John Sherman was elected President of the Senate, that body being Republican. The House was Democratic, and John G. Carlisle was elected Speaker. When the President removed an office-holder and sent the nomination of a successor to the Senate, it demanded a reason for the removal and requested that all the papers in the case be sent in, which was refused by the President. When convinced that his nominations would not be acted on by the Senate, he withdrew them and sent them in again as new nominations to the same offices. In this contest with the Senate the advantage remained with the President. The Special Session of the Senate to confirm the ap- 278 FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS 279 pointnients of President Cleveland was called for the 4th of March, 1885, bv the Proclamation of President Arthur. No general business of importance was trans- acted. FIRST SESSION. The first session of the Forty-ninth Congress began on the 7th of December, 1885. The admission of South Dakota was the first matter of consequence to be consid- ered. The Democrats contended that Dakota should come in as one State — not two. The political feature involved was the number of Senators. As most of the people there were from the North the Republican party had a majority in the Territory and in both the States proposed to be established. It was but natural that the Democratic party should oppose the formation of two States, as that would increase the Republican majority in the Senate. Senator Vest, of Missouri, insisted that the action of the people in forming a State constitution for the south part of the Territory was revolutionary. Senator Plumb recalled that Kansas Territory had ex- tended to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, but that the convention which formed the constitution had re- duced the area to be included in the State by cutting off about half the present State of Colorado, retaining a tract only four hundred bv two hundred miles in extent. This was not considered revolutionary at the time, though it was done near the beginning of the Civil War. It was at this session of Congress that Senator Plumb began his opposition to the diplomatic service, as it was then constituted. The idea and plan of it had been taken from the service as developed in European coun- tries, and Plumb said it did not conform to the require- ments of American democracy. It was purely orna- mental and social in its nature and never vielded a dol- lar in results. It produced in those given a position 2S0 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB in it a feeling entirely un-American, and a great many of them spent much of their time in the abuse and ridicule of the Government of the United States in the hope that thereby their social prestige would be in- creased in foreign lands. A service which fostered so base a course should be abandoned. The efforts of the Government should be directed along commercial lines, and for the consular service Plumb had high regard. In February, 1886, the Senate considered the pro- priety of appropriating $250,000 with which a monu- ment to General Grant should be erected. Senator Plumb opposed the measure, saying that General Grant, if alive to speak for himself, would not suffer it to be done. The fame of the great must rest on their deeds and actions and relations to fellow-men — not on stone or bronze monuments. Mr. Lincoln was a greater man than Grant, but no monument seemed necessary to perpetuate his fame and no movement for one had been made : The widows of the men whom General Grant commanded, of the men who made the victories of Donclson and Vicksburg and Missionary Kidge and the Wilderness and Appomattox pos- sible, scattered all over this broad land, in the busy haunts of men, on homesteads, on the remote frontier, are among the people whom the Government of the United States owes money to and which it doles out with a scanty hand ; little pensions of $8 a month to the widows of private soldiers whose necessities were just as great as the widows of President or generals of the Army. We cannot pause in the exercise of our ordinary duties here to do the graceful and honorable and the just and the legal thing for them; but if there is any proposition to vote a pen- sion to somebody who does not need it, or to build a monument which is not necessary as the expression of the national regard, then we can stop and drop our Calendar and take this up to the exclusion of everything else. As I said, the bill will pass. I have no doubt but it will. It will become a law. I want simply to record my protest against it, as one who, I think, cherishes just as much the memory of General Grant as a soldier, as a statesman, and above all, as a man, as any person on this floor or elsewhere; and I say that FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS 281 the feeling which I have, and which will descend through my blood as it will descend through the blood of all the American people through all coming time, will find no fitting expression in any monument erected by statute here or elsewhere. General Grant's memory is in the hearts of the American people. In his speech on the Post-Office Appropriation Bill, April 28, 1886, Senator Plumb reviewed the feeling which existed against Great Britain in both the North and the South at the close of the Civil War. Both sec- tions of the Union desired a war. This would have come but for the troubles of reconstruction. When Grant became President this feeling revived and war was demanded, some favoring the Alabama depredation claims as a cause. Of Grant's action Tlnmb said, " I say now what I have said over and over again elsewhere, that I think it was General Grant's greatest title to fame that he, a soldier, opposed the war feeling, and said in substance, 'No. we will have no war until we have exhausted every effort for peace. There has been enough war in this generation.' The Alabama commis- sion followed, and war was averted." The true relation of Congress to the people was never more clearly expressed than by Senator Plumb on the 23d of February, 1886, when he complained of the action of the House, and said: It is so thoroughly understood that speeches made here do not convince those to whom they are nominally addressed that 1 take it that it is universally understood equally that they are made for the outside public. I do not think there is any other single thing which so thoroughly illustrates the popular char- acter of this body, and of the House of Representatives, as this fact equally applicable to both bodies. This is a public assize, and the legislation which we adopt is perhaps as nearly related to an honest, conservative, and permanent public opinion as though it were adopted by a mass convention of all the people of the United States assembled for the purpose, and having time enough and opportunity to fairly discuss the propositions that might be submitted. 282 THE LIFE OP PEESTON B. PLUMB On the 28th of April, 1886, Plumb urged an appropria- tion for carrying the foreign mails on American steam- ships. The Committee on Appropriations had formu- lated the amendment authorizing the expenditure of the money necessary for that purpose, and Plumb was in charge of the bill. He insisted that it would be some in- centive to American ship-building. This would be some compensation for the loss of money sustained by refusing to contract with owners of foreign ships for less money than Americans could perform the service for with their present equipment. He said the growth of our coun- try had reached that stage when we must look outward and not inward for large enterprises and great business opportunities — that we must take to the sea and cover it with our shipping and our flag. On the 4th of May he delivered another speech on the subject 1 in which he said the measure would develop the ship-building in- dustry, and regretted that he heard no voice from the South in favor of the amendment, for that section was to benefit more by trade with South America than any other part of the country. He deplored the fact that he heard favor expressed for Birmingham, England, and none for Birmingham, Alabama. He ascribed this, in some measure, to conditions growing out of the attitude of the South on the labor question before the Civil War, something of which still remained. The bill for the relief of Fitz-John Porter came up in the latter part of this session. Plumb opposed the bill. On the 25th of June, 18S6, he entered actively into the debate on the subject, and his speech is a very strong one. 2 It was his judgment that Porter was a traitor; that his act of disobedience was deliberate and malicious ; that to vindicate him and reinstate him would be a rebuke to President Lincoln; that the Southern Sena- i Also set out in Appendix to Congressional Record. 2 Given in full in the Congressional Record Appendix. FOETY-XIXTH COXGRESS 283 tors were for him in order to elevate a traitor above President Lincoln and the loyal generals like Sherman and Sheridan; that the North took no part in the dis- cussion of the merit and positions of honor given to Confederate generals, and was indifferent as to whom of them were put up or down, that being a matter for the South alone. General Hunter was the Chairman and presiding officer of the court-martial which tried and condemned Porter. President Cleveland had vetoed a bill giving his widow a pension of $50 a month, though he had approved a number of bills allowing widows of officers $50 a month. Senator Plumb saw in these things a concerted plan to dishonor the mem- bers of the court-martial and President Lincoln. Most of the Republican Senators opposed the bill. All bill two of the court-martial were dead, and it was the opin- ion of Plumb that at that late day it was impossible to do justice to Porter by a new trial. It was wrong to make a political matter of the effort to vindicate him. The court-martial bad larked but one vote of con- demning Porter to death, a tiling they never would have done had not his guilt been established beyond any doubt. There were some sharp and angry retorts es- pecially from Voorhees, of Indiana, and Butler, of South Carolina, but Plumb was not disconcerted by them and he gave as good as he got. Porter was restored to the army. SECOND SESSION. This was the regular short session, and the debates were uniformly brief and to the point. For downright hard work and attention to business it would be diffi- cult to name a session the equal of this one. The most important measure passed was the Inter-State Com- merce law. The Electoral-count law was passed, the trade dollar was taken from circulation. The Presi- dent vetoed a dependent pension bill granting $12 a 284 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB month to honorably discharged Union soldiers who had served ninety days in the Civil War. He also vetoed many other pension bills, and he allowed the Anti- Polygamy Bill to become a law without his approval. The Morrison Tariff Bill was again offered, but the Republicans and protectionist Democrats prevented its consideration. The session began on the 8th of De- cember, 1886. The House Bill for the Coast and Geodetic Survey raised the old question as to whether the Senate was the more extravagant of the two bodies of Congress. On many occasions and nearly all ac- counts the appropriations of the House had to be in- creased by the Senate. When the bodies were of different politics this matter became an important issue. A Democratic House could call attention to the increases made by a Republican Senate and cry extravagance, though it had purposely appropriated sums inadequate to meet the needs of the Government. Plumb believed the appropriation bill for the Coast Survey an instance of this kind, and he favored leaving it as the House had passed it in order that it might be demonstrated that the House was wrong. It was a matter which could never be settled by argument. " With the House pinching appropriations," he said, " and the Senate crowding them on the House, and the House yielding, of course — I have no doubt with a leer, as they think how agreeable the Senate is in insisting on giving them more than they want — we shall never arrive at any conclusion except the one conclusion which the House has already formed, that it is economical while the Senate is extravagant." The Kansas Legislature of 1887 passed a concurrent resolution requesting the Kansas representatives in Congress to use every effort to secure the organization of the Territory of Oklahoma. The Indian tribes from which the Oklahoma country was secured retained an interest in the land, or at least the right to say that FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS 285 it should not be used for any other purpose than that for which it had been ceded. It was necessary that their consent should be obtained to the movement open- ing the country to white settlement. Senator Plumb urged that this consent be secured as quickly as possible, and the memorial was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. There was not time at the short session for any action either of the tribes or Congress. Sen- ator Plumb favored opening up that country to settle- ment, and had repeatedly urged Congressional action prior to this action of the Kansas Legislature. In the early part of 1887 the decadence of the postal- service came to be an issue in Congress. The new ad- ministration of the Post-Office Department was accused of incompetency. There were complaints from all parts of the West. It was said to require four days to gel a newspaper one hundred miles by the railway postal- service in Kansas. Many experienced men had been dismissed and their places filled by men who had to learn their duties by doing work of whirl) they had no previous knowledge. A condition something akin to chaos resulted. Senator Plum]) was appealed to by in- dividuals, by communities, by towns and cities, and protests and remonstrances poured in on him, which found their way into the Congressional Record. The administration insisted that unfair politics stood back <>f all the charges. These complaints were accompanied by proofs that mail accumulated at Kansas City several (lavs before being distributed and forwarded; and that of the 1300 miles of new railroad built in Kansas in ISStl, postal-service had been provided for but about 800 miles. The mail was carried from Newton to Mc- Pherson (Kansas), towns of about 5000 population, every day on a " buckboard," although a railroad had been completed between the towns for more than three months. The people looked to Senator Plumb to secure a remedy. It was through his efforts that service had 286 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB been originally established over most of the State and much of the West. He worked on this matter faith- fully and with his usual energy, but it was some months before good service was restored. In this session Plumb did not have the time to engage in the debates of the Senate to that extent which he wished. The routine work was very heavy and much of it fell on him. CHAPTER XLVII RAILROAD PASSES The Inter-State Commerce Bill was under considera- tion much of the first session of the Forty-ninth Con- gress. Senator Plumb had loner favored such a bill and was one of the first men in public life to call atten- tion to the necessity for it. On the 5th of May, 1880, he offered an amendment prohibiting railroads from issuing passes or furnishing free transportation of any kind or on any pretext to any member of Congress or employee of the Government, or to any oilier person whomsoever. So far as found, this was the original movement against free railroad transportation. This is the amendment : Thai it shall not be lawful for any railroad company, or for any manager, nllicer or employee of any such company to issue or deliver to any member of Congress, or to any officer or em- ployee of the Government, or to any persons at the request or on behalf of such member of Congress or employee, or to any member of the family of such member of Congress, or officer or employee, any pass, check, or other instrument entitling the person to whom issued, or to any other person whomsoever, to ride over any such railroad, or any part thereof, free or for rate or charge less than that required to be paid by the general public; and it shall likewise be unlawful for anv member of Congress, or for any officer or employee of the Government, to apply for or receive, for himself or for another, or to use, any such pass, check, or other instrument, or in any way to travel over any such railroad, or any part thereof, at or for anv rate, or charge lower than that charged to the general public; and anv person who violates any of the foregoing provisions shall ho subject to imprisonment not exceeding six months, or a fine of 288 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB not less than $500, or both such imprisonment and fine, in the discretion of the Court. The amendment failed, but it has since been rec- ognized as a true principle in the operation of public service corporations, and as a remedy for many evils affecting the railroads, the Government, and the people. Senator Plumb for many years had refused to accept passes from railroads, preferring to pay his way and feel that he was independent and under obligations to no one. CHAPTER XLVIII DIPLOMATIC SERVICE Plumb was a good example of the high-minded, in- dependent, self-respecting American. Despising sham and toadyism in private life, he could not countenance them in public life. He had little patience with the hollow mockery and senseless conventionality of " society." The duties and functions of the diplomatic service rest largely on these. As Plumb was unable to see in it any element of dignity or use to Americans he opposed it. At the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress he deemed it his duty to make a public declara- tion on the subject. A Mr. Keiley had been appointed minister to Italy. Having married a Jewess, and it being of course neces- sary that his wife be a resident with him at Rome, the Italian Government found that, because of the social usages and religious prejudices of that country, he could not be received. He was then appointed minister to Austria, but as Vienna society would no more countenance a Jewess than would that of Rome, he was not acceptable there. The whole matter came back to the Senate, where it brought out a review of our foreign relations and was a matter of considerable debate. Plumb ridiculed our whole scheme of foreign repre- sentation, saying that it ought to be along commercial lines, and not social in its nature. With keen satire he held up to scorn our conception and practice of diplomacy. He was glad the question had arisen, not because a good man had been deprived of a good salary, 2S9 290 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB but that the attention of the country had been called to the fact that a large sum of money was annually spent to maintain a service which is purely ornamental. He could not say, on close construction, that it was even ornamental: If what I have heard about the attire of the people whom we send abroad, and their general performance at the various capitals to which they are accredited, be true, then to my " un- tutored vision," I should think they were not even ornamental; certainly they would not be edifying west of the Mississippi River. ... In plain English, Mr. Keiley was appointed to per- form some social duties about the court of Vienna, and he could not do these unless the Austrian Emperor should receive him at the " drawing rooms " at which the nobility and others of social standing are received, because the people who have the social standing would not associate with Mr. Keiley. This seems, of course, a little bit harsh in this country, where there is no social distinction of the kind set up — except at one hotel, I believe, at Saratoga. I think there is perhaps at Saratoga a hotel where a social distinction of this kind is recognized ; but as a general rule it is not recognized, and it seems a little hard generally. I am told, too, that some gentlemen who have come over on this side in an official capacity, with domestic relations which were not of a kind that were in vogue anywhere in this country, except possibly in a limited area in Salt Lake Valley, have felt a little bit put out that we do not think well of those social relations; and there have been some intimations, I have understood, at times rather plain, that persons who came in that way could not be expected to participate, very extensively at any rate, in the social ordinances of Washington. ... So when the Committee on Foreign Relations come to consider this question, as I hope they will, I trust they will give careful con- sideration to the question whether we need any minister at the Austrian court or not. I hope it will find that this whole diplo- matic service, which costs us a great deal of money, is an anti- quated and totally unnecessary appendage, and recommend to the Senate that it be dispensed with in toto. On the 27th of February, 1887, Plumb further de- veloped his views on this subject. American trade with foreign countries was at a disadvantage. European commerce was supported by European governments. DIPLOMATIC SERVICE 291 The American manufacturer was left to shift for him- self. The useless and expensive diplomatic service should be abandoned, and the consular or commercial service strengthened. If our trade relations with foreign countries were kept on a sound basis our diplo- matic relations would be satisfactory as a natural con- sequence. His plan is explained in his speech: Mr. President, I could suggest an improvement. I would rather take a commercial drummer than a broken-down politi- cian for an Assistant Secretary of State. If there could be some man somewhere in the Department possessing authoritv, who had his finger on the daily pulse-beat of American industry, of American ambition, of the growth and progress of the Ameri- can people, and who could put that into practical shape, Ameri- can manufacturers would not he sighing for want of foreign markets, because it is not true that American goods on the whole are dearer than foreign goods are. But when we come into that international domain in which nation struggles with nation for supremacy, the American manu- facturer is lost, isolated, individualize.], while his foreign com- petitor bas at his back at every step the powerful purpose of bis Government helping him in that competition in which political power goes along with prices. The American manufacturer is at a disadvantage, and it is because this whole structure, from beginning to end, is built upon the wrong plan. It is because this foreign service and its concomitant, our foreign trade, has been degraded to the level of a deformed civil service which looks to the reward of the belated, the unworthy, for political service or for good rid- dance. If we could put into this foreign service one-bait' of the energy, of the enterprise, of the intelligenl appreciation mani- fested by the commercial travelers of America in the promotion of the d 'stic trade of this country, there would be no lack of foreign trade for American merchants and American manu- facturers. I would be willing to substitute at a hazard the humblest member of that fraternity as Assistant Secretary of State for any man of that grade who has been in that office during the last few years. We keep up at great expense the show and the tinsel of what we call our diplomatic service, and we print tons and cords of what we call our diplomatic correspondence, which relates to everything that is of no consequence to the American people 292 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB and does not even enrich its literature, while those things that are material to the trade of this country are neglected. I would say to-day, if I had my way, abolish the diplomatic service and substitute in place of it an enlightened commercial service. Let the men who carry the commission of the Govern- ment to represent it abroad go backed by the power intelligently directed in the way of helping to find and to make markets for American products, and the genius of the mechanics and of the laboring men of this country, backed by that power, would take possession of all the markets in which skill properly applied is of any account. It is that kind of a foreign service that Great Britain has. She has the other kind, too, because of her interest in con- tinental politics, and the necessity of finding employment for her aristocracy; but she sends the younger sons of her noble families, she sends her keen-eyed men of traffic into all the world where she desires trade, and she sends them with instruc- tions to bring about results, and she arms them with her power. She establishes lines of steamship communication with the ports at which her consuls are stationed. She backs her manufac- turers by subsidies and by helpful devices of every kind for the competition they have got to meet, and she says to them, take possession at whatever cost, because there will be after profit to compensate, if necessary, for first losses. Until we have some such service, until the department through which we touch all these varied interests — which represents or which is supposed to represent our external affairs — is vitalized with this same spirit, the individual effort of American manu- facturers will be at a minimum as to results. CHAPTER XLIX FIFTIETH CONGRESS The Fiftieth Congress did not accomplish much. Its first session was the longest session ever held, beginning on the 5th of December, 1887, and continuing until the 20th of October, 1888. In the Senate there were 30 Republicans and 37 Democrats. The Democrats had a small majority in the House, and Carlisle was Speaker. President Cleveland still urged a reduction in the tariff, his message in 1887 dealing with no other subject. The Mills J Jill passed the House, and when it came up in the Senate a substitute was made with a bill wholly different in purpose and terms, and neither became a law. The Canadian Fisheries still remained a vexatious question, and the President asked for authority for severe retaliatory measures, lint this was refused. Civil service was extended to various departments and branches of the Government. A speculative craze over- spread the country. It was confined principally to real estate, and its collapse resulted in financial panics. The Democratic party renominated President Cleve- land, and to oppose him Benjamin Harrison was nom- inated by the Republican party. The campaign for the Presidency was an exciting one, and Harrison was elected. FIRST SESSION. The pressure for opening the Oklahoma country to settlement increased. Congress had directed the Presi- dent to negotiate treaties with the tribes retaining an 293 294 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB interest in the lands desired for settlement. This he refused to do, saying that bodies of men were encamped along the border with the intention of taking forcible possession of the lands, which rendered it impossible to make favorable terms with the Indians. Senator Plumb severely arraigned the President for not com- plying with the law, and insisted that the bodies of people intending to settle in Oklahoma had been dis- persed and had not reassembled. The alien land law which Senator Plumb had placed on the statute book in 1884 stood in the way of the exploitation of mines in the United States by foreigners. At this session there was an unsuccessful attempt to modify it. In defending it Plumb touched another mat- ter. Eather than extend privileges to foreigners he would restrict some of those enjoyed by American citi- zens, and said: I am not, and have not been for many years, one of those who look with great favor upon projects for the immediate development of all our resources of public domain. I am _ en- tirely willing, so far as I am concerned, to leave some portions of it undeveloped for the succeeding generation. I would be glad if the population of the United States had spread itself less widely over the public domain, and that there were more of it left to be handed over to the succeeding generation. I can conceive that in the race of personal interest, in the desire to reap everything that is in sight or everything that can be brought into sight, we are, to some extent, discounting the future. In 1888 the service pension bill was before Congress. It was favored by the Republicans and opposed by the Democrats. On the 29th of February Plumb spoke in the Senate in favor of it. He paid a fine tribute to the Union Army: It was the law of the Roman Republic that neither the legions nor those who commanded them, either in war or in defense or conquest, should come back as soldiers to within the limits FIFTIETH CONGRESS 295 of the Republic. Before returning, the legions were required to be disbanded and the commanders to resign their commis- sions. They could only return without arms and as citizens. Caesar himself, returning with his conquering legions from the conquest of Gaul, was no exception, so jealous was the Eepublic of its defenders and of those who had extended its borders by conquest. None of them was permitted to cross the Eubicon. And so it happened, thinking of the Roman precedent, perhaps, and of the two millions of men under arms for the defense of the Union, that many believed the time would come when those men would not submit to be disbanded, and that, realizing their power, they would make use of it to the detriment of the Republic. But when the war was over the great armies that had carried the flag of the Union to victory were invited to come to this capital, and here assembled tbe armies of Grant and Sherman, fresh from the battles tbey had won, with ranks filled, and under their chosen and beloved commanders. They assembled here, and joining forces man lied down Pennsylvania Avenue, with banners flying, with musket and saber and artillery all in their accustomed place — the greatest parade of modern times and the largest assemblage of troops this continent has ever seen. Was the Republic endangered by the presence of this vast array of seasoned veterans in its capital? On the contrary, it was never safer from enemy, both without and within, than it was at that supreme moment. Not a thought in all that great army of anything that was personal to themselves, not a suggestion or hint that they intended to use their power against the Republic, not even a suggestion that they wanted anything which the Republic could give. They did not ask largess nor bounty; they carried the Republic on the point of their bayonets; they had put down the greatest rebellion known in history, had restored the Union and the supremacy of the law. If at this juncture they had said: "We want pensions to the full extent of the country to pay; we want the lands of the Government and a mortgage of all its resources to the end of time for our- selves and those who may come after us," Congress would have yielded without a word, and it would have been justified by public sentiment. But they had one ambition, and one only. In that supreme moment of triumph their only thought was of home and family and friends, and they asked only the privilege of being mustered nut and paid the little remaining sum due them of the $16 a month they had been promised, and to stack their arms and go home. That great army in the pride and plenitude of its 296 THE LIFE OP PEESTON B. PLUMB power, the greatest army, I believe, that ever assembled in any country in the world, dissolved, its members going back to the localities from which they had come into the ranks as citizens. The last act was greater than any which had preceded it, and constitutes a greater claim upon the country, and should be a matter of greater pride than all the battles it had fought. By it they showed that, great as they had been as soldiers, they had never forgotten that they were citizens. They went back to the places from which they had severally come. There was no disorder where they went. On the con- trary, their presence became the sign of order. As was said of Cromwell's soldiers, they could be told because they were the most industrious, the most law-abiding, the best citizens. Since they were discharged they have performed great services to the Republic. Their army service had widened their horizon and made them more ambitious. They realized fully while in the service the power they had. When they went back to their places from which they had come the surroundings were narrow by comparison. They wanted more room and verge ; and so they took wife and children and went West. And then it happened that succeeding and as a result of the war there was the greatest hegira of modern times. The Union soldier was seeking for a home west of the Mississippi. He found it on the prairies of Kansas and Nebraska, in Dakota, in the mines, in the wide reaches of Colorado. He has peopled new States, created new Territories, wiped a desert off the map, and developed the re- sources of a new country with a completeness and rapidity of which before we had no experience. The Union soldiers have done more. They have gone beyond the limits of the country into foreign lands. General Grant told me in the last conversation I had with him, not many months before he was stricken with that malady which cul- minated in his death, that he had rare pride in the fact that the Americans whom he had met abroad, and who were the best examples of self-reliance, manhood, and energy, were chiefly men who had served in the Union Army. I was reading the other day the book of General Wilson upon China, in which he mentions the fact that a man who was a private soldier in the New York Cavalry is to-day the private secretary and confidential adviser of the man who, more than any other man, wields the destinies of that empire of 500,000,000 people. The Union soldier, armed with those qualities which were begotten as the result of his army service, is strengthening the Eepublic at home and abroad, and his influence will increase and widen with the lapse of time. FIFTIETH CONGRESS 297 Senator Vest opposed the bill. He bad been a mem- ber of tbe Confederate Congress and took that occasion to say something for the Confederate soldier, and taunt the Republican Senators. He said that nearly fifty per cent, of all the men enrolled in the Federal Army were applicants for pensions : Such mortality and such military execution have never been known in the whole world. The Confederates were not properly equipped. We deprecated the quality of our powder; our sol- diers were half-clothed, and half-armed, and half-fed ; yet accord- ing to this report, making due allowance for the effects of climate and disease, every Confederate soldier disabled three of his adversaries. There has been no such destruction in military annals since the children of Israel marched through the wilder- ness and destroyed whole nations in a single day. Talk of marksmanship! Why, sir, we have read in the Arabian Nights of that Persian prince to whom a genius gave an arrow which went to its mark across whole continents, through moun- tains, over rivers, disposing space in its flight. The arrow in the Arabian Nights was nothing to the bullet of the Con- federate soldier. It must have hit two or more at one time and struck where it was not aimed. It pn I strange and subtle diseases, which lie dormant for twenty-five years in the system, and then suddenly break forth under the effect of some new pension law. While some referred to what he had said, Plumb was the only Senator to retort on the Missourian. Pen- sioners of the Mexican War were particularly numerous in Missouri. Plumb said : There are more soldiers of the Mexican War. in proportion to the entire number enlisted, upon the pension-rolls to-day than there are in the Union Army in proportion to the number en- listed in that army. It is now nearly forty years since the Mexican War closed. The total number of persons enlisted in the United States army for service in Mexico was less than 40,000 ; not half that number ever crossed the border of Mexico, and nearly 10,000 of those are now borne on the pension-roll, notwithstanding the lapse of forty years from the time their service was rendered. So the Senator's commendation of the 298 TIIE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB great prowess and skill of the Confederate army would have to be increased very much in order to meet the case of the soldiers of the Mexican War. South Dakota knocked again for admission. It was to be the State of Dakota, and what is now North Da- kota was to be the Territory of Lincoln. The Southern Senators again opposed her admission. Senator Mor- gan, of Alabama, was active in his proposition. Senator Vest had objected to the prospect of having to associate with the class of men who would come in as Senators from Dakota. Plumb took up, for examination, the objections of these two Senators, and said : When I came to the State of my genial friend with whom I have served in committee so long, and of whom I am person- ally very fond, the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Morgan), and for the purpose of showing that my friend from Missouri is a little over-sensitive about the admission of Dakota, I called his attention to the exhibit of taxable property returned by the auditor of state of the State of Alabama, for the year 1880, I find in the first column, as is perhaps proper, the first thing to be enumerated, the value of " guns, pistols, and dirks " subject to taxation. The counties of the State are put down in alpha- betical order, the first one being Autauga, and the value of guns, pistols and dirks assessed in that county in 1880 was $4,452. Eunning along over the various other items subjected to taxa- tion in that county, an agricultural county, I come to the item of " farming tools," and I find that that county, which had $4,452 worth of guns, pistols and dirks for taxation in 1880, only had $580 worth of farming tools. This proportion of about 8 to 1 in favor of the guns, pistols and dirks is very nearly maintained throughout the State. Going further down I find in the county of Dallas that there were $13,066 worth of guns, pistols and dirks assessed for taxa- tion, and in the same county $2,751 of farming tools; and in not a single one in the State is the proportion more favorable — the guns, pistols and dirks always being of greater value than the farming tools. The total guns, pistols and dirks subject to taxation in the entire State is $357,150.75, while the total of farming tools is only $77,206.05. When I look at the item of mechanical tools, the total value FIFTIETH CONGRESS 299 of all assessed for taxation in the State of Alabama is $222,45-4 as against $357,150.75 for guns, pistols and dirks. Turning back to a preceding table I find the assessed value of libraries in the State is $181,949, being the entire value of all books assessed for taxation in the State of Alabama, while guns, pistols, and dirks stand at the comfortable total of $357,150.75. It exceeds not only the libraries, but the jewelry, plate, and silverware, this last item being only $194,419. While all that I can do will not reduce this total of guns, pistols and dirks from the appalling 6um total of $357,150.75. It is not worth while to make the comparison in regard to paintings, but I observe paintings are assessed at $14,979. The comparison in value of the guns, pistols and dirks with the hogs and sheep is equally striking, and nearly equally to the disadvantage of the hogs and sheep. It was the hope of Senator Plumb to see a Bureau of Animal Industry established. On the 3d of May, 1888, he made a speech in the Senate favoring a measure for that purpose. Even at that time the meat packers had secured what amounted to control of every branch of meat production. The prices paid by the packers for cattle had steadily declined for three years. On this subject Plumb said : The most powerful, the most unscrupulous, combination that exists to-day in the United States is the combination of beef and pork packers, having their headquarters in Chicago, with branch organizations at Kansas City and St. Louis. There is no trust or combination, whether it be the oil trust, the sugar trust, the copper trust, or a trust of any other name or kind, which has had so powerful or so baleful an influence as this combination of packers. ... So perfect is the organization and so complete its system that it knows in advance not only how many cattle will arrive in Chicago each day, but also the names of shippers, where shipped from, etc. Every morning an agent of the com- bine inspects the cattle in the stock-yards and fixes a price upon them, which is the price they must be sold for unless the com- bine chooses to make a reduction. There is no competition for purchase. None is permitted. No commission man would dare break the prices fixed by the combine by bidding over them. It woidd be the last business he would do about the stock-yard. Occasionally, when the number of cattle coming in is light, prices 300 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB are raised a fraction. This stimulates shipments, and before the cattle reach Chicago the prices are put back to the old level or lower. . . . Their allies, the railroads, have enabled them to break down small packers, and also to a great extent local butchers in a great radius around Chicago, so that cattle cannot be butchered unless they are sent to Chicago. From there they are sent in the shape of carcasses back to the localities from where they are shipped to be sold at retail. The country is fast coming to a condition where it can only eat its breakfast by permission of the cattle-ring. It can do so now only by sub- mitting to what is practically extortion. Prices to the consumers remain as they were when the producer got 25 per cent, more than he does now, and meanwhile the number of cattle in the country has been proportionally reduced. This effort to establish a Bureau resulted in the ap- pointment of a select Committee under resolution of May 16, 1888, to investigate the transportation and sale' of meat products in the United States. The Commit- tee was, Senator G. G. .Vest, Chairman ; Senators P. B. Plumb, S. M. Cullom, C. F. Manderson, and Eichard Coke. The Committee held sessions at St. Louis, Chi- cago, Kansas City, Des Moines, New York, and Wash- ington, where they examined as witnesses packers, cat- tle-raisers, cattle-shippers, owners of stock -yards, agents of transportation companies and lines, exporters, and employees of all these. The testimony taken makes a book of 615 pages, which was printed at the Government Printing Office in 18S9. The Committee submitted a re- port of 40 pages on May 1, 1890. This report is in the nature of findings based on the evidence secured, and it sustained and established every charge made by Plumb. It also brought out other and further abuses by the packers and others engaged in handling live- stock, among them the extortionate charges made against shippers for hay and corn furnished by stock-yards com- panies. In urging the appointment of the Committee Plumb had scored the city of St. Louis and charged that it was largely responsible, by its subserviency and in- FIFTIETH CONGRESS 301 activity, for many of the evils suffered and complained of: If it had availed itself of its opportunities and had made St. Louis an independent market in fact, as it is in name, there would have been that competition which would have maintained prices at a legitimate level and undoubtedly would have relieved us from the complaints which now exist, and would have pre- vented the accumulations of this great business in the hands of a few persons at Chicago. But St. Louis has been willing to play second fiddle. It has abrogated its claim to metropolitan functions as a great trade center and has been willing to be the echo of the operations of the Chicago market both in regard to cattle and regard to grain. This is a very great misfortune. The markets of St. Louis are regulated to-day by those of Chi- cago, and practically the same persons purchase the meat in St. Louis that purchase it in Chicago. The same influences control the business of the two places, and it is ju>t as true of St. Louis as it is of Chicago that it dare not lift up its voice against or do anything to the detriment of the combination that controls this great business. All of which was fully established by the testimony. And the information possessed by Plumb about business and the rank and relation of cities to one another was never bettor shown than in these remarks. Senator Plumb was in favor of const meting for the Congressional Library one of the greatest buildings in the world. He was not a member of the Commission hav- ing the work in charge, but all the appropriations passed through one of his Committees. He frequently found it necessary to call attention to a waste of money there, as in work on other public buildings. He presented his views to the Senate on different occasions; and his re- marks had a corrective and far-reaching influence on the character of the building as it was finally completed. On the 9th of February, 1888, after discussing the ex- penditures made on the public building at Wichita, he took up those of the Library building. He said the Government had simply a naked lot at Wichita, and 302 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB that a watchman and superintendent were employed there, but no man was at work. Senator ELale suggested that they were watching the land. Senator Kenna thought they might be watching the Republican poli- ticians there; and Plumb said that, if so, much more clever people than those on the job would have to be em- ployed. Then turning to the report on the Library building he said it showed that we were getting a large amount of the washing of the towels and the hiring of coupes, but very little building. No construction had been accomplished, but $38,000 had been spent the last year. Senator Hale inquired if it had been spent on the building. " On the building," Plumb told him, and then said that Senator Dawes was seeking to identify it bv saving that it was where the hole had been dug. He then read a list of the expenditures and remarked that the items ended in accommodating fractions, supposed in some way to identify and verify them. When Senator Dawes expressed surprise at the item of $573 for a janitor Plumb said, " The Senator from Massachusetts is now seeking to introduce some irrelevant matter here by inquiring what this man is janitor of. He is jani- tor, I suppose, of what the man out at Wichita is watch- man of." The matter came up again on the 7th of March, when Senator Plumb further analyzed the expenditures. A draughtsman was put down at $4 and $5 a day, and whether that meant $9 a day, or whether the man was worth more some days than others, he was unable to find out. Another was down for $3 and $4 a day, and Plumb surmised that he was better some days than others. Still another was designated as getting $125 and $150 a month, and the Senator had the impression that this one had been employed on the evolution plan — he got better as he went on. When the disbursing officer was reached Senator Hale wanted to know about him: FIFTIETH CONGRESS 303 Mr. Plumb. There is a disbursing agent at $2,500 per annum. Mr. Hale. What has the disbursing agent to disburse ? Mr. Plumb. If the Senator had looked at these figures he would see that the disbursing agent has been the most laboriously occupied of all the persons employed about the building. Mr. Hale. In paying those employees ? Mr. Plumb. He has disbursed $38,000 during the past year. All that has been done over there, it seems, is the disbursement. Mr. Hale. For which he has had $2,500. Mr. Plumb. That man, in comparison with the other persons employed there, ought to have received $10,000. Plumb said he would not work out the whole matter at that time. Senator Voorhees was at the head of the Building Committee and Plumb said : Whenever the debate shall lag, and whenever my friend from Indiana shall have gotten into the good humor for which he is proverbial and can bear a little more, I think I will go further into this great mine that has been opened up here in regard to the construction of this Library building, which is so dear to his heart, for which he has labored so many years of his public life. Senator Voorhees was put on the defensive. He made an apologetic reply, saying that Senator Morrill, of Vermont, was the father of the Library building idea, but that he had labored on the matter eight years, as the head of the Library Commission. The subject did not again come up until the 28th of July. At that time, it seems, one Heaton, an artist with a studio in Wash- ington, had designed a painting. It was one of those works which depend for favor on the good opinion of those shown in it. Senators Morrill, Voorhees, Butler, and Hoar were accorded good locations. So many were included that some had to appear far back in nooks and corners. Plumb proposed to have the building enlarged sufficiently to accommodate a canvas of proportions am- ple to give each figure a front seat, and ended with a plea and a story : 304 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB The purpose I had in view was to call attention to the fact that after all the elaborate preparations that had been made, after all the distinguished persons named had given sittings to the artist to enable him to properly prepare their counterfeit presentments, there was not still canvas to get them all in, and it is intimated in the circular (a copy of which Plumb caused to be read) that one of the prominent gentlemen who had com- municated with this artist could not be inserted. It is true that is veiled under a rather thin statement that he wanted a more prominent position than he was entitled to, which somewhat reminds me of the story of the youngster who was looking at a picture of Daniel in the lion's den. His mother called his atten- tion to the great clanger that the people were in who were in the den, and the young man, noticing the lions and that one of them was somewhat distant from the perspective scene had all his sympathy aroused for the small lion, and he said if he did not hurry up he would not get anything to eat. To the rugged independence of Plumb such, syco- phancy was disgusting; but he did not allow it to inter- fere with his desire to see the Library building one of the finest in America. SECOND SESSION. The Second session began on the 3d of December, 1888. The Mills Bill occupied almost all the time of the Senate, aside from the appropriation bills. At the previous session Plumb had taken a strong stand for protection as a principle of tariff legislation. He was never anything other than a protectionist; but he saw, in many practices followed in forming tariff schedules, injustice and a tendency to foster special privileges. He knew that no party could long survive the enactment of unfair laws affecting duties. In the interest of the country and his party he sought to take the tariff en- tirely out of politics. On the 22d of January, 1889, he introduced his amendment to the Mills Bill providing for a Customs Commission. It was unanimously agreed to, and the idea there proclaimed, though in some of its FIFTIETH CONGRESS 305 features not entirely original with Plumb, has held a place in the minds of patriotic men to this day, and it must eventually prevail. The amount of work done by Senator Plumb in the Fiftieth Congress was enormous. He drew up and in- troduced 254 bills, amendments, and resolutions. Of these 46 became laws, and 40 others passed the Senate. Five more were vetoed by the President. Those ad- versely reported numbered 55. He made 77 reports for committees on which he was serving; and he was on many committees of conference. From November 20, 1888, to January 28, 1890, he was compelled to devote much time to the work of the Senate Select Committee on the Transportation and Sale of Meat Products, and was often taken from Washington by its duties. lie addressed the Senate 140 times, not counting the intro- duction of bills and reports or the brief passages in general debates. His mail was increasing daily, and while its volume for this period can be only estimated, it is safe to say that the letters requiring immediate at- tention were 150 a day, and it is not improbable thai they were twice that number. He read each week every newspaper published in Kansas (more than 800) and the principal metropolitan daily papers of the country. Added to this was the work to he done in the Depart- ments, and the requirements of his private' business, at that time large. He took an active pari in the cam- paign of 1888, and did much for his party at home and throughout the country. That any man could do the amount of work which fell to the lot of Plumb is al- most unbelievable. He not only did it, but did it thoroughly and well, and still found time for wide general reading. CHAPTER L DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE The Department of Agriculture, as one of the Execu- tive Departments of the Government, had its origin in the action of the Grange movement which appeared a few years after the Civil War. In the early seventies lodges of this order, in many parts of the country, passed resolutions asking that agriculture have representation in the President's Cabinet. In 1876 a body calling it- self the National Grange assembled at Chicago. Among the resolutions passed by it was one demanding that a Department of Agriculture, to be under the direction of a Cabinet minister, should be established. The Grange was strong in Kansas. From its incep- tion Plumb was familiar with its purposes ; and he was in full sympathy with the Grange movement. In the Senate he often found occasion to champion the coun- try's agricultural interests. He urged the correction of many disadvantages under which these interests lay, never failing to emphasize the fact that the farmer was the victim of the tariff schedules. He realized that there was a growing necessity for the dissemination of knowledge of agriculture, and a scientific application of this knowledge by the farmers, the horticulturists, and the stock-growers of the country. On the 21st of December, 1882, he gave notice in the Senate that he would soon move to make the Bureau of Agriculture an Executive Department of the Government under the di- rection of a Secretary who should be a Cabinet minister. 1 i See Congressional Record. Second session, 47th Congress, pp. 501-2, December 21, 1882. This is the first mention in Congress of this matter, by anyone, which has been found. 306 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 307 This announcement was not well received by some Sen- ators, but Senator George, of Mississippi, said that it was pleasing and satisfactory to him. In pursuance of the notice given, Senator Plumb, on the 13th of January, 1883, introduced his bill. There was under consideration the bill to reimburse Ben Hol- laday for losses alleged to have been sustained by him in carrying the mails across the Plains in the Civil War. When the bill was read Plumb moved to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert as an amendment his bill to make the Bureau of Agriculture an Executive Department of the Government. He made a strong plea for the bill, saying among other things, that it directly affected 30,obo,000 people of the United States — seven-twelfths of the total population. These peo- ple had to bear the burdens of the Government, largely, such as the creation or refunding of national debts, the effects of the kind and volume of currency provided, and the tariff schedules. That while other interests sent hundreds of representatives to Washington when these matters were under consideration, not a man appeared to plead for the great agricultural interests of the United States. This, he said, was not because of lack of interest, but was the result of the lack of facility. The farming community could not focus itself suddenly, at a moment's notice, on legislation. lis members could not get together without gre.it expense and after travel- ing great distances. As they were unused to public affairs of magnitude they might even express themselves clumsily on great public questions after having assem- bled. But they had as deep an interest and as keen concern in what affected them as any other class of peo- ple, and it was eminently proper that they should be represented in the highest councils of the nation. 2 2 See Congressional Record. Second session, 47th Congress, pp. 1154, et scq. The bill is there set out in full. 308 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Plumb did not succeed, at that time, in passing this bill. Perhaps it was not in reason to expect so great a step at so early a period in this effort to secure substan- tial recognition for the farming classes. On the 14th of September, 1888, he moved the consideration of a House bill " to enlarge the powers and duties of the Department of Agriculture and create the Executive Department to be known as the Department of Agricul- ture." This bill had been approved by the Senate Com- mittee on Agriculture, of which Plumb was still a mem- ber. He had charge of the bill, had reported it, and supported it on the floor of the Senate. On the 17th of September he made an earnest speech in its favor. 3 He made another on the 20th ; but the session had been of such unusual length that members were anxious to put over to the next session as many pending measures as possible and adjourn, and the bill had to wait. On the reassembling of Congress Plumb pushed the bill, and it passed the Senate late in January. Having Senate amendments the bill was sent to conference, and the con- ference report was approved February 1, 1889. The bill was made a law by approval of the President, on the 9th of Februarv, 1889, and was as the Senate had fash- v 7 7 ioned and amended it. The elevation of the Department of Agriculture to the highest dignity was one of the matters nearest the heart of Senator Plumb, and its accomplishment w T as a tri- umph which followed many years of arduous effort. While this Department did not come wholly through his exertions in its favor the Record does not disclose any such persistent and long-continued work in its be- half on the part of any other man. 3 See Congressional Record. Fiftieth Congress, First session, Ap- pendix, pp. 539 et seq. CHAPTER LI HARRISON In 1888 there was a peculiar political situation in Kansas. Senator Ingalls believed that he might receive the nomination of the Republican party for President. He had been elected President of the Senate and had made a splendid presiding officer. Ilis feud with Presi- dent Cleveland had given him prominence. His flar- ing of Senator Voorhees was one of the most spectacular events ever staged in the United Slates Senate, and it was wildly applauded, especially by many of the old soldiers. These were powerful factors in the problem of his ambition, and Senator Ingalls it is said, believed to his dying day that had he been a resident of Ohio or Indiana he could have secured the nomination. Plumb had no patience with the Kansas situation. ne could not oppose his colleague in I he Senate. lie was not pleased, however, with his candidacy. In May, 1888, in an interview published in a Washington paper, he said the "favorite son'' endorsement was "child's play." "There is no use of Kansas thinking about the nomination. What we want to do is to come together and put in nomination the best and strongest man that we have/' he said, lie refused t<» he a delegate from Kansas, but the delegation was composed principally of his personal and political friends. The State con- vention to select the delegates at large wished to instruct for Blaine. Kansas was still for him, but Plumb be- lieved he would fail of nomination. He had long since lost faith in the possibility of Blaine's gaining the Presidency. 309 310 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB The manager for Ingalls was James F. Legate, a shrewd and resourceful man, but notorious in Kansas politics. He secured a sort of compromise in the State convention with the Blaine men by which Kansas was to be for Ingalls on the first ballot. Ingalls did not ad- mit defeat until the Chicago convention had been in session two days. On the first ballot he received 17 votes from Kansas, 10 votes from Arkansas, and one vote from South Carolina. Plumb never underrated the strength of President Cleveland. He thought it would require a stronger man than Blaine to defeat him, though with the right candi- date he was sanguine of Republican success. As early as 1886 he had written Benjamin Harrison a letter urg- ing him to be a candidate for the Presidency. To this Harrison replied, thanking him, but said, " I am to be counted out of the ring." When the Republicans had won the Presidency there was a movement to make Plumb a member of Harrison's Cabinet. This was in defiance of Plumb's known desires. In Kansas he was able to control this movement until a month after the meeting of the Legislature. No par- ticular place in the Cabinet was specified, though he was spoken of for Secretary of the Treasury and Secre- tary of the Interior. The Kansas press was very en- thusiastic, but many of the best papers insisted that the State could not afford to permit Plumb to leave the Senate. Boards of Trade, political committees, and other bodies passed complimentary resolutions. On the 4th of February, 1889, the Legislature also passed res- olutions on the subject, among them the following : Whereas, Hon. Preston B. Plumb stands to-day before the American people, as one of the best examples of what the West can produce in the way of brains, pluck and statesmanship; a sterling patriot; an uncompromising Republican; a man of untiring industry, of broad and progressive ideas, and possessed in the highest degree of the knowledge and business-like qualities HARRISON 311 requisite successfully and satisfactorily to perform the duties of a great public position. Therefore, be it Resolved, By the Senate, the House concurring therein, That the Legislature on behalf of the people of Kansas would be pleased to learn that a Cabinet position had been tendered by General Harrison to our worthy and distinguished Senator, Hon. Preston B. Plumb. Resolved, That the President of the Senate be respectfully requested forthwith to forward copies of this preamble and reso- lutions properly certified to the President and Senator P. B. Plumb. On February 6th, the TopeJca Daily Capital-Common- wealth said: The resolutions are now to be conveyed to General Harrison by a special committee, including some of tbe leading Republi- cana of the State. It will consist of Hon. A. J. Felt, Lieutenant Governor; Hon. Henry Booth, Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives and Chairman of the State Republican Committee which conducted the last campaign; ex-Governor George T. Anthony, of Ottawa ; Colonel R. L. Walker, of Topcka ; Colonel J. R. Hallowell, of Wichita ; Hon. James Hamilton, State Treas- urer ; and probably one or two others. The Committee will leave this afternoon for Indianapolis, arriving there to-morrow afternoon or evening. They will wait mi President Harrison, and the resolutions adopted by the two Eouses without a dissenting voice, will be presented by them, probably by ex-Governor Anthony. Plumb was duly grateful for this additional expres- sion of confidence in him. But he would not even con- sider a Cabinet position. lie had just been unanimously elected to a third term in the Senate. He regarded the Senatorship as being much superior in every way to a Cabinet portfolio. All references;, in his speeches, to Cabinet ministers and their offices show that he never had any desire to fill one of those places. CHAPTER LII THIRD ELECTION In the Kansas Legislature elected in 1888 there were but six Democrats. The election of a Senator was on the 22d of January, 1889. It was not necessary for Plumb to announce that he was a candidate. Every Kansan knew that if he lived he would be elected to succeed himself. In all the State there was not a pro- test against him from any party or person. He had not been able to spend as much time as he desired in Kan- sas during the campaign, for his services were in demand for the national canvass. And Congress remained in session until the 20th of October. Plumb was occasion- ally easily and needlessly frightened when his own in- terests were concerned. This feeling was always brief, and the political perspective always quickly veered around to the normal with him. Strange to say, he seems not to have been at all troubled in this manner in the fall of 1888, when he had little time to devote to his own affairs. And he was not deceived. For there came to Preston B. Plumb what has rarely occurred in American politi- cal life — a unanimous election to the United States Senate. He was in Washington at the time, there be- ing no necessity for his presence in Kansas. On the morning of the 22d of January, 1889, Colonel Rankin, member from Douglas County, placed Senator Plumb in nomination in the House and said: Mr. Speaker : — As Chairman of the Senatorial caucus, held the evening of January 9, 1889, under direction then had, it now 312 THIRD ELECTION 313 becomes my duty to present to the House the name of Preston B. Plumb, the unanimous choice of the Eepublicans of the State, as well as that of the great body of our people, irrespective of party or party affiliations, to the exalted position of Senator of the United States, to succeed himself. In thus communicating to this body the action of the caucus, I do that which gives me the greatest possible personal pleasure. I have known Preston B. Plumb in a multitude of intimate relations from the humble walks of pioneer life, nearly thirty years ago, to the fierce activi- ties of the army in the field and the vast and varied responsi- bilities of the political arena. In all of this time I have never known him to fear an enemy or fail a friend. His generous sympathy for all worthy constituents and his splendid intellectual endowments applied with an untiring energy to his public work, have made him both loved and respected in the widest possible measure. He should receive, and I trust shall receive the unanimous vote of this body. There were 118 members present, and every one east his vote for Senator Plumb. In the House there were five Democrats, and none of them voted in the Senatorial election. In the Senate Plumb's name was presented by Sena- tor Osborn. On a call of the roll every Senator present voted for Plumb. The one Democratic member did not wish to vote against him, and purposely absented him- self. 1 On the following day, in a joint session of the House and Senate, Plumb was declared elected by a unanimous vote. The press, not only of the State but of the country, was cordial and complimentary in comments on this unanimous election. The leading paper in Kansas, the Topelca Daily Capital, said: i This was Ed Carroll, of Leavenworth County. On the assembling of the Legislature the other opposition members (five in number) desired to cast their votes for him for United States Senator. When informed of this Carrol] said that Senator Plumb deserved an unani- mous election, and that he hoped he would receive it. After that conversation with Senator Carroll there was not a single vote against Plumb in the Legislature. 314 TIIE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB The position Kansas occupies as the banner Republican State of the Union will impress itself upon the minds of the nation when they read in the associated press dispatches this morning that Senator Preston B. Plumb was reelected yesterday by the Kansas Legislature by a unanimous vote of that body. This is an honor rarely, if ever before, paid a citizen of any State, and it is as great an honor to Kansas as to the distinguished gentle- man who has so faithfully and worthily represented this State in the United States Senate. . . . It is such a man that Kansas delights to honor. He is a worthy representative of this great State, because he was among the early pioneers who blazed a pathway into and through Kansas, and assisted in laying the foundation upon which has been erected an empire whose greatness has been proclaimed around the world and whose zenith reaches the stars. The Lieutenant Governor received a letter of ac- knowledgment from Plumb. This letter was spread on the Senate journal. It was written on the 7th of Feb- ruary, and among other things said : If the Senatorship were to be regarded primarily as a personal compliment — a decoration to be worn rather than a summons to important duties to be discharged — I should still find abun- dant cause for gratitude in the entire unanimity with which it was conferred. It is, however, more flattering to my pride to believe that the choice of the Legislature was not made upon personal grounds or for purposes of individual distinction. No public servant can have a more potent incentive to the faithful performance of his trust than the appreciation and approval of those whom he is called upon to serve. The appre- ciation and approval it has been my good fortune to receive to a degree beyond my most ardent expectations, and I hold myself bound, as well from a sense of duty as by the promptings of gratitude, to give assurance for the future of undiminished zeal in behalf of those great interests of our commonwealth which are dear alike to me and to those who sent me here. I should unduly magnify myself if I did not appreciate that my indebtedness is due rather to the evident partiality of the people and their representatives than to the result of a calm and discriminating test of fitness and merit. In addition to the personal gratification which this repeated proof of favor has brought me, is my pride in the constituency THIRD ELECTION 315 from -whom my commission comes. Amid trials and depriva- tions, often confronted by conditions dismal and distressing in their character, the earlier Kansans have clung to their faith in the future of the State and have lived to see it more than justi- fied. These pioneers have been strongly reinforced from year to year, until now we may boast nearly a million and three- quarters of people, self-reliant, hopeful, courageous, a power in determining political results, and a still greater factor in the field of material production. To represent such a people in the Senate of the United States quite fills the measure of my ambition. I shall strive to justify this renewal of their confidence by renewed devotion to their interests as a people irrespective of political divisions as well as to what I conceive to be the highest interests of our common country. CHAPTER LIII DEEP-HARBOR CONVENTION The marvelous development of the country west of the Mississippi immediately following the Civil War affected the nation in many ways, but in none more than in the production of those articles which enter into domestic and foreign commerce. By 1888 the West was producing a large portion of American grains and meat. The mines of the Rocky Mountains were yielding an- nually more than a hundred millions in precious metals. Texas and adjoining States were growing millions of bales of cotton. There were fifteen millions of people be- tween the Mississippi and the great Continental Divide, with but a small proportion of the land in cultivation. That the future growth of these regions was to be rapid was plain, and that the surplus produced for commerce was to be vastly increased year by year was evident. The lines of destiny in our country ran west from the Atlantic seaboard. Our conquest of the land was in that direction. This influenced the course along which our lines of transportation were constructed, and in the eighties, as even now, much of the surplus produced by the West touched deep water first at the harbor of New York. Soon after the close of the war the West began to realize that the Gulf of Mexico was the natural outlet to the markets of the world. And, rising above sec- tional prejudices, there were some men in public life who saw that the interests of a large part of the South and West were very nearly identical, and that it would operate to the advantage of both could they but act to- gether politically. Among the first of these was Plumb. 316 DEEP-HARBOR CONVENTION 317 He bad the support of the South in his efforts to secure an increase in the volume of money ; and he never failed to respond to the call for aid to any measure designed to benefit the South. To obtain Government aid to make a deep harbor on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico there was or- ganized the Inter-State Deep-Harbor movement, with headquarters at Denver. Ten million dollars, it was be- lieved, would make a deep harbor, and this sum was fixed as the amount the Government should appropriate. The location of the harbor was not specified, that being left to the discretion of the Government. The convention of this movement for 1889 was held in October at Topeka. Delegates were present from Ar- kansas, Colorado, California, Dakota, Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mis- souri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyom- ing, and Texas — in all, 529. Plumb was a delegate, and was elected Chairman of tin 4 ('(invention. At the beginning of the session on the 2d of October, the Presi- dent of the Denver Chamber of Commerce presented Senator Plumb a large gavel made of pure silver taken from Colorado mines. In his speech of presentation the donor alluded to the fact that much of Colorado had at one time been a part of Kansas, that Denver was founded as a Kansas county-seat and named for a Kansas Governor. In no account of the convention found are there given any of the speeches delivered by Plumb, nor even an out- line of them, though he spoke several times. It was never his custom to prepare speeches in advance and have copies for reporters, which probably accounts for their absence from the published proceedings. He had advocated the making of a deep harbor at Galveston for many years. The work of the Convention ended with the adoption of a series of resolutions setting forth : 318 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB That cheap transportation of our commercial products con- stitutes one of the most important elements of the general wel- fare; That Congress has donated to private corporations more than one hundred millions of money, and upwards of two hundred millions of acres of our national lands with which to construct artificial and therefore much more expensive highways, owned by private individuals, while they have neglected to make adequate appropriations for even one feasible harbor on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which would not only afford very much cheaper transportation, hut which, by our organic law, is under the exclusive care and control of Congress; That the vast and rapidly developing area lying west of the Mississippi River, comprising more than three-fifths of the national domain, and yielding largely more than one-half of the agricultural, meat and mineral products of the entire country, is by this neglect forced to transport its commerce across the con- tinent by way of these artificial and expensive highways, subject to such exactions of private cupidity as amounts always to a serious burden, and sometimes total interdiction to both con- sumer and producer; That there can be no justification of this discrimination in favor of private highways, which, during the last year, cost the commerce of the West an enormous loss in transportation ex- pense, estimated at more than one hundred and twenty millions of dollars, or upwards of ten millions per month; That in reaffirmance of the action of the Denver Convention and of the Committees organized thereunder, it is the sense of this convention that it is the duty of Congress to appropriate permanently, and for immediate use, whatever amount is neces- sary to secure a deep-water port on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Beginning with 1889 and ending with 1912, Congress has expended |10,489,714.37 on the Galveston harbor, its entrance and channel. A deep harbor has been made. But the railroads secured the ship lines, and the freight rates by water to New York by way of Galveston were made the same as by rail. They so remain. In such matter have the corporations neutralized efforts in be- half of the people. CHAPTER LIV FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS Many important measures were considered by the Fifty-first Congress. The Force Bill was pressed in both sessions by the more radical element of the Repub- lican party backed by the President. It was settled in the failure of this measure that the negro, in politics, would have to take care of himself. The old slogan — that the Republican party would see that every man should be free to vote as he pleased and have that vote counted as cast — was dead. The McKinley tariff law was enacted. It created much dissatisfaction in the West. It marked that stage in tariff legislation in which those profiting from the tariff were permitted to write its schedules. Thomas B. Reed, as Speaker, revolutionized proce- dure in the ITouse by counting a quorum. The administration of the United States Treasury in favor of Wall Street continued through and beyond this Congress. The West protested against this injustice, but only temporary and scant relief could be secured. The influence which Plumb worked so faithfully to overthrow remained supreme. There was a special session of the Senate, from March 4 to April 2, 18S9. The first session of the Fifty-first Congress began December 2, 1889, and continued to October 1, 1890. The second session was from Decem- ber 1, 1890, to March 3, 1891. The Alaska Commercial Company enjoyed a monopoly of the resources of Alaska for many years by virtue of a contract made with the Secretary of the Treasurv in 310 320 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB July, 1S70. This contract expired in 1890, and the Secretary advertised for bids for a new contract. Plumb never missed anything which was put into a newspaper. On the 6th of January, 1890, he submitted resolutions directing that the Secretary should not make a new con- tract until Congress could have time to investigate the whole matter by means of reports ordered to be made. The Alaska Commercial Company controlled not only the seal fisheries on the Pribilof Islands, but those along the shore. The salmon fisheries and the trade with the inhabitants of the country were in their hands. It was the purpose of the company to retain this valuable franchise, and Senator Plumb saw in the terms of the new contracts, as outlined in the advertisement for bids, indications that other bidders would be at a disadvan- tage. It developed that two-fifths of the stock of the company belonged to a whaling firm in Connecticut and most of the remainder to citizens in Germany. The tax paid to the Government was |2 for each seal-skin taken. Plumb said it should be more, possibly $10. The company kept out any other enterprise and con- cealed knowledge of the country and the conditions under which trade would be carried on. In his speeches on the subject Plumb favored permission for any Amer- ican to go to Alaska and enter into business. He fore- saw the controversy with England over jurisdiction in the Behring Sea, and wished nothing done which would embarrass the Government when the question came up for settlement. The company was of the nature of a special interest and had powerful friends in the Senate. These Plumb had to oppose. They prevailed. Nothing was investigated. The company secured a renewal of its contract. No Man's Land was, at that time, being rapidly set- tled. Not being a part of any State and having never been attached to any territory it was wholly without a government. Its position indicated that it should be- FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS 321 come a part of the State of Kansas, and. Plumb en- deavored to have it annexed to that State. The Demo- cratic party opposed its annexation to Kansas because that State was likely to remain Republican in politics, and Plumb's efforts failed. The question of its dis- position came up again in the Fifty-first Congress, and Plumb urged early and definite action, that the settlers might have the benefit of law. On the 13th of Febru- ary, 1890, he succeeded in having a bill pass the Senate attaching No Man's Land to Oklahoma Territory for all judicial purposes, and this action ended in its be- coming a part of Oklahoma. Manv of the soldiers of the Civil Y\'ar believed that General Grant should have been buried in the National Cemetery at Arlington. On the 2d of August, 1890, Senator Plumb introduced in the Senate a resolution to the effect that Congress desired the removal of the remains of General Grant to Arlington; it tendered Mrs. Grant necessary facilities for the removal and in- terment. On the Tth the resolution was agreed to, but I he House did not conctir. The sale of alcoholic liquors in the National Capitol was repugnant to the moral sense of the people, and at this session of Congress Plumb introduced a resolution prohibiting such sale in the Senate wing, under such regulations and restrictions as might be prescribed by tie' Committee on Rules. An attempt was made to amend it in such a manner as to make it obnoxious and personal to Senators and thus defeat it. This action Plumb resisted, but he was unable to prevent such com- mittee reference of the resolution as proved its suppres- sion. The Force Pill was designed to authorize the use of the power of the Government to enable the negroes of the South to vote in all Federal elections. These elec- tions, on petition of a small number of voters in Con- gressional districts, were to be controlled by supervisors 322 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB appointed by judges of Federal courts. United States Deputy Marshals were to be employed under certain conditions. Returning boards were provided, and these might consider various things affecting the elections held, and certify to the election of any man supposedly entitled to the office in question. This bill was not a new thing. Similar bills had been before Congress, and in the days of reconstruction bayonets were some- times seen about the ballot boxes. The Force Bill originated in the House in June, 1890, and it had the earnest support of President Harrison. It was sometimes called the Lodge Bill, having been reported on the 1st day of July from a Committee of which Representative Henry Cabot Lodge was chairman. Under a special rule adopted on the 25th of June, and which had been reported by Mr. Cannon, the bill was put through the House on the 2d day of July by a vote of 155 to 149. The consideration of the Mckinley Bill prevented the Senate from giving the Force Bill much attention until the following session. Senator Hoar was then in charge of the bill, and he called it up as soon as Congress was ready for the transaction of busi- ness. For days together he permitted nothing else to come before the Senate. The financial condition of the country was very bad in the winter of 1890-1891. There was no forward movement anywhere. Distrust of the future prevailed. Senator Plumb was never at heart in favor of the Force Bill, but as it was made a party measure he did not openly oppose it. Of the Republican Senators none was in greater favor in the White House than Plumb. But he was more interested in providing relief from busi- ness depression than in the passage of a sectional parti- san measure. On the 9th of December, 1890, he gave notice in the Senate: That in the event the pending order on the subject which has been for some time considered by the Senate is not disposed of FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS 323 at an early date I shall move to lay it aside for the time being in order that this bill and all others which may be proposed relating to the financial affairs of the country may be considered. I do not say that with a view of advertising what I have pro- posed. All I do say is that something ought to be done, and that Congress has upon it a responsibility which it cannot, in my judgment, avoid for any great period of time without let- ting go by a very good opportunity for helping the country, and one which will not occur again, in my opinion, for many years. It did not become necessary for Plumb to make his motion. On the 5th of January, 1891, Senator Stewart moved to consider a bill reported by Sherman from the Committee of Finance " To provide against the contrac- tion of the currency, and for other purposes." This motion prevailed by a vote of 34 to 29, eight Republicans voting for it. Plumb voted with his party against it, but it was known that he was well pleased with the re- sult. In fact, he and Senator Hoar were never again on good terms, the latter believing that Senator Plumb was really Hie moving spirit in pushing aside the Force Bill. On the 14th of January, after the passage of the Silver Rill, Senator Boar moved to resume considera- tion of the Force Rill. There was a tie vote on this motion, and the Vice-President decided the matter in favor of Senator Hoar. Debate on points of order raised on this vote and the approval of the Journal con- tinued until the 22d of January, when Senator Aldrich introduced and had passed a resolution to limit the de- bate. Rut this did not help Senator Hoar. On the 2(>th, when Senator Morgan was speaking on the rule limiting debates, Senator Wolcott moved that the ap- portionment bill be taken up. This motion prevailed, and the Force Rill was dead. The Select Committee on Irrigation and Reclama- tion of Arid Lands was appointed under resolution which passed the Senate February 14, 1889. Plumb was a member of the Committee, the duty of which was to 324 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB make an exhaustive investigation of the subject of irri- gation. Every locality having irrigated lands was visited. The testimony of persons well informed on the subject was taken. The report of the committee was submitted by Plumb on the 2d of April, 1890, with an amendment to a Senate bill on that subject. Later a minority report was sub- mitted. All the testimony taken was laid before the Senate ; and it was printed in ten large volumes. This was the first step in the application of scientific methods to the reclamation of arid lands by the Government. It is in fact the basis of all later action by the Government toward a uniform national plan of reclamation. Plumb was present at the hearings in the West, and improved the opportunity afforded in this work to study the general effect of the land laws on the development of the country. He found that many changes in the laws were necessary. In the general revision of these laws made by him in 1891 they were made to conform to the new conditions which had arisen. Plumb's great debate on the McKinley tariff bill be- gan on the 24th of May, 1890, when he introduced a res- olution directing the Finance Committee to report to the Senate a statement showing the duties levied by the law then in force, and the duties on the same articles under the proposed bill in parallel columns, with articles and duties set opposite one another; also to present to the Senate reasons in writing for any increase in duties over those in force. It was complained that the resolu- tion would, if agreed to, entail an immense amount of work. To this objection Plumb replied that it was more important that the work of making the new tariff bill should be done well than that it should be done in a hurry. The resolution was adopted, but it was ignored by the Finance Committee. On the 25th of July Sen- ator McPherson called attention to this failure of the committee to comply with the order of the Senate, and FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS 325 also that no majority report on the bill had been made. And he called attention to the newspaper reports that no defense of the bill was to be made by either the Finance Committee or the Republican caucus. The methods employed to enact the McKinley tariff were as odious to the West as the schedules of the bill itself. The average rate of duty proposed was shown to be 42 per cent, higher than the war tariff in 1864 — the war measure which even Senator Morrill did not pretend to defend when he presented it to the Senate. For this increase no explanation was given beyond the general knowledge that the manufacturers insisted that they should dictate their own rates and how they should be imposed, whether specific, ad valorem, or compound. Senator Plumb stood in his place day by day and fought for the people. Some of the articles on which he sought to modify proposed duties were binding-twine, cotton-ties, crockery, cutlery, edgings and embroideries, fashion-plates, fish, glass, gloves, sugar, tin-plate. Sen- ators Paddock and Pettigrew, and some other Western Senators, stood with him, and voted against the bill. But all that could be done availed nothing. On the vote on the report of the Committee of Conference — the last vote — only Plumb, Paddock, and Pettigrew, of the Republican Senators, voted against the bill. President Harrison told Pettigrew he had voluntarily left the party and was no longer considered a Republi- can. What, if anything, the President said to Plumb is not known; and it did not matter. He was the friend of protection, and he declared that the enemies of that principle were those who prostituted it for personal gain. He stood for justice. Nothing he ever did more en- deared him to the people than his position on the Mc- Kinley Bill — not even his efforts to increase the volume of currency, for which he labored all his Senatorial career. As parties then were he was a stanch Republi- can, but he was a follower of Jefferson. He was an 326 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB independent. He cared much for party, but he cared more for the right. In the matter of considering resolutions the action of Plumb fixed the manner of procedure in the Senate. Early in the second session of the Fifty-first Congress he made a statement on that point. He said that once he was insisting that the Chair lay before the Senate a resolution he had introduced on a preceding day. Sen- ator Sherman proposed to concede the point to Plumb as a courtesy. Plumb said he wanted nothing as a favor, but he did want whatever he had there as a right. He won his contention, and after that time any resolution introduced in the Senate would come up the following day as a part of the morning business. The work done by Senator Plumb in the Fifty-first Congress seems now more than it would be possible for one man to do. The sheets of the Congressional Record containing his remarks and account of his labors make a volume of more than a thousand pages — nearly twice the size of that of any previous Congress. He addressed the Senate at length seventy-five times, submitted ninety-nine reports of committees on con- ference, was conferee on twenty-nine other bills, offered more than one hundred amendments to bills, formulated his Customs Commission law, and introduced five hun- dred and three bills and resolutions, eighty-three of which became laws. He was absent frequently to attend the hearings of the Select Committee on Irrigation, and his correspondence had grown to enormous proportions. His private business was extensive, and the rise of Populism in Kansas unsettled political conditions at home and demanded such attention as made large drafts on his time. CHAPTER LV OKLAHOMA Senator Allison, in his memorial address on the life and character of Senator Plumb, said : For many years \ie desired, as did the people of the Southwest, not only for the Southwest, in Texas, but in the adjacent States of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, that the Indian Territory, which was held there as in a sack, should be opened up to the settlement of the citizens of the United States, in order that the region might be more rapidly developed. Indian treaties and obligations to the five tribes were in the way. There were those who sought to open this Territory without regard to our treaty obligations with the Indians. I !' the statutes relating to this subject and the debates loading to their passage are examined, it will be seen that Senator lMnmb was the pioneer in this Chamber, as I believe his successor, }lr. Perkins, was in the other, of a series of statutes that have resulted in the establishment of the Territory of Oklahoma, and which will result in the future in absorbing into a single civilized State of the Union all there is now left of what was known for many years as the Indian Territory. Old Oklahoma, or that part of the State organized as the Territory of Oklahoma, was ceded to the United States by the " Civilized Tribes " of Indians in 1866 for a specific purpose. It was the policy of the Govern- ment, at that time, to place all the Indians of the coun- try on adjoining reservations, and this land was ob- tained in compliance with that policy. The freedmen, former slaves to the Indians, were also to be colonized there. In pursuance of this intention the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Comanches and some others of the wild 327 32S THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB tribes were given reservations on these ceded lands. The people of Texas and Kansas objected to having the savage tribes placed along their borders, and the Indian policy in this matter was changed. The Sioux and other Indians who had not yet been sent to those lands were placed on reservations in their own hunting grounds. This left a large area of the Oklahoma ceded lands uninhabited. Most of it had been relinquished by the Creeks and Seminoles. They had not divested themselves of the title to the land and had never con- sented that it should be occupied by white settlers. And as it had not the absolute title to the lands the Govern- ment could not open the country to settlement. That was the legal status of Oklahoma when the agitatiou for its occupation began. It was taken for granted that the country would be given to white settlers when they demanded it. Senator Plumb had warned the In- dians and urged them to prepare to meet the new conditions. David L. Payne was a Kansas politician. He served in a Kansas regiment in the Civil War and was a mem- ber of the Kansas Legislature. In those days he was a Republican, but not receiving the degree of political preferment in his party which he believed due him, he became a Democrat, and as such secured the position of door-keeper for the National House of Representatives. While serving in this capacity, he heard, in some way, of these ceded lands. Whether he really knew the facts concerning them, or purposely misrepresented them to forward his own schemes, is not known. He lost his position and failed of reinstatement. Resolved to make the most of his recently acquired knowledge of the Indian country, he came back to Kansas and originated the " boomer scheme " to settle on the ceded lands, already beginning to be known as Oklahoma, or the Oklahoma country. He led in a band of his fol- lowers, but they were expelled by the military. Payne OKLAHOMA 329 was taken to Fort Smith for trial. The Federal court there decided that the lands which had been invaded were no part of the public domain and not subject to settlement; and Payne was fined $1,000. This was much to his advantage. He gained wide notoriety. He maintained his " boomer " organization and greatly ex- tended it, collecting a sum of money from his followers which he boasted exceeded $G0,000. He died before the lands were legally opened to settlement. Had it been the object of himself and followers to obtain free lands for homes they might have had it for the taking, for at that time there were many million acres of better qual- ity subject to homestead entry in Kansas. Because of the vast amount of vacant land in the State, Kansas was opposed to the opening to settlement of Oklahoma, and the matter was an issue in Plumb's first election to the Senate. After much of the public land of good quality in Kansas had been taken the peo- ple were favorable to the set i lenient of Oklahoma, and Senator Plumb introduced into Congress some of the first measures looking to that end. He caused the for- feiture of the unearned portion of the land grant of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and aided in making pro- visions for the extinguishment of the Indian title to all the ceded lands. In 1885 the President was author- ized and directed by Congress to make treaties with the Indians which would restore the lands to the public domain. This the President neglected or refused to do, and was sharply criticised by Plumb for his failure to execute the laws. 1 i Congressional Record, Fiftieth Congress, first session, p. 120. There had been criticism from other quarters also. The Secretary Of the Interior, for the President, gave as a reason for not complying with the law, that the "hoomers" were encamped on the border insisting that the land belonged to the Government, and that they hail a right to settle on it. To this Senator Plumb replied that these "boomers" had long been dispersed. Their lenders were making die agitation for opening Oklahoma from Wichita, Arkansas City and Kansas City, Mo. 330 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB During the last week of the first administration of President Cleveland the matter of opening Oklahoma to settlement was made a special measure in Congress. The House was Democratic. Mr. Springer, of Illinois, was particularly active. A bill to accomplish the open- ing was introduced in the House. To the bill as drawn there would have been little or no objection. Mr. Springer, however, under pressure from some quarter, succeeded in having a number of odious amendments made to the bill. His amendments provided that the course authorized by law in the matter of town-sites should not apply, but instead a strip of land a mile wide along every railroad already built and along the surveys of those in contemplation should be reserved for town-site purposes. The settlers were required to pay $1.25 an acre for their land in addition to complying with the homestead laws. There were other limitations against the settlers and in favor of the speculators. Senator Plumb denounced these features of the bill. He had for three years favored the organization of Oklahoma Territory the minute the Government extin- guished the Indian title to the land. And he affirmed that there was not a particle of opposition in Congress to its organization by fair and honorable procedure. For opposing the Springer amendments he was traduced and slandered by the lobby behind them and those news- papers laboring in its interest. 2 2 A History of OJclahoma says of the Springer Bill : Finally the bill was reported out of the Senate Committee on Territories and there was every reason to expect that it would pass when the roll was called for a vote on the question. Then, Senator Preston B. Plumb, of Kansas, made an impassioned speech against the measure and it failed to receive the necessary number of votes. The bill never came to vote in the Senate. It grew in bad repute until no Senator would call it up. In a note to the foregoing quota- tion it is said: It is believed that Senator Plumb was actuated by purely personal motives in his opposition to the measure. He was known to have OKLAHOMA 331 Plumb was neither disturbed nor turned from his course bj the abuse of the town-site boomers. So un- savory were their respective reputations, and so open, bold and notorious became their schemes that no Senator would call up the Springer Bill for consideration. It was avoided as unclean. The real friends of Oklahoma anything but a kindly feeling for some of the men who had been most active in promoting the Oklahoma movement. As to his animosity to " some of the men who have been most active in promoting the Oklahoma movement," it will be sufficient to quote Senator Butler, of South Carolina. His speech may be seen in the Congressional Record, March 2, 1889: During my term of service in the United States Senate I have never known so disgraceful, so flagrant, so shameless a lobby around this Capitol as has been here in the interest of the passage of this Okla- homa Bill. So unblushing and so bold and so reckless has been the lobby that, I am credibly informed, they have been peddling in the City of Washington townsite certificates on the very land which they want to take from the Indians, and have placed those townsite certi- ficates on this very identical land in the City of New York at forty cents on the dollar. If I had the time and the occasion required it I could convince the Senate that the so-called cattle barons, not one of whom I have ever known or hoard from, are put up as a pretended foil for the reckless and disgraceful attempts that have been made to thrust this legislation down the throat of this Congress in defiance of right and justice and the obligations of this Government. The Senate was with Plumb. Only Dawes, of the New England Senators, favored the Oklahoma Bill. The press supported Plumb. The El Dorado Republican said: A great big overgrown ring, composed of some of the biggest scoundrels on the continent, has been at work for two or three years to get a foot-hold in the Territory. These characterless dead-beats have swarmed about Washington, and have lived and fattened upon the poor people whom they have blackmailed for alleged expense money, promising to return certain lands, or "shares" in the towns when the lands were available for settlement. Alleged statesmen, purchasable newspapers, professional blackmail- ers, and dilapidated dead-beats made up a considerable portion of this rotten ring, and they have threatened or bulldozed about every Congressman who was supposed to stand in their way. Plumb has said all along that he favored the settlement of these public lands, provided that none but actual settlers should be per- mitted to secure titles. And he has honestly and faithfully stood by that announcement. In thus remaining loyal to the people he has called down upon him 332 THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB amended the Indian Appropriation Bill by attaching a " rider " providing for opening the country to settle- ment in a manner creditable to the Government and favorable to the people who intended to make homes in the new country. In the Senate Committee on Appro- priations, probably by Plumb himself, the vague and indefinite expressions of the " rider " were revised, ar- ranged in order, and put into good form and clear English. It was favorably received and passed by Con- the wholesale abuse of the whole herd of cattle who have been trying to steal ninety per cent, of all that is desirable in the Territory. The Kansas Farmer, then edited by W. A. Peffer, afterwards United States Senator, and leader of the Alliance or Populist party, said : Before the bill passed the House it was amended on motion of Mr. Springer so as to make inapplicable existing laws relating to town-sites, and to enact an entirely new provision, reserving a strip a mile wide along every railroad existing or projected in the Terri- tory, for the use and benefit of town-site companies. The companies were to pay for the lands and were to have the privilege of selling them out as a private enterprise. This town-site amendment was objectionable. Men were in Washington selling town-site certificates, offering them to members of Congress and other persons supposed to have influence in legislation. Senator Plumb simply protested against this townsite scheme which would have taken a large portion of the lands from honest settlers and have given them to speculators. It was his fight on that line that caused offense to men who expected to reap golden harvests from this nefarious sowing. It was one of the best things he ever did, and he is entitled to credit for it. Public lands ought to be held for the people, and not for traders. The Springer Bill passed the House but was not taken up in the Senate. Not a member of that body seemed willing to touch the un- clean thing. But when the Indian Appropriation Bill came along several amendments in the way of general legislation — a practice which both houses of Congress avoid generally — were made, includ- ing all the good features of the Springer Bill, giving the lands to the people under the homestead laws, and providing for a commission to negotiate with the Cherokees for their interest in the Cherokee Strip. All this was agreed to in conference committee, after some verbal changes had been made, and the bill, so framed, was approved by the President. Senator Plumb was active in all this, and he took occasion to denounce the townsite scheme during the discussion. He never was and is not now, opposed to opening Oklahoma, but he wants to secure the lands for settlers, not for speculators. OKLAHOMA 333 gress. The lands of Oklahoma were reserved to the settlers rather than given to the town-site boomers. The Territory of Oklahoma was organized and another American Commonwealth founded. CHAPTER LVI INSPIRATION FOR DRAMA " The Senator " is a play designed to show the stren- uous life of a successful business man prominent in official and social life in Washington. A man who has struggled with the world and compelled it to yield to his will rarely relinquishes all his enterprises when called into the public service. This is especially true if he be yet a young man, or even in middle life, for his plans have not been worked out, and their execution is but half completed. He will have developed charac- teristics that he will carry into his official duties. The Civil War quickened the pulse of our national life, and since its close the great majority of successful Americans have won by an intense devotion to business. They usually began without capital, and its place they supplied with energy and personal exertion. The recognition of this combination of extraordinary business ability with a high sense of official responsi- bility sent a brilliant actor to the United States Sen- ate in search of a character who would be the inspira- tion of a drama. William H. Crane desired to portray a Senator who was honest, thoroughly in earnest, and capable of achievement worth while. With the mani- festation of these traits he wished as much comedy as could be put in. It was necessary that the Senator should have a strong personality and marked indi- viduality. David D. Lloyd, of New York, Washington correspondent of the Tribune, was to write the play. He submitted sketches of several Senators. These 334 INSPIRATION FOR DRAMA 335 were discussed by Crane and his manager. At their final consultation with the author, Senator Plumb was unanimously selected as the man possessed of all the requirements essential to the success of the play. 1 The principal character in the play is Hannibal Rivers, United States Senator from a Western State. He was many times a millionaire. He began without capital and made his money by building railroads and cities in the undeveloped West. He had taken Wash- ington by storm. He was widely known and much talked about, and had a reputation for accomplishing things in the Senate. He had gone about his duties there as he had managed his own business — in a prac- tical common-sense way without much regard for pre- cedent and Senatorial usage. He was ever pressed for time and in a hurry, and there was about him a spirited and stirring manner which pervaded his every action, ;in<] which he usuallv communicated to anv group or gathering which he entered. He kept everything and everybody moving. i Mr. Crane had never met Senator Plumb. After the first draft of the play was completed the a<-tor visited Washington. Mr. Lloyd requested him to go into the gallery and observe Senator Plumb on the floor of the Senate Chamber, bear him talk, and become familiar with his manner. The Assistant Sergeant at Arms, an old friend of Crane, suggested that the actor meet the Senator, and arranged the meeting, of which Mr. franc said to the author: When I am interested I have heen accused of not knowing when to stop talking, but on this occasion, though intensely interested I had sufficient wit to talk just enough to start Mr. Preston B. Plumb talking, and I can truthfully say that I have never had a more interesting twenty minutes in my career. We reminisced, he asking me many questions about my experiences with Mr. Rohson In the "Two Dromios," which he stated that he had witnessed several times with great pleasure, and he seemed much amused at the little stories that I related to him of things that transpired during our experiences with this play. But when Mr. Plumb had really warmed up, his talk and gesticulations and manners which I was observing closely, Interested me greatly. I never told him at this time of my intention to produce a play called "The Senator" in which he was supposed to be the central figure. 336 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB In Washington Senator Rivers met Mabel Denman, a beautiful and worthy girl, the daughter of an old gentleman who had for forty years pressed a claim against the Government. This claim was for a ship destroyed by the British in the War of 1812, and amounted to $75,000. Denman was feeble and poor. One of his friends of better days was Armstrong, Secre- tary of State, and he had known Colonel Rivers, the Senator's father. Armstrong gave Mabel Denman a position in the Department of State, and employed her to teach, his children music. It was in the latter ca- pacity that she was at the Armstrong home and first met Senator Rivers. He came so often, then, on music days, as to embarrass Miss Denman, and it was there that he first heard of the Denman claim. Miss Denman worked as a copyist at home evenings, and among those who brought her work were Sharp- less, once in Congress, a lobbyist, an office-seeker, and chief villain of the play, and Count von Strahl, Austrian Ambassador, a libertine and scoundrel. The Count made love to Mabel Denman and was, at the same time urging Mrs. Armstrong to elope with him. And she had agreed to do so on the night of the Legation ball. Sen- ator Rivers believed that Miss Denman was in love with the Count. Mrs. Hilliary, a young widow, attractive, rich, agreeable in manner, tactful, and noted for doing good, was the friend of Senator Rivers. At midnight Mrs. Armstrong was to come in her carriage and call for the Count, when they were to flee together. Senator Rivers wished to prevent the elopement. On the stroke of midnight a carriage stopped at the door. The driver left his seat to enter a saloon. Senator Rivers prevailed on Mrs. Hilliary to enter the carriage. Then he told the Count that a lady in her carriage was wait- ing for him at the door. The Count entered the car- riage and Senator Rivers had his private secretary mount the box and drive rapidly away. When Mrs. INSPIRATION FOR DRAMA 337 Armstrong arrived there was no Count to elope with her ; and when she had reflected on her course she was re- pentant and was saved. Mrs. Hilliary was useful to Senator Rivers on an- other occasion. Sharpless was lobbying for the Con- tinental Railroad land grant, which the Senator op- posed, as it was a swindle. To aid him in the Senate Sharpless had an old Senator named Keene, who was in love with the fair widow. Senator Rivers secured the passage of the bill in the House allowing the Denman claim. It came up in the Senate on the last night of the session. Sharpless had been defeated for appoint- ment by Rivers, and while he could not get his Con- tinental Railroad measure through, it came up on the last night of the session, and he had Senator Keene take the floor to talk about it the remaining ten minutes of the session and crowd out the Denman claim. lie proposed to Senator Rivers that he would pull down Keene and let the Denman claim through if Rivers would help him pass the railroad bill. The situation was desperate, but the Senator would not be a party to such a fraud even for the Denman claim. He strode forth in a fury. Rut Mrs. Hilliary was clever. She wrote Senator Keene a note on a card saving, " I am dying to see you, dear Senator." Keene immediately went out to see her. In a few minutes the Denman claim was allowed, and Senator Rivers appeared, laugh- ing, and said: "Well ! ha, ha, I never saw anything in my life like it. Old Keene had his left arm in the air, and his mouth open, on the very point of launching forth another volume of words, when a card was brought to him. He stuck. His arm dropped. He forgot what he was going to say. He switched off and couldn't switch hack, fumbled anions the notes on his desk, muttered some incoherent phrases, said "Excuse me," and toddled out of the Senate. In securing votes for the Denman claim Senator 338 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Rivers left no stone unturned. Once he rushed into his office and said to his secretary : I've got three more votes for the Denman claim. Make a memorandum that next session I am to vote for one marble post- office for Senator Griffin, two granite custom-houses for Senator Melville, and one court-house with a mansard roof for Senator Star.— Talk about the log-rolling! The logs I roll to put through the Denman claim would build our new railroad. A distinguished Chinese traveler was then in Wash- ington. He was studying American institutions with the purpose of writing a book. He was mixed up in all the affairs of the play, and, shortly after hearing the remark of Senator Rivers, entered in his notes " The Government in America consists of three departments — pulling wires — laying of pipes — rolling of logs ! " The passage of the bill allowing the Denman claim did not end the matter. Senator Rivers wished to marry Mabel Denman. In his belief that she was in love with the Count he wrote her a letter to warn her against him. This letter fell between the sheets of some copy- ing she had done for Sharpless, who attempted black- mail with it. Senator Rivers kicked him out of the office. Miss Denman came just then to thank the Sen- ator for his kindness to her and bid him adieu before going South to live. The Senator had never spoken for himself, and he saw that it must be now or never. So, in an awkward, hesitating way he declared his love, and was accepted; but Mabel Denman wished to know why he, a man of millions, loved her and would marry her. And never overlooking an opportunity for a hu- morous retort, he said, " You've got seventy-five thousand dollars in your pocket this minute. I'm marrying you for your money ! " Plumb and Crane became fast friends, and sometimes Plumb would go from Washington to New York to see " The Senator." On such occasions he spent much of INSPIRATION FOR DRAMA 339 his time in the dressing-room of the famous actor. " Plumb was a wonderfully clever story-teller and one of the most honorable and attractive gentlemen I ever knew," said Crane. In January, 1891, Plumb gave an afternoon lunch in his Committee-room for Crane, who there reproduced the third act of " The Senator." A number of Senators were present. The actor did not try to imitate Plumb's appearance, but he did imitate his actions, gestures, and mannerisms, lie wore a small chin beard, like Plumb, and a hat like that worn by the Senator. Once when Plumb went into Crane's dressing-room the actor said, " Senator, if you are to continue to look like me you must trim that beard down to the size of mine." " And," said Crane, " he took up the scissors and seated himself before my mirror and cut his beard down to the proper proportions." Senator Blackburn, who was warmly attached to Plumb, told Crane to vigorously rub the back of his neck with a large white handkerchief when excited, as that was a habit with Plumb in debate. There were twenty-four Senators in the audience at Washington when Crane did this in the play, and they roared with laughter; but the people had no knowledge of the point and did not respond with applause. " A more genial companion, a better friend, and a kinder gentleman I never met," said the actor of Senator Plumb. CHAPTER LVII SILVER In the debates on the Sherman bill to demonetize silver it was insisted that the act of March 3, 1849, had already accomplished that purpose and legalized the gold standard. 1 It was admitted that the intent of the act had not been realized or acted on, and it was urged that it ought to be no longer " left to inference or implication." 2 i By William L. Stoughton, of Michigan, in the House, April 9, 1872. His speech is found on pages 2307 to 2310, Volume 89, Congressional Globe. 2 The bill which established the gold standard and destroyed silver as a money was introduced in the Senate by John Sherman, April 28, 1870 — Forty-first Congress. It passed the Senate, January 10, 1871. The House made some changes in the bill, but no further action was taken in the Forty-first Congress. In the Forty-second Congress William D. Kelley reported the bill to the House on the 9th of January, 1S72. On the 9th of February Samuel D. Hooper reported from the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures a bill on the same subject. It was again reported on the 13th, when a new sec- tion was added, and it was made a special order for the second Tues- day in March. It was not taken up, however, until the 9th of April, when it was debated at length. On the 27th of May it was called up, amended by the substitution of a bill differing slightly, and passed under a suspension of the rules. No debate was permitted and the vote was 110 to 13. The bill appeared in the Senate May 29, and was referred to the Committee on Finance. In the Third Session, Forty- second Congress, December 16, 1872, it was reported in the Senate. Mr. Sherman reported from the Finance Committee further amend- ments January 7, 1873; and on the 17th the bill was considered, amended and passed. A conference committee agreed on the follow- ing clause relating to silver: Sec. 15. That the silver coins of the United States shall be a trade-dollar, a half-dollar, or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar, or twenty-five cent piece, a dime or ten-cent piece ; and the weight of the 340 SILVER 341 That the matter might not remain in doubt was the purpose of Mr. Sherman's bill, which was passed with as little publicity as possible. It was not generally known at the time that silver had been destroyed as money, and for some years there were denials that any law had produced such an effect. But in the discussion of the silver question in 1890 Senator Plumb said: The Senator from Ohio, according to his own statement, helped to enact a measure which he says he knew demonetized silver, which thereby increased the value of credits, added to the bur- dens of the debtor, and perpetrated a fraud upon him, the effect of which has not yet disappeared. The effort to remonetize silver began in the first ses- sion of the Forty-fourth Congress, but it was unsuccess- ful. In the House, Forty-fifth Congress, November 5, 1877, Mr. Bland moved to suspend the rules and pass an act to authorize the free coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore its legal tender character. The bill passed by a vote of id! to 34, with 02 members not voting. In the Semite, on the -1st of November, Mr. Allison, from the Committee on Finance, reported the bill with a clause which entirely changed its purpose. The Secretary of the Treasury was directed to purchase, at the market price, silver bullion to the amount of not less than two million dollars per month, and not more than four million dollars per month, "and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as purchased, into such dollars/' That this bill would pass the Senate 1 with a provision for the free coinage of silver was assured by the previous trade-dollar shall ho four hundred and twenty grains Troy: . . . and said coins shall be legal tender at their nominal value Cor any amount not exceeding live dollars in any one payment. This report was concurred in by both the Senate and the House, and the hill was approved February 12, 1st.",. 342 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB action of that body. The votes which had been taken on it to that time disclosed the fact that neither party was united on the financial question, whicli had risen so suddenly to the foremost place in Congress. It was the policy of the Administration to maintain the gold standard and pay the national debt in gold coin, that being the recommendation of John Sherman, then Sec- retary of the Treasury. The President and his chief financial officer were from Ohio, notwithstanding which, Stanley Matthews, Senator from that State, introduced in the Senate a concurrent resolution for the payment of certain bonds in silver dollars. 3 This resolution was considered January 16, 1878, and the debate on it was extensive; thirty-four speeches were delivered in the Senate. On January 25, Mr. Conkling moved that it be made a joint resolution, whicli would require the signature of the President, but as the views of the Presi- dent on that matter had been given in his annual mes- sage, the motion was defeated. It was the design of the resolution to secure the views of Congress. Mr. Edmunds moved to amend it by the insertion of a clause declaring for the payment of the bonds " in gold coin or its equivalent," which was also defeated. The amendment of Mr. Morrill to the effect that such pay- ment " will be detrimental to the economical interests 3 Mr. Blaine, in his Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. II, p. 604, misstates the intent of this resolution, making it include " all bonds of the United States." Such was not the language of the resolution. It was preceded by a preamble expressly defining the issues of bonds which by their terms and the acts authorizing them were not payable in gold. Then following the resolution : That all the bonds of the United States issued or authorized to be issued, under the said acts of Congress hereinbefore recited are pay- able, principal and interest, at the option of the Government of the United States, in silver dollars, of the coinage of the United States, containing four hundred and twelve and a half grains of standard silver ; and that to restore to its coinage such silver coins as a legal tender in payment of said bonds, principal and interest, is not in violation of the public faith nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor. SILVER 343 of the Government and the people " was defeated by a vote of 41 to 14. Other efforts to amend were voted down, and both the preamble and the resolution were adopted as introduced. In this contest Senator Plumb always voted for the resolution. In the House both the preamble and the resolution were passed under a sus- pension of the rules on the 29th of January, and the expression of the financial views of Congress was complete. On the 15th of February, 1878, the Bland bill was considered in the Senate, and Mr. Morrill moved that for the first year but twenty-five per cent, of any pay- ments of duties be received in such dollars as it authorized, and that for the second year fifty per cent, of such payments be made in silver. This provision was defeated, Senator Plumb voting in the negative. Among the other Republicans voting against the amend- ment were Allison, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cameron of Wisconsin, Chaffee, Davis of Illinois, Oglesby, Pad- dock, Ransom, Saunders, Spencer, Teller and Windom. The opposition then submitted an amendment providing for the coinage of one hundred million of such dollars in three years, when, if the price for silver bullion during the preceding year should be less than ninety-seven one- hundredths of a gold dollar, the Secretary of the Treas- ury might suspend the coinage of silver dollars until further action by Congress. Senator Plumb voted against this amendment, as did most of the Republicans who had voted with him against the former one. Vari- ous other amendments designed to defeat the purpose of the bill were offered by those opposed to the remonetiza- tion of silver, all of which Senator Plumb voted against. The certificate feature of the law was proposed by Mr. Booth and adopted, Senator Plumb voting for it. And he steadily voted against amendments providing that the silver certificates should be redeemed in gold. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 48 to 21, Plumb and 344 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB a majority of the Republican Senators voting for it. Among the Senators voting against the bill were Blaine, Conkling, Dawes, Edmunds, Hamlin and Hoar. The international conference feature of the silver question made its appearance in this bill as a Senate amendment. In the House the question of concurring in the amend- ments made to the bill by the Senate came up Febru- ary 21, 1878, and Mr. Hewitt moved to lay on the table the bill and the amendments, which was defeated by a decisive vote. The amendments were all concurred in, but divisions were demanded on most of them. On the 28th of February President Hayes returned the bill to the House of Representatives with his objec- tions to its passage. The House at once passed the bill over the President's veto by a vote of 196 to 73. In the Senate, on the same day, the bill was passed over the veto by a vote of 46 to 19, Senator Plumb voting to override the veto. Conditions in 1890 were much the same as in 1878. Following the speculative era all interests of the country were depressed. In the West the people were flounder- ing in a sea of debt, most of which was secured by mort- gages on homes and farms. Values were low and steadily declining. Much of the most fertile land in America could not be sold for enough to discharge the mortgage indebtedness against it and which had been supposed to represent about one-third of its value when incurred. In Kansas corn had little more value than would pay its own freight to market, and was used for fuel in remote localities. In 1S90 a large portion of the real property in Kansas was in process of fore- closure. Political unrest disturbed the people, and from the old Alliance grew the Populist party, which demanded many social and economic reforms, among them an increase in the volume of money. In 1884 Kansas had given Blaine a majority of about eighty thousand. By 1890 this great Republican majority had- SILVER 345 been swept away, and the State was in control of the Populists. Plumb was one of those who had made it possible to form the Republican party and was strongly grounded in the necessity of fealty to its principles, but his sym- pathies were always so much with the people that he never was an uncompromising party man. The distress which he saw on every hand appealed to him, and he was disposed to favor any reasonable policy which promised relief. On the 21st of April, 1S90, he intro- duced in the Senate a concurrent resolution directing the Secretary of the Treasury to increase the purchase and coinage of silver bullion to the maximum amount authorized by the Bland act of 1878. But he did not wait on this. May 1G, to pending legislation dealing with the Treasury surplus, he introduced an amendment limiting the amount to be retained in the Treasury to |L10,000,000. In support of this plan he said the Sec- retary of the Treasury supposed himself the linch-pin of the financial interests of the country and had to take into account the barometrical condition of things in New York. "I wish he would take into account what is the condition in other places besides New York. I want, so far as I am concerned in the discharge of my responsibility, to take the Treasury Department out of all this scheme of national finances." Later he modi- tied his amendment so that gold and silver for the redemption of certificates might remain in the Treasury, and in commenting on this ma iter said that the national Treasury seemed always at the service of New York — that one could get a better idea of what the Treasury would do by reading a New York newspaper than by reading the report of the Secretary. There was pending in the House, in June, 1890, a bill providing for the purchase, at iis market value, of all silver bullion produced by the mines of the United States, and to pay for it with certificates or Treasury 346 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB notes redeemable in silver bullion or gold coin at the option of the Government, and repealing the Bland act of 1878. This bill was prepared by William Windom, then Secretary of the Treasury. The House substituted for this bill one prepared by Mr. Conger, providing for the purchase of $4,500,000 worth of silver bullion a month with Treasury notes redeeemable in coin, and repealing the Bland act, which was passed. In the Senate this bill was reported with amendments on the 11th of June. On the 17th Senator Plumb moved to strike out section one of the House Bill and substitute for it the following: That from and after the date of the passage of this act the unit of value in the United States shall be the dollar, and the same may be coined of 412% grains of standard silver, or of 25.8 grains of standard gold; and the said coins shall be equally legal tender for all sums whatever. That hereafter any owner of silver or gold bullion may deposit the same at any mint of the United States to be formed into standard dollars or bars for his benefit and without charge ; but it shall be lawful to refuse any deposit of less value than $100, or any bullion so base as to be unsuitable for the operations of the mint. This was agreed to after modification at the instance of Senator Vest of the last clause of the first sentence to make it read, " And the said coin shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private." Plumb then secured the adoption of a section saving some of the features of the Bland act, when, after further amendments, the bill passed. The House did not accept the amendments of the Senate, and a committee of conference reported a compromise bill providing for the purchase of 4,500,- 000 ounces of silver bullion a month with Treasury notes redeemable in gold or silver coin, 2,000,000 ounces of said bullion to be coined into standard silver dollars each month to the first day of July, 1891. As a con- ference report this bill was adopted in the Senate by a SILVER 347 strict party vote — 39 Republicans for it, and 26 Demo- crats against it. It was agreed to in the House, and was the best measure that could be obtained. As long as Senator Plumb was in public life no party ever declared for a single money standard. To the day of his death the money question had not become a party question. The issue was always between the bondhold- ers and the people — between the creditor class in con- trol of the Government, and the people without any effective voice. The Republican platform adopted at Chicago in 1888 contained the following on bi-metalism: The Picpublican party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic Administration in its efforts to demonetize silver. The gold standard was not made a tenet of the Re- publican party until 1896, when it caused a serious defection and the organization of a party known as the Free-Silver Republicans. The movement for the free coinage of silver was not to that time a party move- ment. It was not so much a question of standards. It was first, last, and always a question of currency — volume of money — enough money in the hands of the people for the transaction of their business. It was the struggle of the people against the injustice and oppres- sion of the creditor class. And it was, too, in a sense, the fust effort of the West and South to secure some voice in the control of their own affairs. In all his advocacy of the free coinage of silver Sen- ator Plumb justified himself by reference to existing conditions. His speeches on the subject are proof posi- tive that it was not a governmental policy that he was contending for. Whether he would have supported a measure making the free coinage of silver the settled policy of the Government is a question involving many 34S THE LIFE OF PEESTON B. PLUMB contingencies. If such a measure had been adopted and had proven detrimental he would have been the first to urge its repeal. It was the interest of the people alone that he sought. In his day Africa had not begun to yield her enormous harvest of gold; the Klondyke and other Alaskan fields had not been discovered; and the possibilities of our gold-producing States had not been realized. In recent years the increase in the quantity of gold available for money, together with the augmenta- tion of credit, have accomplished what was hoped for from the free coinage of silver — the expansion of the volume of money to a point where it is sufficient for the transaction of the business of the country. It could not then be foreseen that enough money could be secured without the free coinage of silver. 4 In a speech in the Senate on the 6th of June, 1890, Plumb called attention to the fact that the credits of the country amounted then to more than twenty billion dollars, and that the actual money in circulation did not exceed five hundred million dollars, and among other things said : Upon this narrow foundation has been built the enormous structure of credit of which I have spoken. Over twenty thou- sand million of debts, the enormous and widely extended business of sixty-five million people, all rest upon and must be served by a volume of currency which must seem to the most veteran finan- cier as absolutely and dangerously small. The business of the 4 On this subject John Sherman afterwards wrote that he prepared at the time a table showing that there had been a " steady increase of circulation during the period named." Mr. Sherman's table shows an increase from $805,000,000 in 1S78 to $1,405,000,000 in 1889, but there is no information as to how this was held. The sums held by the Treasury for various redemptions did not appear. There was nothing to indicate what the growth of business during that time had been — no showing as to proportion of money to business increase and demands. It did appear that there had been a steady contraction of National bank notes from 1882 to 1880. Senator Plumb's statement in the Senate on June 6, 1S90, that the actual money then available to the people did not exceed $500,000,000 was not seriously questioned. SILVER 349 country has doubled during the last twelve years. Under present conditions instead of certainty there is uncertainty, National- bank currency is constantly shrinking, and the capricious but nearly always contracting action of the Treasury is a constant menace to all legitimate business. But the currency volume does not alone or chiefly relate to future transactions. It measures time contracts executed in the past, absorbing profits and capital, taking away from the struggling debtor and giving to the idle creditor. This structure of credit built upon the narrow base must necessarily be insecure. Its continuance must depend upon the careful management of somebody, and to whosoever it is intrusted there is given an equivalent in the shape of power. The only human ambition worth mentioning in any arena where men contend is that of power ; and the secret, in my judgment, of the opposition which great bankers in this country make to the increase of the circulating medium, as a rule, is because they do not want to be shorn of this enormous power which they have over the business of the people of the country and which they desire to keep. . . . The Senator from Vermont (Mr. Morrill) affects to see in the proposition to enlarge the volume of the currency to meet increasing population and business an element of repudiation, and appealing against it, brings forward the New England widow, who did duty in opposition to the silver legislation of 1878 which has been attended with such valuable results for the whole country, as well as against all propositions for an increase of the circulating medium. There is a story afloat, and it may have got into print, about some man who went to Tophet and succeeded in getting back, probably the only instance on record; and, when lie was asked what he saw down there, replied that he saw a certain individual, or perhaps it was a party, holding the darkies between himself or itself and the fire; and so this New England widow, the holder of mortgages or bonds or of railroad stock, is brought in hero and held before thd fire, but behind her ample skirts are the holders of six thousand million of dollars of the funded debt of the United States, and other added millions of credits, who, by reason of the demonetization of silver and a constantly con- tracting volume of the currency, have had their securities made far more valuable than they would otherwise have been, and to the corresponding disadvantage of the debtor. It remains to be seen whether this frugal widow with the cloud of rich witnesses behind her, whose sole interest is to have their holding increased in value by a contraction of the currency and 350 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the maintenance of the single gold standard, will prevail, or whether Congress will take into account the men who have put all they have got into the sea of venture rather than those who represent capital which has been taken out of the current of ordinary risk and put into the safe and permanent shape of bond and mortgage. . . . Civilization is expanding. Eegions of country that have here- tofore known nothing about dollars or measures or standards of value are coming under the beneficent influences of Christianity and civilization with the effect of creating a greater demand for money. Are new conditions to be harnessed to old ones? Is the world to be circumscribed in its development by the amount of gold which after the consuming demand of the arts is left for currency purposes ? If not, with what is it to be supplemented ? Those who advocate the gold standard must answer this. Those who propose the single standard must be prepared either to say only such growth can occur and such business be transacted as may with safety be based upon a comparatively decreasing medium of exchange, or else they must make perfect some plan for the enlargement of such medium of exchange. I risk nothing in saying that things cannot go on as they are. If the demand for a bi-metallic standard is not granted, then either gold must be wholly discarded for paper whose value will be determined by volume and legal tender quality, or the amount of gold which constitutes a dollar must be from time to time reduced. The world cannot do business upon the basis of extended credit if the measure of value is to constantly grow more and more valuable in proportion to property. . . . "We are sixty-five millions of people, soon to be a hundred millions, possessing a continent of immense resources, with more intelligence and enterprise than any other people in the world. The Anglo-Saxon race is bound to lead, and the American people ought to have primacy in the councils of that race. . . . Our opportunity is before us. Leadership is more the result of courage than of finesse. We need the courage now to take first place and mark out a policy which all the nations will be under constraint presently to follow. . . . The good sense no less than the patriotism of the Senate is appealed to to create the broad foundations on which we can safely build and which will make the opportunity which our people will gladly embrace. Let us break whatever bands bind us to the body of death represented by that fixed capital which produces nothing, which shuns the sea of venture, which discourages enterprise, and which oppresses labor. It is joined to its idols; let it alone. Instead SILVER 351 let us legislate for the majority, the people whom Lincoln called the common people, whom he trusted, and upon whom the Bepublic rested during the fateful period of the war, and who brought the country and liberty through triumphant. CHAPTER LVIII PUBLIC LANDS In 1881 Plumb was made Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Lands. His acts in that capacity will influence our national life to remote times. The conservation of our natural resources originated in a provision of his Committee for the preservation of the forests on public lands by the establishment of national timber reserves. This assures the permanency of streams furnishing water for the reclamation of arid lands. Irrigation was recognized as worthy of national supervision and development. The public domain was principally in the Western States and Territories. Plumb aided in the formation of six States, — Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. The territories had no representation in the Senate, and there Plumb was in a sense the direct representative of the West. This entailed heavy responsibilities. Nothing else so af- fects a nation as its law governing the use and owner- ship of land. Senator Plumb had to deal with questions affecting the land grant of millions of acres, as well as the claim of the lowly squatter without a title to his home. The rights of settlers were always safeguarded. No better instance of this can be cited than his course in relation to New Mexico. Much of that Territory was covered with Spanish grants, many of them fraud- ulent, and many in the hands of land pirates. In 1881 the owners of these caused to be introduced in the Sen- ate a bill by which all grants of land made by Spain and Mexico could be confirmed, and legal limits set to their vague and indefinite bounds. Plumb opposed it for the 352 PUBLIC LANDS 353 reason that it took no notice of the humble Mexican liv- ing on what was in effect a grant of a few acres. He endeavored to amend the bill in favor of the latter as against both the large land owners and the United States. His views are set out in what he said January 31, 1884 : I think if the bill is to be passed the limitations of the authority of the court to pass upon incomplete titles ought to be stricken out, and that all the rights of all the citizens of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada under the treaty should be passed upon by this commission. I am the more enforced in my judgment of that by the fact that there is a large class of people in Xew Mexico, who if this provision is to be adopted will be cut out of their rights entirely. There are located in the valley of the ll'io Grande and more particularly in the neighborhood of the City of Albuquerque, quite a large number of people who are living upon small tracts of land running probably all the way from five acres in extent, limited and varying in width upon the ]V\o Grande River, and extending hack across the bottom and on the mesa, giving tillable land and pasture land of irregular shape, conformed to no theory of survey, forming an aliquot part of no quarter-section of land or section of land, as we know it under our system of sur- veying land. These people do not hold there by reason of a grant in the ordinary sense of the term nor in the sense in which that term is used in the bill. They and their ancestors have lived upon those tracts of land, some of them as long as two hundred years without changing possession or location. Others of them have been in possession as long as one hundred years, and none of them perhaps less than fifty years. Those people under this bill would absolutely be cut out of all title whatever to their possessions. Plumb's amendments to the bill in favor of these Mexicans were persistently voted down. But the court as finally constituted had some discretion, and a member of it has said : It developed that there were hundreds of poor people, mostly Xew Mexicans of Spanish extraction, who held small tracts of land fronting on streams and running back to cliff or mesa. They had no titles to these lands save that of possession. Their 354 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB ancestors had lived on these tracts, neglected and undisturbed by the Spanish Government. Plumb was particularly anxious that these poor people should be confirmed in their rights to this land. He often said to me that his chief concern was that they should be taken care of. And they were given their lands with a good title. 1 The attitude of Plumb to the land grants made to aid the construction of railroads always was that the roads should have every acre of such land earned by them. All lands unearned, from any cause, he insisted should be forfeited and returned to the public domain. Many millions of acres were declared forfeited and were reclaimed by the Government. Settlers on these grants were always protected in their rights. 2 President Cleveland caused radical changes in the administration of the land laws. Of these changes Plumb made public mention. His speech defines clearly the difference in the policy advocated by each of the two parties. 3 The two great political parties in this country present upon all economic, political, and administrative affairs a radical con- flict of systems ; and in no direction are the lines of controversy i Judge Henry C. Sluss, Wichita, Kansas, to the author July 17, 1910. " That all actual, bona fide settlers upon any of the lands hereby resumed . . . who possess the proper qualifications under the general land laws, and are in actual occupancy thereof at the date of the passage of this bill, shall, for the purpose of this act, be considered as having entered upon the same lawfully," etc. Some provision of this nature he always made a part of such hills. For the quotation given above, see Congressional Record, March 1, 18S5. 2 When the bill for the forfeiture of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad land grant was under consideration he brought in an amend- ment providing, s Fiftieth Congress, First Session, September 24, 1888. See Con- gressional Record of that date for entire speech. It was necessary for him to defend the policy of the Republican party, for the changes made by President Cleveland constituted an indirect charge against the Senate Committee on Public Lands. PUBLIC LANDS 355 more sharply drawn than in the methods and objects of legisla- tive and executive action relative to the public lands. The Democratic party has at all times sought the benefit of the few as against the many. Possessing the cheapest labor in the world in the section of country from which it has mainly drawn its support, it has never sought by the subdivision of landed interests or by the maintenance through advance methods of cultivation of soil already reclaimed to foster a population of industrious middle classes. On the contrary by the abandonment of planta- tions as soon as they were worked out, the necessity was created for such a public-land system as would constantly provide new areas for easy occupation and as would naturally maintain a landed oligarchv. In striking contrast, the Republican party came into existence with the land policy, which it has ever since maintained, of " Land for the landless, homes for the homeless." It has at all times sought to subdivide the public domain amongst and for the benefit of actual settlers. It has zealously guarded, pre- served, and improved the areas once conquered by cultivation; it has in regular progression pushed onward its ever-advancing fringe of small agricultural homes; and it has thus developed and fostered empires of citizens enjoying an honest and pros- perous equality before the law. It is, therefore, but natural that when the Democratic party succeeded to power in 1885, after twenty-four years of enforced retirement, it should at once attack the Republican administra- tion of the public lands. It was to be expected that its leaders should seek to break down the system which had in the previous quarter-century so signally multiplied, developed and strength- ened the North. As it went out of power in 18G1 with a veto of the homestead law, it came into power in 1885 with the purpose and necessity of repudiating its beneficent results. And no better way to accomplish that result occurred than to discredit those result? by loud cries of fraud, and by alleging that its administration for the benefit of actual settlers had always been in the interests of great monopolies. Accordingly, Mr. Cleveland's administration came into power with the assertion that the public land laws had been adminis- tered by the Republican party in defense of the interests of land grabbers and monopolists. The policy of reform was, therefore, to be initiated. The poor settlers of the country were to be protected from speculators; the railroad companies and similar monopolies were to be restricted to such rights as would accrue to them under a rigid construction of the statutes. . . . 356 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB As the first step in the inauguration of this reform policy Mr. Commissioner Sparks was sworn into office on the 20th of March and took his seat March 27, 1885. In precisely six working days he assumed to have so mastered the theory of the public-land system, and to have got the details of its practical adminis- tration so well in hand, as to warrant him in issuing the fol- lowing sweeping order : Washington, April 3, 1885. Order : Final action in this office upon all entries of the public lands, except private cash entries and such scrip locations as are not de- pendent upon acts of settlement and cultivation, is suspended in the following localities, namely : All west of the first guide meridian west in Kansas; all west of range 17 in Nebraska; the whole of Colorado, except lands in the late Ute reservation; all of Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Wash- ington, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada, and that portion of Minnesota north of the indemnity limits of the Northern Pacific Eailroad and east of the indemnity limits of St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Eailroad. In addition, final action in this office will be suspended upon all timber entries under the act of June 3, 1878 : also upon all cases of desert land entries. Two remarkable facts will appear upon the face of this order. Whilst it pretendedly was aimed at the suspension of fraud by suspending the laws under which frauds were possible, it — 1. Draws a clear distinction in favor of speculators and scrip- owners and against actual settlers. The laws suspended affected all " entries of public land, except private cash entries, and such scrip locations as are not dependent upon acts of settlement and cultivation." The preemption, homestead and other settlement statutes were taken by the throat, and the perfection of titles thereunder was absolutely inhibited, whilst private entries (cash, purchases without limit as to quality and without requirement of settlement) and all character of scrip or warrant speculation, requiring no acts of settlement or cultivation, were left wholly undisturbed. The immediate effect was to give a large enhanced value to all such outstanding scrip in the hands of a land ring, what are known as " additional homesteads " alone rising at once from eight or nine dollars per acre to between twenty and thirty dollars per acre. Probably three or four men held the greater proportion of all such outstanding scrip and realized large for- tunes from the immediate effect of this order. PUBLIC LANDS 357 2. The order assumed the lines of suspected fraud under the settlement laws of Congress to be geographical and political. The fraudulent line was drawn at the line of the States " re- cently in rebellion." Whilst all lands in the Southern States were by law subject to sale at private entry and continued to be so disposed of, their disposition, not being prohibited or other- wise affected by the Commissioner's order, the lands in the North- west were not so subject, and could only be located with the prospect of obtaining title, after the issuance of the foregoing order, by means of land scrip at largely enhanced prices, until (as under the order recited) the Administration was convinced that every Northern man who wanted to settle on the public do- main was not a thief and a swindler. This system condemned in a wholesale way the settlers of the Eepublican States and Terri- tories in the Northwest as a band of thieves and perjurers. It advertised to the world the official opinion of the administration that the settlers of that country, made up very largely of sailors and soldiers who fought the battles of the late war on both sides, and who were supposed to represent the real strength of the Government, were, in fact, an army of tramps and outlaws. The administration also declared thai the policy of granting lands to railroads to aid in their const ruction in unsettled sections was of Republican origin, and that by this policy much of the public domain had been wasted. In answer to this Plumb produced records and figures to show that the system of railroad land grants originated in the Democratic party. That up to 1850 it had donated to public and private road enterprises r,.(H)0,000 acres of public land. That the act of Sep- tember 20, 1850, gave the Illinois Central Railroad Com- pany 2,595,053 acres of rich prairie land. That the same act gave the Mobile and Ohio River Railroad Com- pany 1,409,440 acres. In 1856 and 1857 forty-seven grants of public lands were made to railroads, many of them approved by President Buchanan, who vetoed the homestead bill on the ground thai he had no authority to give away public land, lie had then approved rail- road grants for more than 30,000,000 acres. The Demo- cratic party originated the plan of withdrawing public lands from eutry and sale within the limits of these 358 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB grants, which only included alternate sections. And these withdrawals were often made before the passage of the acts making the grants. More than 75,000,000 acres of land had been given railroads prior to 1861. The anticipatory withdrawals of public land in favor of the railroads swelled this to a total of 207,000,000 acres to the same date. Plumb specified the grants, summar- ized them, and he gave the names of prominent Demo- crats back a generation who had managed these grants, — among them Jefferson Davis, William R. King, S. A. Douglas, and Thomas A. Hendricks. The latter was Commissioner of the General Land Office under Presi- dent Pierce and made many anticipatory withdrawals of public lands in favor of the railroads, some of them by telegraph, so great was his hurry. In 1845 Douglas had proposed a grant of each alternate section of public land for a distance of forty miles on each side of a line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The Democratic party had dissipated the public lands in another way. Under guise of aiding States to build levees and drain lands they were given swamp lands to the amount of 77,407,273 acres. This land was used by the States (most of them Southern States) for purposes wholly different from that for which it was designed, much of it falling into the hands of specula- tors. Great areas of fine agricultural land were given to States under this act. Florida contains an area of 30,704,578 acres, and under this swamp land act it was given 16,269,095 acres. She disposed of it to private parties and to corporations and never built any levees, and dug no drainage ditches. Senator Plumb showed a similar disregard of law and public interest in the Democratic party in its dealing with the Spanish grants in New Mexico. It permitted the public lands of that Territory to be seized by specu- lators holding these grants and was a party to the fraud. No such grant could legally be for more than four square PUBLIC LANDS 359 leagues of land, about 17,000 acres. Through a Private Land Claims Committee in 1859 and 1SG0 the Maxwell land grant was confirmed to the amount of 1,714,764 acres. Other claims, in plain violation of all law, were confirmed respectively for 827,621 acres; 591,515 acres; 447,535 acres; 378,537 acres; 318,699 acres; and many others received from ten to forty times as much as they were entitled to. Thus did Plumb justify the public land policy of the Republican party. It was his belief that the homestead law was one of the wisest provisions ever made by a government and that its operation was to influence our national life far into the future. He saw in the great multitude of independent land-holders who had pos- sessed the hardihood of body and mind to conquer and subdue the wilderness, tin; fountain from which was to flow the best of our population for many centuries. Year after year he had seen this army of peaceful con- quest, assault the unbroken solitude and brave its dangers, extending the borders of our civilization. lie had witnessed the battle of this army against the obstacles of nature and had seen the forbidding line "of the wild" driven back the width of a county year by year. He had been one of that advance-guard on the Great Plains, and he saw something to reverence in settlers. In his speech on the "Irrigation of Arid Lands," delivered in the Senate July 16, 1890, he paid a tribute to the pioneer which is one of the best indica- tions of his serious reflection on the tendencies of Ameri- can democracy: There is another policy and a wiser one, which says that wherever the Government has land which any citizen wishes for the purpose of making a home thereon, for the purpose of de- veloping it and making it fruitful, we will let him have it. It gives opportunity for enterprise, a field for the energies and apti- tude of our people. It gives them something to do on American soil, enables them to change their occupation, operates to relieve 3G0 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB congestion which comes in our great cities; it is our perpetual safety-valve. It has brought about the great internal develop- ment, to be followed some day very soon by an external one equally great and which could not have come without it, and winch makes the United States to-day the leader in everything except aggression among the nations of the civilized world. We have one thing which more than anything else is the foundation of our national independence, and that is a surplus of food products ; and along with that we have a railroad system which will enable us to bring these products to any given point for foreign shipment or domestic use cheaper and quicker than the resources of any other nation can thus be focused. The pioneer has had his share in this great work and no history of the growth of this country during the past fifty years would be worth opening the pages of if it did not take into solemn and thoughtful account what he has done. He has blazed the way for the teeming millions who occupy the West ; he has sown what others have reaped. The country and not himself has had the fruit of his labors. The doubts and dangers he confronted were manifold, largely unforeseen, and yet always courageously met. He gained for himself sometimes; oh, yes, but where one man gained ten lost. There was but one inevitable gainer — the country. Every sacrifice of the pioneer brought wealth to the nation. . . . There is no such record of fortitude, of courage, of patient determination, of that patriotic building which takes little account of one's own self but always the prosperity of all, as that exhibited by the settler upon the Western frontier. . . . He has not always found enemies in the land office, and against his individual sins, venal and rarely involving moral tur- pitude, I put the greatest accomplishment the human race has ever shown in the development of any country. Whoever else may reproach him, I will not. Whoever else may seek to find blemishes in the great achievement, I will not. To us the splendor of it obscures them all. It was Plumb's idea that the public lands should be bestowed only on Americans, and that aliens should be prohibited from acquiring land in the United States. On his initiative this idea had been enacted into law. In the speech from which the above quotation is made he said : I believe there ought to be no principle more sacred than PUBLIC LANDS 361 this : That all the soil over which the American flag floats shall be in the ownership either of the Government of the United States or of the men who yield obedience to it as citizens, and the bill which I had the honor to introduce in the Senate and which became a law forbids the acquisition of lands by aliens in all the territories over which the United States has jurisdiction. Senator Plumb had been anxious for some years to make a general revision of the public land laws. They contained many obsolete or outgrown statutes. New conditions required many provisions not in the laws or the discretion of the administrative officers of the Gov- ernment. William S. Holman, of Indiana, introduced in the House and had passed a bill repealing the act of June 3, 1878, providing for the sale of timber lands in the Pacific States. This bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Lands. Plumb brought in as a substitute, the first draft of a bill embodying his ideas of a general revision of the land laws. After a free discussion it was modified in some parts and framed into a bill of twenty-four sections. It repealed the old preemption law; also the timber-culture laws, which had not benefited the country as had been expected. It materially modified the conditions under which desert lands might be secured. The most liberal provisions were made for the irrigation of arid lands; canals and ditches w T ere to have right of way over the public lands and even over claims the title to which had not passed from the Government. Authority for the construction of dams and reservoirs was given. The foundation of the vast irrigation projects now completed and under way in the Western and North western States is found in this bill. The public lands were reserved for actual settlers, no one to have more than 160 acres of the same. Procedure in the courts was defined and prescribed in any suit to determine title to lands to be secured from the Government. Sales of abandoned military reserva- tions and of mineral lands at auction was prohibited. 3G2 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB The manner of acquiring town-sites in Alaska was defined, and primitive laws applying to the public lands there enacted. The Pribilof Islands, the breeding grounds of the fur-bearing seals, were reserved from sale. The propagation and protection of salmon in the Pacific- Coast waters were provided for. Reservations for some of the Alaskan Indians were set apart, and the statutes concerning some of the Osage lands were amended and made definite. And above all, the law under which our forest reserva- tions have been established was enacted as section twenty-four of the bill. Because of its wise provisions there are now forest reservations about the head-waters of most Western streams. Timber from these reserva- tions may be sold to settlers and miners. Under this section the area of the Yellowstone National Park has been increased until it now contains more than 17,000 square miles, the greatest park in the world belonging to the people. In fact, as before stated, this bill was the beginning of the conservation movement in America. A constructive statesman is one who has the power to look far into the future and discern in that dim dis- tance what the people of unfolding time will require; one with that humanity which takes into account the welfare of those coming generations; and one with the ability, standing and influence in his day to secure the enactment of those requirements into law and does it. 4 * For the full text of this law see Appendix A. CHAPTER LIX THE TARIFF To the close of bis life Senator Plumb was a pro- tectionist. 1 He was not an extremist. The events of his life had developed every tendency to conservatism. He was the product of the frontier, however, and the frontier was ever the mother of democracy. Men there are thrown upon their own resources. On the line of the advance-guard of civilization it is the man that counts. The question is not so much whence he came as what he can do. The weak or timid man rarely seeks the frontier. Conquest is made by the strong. In America pioneer society has usually been an associa- tion of superior characters. Broad sympathy develops. Classes of society do not exist. The sick are not sent to hospitals, but are attended by neighbors. The dead are not buried by undertakers, but by settlers who them- selves make the coffins and dig the graves. Houses are erected by the community en masse, and not by skilled workmen as a class. (Mass distinctions do not appear until the wilderness has been conquered, civilization firmly seated, and a surplus of capital produced, the use of which effects a division of labor. The development of all our West began along agricultural lines. Com- merce, at first, had the simple task of supplying the needs of a growing agricultural community. To this i Juno 6, 18DO, he said in his speech in the Senate: "I am a pro- tectionist. I have believed that protection meant the giving of value to any product the result of American labor on American soil." Note that he said " American labor," not foreign labor " on American soil." 363 364 TIIE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB condition there was imposed in Kansas, that unusual duty to humanity, the destruction of slavery and the liberation of all labor, white and black. At the close of the Civil War such progress had been made in Kansas that the building of railroads began. The presence of these further stimulated the production of grain and live-stock. Settlers came in by thousands. In thirty years the American frontier was well-nigh obliterated. Such another era of city building and farm-opening never was — never again can be in America. Com- merce broadened. An infinite variety of manufactured articles became necessary. The manufacturers on the eastern seaboard grew rich by supplying this demand, and the industrial trend of our country was so modified as to affect all commercial tendencies. This was soon reflected in our political institutions, and in the papers of that time we read much about the " home market " and of " trading with ourselves." Under pretense of protection to American labor enormous duties were laid. Once in control of the market, manufacturers arbi- trarily fixed prices, and the West paid heavy tribute to the East. Agricultural products are sold in a world-market, and tariffs cannot " protect " them. Neither can tariffs " protect " labor, which also has to be sold in a world- market. Specious arguments to the contrary, however, made these commodities appear the beneficiaries of pro- tection, until in 1890 higher duties were imposed than had been laid by the tariff made to carry on the Civil War. 2 Plumb had accepted the policy of his party with the best graces he could command. He was always willing that American labor should have protection if such a thing could be given; yet he saw foreign labor 2 See colloquy in Congressional Record between Senators Sherman and McPherson, July 25, 1890. Sherman evaded the charge by point- ing to an enlarged " free-list " of manufactured articles and com- modities not produced in this country, among them tea and coffee. THE TARIFF 385 pouring in. There was no tariff against it — no duty on it. This labor was ever in competition with Ameri- can labor. It came from French-Canada and filled New England shops and mills. It came from Austria, Po- land, Italy and filled the mines and built the railroads. It came from Britain, France and Germany and manned the shops and forges. It was argued that these people became American citizens. Some of them did. They brought with them lower standards of life than those observed by Americans, and it nearly always happened that when one of them got a job some American work- man lost his place. Every country must have a tariff because it must have revenue. Senator Plumb combatted the fallacies proclaimed to justify the lengths to which our tariff policy had led us. If there was any modicum of " pro- tection " which might in some way accrue to American labor he was more than willing that it should be im- posed. Beyond this he would not go. He could not see the justice of it; and he saw the injustice of it every day. The West bought enormous quantities of highly protected articles — shoes, clothing, woolen goods, cot- ton cloth, wire, nails, tools, agricultural implements, and many others. It sold wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, cattle, horses, hogs, eggs, poultry, and other products of the ranch and the farm, the prices of which were made in world-markets. Speaking of these conditions as early as 18S3 3 Senator Plumb said : "We ought to consider the men -who raise the grain. "We do not do it except in an indirect way. The tariff upon wheat and upon various agricultural products is not protection. No farmer ever asked for it ; no farmer ever received one single dime on account of it. The Senator from Michigan in his argument on Saturday, appealed to the people whom I in part represent here, in that he said the lumber-producing regions of the country 3 January 22. See Congressional Record, Forty-seventh Congress, Second Session, pp. 1443, ct scq. 366 THE LIFE OP. PRESTON B. PLUMB use four or five million dollars' worth of agricultural products, and he said those products were protected to the agriculturists of Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska by a duty of 20%, and he said in effect that if we are to have the 20% protection we ought not to begrudge the equivalent protection which was accorded to the lumber interest. Mr. President, I am willing, so far as I am concerned, as representing an agricultural people, to say that if there shall be a general reduction of 20% all around, or an equivalent re- duction upon manufactured articles, the agriculturists of Kansas, at least, will be perfectly willing to forego the 20% protection upon their wheat. In fact their protection amounts to nothing. The wheat of Kansas goes abroad in competition with the wheat of Russia and the wheat of India, competing in the great wheat- market of the world, Liverpool, and finding there no protection and no advantage growing out of the assumed protection which is given to it by the tariff laws of the United States. . . . Prac- tically speaking, the tariff is put upon wheat, upon corn, and upon various other agricultural products simply as a disguise, simply to make the agricultural people of the United States believe that the tariff by its term protects them while protect- ing the manufacturing interests of the country. Such is not the case. . . . We have been engaged, as it seems to me, in the consideration of tins question from the basis of the direct interest of a minority of the people of the United States. Seven-tenths of the people of the United States are engaged in agriculture. Probably not more than one-tenth of the people of the United States are directly engaged in manufacturing. It does not seem to me proper, it certainly is not, looking at this matter from a permanent standpoint, when we disregard wholly every- thing except the question as to whether the people who are engaged in manufacturing can get out of it the profit they want for their capital. . Under the guise not only of an enactment for the protection of wheat, but under an appeal made in the very eloquent tones and terms of the Senator from Michigan, the people of Kansas are abjured to be willing to pay $2 a thousand more for lumber in order that their sight may be tickled by the spectacle of a protection of 20% ad valorem upon the wheat which they send to Chicago and from Chicago to Liverpool, competing in the Liverpool market against the slave labor as well as all the other labor of the world. It will not do, Mr. President. I have no doubt that I fairly represent the people of Kansas when I say THE TARIFF 367 that they are willing to look, and do look at this question from the basis of protection; that they do not want free trade as it is ordinarily termed, but they do want that every single thing upon which a duty is put shall be subject to scrutiny, a scrutiny to determine whether it is necessary that the protection should. be accorded to that particular interest in order that it may live and have a profit. They do not want that anything should be cut down in a destructive way ; they do not want a factory closed ; they want labor and capital employed to have a fair return; but they reject utterly and entirely, as I believe, all this talk that the higher the duty the lower the price, and reject the idea that there is any rule or plan which runs through the whole tariff business and which can be applied to everything and which assumes that protection is necessary upon everything irrespective of climate, of condition, and which as they believe, has resulted to some extent heretofore in giving to special industries profits to which they are not entitled, while it has not yielded a pro- portional profit to the product of the soil. . . . If it is simply a question of revenue, why shall we not add revenue upon the luxuries of life? Why not put it upon the silks, the wines, the jewelry, and the high-priced articles gener- ally, and take it off from the necessaries of life if it is only revenue we want? But we are led by .uvntlemcn like the Senator from Maine (Mr. Frye) who says that he is in favor of protec- tion irrespective of revenue. This tariff, it seems to me, is fashioned too much upon a cast-iron adherence to the doctrine that protection itself is a good thing, found wherever it may be; no matter what it is, the moment anything comes in sight that anybody may bring into the country, put a tariff upon it for want of a better place to put it. I think we ought, instead of that, to consult and see whether we cannot impose it upon the articles of luxury, diminish the price of things that are articles of necessity so far as possible, and then adjust the revenues of the country upon the shoulders that are best able to bear it, and not put it upon those things which people are obliged to have, and by reason of the very obligation to have them make the burden of their purchase and of the duties upon those articles that much greater. The position of Senator Plumb was the position of the people of the West, for no other man ever took so much trouble to determine exactly what public senti- ment really was on matters of general interest. The 368 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB attitude of the West towards the tariff remained the same during his time, and, in fact, it has remained the same to this day. On every occasion demanding an ex- pression on the subject he affirmed and emphasized his position. He engaged actively in the debates in the Senate on the Mills Tariff Bill in 1888 and 1889. He made the same appeal on behalf of the people. The whole subject of the tariff was reviewed by him. For many months he gave it profound attention. He con- cluded that our manner of making tariffs was wrong. He believed that Congress was groping in the dark and that any bill it passed was the result of the influence of manufacturers and the trading of representatives of various interests and sections of the country. That Congress might have some scientific basis for future action he introduced an amendment to the Mills Bill providing for a Customs Commission 4 with much power and authority, whose duty it should be to thoroughly in- vestigate the whole tariff question and report its find- ings to Congress. The amendment was in the form of additional sections, as follows: Sec. 44. That a commission is hereby created and established in the Treasury Department, to be known as the customs com- mission, to be composed of five commissioners to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Commissioners first appointed under this act shall continue in office two, three, four, five and six years, respectively, from the date of their respective appointments, the term of each to be designated by the President, but their successors shall be appointed for terms of six years, except that any person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the un- 4 Senator Eaton, of Connecticut, and Senator Morrill, of Vermont, introduced Tariff Commission bills long before Plumb introduced bis. But the Commission conceived by Plumb was different from its prede- cessors. It was in the interest of the people. Ultimately it was to manage the tariff under the direction of Congress. It was to take the tariff out of politics. It was to consider the revenue requirements of the Government and the foreign trade of our country, as well as pro- tection to American interests. THE TARIFF 3G9 expired term of the commissioner whom he shall succeed. Any commissioner may be removed by the President for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. No more than three of the commissioners shall be appointed from the same political party. No person engaged in importing merchandise into the United States, and no person engaged in manufactures, or who is in any manner pecuniarily interested therein, shall hold such office. No vacancy in the commission shall impair the right of the remaining commissioners to exercise all the powers of the commission. The salary of such commissioners shall be at the rate of $7,500 per annum. They shall be entitled, in addition, to compensation for actual traveling and other neces- sary expenses in the discharge of their duties. They shall choose one of their own number to be President of the commission. They shall have power to employ a clerk, a stenographer, and a messenger, and with the approval of the Secretary of the Treas- ury, such other clerical assistance as shall be necessary to the performance of their duties, and at such rates of compensation as they may establish, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. Their salaries, expenses, and the compensation of the clerk, stenographer, messenger and such additional clerical force as may be thus employed shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, upon the auditing of the same, according to the usual course, in the Treasury Department. Sec. 45. That the commission shall establish its permanent office at the city of Washington, where it shall be at all times, in the usual course of business, ready to hear or receive oral or written testimony upon all the specific subjects mentioned in the preceding sections of this act, and generally upon everything relating directly or indirectly to customs, duties and revenues. Sec. 46. That it shall be the duty of the said commission to examine into and ascertain the average price of commodities imported into the United States, both at wholesale and retail in the United States, and both in the United States and in the foreign place of production, sale, or shipment, for the period of six months preceding and six months following any change of the rate of customs duties imposed upon such commodities, and this inquiry shall be carried back for a period of twenty- five years, and more, if deemed advisable by such commission, and shall extend to all facts relating to demand and supply, domestic and foreign, which tend to influence prices of such commodities, foreign, and domestic, and to aid in determining the true effect of the import duty or of the change therein in 370 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the several cases, upon domestic and foreign prices and upon productions of the same or other commodities, upon revenue, upon immigration, upon profits of capital, rates of wages, and the general welfare. Second. To ascertain the amounts in quantity and value of the importation of the principal commodities during each of said periods of six months preceding and succeeding any such change in customs duties. Third. To ascertain, as far as practicable, the quantity and value of the same or similar commodities produced in the .United States during the same respective periods. Fourth. To ascertain whether in any and what instances the particular rates of customs duties have operated to increase or diminish production in the United States. Fifth. To ascertain in what particulars rates of customs duties, existing from time to time, operate injuriously or favor- ably to the development and increase of American manufactures and productions, or operate injuriously or favorably to the con- sumers of such manufactured articles and productions in respect of causing or contributing to the payment of unreasonable prices by consumers, or the removal or reduction of the same. Sixth. To ascertain the effect of the customs duties upon the price of agricultural productions of the country and their sale in United States markets and their consumption in the United States. Seventh. To ascertain the effect of such customs duties, both actual and relative, in respect of the employment and payment of remunerative wages, both actual and relative, to labor in the United States, and a comparison of the same with the labor and wages in other countries. Eighth. To consider the effect of customs duties, or the absence of them, upon the agricultural, commercial, manufac- turing, mining and other industrial interests of the people in the United States. Ninth. To ascertain and compare the actual cost and the selling price, both at wholesale and retail, of similar manufac- tured commodities reduced to American weights, measures and money in the United States and elsewhere. Tenth. To ascertain the growth and development of the prin- cipal manufacturing industries affected by the tariff schedules in England, France, Germany, Belgium and the United States for the last twenty-five years; and to ascertain the relative cost of transportation in these countries and the United States. Sec. 47. That for the purpose of such inquiries and investi- THE TARIFF 371 gations the commission may visit any part of the United States, and by public notice or otherwise invite testimony and informa- tion from all persons interested. They may from time to time also delegate one of their number to visit foreign countries to make investigation respecting the labor and industries of those countries whenever such investigation may be necessary to pro- mote the objects of the commission, and they may require in- formation concerning the labor and industries of foreign coun- tries from consular or other agents of the United States in those countries, and such agents shall furnish the information so required promptly and without charge. Sec. 48. That the commission shall report its proceedings in respect of the matters hereinbefore in this act mentioned, with the statistics and evidence upon which its report is based to- gether with recommendations for changes in customs duties which they may deem advisable and necessary, and the ground upon which its conclusions concerning such changes have been reached, to Congress in the month of December in each year. It shall cause the testimony and statistics taken and obtained in respect of the matters in this act mentioned to be printed from time to time and distributed to members of Congress by the I'ublic Printer, and also shall cause to be printed for the use of Congress 2000 copies of its annual report, together with statistics and testimony hereinbefore mentioned. It is hereby made the duty of the I'ublic Printer to execute the printing provided for in this act. This amendment proposed radical changes from the old tariff commission idea. 5 It was intended that the Customs Commission should be of vast aid to the Gov- ernment. And though the Mills Bill failed the fame of this amendment survives. It embodies those funda- s The following is taken from the Xcir York Kan: Speaking the other day of the amendment providing for a Tariff Commission, which Senator Plumb tacked on to the tariff bill, a prominent Senator said : " There is not another man in that chamber who could have secured the adoption of that amendment, but when Plumb proposed it, it went through unanimously and with little or no debate. The reason is that we have confidence in his good practical judgment and honesty." There are few matters of importance brought before the Senate upon which Senator Plumb does not express his views, and they are generally approved by a majority of his colleagues. 372 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB mental principles which must live. On the 3d of July, 1909, Senator Dolliver introduced the Plumb amendment to the Mills Bill as an amendment to the Payne Tariff Bill, and in its introduction paid a splendid tribute to the statemanship of Senator Plumb : I confess it is only in these later years that the extent of the task laid upon Congress in a general revision of the tariff has dawned upon me. I confess, also, that a good many of the illu- sions of other years have faded away. ... I never wish to see American business put through another such sweat as it has enjoyed during the present summer. I believe I share with everyone who does me the honor to listen to me to-day, a dim conviction, at least, that in undertaking in the course of ninety days to deal with the entire business of this market place, the Congress of the United States had taken upon itself an impos- sible task. The result of all this is that our work is not well done. A moral fruitage of it is that nobody has any confidence in our work. I do not intimate that Congress has not tried to do the very best that could be done. But in the very nature of the case, dealing with multiplied thousands of business enter- prises, with few of us personally familiar by experience and actual contact with these affairs, I confess that with all the zeal and with all the skill Congress has been able to exhibit, we have fallen very far short of giving the manufacturers and other interests of the United States a fair and just consideration of the things that concern them. This is not the only time such feelings have arisen in the minds of Senators. In 1888, after the Mills Bill had been sent to the Senate, the Finance Committee entered upon a very elaborate effort to write a substitute for the Mills Bill. ... At the end of their labors they produced a bill which was so per- suasive in reaching the good will of the American people that, I think, I do not misstate the truth of history in saying that its popularity was universal, at least within the ranks of the Pie- publican party throughout the country. It was the measure upon which General Harrison made his campaign for Presi- dent. . . . At that session of the Senate a very famous and honored states- man, now gone to his reward, Preston B. Plumb, of Kansas, pre- pared, I am advised, under the general counsel of the experts connected with the Finance Committee, although he was not a member of that Committee, a measure intended to relieve Con- THE TARIFF 373 gress of the intolerable load cast upon the legislative department of the Government, in an effort to revise the tariff laws. He introduced into the Senate the proposition which I have just had read from the Secretary's desk. It was referred to the Committee on Finance; and when the tariff bill came up for final consideration it was offered by Senator Plumb as an amend- ment. It was accepted by my former colleague, Senator Alli- son, agreed to without a dissenting voice on the Republican side of this Chamber — or, so far as the record indicates, on the Democratic side. 6 In Washington, May 1G, 1910, Senator Dolliver, on the north portico of the Capitol, up and down which he walked told the writer of Senator Plumb. He said : Plumb was a pure diamond in the rough — strong, rugged, honest, caring little for personal appearance, and having in mind the accomplishment of his purposes. He was a far-seeing man — ■ a statesman. He looked far into the future and had the power to discern the scandals bound to be the outgrowth of our manner of handling the tariff question; and he sought to correct our methods. He was a believer in the protective tariff, as his party has ever been, but he saw that our manner of treating it, espe- cially in the enactment of its schedules, would ultimately break down and perhaps destroy it. In theory Congress is supposed to determine the tariff schedules. The practice is to allow the beneficiaries of the tariff — the manufacturers — to write the schedules. This Senator Plumb believed to be scandalous and immoral — if, indeed, not criminal. He believed it wholly in- defensible even from a party standpoint. Having in mind these principles, and having the good of his country at heart, he sought to remedy the evil of which he was convinced. He believed the gravest consequences would follow upon the continuance of our methods. To avert these he de- vised a complete system to supplant our old one. His plan consisted of a commission, non-partisan in character, which would have charge of the tariff and arrange its schedules in the interest of the Government and the people as a people. He made an exhaustive study of the matter and was completely in- formed. His plan was comprehensive — the work of a patriot and statesman. He introduced it into the Senate as an amend- ment to the Mills Bill. So masterly was his support of it that it was unanimously adopted by the Senate. o Congressional Record, July 3, 1909, pp. 4086-87. 374 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Last year, in the discussion of the tariff, I cast about for what had been done in the enactment of previous bills and fell upon Plumb's plan. At first I thought it had been the work of Allison, Iowa's great Senator, but found that it was the concep- tion of Plumb. I introduced it into the Senate as an amend- ment to the Payne Bill, and it came within three votes of being adopted. Had it been adopted we, as a people, would now be enjoying complete prosperity, and our party would not have been placed in the impracticable position in which we find it. This was the highest point attained by Plumb in his long and useful career in the Senate. His fame as a statesman will finally rest upon it. His plan will have to be adopted. It will be adopted. The thing which we got in the Payne Bill in lieu of it is prac- tically of little benefit; it does not partake of the strong and perfect institution devised by Plumb. Because of dissensions in the Democratic membership of the House the Mills Bill did not become a law. The succeeding Congress had a Republican majority and a tariff bill was introduced in the House by William McKinley. In framing his bill Mr. McKinley gave hearings to manufacturers. Senator Plumb attended some of these hearings and improved every opportunity to talk with these manufacturers and their representa- tives. He even visited mills and factories where he talked with workmen and overseers. The whole sub- ject of the tariff was again reviewed by him. The re- sult was that he was firmly fixed in the accuracy of his judgment in moving for a Customs Commission in the Mills Bill. He was convinced of the wisdom of that measure, and he resolved to offer it as an amendment to the McKinley Bill, which he did, and it was adopted in Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 31 to 30. It passed the Senate by a vote of 31 to 29. The House did not agree to the Senate Amendments, and a Committee of Conference omitted most of them, including that for a Customs Commission. The bill as framed by McKin- ley gave undue advantage to the manufacturers. It was especially unjust to the West. As modified by the THE TARIFF 375 Committee of Conference it was still more objection- able. Senator Plumb could not approve it — and he voted against the McKinley Bill, as did Senators Pad- dock and Pettigrew. 7 The Customs Commission was ultimately to be given enlarged powers. The amendments to the Mills and McKinley Bills did not disclose all that Senator Plumb had in mind on the subject. The author has been told more than once by the late Eugene F. Ware, who was for many years on intimate terms with Senator Plumb, that these amendments were intended as a beginning. Power was to be given the Commission to make rates of duty under certain conditions. Based on the find- ings of the Committee, Congress was to fix maximum and minimum rates. As conditions changed at home or abroad the rate might be changed by the Commis- sion, within the bounds set by Congress, to conform to these conditions. This feature was to be introduced after the Commission was firmly established as a per- manent institution. Senator Plumb was not convinced that the establishment of maximum and minimum rates i Ex-Senator Pettigrew of South Dakota, said to the author: Senator Plumb had been working on a tariff commission plan for some years prior to this time and had offered it in the Senate. He had given the matter much thought and hard study. He was familiar with the workings of the whole scheme of our Government. It was a scientific plan to raise the revenue necessary for the support of the Government accurately adjusted to all needs of the Govern- ment. Plumb, Paddock and I studied the McKinley Bill with care and worked long and hard to correct its evils by the formation of a Tariff Commission along lines worked out by Plumb. Failing to secure the authority for this Commission by a provision in the bill, we considered it our duty to vote against the bill with its monstrous crimes against the people. And we did vote against it. This vote was the supreme test of the loyalty of Senator Plumb to the interest of the people. When it was possible for him to do so he voted for the measures and policies of his party. He had great influence in the Senate and stood high in councils of his party. But none of these things nor all of them, counted when his duty to the people was put into the balance. Plumb was an honest man. 376 THE LIFE OF PKESTON B. PLUMB could be legally accomplished, nor that power could be conferred on a Commission to fix rates in these bounds. He inclined to the opinion that these things might be legally done, and he submitted the matter to Mr. Ware, who was a lawyer in whose judgment he had confi- dence. It was the conclusion of Mr. Ware that the position of Senator Plumb was within the rights of Con- gress and would be upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. A few days before his death Senator Plumb intro- duced a bill for the establishment of a permanent Cus- toms Commission. It was one of the last acts of his life. CHAPTER LX SUGAR Sugar is necessary to the existence of man. It is a natural ingredient of various articles of his food, but in this form it is not present in quantities sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the refined taste of civili- zation. It must be furnished as a separate article. To meet this want man has developed in certain plants abnormal proportions of sugar substances. To extract, manufacture, and refine these substances into sugar are among the great enterprises of mankind. The fact that these plants can be grown only in restricted areas en- ables those engaged in the manufacture of sugar to lay heavy tribute on the people of most countries. And it follows that the discovery of a sugar-producing plant which might grow in more rigorous climates and over wider areas would mean the extension of industry and enterprise and the reduction in cost of one of the neces- saries of life. In the sorghum plant Senator Plumb sought these possibilities. This plant grows well in most parts of the United States, and it bears a large percentage of sugar-producing substances. It has been grown in America more than a century. It has a flavor not found in true sugar cane and which is not generally relished. To eliminate this taste and overcome some difficulties which the sugar presents in the process of refining would make the manufacture of the highest grades of sugar common to all parts of the United States. When Plumb started his paper at Emporia he began 377 378 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB an agitation for the manufacture of sugar from sor- ghum. In Kansas he was a pioneer in this field. He believed the climate and soil of Kansas peculiarly adapted to the production of sorghum. His articles de- scribed its virtues and urged its cultivation. It is one of the things which he never gave up. When he went to the Senate he kept the matter in mind. He did not fail to urge on the people of Kansas the importance of developing the industry. By the year 1880 attempts were made to manufacture sugar from sorghum, and in 1884 there were a number of factories in Kansas en- gaged in the business. The capital invested then amounted to f 190,000. The State offered a small bounty on the sugar produced, and in 1890 the bounty amounted to 127,43s. 1 In 1S84 the United States Government appropriated, through the efforts of Senator Plumb, the sum of $50,- 000 to cany on experiments for improving the processes of manufacture, and the results were satisfactory. He asked for the same amount in 1885, and in support of the measure said that about 600,000 pounds of mer- chantable sugar had been produced in Kansas the pre- ceding year. He exhibited some of it and said : I have here a sample of what is called " A " sugar, made by the ordinary process, and which I should be glad to have every Senator who has any interest in this matter examine and taste for himself, in order to see that sugar made from sorghum, what- ever it may have been heretofore, is absolutely free from any anti-saccharine substance, from anything which to the taste characterizes it as different from the ordinary sugar, as can be i Two cents a pound. Act of the Legislature of March 5, 1887. See the reports of the State Board of Agriculture for these years. E. B. Cowgill made the first report of real value on the subject of sugar from sorghum, and it is published there. The Secretary of the Board says the sugar was of good quality but not quite white, and that it retained some of the flavor of the cane from which it was derived. This was the sugar made by the factories for general sale, not that produced by the Government experts. SUGAR 379 imagined. It is as good in every respect and has taken its place alongside of the best article manufactured out of the Louisiana cane, and has met every expectation of both seller and consumer. He explained the progress which had been made in the installation of improved machinery and the stages of manufacture and refining of sugar. He declared that $100,000,000 worth of sugar was imported annually at that time, saying that it was a subject of great im- portance to discover and develop in some way some means of supplying this deficiency in the home produc- tion. He caused to be read the report of Professor Swenson, one of the Government experts, which said that "the past season's work has fully proven that a first-class sugar can be made from sorghum cane. The possibility of making as good an article of sugar from this source as from Southern cane or sugar beet may be considered a settled fact." 2 Speaking in 1SS9 of the progress made with sorghum sugar Plumb said that what was known as "C" sugar could be produced by the factories without additional refining, and that this sugar would be made by small factories scattered over the areas which produced the cane, which it was impracticable to transport long dis- tances. Through the effort of Senator Plumb it was demon- strated that as good sugar could be made from sorghum as from the true sugar cane, and that it could be pro- duced at a cost small enough to put it in competition with the sugars of beets and cane. 3 Doctor Wiley says of the Senator : I knew Senator Plumb quite intimately from 1885 to 1889 = Sop Congressional Rrrord, Second session, 4Sth Congress, pp. 2131, ft srq. 3 In a letter to B. Rockwell, Junction City. Kansas, December 27, 1S0O, Senator Plumb expressed the belief that sugar could be made for three cents a pound and even for two and a half cents a pound. 3S0 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB during the time that I was engaged in experimenting in Kansas in the production of sugar from sorghum. Senator Plumb was the one who secured the appropriations, and they were of a generous nature. The sorghum industry never had a better nor more active friend than Senator Plumb. It was through him that the money was given with which to carry on the experiments at Fort Scott, at Ottawa, at Medicine Lodge and other localities in Kansas. All together, in the course of sis or seven years, the Department expended on these experiments probably between a quarter and a half-million dollars, a large part of which was spent at Fort Scott and Medicine Lodge. In connection with these manufacturing experiments, cultural experiments were car- ried on in Kansas with the collaboration of the late A. A. Denton. Senator Plumb also took a lively interest in this part of the work. The appropriation bill for many years carried the specific appropriations for these experimental investigations, and while others in Congress were interested in the matter, Senator Plumb was always the leader. You can give him full credit for being the leading man in securing the legislation. 4 So much, encouraged with the results of these ex- periments was Senator Plumb that he believed the in- dustry of making sugar from sorghum was achieved and fully established. To a representative of a Kansas City paper in 1887 he said : I shall not be surprised if within five years Kansas is able to manufacture from sorghum all the sugar necessary to supply her own citizens, and I have little doubt but that within ten years the United States will manufacture from this source all the sugar necessary for home consumption. 5 It is much more than probable that the sugar prob- lem in the United States would have been solved had Senator Plumb lived to the end of Ms third term. * Letter to the author, October 19, 1911. 5 Kansas City Times. CHAPTER LXI NEWSPAPERS WnEN Plumb wont out of the newspaper business he did not lose interest in the profession. Between bat- tles in Northwest Arkansas in the Civil War he pub- lished Buck t£- Ball. A printer was hailed as a brother, and the woes of the old tramp typo never failed of al- leviation when thev came to his knowledge. He under- stood newspapers and the men who made them. To the end of his life he looked to the papers as the best source of information of events and conditions. And he relied most on the local papers. II.- said to Walter Wellman, who went once to interview him : I believe in the local newspapers. They are tlie leaders, the makers of public sentiment. They are nearer to the people than any other paper. Their editors mingle with the people, and consciously or unconsciously reflect the views of their readers. By my private letters from all parts of the State, and by read- ing the local papers, I can tell just what the people of Kansas are thinking and talking about. I can feel the pulse of the people and take their temperature. I am amazed, too, at the excellence of our country papers. The majority of them are carefully, ably edited. They not only print the news of neigh- borhood, but have opinions which I find it worth while to read and reflect upon. I get no better return for any of the money which I spend than for that which I pay out for local newspapers of my State. One of Plumb's friends visited him in Washington once and found him going through the Kansas news- papers. The last entry made in his notes was to the effect that the editor of the paper at Blue Mound (a vil- 381 382 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB lage in Linn County) had said so and so in Ms last issue. The incident shows with what great care he read the papers. B. J. Sheridan, of Paola, editor of the Spirit, of that town, called on Plumb at his office in Washington. Plumb grasped his hand and exclaimed, " How are you, Barney! I see the paper at Louisburg (then a cross- roads village, east of Paola) is going after you red- headed ! ' Plumb had noticed in the columns of the little paper the vials of the wrath of its editor poured out on Sheridan. " He reads a newspaper like the ex- change editor of a great daily," said Wellman. " His typewriter operator opens the papers and spreads them out on his desk, and when the Senator goes at them they disappear at the rate of three a minute. A rapid glance finishes one page, and a second glance another. But nothing of interest escapes his quick eyes." Continu- ing, Wellman says: 'Senator Plumb, who has been unusually conspicuous of late on account of his independent attitude on the Tariff Bill, is one of the busiest men in Congress. I have watched him for a long time, and I have never seen him idle. He lives at the Shoreham Hotel, but keeps a " den " on Fourteenth Street, near the newspaper offices. This den, which is a curiosity in its way, the Senator enters regularly every morning at eight o'clock. For two hours he does nothing but sit there, with his Western slouch hat upon his head, reading newspapers. He is the most omnivorous newspaper reader I know of. He takes all the New York papers, several from Chicago, one from Philadelphia, and perhaps a dozen dailies from other large cities. Three daily papers from Kansas City and two from St. Louis reach his office regularly. There are magazines and weekly publications by the score. But the bulk of the Senator's newspaper mail comes from his own State. He is a subscriber to every paper in Kansas. As there are about eight hundred of them, many of them published daily, it is easy to see that Senator Plumb has his hands full. Walter B. Stevens, of the St. Louis Glodc-Democrat, NEWSPAPERS 383 was long at Washington. He came to know Senator Plumb intimately. Stevens was one of the big news- paper men of Plumb's time, and wrote of him : He rents double parlors on Fourteenth Street, near the hotels, at one of which he takes his meals. The front parlor looks about as much like a newspaper office as the Senator can make it. He plants a big desk, with a high back, in the center of the room. His mail contains as many newspapers as it did when he had a big " exchange list." As often as the old inclina- tion comes over him he goes through a bushel or two of these papers in a way to awaken a news editor's admiration. He runs his forefinger under the wrapper, glances over the first page, and has the inside spread out while another Senator would be study- ing the postmark. The high desk is opposite the door. When a visitor knocks he is greeted with a genuine Kansas " Come in ! " He opens the door. The Senator raises his head, glances over the top of his desk, and says, "How are you?" cheerily, and goes on witli his work. Mr. Plumb is the only statesman in Washington who can dis- pose of caller after caller with results entirely satisfactory all round and at the same time go on reading letters and papers; revising speeches or dictating to a private secretary. He never does less than two things at once, lie has a record of sustain- ing his part of an interview for the Globe-Democrat, while actu- ally engaged in getting into a refractory dress-shirt for a White I [ouse neeption, which is a pretty good illustration of his mental comprehensiveness. Any statesman can go on with work and freeze out a visitor. Put Senator Plumb is the rare exception who can go on with work and at the same time make his visitor feel entirely at home and satisfied with his reception. The first thing a Washington landlady has to learn about Senator Plumb is that under no consideration must a paper or book in his room be moved. The next lesson is not to mind a slam of the front door, which can be heard from basement to attic, when he comes in or goes out. But these two lessons are all. He is a model lodger. Before Captain ITenry King became editor of the (ilobr-Dcmocrut he was many years editor of the Topeka Commonwealth and knew Plumb well. Captain King said : Plumb never ceased to be a newspaper man. To the end of 384 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB his life he was primarily and first of all a newspaper man. He knew the news and how it should be served up. He knew that newspapers usually told the truth and could be depended on to do the right thing. He read all the Kansas papers and many others. He also read everything new in the way of books. This is why he was always the best informed man in the Senate. And being the best informed, he was the most powerful man in the Senate. Plumb never failed to stop at the Globe-Democrat office when in St. Louis, even if only between trains. And he was a familiar figure in the newspaper offices in Chicago and New York. Plumb was a favorite with newspaper men. He knew and trusted them and no doubt many of them were told weeks in advance that information of some great event would be ready to be given out by a certain time, and it is not now recalled that he was ever betrayed by the publication of the intelligence before the proper date. Colonel John C. Carpenter, one of the founders of Chanute, was a stanch friend of Senator Plumb and often visited him at Washington. Among the rich store of incidents detailed by him none are more interesting than that of how Plumb read the newspapers : I have seen Plumb in his room at work many times. He would have a stack of newspapers, as many as would conveniently lie on top of a large table. He would be sitting there, opening papers and glancing through them and talking to you all the while. I have seen him go through a hundred and tell the local transactions of all the counties in Kansas. He scanned the columns, caught the idea and went on. If at any time you made reference to anything that had happened in a certain county he would say, " Yes, I saw that in the papers." While he was going through the papers he would keep up a conversation right along. It would not be continuous; there would be an interval of a few seconds, during which time he would absorb everything in the paper before him ; then he would take up the conversation where he had left off. I have wondered at him — wondered how he could in an instant grasp the news and hold it. Plumb aided many newspaper men. There are yet, perhaps, a good many papers in Kansas which were started with money borrowed from him. If the loca- NEWSPAPERS 3S5 tion was good and the man competent and square lie could always get from Plumb a portion of the money required to found his paper, or to pay part of the pur- chase money on one already established. He aided Major Hudson more than once to keep the Topeka Daily Capital afloat. The money he put into newspapers was on loans only; he did not buy or take any interest in the papers. These loans were usually promptly paid. CHAPTER LXII HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS Tub habits and characteristics of Senator Plumb were formed and developed in a youth of strenuous ef- fort to get forward in the world. They were the mani- festations of a strong individuality moved by a definite purpose and untiring industry. From childhood he was noted for enthusiasm. The most fortunate cir- cumstance of his life was that he was never constrained into self-consciousness. His mother, from whom he inherited his temperament, wisely fostered and en- couraged the sanguine fervency of his nature. His mental growth was natural and healthy, his chief dis- couragement being an environment somewhat barren of opportunity. But his native force enabled him to sur- mount the obstacles to his youthful progress. Those he encountered later in life did not appear so formidable, and they were usually overcome by confidence in his power and his capacity for work. The habits of such a. man must of necessity be directed to the end of getting things done. The bearing of such a man is not always elegant, and his intercourse with associates must fre- quently partake of the brusque and the abrupt. The sympathetic nature of Senator Plumb saved him from the consequence of bitter hatreds and relentless feuds, such as wrecked the career of Conkling. He sometimes suffered from this spirit in others, but he was incapable of retaliation in kind. He had few enemies, perhaps none, to whom he would not have been reconciled as the result of advances made in good faith. Here are a few instances which illustrate the habits 386 HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS 387 and characteristics of Plumb. Eugene F. Ware called on Plumb in Washington. It was early in the morning. He looked haggard and worn. He told Ware that he had slept little for two or three nights and had missed most of his meals for a day or two, all because of work which he felt he must do and had just completed. He felt depressed and believed his health might be giving way. They had been friends since army days, and Ware said, " This will never do, Senator, never in the world. I insist that you now surrender yourself into my hands and remain my prisoner a few days." Plumb thought he would not have time to do it, but Ware made him see that he must. Ware often visited the eastern shore of North Carolina for recreation, and now he and Plumb took the first train for that coast. There they fished. They rode through pine woods on horseback. They went up and down the inlets and bays. After an outing of a week they returned to Washington. Plumb's health ami spirits were completely restored. A year or two later they made a trip to Charlottes- ville, Virginia, and visited Jefferson's home and grave. The exact date of this is preserved. Ware presented Plumb with an umbrella having ;i gold handle, and sent with it the following letter, which contains a definite reference to the Virginia outing: Washington, D. C, Juno 5, 1889. Dear Senator: While in Washington T have heard some little complaint as to the character of the umbrellas that you leave around in hat-racks and hall-ways, which comes from your pernicious habit of buying them by the pound. 1 scud you one herewith with winch you can sort of thicken tip your former contributions to the general fund. I have put on the handle the date of May 10th which you will remember was the date we visited Monticello, as shown by the papers you bought of the newsboy. 1 i When they got back to the train a newsboy sold Hurnb a New York paper several (lays old. Plumb did not notice the date and 388 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Many incidents of Plumb's life in Kansas before his election to the Senate are lost. E. P. Harris, who worked under Plumb as a printer, on the Herald of Freedom, in the winter of 185C-7, says of him : Plumb was a good printer and a good foreman. He insisted on good work. He had unusual energy and was nervous, quick, always moving, saw everything and took note of it; and, on the street, walked at a sort of swinging gait that no one could keep up with. He seemed always short of time and in a hurry. He seemed never tired. He appeared not to think as other young fellows did. He took immense interest in passing events. There was always something on his mind about the future — some- thing he said nothing about' — but which he was ever thinking and planning about. A. G. Proctor was one of the early merchants of Em- poria. Of Plumb at that time he recalls that, He was a lusty young fellow, rather rough in personal appear- ance, badly pock-marked, full of enthusiasm, in touch with all that was going on about there — just the make-up for the work he was engaged in. He was ready to help the preacher start a church, to be judge at the pony races Saturday afternoon, lend a hand at getting the timber on the ground for a school-house, go into an Indian fight on the Walnut, or fit in at any of the func- tions that grace or enliven frontier life. Emporia was close to the south line of the county. She must be the county-seat. As the town could not be moved, the county lines of that region had to be, to provide the geographical center. This was Plumb's first political job. He did it all right and Emporia became the county-seat. Once Senator Plumb went into the office of an Em- poria newspaper late at night. He was then trying to develop the sorghum sugar industry in Kansas. He sat read on and on for something new. Everything seemed old. He made some remark to Ware about the stale news he was finding. Then it occurred to them to examine the date, which they found to be May 10th, a week or more back. It became a matter of humorous reference between them and explaius Ware's mention of it in his letter and in the inscription on the handle of the umbrella. HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS 389 down and wrote an editorial on the subject. It was quite long, and the editor said it could not all be set up in time for the paper to go to press and be out for the mails on the early trains. Plumb wanted the entire editorial in, so he took a " stick " and went to a " case/'" where he set type for an hour or two, and the paper was out on time, and it contained all of the editorial. As showing the hearty good-will always existing be- tween Plumb and his neighbors, W. F. Shamleffer, of Council Grove, says that Plumb was cordial in manner, such a man as it did one good to talk to. He says Plumb has often slapped him on the back or thigh, while talking, with such force that he has felt it for a week ; but that he felt good every time the twinge caught him, for it re- called the good-fellowship and whole-souled way of Plumb. "Plumb cut right into the heart of a matter and brushed aside any fallacies which might surround it," said P. I. Bonebrake, who was for many years closely identified with the business and politics of Kansas. lie said that in any crowd which might gal her on a street about a fire or other exciting evenl there would be many people content to stand on the i'*]' r i<^ and gel what in- formation worked through the mass in front of them. Not so with Plumb. lie always came up with a rush and (dbowed and see-sawed his way to the center and saw for himself. George R. Peck came to Kansas from Wisconsin when a very young man and began the practice of law at Independence. In that profession he and Plumb were rising to distinction at the same time. They were friends, and it was with emotion that Peck said: Senator Plumb was true and loyal. He stood by his friends and stood through every sort of trial. He did not forsake — he did not quit. He stuck to the end. And he did not forget his friends, lie was active in their interest whether they were present or absent. When he saw an opportunity to help a friend 390 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB he did not wait to be asked to help. He did it at once and then notified the friends of the result. That caused him to be loved in Kansas more than any other public man in the State ever was loved. He was particularly the friend of the poor and helpless, the shiftless and the incapacitated. He had a number of people of this kind on his hands* all the time. They never appealed to him in vain. He had an instinct for business, and no man ever had finer business judgment. He was fair and square in his dealings, and he had a, fine sense of honor. He trusted his associates fully. In politics Plumb was for the people. He was for the Sher- man anti-trust law, and he opposed and voted against the McKinley Bill because he believed it was not a just bill. Senator Cullom said that sometimes Plumb would ap- pear to take little notice of an important matter that was engrossing the attention of the Senate, and that Senators would count on his indifference to the measure. But very unexpectedly Plumb might rise in his place to make a few remarks, and then make a speech that would overturn and upset everything and direct the bill as he wanted it to go. In these speeches he sur- prised all with his knowledge of even the remotest effects of the bill, and its complete history. Cullom often saw him do that. Sometimes such a speech would change the whole course of business in the Senate. Such speeches were always possible while Plumb was in the Senate. " Plumb was open, above-board, frank, cordial, but firm as iron, and would not yield an inch until convinced that he ought to," said Senator Cullom. " He was proud, too, in a way, and never lost his self- respect ; never lost faith in himself. He was a hail fel- low, but he did not permit undue familiarity. He could swear savagely and effectively when angered, but he was not a profane man and did not often swear." B. W. Perkins was a member of the House. He was prominent in Kansas politics and succeeded Plumb in the Senate. He had long been on intimate terms with HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS 391 the Senator, and few knew him better. In his memorial address Mr. Perkins said: In May last we were together in Xew York City, and we visited a bookstore, and he spent an hour or more looking over new publications, and left his order for over a hundred volumes. Knowing his busy life, I asked him when he found time to read books, and he answered that he read them when traveling and nights when not otherwise engaged, for recreation. And thus every moment of this great man's life was utilized, and all his wakeful moments were busily employed. He was an early riser no matter what the demands upon him the previous night, and the early hours of the day were given to his correspondence, which was wonderfully voluminous. After dictating letters to his stenographer for two hours or more he would go to break- fast, if he had time; but if friends were waiting and his errand and Department work were pressing, he would defer his breakfast until later in the day and give his time and energies to the demands of a constituency that had no conception of the work it imposed upon him. In this way his hours for eating became very irregular and I have known many instances when late in the afternoon he took his first morsel of food for the day. But this did not seem to impair his capacity for work, and in his rapid, vigorous and irresistible way he pushed along, defying the inexorable laws of nature, until the end came in that sudden, startling manner on the 20th day of December last. Many who knew him well had anticipated that when the final summons came it would come without warning or notice, as a flash of lightning from a cloud- less sky, but all had hoped that the grim messenger, which comes but once to man, would defer his summons until this strong, sympathetic, robust, capable and useful man could give to his people and to his country many more years of his splendid service. I have known many business and public men, but in my entirtf circle of acquaintances I have never known one who could look after as many interests, assume so many responsibilities, and give his attention to as many cares at the same time, without neglecting any, as Preston B. Plumb. Ih' died with his mental faculties unimpaired, his genial nature unchilled, and his love of friends and country as stalwart as in the happy days of boyhood. His fame, fairly earned, is secure, and his name will be honored by those who follow us. 392 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Plumb, as Chief -of-Staff, often saw Stephen B. Elkins, who was Captain of a Company of Militia at Kansas City in 18G3. The following year Elkins went to New Mexico, and he next saw Plumb in the Senate. He de- lighted to tell of a visit to Emporia to see Plumb and of going down to the Neosho with him to swim : I remember very well Plumb's fondness for swimming and his going to the stream near Emporia to swim, and returning to his law office sun-burned, the very picture of health. He was the greatest worker I ever saw. lie had a great mind and a splendid physique. He would throw off his coat and vest and take up his business and keep two stenographers busy and carry on a conversation. He was full of nervous force and kept mov- ing about all the time. I have seen him get to his office at three in the morning, and instead of getting to bed to sleep, get his coat off and go to work. He would not sleep at all that night, and would be in the Senate apparently as fresh as any of us. Plumb made it his business to know everything. He was always informed as to the affairs of the Government — all its affairs. He was a great power in the Senate. He drank a little and played cards for recreation. So, it was, that the habits of Senator Plumb grew out of his own nature and were little influenced by external circumstances. Intense application only put him in his normal condition. Said a Senator, on hearing of his death, " Poor Plumb used to get up before daylight every morning and write to half of Kansas." This voluntary burden grew to such proportions that no man could bear it. Then came the tragedy which ends every human life. CHAPTER LXIII CAPACITY FOE WORK Plumb rejoiced in Lis strength. The greatest pleas- ure he experienced in his life was feeling conscious of his power to strive, to overcome, to conquer, and in do- ing these tilings'. In the fullness of his power his strength responded instantly to every demand he made on it. He overtaxed it constantly for many years with- out feeling any ill effects from overwork. Achieve- ment requires that there be vigor both of body and mind. In Plumb the mental man was predominant and re- lentless, regarding the physical man as ;i machine to be driven at high pressure to the limit of endurance. In these days of fierce and strenuous competition in all the fields of human endeavor such characters are not un- common, distinctions appearing only in degree of power and application. In many respects Plumb's intellect was marvelous. Men who have been able to carry two distinct lines of thought at the same time have been rare. Plumb was possessed of this remarkable gift to a considerable ex- tent, and to it he largely owed his ability to do an enor- mous amount of work. One of the foremost lawyers of Washington is authority for the statement that Plumb could simultaneously read two columns of a newspaper and comprehend both. " And once," said he, " I was sent by my partner to see him. Entering his office, I found him reading newspapers. He told me to sit down and talk to him about the business I had on hand, and it was his business I was attending to. I thought my 303 394 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB reception rather cool and that the Senator was indif- ferent. I told my partner that I believed that Plumb had not heard a word I said, for he read his papers all the time. But afterwards I heard him repeat to my partner all I had told him." When traveling Senator Plumb always carried books to read on trains and at hotels when not otherwise occu- pied. These were usually volumes of classic of conven- ient size — Shakespeare, Dante, Carlyle, Plutarch, Longfellow or the works of other masters. Once a friend found him reading a volume on a train. He seemed completely engrossed. He regarded the pages intently as he slowly turned the leaves. The friend thought he was only glancing through the book, and said, " Senator, you are not getting much from your book, reading it that way." Plumb looked up, for the first time recognizing his friend, not having observed his coming in, and, handing him the book, said, " I have read to this page. Turn to any page preceding it and read to me a line or two from the top and I will see what I can tell you of that which follows." Plumb could tell him the substance of almost every page to which his attention was thus called. That is how he read a book. More than one lawyer has said to the au- thor that Plumb would absorb the contents of a volume on the law in an hour. It is not pretended that he could read the two col- umns of a newspaper at once, or that he could read the pages of a book as he slowly turned the leaves and do that reading as it is usually done. But he caught and retained the substance of what he saw in his rapid survey of the columns of the paper and the pages of the book. In the days of his law practice many a client found him in full possession of the facts and the status of his case in the law long before the statement of the case was finished. All this came from the instan- taneous intuitive processes of Plumb's mind. CAPACITY FOR WORK 395 " He has grown to be one of the most effective all- round debaters in the Senate — the peer of any," wrote a Washington correspondent to his paper. " The secret of it is that he is a most persistent student. He is an omnivorous reader. He will master the contents of almost any book in an hour, and will assimilate its sa- lient facts in such a way that they are always on tap. He does not memorize a book; he absorbs it." Plumb secured William A. Miller, of Council Grove, a position in the Congressional Library. He once saw Plumb going up Pennsylvania Avenue in a carriage, writing, and wholly oblivious to his surroundings. Miller once found him in his office looking through the Kansas papers and dictating to two stenographers, at the same time talking to some Kansas visitors. Miller was included in the conversation. The Senator kept his clerks busy, looking over his papers, and talked to his guests without confusion or apparent effort. Judge W. A. Johnston says Tlumb was forceful and industrious : He had a great capacity for work — no Kansan, so far as [ know, ever equaled him in that respect. lie toiled day and night. He was expected to do the hard work in State cam- paigns. And he did. He never missed an appointment. Bad roads, foul weather, and poor conveyances were overcome by him. He did not waste time. In AYashington he walked from Department to Department at such a pace that few men could keep up witli him. lie was always sure to know how Kansas people would view a question, and ho was one of the first to see that prohibition would be favorably received. Kansas owes Plumb much. lie was a faithful public servant. ne never flinched. He never evaded a duty. Unfinished work was a challenge which he accepted and fell upon with all his might. He did not spare his strength and died from overwork. P. I. Bonebrake, State Auditor, and long prominent in Kansas politics, was at one time Chairman of the State Central Committee. He found Plumb his main reliance for meetings in the larger towns. 396 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB He was the only speaker we had who could be depended on to be always on hand. He was promptly at all his engagements, no matter what came tip. I always felt secure when Plumb was on the circuit. And he did not confine himself to the large towns. He often made pilgrimages into the frontier counties. In fact, he liked to do so. He had lived on the frontier and felt the charm of pioneer life. I once sent him on a hard trip to the southwest part of the State. There was a meeting at one point, and a drive of ninety miles to another meeting the day follow- ing. The meetings had not been arranged in that way, but one speaker had failed me, and Plumb said he would try to fill all dates. And he did speak at his first appointment and drive ninety miles to the appointment the next day. The Rev. Richard Co-rdley was a pioneer minister of the Congregational Church in Kansas. He knew Plumb from the time of his arrival, and delivered his funeral sermon, in which he said: It has been said that his marked characteristic was his capac- ity for work. But many people have a capacity for work and unlimited endurance who yet accomplish little. Mr. Plumb rather had a marvelous capacity to make his work tell. He always did the effective thing. He could do more things and make them all come to time than any man I ever knew. He had the faculty of finding the spring that moved the whole affair. He would accomplish by the turn of a hand what another might worry over for a day. This was his great tempta- tion to overwork. A man who can effect so much every time he moves is desperately tempted to keep moving. When with so slight an effort he could do so much he could not afford to stand still. And it doubtless was an inspiration to see things dispatched by a touch so slight or a word so easily uttered. In the summer of 1891 Bailie P. Waggener was in Washington. He visited Plumb at his office, where he arrived about eight o'clock in the morning. He found the room half-full of newspapers which had been read and thrown aside. Plumb was in his shirt-sleeves, and his suspenders were thrown down from his shoulders. A pencil was in his hand and a block of writing paper on the desk, and from this many sheets had been torn. CAPACITY FOR WORK 397 Plumb was alone and hard at work. He would open a paper, scan it closely but rapidly, write a few lines on the tablet before him, and cast the paper into the heap at his side. Then he would take up another and go through it in like manner. He told Waggener that he had not been to breakfast, " and," said he, " I have not been in bed. My stenographers left me after midnight. As I was not sleepy I kept at my work." He told Wag- gener that every week he read all the newspapers pub- lished in Kansas — that it was necessary for him to do so to know how the people of the State felt in relation to public matters and toward public men. Walter B. Stevens, Washington correspondent of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, was on intimate terms with Senator Plumb for many years, and he has left this ac- count of how he worked : He did two, three, and four things at one time. Often and often he sat dictating letters to his stenographer, glancing over newspapers, and transacting business with callers. Was it any wonder that the tissue of the cells of the brain gave way under that kind of mental strain? There was no ordinary stenographer who could keep up with him, so he would dictate three or four sentences like a Hash, turn in conversation for ten or fifteen seconds to his visitor and at the same time keep on opening and scanning newspapers. And there was the remarkable thing about his mind's operation. In the gaps between dictation he carried the thread of what he wanted to say in the letter. He carried the thread of conversation at the same time. Perhaps the latest remark of the visitor was made after the Senator had resumed his dictation. The trained ear and busy mind caught it. When the dictation stopped the Senator went right on with the conversation. He did not repeat to his stenographer. He did not ask his visitor what he had just said. And the opening and reading of newspapers continued. The mind had triple capacity seemingly. This statement may be called incredible. Those who knew the Senator will verify it. Mr. Plumb's fellow- Senators often remarked upon this peculiar faculty or activity of mind. It was this which enabled him to carry so long "as much work as six men could have done and preserve their lives," to quote the words of Senator Manderson. 398 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Of Napoleon the historians say that he could read with" one eye and write with the other; that is, he could carry two trains of thought in his mind at the same time. This extraordinary faculty Senator Plumb possessed. Often he arose to address the Senate and as he did so would pick up from the desk in front of him paper after paper. The casual observer thought these were notes of what the Senator wanted to say. They were not. They were letters of the morning's mail which he had gathered up and brought into the Senate chamber with him. He was actually addressing the Senate and at the same time going through Ins correspondence. CHAPTER LXIV CHARITY Plumb was not entitled to any special credit for hav- ing an inclination to charity. That he was touched and moved by distress should not be regarded as exceptional, for most people are so affected. Men in ordinary cir- cumstances, and even in poverty, rarely refuse a meri- torious appeal for aid. Sometimes the cries of the poor fall on the heedless ears of the rich. It is worthy of note in any man that he recognizes his obligations to society and carries a warm heart for humanity. Plumb never forgot that he had been a poor man. To the un- fortunate and troubled he ever turned a kindly face. It is not too much to say that hundreds of churches, church-schools, and ministers were aided bv Senator Plumb. His papers disclose something of this, but he never mentioned a matter of that kind and disliked to hear his helpful acts referred to by others. Mrs. I. E. Perley was one of the first settlers of Em- poria. Her brother was a member of the Town Com- pany. She was for sixteen years president of the Bene- volent Society or its ward committee, and she had the disposition of the money raised for charity in the town. She said, "Mr. Plumb always gave double the largest subscription on the list and a Christmas dinner for the poor besides. He has told me many times that if there was any need, to let him know; for his hand and purse were always open. We had a charity ball every year to raise money for benevolences, and he always gave us a hundred dollars for that." In a letter written him 390 400 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB February 1, 1885, she said, " I write you a note express- ing the thanks of our ladies for your gift to the poor of our city. I wish I might make this speechless paper tell you of the comfort and cheer that your gifts have brought to many homes ; I cannot ; I am poor in thanks, and I feel that words, at best, can but very feebly con- vey or interpret the feeling of gratitude." On the 28th of November, 1SSG, Senator Plumb wrote Mrs. Perley saying: A day or two before I left Mr. Perley came with the usual subscription paper for the benefit of the poor of Emporia ; and that has led me to think of something in the same connection, to-wit, a Christmas dinner for these same poor people. My idea is that a good wholesome square meal be furnished them on that day — or rather the material out of which they could make it, and out of which they should make it. Is the idea practicable and worthy of being carried out ? To how many families would it apply; and what would be the cost of the plan if carried out? In January, 1888, he wrote her as follows: This cold weather makes me think of those who are or may be insufficiently supplied with fuel, shelter, clothing and food — and especially those of Emporia and vicinity. ... I will add to your fund for the uses of the needy whenever you report the necessity or desirability of it. In the Globe-Democrat, December 27, 1891, Walter B. Stevens said Senator Plumb spent every year in never-paraded charity twice the amount of his senatorial salary. Continuing he says : When the people with whom the Senator lived put things in order a couple of days ago, after the funeral, they found in a drawer a bundle of crochet work for the holidays. They were mystified at first. Then they remembered that they had seen an old lady at the door with a basket of these articles trying to sell some of her handiwork. They remembered that on that same morning the Senator had come to them to get some change. Since then the old lady has come again, and she has told of her talk with the kind Senator and of his promise to buy all of the crochet work she could make up to Christmas time. CHARITY 401 The apostle exhorted his son in the faith that the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart. Kindness to the poor and the unfortunate has been en- joined by every preacher of righteousness. Its origin and prompting rise in the brotherhood of humanity, and its secret practice has ever been the fruit of the noble heart and the right life. CHAPTER LXV A HELPFUL MAN No one should have honor above his fellows because he is kind of heart. He should be so from that sense of brotherhood common to humanity. The incidents detailed in this chapter are not set down in any sense of hero worship. Nor are they designed to inspire the idea that Senator Plumb should have praise beyond any man performing the same acts. In recording the life of a public character it is right, however, that his attitude towards the people should be shown. And it is impor- tant that we should discover whether his kind actions were spontaneous and voluntary, or inspired by selfish motives. Sometimes a glimpse into the soul as revealed by a good or selfish action is worth pages of generali- zation. Occurrences are recorded here without com- ment, and they tell their own story. L. A. Bigger was one of the first settlers of Hutchin- son, Kansas, and one of its successful business men. Of Plumb's readiness to help a friend he says : I knew Senator Preston B. Plumb for many years. As I was not in politics he had no occasion to favor me. But he was al- ways my stand-by when I went to Washington either on business or pleasure. He would always welcome me and go right into the matter I had on hand. If my business was with the Departments he would go with me and say to the heads of the Departments, "Here is my friend ; do for him as you would do for me." And the Department officials always did it. One morning at my summer home in Colorado I re- ceived a telegram from my partner saying " Cy is to be hanged in 402 A HELPFUL MAN 403 October. Come quick." He meant Cyrus Frease, who was the uncle of my partners wife. I boarded the first train. At home I got the story of the " Haystack Tragedy." The family was in gTeat distress, and much against my will persuaded me to go im- mediately to Texas with the brother of the condemned man. It seemed folly to expect to upset the decision of the United States District Court, but we went, anyway. When we got to Paris, Texas, we found the court in session. I called on Judge Bryant and told him the purpose of my visit was to ascertain if there was any truth in the rumor that there were gross errors and much injustice in the trial of the six Kansans condemned to death. I had never before met so cold a proposition as Judge Bryant. He fairly froze me out of his office, and acted as though I might have done the killing myself. I reported to the condemned man's brother, and, with a local attorney, we discussed the matter until midnight. Then it occurred to me to wire Plumb. I did so, saying that six worthy Kansans had been unjustly condemned to death by the United States Court in Texas ; that Judge Bryant had presided at the trial ; that I wanted to get the injustice of the case before him ; and I asked him to wire Judge Bryant im- mediately of my standing and request him to accord me a full hearing, that I might do something for the condemned men. At ten o'clock next morning I received a note from Judge Bryant requesting me to call and see him. He showed me Plumb's tele- gram and apologized for his treatment of me. He said that in his private opinion the verdict was unjust as to four of the men, including my friend Cyrus Frease, but thought it was just as to the other two. He was ready to recommend the pardon of these four. He said that anything in the world he could do for me should be done, as I was Plumb's friend. I speak of this to show the hold Plumb had on men over the country. The Judgo gave me a letter to the members of the jury which had con- victed the men. I visited each one of them, with the result that the Department of Justice investigated the case, discovered the frauds, and all the men were finally set free. It is perhaps natural that the St. Louis Globe-Demo- crat should furnish more incidents in the life of Plumb than any other newspaper. Between Mr. Stevens, its Washington correspondent, and the Senator a firm friendship existed. And the paper was very favorable to Kansas in Territorial days, and it was always inter- ested in Kansas affairs. It was a powerful factor in 404 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB the political and material development of the State. The following is quoted from its columns : A man lay in a dazed condition in a Leadville boardinghouse. It was during the rush for fortunes, when that city was only a mining camp. Mountain pneumonia caught its victims and carried them over the divide like a whiff. This man's condition was that critical stage when a few hours' continuation at 11,000 feet altitude meant pneumonia and death. Plumb, who was for- tune-seeking in the camp, heard of the sick man. Twenty-five years before the two had been friends and business associates in Kansas. Twenty years before they differed and quarreled. They had not spoken to each other in all that interim, though their paths had crossed and recrossed. Perhaps hard words had been spoken to mutual friends. Into the sick man's room at early morning came Plumb, without a word of previous intima- tion to pave the way. " You must get out of this," he said, after a look. A couple of hours later, the sick man, wrapped in blankets, was lifted downstairs and into a four-horse ambulance, which was worth money in those days. Over and down the mountains went the outfit to Park City, then the terminus of the railroad. The sick man was lifted into a special car. Plumb was still by his side. He did not leave him until he saw him in a hotel in Denver and in the hands of people who would nurse him through. Then, with a " You'll be all right now," he was off. The two did not meet again for years. But the story explains why, on Sunday night * Richard J. Hinton walked the streets of "Washington weeping like a child. In the life of Noyes Spicer, an early settler of Kansas and an associate of Plumb, there was an incident simi- lar to the foregoing. He was sent by the Senator to Leadville to have oversight of some of his interests there. Spicer found people dying rapidly of a malady which affected the throat, and it, together with mountain fever, seized him; in addition, erysipelas developed. He was about to die. So swiftly was death doing its work in the camp that a hundred feet of trench was kept open all the time so that burials could be quickly made. Plumb hurried to Leadville. Spicer requested to be i Plumb had died that morning. A HELPFUL MAN 405 taken from the camp the following day whether he should be dead or alive, and Plumb said it should be done. The next morning he drove with the sick man to the railroad and went with him to Denver. There Spicer recovered. Charles B. Graves, lawyer, lived in Emporia for many years. He was Associate Justice of the Kansas Su- preme Court. No man knew Plumb better, and speak- ing of him Judge Graves said : Senator Plumb was always helping someone. Always when he came home from Washington he soon found what everyone was doing and how each one had prospered, and he invariably sought out the unfortunate and aided them with money, or secured for them some employment in which there was "opportunity for them to help themselves. And he never failed to point out a way for them and to encourage them to exert themselves in their own interest. One day he came into my office and looked over my law library. He rved that my set of the United States Statutes was not complete. He said he would send me from Washington the missing volumes. I supposed he would not think of the matter again; but he did. In a few weeks 1 received the volumes I wanted. In matters connected with the town's progress Plumb was always consulted. When it was decided to do anything a meeting was usually called. When the matter had been discussed and a decision reached, «>mcone invariably would get up and say he was in accord with what had been said, but that Plumb always took an interest in the town and was a man of fine busi- ness ability, and that he would like to have the matter post- poned until the Senator wag at home and could be consulted. This was almost always done. When Plumb came home the iiia iter was submitted to him. He always took an interest in it, investigated it, discussed it, and then gave his judgment, which usually met with the approval of all. As an illustration of the promptness with which he responded to any demand made on him, and the interest he had in the old soldiers, the following was related of Senator Plumb by Dr. Cordley : T had a friend in Lawrence who went into the army. At the close of the war he was broken in health. He applied for a pen- 406 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB sion, but on account of missing links in the evidence it was- delayed for many years. A few years ago the missing evidence was supplied and a pension was granted him. But when granted it was a mere pittance. He was now totally disabled. He could just walk about, but his limbs were so shaken of palsy that he could not even feed himself. He was the most complete physical wreck I ever saw. Some three years ago he told me his tale and asked me if I could not help him to get an increase of pension. He was certainly entitled to a full pension if any man ever was entitled to one. His case was clear and his testimony admitted. But his attorneys at Washington kept making him costs, and did not advance his case. It did not seem as if they cared to help him. I heard the poor old soldier's story with mingled pity and indignation. I told him I thought I knew of a A\ r ay to reach his case. I wrote Senator Plumb and laid the case before him. He wrote me at once for some facts by which he could identify the case among the thousands on file at the department. In an incredibly short time I met the old soldier, and he told me he had just received an increase to his pension making it ample for his need. This is but one of many cases I have myself personally known. Senator James H. Berry, of Arkansas, served long with Plumb and remembers with gratitude an instance of his kindness and generosity. Senator Berry says : One day Plumb inquired of me if my daughter was not ill from a nervous disease, saying that Mrs. Plumb had spoken to him about it. He strongly urged me to send my daughter to a certain physician in New York for treatment. I replied that I had already had my daughter treated by the best physicians in the West, and that I had just brought her home from Philadelphia, where she had been treated by a physician who said there was very little hope for her. I had lost hope of her recovery; and having no faith that she could be benefited, and not being a rich man, I hesitated to go to further expense, for the expense would be large; and that if I had any hope of her improvement I would manage to send her. Plumb said it seemed too bad that she should not have the benefit of medical treatment, which he felt sure would help her much and perhaps cure her. And he said to me, " Do not let money stand in the way. I am much interested in this matter. Make a draft on me for one thousand dollars and send the girl to New York. If you ever feel able to pay me the money all A HELPFUL MAN 407 right; and if you are never able to pav it I will never ask you for it." This revealed to me how deeply in earnest Plumb was. I told him I could not take the money, for I might not be able to pay it back, but as he was so sure of beneficial results I would find means to send my daughter to New York. I thanked him for his kindness. I sent her to New York, and she was very much benefited. Her health was practically restored. Senator Plumb never asked me for a favor in his life. He never asked me to vote for nor against any bill in the Senate. There was no favor he wanted of me, and there was none I could have rendered him. His action was entirely disinterested and from friendship alone. When I took my seat in the Senate I was appointed to the Committee on Public Lands. Senator Plumb was Chairman of that Committee. From the very first Senator Plumb was espe- cially kind to me. He always explained anything which came up, and took particular care that I should have full informa- tion about the public lands and the policy of the Government in their disposition. lie often requested me to report bills which the Committee had agreed on. These courtesies, I, being a new Senator and without experience in Senatorial procedure, were very much appreciated. A friendship grew between us which continued without interruption until severed by the death of Senator Plumb. Senator Ingalls was succeeded by W. A. Peffer, who, in a letter to the author says : Plumb was a big-souled man. He treated me as a brother. When I went to Washington as Senator he took me to the vari- ous Departments and introduced me to the head men. He secured for me a middle position (between an equal number of Republicans and Democrats) on an important committee (Claims). He was a generous man — liberal in his opinions on all subjects. Captain A. C. Pierce, who came through Iowa into Kansas with Plumb in 185G with arms to aid the set- tlers in their battle for freedom, was in the Eleventh Kansas. Here is an incident of army life which he related to the author : In 18G1 Plumb was elected to the Legislature. I was elected from my county. I remember one cold day Plumb rode horse- 408 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB back to Emporia for the purpose of obtaining a tract of land for the site of the State Normal School. That was a hard day for Plumb, but a big day for Emporia. As I stood in Emporia a few days ago and looked down that broad and beauti- ful avenue at that magnificent Normal School building with its great corps of instructors and its thousand pupils — the flower of Kansas — I said "There is a tree of knowledge planted by P. B. Plumb/' Look any way you please — come here to Port Kiley. It is the handsomest garrison in the United States, if not in the world. Plumb did it. We often met in the army. I never saw him discouraged, no matter what the hardship or what the duties. I know and remember how he felt about that march from Cane Hill to Van Buren. The regiment was on foot and had to ford Cove Creek thirty-two times. It was a small stream at its source, but before we reached Van Buren it was a turbulent stream and almost waist-deep. I had charge of the prisoners at Van Buren and was up most of the night. Plumb came to me and said " Pitch in, Lieutenant," and he laid down a can of sardines. Well, now, he could not have done more for me at that time. It was just what I wanted and needed. It illustrated Plumb's character. He was always doing the right tiring to help and assist someone. He touched el- bows and sympathized with his comrades as few army officers did. Some men were in the army for pay; Plumb was there from principle. His battle was to preserve the Ptepublic and constitutional liberty. Few men in the army understood the issues better than P. B. Plumb, and none had more faith that they would be settled finally on the right side. A boy could approach Senator Plumb with assurance of a hearing. An instance is given. F. A. Brogan, now a lawyer, of Omaha, was an Emporia boy at college in Washington. Like other Kansans he believed Sena- tor Plumb could and would aid him, and he was not disappointed : I had been appointed to represent my college in a debate on the subject of the advisability of the territorial expansion of the United States, a question purely academic, but now a great na- tional question. I was on the affirmative side. We were at liberty to inform ourselves in any way we could, and I availed myself of that permission by calling on Senator Plumb. I stated my situation to him and asked him to help me. He promptly lifted one leg upon the other knee, and hugged it in A HELPFUL MAN 409 that position, while he proceeded, for nearly an hour, to tell me what he thought on the question I had in mind. He said this country should not extend its sovereignty over an alien people, like the Mexicans, or those of the South American republics. But he proceeded with much enthusiasm to tell me of the possi- bilities of Canada, especially the Xorthwest country, which was then scarcely heard of in the United States. He said Manitoba and the country west of it would be one of the great wheat gran- aries of the world, and that it would be settled by a people homogeneous with the people of the United States. He said that if a peaceful opportunity to unite with Canada should present itself it should be embraced by all means, but that further than that we should not go. His familiarity with the details of a subject then so little discussed was a surprise to me and so im- pressed me that, having a good memorv, I embodied it in mv ar- gument. The debate was before judges, who were Senator 'Mor- gan, of Alabama, and Congressmen Randall, of Pennsylvania, and Waite, of Connecticut. I think they were surprised at the maturity of thought which I displayed on a subject in which the public at that time had little interest. Anyway, they de- cided that I had won the debate, and I was awarded the i' personal comfort he has suc- i ded in filling successive appointments at widely separated towns. ... He is greeted with large audiences and increasing enthusiasm. When the returns came in the results of the campaign were summed up by the rit<[! in the following headlines: REDEEMED! The Glorious State of Kansas emancipated from the Thraldom of Ignorant Blatherskites. — The News Con- firmed. — That the people have awakened to a sense of Degradation and Disgrace Imposed by the Alliance. — From Nearly Every Precinct Come the Joyful Tidings of Republican Victory. — Nine Judicial Contests. — And only One Alliance Judge Elected. — A Lesson Not Soon to be Forgotten. — Mountebanks Squelched. — And the Oracles of Anarchy, Communism, Fiat Money and Repudiation Overthrown. — Stalwart Republican- 426 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB i sm# — The Medicine Necessary to Remove the Dreadful Scourge of Peffer, Simpson & Co. The work of the campaign told heavily on the health of Senator Plumb. It may be said to have cost him his life. In less than two months after it closed he was in his grave. CHAPTER LXIX LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH Senator Plumb was in declining health all the last year of his life. There were periods when he found it impossible to sleep, and symptoms of paralysis gave him deep concern. It was his intention to cross the Atlantic in the summer of 1891, but the political conditions in Kansas caused him to abandon his voyage and enter the State campaign, in which he worked as even he had never worked before. More than once that summer he lapsed into unconsciousness from the great strain under which he constantly labored. In November he went to Washington to put his af- fairs in order for the coming session <>f ( Jongress. There his friends soon became apprehensive of his complete collapse, and urged a cessation of work. Senator Petti- grew found him lying ill in his apartments with a foreboding of the near approach of death strong upon him. But he was not much disturbed by the shadow of the grim specter, and said he had no desire to live be- yond the permanent impairment of his powers. " My right hand refuses to respond to my will," he said as he requested Pettigrew to place a roll of money in his pocket for him. His sleeplessness continued, vertigo had already appeared, and he complained of persistent pains in his head, impairment of memory, and the in- ability to express his ideas clearly. His physician told him that apoplexy was imminent, and that he must quit work and take a long rest. 1 i From a statement made by the doetor is copied the following : Senator Plumb consulted me on December 9. He then complained 427 428 THE LIFE OF PKESTON B. PLUMB About this time as one of his friends turned to go in at his own gate, at the end of a walk with him, Senator Plumb said, "Do not leave me; I do not know just where I am." On the Thursday before his death the Senator requested this same friend to call a cab and accompany him to the GapitoL As they were leaving the room Plumb said, " Please take my arm ; whenever I look down my eyes become blurred and I grow dizzy." He was assisted to the Senate elevator, and all that day worked with his usual determination. On Saturday Senator Plumb went with Senator Quay to Philadelphia to consult a physician who was at the time treating his eldest son, who w^ent with him to the physician's office, which they left together. As they were passing along the street the Senator came near falling into an open areaway, and, when prevented, told his son that half his sight was gone — that he could see objects only to his right. When he arrived at his lodg- ings in Washington that same evening at six o'clock his landlady inquired about his son, and after hearing of his condition asked, " And what did the doctor say about your own condition? " to which he replied with evident regret, "Well, madam, I must throw up the sponge." of vertigo, persistent pain in the head, chiefly located in the forehead, impaired memory, growing inability to express his ideas with appro- priate words, impaired vision, sleeplessness, and derangement of the functions of the stomach and bowels. I noticed more or less confusion of ideas in conversation, and an uncertain and staggering gait in walking. A thorough examination made as to the condition of his kidneys found them sound. His eyes had been examined by an ocu- list, but no glasses prescribed that gave any relief to his vision. The liver and stomach had been carefully explored without discovering anything further than functional derangement. My conclusion as to the nature of the case was that there was textural alterations in the brain, probably of an atheromatous nature. He was advised to give up work at once, and to seek rest, and change, for ultimate recupera- tion. This advice it was the Senator's intention to adopt in a few days, as soon as pressing engagements permitted. LAST ILLNESS AXD DEATH 429 And notwithstanding that lie was then suffering from a severe headache he worked an hour at his correspond- ence, dictating replies to letters requiring immediate at- tention. After signing his letters he went, about seven o'clock, to a dinner given at Chamberlain's Hotel by ex-Senator Mahone to a few friends. On the way there he met Colonel Ayres, who remonstrated with him for continuing at work while in such poor health. The Senator said he knew Colonel Ayres was right, and that his physician had just told him so; and that on the next afternoon he was to return to Philadelphia to remain six weeks under the immediate care and direction of a physician. It was one o'clock Sunday morning when Senator Plumb left Chamberlain's. At exactly two o'clock he knocked at the door of the bedroom of his landlord, a Mr. Jennings, saying, "I am a very sick man; I wish you would hurry down and look at me." The landlord found him extremely nervous and suffering from an excruciating headache. While such domestic remedies as were at hand were being applied a physician was hastily summoned, who administered morphine by hypo- dermic injection. This promptly induced what seemed a natural sleep, which continued to six forty-five, just fifteen minutes after the doctor had left the chamber to go home. At that minute he sprang suddenly from bed and vomited violently, in doing which he complained that his head was sensitive and sore to the touch of his attending landlord. As he was assisted to bed, three or four minutes later, he exclaimed, "Oh, my head! my head ! " his last words in this world. Mr. Jennings re- mained with him until ten minutes past ten o'clock, during which time he slept apparently peacefully and naturally. The clerk of the Senate Committee on Public Lands was B. F. Flenniken, and he served Senator Plumb in 430 THE LIFE OF. PRESTON B. PLUMB the capacity of private secretary for many years. On Saturday night Plumb wrote him as follows : Dear Frank: Please come to my room to-morrow (Sunday) about ten o'clock. Yours truly, P. B. P. Those were the last words he ever penned. The note was delivered to Mr. Flenniken about nine o'clock. There was visiting at his house, when it arrived, Colonel E. C. Manning, long an intimate friend of Senator Plumb, and who had been in his service in private busi- ness matters at various times. He was shown the Sen- ator's note, and its appearance alarmed him. The lines dropped down to the right as they crossed the page. He knew the precarious condition of Senator Plumb's health, and he said he would also go up there the next morning. L When Flenniken arrived he was informed of the seri- ous illness of Senator Plumb, and of the events of the pre- ceding night; and the directions of the doctor were repeated to him. As the Senator seemed to sleep so peacefully Mr. Flenniken busied himself with the morn- ing mail, which he had brought with him, answering letters and mailing those he found written and signed. In half an hour the Senator began to breathe heavily, and was turned on his side without awakening. In a few minutes the stertorous breathing began again. Colonel Manning did not like the recurrence of the labored breathing, and said the doctor ought to be called at once — and went out to fetch him. But the physician came in almost immediately, Colonel Manning having passed him on the street. The breathing of the patient was then audible in the halls and about his room. The landlord came down and the doctor said to him, " This is apoplexy. The Senator is a very sick man. Have you any whisky?" There was no whisky in the house, and LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH 431 Mr. Jennings went out for some. When he returned with it he was told that the Senator was past help. He died at ten minutes to twelve o'clock. It was Sunday, December 20, 1891. CHAPTER LXX THE LAST RITES At the hour of Senator Plumb's death many persons in official life at Washington were at church, at the moment difficult of access, and intelligence of his un- timely end spread slowly over the city. Mr. Flenniken notified Senator Peffer, who hurried to the chamber of his dead colleague. Early in the afternoon Senators and other officials began to arrive, the first of whom was Vice-President Morton and Senator Cameron and his wife. Others fol- lowed quickly and in increasing numbers; a throng of mourners stood silently in the street about the dead Senator's door. 1 His death was a shock, and the im- pression it produced was profound. Mrs. Plumb was at home in Emporia just recovering from a severe illness. Two of her daughters were with her. The youngest son and daughter were away at school, and the eldest son was in Philadelphia. The funeral arrangements were completed on Sunday evening at a meeting held at the residence of Vice-Presi- dent Morton, at which were present the Vice-President, Senator Manderson, Secretary McCook, Sergeant-at- Arms Valentine and his assistant, Charles B. Reade. Early Monday morning the body was placed in a cedar casket covered with black cloth, and which bore a silver plate with this inscription, PRESTON B. PLUMB Born October 12, 1837 Died December 20, 1891' i No. 612 Fourteenth Street, N. W. 432 THE LAST RITES 433 At ten o'clock the Capitol police by direction of an assistant to the Sergeant-at-Arnis, removed the casket to the Capitol, where it was placed in a room to the rear of the Senate Chamber. The Senate met at noon. After a few remarks, feelingly spoken by Senator Peffer, he offered resolutions expressing regret for the death of Senator Plumb and providing for a committee of five Senators to have, in conjunction with certain members of the House, direction of the funeral. 2 A recess was then taken until one o'clock, and as that hour approached Cabinet officers and their Assistants began to arrive. At one-twenty the Speaker and mem- bers of the House were announced. A few minutes later the Diplomatic Corps arrived, and were followed by the members of the Supreme Court. The President and his Cabinet entered the Senate Chamber at one-thirty. Ten minutes later the official committee 3 appeared at the main entrance escorting the body of the dead Senator, which was deposited on a catafalque in front of the Clerk's desk. On (he casket were placed beautiful floral offerings. The Chaplain conducted the funeral service and read appropriate selections from the Scrip- tures, ending with the recitation of the poem, beginning. Oh, to be ready when death shall come — and closing with a prayer. "When the prayer was con- cluded the Vice-President rose and directed the Ser- geant-at-Arms to accompany the body of the late Senator to his home in Kansas. The assemblage rose. The body was borne out through the corridors to the East Front of the Capitol and down the marble stairway. 2 The Senators appointed were Peffer, Dolph, Paddock, Ransom, and Palmer. » It had been completed by the appointment of Messrs. Broderick and Funston of Kansas; Cate and Peel of Arkansas; Youmans of Michigan; Post of Illinois, and Cogswell of Massachusetts, on the I»:irt of the House. 434 THE LIFE OP PRESTON B. PLUMB The President and his Cabinet with other officials, fol- lowed to the station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Two private cars there awaited the funeral cortege, and these were attached to the train which left the city at three twenty-five. The dead Senator was on his way to Kansas, to the State for which he had done so much, his own people for whom it might be said that he gave his life. The death of Plumb moved Kansas as that of no other man ever did. It was as though the end of order had come. The grief was profound, and manifestations of sorrow appeared on every hand. The State officers petitioned Mrs. Plumb for permission to have the body of the Senator lie in state at Topeka for a day. This being granted, the State-house was draped in mourning. On Wednesday morning the State officials met the funeral train at Kansas City. At Topeka the body was escorted to the Senate Chamber by the Grand Army, Knights Templar, members of the Eleventh Kansas, and a great concourse of citizens. Fifteen thousand people waited on the Capitol grounds. The Senate Chamber was profusely decorated, and when the casket was de- posited at the rostrum it was almost buried in banks of flowers. And it was there draped with the old battle- flag of Colonel Plumb's regiment, faded by long and hard usage and rent and torn in many battles. The great crowd which surged about the State-house was formed into line and marched double-file by the casket, viewing for the last time the face of the dead Senator. At four-twenty the funeral train left Topeka for Emporia. Darkness was falling, when the train, at six fifty-five, reached its destination. But in the descending gloom of a winter's day stood the people of the town waiting to receive their honored and beloved dead. The body was escorted to the now desolate home by resident mem- bers of the Eleventh Kansas, and followed by civic THE LAST RITES 435 bodies and the multitude of people. Sentries from the Emporia Companies of the Eleventh Kansas patroled the street in front of the home until the body was re- moved to the church on the following day. The 24th of December was one of those ideal winter days seen rarely except on the Great Plains. It was the day upon which fell the solemn duty of sorrowing hearts and loving hands to commit to earth all that was mortal of Senator Plumb. A great throng as- sembled. There stood men who had crossed the prairies with him to fight for freedom in Kansas. Here were the men who had hauled with ox-teams his printing presses from the Missouri River. Trains came from all quarters bearing men who had settled far out on the public domain because of his faith in the future of Kansas and the growth and greatness of America. Here were the men and women who had followed him to the frontier and helped him build a city. And these women had put into his hands a flag wrought by them- selves and had given into his charge and keeping these Mvy men to go forth and do battle that the Republic might live. All these men had seen him develop with an expanding nation, had aided in his elevation to high state, had seen him become a great national figure, had seen him challenge the powers of oppression and stand as the shield of the downtrodden — and had been his sustaining strength and inspiration and power through it all. The services attending the burial of Senator Plumb began at his home. From there the body was taken to the First Congregational Church, where the funeral sermon was delivered by Dr. Richard Cordley, for many years an intimate friend of the Senator. From the church the funeral procession was as follows : Marshal and staff, mounted. Band. Kansas National Guards. 436 THE LIFE OF PRESTON B. PLUMB Department Commander and Staff. Post of G. A. R. and old soldiers. Sons of Veterans. Pall-bearers in carriages. Hearse. Eleventh Kansas marching on each" side. Horse and equipment of Senator Plumb. Family in carriages. Knights Templar. Senatorial and Congressional Committees. Governor and Staff in carriages. .Visitors and citizens in carriages. At the grave the services of the Grand Army of the Republic were concluded in the falling shades of night. And Senator Plumb slept, where, of all places in the world he would have selected for his last resting-place, on the gentle swell of a Kansas prairie. Spirits of old that bore me, And set Hie, meek of mind, Between great dreams before me, And deeds as great behind, Knowing humanity my star As first abroad I ride, Shall help me wear, with every scar, Honor at eventide. Let claws of lightning clutch me From summer's groaning cloud, Or ever malice touch me, And glory make me proud. give my youth, my faith, my sword, Choice of the heart's desire : A short life in the saddle, Lord ! Not long life by the fire. APPENDICES APPENDIX A Full text of the Act of general revision of the land laws of the United States, and a part of Chapter LVIII, which see, especially Note 5 to said Chapter. The bill was presented to the Senate as a conference report and was unanimously concurred in February 28, 1891. The managers on the part of the Senate were Plumb, Pettigrew, and Walthal; on the part of the House, L. E. Payson, J. A. Pickler and Williams S. Elolman. The law was approved March 3, 1891. It is as follows as shown by the report submitted to the senate by Plumb and to the House by Payson : The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (II. R. 7254) to repeal tiinlier-cultnre laws, and for other purposes, having met, after full and tree conference have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows: That the House recede from its disagreements to the amendments of the Senate and agree to the same with amendments as follows; so that the hill as amended will read: Bo it enacted, etc That an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to encourage the growth of timber on the Western prairies,' approved June 1 1, 1878, and all laws supplementary thereto, or amendatory thereof, be and the same are hereby, repealed. Pro- vided. That this repeal shall not affect any valid rights heretofore accrued or accruing under said laws, but all bona fide claims lawfully initiated before the passage of this act may be perfected upon due compliance with law, in the same manner, upon the same terms and conditions and subject to the same limitations, forfeitures, and con- tests as if this act had not been passed: And provided further, That the following words of the last clause of section 2 of said act, namely. " That not less than twenty-seven hundred trees were planted on each acre," are hereby repealed: And provided further, That, in computing the period of cultivation, the time shall run from the date of the entry if the necessary acts of cultivation were performed within the proper time; And provided further, That the preparation of the land and the planting of trees shall be construed as acts of cultivation, and the time authorized to be so employed and actually employed shall be computed as a part of the eight years of cultiva- tion required by statute : Provided, That any person who has made 439 440 ArPENDIX A entry of any public lands of the United States under the timber- culture laws, and who has for a period of four years in good faith complied with the provisions of said laws and who is an actual bona fide resident of the State or Territory in which said land is located, shall be entitled to make final proof thereto, and acquire title to the same, by the payment of $1.25 per acre for such tract, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and registers and receivers shall be allowed the same fees and compensation for final proofs in timber-culture entries as is now allowed by law in homestead entries: And provided further, That no land acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the final certificate therefor. Sec. 2. That an act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and Territories, approved March 3, 1877, is hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections: Sec. 4. That at the time of filing the declaration hereinbefore re- quired the party shall also file a map of said land, which shall exhibit a plan showing the mode of contemplated irrigation, and which plan shall be sufficient to thoroughly irrigate and reclaim said land, and prepare it to raise ordinary agricultural crops, and shall also show the source of the water to be used for irrigation and reclamation. Persons entering or proposing to enter separate sections, or fractional parts of sections, of desert lands may associate together in the con- struction of canals and ditches for irrigation and reclaiming all of said tracts, and may file a joint map or maps showing their plan for internal improvements. Sec. 5. That no land shall be patented to any person under this act unless he or his assignors shall have expended in the necessary irrigation, reclamation and cultivation thereof, by means of main canals and branch ditches, and in permanent improvements upon the land, and in the purchase of water rights for the irrigation of same, at least $3 per acre of whole tract reclaimed and patented in the manner following: Within one year after making entry for such tract of desert land as aforesaid the party so entering shall expend not less than $1 per acre for the purpose aforesaid : and he shall in like manner expend the sum of $1 per acre during the second and also during the third year thereafter, until the full sum of $3 per acre is so expended. Said party shall file during each year with the register proof by the affidavits of two or more credible witnesses, that the full sum of $1 per acre has been expended in such necessary improvements during said year, and the manner in which expended, and at the expiration of the third year a map or plan showing the character and extent of such improvements. If any party who has made such application shall fail during any year to file the testimony aforesaid the lands shall revert to the United States, and the twenty- five cents advanced payment shall be forfeited to the United States, and the entry shall be canceled. Nothing herein contained shall pre- vent a claimant from making his final entry and receiving his patent APPENDIX A 441 at an earlier date than hereinbefore prescribed, provided that he then makes the required proof of reclamation to the aggregate extent of $3 per acre : Provided, That proof be further required of the cultiva- tion of one-eighth of the land. Sec. 6. That this act shall not affect any valid rights heretofore accrued under said act of March 3, 1877, but all bona fide claims heretofore lawfully initiated may be perfected, upon due compliance with the provisions of said act, in the same manner, and upon the same terms and conditions, and subject to the same limitations ; for- feitures, and contests as if this act had not been passed, or said claims, at the option of the claimant, may be perfected and patented under the provisions of said act as amended by this act, so far as applicable; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. Sec. 7. That at any time after filing the declaration, and within the period of four years, thereafter, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and the receiver of the reclamation and cultivation of said land to the extent and cost and in the manner aforesaid, and substantially in accordance with the plans herein provided for, and that he or she is a citizen of the United States, and upon payment to the receiver of the additional sum of $1 per acre for said land, a patent shall issue therefor to the applicant or his assigns. But no person or association of persons shall hold by assignment or other- wise, prior to the issue of patent, more than 320 acres of such arid or desert lands, but this section shall not apply to entries made or initiated prior to the approval of this act: Provided, however, That additional proof may be required at any time within the period pre- scribed by law, and that the claims or entries made under this or any preceding act shall be subject to contest, as provided by the law re- lating to homestead cases, for illegal inception, abandonment, or fail- ure to comply with the requirements of law, and upon satisfactory proof thereof shall be canceled, and the lands, and moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited to the United States. Sec. 8. That the provisions of the act to which this is an amend- ment, and the amendments thereto, shall apply to and be in force in the State of Colorado, as well as the States named in the original act; and no person shall be entitled to make entry of desert land except he be a resident citizen of the State or Territory in which the land sought to be entered is located. Sec. 3. That section 2288 of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows : Sec. 2288. Any bona fide settler under the preemption, homestead, or other settlement law shall have the right to transfer, by warranty against his own acts, aily portion of his claim for church, cemetery, or school purposes, or for the right of way of railroads, canals, reser- voirs, or ditches for irrigation or drainage across it; and the trans- fer, for such public purposes, shall in no way vitiate the right to complete and perfect the title of his claim. Sec. 4. That chapter 4 of Title XXXII, excepting sections 2275, 442 APPENDIX A 227G, 2286 of the Revised Statutes of the United States and all other laws allowing preemption of the public lands of the United States, are hereby repealed, but all bona fide claims lawfully initiated before the passage of this act, under any of said provisions of law so repealed, may be perfected upon due compliance with law in the same manner, upon the same terms and conditions, and subject to the same limita- tions, forfeitures and contests, as if this act had not been passed. See. 5. That sections 2289 and 2290, in said chapter numbered 5 of the Revised Statutes, be, and the same are hereby, amended, so that they shall read as follows : Sec. 2289. Every person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who has filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws, shall be entitled to enter one quarter-section, or a less quantity, of unappropriated public lands, to be located in a body in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands ; but no person who is the proprietor of more than 1G0 acres of land in any State or Territory shall acquire any right under the homestead law. And every person owning and residing on land, may, under the provisions of this section, enter other land lying con- tiguous to his land, which shall not, with the land so already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate 1G0 acres. Sec. 2290. That any person applying to enter land under the pre- ceding section shall first make and subscribe before the proper officer and file in the proper land office an affidavit that he or she is the head of a family, or is over twenty-one years of age, and that such application is honestly and in good faith made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not for the benefit of any other person, persons, or corporation, and that he or she will faithfully and honestly endeavor to comply with all the requirements of law as to settlement and residence, and cultivation necessary to acquire title to the land applied for ; that he or she is not acting as agent of any person, corporation, or syndicate in making such entry, nor in collusion with any person, corporation or syndicate to give them the benefit of the land entered, or any part thereof, or the timber thereon ; that he or she does not apply to enter the same for the purpose of speculation, but in good faith to obtain a home for himself or herself, and that he or she has not directly or indirectly made, and will not make, any agreement, or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons, corporation, or syndicate whatsoever, by which the title which he or she might acquire from the Government of the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person, except himself or herself ; and upon filing such affidavit with the register or receiver, on payment of $5 when the entry is not more than 80 acres, and on payment of $10 when the entry is for not more than 1G0 acres, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the amount of land specified." Sec. 6. That section 2301 of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows : APPENDIX A 443 Sec. 2301. Nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to pre- vent any person who shall hereafter avail himself of the benefits of section 2289 from paying the minimum price for the quantity of land so entered at any time after the expiration of fourteen calendar months from the date of such entry, and obtaining a patent therefor, upon making proof of settlement and of residence and cultivation for such period of fourteen months ; and the provision of this section shall apply to lands on the ceded portion of the Sioux reservation by act approved March 2, 1889, in South Dakota, but shall not relieve said settlers from any payments now required by law. Sec. 7. That whenever it shall appear to the Commissioner of the General Land Office that a clerical error has been committed in the entry of any of the public lands, such entry may be suspended, upon proper notification to the claimant, through the local land office, until the error has been corrected ; and all entries made under the pre- emption, homestead, desert-land, or timber-culture laws, in which final proof and payment may have been made and certificates issued, and to which there are no adverse claims originating prior to final entry, and which have been sold or encumbered prior to the 1st day of March, 1888, and after final entry, to bona fide purchasers or in- cumbrancers, for a valuable consideration, shall, unless upon an investigation by a Government agent fraud on the part of the purchaser has been found, be confirmed and patented upon presenta- tion of satisfactory proof to the Land Department of such sale or incumbrance: Provided, That after the lapse of two years from the date of issuance of the receiver's receipt upon the final entry of any tract of land under the homestead, timber-culture, desert laud or pre- emption laws, or under this act, and when there shall be no pending contest or protest against the validity of such entry, the entry man shall be entitled to a patent conveying the land by him entered, and the same shall be issued to him ; but this proviso shall not be con- strued to require the delay of two years from the date of said entry before the issuing of a patent therefor. Sec. 8. That suits by the United States to vacate and annul any patent heretofore issued shall only be brought within five years from the passage of this act and suits to vacate and annul patents here- after issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of the issuance of such patents. And in the States of Colorado, Mon- tana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Wyoming and in the District of Alaska and the gold and silver regions of Nevada, and the Territory of Utah, in any criminal prosecution or civil action by the United States for trespass on such puhlic timber lands or to re- cover timber or lumber cut thereon, it shall be a defense if the defendant shall show that the said timber was cut or removed from the timber lands for use in such State or Territory by a resident thereof for agriculture, mining, manufacturing, or domestic purposes, and has not been transported out of the same ; but nothing herein contained shall apply to operate to enlarge the rights of any railway company to cut timber on the public domain: Provided, That the 444 APPENDIX A Secretary of the Interior may make suitable rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this section. Sec. 9. That hereafter no public lands of the United States, except abandoned military or other reservations, isolated and disconnected fractional tracts authorized to be sold by section 2455 of the Re- vised Statutes, and mineral and other lands, the sale of which at public auction has been authorized by acts of Congress of a special nature, having local application, shall be sold at public sale. Sec. 10. That nothing in this act shall change, repeal or modify any agreements or treaties made with any Indian tribes for the dis- posal of their lands or of land ceded to the United States to be dis- posed of for the benefit of such tribes, and the proceeds thereof to be placed in the Treasury of the United States ; and the disposition of such lands shall continue in accordance with the provisions of such treaties or agreements, except as provided in section 5 of this act. Sec. 11. That until otherwise ordered by Congress lands in Alaska may be entered for town-site purposes, for the several use and benefit of the occupants of such town-sites, by such trustee or trustees as may be named by the Secretary of the Interior for that purpose, such entries to be made under the provisions of Section 23S7 of the Revised Statutes as near as may be ; and when such entries shall have been made the Secretary of the Interior shall provide by regulation for the proper execution of the trust in favor of the inhabitants of the town-site, including the survey of the land into lots, according to the spirit and intent of said section 23S7 of the Revised Statutes, whereby the same results would be reached as though the entry had been made by a county judge and the disposal of the lots in such town-site, and the proceeds of the sale thereof had been prescribed by the legislative authority of a State or Territory : Provided, That no more than 640 acres shall be embraced in one town-site entry. Sec. 12. That any citizen of the United States twenty-one years of age, and any association of such citizens, and any corporation incor- porated under the laws of the United States or of any State or Terri- tory of the United States now authorized by law to hold lands in the Territories now or hereafter in possession of and occupying public lands in Alaska for the purpose of trade or manufactures, may purchase not exceeding 1G0 acres, to be taken as near as practicable in a square form, of such land at $2.50 per acre : Provided, That in case more than one person, association, or corporation shall claim the same tract of land the person, association, or corporation having the prior claim by reason of possession and continued occupation shall be entitled to purchase the same ; but the entry of no person, associa- tion, or corporation shall include improvements made by or in posses- sion of another prior to the passage of this act. Sec. 13. That it shall be the duty of any person, association, or cor- poration entitled to purchase land under this act to make an applica- tion to the United States Marshal, cx-oflicio surveyor general of Alaska, for an estimate of cost of making a survey of the lands occu- APPENDIX A 445 pied by such person, association, or corporation, and the cost of the clerical work necessary to be done in the office of the said United States Marshal, ex-officio surveyor general; and on receipt of such estimate from the United States Marshal, ex-officio surveyor general, the said person, association, or corporation shall deposit the amount in a United States depository, as he is required by section numbered 2401, Revised Statutes, relating to deposits for surveys. That on the receipt of the United States Marshal ex-officio surveyor general of the said certificates of deposit, he shall employ a competent person to make such survey, under such rules and regulations as may be adopted by the Secretary of the Interior, who shall make his return of his field notes and maps to the office of the said United States Marshal, ex-officio surveyor general ; and the said United States Marshal, ex-officio surveyor general shall cause the said field notes and plats of such survey to be examined, and, if correct, approve the same, and shall transmit certified copies of such maps and plats to the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Then when the said field notes and plats of said survey shall have been approved by the said Commissioner of the General Land Office, he shall notify such person, association, or corporation, who shall then, within six months after such notice pay to the United States Marshal, ex-officio surveyor general for such land, and patent shall issue for the same. Sec. 14. That none of the provisions of the last two preceding sections of this act shall be so construed as to warrant the sale of any lands belonging to the United States which shall contain coal or the precious metals, or any town-site, or which shall be occupied by the United States for public purposes, or which shall be reserved for such purposes, or to which the natives of Alaska have prior rights by virtue of actual occupation, or which shall be selected by the United States Commissioner of Fish or Fisheries on the islands of Kailiak and Afognak for the purpose of establishing fish-culture sta- tions. And all tracts of land not exceeding 640 acres in any one tract now occupied as missionary stations in said District of Alaska are hereby excepted from the operation of the last three preceding sections of this act No portion of the islands of the Pribylov Group or the seal islands of Alaska shall be subject to sale under this act; and the United States reserves, and there shall be reserved in all patents issued under the provisions of the last two preceding sections, the right of the United States to regulate the taking of salmon and to do all things necessary to protect and prevent the destruction of salmon in all the waters of the lands granted frequented by salmon. Sec. 15. That until otherwise provided by law the body of lands known as Annette Islands, situated in Alexander Archipelego, in Southern Alaska, on the north side of Dixon's Entrance, be, and the same is hereby, set apart as a reservation for the use of Matlakahtal Indians, and those people known as Matlakahtlans who have recently emigrated from British Columbia, to Alaska, and such other Alaskan natives as may join them to be held and used by them in common, 446 APPENDIX A under such rules and regulations and subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed from time to time by the Secretary of the Interior. Sec. 16. Tbat town-site entries may be made by incorporated towns and cities on the mineral land of the United States, but no title shall be acquired by any such towns or cities to any vein of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or lead, or to any valid mining claim or possession held under existing law. When mineral veins are possessed within the limits of an incorporated town or city, and such possession is recognized by local authority or by the laws of the United States, the title to town lots shall be subject to such recognized possession and the necessary use thereof, and when entry has been made or patent issued for such town-sites to such incorporated town or city, the possessor of such mineral vein may enter and receive patent for such mineral vein and the surface ground appertaining thereto : Pro- vided, That no entry shall be made by such mineral-vein claimant for surface ground where the owner or occupier of the surface ground shall have had possession of the same before the inception of the title of the mineral-vein applicant. Sec. 17. That reservoir sites located or selected and to be located and selected under the provisions of " An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1S89, and for other purposes," and amendments thereto, shall be restricted to and shall contain only so much land as is actually necessary for the construction and maintenance of reservoirs, exclud- ing so far as practicable lands occupied by actual settlers at the date of the location of said reservoirs, and that the provision of " An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, and for other purposes, which reads as follows ; namely : ' No person who shall, after the passage of this act, enter upon any of the public lands with a view to occupation, entry, or settlement under any of the land laws, shall be permitted to acquire title to more than 320 acres in the aggregate under all said laws,' shall be construed to include in the maximum amount of lands the title to which is permitted to be acquired by one person only agricultural lands, and not to include lands entered or sought to be entered under mineral-land laws." Sec. 18. That the right of way through the public lands and reserva- tions of the United States is hereby granted to any canal or ditch company formed for the purpose of irrigation and duly organized under the laws of any State or Territory which shall have filed, or may hereafter file, with the Secretary of the Interior a copy of its articles of incorporation, and due proofs of its organization under the same, to the extent of the ground occupied by the water of the reservoir, and of the canal and its laterals, and 50 feet on each side of the marginal limits thereof ; also the right to take from the public land adjacent to the line of the canal or ditch material, earth and stone necessary for the construction of such canal or ditch, Provided, That no such right of way shall be so located as to interfere with the proper occupation by the Government of any such reservation ; and all maps of location shall be subject to the approval of the Depart- APPENDIX A 447 ment of the Government having jurisdiction of such reservation, and the privilege herein granted shall not be construed to interfere with the control of water for irrigation and other purposes under authority of the respective States or Territories. Sec. 19. That any canal or ditch company desiring to secure the benefits of this act shall, within twelve months after the location of ten miles of its canal, if the same be upon surveyed lands, and if upon unsurveyed lands, within twelve months after the survey thereof by the United States, file with the register of the land office for the district where such land is located a map of its canal or ditch and reservoir; and upon the approval thereof by the Secretary of the Interior the same shall be noted upon the plats in said office, and thereafter all such lands over which such rights of way shall pass shall be disposed of subject to such right of way. Whenever any person or corporation, in the construction of any canal, ditch, or reservoir, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage. Sec. 20. That the provision of this act shall apply to all canals, ditches, or reservoirs, heretofore or hereafter constructed, whether constructed by corporations, individuals, or associations of individu- als, on the filing of the certificates and maps herein provided for. If such ditch, canal, or reservoir has been or shall be constructed by any individual or association of individuals, it shall be sufficient for such individual or association of individuals to file with the Secretary of the Interior, and with the register of the land office where said land is located, a map of the line of such canal, ditch, or reservoir, as in case of a corporation with the names of the individual owner or owners thereof, together with the articles of association, if any there be. Plats heretofore filed shall have the benefits of the act from the date of their filing, as though filed under it: Provided, That if any section of said canal or ditch shall not be completed within five years after the location of said section, the rights herein granted shall be forfeited as to any uncompleted section of said canal, ditch or reser- voir to the extent that the same is not completed at the date of the forfeiture. Sec. 21. That nothing in this act shall authorize such canal or ditch company to occupy such right of way except for the purpose of said canal or ditch, and then only so far as may be necessary for the construction, maintenance, and care of said canal or ditch. Sec. 22. That the section of land reserved for the benefit of the Dakota Central Railroad Company, on the west hank of the Missouri River, at the mouth of Bad River, as provided by section 16 of "An net to divide a portion of the reservation of the Sioux nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reservations, and to secure the relinquishment of the Indian title to the remainder, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1S89, shall be subject to entry under the town-site law only. Sec. 23. That in all cases where second entries of land on the Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands in Kansas, to which 448 APPENDIX A at the time there were no adverse claims, have been made, and the law complied with as to residence and improvements, said entries be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, and in all cases where persons were actual settlers and residing upon their claims upon said Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands in the State of Kansas on the 9th day of May, 1872, and who have made subsequent pre- emption entries either upon public or upon said Osage Indian trust and diminished reserve lands upon which there were no legal prior adverse claims at the time, and the law complied with as to settle- ment, said subsequent entries be, and the same are hereby, confirmed. Sec. 24. That the President of the United States may from time to time set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations : and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof. P. B. Plumb, R. F. Pettigrew, E. C. Walthall, Managers on the part of the Senate. L. E. Payson, J. A. Pickleb, Wm. S. Holman, Managers on the part of the House. APPENDIX B The following table shows the Kansas Representation in the Congress of the United States : UNITED STATES SENATORS THE LANE SUCCESSION. James II. Lane, Lawrence, served from April 4, 1861, to July 11, 1S60. Died Leavenworth, July 11, I860. Edmund G. Ross, Lawrence, appointed to succeed Lane July 20, 1SG0. Elected to fill vacancy January 23, ISO". Served until March, 1871. Alexander Caldwell, Leavenworth, served from March, 1S71 until March, 1873, when he resigned. Robert Crozier, Leavenworth, appointed vice Caldwell, November 22, 1873. Served until February 2, 1S74. James M. Harvey, Vinton, served from February 2. IS74 until March, 1877. Preston R. Plumb, Emporia, elected January 31. 1S77. Elected to two additional terms. Served until December 20, 1801. Died in "Washington. Bishop W. Perkins, Oswego, appointed to succeed Plumb, January 1, 1892. Served until March, 1893. John Martin, Topeka, elected January 25, 1S93. Served until March, 1895. Lucien Raker, Leavenworth, served from March, 1895, until March, 1901. Joseph R. Rurton, Abilene, served from March, 1901, until June 4, 1906. Resigned. Alfred W. Benson, Ottawa, appointed June 9, 1900. Served until January 22, 1907. Charles Curtis, Topeka, elected January 23, 1907. Served until March, 1913. William H. Thompson. Garden City, elected January 27, 1913. Term expires March, 1919. THE rOMEROY SUCCESSION. Samuel C. Pomeroy, Atchison, served from April 4, 1801, (date of election), until March, 1873. John J. Ingalls, Atchison, elected January 29, 1873; elected to two additional terms ; served from March, 1873, until March, 1891. William A. Peffer, Topeka, served from March, 1891, until March, 1897. 449 450 APPENDIX B William A. Harris, Linwood, served from March, 1897, until March, 1903. Chester I. Long, Medicine Lodge, served from March, 1903, until March, 1909. Joseph L. Bristow, Salina, served from March, 1909. Term expires March, 1915. MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1861. Martin F. Conway, Lawrence ; served one term. 1863. Abel Carter Wilder, Leavenworth ; served one term. 1865. Sidney Clarke, Lawrence ; served until 1871. 1871. David P. Lowe, Fort Scott. 1873. At Large.— David P. Lowe, Fort Scott. William A. Phillips, Salina. Stephen A. Cobb, Wyandotte. 1875. Dist. 1, William A. Phillips, Salina. " 2, John R. Goodin, Humboldt. " 3, William R. Brown, Hutchinson. 1877. " 1, William A. Phillips, Salina. 2, Dudley C. Haskell, Lawrence. 3, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. 1879. " 1, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. " 2, Dudley C. Haskell, Lawrence. 3, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. 18S1. " 1, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. " 2, Dudley C. Haskell, Lawrence. " 3, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. 1883. " 1, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. " 2, Dudley C. Haskell, Lawrence. (Died Dec. 16, 1883.) 3, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. At Large. — Samuel R. Peters, Newton. Edmund N. Morrill, Hiawatha. " " Lewis Hanback, Osborne. " " Bishop W. Perkins, Oswego. 1883. Special election — 2d. Dist., to fill vacancy — E. H. Funston, Carlisle. 1885. Dist. 1, E. N. Morrill, Hiawatha. 2, E. H. Funston, Carlisle. " 3, Bishop W. Perkins, Oswego. " 4, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. " 5, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. " 6, Lewis Hanback, Osborne. " 7, Samuel R. refers, Newton. 18S7. " 1, E. N. Morrill, Hiawatha. " 2, E. H. Funston, Carlisle. " 3, Bishop W. Perkins, Oswego. " 4, Thomas Ryan, Topeka. " 5, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. " 6, Erastus J. Turner, Hoxie. APPENDIX B 451 1887, Dist. 7, Samuel R. Peters, Newton. 1889. " 1, E. N. Morrill, Hiawatha. 2, E. H. Funston, Carlisle. " 3, Bishop W. Perkins, Oswego. " 4, Harrison Kelley, Burlington. " 5, John A. Anderson, Manhattan. G, E. J. Turner, Hoxie. " 7, Samuel R. Peters, Newton. 1891. " 1, Case Broderiek, Holton. " 2, E. H. Funston, Carlisle. 3, B. H. Clover, Cambridge. 4, John G. Otis, Topeka. " 5, John Davis, Junction City. " 6, William Baker, Lincoln. " 7, Jerry Simpson, Medicine Lodge. 1893. " 1, Case Broderiek, Holton. 2, E. II. Funston, Carlisle. (Seat successfully contested by Horace L. Moore, Lawrence.) " 3, Thomas J. Hudson, Fredonia. " 4, Charles Curtis, Topeka. 5, John Davis, Junction City. »;, William Baker, Lincoln. " 7, Jerry Simpson, .Medicine Lodge. At Large. — William A. Harris, Linwood. 1894. Dist. 2, Horace L. Moore Lawrence; took seat August 2, 1894. 1895. " 1, Case Broderiek, Holton. 2, Orrin L. Miller, Kansas City. ::, Snyder S. Kirkpatrick, Fredonia. " 4, Charles Curtis, Topeka. 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. 6, William Baker, Lincoln. " 7, Chester I. Long, Medicine Lodge. At Large. — Richard W. Blue, Pleasanton. 1897. Dist. l. Case Broderiek, Holton. " 2, Mason S. Peters, Kansas City. " 3, Edward E. Ridgely, Pittsburg. " 4, Charles Cnrtis, Topeka. 5, William D. Vincent, Clay Center. (1, X. B. McCormick, rhillipsburg. " 7, Jerry Simpson, Medicine Lodge. At Large. — Jeremiah D. Botkin, WinQeld. 1S99. Dist. 1, Charles Curtis, Topeka. " 2, Justin D. Bowersock, Lawrence. " 3, Edwin R. Ridgely, Pittsburg. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " (5, William A. Reeder, Logan. *' 7, Chester I. Long, Medicine Lodge. At Large. — Willis J. Bailey, Baileyville. 452 APPENDIX B 1901. Dist. 1, Charles Curtis. Topeka. " 2, Justin D. Bowersock, Lawrence. 3, Alfred M. Jackson, Winfield. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " 0, William A. Reeder, Logan. " 7, Chester I. Long, Medicine Lodge. At Large. — Charles F. Scott, Iola, 1903. Dist. 1, Charles Curtis, Topeka. " 2, Justin D. Bowersock, Lawrence. " 3, Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " G, William A. Reeder, Logan. " 7, Chester I. Long, Medicine Lodge. At Large. — Charles F. Scott, Iola. 1905. Dist. 1, Charles Curtis, Topeka. " 2, Justin D. Bowersock, Lawrence. " 3, Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " 6, William A. Reeder, Logan. " 7, Victor Murdock, Wichita. At Large. — Charles F. Scott, Iola. 1907. Dist. 1, Charles Curtis, Topeka. (Resigned January, 1907.) " 2, Charles F. Scott, Iola. " 3. Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " G, William A. Reeder, Logan. " 7, Edmond II. Madison, Dodge City. " 8, Victor Murdock, Wichita. 1907. " 1, Daniel R. Anthony, Jr., Leavenworth, elected special election, May 23, 1907. 1909. " 1, Daniel R. Anthony, Jr., Leavenworth. " 2, Charles F. Scott, Iola. " 3, Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. " 4, James M. Miller, Council Grove. " 5, William A. Calderhead, Marysville. " G, William A. Reeder, Logan. " 7, Edmond H. Madison, Dodge City. " 8, Victor Murdock, Wichita. 1911. " 1, Daniel R. Anthony, Jr., Leavenworth. " 2, Alex. C. Mitchell, Lawrence. (Died July 7, 1911.) " 3. Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. " 4, Fred S. Jackson, Eureka. " 5, Rollin R. Rees, Minneapolis. " 6, I. D. Young, Beloit. APPENDIX B 453 1911. Dist 7, Edmond H. Madison, Dodge City. (Died August 18, 1911.) " 8, Victor Murdock, Wichita. 1912. " 7, George A. Neeley, Hutchinson ; elected at special elec- tion, Jan. 11, 1912. 1913. " 1, D. R. Anthony, Jr., Leavenworth. " 2, Joseph Taggart, Kansas City. " 3, Philip P. Campbell, Pittsburg. 4, Dudley Doolittle, Cottonwood Falls. " 5, G. T. Helvering. Marysville. " G, John R. Connelley, Oberlin. " 7, George A. Neeley, Hutchinson. " 8, Victor Murdock, Wichita. i.\m:\ INDEX Abbott, J. B., sent to Southeast- Army of the Border, Blunt in ern Kansas, 84 Agriculture, Department of, chap- ter on, 306 et seq.; Plumb greatest factor in establish- ment of, 307. Alabama, State of, comparison by Blumb of assessed valuation of various kinds of personal property in, 298. Aldrich, Nelson W., elected to Senate, 249. Allen, Lyman, one of the found- ers of Emporia, GO. Alliance, forerunner of Populist party, 344; successful in Kansas in 1890, 420. Allison, W. B., sworn as Senator with Plumb, 233; tribute of to Plumb, 327; 343. Anderson, Bill, bloody guerilla, 138 ; left Council Grove on stolen horse ; arrested by Quautrill, 145 ; sisters of ar- rested and imprisoned, 146 ; raid of into Wyandotte County, 153. Anderson, John A., 450, 451. Anderson, Josephine, killed in falling prison, 149. Anderson, Major Martin, re- ported impeachment of State officers, 91 ; saw dispatches from Plumb to Ewing, 160 ; in command at Platte Bridge, 200; on the march up the Platte, 205 ; surprised Sena- tor Plumb, 207. Anderson Sisters, among the imprisoned women, 146. Anderson, Major Thomas J., story about Plumb, 207. "Andover Band," who composed, 70. Anthony, D. R. Jr., 452, 453. 457 command of; brigades of, 184. Arthur, Chester A., Plumb fa- vored for President, 275. Aubry, Border station, 143. Bailey. Dr. trip of with Plumb, 88. Bailey, Judge L. D., suit of clothes of, long worn ; sent home with girl farthest out, 69; nominated for Supreme Court, 90; signed order, 96; mentioned, 98. Bailey, W. J., 451. Baker, F. P., 95. Baker, Lucien, elected to Senate, 449. Baker, William. 451. Barber, Thomas, saw Plumb's horse shot at Cane Hill, 113; saw dispatches from Pluinb urging Ewing to form on State line, 160; statement of about the march up the Platte and the crossing at Julesburg, 205. Barnesville, Border station, 1*43. Bayard, Thomas F., sworn as Senator with Plumb, 233. P.eets. James, Quantrill's guide, 163. Benson, A. W., appointed to Sen- ate, 449. Benton, Thomas H., pioneer life gave strength to, 72. Berry, James H., statement of, 406 ; facetious motion of, 414. Beuter, Captain Nicholas, 104. Bierce, Hannah Maria, some ac- count of family of ; married David Plumb, 5. 458 INDEX Bierce, Lucius V., pioneer in Ohio, 5. Bierce, Winslow, pioneer in New York and Ohio, 5. Big Blue, battle of, 187 et seq. Bigger, L. A., statement of Plumb's aid in saving inno- cent men from death, 402 ; sent widow and eight chil- dren to Washington for Plumb to find employment for, 416. Black, William C, 162. Blaine, James G., sworn as Sen- ator with Plumb, 233 ; chap- ter on, 274 et seq.; misstates intent of resolution, 342 ; majority in Kansas, 344. Blair, Colonel C. W., 176. Blair, Henry W., story of Plumb told by, 415. Bland, Richard P., led in fight to restore silver, 341 et seq. "Bleeding Kansas," chapter on, 35 et seq. Blue, R. W., 451. Blunt, General J. G., with Plumb in pursuit of guerillas, 91 ; ordered Plumb mustered, 104; ordered 11th Kansas to join him, 107 ; camped on Lindsay's Prairie ; informed of Hindman's movements, 112 ; orders General Herron to join him, 119; how his army reached Prairie Grove, 122 ; movements of, 123 ; part of in battle of Prairie Grove, 124; plans attack on Van Buren, 130; the battle, 131; succeeded by Schofield, 133; in command of the District of the Frontier, 143 ; com- mander of the Army of the Border; letter of Plumb to, 183; at Lexington, 184; on Little Blue; wished to fight decisive battle there, 185 ; reinforcements at Little Blue, 186; sent Lane to In- dependence to see Curtis, 187; to have superseded Curtis, 190 ; would not order a retreat, 191. "Bogus Legislature," mentioned, 35, 36. Boies, Samuel, escaped from Quantrill, 159 ; statement of, 163. Bonebrake, P. I., on Plumb's manner, 389 ; statement of, 395, 396. Bookout, Wright, killed by Bill Anderson, 153. Borton, L. W., speech of in vot- ing for Plumb, 263. Botkin, J. D., 451. Bowen, Dr. Jesse, agent at Iowa City for National Kansas Committee, 43 ; outfitted Plumb's company, 44 ; Tap- pan's statement of, 48. Bowersock, J. D., 451, 452. Brewer, David J., appointed Jus- tice of the Supreme Court through Plumb, 420. Bristow, Senator Joseph L., statement of as to Plumb, 415 ; elected to Senate, 450. Broderick, Case, 451. Brogan, F. A., statement of, 205 ; Plumb aided in speech, 408. Brown, General E. B., malice of toward Kansas ; in command of District of the Border, 171. Brown, G. W., employed Plumb as foreman for Herald of Freedom office, 55 ; a founder of Emporia ; sells Plumb an interest, 60. Brown, John, slew R.uffians on the Pottawatomie, 37 ; hur- ried into Kansas, 39 ; in Lawrence in September, 1856, 43; son of with Red- path, 47; James H. Holmes one of the men of, 65. Brown, W. R., 450. Brown's Mill, 110. Buchanan, James, subterfuge of on homestead question, 357. Buck & Ball, chapter on, 126 et seq. Buford's Men, on steamboat, 25; at Leavenworth, 30; when they came to Kansas ; ac- tions of, 36; reinforced by Missourians, 37. INDEX 459 Butler, Pardee, 224. Burton, J. R., elected to Senate, 449. Calderhead, W. A., 451, 452. Caldwell, Alexander, resigned as Senator, 226 ; elected to Sen- ate, 449. Cameron, J. Don, sought influ- ence of Plumb for Grant, 246; went to Plumb's cham- ber, 432. Campbell, A. W., for Garfield, 246. Campbell, P. P., 452, 453. Campaign, Plumb's last, 420 et seq. Cane Hill, chapter on, 112 et seq. Carlisle, John G., elected Speak- er, 265 ; re-elected Speaker, 278. Carney, Governor Thomas, op- posed steps of Curtis to de- fend Kansas in Price raid, 181 et seq.; prepared procla- mation to disband militia the day of battle, 185. Carpenter, Colonel John C, state- ment of, 216; said Kansas knew what she was about in electing Plumb, 236; tells how Plumb worked, .".si. Carpenter, Lewis, Reporter Su- preme Court, 06. Carroll, Ed, favored Plumb for Senate, 313. Case, N. P., 95. Case, Theodore S., letter of Plumb to, 174. Cass, Lewis, 16. Cassell, Joseph, sold Plumb print- ing office, 14. Cassidy, J. P., 246. "Catfish Aristocracy," referred to, 137. Charity, that of Plumb, chapter on, 399 et seq. Chase, Harold T., interviewed in last campaign, 424. Chase, Bishop Philander, founded Kenyon College, 11. Chase, Salmon P., 13. Chief of Staff, chapter on Plumb's position of, 133 et seq. Civil Service, chapter on, 257 et seq.; Plumb's plan for, 260; extended by Cleveland, 293. Clark, Lt.-Col. C. S., in command at Coldwater Grove, 143; criticised by Ewing, 165. Clarke, G. W., arrested for mur- der, 57 ; Border-Ruffian ; leader in Kansas troubles, 83. Clarke, Sidney, 450. Clay, Henry, 16 ; pioneer life gave strength to, 72. Cleveland, Grover, elected Presi- dent ; contest of with the Senate, 278; made radical changes in administration of land laws, 354 ; arraignment of by Plumb, 355 et seq. Cloud, Colonel William F., en- listment of, 98. Clover, B. H., 451. Cobb, N., 96. Cobb, S. A., 450. Coke, Richard, on select Com- mittee on meat products, 300. Coldwater Grove, Border station, 143. Coleman, Captain Charles F., in command at Little Santa Fe, 14.'{ ; prompt action of, 155; sent couriers to Kansas City ; took trail of guerillas, 158 ; charged Quantrill's gueril- las ; battle at Fletcher Farm, 162. Columbia, post-office at, 66. Commission, Customs, amend- ment to Mills Bill providing for, introduced by Plumb, 368; what Senator Dolliver said, 372, 373. Commission, Tariff, first bills fa- voring ; amendment to Mills P.ill providing for introduced by Plumb, 368; what Sena- tor Dolliver said of, 372, 373. Congressional Library Building, 301 et seq. Conkling, Roscoe, sought influ- ence of Plumb for Grant, 246 ; against silver, 342. Connelley, John R., 453. 460 INDEX Conservation, first made a prin- ciple of American policy by Plumb, 361 et seq. Conway, M. F., Adjutant Gen- eral, 75, 450. Cooper, General D. EL, defeated at Old Fort Wayne, 109. Cordley, Rev. Richard, pioneer preacher in Kansas ; one of the "Andover Band," 70; on Flumb's capacity, 39G ; tells of Plumb's helpfulness, 405; delivered funeral sermon of Senator Plumb, 435. Cove Creek, Marmaduke re- treated down, 113; opera- tions on, 116 ; awful march of 11th Kansas down, 130. Cowgill, E. B., report of on sor- ghum sugar, 378. Cracklin, Joseph, assembled Free- State men, 39. Crane, William H., represented Plumb in play of "The Sen- ator," 334. Crawford, Colonel Samuel J., as Captain captured guns at Old Fort Wayne, 109; op- posed Hindman's advance up Cove Creek, 116 ; with Flumb fought battle of Reed's Mountain, 117, 118; work of referred to and quoted from, 182 ; commissioned Plumb Colonel, 199 ; supported Gree- ley, 224. Crawford, William, daughters of imprisoned, 146. Crenshaw, A. L. H., affair of, 169 et seq. Cross Hollows, big chain found at, 133. Crozier, Robert, 226; appointed to Senate, 449. Cullum, S. M., on select Commit- tee on meat products, 300 ; statement of, 390. Curtis, , one of Plumb's company, 44 ; sent to explore valley of the Blue, 51. Curtis, Charles, elected to Sen- ate, 449 ; 451 ; 452. Curtis, O. A., joined Plumb's company, 44 ; speeches of, 46. Curtis, General Samuel R., in command of Department of Kansas, 180; preparations of for Price raid; places Kan- sas under martial law, 181 ; opposed by Governor Car- ney and others, 182 ; because of Kansas politicians could not fight decisive battle at Little Blue, 180; decided to abandon Kansas City ; sent trains to Wyandotte, 189 ; council of war decided to arrest, and place Blunt in place of, 190; wanted to or- der a retreat with troops under fire, 191 ; relieved of Carney, 192. Davis, David, 13. Davis, Henry Winter, 13. Davis, John, 451. Deal, Mrs. Eliza, statement of, 149. Deep Harbor Convention, chap- ter on, 316, et seq. Deitzler, G. W., one of the founders of Emporia, 60. Democratic party, became a pro- slavery party, 17. Denver, James W., appointed Governor, 79. Dickinson, Ally, 177. Diplomatic Service, chapter on, 289, et seq. District of the Border, chapter on, 136, et seq. Dolliver, Senator J. P., statement of as to Plumb's amendment to the Mills Bill, 372 ; what he said of Plumb, 373. Doolittle, Dudley, 453. Douglas, Stephen A., action of on public lands, 35S. Dumble, J. W., foreman in Trib- une office, 13 ; partner in Xenia News, 14 ; letter of, 25. Edmunds, George F., President of the Senate, 265. Edwards, Major John N., 180. Eldridge, William, one of Plumb's company, 44. INDEX 461 Eleventh Kansas, organization of, chapter on, 107, et seq.; at Cane Hill, 113 ; prairie Grove, 124 ; camped at Crane Creek ; takes boat for Kan- sas City, 134; ordered mounted, 135 ; date of _prder, 142; held the crossing "bf the Little Blue, 186 ; held a ford on the Big Blue ; drove back Jackman's brigade, 188 ; po- sition of on Sunday ; Simp- son got rations for, 191 ; in pursuit of Price ; return of to Paola, 192 ; assigned to duty on the Great Plains, 193 ; march of to Fort Kearny, 194 ; march of to Fort Laramie, 195 ; disposi- tion of in Wyoming, 19G ; mustered out, 200 ; record of, 202. Elkins, Thilip D., saved Plumb's life, 34. Elkins, Stephen B., statement of mentioned, 34 ; on Order No. 11, 1GG; statement of, 392. Ellis. Ben, let. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, pleased With Lane's speech, 46. Emery, James S., delegate, 81. Emporia, founding of ; location of, 00 ; chapter on, 63, et seq.; mail for sent to Law- rence ; later, left in hollow tree at Holmes' Ford, 66 ; ague at, 70 ; early church services at, 71; Emporia and the Civil War, chapter on, 98, ct seq.; heroism of peo- ple of, 98 to 106. Emporia Artillery, enlistment of, 98. Emporia Cavalry, enlistment of, 98. Emporia Guards, enlistment of, 98. Emporia Town Company, chap- ter on, 59, et seq. Evarts, William M., 417. Ewing, General Thomas, Jr., del- egate to Leavenworth Con- stitutional Convention, 80 ; nominated for Chief Justice, 90; when resigned, 96; ap- pointed to raise troops, 103 ; Colonel of the 11th Kansas, 107 ; error of in taking field, 108; at battle of Cane Hill, 113; part of in battle of Prairie Grove, 124; advised that Plumb could build ferry over White River, 133 ; made Brigadier-General ; comman- der of District of the Bor- der, 134; size of District; difficulties encountered, 136, ct seq.; reports conditions in his District, 141 ; ad- dressed citizens of Olathe ; forces of, 142 ; plans of for guarding the Border; sta- tions on the Border, 143; Captain Pike's actions re- viewed by, 155 ; absent night of Quantrill raid ; criticised, 158 ; official report of quoted from ; Plumb urged to form on State-line, 160 ; joins pur- suit of Quantrill, 160; is- sues Order No. 11 ; had Van Horn succeed Plumb as Pro- vost Marshal, 168 ; action of in Crenshaw affair, 170 ; fought Price at Pilot Knob, Mo., 180. Fairchild, Father, pioneer Meth- odist minister, 99; address of, 105. Fairfield, Stephen H., testimony of to Plumb's devotion to duty, 203. Fawcett, Mrs. , sacrifices of, 101. Fiftieth Congress, chapter on, 293, et seq. Fifty-first Congress, chapter on, 319, et seq. Fishback, W. II. M., 182. Flenniken, B. F., letter of Rev. J. D. Liggett to, 19; Clerk of Senate Committee on Public Lands, 429 ; private secretary to Senator Plumb many years ; Plumb's last writing addressed to ; pres- ent in Plumb's last illness ; saw him pass away, 430; 462 INDEX notified Senator Peffer of Plumb's death, 432. "Float," Wyandot Indian, nature of; Emporia townsite cov- ered with one, 63. Force Bill, pressed by radical element, 319 ; killed, 323. Ford, Colonel J. H., in command of Fort Riley, 193. Fort Halleck, Plumb stationed at, 199. Fort Saunders, captured by Lane, 40. Fort Titus, capture of, 40. Forty-sixth Congress, chapter on, 237, et seq. Forty-seventh Congress, chapter on, 248, et seq. Forty-eighth Congress, chapter on, 265, et seq. Forty-ninth Congress, chapter on, 278, et seq. Franklin, town of, captured, 40. Frease, Cyrus, saved from death by Plumb, 403. Fremont, John C, honored flag of Emporia troops, 100 ; bought antiquated muskets, 107. Free-State movement, see chap- ter on "Bleeding Kansas," 35, et seq. Fugitive Slave Law, killed Whig party, 17. Funston, E. H., story of, 413 ; 433 ; 450 ; 451. Gallagher, William Davis, a poet, 18. Gardner, Captain John, picket station of, 116; relieved by Crawford, 117. Garfield, James A., nomination of, chapter on, 245, et seq.; talks with Plumb ; Simpson and Plumb at room of, 246 ; nominated, 247 ; cabinet of confirmed, 248 ; death of, 249. Geary, John W., appointed Gov- ernor of Kansas, 41 ; vetoed bill for Lecompton Constitu- tion ; veto overridden, 73 ; fled to save his life, 74. Gilpatrick, Dr., sent to South- eastern Kansas, 84. Glick, G. W., elected Governor, 261 ; convened Legislature, 270. Gold Standard, not a Republican tenet until 1896, 347. Good, S. S., editor at Leaven- worth, 31. Goodin, J. R,, 450. Goss, Captain B. F., in command at Trading Post, 143. Greeley, Horace, at Osawatomie Convention, 89 ; supported by Kansans, 224. Green, Captain L. F., statement of, 170; driven in by Price, 184. Gregg, Captain William H., ac- tions of at Lawrence, 156 ; speaks of Brooklyn as Black- jack Point, 161 ; given com- mand of rear-guard, 162 ; held prisoners in check, 163. "Grizzlies, The," Plumb's com- pany so called, 44. Graham, J. M., 104. Grandstaff, Mollie, one of impris- oned women, 146. Grant, U. S., Plumb opposed ap- propriation for monument to, 280. Grasshopper Falls, convention at, 75. Graves, Judge Charles B., state- ment of, 213 ; tells of Plumb's helpfulness, 405. Gray, Mrs. Lou Monday, one of the imprisoned women, 146. Hackney, William P., urged Plumb for Senator, 225.. Hall, Miss , one of the im- prisoned women, 146. Hallowed, J. R., 224. Halstead, Murat, rejected by Senate as Minister to Ger- many, 173. Hamill, James, went to Kansas with Plumb, 55. Hamilton, Alexander, 16. Hamilton, C. S., editor Marys- ville (O.) Tribune, 13; aided Plumb on Xenia Neivs, 14. INDEX 463 Hammond, John, arrival of, in Kansas, 59. Hammond, Dr. William A., fight of Plumb against, 235. Hanback, Lewis, 450. Harper, Robert J., 204. Harris, E. P., the printer who saw Plumb in the bookstore, 55 ; statement of, 388. Harris, W. A., elected to Senate, 450, 451. Harrison, Benjamin, in Garfield's room at Chicago, 246 ; chap- ter on, 309 ; Plumb aided in nomination and election of, 310; Plumb for nomination of, 420. Harrison, J. N., called "Curley" Harrison ; how he met Plumb ; how Plumb remem- bered name of, 412 ; jvith Plumb in last campaign ; how they crossed the Kansas River, 423; meeting at Ed- wardsville, 424. Haskell, Dudley C, Plumb's speech on death of. 2G9 ; 450. Harvey, James M., elected Sen- ator, 226; stood for re-elec- tion, 228; elected to Senate, 449. Hayes, R. B., 13 ; called special session of Congress, 237 ; ve- toed funding bill, 251 ; vetoed silver bill, 344. Helvering, G. T., 453. Hendricks, Thomas A., death of, 278; favored railroad land grants, 358. Heritage, Captain L. T., state- ment of, 87; elected Captain of Company C, 11th Kansas, 107. Herron, General F. J., marches to join Blunt, 119; attacked by Hindman, 120 ; plans bat- tle with Hindman, 121; ac- count of battle, 122; with Blunt plans attack on Van Buren, 130. Higgins, William, statement of, 86; tells why Plumb sup- ported Greeley, 224. Higginson, Thomas W., heard Lane's speech at Nebraska City, 46 ; Tappan's statement concerning, 49. Hillyar, George S., impeached, 91. Hindman, General Thomas C, In command Confederate troops in Arkansas, 112; army of; movements of, 115 ; checked on Reed's Mountain, 118; changed plans and moved on Herron ; met him at Prairie Grove; plans of battle, 120; battle, 123, 124; defeat of, 125 ; defeated at Van Buren ; retreat of, 132. Hinton, Colonel Richard J., writes account of Illinois company, 29; was to have had a share in Emporia, 60; wrote Impeachment Cases, 93 ; saved from death by Plumb, 404. Hogeboom, Dr. G. W., Surgeon of 11th Kansas, 107. Hogue, John T., bought Plumb's interest in Xcnia News, 55. Holladay. Ben, lines of opened by Plumb, 199; Plumb op- posed claims of, 242. Holman, William S., 361; on Committee of Conference, 439. Holmes, James H., hauled Plumb's press from Old Wy- andotte to Emporia, 65. nolmes' Ford, hollow tree at, used for Emporia mail, 66. nolt, Colonel John D., with Quantrill on Lawrence raid, 154. Homestead Act, Republican measure ; benefits of, 359. nood, Major Calvin, with Plumb in business, 221. nooper, Samuel D., 340. Hornsby, Columbus, oue of the founders of Emporia, 60. Howells, William Dean, lived near Xenia, O., 19. Hoyt, Major Davis S., murdered, 40. Hudson, Major J. K., Plumb aided paper of, 385 ; story of about Plumb, 415. 4C4 INDEX Hudson, T. J., 451. Hunter, John, went to Kansas with Plumb, 55 ; went to Mariposa with Pierce, 57. Hunter, Robert, went to Kansas with Plumb, 55. Illinois Company, arrival of, at Leavenworth ; turned back by Border-Ruffians, 28. Ingalls, John J., article of re- ferred to, 137; candidate for President, 309; elected to Senate, 449. Influence of Plumb in the Sen- ate, chapter on, 417, et seq. Inspiration for Drama, chapter on, 334, et seq. Jackson, A. M., 452. Jackson, Fred S., 452. Jay, William, 230. "Jayhawker," nature and origin of the term, 153. Jefferson, Thomas, pioneer life gave strength to, 72. Jennison, Colonel Charles R., driven from Byram's Ford, 187 ; some account of, 18S. Jewell, Colonel L. R., mortally wounded at battle of Cane Hill, 114. Johns, , one of Plumb's com- pany, 44 ; sent to explore the valley of the Blue, 51. Johnson, H. P., delegate to Leav- enworth Constitutional Con- vention, 81 ; prominent in early Kansas ; Colonel of Fifth Kansas ; killed at Mor- ristown, 28. Johnston, Judge W. A., statement of, 213; tells how Plumb worked, 395 ; tells how Plumb traveled in last cam- paign, 424. Jones Mission, established among the Cherokees, 126 ; orig- inated name of Pin Indians, 127. Jones, Sheriff, Plumb talked to, 31. Junkin, William W., 161. Kansas, political conditions in, as seen by Plumb, 31, 32, 33 ; characteristics of people of, 411 ; State proverb of ; lan- guage of invented by Plumb, 412. Keiley, , refused as Minister by Austria, 289. Keiley, Harrison, 451. Keiley, William D., 340. Kenyon College, founding of, 11. Kerr, Charity, one of imprisoned women, 146. Kidd's Mills, 113. King, Captain Henry ; comment of on Plumb's re-election to the Senate, 264 ; statement of as to Plumb's love for newspapers and newspaper men, 384. King, William R., action of as Commissioner, 358. Kinney, Coates, a poet, 18. Kirkpatrick, S. S., 451. Kitts, John H., furnished motto for Buck & Ball, 126. Lane, James H., foremost leader in Kansas, 37 ; led in "Lane's Army of the North" ; political policy of almost elected Fremont, 38 ; cam- paign of in Kansas against the Border-Ruffians in 1856, 39, et seq.; speech of at Ne- braska City, 46; assured Plumb that he could get into Kansas, 49 ; appointed to or- ganize the people ; appointed Plumb to superintend enroll- ment, 74; President Leaven- worth Constitutional Con- vention ; speech of, 80 ; Major-General of Free-State forces in troubles in South- eastern Kansas ; appointed Plumb his aide-de-camp, 84 ; report of on operation in campaign, 85 ; orders Plumb mustered as Lieutenant, 104 ; pursued Quantrill, 159 ; drove Quantrill out of Brook- lyn, 160 ; wanted command of Plumb's troops, 161 ; in battle at Fletcher Farm, INDEX 465 162; appointed on staff of General Curtis ; activity of in Price raid, 181 ; at the battle of Little Blue, 186; sent to Independence by Blunt, 187; supported Lin- coln, 188 ; election of to Sen- ate ; Senatorial succession of, 449. Lane Trail, account of, 39. Larimer, William, 224. Lawrence Massacre, chapter on, 151, et seq. Leavenworth Constitution, chap- ter on, 78. Lecompton Constitution, chapter on, 73, et seq. Lecompton Legislature, drunken- ness and immorality of, 57. Leland, Cyrus, Jr., in pursuit of Quantrill, 159 ; statement of, 161 ; commanded citizens in pursuit of Quantrill, 162 ; re- port of referred to, 163; nomination of Logan for Vice-President, 276. Lenhart, Charles, 84. Lewis. L, W., 218. Lewis, T. IL, 218. Liggett. lU'v. J. D., wrote arti- cles for Xenia ~News, 19; statement of, 20; partner of Plumb. 25. Lincoln, Abraham, pioneer life gave strength to, 72. Lindsay's Prairie, Blunt camped on, 112. Little Blue, battle of, 186, et seq. Little Osage, 110. Little Santa Fe, a Border sta- tion, 143. Lloyd, David D., wrote "The Sen- ator" for Crane, 334. Logan. , sentenced to ten years in penitentiary for ac- tion in Crenshaw affair, 170. Logan, General John A., nomi- nated for Vice-President, 276. Logan, J. W., statement of, 179. Long, Chester L, elected to Sen- ate, 450 ; 451 ; 452. Lowe, Colonel , Plumb studied law in office of, 22. Lowe, David P., stood for Sen- ator against Plumb, 228 ; de- feated, 229, 450. Lowe, Colonel Sandy, pursued Quantrill ; number of guer- illas killed by, 161 ; pre- vented from aiding Colonel Veale, 190. Lynde, Edward, 81. Lyon, General Nathaniel, strat- egy of, 109. Mac Lennan, F. P., statement of, 87. McBratney, Robert. Plumb op- posed to politically, 22. McClung, B. W. Leigh, went to Kansas with Plumb, 42 ; one of Plumb's company, 44 ; night with Shingwassa's band ; offered Chief's daugh- ter for wife, 57 ; nursed Plumb through smallpox ; short of clothes at Emporia, 68 ; office of at Emporia, 86 ; mentioned, 98. McCormick, N. B., 451. McCorkle, Mrs. Nannie Harris, one of imprisoned women, 146. McDonald, Joseph E., 233. McGee, Frey P., kept public house at 110 Creek ; David Plumb stopped at house of, 01. McKinley Bill, passage of x 319 ; Plumb, Paddock and Petti- grew opposed, 325 ; attempt of Plumb to amend by es- tablishment of Tariff Com- mission, 374 ; unpopular in the West, 421. Madison, E. H., 452; 453. Mahone, William, Plumb dined with night of last illness, 429. Maloy, John, statement of, 217. Manderson, C. F., on select Com- mittee on meat products, 300; Plumb elected him President of the Senate, 418. Mariposa, founding of by Plumb, 51, et seq. Marmaduke, Colonel J. T., in command at Cane Hill, 112 ; 466 INDEX defeated by Blunt, 113; ad- vanced up Cove Creek, 116. Martin, John, elected to Senate, 449. Martin, Colonel John A., secre- tary, 90; friendly to Plumb, 231. Matthews, Stanley, resolution of to pay bonds In silver, 342. Meat trust, existence of described by Plumb, 299. Military Prison, Collapse of, chapter on, 145, et seq. Mills Bill, the, action on, 293; occupied time of Senate, 304 ; Plumb engaged in debates on ; amendment to providing for Customs Commission in- troduced by Plumb, 36S; what Senator Dolliver said of, 372, 373. Miller, J. M., 451, 452. Miller, O. L., 451. Miller, W. A., 395. "Minneola Swindle," what It was, 79. Mitchell, General Robert B., del- egate to Leavenworth Con- stitutional Convention, 81 ; on the Great Plains, 193. Monroe, Colonel J. C, ordered to engage Union forces, 119. Montgomery, Colonel James, champion of Free-State men, 83; in Price raid, 1S2. Moody, Granville, 19; addressed meeting, 24. Moody, Joel, 224. Moonlight, Colonel Thomas, elected Lt.-Col. 11th Kansas, 107 ; order of, 110 ; at battle Prairie Grove, 124; made Colonel 11th Kansas, 134; headquarters of at Paola, 178 ; letter of to Plumb, 183 ; in command of the rear at Lexington, 184; charged up the hill, 185; good fight of at Little Blue, 186 ; describes charge of Plumb; checked advance of enemy, 188; wanted to push enemy, 191 ; assigned to District of Col- orado, 193; given command of Fort Laramie, 197; lost horses ; ordered mustered out, 198. Moore, , aided by Plumb, 204. Moore, H. L., 451. Morrill, E. N., 450, 451. Morrison Bill, the, defeated, 265. Morrison, William R., bill of de- feated, 265. Morrow, John, Price and Hind- man camped on farm of, 116. Morse, Rev. G. C, pioneer preacher at Emporia ; one of the "Andover Band"; es- tablished the Congregational Church at Emporia, 70. Morse, Mrs. G. C, statement of, 72. Morton, Oliver, P., sworn as Sen- ator with Plumb, 233. Munday, Martha, one of the im- prisoned women, 146. Munday, Sue, one of the impris- oned women, 146; now Mrs. Womack ; statement of, 149. Murdock, M. M., 225. Murdock, Victor, 452, 453. Neeley, G. A., 453. Newman, George W., 217. New Mexico, rights of people of championed by Plumb. 353. Newspapers, Plumb's interest in and connection with, chapter on, 381, et seq. Oklahoma, Plumb favored open- ing, 285 ; President instructed to negotiate treaties for, 293 no action by President, 294, chapter on, 327, et seq.; Plumb opposed Springer amendments ; favored admis- sion of, 332. Old Fort Wayne, battle of, 109. Oliver's Store, 116. Order No. 11, some account of; text of, 166. Osawatomie, pillaged by Whit- field, 37. Osborn, Thomas A., appointed Robert Crozier to Senate, 226 ; stood for U. S. Senator, 228. INDEX 467 Otis, John G., 451. Paddock, A. S., voted against McKinley Bill, 325, 433. Palmer, Captain Henry E., state- ment of, 206. Parker, Colonel B. F., bloody guerilla, 141 ; killed, 142. Parker, Frank, had charge of im- prisoned women, 147 ; or- dered women out of prison, 148. Parker, R. D., one of the "An- dover Band," 70. Parrott, Marcus J., spoke at Xenia, Ohio ; in favor of the Free-State men in Kansas, 23. Payne, David L., Oklahoma boomer, 328. Payne, Stephen J., murdered by Bill Anderson, 153. Payne. Thomas J., statement of, 153. Payson, L. E., 439. Peck, George It., statement of, 389. Peffer, W. A., tribute of to Plumb, 407 ; notified of Plumb's death, 432; elected to Senate, 449. Pellett, , one of Plumb's com- pany, 44. Penick, Colonel William R., good border commander, 139; regiment of mustered out, 1 «». Perkins, B. W., statement of, 391 ; appointed to Senate, 449; 450; 451. Perkins. Stephen. house of burned by Bill Anderson, i.-,::. Perlev. Mrs. I. E.. tells of Plumb's charity, 399, 400. Peters, M. S., 451. Peters, S. R., 450, 451. Pettigrew, R. F., voted against the McKinley Bill. 325; statement of; McKinley Bill discussed by, 375; saw Plumb in failing health, 427; on Committee of Con- ference, 439. rhlllips, W. A., 450. Phillips, Oliver, Plumb stopped with, 88. Pickler, J. A., 439. Pierce, Alfred C, one of Plumb's company, 44; walked with Plumb, 46 ; sent to explore the valley of the Blue, 51 ; surveyed town of Mariposa, 54 ; went to Lawrence to see Plumb ; a night with Shing- wassa, Chief of the Kaws, 57 ; statement of as to help- fulness of Plumb, 407. Pike, Captain J. A., in command at Aubry, 143 ; action of in Quantrill raid, 154. Pin Indians, how name of orig- inated, 127. Plantz, H. G., Plumb's first law partner, 90. Platte Bridge, battle of, 200. Pleasanton, General Alfred, pur- suing Price, 185 ; comes on Westport battlefield, 191. Plumb family, origin of, 3. Plumb, David, sketch of life of, 4, et seq.; son worked in shop of, 9 ; virtues in home of, 10 ; mortgaged home to found Xenia News, 15 ; at Lawrence in 1856, 43; move to Kansas with family ; in- cidents of trip to Emporia, 61 ; arrival of with family at Emporia, 62; aided in haul- ing press from Old Wyan- dotte to Emporia, 65. Plumb, Ellen, wounded acci- dentally, 7. riumb, George, statement of, 6; in pursuit of Quantrill, 159; in partnership with brother Preston, 209. riunib, Mrs. George, statement of, 105, 106. Plumb, H. B., author of The Plumb Qenealocjy, 3. Plumb. Ichabod, some account of ; moved to Ohio ; father of David Plumb. 4. Plumb, Josephus, a good printer, 14 ; ill at house of Frey P. McGee, 61. Plumb, Preston B., birth of; cut sister's foot, 7 ; bitten by 468 INDEX Plumb, Preston B. — continued. bear ; bow be got tbe name of "Bony," 8 ; bad no middle name; bow be got tbe initial in name ; influence of motber on ; worked in father's sbop, 9 ; went to Kenyon College ; worked on college paper, 12 ; worked on Tribune in Marysville, Ohio, 13; founded Xenia News, 14, 15; as editor of bis paper, 20 ; good printer ; how he worked, 21 ; studied law ; began to feel bis power, 22 ; heard Parrott speak, 23 ; starts to Kansas : saw Buford's men on boat ; letter of, 25 ; saw fortifications on Missouri River, 27 ; the Illinois com- pany, 28 ; arrived at Leaven- worth, July 4, 1856 ; first im- pressions of Kansas, 30 ; vis- its Lawrence and Lecompton, 31 ; political conditions in Kansas, 32; letter of, 33; Border-Ruffians assault, 34 ; urges people to go to Kan- sas, 41 ; starts to Kansas again, 42 ; full account of second trip to Kansas, see chapter on, 43, et seq.; at Iowa City ; company of ; cargo of, 44 ; speech of ; route of, 45 ; suppressed mutiny, 47; receipt of Red- path to ; Tappan's statement, 48 ; founded Mariposa, 51 ; letters of about pioneer life, 52, 53, 54 ; returned to Ohio to sell paper ; sold paper and returned to Kansas ; fore- man in Herald of Freedom office, 55 ; article of on Mari- posa, 56 ; describes tbe Le- compton Legislature ; tbe head of Mariposa though ab- sent, 57; abandons Mariposa for Emporia ; strengthened by the Mariposa enterprise, 58 ; demise of the Lecompton Legislature ; letter of, 59 ; getting material for Emporia paper ; meets father and family at St. Louis, 61 ; as- Plumb, Preston B. — continued. sembling equipment for news- paper, 64 ; Kanzas News es- tablished ; how first number was got out, 65; leader of Emporia, 66; attacked by smallpox, 67 ; office of on fire, 69 ; aided church serv- ices at Emporia, 71 ; con- tributed to church building; strengthened by pioneer life, 72 ; appointed by Lane to superintend enrollment of people to protect ballot boxes, 74; at Grasbopper Falls convention, 75 ; opposed Lecompton constitution, 76 ; delegate to Leavenworth Constitutional Convention, 81 ; sent to Southeastern Kansas as aide-de-camp to General Lane, 84. The Bar and the Legisla- ture; chapter on, 86, et seq.; energy of; precarious health of, 87 ; efforts to secure rail- roads ; helped organize Re- publican party, 89 ; secretary of convention ; studied law ; admitted to bar ; first army service, 90 ; managed im- peachment cases, 91 ; Su- preme Court Reporter, chap- ter on, 95, et seq.; appoint- ment of to raise troops, 103, 104 ; mustered as Major of tbe 11th Kansas, 107; ac- tions of in field, 110, 111 ; in battle of Cane Hill, 112, 113; battle of Reed's Moun- tain, 117 ; sent back with re- inforcements, 118 ; part of in battle of Prairie Grove ; saved Ewing, 124 ; published Buck & Ball at Cane Hill, 126, et seq.; marched down Cove Creek, 131 ; at Van Buren, 132; bridged White River, 133 ; promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel ; member of Court-Martial, 134 ; changed guard of imprisoned women, 147 ; criticized for Quantrill raid, 158; acted promptly ; pursued with INDEX 469 Plumb, Preston B. — continued. vigor, 159; urged Ewing to form on State-line ; crossed Wakarusa, 160 ; Lane wanted his command, 161 ; actions of in pursuit, 162 ; at Prairie City ; Fletcher Farm ; con- tinues pursuit, 162, 163; saved by Simpson, 165 ; said to have written Order No. 11, 166; Provost Marshal, 168 ; Crenshaw affair, 169, et seq.; stationed at Independ- ence; at Humboldt, 176; stopped cattle-stealing, 177 ; conveyed trains, 178 ; mus- tered as Lieutenant-Colonel ; in command at Olathe, 179 ; letter of to Blunt, 183; nar- row escape of, 184; daring of at bridge, 185; af Little Blue, 187 ; charge of, 188 ; in the advance with his men, 191 ; in pursuit of Price, 192 ; assigned to command Dis- trict of Southern Kansas ; ordered to report for duty on Great Plains, 193 ; march of to Fort Kearny and up the Platte, 195 ; headquarters of at Camp Dodge, 196; In- dian fighting, 1D7; ordered to Fort Halleck ; opens Over- land trails and maintains service; commissioned Col- onel, 199 ; offered charge of overland lines ; mustered out; complimentary tele- gram of General Connor to, 200; as a soldier, chapter on, 202, et seq.; march of up the Platte; crossing the Platte at Julesburg, 205; aided Captain Palmer, 206; character of as a soldier, 207; back to civil life; plans of, 209: to the Legislature; Speaker of the House, 210; marriage of; re-election of, 212; banker, 216, et seq.; in cattle business, 221 ; mining business, 222 ; chapter on election of to the Senate, 224, et seq.; supported Gree- ley, 224; first race for the Plumb, Preston B. — continued. Senate, 226; at Wichita con- vention, 227; elected to the U. S. Senate ; home-coming of, 230; sworn; on Commit- tee on Public Lands, 233 ; fight of against Hammond, 235 ; Committee assignments of in 46th Congress, 23S; Senate seats of, 239 ; attitude of toward Indians, 241 ; op- posed claims of Ben Holla- day, 242 ; introduced amend- ment to Constitution to pro- hibit manufacture and sale of liquors, 243. Opposed River and Harbor Bill, 244; delegate to Na- tional Republican Conven- tion, 245 ; influence of sought for Grant; for Blaine; talks with Garfield, 246; gave Blaine votes of Kansas to Garfield, 247; opposed Civil Service as proposed, 248; opposed Sherman's funding bill, 249; attacked policy of reserves; statistics used by, 250; voted to redeem bonds, 251 ; opposed Sherman's funding bill; speech of, 252; speech of on Treasury sur- plus, 253; speech of on pub- lic debt, 254; ideas of on Civil Service, 257 et seq.; what he proposed, 260; re- view of work of first term in Senate, 262 ; re-election to Senate, 263 ; speech of favor- ing payment of national debt, 266; favored Commit- tee on Agriculture, 267 ; op- posed aping foreign fads, 268; speech of on death of Dudley C. Haskell ; passes appropriation bill for Post Office Department, 269; gave notice that Indian Territory would soon be required for settlement, 270 ; favored pen- sion for widow of General Thomas, 271 ; reasons for op- posing River and Harbor Bill, 273; not for Blaine's nomination; favored Arthur, 470 INDEX Plumb, Preston B. — continued. 275 ; made speech nominat- ing Logan, 276 ; aided in Blaine campaign, 277 ; first opposition of diplomatic serv- ice, 279 ; opposed appropria- tion for monument to Gen- eral Grant, 280 ; opposed bill for relief of Fitz-Jobn Por- ter, 282 ; favored opening Oklahoma, 284; amendment of to prohibit use of railroad passes, 287; policy of on the diplomatic service, 289, et seq.; what he proposed in lieu of, 291 ; favored service pension bill, 294 ; tribute of to Union soldiers, 295, et seq.; retort of upon Senator Vest, 297; value of personal property in Alabama shown — guns, pistols and dirks, 298; meat trust shown up, 299 ; on select Committee on meat products, 300 ; action of in relation to Congressional Library building, 301, et seq.; review of work of in Fiftieth Congress, 305 ; great- est factor in establishment of Department of Agricul- ture, 307, et seq.; aided in nomination of Harrison for President, 310; urged for place in Cabinet ; would not consider it, 311 ; third elec- tion to Senate, chapter on, 312 ; President of Deep'Har- bor Convention, 317; Alaska Commercial Company, 319 ; No Man's Land, 320; op- posed Force Bill, 322; on Committee on Reclamation of Arid Lands ; submitted re- port, 324 ; opposed the Mc- Kiuley Bill to end, 325. Review of work of in Fif- ty-first Congress, 326; op- posed Springer amendments to Oklahoma Bill, 330; fa- vored admission of Okla- homa and aided in getting good bill, 332; in the play "The Senator," 334, et seq.; fight of for Silver, 340, et Plumb, Preston B. — continued, seq.; accusation of Sherman, 341 ; substitute of favoring silver, 346 ; not a free-silver man in sense that Bryan was, 347 ; why he was for free-silver, 348 ; public lands, chapter on, 352 ; et seq. ; championed rights of people in New Mexico, 353 ; great speech of on land policies of different parties, 354, et seq.; land laws revised by ; con- servation of natural re- sources of America first put in laws by, 361, et seq.; a protectionist, 363 ; Commis- sion of to administer the tariff, 368, et seq.; fame and statemanship of plan, 371 ; what Senator Dolliver said of, 372, 373; what scope of Commission was finally to be, 375 ; one of last acts of, introduction of Customs Commission Bill, 376 ; efforts of to secure sugar from sorghum, 377, et seq.; inter- est in and connection with newspapers, chapter on, 381, et seq.; subscribed for every Kansas newspaper and read all of them, 382 ; remarkable power of, 383 ; habits and characteristics of, chapter on, 386, et seq. ; trips of with Ware ; umbrella incident, 387; capacity of for work, chapter on, 393, et seq.; could carry two distinct lines of thought, 394 ; charity of, chapter on, 399, et seq.; a helpful man, chapter on, 402, et seq.; stories of, chap- ter on, 411, et seq.; Kansas language invented by, 412 ; incident in first election of, 413 ; influence of in the Sen- ate, chapter on, 417, et seq.; elected Manderson President of the Senate, 418 ; last cam- paign of, chapter on, 420, et seq.; result of, 425; effect of on health of Plumb, 426 ; last illness and death of, chapter INDEX 471 on, 427, et seq.; last rites chapter on, 432, et scq.; serv- ices in Senate Chamber, 433 at Topeka, Kansas, 434 services at Emporia, 433 Rest. 436; 449. Plume, John, progenitor of the Plumbs of America, 4. Plume, Robertus, progenitor of Plumb family, 3. Pomeroy, S. C, secured charter for Plumb's bank, 21G ; Sena- torial succession of ; elected to Senate, 449. Porter, Fitz-John, Plumb opposed bill for relief of. 282; re- stored to army, 283. Potter, F. W., 92. Prairie Grove, chapter on battle of, 115, et seq. Pribilof Islands, saved from sale by Plumb's revision of land laws. 302. Price Raid, The, chapter on, 180, et seq. Price, General Sterling, head- quarters of, 116; put chain across road at Cross Hollow, 133 ; raid of ; battles of about Kansas City; retreat of, ISO, et scq. Proctor, A. G., statement of, 388. Protection, Plumb in favor of, 3G3 ; opposed extreme ; could not protect wheat, 305 ; po- sition of Plumb on. position of West now, 307 : what Senator Dolliver said of, 372, 373. Provost Marshal, chapter on, 108, et seq. Public Lands, chapter on, 352, et seq. Quantrill, William C, renegade Ohioan ; guerilla chieftain, 138; taunts Evving, 142; ar- rested Bill Anderson, 145 ; prevailed on his men thi-ough collapse of military prison for women, to go on Law- rence raid, 151 ; personal grievance against Lawrence, 152 ; force of on Lawrence raid; course taken, 154; ac- tions of at Lawrence, 157 ; pursuit of, chapter on, 158 ; manner of retreat of, 162 ; avoided ambush at Bull Creek, 164. Quay, Senator M. S., went with Plumb to see physician, 428. Railroad Land Grants. Plumb had many forfeited, 354, et. seq. Railroad Passes, chapter on, 287, et seq. Randall, Samuel J., opposed the Morrison Bill, 2G5. Randolph, Mrs. Anna Watson, addresses and writings of, 99. Reade, Charles B., 432. "Red Legs," nature of organiza- tion of, 153. Redpath, James, party of, 47. Reed, Thomas B., Speaker of House, 319. Reeder, W. A., 451, 452. Rees, R. R., 452. Reid, Whitelaw, boy with Plumb, 19; wrote for Xcnia News, 20. Republican party, founding of; antecedents of, 17. Reynolds, Gov. Thomas C, 180. Rhea's Mills, Blunt camped at, 130. Richardson, Albert D., in Red- path's party, 47. Ridgley, E. E., 451. Riggs, Samuel A., 224. Roberts, John T., statment of how Plumb aided him, 410. Robinson, Charles, visited by Plumb, 33 ; impeached as Governor, 91 ; one of those inviting Plumb to Lawrence, 232. Robinson, John W., impeached, 91. Rockville, Border station, 143. Rockwell, B., 379. Ross, E. G., Captain Company E, 11th Kansas. 107 ; horse of killed at Little Blue, 187; supported Greeley, 224 ; elec- tion of to Senate, 449. 472 INDEX Ross, W. W., visited by Plumb, 51 ; delegate, 81. Ruggles, Robert M., law partner of Plumb, 213. Russell, Captain A. P., 116; killed, 118. Ryan, Judge Thomas, elected to Congress, 227 ; on Plumb's vote against Hammond, 236, 450. -, house of attacked Saviers, ■ by Bill Anderson, 153. Schofield, General John M., suc- ceeds General Blunt, 133 ; ordered 11th Kansas to Fort Scott, 134. Scott, Charles F., 452. Sears, T. C, stood for Senator against Plumb, 228 ; amus- ing incident in connection with, 413. Selvey, Mrs. Arminna, one of im- prisoned women, 146 ; killed, 149. "Senator, The," the play of William H. Crane, 334, et seq. Shamleffer, W. F., statement of, 217 ; on good-fellowship of Plumb, 389. Shannon, Governor Wilson, re- signed, 41. Shawnee Mission, 143. Sheridan, B. J., statement of, 382. Sherman, John, sworn as Senator with Plumb, 233; bill of to care for public debt, 249 ; led movement to demonetize silver, 251 ; opposed by Plumb ; defeated by Plumb, 252 ; opposed payment of na- tional debt, 266; elected President of the Senate, 278 ; demonetized silver, 340 ; statement of, 348; called to task by McPherson, 364. Sherman, Patrick, 178. Shingwassa, Chief of Kaws and Pottawatomies ; gives Pierce and McClung a bad supper ; wanted McClung for son-in- law, 57. Shore. Captain S. T., 84. Siegel, General Franz, halted by chain, 133. Silver, chapter on Plumb's course on, 340, et seq.; demonetized, 340; Plumb's substitute in favor of, 346. Simons, Walter L., 228. Simpson, Captain B. F., prepared to ambush Quantrill at Bull Creek, 164; saved Plumb at ambush, 165 ; statment of ; in the rear with Plumb, 184 ; daring of at bridge, 185; in battle of Little Blue, 187; got rations for Eleventh Kan- sas, 191 ; delegate to National Republican Convention, 245 ; in Garfield's room, 246; plain speaking of, 247; ad- monition of Plumb in Blaine convention at Chicago, 276; tribute of to Plumb, 410. Simpson, Jerry, 422, 451. Singer, Lt. John M., Captain of Provost Guard, 148 ; in pur- suit of Quantrill, 162. Sluss, Judge Henry C.. statement of, 215 ; further statement of, 354. Smith, , one of Plumb's com- pany, 44. Smith, Major J. Nelson, funeral of, 1S9. Smith, General Kirby, instruc- tions of to Price, 180. Smith, Nicholas Verres, some ac- count of, 28, 29. Smith, G. W., 212. Snoddy, Colonel John T., 1S2. Southeastern Kansas, troubles in ; chapter on, 83. Southwick family, some account of, 212. Southwick, Abijah, family of, 211; house of a station on the Underground Railroad ; daughter of married Preston B. Plumb, 212. Southwick, Miss Caroline A., married to Preston B. Plumb, 212. Spaulding, Azel. 92. Spicer, Noyes, carried from Lead- ville by Plumb, 404. INDEX 473 Stanton, F. P., removed as Sec- retary, 76 ; Acting-Governor ; convened Legislature, 78. Stevens, Walter B., statement of as to Plumb, 383 ; how Plumb worked, 397 ; Plumb's char- ity, 400; extract from article of, 404. Stewart, Rev. J. E., sent to Southeastern Kansas, 84. Stewart, Captain J. S., with Plumb at Grasshopper Falls, 73 ; statement of, 177. St. John, John P., defeated for Governor, 261 ; wished Re- publican party to favor tem- perance, 274 : petition of temperance people spat upon ; accepted nomination of Pro- hibition party for President and defeated Blaine, 276, 277. Stone, , murdered by George Todd, 155. Stories of Plumb, chapter on, 411, et seq. Storrs, N. S., arrival of at Em- poria with family, 67. Storrs, Rev. S. D., one of the "Andover Band," 70. Stotler, Jacob, worked for Plumb on Xenia Neics; recollections of, 19; Plumb's friendship for, 21 ; statement of, 22 ; induced by Plumb to move to Emporia, 60 ; tells how first number of Kansas News was put out, 65 ; tribute of to Plumb, 66 ; short of clothes at Emporia, 68 ; state- ment of, 87 ; advice of Plumb to, 209 ; proposed name of Plumb for Legislature, 210 ; pledged to work for Plumb for Senator, 225. Stougbton, William L., 340. Stratton, Captain, 84. Sugar, chapter on, 377, et seq. Swaim, Major , in Garfield's room at Chicago, 246. Taggart, Joseph, 453. Tappan, Samuel F., one of Plumb's company, 44 ; state- ment of, 48 ; inconsistencies of statement of, 49; Secre- tary Leavenworth Constitu- tional Convention, 80. Tariff, the, chapter on, 363, et seq. ; Plumb in favor of ; op- posed to extremes of ; could not "protect" wheat, 365 ; position of Plumb on, posi- tion of West now, 367 ; Com- missions to administer pro- posed ; amendment to Mills Bill providing for, introduced by Plumb, 368 ; what Senator Dolliver said of, 372, 373. Taylor, Zachary, 16. Templeton, Fay, daughter of one of imprisoned women, 146. Thacher, T. Dwight, reported Lane's speech, 80 ; delegate, 81. Thomas, A. A., 233. Thomas, General George H., bill for pension of widow of, 271. Thomas, Miss Laura, statement of, 409. Thompson, Lewis, 104. Thompson, W. EL, elected to Sen- ate, 449. Thurman, Allen G.. 233. Titus, Colonel H. T., captured in his fort, 40. Todd, George, Guerilla; de- throned Quantrill, 138 ; mur- dered Stone, 155. Topeka Constitution, adoption of, 36. Trading Post, Border Station, 143. Turpie, David, 13. Turner, A. H., statement of, 88. Turner, E. J., 450, 451. Turner, Thomas, 5. Union soldiers, tribute of Plumb to, 295, et seq. Underground Railroad, passed through Ohio, 18. Van Buren, Blunt's attack on, 130, et seq. Vandiver, Mrs. Sue, one of im- prisoned women, 146 ; killed, 149. DEC 10 19!3 I :M ! Mil! Ill LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 01 ill in im i 3 744 263 2 #