Kansas News Articles

KANSAS

NEWS ARTICLES

ORGANIZED BANK OF KIDNAPPERS KEEPING COLORED POPULATION IN CONSTANT ALARM

An organized bank of kidnappers is at the present time keeping the colored population of Kansas in constant alarm. Their victims are selected principally from among the Arkansas exiles, who a few years since were driven from that State and took up their abode in Kansas.

Their free papers are taken from them by the kidnappers and destroyed, and they are then coerced into the admission that they are runaway slaves, when they are taken to Missouri and sold for a more southern market. Very little effort apparently is made to stop those nefarious operations. [Douglass' Monthly, Rochester N.Y., Sept. 1860; submitted by Candi Horton]

THE OSAGE COUNCIL

A letter of the 23d ult, from the Osage Council grounds, informs the Missouri Democrat that the treaty, in addition to provisions heretofore made know, provides for the sale of the present reservation and trust lands, in all about 8,000,000 acres, for the sum of $1,500,000, $100,000 to be paid within three months after the ratification of the treaty, and the rest in yarly payments of $100,000 and the completion of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston railroad, twenty miles south from Ottawa, patents for one-fifteenth of the lands in value are to be issued, and upon each subsequent payment and the completion of an additional twenty miles of railroad, patents for one-fifteenth of the lands are to be issued.

The prospects of the signing of the treaty were not very encouraging on the 20th ult.; but on the 23d the correspondent believed that it would be carried.

The Treaty Ratified

Since the above was written we learn from the St. Louis Republican, of the 31st, that the treaty had been ratified. A correspondent of that paper, writing from the council, on the 27th ult., says:

An important treaty between the United States Government, represented by Hon. N. G. Taylor, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Col. Thos. Murphy, Superintendent of Kansas Indians, Col. A. G. Boone, and Major G. C. Snow and the chiefs, counselors, warriors, and head men of the Osage nation, was today concluded and signed by which the Osage nation ceded to the Government and the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston road, the remaining lands owned by the Osages in the State of Kansas, including their trust lands, amounting in all to about 8,000,000 acres. By this cession the annuities of the Indians are largely increased and abundant provision made for their settlement in their new home in the Indian Territory, the establishment of schools, churches, a saw and grist mill, blacksmiths, etc.

Grave difficulties have recently occurred between the settlers and these Indians, and their early removal to the Indian Territory is regarded as a most desirable consummation. The sale of the lands to the Galveston road, upon the terms proposed, it is believed, will insure the speedy construction of this important line of railway, connecting the lakes and Gulf, and add largely to the wealth, settlement and commerce of the Western States.

This important item of information should cheer on the spirit of enterprise in our city and throughout the State. It shows that , in this enterprising country, even bad government cannot keep down the progressive energy of the people, and indicates that in a few years Texas will be far ahead of her present position in some of the most essential elements of prosperity and greatness. (The Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Saturday June 6, 1868, submitted by Nancy Piper)

KIRKE, WILLIAM E. DEATH NOTICE

Death Notice In Kansas , on the 8th of October, of typhoid fever, WILLIAM E. KIRKE, son of William Kirke, of Bethel township, Delaware county, Pa., in the 25th year of his age. (Village Record (Penn) December 19, 1857, submitted by Candi Horton)

C.T. SHAFFER, BISHOP MAILING ADDRESS
Having established Episcopal residence permanently for the quadrennnium [sic]in Kansas City, Kansas , all persons will please address all mail matters for me to 532 Washington Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, And oblige, Yours truly, "In His Name", C.T. Shaffer, Bishop (The Christian Recorder, (Philadelphia, PA) April 3, 1902, submitted by Candi Horton)

ACCIDENT - SLAVES IN KANSAS

A despatch [sic] in the Platte Argus, dated at Kansas on the 21st of July, says that some time in the afternoon of the previous day, Judge Walderman, in the pursuit of a runaway negro when attempting to dismount from his house, discharged his gun, and eight buck and sixteen goose shot penetrated his body. He died the same night. (Provincial Freeman, [Toronto, Canada West] August 26, 1854, submitted by Candi Horton)

ZOUAVES d'AFRIQUE MUSTERED INTO SERVICE

The Zouaves d'Afrique in Kansas have finally been mustered into the service of the United States. They had been serving without pay, and many of them had families that were suffering. They are to be paid from the tine of enlistment, and will join the Army of the Frontier under General Blunt. (Douglass' Monthly, [Rochester, N.Y.] January, 1863, submitted by Candi Horton)

EWING ISSUES ORDER TO HAVE SLAVES GIVEN A MILITARY ESCORT INTO KANSAS

S M Gen. Ewing, commending the Department of Kansas , issued an order on the 18th ult., directing that the slaves of disloyal men in the counties of Missouri in his district should, if they wish to leave the State, have a military escort into Kansas . A negro regiment is also to be raised in Kansas. (The Liberator [Boston] September 4, 1863, submitted by Candi Horton)

KANSAS EMIGRATION SOCIETIES HAVE BEEN FORMED

We are glad to see that Southern politicians are beginning to be sensible of the folly of abusing the Kansas Emigration Societies which have been formed in several of the Northern States, and are taking the much more rational course of imitating their example. The Montgomery Ala. Journal, in noticing the departure of 300 from that city, for Kansas takes occasion to state from personal knowledge, gathered on a recent trip to the sea-board that measures are already effected to place in Kansas before the October election at least 6,000 Southern voters, - and that Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, and other States "backed by Missouri," stand ready at any moment to supply any balance of voters which may be necessary. This is a practical mode of endeavoring to meet the emergency. It shows that the South is thoroughly ashamed of its denunciations of the societies formed in Massachusetts for the purpose of settling Kansas , and that instead of opposing them longer, it is prepared to enter into rivalry with them. This struggle for Kansas is an unavoidable result of the squatter-sovereignty doctrine. The Kansas bill left the inhabitants of Kansas to decide whether Slavery should or should not exist within its borders. It followed necessarily that the friends and the enemies of Slavery would have a sharp contest for the Territory: and that emigrants would pour into it by thousands from all sections of the Union. The Northern States were the first to enter the field: but the South is resolved to make up for loss time by an excess of zeal. The South however must know that the contest is unequal. Where there is one man in the Southern states prepared to emigrate to Kansas there are ten in the North. It will not do for the South to send whites who are not slave holders: for they would become Anti-Slavery men the moment they reached Kansas . And of the slave-holders themselves there are very few who can afford such transplantation of their interest as emigration to Kansas would involve. But every Northern and Western State, is full of active hardy men whose circumstances and disposition alike settlement in a new country. Tens of thousands of such men will become inhabitants of Kansas long before the October election arrives. - N.Y. Times. (Publication: Provincial Freeman [Chatham, Canada West] May 17, 1856, submitted by Candi Horton)

KANSAS MARRIAGES

Married. On the 4th of January, by Rev. J.M. Wilkerson, Mr. JOSEPH GARTH to MISS ELIZABETH TAYLOR, all of Lawrence, Kansas . On the 1st of January, by Rev. W.H. Winder, of Freehold, Mr. Wm. H. JOHNSON to MISS LYDIA ANN JOHNSON, both of Freehold, N.J. On the 31st of December, 1862, by Rev. John Turner, WM. HENRY JONES to MISS LUTIA WATKINS, both of Leavenworth City, Kansas . On the 1st of January, 1863, by Rev. John Turner, JOHN L. TINSLEY to MISS LOUANNA WARD, both of Leavenworth City, Kansas . On the 1st of January, 1863, by Rev. John Turner, AMOS MITCHELL to MRS. FLORA MOUNT, both of Leavenworth City, Kansas. (The Christian Recorder, (Philadelphia, PA) January 24, 1863, submitted by Candi Horton)

Kansas Had the First "Woman Mayor"

Elizabeth Jordon is the Ladies' Home Journal

Women mayors of Kansas have been almost as common as sunflowers.

Women legislators have been numerous in Utah.

Women state superintendents of public instruction have held office all over the West.

Kansas, it may e recalled, was the originator of the "lady mayor" in this country. The town of Argonia gave that innovation to the world thirty-one years ago so successfully that there have been "city mothers" all over the state ever since.

In Colorado the state superintendent of public instruction has been a woman seven times since 1892; in Wyoming, four times since 1893; in Idaho, six times since 1897, and in Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Texas and Washington, once each.

The Women's Administration in Valley Center, Kansas

The Kansas towns over which women preside -- and to them this year are to be added one in Texas, on in Wyoming and one in Missouri -- are not metropolitan in area or in problems.

But the women have attacked their jobs with a picturesque, unwasteful sort of common sense that seems the essential attribute of the unspoiled woman. It is exactly the kind of good humor, determination and gumption that the majority of mothers show in disposing of the daily questions, insubordinations and unruliness of the average American nursery.

In many towns the women were not concerning themselves about public office until they found themselves occupying it.

In Jewett, Texas, for example, women did not vote at the town election by which an all woman town government was established.

In Jackson's Hole, Wyoming, the men outnumbered the women and could have elected an all male ticket. Instead, they ran the women into office.

The theory runs that the woman government of Valley Center, Kansas, was the result of a joke played by the town clerk. He felt that the election was proceeding too languidly to suit his taste, so he undertook to inject a little sprightliness into the affair. He informally made a new ticket, all women, and posted it at the polling place. Voters came along, looked, smiled, went in and voted that ticket.

Probably by this time some of the men wish they had not fallen in so easily with the town clerk's joke. For Mayor Avice Francis, Marshal Susie Goodrich, and Police Judge S. A. Ridenour, all practical woman and used to meaning what they say, have made the state anti-cigarette law effective in Valley Center.

Women Enforce Laws

They have also put a stop to one of the favorite Sunday masculine diversions of the town, horseshoe throwing.

They also came to conclusive grips with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, as represented by a dilatory conductor of one freight train. When the men were running Valley Center, interminable freight trains blocked traffic through the town for long periods of time. The women, when they assumed office, warned the railroad company to stop this practice. The company, as represented by the freight conductors, paid not attention to the request.

One day, when a train had been standing in the streets long enough to annoy Mayor Avice, she telephoned to Marshal Susie. The two took legal possession of the person of the dilatory conductor of the freight train and led him to the station house. There Justice Sallie met them by telephone appointment, convened court, heard the case, fined the conductor and compelled him to pay the fine before he could take his train across the prairies.

Kansas City Star - June 1, 1921
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley