XI. RAILROADS…

XI. RAILROADS

EARLY RAILROAD AGITATION—THE FIRST RAILROAD—CELEBRATING THE ADVENT OF THE RAILROAD—OTHER ROADS CONSTRUCTED—THE SANTA FE—THE ATCHISON & NEBRASKA CITY—THE KANSAS CITY, LEAVENWORTH & ATCHISON—THE ROCK ISLAND—THE HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH—THE FIRST TELEGRAPH—MODERN TRANSPORTATION.

Eight years before the last stage pulled out of Atchison the agitation for a railroad began. The first charter provided for the construction of a railroad from Atchison to St. Joseph. As appeared in an earlier chapter, the city council of Atchison at its first meeting called an election March 15, 1858, to vote on a proposition to subscribe for $100,000 in stock. The election was held in the store of the Burnes Brothers, and S. H. Petefish, Charles E. Woolfolk and Dr. C. A. Logan were judges of election. The proposition carried almost unanimously, and, in addition to the stock subscribed for by the city, the citizens of the town subscribed for $100,000 in stock individually. The following May the contract for the construction of the road was awarded to Butcher, Auld & Dean at $3,700 per mile. There were fourteen other bidders. The members of the firm which made the successful bid were: Ephraim Butcher, David Auld, James Auld and William Dean. Work of construction was started May 12, 1858, but was not finished until February 22, 1860. The completion of this road to Atchison was of very far reaching importance. The town was wild with excitement, for the new railroad gave the town its first direct rail connection with the east. Its terminus at Winthrop (East Atchison) was the first western point east of the Rocky mountains reached by a railroad at that time in the United States, save one. The first railroad built between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers was the Hannibal & St. Joseph, which was completed to St. Joseph February 23, 1859, and the new railroad from Atchison connected with the Hannibal & St. Joseph at the latter point.

Richard B. Morris was the first conductor of the Atchison road, and he subsequently became internal revenue collector of Kansas under Cleveland. Following the completion of the road, a great celebration was held at Atchison June 13, 1860, and the people not only celebrated the completion of the St. Joseph line, but also the breaking of ground on the Atchison & Pike’s Peak railroad, now the Central Branch. Great preparations were made for the celebration weeks in advance and promptly following the hour of 12 o’clock on the morning of June 13, 1860, the firing of 100 guns at intervals began, which was kept up with monotonous regularity until daybreak. Flags and bunting fluttered from poles and windows throughout the city, and a special train of invited guests from the East arrived at Winthrop before noon with flags flying and bands playing. The passenger steamer, “Black Hawk,” loaded to the guards with citizens from Kansas City, reached Atchison early in the morning, and leading citizens also came from Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka and other towns. The city had been cleaned up and put in holiday attire by the city authorities. The town had never before presented such a gay appearance. Frank A. Root in his interesting book, “The Overland Stage to California,” who was present at the celebration, has perhaps written the most interesting account of this event that has ever been printed. He says:

“In the procession that formed along Second street, one of the unique and attractive features was a mammoth government wagon trimmed with evergreens and loaded with thirty-four girls dressed in white, representing every State in the Union and the Territory of Kansas. There were three other wagons filled with little girls similarly dressed, representing all the forty-one counties of Kansas in its last year of territorial existence.

“One of the contractors for government freighting had a huge prairie schooner, drawn by twenty-nine yoke of oxen, the head of each animal ornamented with a small flag, while he himself was mounted upon a mule. The contractor was quite an attraction, dressed in the peculiar western prairie and plains frontier cow-boy costume with buckskin pants, red flannel shirt, boots nearly knee high, with revolver and bowie knife buckled around his waist, dangling by his side. The procession in line, marched west along Commercial street to near Tenth. It was a long one and it was estimated that there were 7,000 people in it and at least 10,000 in the city witnessing the festivities. The ceremony of breaking ground for these two roads took place about noon, but there was nothing particularly imposing about it. The most important part of the ceremonies was the turning over of a few spadefuls of dirt by Col. Peter T. Abell, president of the road, and Capt. Eph. Butcher, the contractor, who built the Atchison & St. Joseph road. The event was witnessed by fully 5,000 people, after which the monster procession formed, and, headed by a brass band, and other bands at different places in the line, marched across White Clay creek to the grove in the southwest part of the city, where the oration was delivered by Benj. F. Stringfellow. Following the oration several speeches were made by the most prominent of the invited guests, one of them by Col. C. K. Holliday, of Topeka, one of the founders of the great Santa Fe system. The barbeque was an important feature of the affair. Six beeves, twenty hogs, and over fifty sheep, pigs and lambs were roasted. There was also prepared more than one hundred boiled hams, several thousand loaves of bread, cakes by the hundred, besides sundry other delicacies to tickle the palate and help make the occasion one long to be remembered by all present. The exercises were quite elaborate and wound up with a ball in the evening at A. S. Parker’s hall on the west side of Sixth street, between Commercial and Main and a wine supper in Charley Holbert’s building on Second street, just north of the Massasoit House. Many visitors came from a long distance east, some as far as New England. Most of the Northern States were represented, and a few came from the South. Free transportation was furnished the invited guests. Hundreds came by rail and steamboat and many poured in from the surrounding country for miles, in wagons and on horseback, from eastern Kansas and western Missouri.”

While a strong movement for the construction of railroads was started in 1860, it was soon discovered that much progress could not be made in the face of the unsettled conditions brought on by the Civil war, and, as a result a further effort in that direction, was, for the time being, abandoned. However, Luther C. Challiss did not give up his idea of projecting a road to the West, and to him more than to anybody else belongs the credit of starting the first road west out of Atchison. He obtained a charter for the building of the Atchison & Pike’s Peak railroad and this company was organized February 11, 1859, but on account of the war was not opened to Waterville until January 20, 1868. Challiss obtained possession of 150,000 acres of land from the Kickapoo Indians by a treaty, and, upon the organization of the company he was elected president. The land he secured from the Indians was, for the most part, located in Atchison county, around Muscotah, and adjoining counties. With Mr. Challiss were associated Charles B. Keith, who was the agent of the Kickapoo Indians, George W. Glick and Senators Pomeroy and Lane. In the charter for this road provision was made for its construction 100 miles west of Atchison. Col. William Osborn, who had constructed the west half of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, built the first section of the Central Branch to Waterville. He named the town after his old home in New York, where he was born. It was proposed at this point to make a connection with a branch running from Kansas City to Ft. Kearney, Neb., but the Kansas City road was subsequently changed to Denver, and for this reason it has been said the Central Branch was not completed to Denver, as originally planned.

The Atchison & Pike’s Peak Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of the Territorial legislature of the Territory of Kansas, chapter 48, “Private Laws of Kansas, 1859,” and authorized to construct a railroad from Atchison to the western boundary of the Territory in the direction of Pike’s Peak. Subsequently, the Atchison & Pike’s Peak Railroad Company became the assignee of all the rights, privileges and franchises of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, given and granted under an Act of Congress, of July 8, 1862, Twelfth Statute, page 489, entitled: “An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of same for postal, military and other purposes,” which provided that the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company might extend its road from St. Joseph via Atchison, to connect and unite with a railroad in Kansas, provided for in said Act, for one hundred miles in length next to the Missouri river, and might, for that purpose, use any railroad charter, which had, or might have been granted, by the legislature of Kansas. Accordingly, the work of construction from Atchison west was inaugurated under the name of the Atchison & Pike’s Peak Railroad Company. On January 1, 1867, by virtue of the laws of the State of Kansas, the name of Atchison & Pike’s Peak Railroad Company was changed to the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the latter company completed the railroad from Atchison to Waterville.

THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY.

The first real move for the construction of a railroad from the Missouri river, west, resulted in a charter granted by the Territorial legislature to the St. Joseph & Topeka Railroad Company February 20, 1857. Under the terms of the charter the road was to start from St. Joseph, Mo.; thence crossing the river through Doniphan, Atchison and Jefferson counties to Topeka. The charter was subsequently amended and the road was extended in the direction of Santa Fe, N. M., to the southwestern line of Kansas, which is practically the same route now traversed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. The desire on the part of the people for direct railroad connection with the Missouri river and the East gave to this movement great impetus, and there was considerable rivalry between the towns to offer aid and assistance. The people of Atchison were particularly anxious to make this town the terminal point and the future railway center of the great trans- continental system, and strongly opposed any project which would make Atchison simply a way station on the great road to the West. With a view to avert such action on the part of those behind the movement to construct this road, it was determined to make Atchison the eastern terminus of the same. Accordingly, Atchison loaned its credit to the amount of $150,000. by aid of which subsidy a direct road was built on the Missouri side of the river from St. Joseph and thence north under another charter with Atchison, Kan., instead of St. Joseph as the eastern terminus, the enterprise was carried on and as a result the citizens of Kansas Territory were much elated with the added prestige of the railroad being a Kansas corporation. The Atchison & Topeka Railroad Company was incorporated by an Act of the legislature February 11, 1859. Those named as the original incorporators were: S. C. Pomeroy, Atchison; C. K. Halliday, Topeka; Luther C. Challiss, Atchison; Peter T. Abell, Atchison; Aspah Allen, Topeka: Milton C. Dickey, Topeka; Samuel Dickson, Atchison; Wilson L. Gordon, Topeka; George S. Hillyer, Grasshopper Falls; Lorenzo D. Bird, Atchison; Jeremiah Marshall, Topeka; George H. Fairchild, Atchison; F. L. Crane, Topeka. The company was “authorized to survey, locate, construct, complete, alter, maintain and operate a railroad with one or more tracks from or near Atchison in Kansas Territory, to the town of Topeka, in Kansas Territory, and to such point on the southern or western boundary of said Territory in the direction of Santa Fe as may be convenient and suitable for the construction of said road and also to construct a branch to any point on the southern line of said Territory in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico.” The authorized capital stock was $1,500,000, and the first meeting for organization under the charter was held at the office of Luther C. Challis in Atchison September 15, 1859, at which meeting $52,000 of the first subscription of stock was paid, and the following directors were chosen: L. C. Challiss, George H. Fairchild, P. T. Abell, S. C. Pomeroy, L. D. Bird, C. K. Halliday, F. L. Crane, E. G. Ross, Joel H. Huntoon, M. C. Dickey, Jacob Safford, R. H. Weightman, and J. H. Stringfellow. The officers were: C. K. Holliday, president; P. T. Abell, secretary; M. C. Dickey, treasurer. It will be seen that the majority of the incorporators and of the officers were citizens of Atchison, and it is an important fact in the history of Kansas that Atchison county played such an important part in the organization and construction of the first railroad lines in the State. Had it not been for the terrible drought of 1860, which totally paralyzed all classes of business, the work of constructing this road immediately following its organization would have gone forward, but the famine which followed the drought was so complete and so widely distributed throughout the State and the western country as to almost destroy the farming interests. During this period the directors of the road decided to press the claims of Kansas for a national subsidy for the construction of railroads, and President C. K. Holliday, with a number of his associates, spent much time in Washington during 1859 and 1860. Their work was not in vain, for on March 3, 1863, Congress made a grant of land to the State of Kansas, giving alternate sections one mile square and ten in width, amounting to 6,400 acres per mile, on condition that the Atchison-Topeka road should be finished on or before 1873. The State accepted the grant and transferred it to this road February 9, 1864. It was in October, 1868, almost ten years after the date that the first charter was granted to this road that work of construction was begun in Topeka. The road was first built in a southerly direction so as to reach the coal region in Osage county. It was opened to Carbondale, eighteen miles from Topeka, in July, 1869, and reached Wichita, 163 miles from Topeka, in May, 1872, and at about the same time in 1872 the road was completed from Topeka to Atchison, a distance of fifty-one miles.

ATCHISON & NEBRASKA CITY RAILROAD.

On May 5, 1867, the charter for the Atchison & Nebraska City Railroad Company was filed in the office of the secretary of State of the State of Kansas. The original incorporators of this road were Peter T. Abell, George W. Glick, Alfred G. Otis, John M. Price, W. W. Cochrane, Albert H. Horton, Samuel A. Kingman, J. T. Hereford and Augustus Byram, all of whom were citizens of Atchison. The charter provided for the construction of a railroad from “some point in the city of Atchison to some point on the north line of the State of Kansas, not farther west than twenty-five miles from the Missouri river, and the length of the proposed railroad will not exceed forty-five miles.” Shortly after the road was incorporated the name was changed to the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad Company, and under this name subscriptions in bonds and capital stock were made in Atchison and Doniphan counties. Atchison county subscribed for $150,000, and in addition to the subscription of the county there were individual subscriptions amounting to $80,000 in the county. Work was commenced on the road in 1869, and it was completed in 1871 to the northern boundary of Doniphan county, three miles north of Whitecloud. The stockholders of Atchison graded the road bed to the State line, constructed bridges and furnished the ties, after which the entire property was given to a Boston syndicate in consideration of the completion and operation of the road. This railroad was afterwards consolidated with the Atchison, Lincoln & Columbus Railroad Company of Nebraska, which road had been authorized to construct a railroad from the northern terminal point of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad to Columbus, on the Union Pacific railroad, by way of Lincoln, and the road was completed to Lincoln in the fall of 1872. This consolidated road was purchased by the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company in 1880.

KANSAS CITY, LEAVENWORTH & ATCHISON RAILWAY COMPANY.

This road was organized by articles of association filed in the office of the Secretary of the State of Kansas September 21, 1867, and March 25, 1868, and the Missouri River Railroad Company by articles of association filed February 20, 1865, and the construction of the Leavenworth, Atchison & Northwestern railroad was commenced at Leavenworth in March, 1869, and completed to Atchison in September, 1869. The stock held in the company by Leavenworth county, aggregating $500,000, was donated to this road to aid in its extension to Atchison, and the first train into Atchison arrived in the latter part of 1869. It was not until July, 1882, however, that the first train was run through from Atchison to Omaha over the line of the Missouri Pacific railroad, which subsequently absorbed the Leavenworth, Atchison & Northwestern Railroad Company.

THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY.

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company was one of the last of the railroads to make connection with Atchison. This line was originally projected to Leavenworth, but reached Atchison shortly after. The construction of the Atchison branch was begun in 1872, and in July of that year the first train was run into the city.

All of these roads having been organized and constructed and in operation, the next movement that took place in transportation circles was the erection of the bridge across the Missouri river, work upon which was commenced in August, 1874, and completed in July, 1875. This bridge is 1,182 feet long and the stone for the piers and abutments upon which it rests was taken from the quarries at Cottonwood Falls, Chase county. It was originally built by the American Bridge Company of Chicago, and was rebuilt entirely new, except for the piers, in 1898. Shortly after the erection of the bridge, connecting Missouri with Kansas at Atchison, the first railroad depot was built upon the site of the present union station, which was completed and dedicated September 7, 1880. There was a great deal of discussion as to the proper location of a depot before the building was finally erected, and it was through the efforts of the Burneses that its location on Main street, between Second and Fourth street, was selected. The capital stock of the original Depot Company was $100,000,000, of which the railroad companies then entering the city subscribed for $70,000. The balance of the stock was taken by individuals. The cost of the original depot was $120,000, and the architect was William E. Taylor, who planned the old union station in Kansas City. James A. McGonigle, who was the contractor for the old Kansas City station, also built the Atchison union depot. It was built of the finest pressed brick from St. Louis, and trimmed with cut stone from the Cottonwood Falls quarries. Its length was 235 feet, with an “L” ninety-six feet long. It was two stories high with a mansard roof. It was an ornamental, and, in those days, an imposing structure. The ceremonies accompanying its dedication were witnessed by a great crowd, and many great men in the railroad and political life of Kansas participated in them. Gen. Benjamin F. Stringfellow delivered the address, and a banquet was served in the evening, followed by a procession and fire-works. Two years later, in June, 1882, this depot was partially destroyed by fire, suffering a loss of $10,000, but it was immediately rebuilt. On January 6, 1888, another fire completely destroyed the building, and the present union station was erected a short time later.

HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD.

On and after Monday, February 28, this road will be open for business throughout its entire length. Passenger trains will leave St. Joseph for Hannibal every morning, making close connection with steam packets to St. Louis and Quincy, and affording direct connection with all the railroads east of the Mississippi river. Time from St. Joseph to Hannibal, eleven hours, and to St. Louis, eighteen hours, saving more than three days over any other route. Trains from the east will arrive in St. Joseph every evening, connecting with a daily line of packets running between St. Joseph and Kansas City; also a line up the Missouri to the Bluffs. Passengers from all parts of Kansas will find this the quickest and most agreeable route to St. Louis and all points on the Mississippi, giving those going east a choice between the routes from St. Louis, Alton and Quincy. Fare will be as low as by any other route. Favorable arrangements will be made for taking freight, saving most of the heavy insurance on the Missouri river. Express freight will be taken through much quicker than by any other line.

Tickets can be had at the office in St. Joseph for nearly all parts of the country.

JOSIAH HUNT, Sup’t.

P. B. GROAT, Gen’l. Ticket Ag’t. Feb. 1st, 1859.

no. 48–lm.

(From Freedom’s Champion, Atchison, February 12, 1859.)

HANNIBAL & ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD.

NEW ROUTE OPEN FOR THE EAST AND SOUTH.

Passengers for St. Louis, northern Missouri, Iowa, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Louisville and Southern States, will find this the shortest, quickest and most desirable route to the above points. On the 1st day of February only fifteen miles of staging intervenes between St. Joseph and Hannibal, and on the 1st day of March, 1859, the road will be completed, and open for through travel the entire length. A daily line of stages from Atchison, passing through Doniphan and Geary City, connects at St. Joseph with the H. & St. Jo. railroad. From Hannibal a daily line of packets leave upon arrival of cars for St. Louis, upon the opening of navigation, and boats connect at Quincy with the C. B. & Q. railroad for Chicago, and with the G. W. railroad for Toledo via Naples. This is in every respect the best route for eastern and southern passengers. Trains leave St. Joseph for the east daily.

JOSIAH HUNT, Sup’t.

P. B. GROAT, General Ticket Agent.

(no. 47) (From Freedom’s Champion, Atchison, February 12, 1859.)

THE FIRST TELEGRAPH.

It was a little over six months after the completion of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad that the first telegraph connection was established between Atchison and the world. The construction of the Missouri & Western telegraph line was begun in Syracuse, Mo., in 1859. Charles M. Stebbins built this telegraph line, which extended from Syracuse to Ft. Smith, Ark. A branch of this line was extended westward to Kansas City, and reached Leavenworth along in the spring of 1859. August 15, 1859, this branch was extended to Atchison, and it was a proud day in the history of this city. The first office was in a brick building on Commercial street adjoining the office of Freedom’s Champion. John T. Tracy was the first operator. Gen. Samuel C. Pomeroy was mayor, and on this account the honor was given him of sending the first message, which was as follows: “Atchison, August 15, 1859. His Honor, H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth. Our medium of communication is perfect. May our fraternal relations continue—may our prosperity and success equal our highest efforts. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison.” Mayor Denman replied as follows: “Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison. May each push forward its works of enterprise and the efforts of each be crowned with success. H. B. Denman, Mayor of Leavenworth.” Congratulations were next exchanged between Atchison and St. Louis, as follows: “Atchison, August 15, 1859. Hon. O. D. Filley, Mayor of St. Louis. For the first time since the world began, a telegraph message is sent to St. Louis from this place, the farthest telegraph station in the West. Accept our congratulations and aid us in our progress westward. S. C. Pomeroy, Mayor of Atchison.” It was in October of that same year that the first news was flashed over the wire telling of the capture of Harper’s Ferry by old John Brown.

In connection with the question of early day transportation in Atchison county, it would be an oversight to fail to mention the efforts of one Thomas L. Fortune to improve the means of locomotion. Mr. Fortune was a citizen of Mt. Pleasant, and in the fall of 1859 he conceived the scheme which he believed would revolutionize the whole transportation problem. He planned a steam wagon with which he expected to haul freight across the plains. The following year he built at St. Louis, a large vehicle, twenty feet long by eight feet wide. The wheels were twenty inches wide and eight feet in diameter. This wagon was transported up the Missouri river to Atchison from St. Louis on the steamer, “Meteor,” and was landed from the steamer in front of the White Mice saloon, which was a noted resort on the Atchison levee at that time, in the latter part of June, 1860. The following account is taken from Frank A. Root’s “Overland Stage to California”:

A day or two after its arrival (referring to Fortune’s wagon) Mr. Root says that it was arranged that the steam wagon should make a trial trip on the Fourth of July. The monster was accordingly fired up on the eighty-fourth National anniversary and started by an engineer named Callahan. The wagon was ornamented with a number of flags and loaded with a crowd of anxious men and boys. When everything was in readiness the valve was opened and the wagon moved off in a southerly direction from the levee. It went all right until it reached the foot of Commercial street, about a square away. The pilot failing to turn the machine, it kept on straight up to the sidewalk and ran into A. S. Parker’s warehouse, which stood so many years by the old historic cottonwood tree at the southeast corner of Commercial street and the levee. The result of this awkward blunder was an accident, in which a son of the owner of the wagon had an arm broken, as the machine crashed into the side of the building, which was a long, one-story frame cottonwood structure that for a number of years was a noted landmark in Atchison. The excited engineer was at once let out and Lewis Higby, another engineer, and a natural genius, was sent for. Higby mounted the wagon and took his place at the engine, backed the machine out into the middle of the road and in a few minutes went sailing gracefully along west on Commercial street at about six miles per hour. When in front of Jesse Crall’s stable at the corner of Sixth street, before that part of Commercial street had been graded, it went down a little hill at a lively speed, but Higby kept it going and did not stop until it reached L. C. Challiss’ addition, just south and west from Commercial and Eighth streets, near Morgan Willard’s old foundry, built in 1859, away from the business and residence portion of the city.

After the wagon crossed Eighth street and was beyond the business houses, Higby turned on more steam, and the monster vehicle made about eight miles an hour, cavorting around on the bottom, there being only a few scattering buildings then west of Eighth street. To test the practicability of the machine, it was run into hollows and gullies, and, where the ground was soft it was found that the ponderous wheels would sink into the mud when standing still in soft ground. The result of the trial, witnessed by hundreds, was disappointing to most of those present. The inventor, who had spent a large amount of money and much time in trying to perfect his steam wagon and solve the overland transportation problem, was the worst disappointed. He was thoroughly disgusted. He saw at once that the use of the vehicle was impracticable and that it would never answer the purpose. That trial trip was the first and only one the “overland steam wagon” ever made. It was accordingly abandoned on the bottom where the tracks of the Central Branch and Santa Fe roads are now laid, and was never afterwards fired up. Those who had crossed the plains with mules and oxen, knew it could never be used in overland freighting. There was no use for any such vehicle and the anticipated reduction in prices of ox and mule teams did not take place. The timbers used in the framework of the machine that were not stolen finally went to decay, and the machinery was afterwards taken out and disposed of for other purposes.

MODERN TRANSPORTATION.

The propitious beginning that Atchison had as a commercial and transportation center should have made the town one of the largest and most important railroad terminals in the West. That was the hope and aspiration of its original founders, and for many years afterwards it was a cherished idea. But Kansas City was subsequently selected as the point of vantage, and the builders of this great western empire have since centralized their activities at the mouth of the “Kaw,” and it is there that the metropolis of the West will be built. However, a marvelous development has taken place here since the day of the Holladay and Butterfield stage lines and slow-moving ox and mule trains across the plains. We no longer marvel at the volume of trade and freight tonnage and the multitude of travelers that pass through Atchison every year. We take these things as a matter of course, and make no note of the daily arrival and departure of the fifty-six passenger trains at our union depot every day; we marvel not at the speed and the ease and comfort with which we can make the trip to St. Louis or Chicago, over night, or to Denver in less than twenty-four hours, or to New York in two and one-half days, and to San Francisco in less than five, surrounded by every luxury money can buy. We have accustomed ourselves to these marvels, just as we have learned to make use of the telephone and the telegraph, and a little later on will begin to use the air ship and the wireless. Nature has a way of easily adjusting mankind to these changed conditions.

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XII. REMINISCENCES OF EARLY PIONEERS

D. R. ATCHISON—MATT GERBER—J. H. TALBOTT—WILLIAM OSBORNE—JOHN W. CAIN— W. L. CHALLISS—GEORGE SCARBOROUGH—SAMUEL HOLLISTER—JOHN TAYLOR— JOHN M. CROWELL—LUTHER DICKERSON—LUTHER C. CHALLISS—GEORGE W. GLICK—W. K. GRIMES—JOSHUA WHEELER—WILLIAM HETHERINGTON—WILLIAM C. SMITH—JOHN M. PRICE—SAMUEL C. KING—CLEM ROHR—R. H. WEIGHTMAN—CASE OF MAJOR WEIGHTMAN.

One of the really creditable and most pretentious newspaper enterprises ever undertaken and accomplished in Kansas was E. W. Howe’s Historical Edition of the Atchison Daily Globe. It contains much interesting and valuable information written in the unique style which has made Mr. Howe famous. With the consent of Mr. Howe, which he has very kindly granted the author of this history, there will appear in this chapter, almost verbatim, a number of biographical sketches and other interesting matter, which should be printed in book form so that it could be assured of a permanent place in the archives of the State. There are but few copies left, and these are in a bad state of disintegration. The sketch of Gen. D. R. Atchison will first be reproduced herein, and then will follow others, touching upon the lives and characters of early settlers, who contributed their part to the upbuilding of this community. Much has already appeared in this history touching upon the activities of General Atchison, but a sketch of his life is important, inasmuch as he is perhaps the most conspicuous early-day character in the history of Atchison county.

GENERAL D. R. ATCHISON.

David Rice Atchison, for whom Atchison was named, was born near Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky, August 11, 1807. The son of William Atchison, a wealthy farmer of that county, he received all the advantages of a liberal education. His mother’s maiden name was Catherine Allen, a native of the State of Georgia. William Atchison, the father, was a Pennsylvanian by birth.

David R. Atchison was blessed with six children, four sons and two daughters. In 1825 he graduated with high honor from Transylvania University, then the leading institution of learning in the State, and since incorporated in the new University of Kentucky.

Upon receiving his degrees in the arts, Mr. Atchison immediately applied himself to the study of law. In 1829 Mr. Atchison was admitted to practice in his native State, and a few months after, in 1830, removed to the comparatively wild district of Clay county, Missouri. In April of that year he received in St. Louis his license to practice in the supreme court of the State and immediately settled in the village of Liberty, now the county seat of Clay county. About this period, Mr. Atchison was appointed major general of the northern division of the Missouri State militia.

General Atchison soon commanded a lucrative practice in his new home, where he continued to reside in the discharge of the duties of his profession until February, 1841, when his superior legal attainments, which were known and recognized throughout the State, won for him the appointment as judge of the district court of Platte county on its organization in February of that year, when he moved his residence to Platte City. It appears that in that day judges were appointed to this position by the Government, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The office was not made elective until several years after. In 1834 and 1838 he was elected to the Missouri legislature from Clay county.

Upon the death of Dr. Lyon, United States senator, in 1838, Judge Atchison was appointed by Governor Reynolds to the vacancy in the Senate. It was by many considered that this appointment was merited and he had been recommended by Colonel Benton and other authorities of the Democratic party; by others it was said that the governor himself was ambitious of the senatorship and had selected Judge Atchison as a person who could be easily beaten at the next election. The death of Governor Reynolds, however, occurred before the meeting of the next legislature and Judge Atchison was elected with but slight opposition. He was reëlected for two more terms, the last of which expired March 4, 1855, during the administration of Franklin Pierce. Two years after this he moved his residence from Platte to Clinton county. He was elected president of the Senate to succeed Judge Mangun, a Whig senator from North Carolina.

The 4th of March, 1849, occurring on Sunday, Zachary Taylor was not inaugurated until the following Monday. Judge Atchison thus, as presiding officer of the Senate, became virtually President of the United States during the term of twenty-four hours. In referring to this accidental dignity, on being interrogated as to how he enjoyed his exalted position, the venerable senator good humoredly replied that he could tell but little about it as, overcome with fatigue consequent to several days and nights of official labor, he slept through nearly his whole term of service.

Judge Atchison became especially prominent in the legislature for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and claims to have originated the repeal of the Missouri Compromise bill. On his retirement from the Senate, of which he was an honored member for the space of twelve years, during the larger part of the time as presiding officer, he continued to take a lively interest in the politics of the country, and was regarded as a leader and chief adviser of the pro- slavery party in Kansas during the troubles which preceded the admission as a State. In 1856 we find him in command of 1,150 men at a point called Santa Fe. On the 29th of August, the same year, a detachment from General Atchison’s army attacked Osawatomie, which was defended by about fifty men, who made a vigorous resistance but were defeated with a loss of five wounded and seven prisoners. Five of the assailants were killed and thirty buildings were burned. The next day a body of Free State men marched from Lawrence to take Atchison’s army. Upon their approach the latter retired and withdrew its forces into Missouri. The admission of Kansas as a free State soon after this occurred put an end to this much vexed question and restored tranquility to the country.

General Atchison lived in retirement on his magnificent estate in Clinton county until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he left for the South and was present at the battle of Lexington. Governor Jackson secured him a commission as brigadier general at the commencement of the war. This General Atchison declined, as his residence was in Clinton county, outside the limits of the division. He, however, remained with the army and assisted in its organization. He joined temporarily for the purpose of making up the company under Ephraim Kelley’s command from St. Joseph and remained with the army until after the battle of Elkhorn.

At the close of the war, General Atchison returned to his home in Clinton county, where he continued to reside in almost unbroken retirement on his 1,700–acre farm in a neat cottage erected on the site of his spacious brick mansion, which was accidentally destroyed by fire February 2, 1870. He never married, and died at his home in Clinton county, January 26, 1886.

MATT. GERBER.

Matt. Gerber came to this county originally in 1855, as pastry cook on a Government steamer. There was almost no town at Atchison then, and he went to Sioux City with the boat and afterwards returned to St. Louis. In 1856 he was pastry cook on the “A. B. Chambers,” which ran between St. Louis and Weston and was commanded by Captain Bowman, the father of Mrs. D. C. Newcomb and Mrs. G. H. T. Johnson. Mr. Gerber was born in Baden in 1833 and came to America in 1853, landing at New Orleans, and for a time ran on boats on the lower Mississippi. For many years he was the hero of Atchison children, as he operated a bakery, confectionery and toy store on the south side of Commercial street, near Fourth. Mr. Gerber first located in Sumner in 1858, where he ran a bakery, coming to Atchison in 1860, and was in business at the same location for over thirty-four years. Mr. Gerber died in Atchison, December 14, 1907.

J. H. TALBOTT.

J. H. Talbott came west in 1855 and was a passenger on the “A. B. Chambers,” of which George W. Bowman was captain and E. K. Blair, second clerk. The cholera was so bad that year that Mr. Talbott left the boat at Jefferson City and came overland to Monrovia, although his passage was paid to Leavenworth. Several passengers on the “A. B. Chambers” died of cholera and were buried on sand bars. Mr. Talbott preëmpted a claim at Monrovia, and when his family came two years later he kept a boarding house at Monrovia for four years. Albert D. Richardson was often a guest at his house. He was a clean, neat city man of about thirty, and was engaged in writing up the Kansas war for the New York Tribune. Jim Lane also stopped at J. H. Talbott’s occasionally. Mr. Talbott first heard him make a speech in a grove at Pardee, and A. J. Westbrook was in the audience. Lane made some abusive reference to Westbrook, who made a movement as if to pull a pistol, but Lane shook his celebrated boney finger at Westbrook and defied him to shoot. At that time Atchison was controlled by the pro-slavery element, but the Free State men predominated around Monrovia and Pardee. The noted Colonel Caleb lived at Farmington. James Ridpath was often at J. H. Talbott’s, and D. R. Anthony and Webb Wilder appeared there as young men and took up claims.

Another famous place in those days was the Seven Mile House, seven miles west of Atchison on the road traveled by the freighters, kept by John Bradford. Talbott’s boarding house was built of logs and the beds were nailed against the wall, one above another. Sometimes the house was so crowded that the floor was also occupied with beds.

Mr. Talbott was born in Canal Dover, Ohio, where he knew W. C. Quantrill real well. Quantrill afterwards became the noted guerilla and sacked Lawrence. Mrs. Talbott went to school with Quantrill, and the teacher was Quantrill’s father, a very worthy man. After Mr. Talbott married he removed to Zanesville, Ind., and kept a store with S. J. H. Snyder, who was one of the early settlers of Atchison county and a fierce Free State man. In a little while Will Quantrill appeared at Zanesville and taught school in the country. He usually spent his Saturdays and Sundays at J. H. Talbott’s house, on the strength of their acquaintance at Canal Dover. Mr. Talbott says he was well behaved and attracted great attention around the store, particularly from the young men.

In 1854 Quantrill left Zanesville and settled at Lawrence, Kan., as a Free State man and taught school, where he became acquainted with Robert Bitter Morrow, whose life he afterwards saved during the massacre. Robert Morrow kept the Byram in Atchison several years. When Talbott went to Monrovia in 1855, the country was full of Kickapoo Indians. He remembers seeing an Indian grave there: a rail pen covered with brush. In the middle of the pen could be seen the dead Indian in a sitting posture, with his gun beside him.

COL. WILLIAM OSBORNE.

Colonel Osborne built the first railroad to the Missouri river—the Hannibal & St. Joseph. He built and owned the transfer ferry “Wm. Osborne,” which was famous in Atchison in the early days. He also built the first 100 miles of the Central Branch to Waterville, as has been previously stated. He lived and died in Waterville, N. Y., but visited Atchison frequently to see his daughter, Mrs. R. A. Park, who was the wife of the president of the Atchison Savings Bank.

AMOS A. HOWELL.

Amos A. Howell was one of the plains freighters who distinguished Atchison in the early days. He ran twenty-seven wagons with six yoke of oxen to each wagon. An extra head of oxen was taken along, known as the “cavvy” to spell the others and take the places of those that gave out. Altogether he owned 400 head of work oxen. The oxen were expected to pick up their living on the way, but when mules were used in the winter it was necessary to carry grain for them. Thirty men were necessary in the train of twenty-seven wagons pulled by oxen. Mr. Howell was assisted in his wagon business by his son, Nat.

In those days there was a Government regulation that all trains should be held at Ft. Kearney until 100 armed men had collected. Then a captain was elected, who was commissioned by the Government and had absolute charge of the train while it was passing through the Indian country. Mr. Howell frequently occupied the position of captain, being well known on the plains. On one occasion while he was captain he halted at Cottonwood Falls on the Platte, as the Indians were very bad, and soldiers were expected to go through with the train, but none came and finally Mr. Howell unloaded five wagons, filled them with armed men and started out. Almost in sight of Cottonwood a gang of gaily painted Indians attacked the train, supposing it was a little outfit. But when the Indians came within range, the “Whiskey Bills” and “Poker Petes” in the covered wagons began dropping the Indians off their ponies, and there was a pretty fight, in which the Indians were badly worsted.

Mr. Howell says that the Indians never attack wagon trains except very early in the morning, or late in the evening.

The favorite sport of the Indians, however, was to run off the stock after the train had gone into camp at night, and they always had one way of doing it, which Mr. Howell finally learned. The Indians are no wiser than white men, for they say that white men always fail in business the same way and act the same way when they have a fire. An Indian would ride up onto a high point and look around a while. This would always be in the evening when the train was near a camping place. Then the Indian would disappear and come back presently with another Indian wrapped in his blanket and riding the same pony. One Indian would then drop into the grass, and the rider would go back after another one. The Indians were collecting in ambush; thinking the freighters would never think of it. Mr. Howell had in his employ a driver, an Atchison man, named “Whiskey Bill,” who was particularly clever at hating Indians, and whenever an ambush was preparing “Whiskey Bill” would select four or five other men equally clever and go after the Indians. He often killed and scalped as many as four in one ambush, and sold their scalps in Denver to the Jews for a suit of clothes each. The Jews bought them as relics and disposed of them in the East. The killing of Indians in this manner was according to Government order and strictly legitimate. Another driver in Howell’s train was an Atchison man named Rube Duggan. He was a great roper and used to take a horse, when in sight of a buffalo herd and go out after calves, which made tender meat. Riding into the herd he would lasso a calf, fasten the rope to the ground with a stake and then go on after another one before the herd got away. He caught several calves in this way for Ben Holladay, who took them east. Mr. Howell remembers that once, this side of Fort Kearney, it was necessary to stop the train to let a herd of buffalo pass. The men always had fresh buffalo meat in addition to their bacon, beans, dried apples, rice and fried bread.

There was a cook with the train who drove the mess wagon, but he did not do any other work. Every driver had to take his turn getting wood and water for the cook and herding the cattle at noon, but the night herder did nothing else and slept in the wagon during the day. Occasionally he was awakened about noon and hunted along the road. The cattle fed at night until 10 or 11 o’clock when they would lie down until 2 in the morning. The night herder would lie down by the side of a reliable old ox and sleep too, being awakened when the ox got up to feed. The oxen were driven into the wagon corral about daylight and yoked. Every wagon had its specified place in the train and kept it during the entire trip.

Wagons were always left in a circle at night, forming a corral. Into this corral the cattle were driven while being yoked. In case of an attack, the cattle were inside the corral and the men fought under the wagons. The teams started at daylight and stopped at 10 or 11 until 2 or 3, and then they would start up and travel until dark. Mr. Howell always rested on Sunday, making an average of 100 miles a week with his ox teams. When the train started out each man was given ten pounds of sugar which was to last him to Denver. On the first Sunday the men would make lemonade of sugar and vinegar and do without sugar the rest of the trip. Mr. Howell saw the attack on George W. Howe’s train on the Little Blue when George Con—— was killed and the entire train burned. Con—— was an Atchison man. Howell’s train was corraled and he could not go to Howe’s assistance.

Howell came to Atchison county in 1856 by wagon from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he was born, December 26, 1824. At seventy he was stout and vigorous, getting up every morning at 4 o’clock to go to work. His plains experience did him good. He died on the 1st day of August, 1907, owning a large tract of land in Grasshopper township.

JOHN W. CAIN.

John W. Cain and his two sons, John S. Cain and William S. Cain, came to Atchison in 1856 from the Isle of Man, and preëmpted a quarter section, five miles west of Atchison. A. D. Cain, another son, came to this county in 1856, accompanying his brother, John M. Cain, who had gone to his old home in the Isle of Man on a visit. A. D. Cain attended school longer than either of his three brothers and was a graduate of King William’s College, a celebrated institution of learning. After leaving school he learned the business of a druggist. He was born in 1846. John M. Cain was seven years older.

John M. Cain enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas infantry in 1862. His brother, William, enlisted in Col. John A. Martin’s regiment the year before. In less than a year John M. Cain was given the position as captain in the Eighty-third U. S. infantry and raised Company C in Atchison. Phillip Porter, the celebrated negro politician and orator, of Atchison, was orderly sergeant of Company C, which had ten men killed in the battle of Prairie Grove. After serving in the army nearly four years, John M. Cain returned to his farm in Atchison county in 1866 where he remained until 1872, when he removed to Atchison and engaged in the grain business. The Cains started the exporting of flour from Kansas and their business was very largely export business during their operation of the mill.

John W. Cain, father of the Cain brothers, was a fierce Free State man in the days when it was dangerous to be a Free State man in Atchison county, but as he was a powerful man and of undoubted courage, the pro- slavery fans thought it wise to forgive him. His memory as well as the memory of his sons, John M. Cain and A. D. Cain, are still highly esteemed by the older settlers of Atchison county.

DR. W. L. CHALLISS.

Dr. W. L. Challiss came to Atchison June 3, 1866, on the steamboat “Meteor” from Moorestown, N. J., where he had been a practicing physician. At that time John Alcorn was operating a horse ferry on the river and Dr. Challiss, in company with his brother, L. C. Challiss, purchased a three-fourths interest in the ferry franchise after operating a little rival ferry for a time, which was known as the “Red Rover.” The price paid for the franchise was $1,800.00.

In the fall of 1856 Dr. Challiss went to Evansville, Ind., and contracted for the building of a steam ferry. This was completed in November and started for Atchison. In December it was frozen up in the Missouri river at Carrollton, Mo., and left in charge of a watchman. The crew was made up of old acquaintances of Dr. Challiss in New Jersey, and these he brought to Atchison in two stage coaches hired for the purpose.

On February 7 of the following year Dr. Challiss started down the river on horse back after his ferry boat, accompanied by George M. Million, Granville Morrow and John Cafferty. There had been a thaw and a rise in the river, and when the men reached the vicinity of Carrollton they learned that the boat had gone adrift. They followed it down the river, hearing of it occasionally and finally came up with it in sight of Arrow Rock. The boat had grounded on a bar and a man was in possession, claiming salvage. Dr. Challiss caught the man off the boat, took possession and settled with him for $25.00. A story was circulated that there had been small-pox on the boat and it narrowly escaped burning at the hands of the people living in the vicinity. Dr. Challiss went on down the river and met his family at St. Louis. When the steamer on which they were passengers reached Arrow Rock, the captain was induced to pull the ferry off the sand bar, and within four days it arrived in Atchison.

This boat was named the “Ida” for Dr. Challiss’ oldest daughter, who became the wife of John A. Martin, editor of the Atchison Champion, colonel of the Eighth Kansas regiment and governor of the State two terms. The “Ida” was brought up the river by George Million and Granville Morrow, pilots, and John Cafferty, engineer. George Million was the captain when it began making regular trips as a ferry, receiving originally $50.00 per month. During the last years of his service he received $125.00 a month. The ferry boat business was very profitable and $100.00 per day was no unusual income. In 1860 Dr. Challiss built a larger ferry at Brownsville, Penn., and called it the “J. G. Morrow.” When it arrived at Atchison the Government pressed it into service and sent it to Yankton with Indian supplies. Bill Reed was pilot and Dr. Challiss, captain. A quick trip was made to within seventy miles of Yankton where the pilot ran the boat into a snag and sank it. The boat cost $25,000.00 and nothing was saved but the machinery. This was afterwards placed in the ferry “S. C. Pomeroy,” which was operated here until the bridge was completed in 1877. After this the “S. C. Pomeroy was taken to Kansas City, where it sank during a storm. S. C. Pomeroy owned a one-fourth interest in the “J. G. Morrow” and “S. C. Pomeroy” and the wreck of the “Morrow” cost him $5,000.00.

The “Ida” was taken to Leavenworth on the completion of the bridge and was in service there many years.

In the early days Dr. Challiss was a Free State man and for years he had in his possession a letter warning him to leave the country, which was written during the exciting period before the war. Dr. Challiss remained active in the affairs of the town for many years but practiced his profession only spasmodically. He died in Dayton, Ohio, at the home of his daughter, on April 23, 1909.

GEORGE SCARBOROUGH.

George Scarborough was one of the most romantic characters that ever lived in Atchison county. Influenced by his niece’s description of Kansas, he came to Sumner in 1859 and purchased a tract of land now owned by E. W. Howe and known as Potato Hill. The location is probably the finest on the Missouri river. The farm lies on top of the bluff, and Scarborough’s house was built near the river. He was well fitted to enjoy the life of elegant leisure and seclusion, which he did. Early in life he went to Kentucky from Connecticut and taught school. While there he married the daughter of a congressman named Triplett. The wife died a year later, and Scarborough came into possession of considerable money. After that he adopted a literary and scientific life and spent much of his time abroad, where he collected many pictures and other art treasures. These were displayed in his home below Sumner. Scarborough was a botanist, and made a complete collection of the flora of this section, which he sent to the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington. One of his discoveries was that Atchison county had eleven varieties of the oak. Scarborough was one of the original founders of the First National Bank of this city, furnishing most of the original capital.

In 1869 he went to Vineland, N. J., where he married a girl of twenty- three, although he was nearly seventy. His wife died within a year, in child birth, under precisely the same circumstances as his first wife. Scarborough died in 1883, in his old home in Connecticut, in absolute poverty, at the age of eighty-four. He is spoken of as one of the most elegant gentlemen who distinguished the early days.

SAMUEL HOLLISTER.

Samuel Hollister was one of the original settlers of Sumner. He landed at Leavenworth May 1, 1857, coming by boat from Jefferson City. Two weeks later he met a number of the members of the Sumner Town Company who were looking for somebody to go to Sumner to build a hotel. Having been a contractor and builder in his old home in New Jersey, Mr. Hollister accompanied the men to Sumner, which then consisted of a claim cabin, used as a hotel, and four frame houses in course of construction. The material for the frame houses had been brought from Cincinnati, ready framed, and when completed were 16×24, containing two rooms each. Mr. Hollister took the contract to build the Baker House, which contained three rooms on the ground floor. The half story above was all in one room, where the guests slept. The frames for the Baker House were hewn out in the timber adjoining the town; the weather boarding and shingles were shipped up the river. The hotel was completed in the summer of 1857, and was operated by Hood Baker, a cousin of Capt. David Baker, for many years a prominent citizen of Atchison.

In the fall of the same year Mr. Hollister began work on the Sumner House, the contract price being $16,000.00. The brick used were made on the ground. The lumber came by boat from Pittsburgh, Penn. This hotel was completed in the summer of the following year. It was built by the town company, which owed Mr. Hollister $3,000.00 at the time of his death, a few years ago.

Mr. Hollister lived in Sumner twelve years, vigorously fighting Atchison. In the fall of 1858 he built a mill, in company with Al Barber, later adding a gristmill, which was the second built in the county, the first having been built in Atchison, by William Bowman. Mr. Hollister went down the river in a boat in January, 1859, and when he reached his old home in the Catskill mountains, he crossed the Hudson river on the ice. During this trip east he was married to Miss Harriet Carroll, a lineal descendant of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His wife returned with him to Sumner, and they afterwards moved to Atchison, where they lived for many years. Mr. Hollister died March 28, 1910.

JOHN TAYLOR.

John Taylor, who for many years lived on a farm immediately south of the State Orphans’ Home, was a resident of Missouri, a mile and a quarter above East Atchison in 1844, ten years before Kansas was opened for settlement. His father, Joseph Taylor, came to the Platte Purchase in 1838, from Pennsylvania, settling near Weston. At that time most of the best claims were taken. John Taylor’s recollection was that the very earliest settler in that vicinity was in 1837. Joseph Taylor did not secure a very good claim, and afterward removed to Andrew county, finally locating a mile above East Atchison, in 1844. John Taylor said that George Million was living on the present site of East Atchison when his father’s family settled in the bottom. It was Mr. Taylor’s opinion that George Million settled in East Atchison in 1842, and that he did not start his ferry until 1850. In the spring of that year John Taylor crossed the river on George Million’s flat-boat ferry, and went to California, in company with his brother, Joe. There was no wagon road running west from Atchison at that time. John and Joe Taylor mined in California for eighteen months, never making over $20.00 per day, and usually only $5.00. They returned home by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, and John Taylor got the small-pox at Glascow, Mo., which did not break out on him until he reached East Atchison. This was supposed to be the first case of small-pox in this section of the country. All the other members of the family got it, and the wife of Jim Stultz, who came in to help his mother, also got it. Their physician was a Doctor Ankrom, who lived in the Narrows, near Rushville, and he got it, too. This was in the winter of 1851 and 1852. In September, 1854, ten years after settling in East Atchison, Mr. Taylor came to this side of the river. When he arrived Ladd Yocum was running a hotel in a tent; there was nothing else on the town site. Late in the fall George T. Challiss completed his store, which was the first building of any kind in Atchison, according to Mr. Taylor. He says that George Million did not erect his claim shanty until the following year.

Mr. Taylor first settled in the bluffs, northeast of Atchison, but afterwards moved to a tract of land owned by a man named O. B. Dickerson, who afterwards built the first livery stable in Atchison. Dickerson sold his claim to a man named Adams, B. T. Stringfellow’s father-in-law, for $600.00, but Adams did not comply with the law and Taylor jumped it. For a while Taylor and Adams lived on the same quarter, and became acquainted; then Taylor discovered that Adams paid $600.00 for the claim, and gave him his money back. Taylor said he never had any short words with Adams about the claim, but once. They met on the hill, overlooking the river, one day, and were looking at the wreck of the old “Pontiac,” which is now said to have contained several hundred barrels of whiskey. “Well,” said Adams, “when are you going?” “Going where?” asked Taylor. “To Nova Scotia,” replied Adams. “I am not going at all,” was Taylor’s response, which Adams understood to mean that he was not going to leave the claim, but intended to fight. A compromise soon followed.

Taylor says the “Pontiac” was carried off by Atchison people, and put into their houses, and that years afterwards, the writing on the wheel house could be seen around town. There was no whiskey left in the hold; indeed, the hold was carried away.

The Taylor place was considered a great deal more valuable in 1855 than it is now; people felt sure that within four or five years John Taylor would cut it up in town lots and sell them at fabulous prices, and go abroad.

John Taylor’s sympathies were always with the South Carolinians, who made this section so warm in 1856, but said that only one in ten were good citizens; the others were toughs. One of them, a man named Newhall, was killed in the fight at Hickory Point. John Robinson, captain of a southern party at Hickory Point, was an Atchison man, and was shot in the hip.

Mr. Taylor said that in 1844 and several years later the country was full of bee trees, and that cattle turned into the rush in the river bottom in winter, came out fat in the spring. In 1844 there was a settlement of fifty Kickapoo families on the flat just above the island on the Kansas side. They made a great deal of maple sugar. In summer these Indians went out to the buffalo grounds, sixty to eighty miles west of the river, returning in the fall, to be near the Missouri settlers. There never was an Indian village on the site of Atchison, although Mrs. Joe Wade, who was George Million’s daughter, claims to have remembered coming to this side of the river when she was a little girl, and seeing a dead Indian strapped to a board and leaning against a tree on the present site of Commercial street. The body was surrounded with totem poles. There was no game at that time on this side of the river. Indians themselves hunted deer on the Missouri side in winter, and were very friendly with the whites.

John Taylor died on March 7, 1897.

JOHN M. CROWELL.

John M. Crowell was mayor of Atchison three terms, coming to the city in 1858 from Londonderry, N. H., where he was born October 22, 1823. For ten years he was a merchant here, afterwards being appointed Government storekeeper, and having charge of a distillery below town. From 1870 to 1885, he was United States postoffice inspector for nineteen States and Territories, and in that capacity visited every section of the country. He resigned to become a mail contractor, although solicited by a Democratic postmaster general to remain. His record in Washington was as good as that of any man who ever worked for the Government. Mr. Crowell was a forty-niner, crossing the plains during the great rush of that year, and engaging in sluice mining. He made four trips to California, but never by railroad. From San Francisco he visited China, South America, the Sandwich Islands, and was a great traveler in his time. He was the father of Frank G. Crowell, who was born in Atchison, and for many years a prominent citizen here, but later resigning his position as county attorney of Atchison county and moving to Kansas City to engage in the grain business, where he now lives.

John M. Crowell’s daughter became Mrs. F. M. Baker, who accumulated a fortune in the grain business in Atchison. Mr. Crowell died on the eleventh day of October, 1902.

LUTHER DICKERSON.

Luther Dickerson came to Atchison county in June, 1854, immediately after Kansas was opened to settlement, from Saline county, Missouri, where he had lived ten years. He went to Missouri from Washington county, Ohio, where he was born in 1825. After looking over the country Mr. Dickerson returned to Missouri, but came back to Kansas the following October, and “squatted” on a tract of land a mile north of the State Orphans’ Home. From 1854 to 1857 were the squatter sovereignty days, during which period a settler could have no title to land, further than the fact of his settlement on the land he selected as his home. Land offices were not established until in 1857, when the squatter filed his claims, and began fighting over them. The first land office in this section was at Doniphan. John W. Whitfield, who was afterwards in Congress, was the register. About a year later the land office was removed to Kickapoo, just below Atchison.

When Mr. Dickerson squatted on his claim in 1854, three-fourths of the land around him was taken. Welcome Nance, Peter Cummings, John Taylor and Widow Boyle had farms at that time. Andy Colgan did not come until 1857. The settlers of 1854 were mostly from Missouri. In 1855 came an organized band of South Carolinians, whose object was to make Kansas a slave State. Then followed the fierce and relentless fight with the Free State men, which ended in 1857, as far as this section was concerned. That is, in 1857 the Free State men won control, and have practically kept it ever since. In the fall of that year the Free State men elected their county ticket, and Luther Dickerson was chosen as one of the four commissioners and was made chairman.

Luther Dickerson was a Free State man and was fought by all the Missouri and South Carolinians. His land was contested, and he was beaten in the land office, but he finally won before the secretary of the interior, by proving that the woman who was contesting him was a foreigner. Hiram Latham, a Free State man, who lived across the road from Dickerson, was murdered in Doniphan, and because of this murder Frank McVey left the country and never came back. The men who killed Latham were ferried over Independence creek by Dickerson, and, noticing that they were armed, he asked where they were going. They said they were going wolf hunting. In 1858 Luther Dickerson was elected a member of the house of representatives, which met at Lecompton, and then adjourned to Lawrence. In the same year, while still a county commissioner, he built the old court house, which occupied the site of the present court house.

Luther Dickerson raised the first company of soldiers ever organized in the State of Kansas, in May, 1861. The first military order issued in the State was directed to him, signed by John A. Martin, assistant adjutant general.

But while his company was the first organized, it happened that Dickerson’s commission as captain was the second issued, and was signed by Governor Charles Robinson, before the State had an official seal. Afterwards, Mr. Dickerson served in the regular volunteer service, as first lieutenant.

He lived on his land, north of town, for many years, and died in Atchison on the thirteenth day of December, 1910.

LUTHER C. CHALLISS.

Luther C. Challiss came to Atchison in 1855 from Boonville, Mo., where he was engaged as a merchant. He remained here continuously until 1861 as merchant, banker, ferry operator and real estate owner. Luther C. Challiss’ addition, the east line of which is at the alley between Seventh and Eighth streets, was preëmpted by Mr. Challiss in 1857, and was originally composed of 198 acres.

As a member of the Territorial council, Mr. Challiss secured the first charter for a railroad west from Atchison, known as the Atchison Pike’s Peak railroad, now the Central Branch. He was the first president of the road, and originally owned every dollar of the stock. He also managed the Kickapoo treaty, which gave the road 150,000 acres of land, and made it prominent in Washington as a specific possibility. The original Government subsidy for this road was every other quarter section of land for ten miles on either side, in addition to $16,000 to $48,000 per mile, in Government bonds.

At the same time Mr. Challiss secured a charter for the Atchison-Pike’s Peak railroad, he secured a charter for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, his original idea being a southern route to the Pacific, and that road has fulfilled all of his early expectations.

Mr. Challiss made a great deal of money in Atchison, and in 1864 drifted to New York and Washington, where he became an operator on the stock exchange. Mr. Challiss’ sympathies were with the South, and was generally a bull. As long as the South showed its ability to hold out Mr. Challiss made a great deal of money, and at one time he had on deposit in New York $960,000, but the tide turned against him when the South began to fail, and this fortune was reduced to nothing.

As an operator on Wall street at that time, Mr. Challiss outranked Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, and was the peer of Anthony Morse and the Jeromes. Jay Gould was a very common man at that time, compared to Mr. Challiss, and a very little thing might have made Mr. Challiss one of the great financial leaders in America. An incident in his career in New York was the attempt of Woodhull & Claflin to break him. He made a fight that is still remembered, and sent Woodhull and Claflin, Colonel Blood Stephen, Pearl Andrews and George Francis Train to jail, where they remained six months. Finally they left the country as a result of a compromise. Mr. Challiss’ lawyers were Roger A. Pryor and Judge Fullerton. Judge Fullerton received a quarter section of land in Atchison county as his fee. Mr. Challiss also brought the famous Pacific Mail suit, which was equally famous.

He returned to Atchison in 1878, looking after the wreck of his former possessions. For three years he edited the Atchison Champion, and bitterly opposed John J. Ingalls for United States senator in 1890.

Mr. Challiss, in his latter years, became a very much abused man, and was looked upon as one of the unpopular citizens of the town, but it may be said to his credit that he did much for Atchison, and was largely responsible for making the town the terminus of the Hannibal & St. Joe railroad. He brought Jay Gould, Henry N. Smith and Ben Carver to Atchison, and they agreed to extend the road from St. Joseph to Atchison, in consideration of $75,000.00 in Atchison bonds, which was agreed to. Mr. Challiss had some sort of a deal with Henry N. Smith while they were operating on Wall street, and Challiss claimed that Smith owned him $107,000.00. They finally settled the matter, by Smith agreeing to bring the Hannibal & St. Joseph road here without the $75,000.00 in bonds the people had agreed to give him. The Atchison Champion of May 11, 1872, contained a half column scare head, to the effect that Luther C. Challiss telegraphed from New York that the bridge had been finally secured, and gave the credit of securing the bridge to Challiss and James N. Burnes.

Mr. Challiss died a poor man on the sixth day of July, 1895.

GEORGE W. GLICK.

George W. Glick, the ninth governor of Kansas, for a number of years United States pension agent for the district comprising Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Indian Territory, came to Atchison in June, 1859, from Fremont, Ohio, where he studied law in the office of Rutherford B. Hayes, who afterwards became President of the United States. Mr. Glick came to Atchison on the steamer “Wm. H. Russell,” named for and largely owned by William H. Russell, senior member of the celebrated freighting firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell. Mr. Glick was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, July 4, 1829, on a farm, and when four years old removed with his father’s family to within a mile and a half of Fremont, where he remained until he came to Atchison. He first went to school in the country, near Fremont, where he afterwards taught when he was nineteen. Later he attended a Dioclesion school at Fremont, founded by Dr. Dio Lewis, who afterwards became famous and whose name then was Dioclesia Lewis. Later he attended Central College, Ohio, but did not graduate. In 1849 he began the study of law in the office of Bucklin & Hayes, in Fremont, as a result of getting his feet in a threshing machine. It was supposed that he would never be fit for farm work again, but he afterwards recovered. Two years later he was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati, standing an examination with the graduating class of the Cincinnati law school. He practiced eight years in Fremont before coming to Atchison, building up a good business, in spite of the fact that he always went out to the farm in haying time and harvested and helped his father. In January, following his arrival in Atchison, he formed a partnership with A. G. Otis, which continued as long as he practiced law. The firm of Otis & Glick was the strongest in Atchison, as long as it lasted, and B. P. Waggener was a student in their office. In 1872 Mr. Glick became a town farmer, operating a farm of 640 acres four miles west of Atchison, making a specialty of Short Horn cattle, paying as high as $1,000 for several single animals. He served nine terms in the Kansas legislature, and was once county commissioner, and once county auditor of Atchison county. While auditor of Atchison county, in 1882, he was elected governor, by 9,000 plurality, over Jim P. St. John, who had been elected two years before by about 55,000. In 1884 he was re-nominated as governor by the Democrats, but was defeated by John A. Martin. He first received the nomination for governor nine years after coming to Kansas, but was defeated by the Republicans. He was appointed pension agent in 1885, and again in 1893. He was a Mason, and was one of the original organizers of the Knight Templars and Royal Arch Masons, in Atchison. He was the first president of the Atchison-Nebraska road, having built it to the county line, in connection with Brown and Bier. Governor Glick sold his farm near Shannon a number of years ago, and during the latter part of his life was inactive in business and professional affairs. He died on the thirteenth day of April, 1911.

DR. W. K. GRIMES.

One of the oldest citizens of Atchison was Dr. W. H. Grimes, who came here from Yellow Spring, Ohio, in 1858. His son, E. B. Grimes, came a year before, and opened a drug store in the building for many years occupied as an office by the Atchison Water Company, across from the Byram Hotel. Dr. W. H. Grimes practiced medicine until the war broke out, when he became a surgeon in the Thirteenth Kansas. Returning to Atchison at the close of the war, he continued the practice of medicine until his death, in 1879.

E. B. Grimes was a quartermaster during the war with a rank of major. At the close of the war he entered the regular army, and built many of the posts in the Department of the Platte, notably Ft. Laramie, Ft. Fetterman and Ft. Douglass. He died at Ft. Leavenworth, in 1882.

Another son, Dr. R. V. Grimes, was a lieutenant in his father’s regiment. After the war he became an army surgeon, and was in many of the Indian campaigns in the Northwest. He was in Merritt’s command when it went to the rescue of General Custer, and was the surgeon in Major Thornburg’s command when it was surrounded at the famous fight on Milk river. The command was surrounded five days by the Utes, and was finally rescued by General Merritt. While he lived in Atchison he was employed as a printer on the Champion.

Two other sons of Dr. Grimes, John and Howard Grimes, were members of Colonel Jennison’s Seventh Kansas Jayhawkers.

JOSHUA WHEELER.

Joshua Wheeler was one of the best known, as well as one of the most successful, farmers Atchison county ever had. His papers on questions pertaining to agriculture and the farm, read before the various societies, attracted wide-spread attention. In State affairs, he served the public long and honorably, and for over twenty years was a member of the State board of agriculture, serving three years as its president. His long connection with the State Agriculture College gave him an extended acquaintance over the State, and he was appointed regent for that institution by Governor Harvey in 1871, and re-appointed by Governor Martin in 1888, serving until April, 1894. During several years of that time he was treasurer of the board, and gained an extensive knowledge of the college and its history. He served in the State senate during 1863 and 1864 and in the fall of 1885 was elected for another term.

Joshua Wheeler was born in Buckingham, England, February 12, 1827, and came to America in 1844, locating in New Jersey, where he resided four years before removing to Illinois. In 1857 a colony of seven or eight families of Fulton county, Illinois, farmers, Seventh-Day Baptists, came to Kansas, and located in the southwest portion of Atchison county, covering the entire distance overland. S. P. Griffin and Dennis Sounders preceded the colony in the spring of the same year to look up a location. They went as far to the southwest as Emporia, but found no land equal to that of Atchison county. After locating the land for the colony they went back to Illinois, but did not accompany the colony to Kansas, but came a year or two later. Griffin farmed for nearly twenty years, but afterwards became a Nortonville merchant. He was the father of Charles T. Griffin, at one time an attorney in Atchison.

When the colony of Seventh-Day people arrived at the end of their destination they found the land in possession of colonists, but they bought them out, preëmpted claims and laid out the now famous Seventh- Day Lane. The land was then an open prairie, occupied only by an occasional hut. It is at this time the admiration of every visitor abounding in well cultivated fields, pastures, groves, orchards, comfortable homes, to which paint is no stranger, large barns, uniformly trimmed hedges, and peopled by as thrifty a class as can be found in the western country. Later on Seventh-Day people came from Iowa, Wisconsin and New York, and joined the Illinois colony on Seventh-Day Lane, which is two miles in length. The Seventh-Day Baptists observe their Sabbath from sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening. Their church has a seating capacity of 400, which is always comfortably filled, and was built in 1884, prior to which time the Seventh-Day Baptists worshiped in their school house.

A. A. Randolph was the first pastor of the church on Seventh-Day Lane. He came here from Pennsylvania in 1863, and died in 1868. S. R. Wheeler, a brother of Joshua Wheeler, was pastor of the church for twelve years.

When the Seventh-Day Baptists built their homes on the Lane smooth wire cost eleven and one-half cents per pound in Atchison, and ordinary flooring, $100.00 per thousand feet. Money was loaned at four per cent. per month. They did all of their trading in Atchison until Nortonville was built.

Joshua Wheeler was not only a successful farmer, but a good business man. He kept a regular set of books, and could always tell exactly what it cost him to produce a bushel of wheat in any of the different years of his farm experience. He could tell also what a bushel of corn, fed to cattle, would produce. In 1877 he sold his wheat for $1.75 per bushel.

He owned a farm of over 300 acres, just at the west end of the Lane, where he died on the fourteenth day of May, 1896.

WILLIAM HETHERINGTON.

William Hetherington, founder of the Exchange National Bank, came to Atchison in 1859, from Pottsville, Penn., where he operated a flouring mill. His three oldest children, Mrs. B. P. Waggener, W. W. Hetherington and C. S. Hetherington, were born in Pottsville. Mrs. W. A. Otis, the youngest daughter, was born in Atchison. William Hetherington himself was born in Milton, Penn., May 10, 1821. He was also married there. When he first came west he stopped in St. Louis, then went to Kansas City, and later to Leavenworth, where he bought a bankrupt stock of goods and hauled them to Atchison in wagons. This was in 1859. The same year he established the Exchange Bank of William Hetherington, absorbing the Kansas Valley Bank, owned by Robert L. Pease, which had been established several years before.

Mr. Hetherington’s influence in Atchison was very marked. He was a cultured gentleman of the old school, and was so generally respected, although always a Democrat, he stood very high in the sixties when the sectional bitterness was at its height, and did much to maintain peace between the contending factions. He was a very able public speaker. He was never a bitter partisan, and enjoyed the respect of the people to an unusual degree. He was one of the early mayors of Atchison, and had a successful career. He died on the twenty-first day of January, 1890.

WILLIAM C. SMITH.

William C. Smith, one of the early mayors of Atchison, came to Kansas in 1858 from Illinois, settling near Valley Falls. Two years later he traded his farm to Sam Dickson for a stock of goods in Atchison and removed to this city. The firm of William C. Smith & Son continued sixteen years. The son was Henry T. Smith, who still resides in Atchison (1915). Another son is William R. Smith, who is at present the attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, at Topeka, for a number of years was a justice of the supreme court of Kansas. His oldest daughter married P. L. Hubbard, who afterwards became district judge of Atchison county, and another daughter married H. C. Solomon, for many years a leading attorney of Atchison. Mr. Smith died in 1884. He was mayor two terms; member of the legislature, council and the board of education. Although Mr. Smith came to Kansas from Illinois, he was born at Columbus, Ohio, in 1817.

JOHN M. PRICE.

John M. Price arrived in Atchison with his wife on the first of September, 1858, the day the Massasoit House was formally opened for the public. They came here from Platte City, Mo., to visit some old friends from Kentucky, who had moved to Kansas, and after they arrived concluded to remain. The Prices originally came from Irvine, Ky. Mr. Price studied law in Irvine; was admitted and elected county attorney before coming to Atchison. He was a Union man, in spite of the fact that he came from Kentucky, and was very active in a business and professional way during the early days of his residence in this county, and for many years thereafter. He constructed more large and substantial buildings in Atchison than any other individual who ever lived here. He built the house for a residence, now occupied by Mt. St. Scholastica Academy, an opera house and many blocks of business buildings and residences. He was a member of the legislature several times; was prominently mentioned as a candidate for United States senator. Mr. Price died on the twentieth day of October, 1898.

SAMUEL C. KING.

Samuel C. King came to Atchison March 27, 1857. His brothers, Ed. and John, together with a sister and his widowed mother, arrived here the year before, coming here with Dr. W. L. Challiss, in the steam ferry, “Ida,” from Brownsville, Penn., where that boat was built. The King family came originally from England, within thirty-five miles of Liverpool, where the children were born, and where the father died. Ed. King was the first pilot of the ferry boat, “Ida,” when it began making trips to Atchison. The three sons and the mother took up claims in Mt. Pleasant township. While living there three old neighbors came out and Samuel C. King went out with them to look for claims. They were told that there was plenty of vacant land near Monrovia, but Mr. King advised them that it was too far out in the wilderness, and they went elsewhere. (Monrovia is fourteen miles from Atchison). While the other members of the family were getting their start Samuel C. King clerked in George T. Challiss’ store, receiving $25.00 per month, and boarded himself. He afterwards went to work for Mike Finney, steamboat wharf master, and was practically the first express agent in Atchison. Later he went out to his farm and split rails to fence it, and afterwards clerked for Bowman & Blair for $25.00 per month and board. He enlisted in the navy in June, 1861, enlisting as a landsman on the man of war, “Augusta.” He served on this ship through all the exciting scenes of the navy during the war, and was at the battle of Point Royal. He assisted in capturing eight British ships, which tried to run the blockade, and his part of the prize money amounted to over $7,000.00. He was at the bombardment of Ft. Sumpter, and at the taking of Tyble Island, off Savannah, Ga. He spent eleven months at sea, working for the “Alabama,” and rounded Cape Hatteras. He saw the burning of Charleston, and finally learning that his mother was fatally ill, he came home. He was elected county treasurer of Atchison county. Mr. King remained a prosperous capitalist and real estate operator, until his death on the twenty-third day of January, 1910.

CLEM ROHR.

Clem Rohr came originally from Buffalo, N. Y., where he was born in 1835. He learned the trade of harness maker there, and afterwards worked at his trade at Chicago, Detroit and Moline, Ill. In Davenport, Iowa, he heard Jim Lane make a speech about Kansas. This speech caused Rohr to go to Leavenworth in 1856, and while living in that town and employed as mail carrier he ran into the famous battle of Hickory Point. He slept in Hickory Point the night after the fight and helped fix up the wounded. He walked to Atchison in 1857 from Leavenworth, with Nick Greiner, for many years a prosperous German farmer, south of Atchison, and started a harness shop, which he conducted in the same place on the south side of Commercial street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, for over forty years.

The first telegram that came to Atchison announcing that Kansas had been admitted was sent to Clem Rohr, and was signed by S. C. Pomeroy. He served as mayor of Atchison. Early in the sixties when the home guard was organized in Atchison Clem Rohr was made captain. His father was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s body-guard, and was with that great soldier at Austerlitz in the Russian campaign, and at the battle of Waterloo. Mr. Rohr always claimed that Julius Newman, who had a farm near the Soldiers’ Home, made the first filing in the Lecompton land office.

Mr. Rohr died in Atchison on the twenty-third day of May, 1910.

R. H. WEIGHTMAN.

One of the most interesting and romantic early-day characters in Atchison county was Maj. R. H. Weightman, an ex-major of the United States army, who was associated with a famous frontier tragedy. Major Weightman was a violent pro-slavery man and had been reared in the South. Before coming to Kickapoo, where he was connected with the land office, and subsequently to Atchison, he was the editor of the Herald at Santa Fe, N. M., and also a delegate to Congress from that Territory.

F. X. Aubrey, the other party to the quarrel, was a French Canadian, of great pluck and energy, and had made a reputation on a wager in 1852, riding from Santa Fe to Independence, Mo., in a few hours over eight days. The next year he wagered $1,000 he could go the same distance in less than eight days. His bet was accepted and Aubrey covered the distance in less than five days. Following these rides he engaged in the freighting business over the plains and he and Major Weightman became warm personal friends. Aubrey later made a trip to California, taking a herd of sheep, which he sold at a fine profit. It was upon his return from this trip that he and Weightman had their famous quarrel. The fairest account of this incident appeared in the Missouri Republican, September 28, 1854, which was in the form of a communication from a correspondent of that paper, and was as follows:

“THE CASE OF MAJOR WEIGHTMAN.

“Mr. Editor: The deplorable event by which F. X. Aubrey lost his life and which deprived the West of one of its most energetic and able pioneers, will not be passed lightly over. The name of Mr. Aubrey had become too closely identified with all that is gallant, preserving, and—in a western sense, at least—brave and chivalrous, that his memory and his sudden death should not awaken painful emotions among all those to whom his name had become a household word; emotions too painful to expect that, under his influence, full justice would be done to both parties concerned. When, therefore, an opportunity is afforded by which the facts, as nearly as we can approach them, may be investigated, it would seem injustice to withhold these facts from the public.

“Though, perhaps, less historically known (if the expression be permitted) than Mr. Aubrey, Major Weightman has peculiar claims upon the citizens of Missouri, and especially of St. Louis, for demanding full and impartial justice in this behalf. Without wishing to anticipate the judgment of your readers, or at all commenting upon the evidence which will be found below, your correspondent, in view of the grave charge in which Major Weightman is involved, and the melancholy importance of the event, deems it his duty, notwithstanding, here to state what may be known to most of your readers, that Major Weightman, for years, formerly, was a resident of St. Louis, beloved and respected, almost without any exception, by all with whom he came in contact.

“Amongst the many of Missouri’s citizens who participated in the late Mexican war, Major, then Captain Weightman, at the head of his Light Artillery Company, won laurels which placed his name foremost among the bravest and most gallant in that war. His fellow soldiers still in our midst will cheerfully bear your correspondent testimony, that Captain Weightman’s gallantry as a soldier and officer was only surpassed by his urbanity and true kindliness of feeling as a gentleman; and if the evidence adduced upon his preliminary examination before the examining magistrate should sustain Weightman’s plan of self-defense in the premises, his former friends here and abroad, and his fellow soldiers, will be glad to learn that the qualities of heart, for which they used most to prize Captain Weightman, in former years, remain untainted even now, when his name has become unfortunately coupled with a most grave and serious charge. May the public judge, and may not the unquestioned enviable renown of Captain Aubrey’s name tend to warp calm judgment in pronouncing upon the guilt or innocence of the accused.

“The following evidence, being a synopsis of the process verbatim at the preliminary examination before Judge Davenport, at Santa Fe, have been transmitted to your correspondent from New Mexico by a third person, and, as your correspondent has every reason to believe, may be fully relied on. It is in the main supported by your former notices published in the Republican concerning this same transaction.

“The circumstances are these: Major Weightman, hearing of the arrival of Aubrey, and that he was at the store of the Messrs. Mercure, merchants at Santa Fe, crossed the plaza to see him, and was one of the first to take him by the hand and greet him as a friend. When Major Weightman arrived at the store of the Messrs. Mercure, several persons had already arrived to pay their respects to Mr. Aubrey.

“Aubrey and Weightman met kindly, shook hands, and conversed pleasantly for a short time, when something having been said by a third person about the route by which Aubrey had arrived from California, Aubrey asked the major if he had yet published his paper in Albuquerque. The major said, no; that it was dead—had died a natural death from want of subscribers. Aubrey then said it should have died, because of the lies with which it was filled. This was said without excitement. When Weightman asked ‘What lies?’ Aubrey remarked: ‘When I returned from California last year you asked me for information in respect to my route, and afterwards you abused me.’ This Weightman denied, saying, ‘No, Aubrey, I did not abuse you.’ Aubrey then said, more or less excited, ‘I say you did, and I now repeat, it is a lie,’ at the same time bringing his hand down with force upon the counter.

“At this Weightman, who was sitting on the counter, five or six feet from Aubrey, sprang down and approached Aubrey, who had been standing near the counter, and taking a glass from which Aubrey had been drinking (a toddy), threw the contents in his face. Weightman immediately stepped back, when Aubrey drew a pistol (Colt’s belt pistol), the first shot from which took effect in the ceiling (supposed to have gone off while cocking). Weightman then drew a knife, and before another shot could be fired, closed with Aubrey and stabbed him in the abdomen, and soon after seized Aubrey’s pistol.

“The Messrs. Mercure rushed on and seized the parties. Aubrey rapidly sank, and as soon as he relinquished his pistol Weightman said: ‘I did it in my own defense, and I will go and surrender myself to the authorities,’ which he did, accompanied by his friend, Major Cunningham. Aubrey died in a few minutes. He received but the one blow. Major Weightman has carried a bowie knife for his own protection for a year past, believing it to be necessary for him to do so. This was stated as the cause of his being armed. Aubrey was of the number of those who were inimical to him. The relations between Aubrey and Weightman had been heretofore of the most agreeable character.”

Major Weightman was a resident of Atchison only a few years. At the outbreak of the war he joined the southern army, and lost his life in the battle of Wilson’s Creek.

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XIII. AGRICULTURE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT

AN AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY—SCIENTIFIC FARMING—FARMERS, THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE WEST—MODERN IMPROVEMENT—TOPOGRAPHY—SOIL—STATISTICS.

Atchison county is distinctively an agricultural community. There have been some earnest efforts made in the past to develop its mineral resources, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that future efforts in that direction will unlock hidden resources of fabulous value. But in the future, as in the past, agriculture will be the big important dividend producer in this county. Up to this time it is not unfair to say that only the surface of the soil has been scratched. Farming has been the occupation of a very large portion of our people from the days when the first settlers took up their claims and with crude implements, broke the sod, down to this enlightened age, of the riding plow and the traction engine, but scientific husbandry has not been followed on a large scale in this county. Crops have been so easy to produce, on account of rich soil and a favorable climate, that the methods employed in countries not so blessed and of a greater population, have not been followed in the past. This is not an arraignment of the former, for Atchison county has been peculiarly blessed in its possession of an intelligent lot of thrifty farmers. They have toiled and labored early and late; they have built comfortable homes, accumulated fortunes, and are the sturdy, dependable citizens of the county, but for over sixty years they have lacked organization and the prosperous farmers have succeeded because of their own personal initiative, judgment and hard work. As a class they have not made the progress to which they are justly entitled. Those that came early and remained, have in most instances met with rare success, but they worked out their own salvation, unaided by scientific organization.

One hundred and sixty of them have banded together for mutual help and have secured a county agricultural agent to assist them in this direction, as the rich country in the States east of us have been forced to do. The soil also has an abundance of potash and a creditable amount of phosphorus, so with the proper use of legumes and manure, with the addition of some phosphorus, the fertility of the soil may be increased and maintained indefinitely. If soil washing is stopped and the organic matter in the soil maintained, this county has a soil, that agriculturally speaking, is second to none.

The real aristocracy in the West, will, in future generations, trace its ancestry back to the pioneers, who settled on the land and tilled it. Those who went into trade and the professions when they came to Atchison county prior to 1860, and in subsequent years, have prospered, in part, by their wits, but in the main, on the farmer. The farmers were then, as now, the real wealth producers and so it has come to pass, after these many years, that the farmer “has arrived,” and with the increase in population and the general trend of advancement and improvement in all human activities, farming now stands near the top of the big human enterprises. The desire for organization and coöperation among the farmers is growing everywhere, and it has taken hold of Atchison county in recent years.

The farmer’s life in this county, in the late fifties and early sixties, was a hard and lonely one. During those years many homesteads were preëmpted, fifteen to twenty-one miles southwest, west and northwest of Atchison, and onto these the young pioneers took their wives and families. There they built their log houses, “broke out” their land, and put it to corn and wheat. There were few neighbors, fewer creature comforts, and no conveniences. It was a solitary life.

This history contains biographical sketches of many of these pioneers, and in them will be found the intimate stories of hardships, privations and discomforts. They came to conquer the resources of nature, and they accomplished what they came after. There were no highways over which to convey their crops when harvested, and the ways to the nearest market were long and dreary ones. It was a two days’ trip over the prairies to Atchison with a load of grain, and there were few ways to economize time, although, fortunately, time was not an object then, as it is in these restless days.

And yet within the short span of the lives of farmers who are still here, there has been a marvelous development. Log houses have given way to fine commodious homes, steam heated and electric lighted; great barns shelter the stock, and house the grain; the telephone, the rural delivery and the automobile have revolutionized the farmer’s life and the farmer’s wife. Better roads are the order of the day, and it will be along this line that great progress will be made in the immediate future. Meanwhile, land values are on the increase, and the quarter sections that sold from $500 to $800 each, fifty years ago, are now bringing $16,000 to $24,000 each. Within the year 1915 there has been a general trend of sentiment among the more enterprising farmers to put farming upon a more scientific basis. The services of a farm adviser have been secured, whose duty it is to assist in this direction. They are learning more of food values, crop rotation and diversification, soil culture and plant life. As the value of these things become more apparent, the farming industry will thrive more, and in another generation the problem of keeping the young men and young women on the farm will have been solved.

The richest and most valuable farming land in Atchison county is very generally distributed. There are parts of each township that are rough and broken, but as the population increases land not now regarded as choice will be made to produce abundant crops. The river bluffs, which have stood so long in timber, are gradually being cleared and the bare hills which are left, are admirably adapted to fruit, wheat and alfalfa. Much of this land is as well adapted to fruit raising as is the already famous Wathena district, some of it being exactly the same type of soil. All that is needed is that the fruit growers give their plantations care. The orchard that is properly cared for produces fruit of a quality far superior to that of the famous Northwest. Incidentally, this land returns the grower a greater net profit.

Atchison county lies within the glaciated portion of the plains region. The underlying rocks are buried by the glacial till, but in turn is covered by a deposit of fine silty material, known as loess. Practically all the soil throughout this country is derived from the loess covering. The principal soil is a brown, almost black, silty loam, well adapted to the production of general farm crops. The rainfall is sufficient for the maturing of all crops, the normal annual precipitation ranging from fifteen to twenty-five inches. Atchison county has a population ranging from 28,000 to 30,000 people. There was a slight decrease in the population between the years of 1900 and 1910, yet, in spite of this apparent unfavorable showing, the value of farm land and farm products have increased. About ninety-five per cent. of the land in this county is in farms, of an average value of $69.26 per acre. The proportionate land area is 263,680 acres, of which 249,339 acres are in farms, with an aggregate land value of $17,270,130, which is more than double what it was in 1900, and over two million dollars more than the whole of the Louisiana Purchase cost us in 1803. Figures and statistics are proverbially dry and uninteresting, but there is no place in which they can be more appropriately used than in history, and no language that can be employed could tell a better story of the agricultural progress of Atchison county, than the statistics taken from the thirteenth census of the United States. From this source we find that the total value of improvements on the farms in this county in 1910 was $2,692,755, and that the value of the implements and machinery used by the farmers, not including automobiles, was $499,129. While the value of domestic animals and live stock was $2,149,863, and in these figures poultry is not included. The chicken, duck, goose and turkey census reached 150,127, and these were valued at $77,926. The total value of all crops shown by the census of 1910 was as follows:

Cereals $1,928,065.00 Other grain and seeds 3,577.00 Hay and forage 281,793.00 Vegetables 94,232.00 Fruits and nuts 32,297.00 All other crops 30,883.00 ————————————— Grand Total $2,370,847.00

Making a grand total of $2,370,847.00.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIV. THE PRESS

INFLUENCE OF NEWSPAPERS—PART PLAYED BY THE EARLY PRESS—“SQUATTER SOVEREIGN”—“FREEDOM’S CHAMPION”—“CHAMPION AND PRESS”—PIONEER EDITORS—LATER NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPER MEN.

Of all the mighty powers for good and evil, none can excel the newspaper. Take all the newspapers out of the world today and there would be chaos. Mankind would lie groping in the dark, and life itself would be a vain and empty thing. Newspapers are the arteries through which the lifeblood of the world runs. They carry to our firesides the continued story of civilization.

Early in the history of Atchison county, before the schools and the churches, the newspaper appeared. It received a bounty of the original town company when that association, September 21, 1854, by a resolution, donated $400 to Robert Kelley and Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, to start a printing office, and it was then that the Squatter Sovereign was conceived, and after a brief period of gestation, was born February 3, 1855. By a strange stroke of misfortune this first newspaper in the county stood for a wrong principle and preached bad doctrine, for it advocated human slavery. Yet it was a creature of environment, and reflected the prevailing sentiment of its constituency. It was fearless in its attitude and rabid in its utterances. It was a violent organ of hate and bitterness toward all Free State men, and in it appeared a constant flood of inflammatory comment directed against those who opposed slavery, and were determined that Kansas should be the land of the brave and the home of the free. But as the pro-slavery cause waned, the Squatter Sovereign waned with it, and in the fall of 1857, when saner counsel and the feeling of brotherhood grew, the town company disposed of its interest in the Squatter Sovereign to the New England Aid Society, of which S. C. Pomeroy was agent, and the paper then passed into the hands of Robert McBratney and Franklin G. Adams. Mr. Adams and Mr. McBratney were both Free Soilers, but they did not run the paper long. It was shortly sold to O. F. Short, who ran it until the following February, and on the twentieth day of that month, 1858. John A. Martin purchased the plant and changed the name of the paper to Freedom’s Champion. Under that name Colonel Martin made of his paper one of the leading Free State organs of the Territory. Always a brilliant editor, of courage and deep convictions, Colonel Martin during his whole career never performed a greater service than during the time he shouted the battle-cry of freedom through the columns of Freedom’s Champion, from 1858 to 1861. In September of the latter year, he laid aside his pen and took up his sword in defense of the principles he so stoutly advocated, and thus translated his words into deeds. When he went to the front he left the Champion in charge of George J. Stebbins, who continued in charge until the fall of 1863, when it was leased to John J. Ingalls and Robert H. Horton. These two men afterwards became political rivals. Both were lawyers and both residents of Atchison for many years. Horton was a typical lawyer, smooth and tactful, who enjoyed a successful career in the practice of his profession and on the bench. Ingalls was of a different temperament, being more intellectual, caring little for the law, less tactful, but ambitious. They both met in the arena of politics, and Horton was the vanquished. Following the senatorial election of 1879, at which they were both candidates, they became bitter enemies, and did not speak until they met, by chance, in London, in 1891. While these two men were editors of the Champion. Ingalls did most of the writing and kept things warm until the return of Colonel Martin from the war in January, 1865, one of the Nation’s heroes. Three months after his return, on the twenty-second day of March, 1865. Colonel Martin became the publisher of a daily paper, and on August 11, 1868, the Freedom’s Champion was consolidated with the Atchison Free Press, under the name of Champion and Press. The Free Press was a Republican daily paper, and first appeared May 5, 1864, with Franklin G. Adams as its editor and proprietor. In April, 1865, Frank A. Root became a partner, and subsequently, L. R. Elliott, who had been an assistant editor, became a proprietor, with Mr. Root retiring later, when the paper was consolidated with the Champion.

The office of the Champion and Press was destroyed by fire May 20, 1869, but three weeks later the paper was in running order, with John A. Martin as sole editor and proprietor, and from that date until the death of Mr. Martin October 2, 1889, it remained one of the most influential and prosperous papers in the State of Kansas.

Upon the death of Mr. Martin, the newspaper property was turned over to his father-in-law, W. L. Challiss, as executor of Mr. Martin’s estate, and on the day of Mr. Martin’s death the name of Phillip Krohn appears as managing editor. Krohn occupied that important place until March 29, 1890, when his name appeared for the last time as editor. Dr. Phillip Krohn was a man of brilliant attainments, a fluent writer, and a pleasing public speaker. He was a Methodist minister by profession, but, although he occupied the pulpit upon occasions, his name was seldom taken seriously in connection with religious work. From the date of Governor Martin’s death the paper gradually waned in influence. The paper remained the property of the estate of Governor Martin, and Luther C. Challiss was editor and manager, until October 11, 1804, when A. J. Felt, an ex-lieutenant governor of Kansas, became its editor and proprietor. The paper did not prosper under the management of Mr. Felt, and four years later a company was organized by Charles M. Sheldon, a promoter, and Mr. Sheldon became its editor May 2, 1898. Mr. Sheldon was an enthusiastic and aggressive individual, who had very little respect for the value of money, which he spent so lavishly that two months later, July 1, 1898, his name appeared for the last time as editor of the Champion. On the twentieth of that month the paper was sold to satisfy a mortgage and the property was re-purchased by A. J. Felt, who immediately transferred it to the Champion Linotype Printing Company, a partnership, composed of Edward Skinner, George T. Housen, Charles O. Hovatter, James McNamara and A. J. Felt. Mr. Felt again resumed the editorial management of the paper, and remained in charge until January 1, 1899.

February 3, 1899, Henry Kuhn, who surveyed the townsite of Atchison, returned to the city with his son, James G. Kuhn. They made a heroic effort to restore the lost prestige of the Champion, but soon became discouraged, and in the latter part of May or early in the June following, they gave up the ghost and silently disappeared. The mortgagees continued the publication of the paper, and July 31, 1899, the name of John A. Reynolds appears as business manager. It had no editor until August 23, 1899, when James G. Day, Jr., a young lawyer, occupying a desk in the office of Waggener, Horton & Orr, became editor and manager. Mr. Day ran a daily until January 9, 1900, when it was discontinued. The following March he published a daily for one week, “as the devil would run it,” a piece of cynicism in reply to an effort the Topeka Capital made a short time before, when that paper was turned over to Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, the eminent Congregational preacher, who ran that paper one week, “As Jesus would run it.”

Meanwhile, the Champion had its ups and downs, but did not die. A daily again appeared April 22, 1901, with Ewing Herbert, one of the celebrated newspaper men of Kansas, as its editor and owner. Mr. Herbert was at that time the owner of the Brown County World, at Hiawatha. He conceived the idea that Atchison offered an attractive field for a newspaper venture, and he succeeded in interesting some local capital in his enterprise. Capt. John Seaton was a stockholder, among others, and Jay House, the present mayor of Topeka (1915) and a brilliant newspaper paragrapher, was city editor. Mr. Herbert spent only part of his time in Atchison, and turned over the management of the Champion to Mr. House. It looked for a time as if Mr. Herbert was going to make a success of his venture, but just at the height of his prosperity he was guilty of an editorial indiscretion, which turned some powerful influences against the paper, and on August 17, 1901, Mr. Herbert gave up his effort as a bad job and turned the plant over to one W. A. Robinson, formerly of St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Robinson was a follower of Henry George, the great single taxer, and conceived it to be his duty to spread the single tax propaganda through the editorial columns of the Champion. His efforts in this direction did not prove profitable, and becoming disheartened and discouraged he fled from the city shortly thereafter, a much poorer but wiser man.

The Champion next fell into the hands of Corman H. Young, for many years a successful music merchant, of Atchison, who incidentally acquired a small job printing plant, which he operated on North Fifth street, and which he subsequently merged with the Champion plant, having acquired that by paying off the mortgage which Mr. Robinson gave Ewing Herbert at the lime he undertook to acquire the property. Mr. Young ran a weekly paper for a number of years, until May, 1907, when he employed Walt Mason, the famous prose poet of the United States, to assume the editorial management of a daily. Mr. Mason many years before had been a resident of Atchison, and ran the Globe during the absence of Mr. Howe in Europe. He was not so famous in 1907 as he is in 1915, but he was just as brilliant. He published the daily Champion on pink paper and filled it with columns of editorial matter and humorous running comment on current affairs. Mr. Mason had a wonderful capacity for work and could prepare more “copy” in one day than all the other writers on the paper could prepare in a week. During the summer of 1907, Sheffield Ingalls, having returned from the legislature, where he was a member of the house of representatives, became an editorial writer on the Champion. November 20, 1907, Mr. Young prevailed upon Mr. Ingalls to give up his other work and become editor of the paper. As Mr. Ingalls walked into the office, Mr. Mason walked out, never to return. Mr. Ingalls remained editor and manager of the Champion until October 6, 1909, having been frustrated in plans he had made to acquire the property as his own. Mr. Young continued to run the paper until July 1, 1911, when Mr. Ingalls, with the assistance of J. C. Killarney, succeeded in organizing a company, which purchased the paper and turned it over to Eugene C. Pulliam, as editor. Mr. Pulliam was a young man, who had served his apprenticeship on the Kansas City Star as a reporter. He was a good writer, but lacked experience and business judgment, and while he made a vigorous effort to run the paper, and had the benefit of strong financial connections, he did not succeed, and September 1, 1914, he turned the paper over to Sheffield Ingalls as trustee, and it was subsequently sold to A. S. Andereck and his brother, A. P. Andereck, of Kankakee, Ill. A few months later a company was organized, composed of the Andereck brothers, O. A. Simmons, vice- president of the First National Bank, Wilbur C. Hawk and Sheffield Ingalls, who in 1915 are conducting the paper, and it is enjoying its most prosperous days since the death of its brilliant editor, John A. Martin.

In 1877 there came to Atchison a young man who subsequently became one of the famous editors of the United States, Edgar Watson Howe. Mr. Howe was born in Wabash county, Indiana, May 3, 1854, a son of Henry and Elizabeth Howe. When he was about three years of age his family removed to Bethany, Harrison county, Missouri, where the father, a Methodist preacher, published a newspaper of strong abolition sentiments. The younger Mr. Howe served an apprenticeship at the printer’s trade in his father’s office, and in 1868 started out for himself. He visited various cities, working at the case to earn money to pay his way from one place to another, and at the age of eighteen became the publisher of the weekly Globe, at Golden, Colo. From there he went to Falls City, Neb., where he published a newspaper, subsequently coming to Atchison, and established the Daily Globe. When Mr. Howe reached Atchison, the Champion, under the management of John A. Martin, was the most powerful newspaper organ in the northern half of Kansas, and the field here was none too promising on this account. However, Mr. Howe proceeded to publish a paper of an entirely different type than that published by Mr. Martin. It was a small sheet, and was devoted to “gab, gossip and paid locals,” and for over thirty years this policy was successfully maintained by Mr. Howe. It was unique in the journalistic world, and under the management of Mr. Howe it acquired a National reputation, chiefly because of the quaint, homely philosophy it contained and the unusual treatment he gave the ordinary incidents of human life. As a reporter of this class of news, Mr. Howe was perhaps without a peer in the country. For over thirty years he tramped the streets of Atchison with note-book and pencil, and to practically every item he turned in he gave a peculiar twist, which reflected a remarkable insight of human nature. With Mr. Howe were associated Miss Frances L. Garside, Ralph (“Doc”) Tennal, Miss Nellie Webb and J. E. Rank. To each of them Mr. Howe was indebted for much of the success the Globe attained. The death of Col. John A. Martin and the collapse of the Champion, that followed, gave Mr. Howe his opportunity, and for the greater part of his active newspaper career in Atchison he had the field to himself. The Globe was a great financial success and in one year it has been said that Mr. Howe cleared close to $24,000 on his property. “Doc” Tennal was the first one of Mr. Howe’s faithful associates to break up the Globe family. Mr. Tennal was a remarkable reporter of local news, but being ambitious and realizing the limitations by which he was surrounded, he concluded to acquire a newspaper property of his own, and in pursuance of that plan, he bought the Sabetha Herald in 1905, subsequently relinquishing it to become editor of the Kansas City Weekly Star. He returned some years later to Sabetha, and re-purchased the Herald plant, and is now the editor of that prosperous and progressive paper (1915).

J. E. Rank left the Globe a few years later, and went to Bartlesville, Okla., where he ran a paper a short time, and then returned to Atchison, and his first newspaper love.

Miss Garside, who was one of the most brilliant newspaper women in the country, went from the Globe to the New York Journal, and in 1909 Mr. Howe turned the Globe over to his son, Eugene Howe, who is now (1915) its editor and principal owner. Associated with him are Mr. Rank and Miss Nellie Webb, together with other old Globe employes.

Miss Webb is the society reporter, and in this capacity she has acquired a brilliant reputation among the newspaper women of Kansas. The “policy” of the Globe remains unchanged, and, while it may not enjoy the same prestige it had during the days of the elder Howe, it is still one of the moneymaking newspaper plants of Kansas. Eugene Howe is a young man of much promise. He is still young and has spent his life in newspaper work. He has carried the new responsibilities thrust upon him by his father both gracefully and tactfully, and there is every reason to predict a successful future for him.

Among the early newspaper enterprises of Atchison was The Patriot, established by Nelson Abbott October 25, 1867. In September, 1868, Messrs. H. Clay Park, B. P. Waggener and Mr. Abbott formed a partnership, under the name of H. Clay Park & Company, and purchased the establishment, and in October of the same year, the paper passed into the hands of C. F. and C. P. Cochrane, but shortly thereafter reverted to Nelson Abbott, who remained in control until December, 1875. Dr. H. B. Horn, for many years a respected and honored citizen of Atchison, was connected with the paper as bookkeeper and business manager, and performed much of the editorial work, and when Mr. Abbott finally relinquished control of the paper, it fell again into the hands of H. Clay Park, who together with F. L. Vandergrift and P. H. Peters, assumed control. Mr. Peters did not remain long in the partnership, and in 1877 he sold his interest to E. W. Beall. The paper was Democratic, and Mr. Park, who was very actively identified with the affairs of Atchison in the early days, was an able editor. He left Atchison twenty-five years later, to become an editorial writer on the St. Joseph News and Press. F. L. Vandergrift is one of the famous newspaper men of Kansas, and for many years was the representative in Kansas of the Kansas City Star. He is one of the best loved and best known newspaper writers of the West, and is now (1915) editor of the Earth, a publication devoted to the interests of the Santa Fe railroad.

One of the well known newspaper men of the West connected with The Patriot was Tom Stivers, who was connected with the Champion for eight years, and in January, 1879, became a partner with Mr. Park and Mr. Vandergrift.

The Patriot was an afternoon daily paper, and always stanchly Democratic in politics, and for many years was a successful journalistic enterprise. This paper continued to be published either as a weekly or a daily until about October 12, 1895. It was in a precarious condition many years before that date, and had a number of different editors, among them F. M. Stambaugh and W. J. Montgomery. The Atchison Morning Star and Daily Patriot was built upon the wreck of the original Patriot, its first issue being dated October 13, 1895, and running until February 23, 1896.

The Atchison Union was a Democratic paper, established by Gideon O. Chase, about 1858. It had an office in a frame building at the southwest corner of Fifth and Commercial streets, subsequently occupied by the Champion. Mr. Chase came from Waverly. N. V., and his paper, while Democratic, was for the Union and against slavery. Mr. Chase did not remain in charge of the paper very long, and turned it over to W. H. Addoms and G. I. Stebbins. Shortly thereafter Stebbins retired, and Addoms went to Leavenworth, where he started a paper, turning his interest over to A. P. Cochrane, who was an employe in the office. Cochrane did not run the paper but a short time, when a Mr. Leland, Francis J. Marion and Franklin G. Adams assumed control and ran it a short time, when Marion took the plant of Plattsburg, Mo., and junked it, and for many years what was left of the paper was piled up in the court house at that place.

The Atchison Church Visitor was established in 1906, and was published by the pastors of the following churches: English Lutheran, Methodist, Christian, Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist.

On January 14, 1911, Paul Tonsing became its editor and publisher. The paper is printed by Mr. Tonsing in the office over 500 Commercial street, so long occupied as the editorial room of John A. Martin, of whom Mr. Tonsing is a son-in-law. Mr. Tonsing is a Lutheran minister by profession, and for a number of years after his graduation from Midland College, he did pastoral work in a number of Lutheran churches in Nebraska and Kansas. Mr. Tonsing is a reformer, and a man not without courage and ability. His views are looked upon as too extreme by the conservative liberal element of Atchison, but all give him credit for being conscientious and honest. He is a hard-working, industrious citizen, and, while he has made inane active enemies in his reform work, he enjoys the personal satisfaction of seeing many of the reforms he has advocated come to pass. He is an avowed foe of the liquor traffic, and has perhaps done more than any other individual in the community to make his views on that question effective. In connection with the publication of the Church Visitor, Mr. Tonsing also prints and edits the Western Chief, a monthly publication devoted to the Improved Order of Redmen.

E. W. Howe’s Monthly was started by Mr. Howe in March, 1911. It is published monthly and contains practically all of the present literary efforts of its editor. Mr. Howe has adopted the use of pink paper for this publication, which is composed of four pages. It contains no advertising matter, but has a large circulation among friends and admirers of Mr. Howe’s peculiar literary type. Mr. Howe has popularized this monthly by making the price so low that no subscriber can afford not to take it, and when he has reached a circulation large enough, he plans to put it on a profitable basis as an advertising medium.

The Effingham New Leaf was started about April 12, 1894, with M. C. Klingman, editor, and his wife, Mrs. Ima L. Klingman, as associate editor. The New Leaf was the successor of the Effingham Times, founded in 1887, and the Effingham Graphic, founded in 1891, and the Effingham World, founded in 1893. After the death of M. C. Klingman, at the Missouri Baptist sanitarium, at St. Louis, Mo., May 5, 1899, Mrs. Klingman took charge as editor and publisher, and employed W. W. Cahoon, associate editor. January 4, 1901, J. W. Coleman became the editor and publisher, and W. W. Cahoon, associate editor. In December, 1903, W. W. Cahoon purchased a one-half interest and the firm became Coleman & Cahoon. Mr. Coleman re-purchased the paper October 16, 1903, and continued its publication until September 8, 1903, when Mr. Cahoon and C. E. Sells became the editors and publishers. May 4 of the following year Mr. Cahoon sold his interest to W. H. Sells, and August 31, 1906, C. E. and A. J. Sells took charge of the paper, and in 1915 were still its publishers.

The Effingham New Leaf is a successful country newspaper, serving its readers faithfully and satisfactorily.

The Muscotah Record was founded about October 1, 1884, by F. M. Bonham, who ran the paper until about 1886, when on August 18 of that year the Miller brothers became its editors and publishers. They sold it to Claud Martin and Coleman Martin December 4, 1889, who subsequently sold the plan to M. C. Klingman, editor of the Effingham New Leaf, May, 1890. Mr. Klingman turned the property over to Fred W. Badger July 18, 1890, who continued the paper until December 8, 1893, when he disposed of it to John Ford. Ford published the paper until November 1, 1894, when he sold it to James S. Martin and Guy L. Stotter, the latter assuming entire control March 6, 1896. Mr. Stotter sold the Record to J. W. Campbell August 17, 1905, but assumed control of it again November 23, 1905, and remained in control until June 6, 1907, when J. A. Shoemaker, who afterwards became county superintendent of Atchison county, appeared as its editor and publisher. When Mr. Shoemaker was elected county superintendent, he turned the property over to A. W. Huntis, who on February 3, 1910, sold it to P. J. Cortelyon, and March 7, 1912, the property was purchased by R. M. Dunlap, who is now (1915) its editor and publisher.

The Huron Herald started January 7, 1892, with Frank I. White as editor and publisher. On May 16, 1895, Messrs. Priest & Priest took charge and were in control October 18, 1896, when the office was destroyed by fire. The paper was suspended for a few weeks and the next issue was dated November 6, 1896, with W. E. Johnson, editor and publisher. The Herald suspended publication in February, 1897, and was again resurrected by W. A. Huff by the issue of April 9, 1897. Mr. Huff discontinued the paper in 1900, and went to Brown county, where he was active in newspaper work in that county. The Huron Herald was revived again April 12, 1907, by J. E. Smith, who published it until March 12, 1914, and March 19 of that year. J. M. Delaney announced that through no fault of his, he was forced to take control of the paper, and had employed Herman Van. On August 19, 1915, T. A. Cur became editor, and on November 11, 1915, Orvil L. Pancake was in charge.

The Potter Kansan was originally known as the Potter Leaf, which started November 22, 1900, by Eppie L. Barber and Norene Barber, his wife. Mr. Barber surrendered control of the paper September 17, 1903, turning it over to his wife, who became its publisher. Shortly thereafter, Charles B. Remsburg, who for many years was a well known newspaper reporter in northeastern Kansas, appeared as its editor and publisher, and remained in charge until May 11, 1905, when he turned it over to J. W. Thompson and his wife, Mrs. J. W. Thompson. On August 17, 1905, the Thompsons leased the paper to R. J. Wilson, but in the following December Mr. Thompson resumed control again and placed Howard C. King in charge as local editor and business manager. On March 22, 1906, W. A. Remsburg became proprietor and in the following September, J. E. Remsburg purchased the plant, and is now its editor.

The Potter Kansan is one of the best known country weekly papers in Kansas and the contributions from the pen of George J. Remsburg, the noted archaeologist and newspaper paragrapher and poet, are frequently quoted by the newspapers of the State.

Atchison county, perhaps, has been the graveyard for as many newspapers as any other county in the State. The State Historical Society has reserved the record, and in many instances, the files, of newspapers, which have been born, and after a brief existence, have died in this county.

The first rival newspaper of the Champion, then the Squatter Sovereign, was the Sumner Gazette, published at Sumner in 1857. It survived only a short time, as also did the Western Spy, which lived a few months in 1860.

In 1857 The Kansas Zeitung was started by Kab & Sussman, but was moved to Leavenworth in 1859.

Half a dozen papers sprung up in 1862 and 1863, among which were: The Pleifer, The Bulletin, The Union-Banner, The Anti-Jayhawker, The Standard, and Die Tackle.

In 1873 the anti John A. Martin crowd, headed by John M. Price, started a Republican daily and weekly, called the Globe, with A. W. Wagnhals, J. B. Dutton, Rev. E. Cooper, T. F. Smith and Franklin G. Adams as the principal writers. It lasted but a few months. Wagnhals subsequently changed his name to Wagnalls, and moved to New York City, where he became a great publisher as a member of the firm of Funk & Wagnalls, which published the Standard Dictionary and a number of other well known publications.

The following list shows the different publications received by the Historical Society from Atchison county at the end of the year 1915:

Atchison Champion, daily and weekly. Atchison Globe, daily and weekly. The Midland, Atchison. The Abbey Student, Atchison. Midland College Bulletin, Atchison. St. Benedict’s Calendar, Atchison. The Western Chief, Atchison. Atchison Church Visitor. E. W. Howe’s Monthly, Atchison. Kansas Synod Lutheran, Atchison. The Optimist, Atchison. Effingham New Leaf. Atchison County High School News, Effingham. Muscotah Record. Potter Kansan. Huron Herald.

Among the numerous publications that have enjoyed a brief existence in this county, are the following:

Kansas Churchman, published at Atchison from November, 1891, to December, 1892. Rev. E. K. Brooke was editor. This publication had been published at Salina, Kan., previously, and from Atchison was removed to Lawrence.

Arrington Argus, started by T. W. Gardner, and was suspended after the tenth number.

The American Journal of Education was published at Atchison and St. Louis, Mo., by Messrs. J. B. Merwin and I. C. Scott, in 1870.

The Atchisonian, established March 24, 1877, by the Atchison Publishing Company. This paper was a six column, eight page affair, with a patent inside. The last issue appeared May 26, 1877.

Atchison Daily Times was started February 3, 1887, by John N. Reynolds, but after the seventh issue the paper was changed to a weekly, and called the Atchison Weekly Times, from March 19 to July 2, 1887. The next issue was dated July 11, 1887, and was again called The Atchison Daily Times, and ran as such until August 6, 1887, when it suspended. John N. Reynolds was in many ways, a unique character. He came to Atchison as the organizer and manager of a live stock insurance company. He was at one time a preacher, and his career in Atchison was remarkable for its violence and his disregard for both the proprieties and the ethics of the newspaper profession, he was looked upon by many as an irresponsible demagogue, and it was supposed that he ran his paper for blackmailing purposes. The story goes that during his management of the live stock insurance company, he incurred an advertising bill with one of the local papers, and failing to pay the bill, the editor of the local paper, instead of having recourse to the courts, began to heap abuse upon Reynolds, and using this as a pretext, Reynolds established the Times, for the purpose of retaliation. As the result of this episode, Reynolds became very violent in his denunciation of many men of established reputations in the community, and during the time that he published his paper there was much excitement of an undesirable character in the city. Reynolds finally landed in the Kansas State penitentiary, having served a term previously in the Missouri State penitentiary. He wrote a book subsequently, relating largely to his treatment in these two institutions, which he entitled “The Twin Hells.” For a short period he edited his paper from the county jail in Atchison, but in 1888 J. A. Sunderland took hold of the Times, and it was published up to January 31, 1891.

The Sunday Morning Call was started by the Call Printing Company, with Frank Pearce as editor and publisher, and was first issued in magazine form February 8, 1880. March 28, 1880, Barton Lowe & Company became editors and publishers, enlarging the paper to a five column folio. January 3, 1881, Luther L. Higby appears as a member of the firm, but with the issue of October 9, 1881, Luther L. Higby became sole owner. November 6, 1881, C. F. Cochrane became one of the editors, and January 18, 1882, Chris Rutt became a partner of Mr. Higby, and this firm sold the plant to Herman J. Rodman October 22, 1882, who continued it until November 18, 1883, when the name was changed to The Western Mercury, with E. J. Van Deventer and H. J. Rodman as publishers, and it was continued until about 1886.

The Missouri Valley Farmer was published by A. J. Felt during the time that Mr. Felt was editor of the Champion. The first issue of the Farmer was dated January 5, 1893, and it continued until August 18, 1898, at which time it was sold to C. M. Sheldon, who also became owner of the Champion, and the Missouri Valley Farmer was moved to Kansas City.

The New West was a monthly journal of immigration, published by the Immigrant Union, that was established in Atchison in August, 1878. It was issued in magazine form and contained about sixteen pages of reading matter. The earlier numbers of the publication were printed at Hannibal, Mo., and in 1878 H. H. Allen, who was for many years a real estate operator in Atchison, became the editor of this paper. Mr. Allen subsequently sold the property to J. G. P. Hilderbrand, who later turned the property over to two men by the names of Berry and Henry. The last issue appeared about July, 1880.

Atchison Baptist was a monthly magazine, printed by the City Mission Publication Company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., in the interests of the First Baptist church, of Atchison. It lasted about three years, and W. H. Park was the local editor.

Kansas Agriculturist was a weekly publication, which was established July 18, 1898, and probably died about March 20, 1899.

The Atchison Blade was established July 16, 1892, and published by the Blade Publishing Company, composed of Dr. Grant Brown, Natt G. Langston, and Will Harris, three prominent negroes of Atchison. It was a four page, six column paper, and was operated, after several changes in the management, until about January 20, 1894. It again resumed publication November 5, 1897, and was run until September 19, 1898, by H. Lewis Dorsey.

The Kansas Statesman, Atchison, was established February 15, 1901, by G. W. Myers & Sons, office, 315 Commercial street. This paper was absorbed by the Atchison Champion, after the issue of October 11, 1901.

The Trades Union, Atchison, was founded September 5, 1885, by Frank Hall, R. Tompkins, and James W. Reilly. This paper was the official paper of the Kansas State Assembly of the Knights of Labor, office, 521 Commercial street. The last issue on file is dated November 6, 1886, and the paper moved to Topeka after this date.

The Atchison Banner was a German paper, and C. F. Ruth was editor and publisher. This was a seven column, four page paper, and was founded March 1, 1878. It was enlarged to an eight column paper the same year. It supported the Republican State ticket in 1878. The paper was suspended after the issue of July 12, 1879.

The Bible Investigator was a monthly publication, started about July, 1881, by William Kirby and A. D. Stevens. It was printed by W. H. Haskell & Son, who for many years conducted a prosperous printing business in Atchison. The editor was William Kirby, and a Mr. Stevens was the manager, both of whom were residents of Doniphan, and a notice in the paper asked that communications for either one should be addressed to that place. It was in operation about five months.

Atchison’s Monthly was published by W. H. Haskell & Son, and the managing editor was Herman J. Rodman. It did not last long.

Sentinel of the Northwest was a monthly publication, of which Dr. A. H. Lamphear was editor. The only issue of which there is any record was Volume 1, No. 1, date January 1, 1883.

Sunday Morning Facts was published by E. W. Beal from September 2, 1883, until about February 3, 1884.

Der Humorist, was as the title indicates, a German publication, with L. Willstaedt as its publisher. This paper, or magazine, was also short lived, lasting less than a year.

Atchison Sunday Morning Sermon, published by J. W. and J. M. Tanner. First issue was June 1, 1884, and the last issue about July 27, 1884.

Atchison Advance, published by Frank Hall and Dr. H. B. Horn. The first issue of the paper was November 5, 1884, and the last issue was January 3, 1885.

The Messachorean was started in 1887, and issued about every two months. It was devoted to the interest of Midland College, and edited by the faculty. It died about June, 1888.

The Atchison Daily Bee was one of John N. Reynolds’ enterprises, which started March 25, 1889, and suspended April 4, 1889.

The Tradesman was a monthly publication, devoted to the trade unionism, and was edited by Robert Tompkins, the veteran editor and publisher.

Stebbins & Talbot’s Real Estate Record, established in 1869, by C. I. Stebbins, W. R. Stebbins and J. H. Talbot. This was, as its name implies, a publication devoted to booming real estate in Atchison county and vicinity.

Kansas Monthly Souvenir was published by Fitch Rice & Company from February, 1873, to sometime in June of the same year.

Gardner’s Real Estate Bulletin was another real estate journal, published monthly, by C. V. Gardner in 1873.

The Short Line Advocate was issued by the Atchison & Denver Railroad Company in 1879.

Der Courier was another German publication, published at Atchison and Topeka, by Edward F. Fleischer in 1879.

The Public Ledger was started August 19, 1880, by W. J. Granger. It supported the National Greenback ticket of that year, and October 30, 1888, Granger turned the paper over to E. A. Davis & Son, who ran it a short time. Mr. Granger returned to Atchison eighteen years later, and became a reporter on the Atchison Champion, and during the interval published papers in Effingham and other places. In 1915 he was the publisher and owner of the Nettawaka Talk.

The Western Farm Home was a continuation of the New West Monthly. Its first issue was in January, 1881, with James P. Henry and George H. Pardee as editors and publishers. It suspended publication in October, 1881.

High School Quarterly was published at Effingham for the first time January, 1895, with S. J. Hunter, editor, and John W. Wilson, business manager. This magazine was published in the interests of the Atchison high school. It was subsequently changed to The High School Bulletin, after which it was issued regularly once a month during the school year. It suspended publication about September, 1902.

The Oracle was another Effingham publication, started December, 1901, which was conducted by Guy Hendrickson and the students of the Atchison high school, in the interests of that institution. It suspended publication about May, 1902.

The A. C. H. S. Newsletter was a monthly publication, started in February, 1901, by John W. Wilson, principal of the Atchison county high school. There were only three numbers of this paper, which was a monthly.

The Atchison County Visitor was still another Effingham publication, started by W. J. Granger March 10, 1905. Guy C. Hendrickson became business manager June 8, 1906, and the paper suspended during the year 1907.

The Potter Press, started April 8, 1898, with E. Campbell as editor, and Jewell & Campbell as publishers. It lasted until September 30, 1898, when it was consolidated with the Easton (Leavenworth county) Light. January 27, 1899, it resumed publication, with M. L. and K. Lockwood as editors, and E. E. Campbell as local editor, but again consolidated with the Easton Light September 1, 1899.

The Atchison County Recorder was started June 1, 1900, and published by the Lockwood Printing Company, of Atchison. Its last issue was dated October 26, 1900.

The Muscotah News was filed April 5, 1880, by Nash & Walkup, and lasted about three months.

The Weekly Journal was started by G. W. Messigh in Effingham September 2, 1892, who ran it until February 23, 1893, when it died.

The Arrington Times was started May 28, 1896, by W. A. Huff. In September of the same year its name was changed to The Atchison County Times, and it suspended sometime in 1897.

The Prairie Press was started in Lancaster May 12, 1888, with W. C. Adkins as editor and publisher, and it was run until March 7, 1890, when it was succeeded by the Huron Graphic.

The Huron Headlight, started March 13, 1884, and died on the same date.

The Huron Messenger was started July 2, 1884, by J. M. Warton, and also died on the same day it was born.

The Weekly Graphic, which succeeded to all the rights and privileges of the Prairie Press, of Lancaster, was started by W. C. Adkins April 5, 1890. Mr. Adkins ran this paper until March 28, 1891, at which time he sold it to J. A. Sunderland, of Atchison, who ran it until May 2, 1891, when Mr. Adkins again took control of the paper and ran it until the following fall.

The Huron Times was a kind of continuation of the Atchison Times, and Volume 4, No. 1, of this paper, was dated April 4, 1891. There were but four issues of the Times, after the plant was moved from Atchison to Huron, the last issue being dated April 25, 1891. J. A. Sunderland was also editor and publisher of this paper, after he moved it from Atchison to Huron. The Huron Times was a weekly publication, by G. E. Nichols, and was started February 22, 1901, and published seventeen times, when it died.

The Effingham Enterprise was founded about July 1, 1895, by W. H. Bright. It was short lived, and little is known of its history after the date just mentioned.

The Peoples’ Press was a party organ, started in August, 1883, by the Peoples’ Press Association, and suspended September 15 of the same year.

The New Kansas Magazine was started by Dr. W. H. Wynn, for many years a much beloved and greatly respected professor of English literature at Midland College. Dr. Wynn conceived the idea that there was a place for a monthly magazine in Atchison, to be conducted along the lines of the original Kansas Magazine, published in 1873, which contained some of the best literature that had ever been produced in Kansas. Associated with Dr. Wynn were Dr. W. W. Campbell, R. M. Manley, B. P. Waggener, H. M. Jackson, H. H. Allen, and A. J. Harwi. The first issue appeared February 18, 1892, and the last issue appeared September 30, 1893.

Midwest Moose Review was the official organ of the local lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose, published monthly by Frank L. Danforth, editor. It was founded in 1912, and ran only a few months.

The Atchison Tribune was started in 1896, but the name of the editor and publisher are unknown.

The Western Chief is a monthly publication, devoted to the Order of Redmen, and was founded about April, 1909. Paul Tonsing is editor and publisher.

Benedictine Parish Monthly, started in Atchison, in March, 1907, and published by St. Benedict’s College, until January, 1910.

The College Review was published monthly in Lawrence and Atchison, by A. G. Coonrod and G. T. Smith, from 1891 to 1900. Coonrod & Smith were the owners of business colleges at Atchison and Lawrence.

Kansas Telegraph was a German paper, started by H. Von Langen December 23, 1880, and was published in Atchison until 1881, when it was removed to Topeka, where it was published for many years.

Atchison Journal was another German publication, started by John Hoenscheidt in 1880, but was short lived.

The Kansas Staats-Anzeiger was started in Topeka in 1879, and published until 1881, when it was moved to Atchison. It was also short lived.

Plain Facts was a weekly publication, started in Atchison October 4, 1897, and published by authority of twenty-five Atchison Populists, who were opposed to the election of George W. Glick, the so-called Populist candidates for State senator. It lasted three issues.

The Atchison Journal was the official publication of the Trades and Labor Council of Atchison. It started early in the year 1903, by W. J. Granger, and discontinued the last of November of the same year.

The Atchison Morning Star was a daily paper, published by J. A. Roulston, and started June 14, 1905, lasting until August 30, 1905.

The Atchison Tribune was a weekly publication, started March 27, 1896, by W. H. Higgins, and suspended publication July 16, 1896.

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XV. BANKS AND BANKING

EARLY DAY BANKING—PIONEER FINANCIERS—THE OLDEST BANK—PRIVATE, STATE, AND NATIONAL BANKS—ATCHISON COUNTY BANKERS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BANKING INSTITUTIONS.

Banking was a precarious business during the Territorial days in Kansas. There were no banks, as we know them, until January 29, 1857, when the Territorial legislature passed an act providing that every company or association of persons formed for banking purposes within the Territory, and without an act of legislature authorizing the same, should be deemed unlawful. Upon the passage of this act, the first bank authorized to do business under it was The Kansas Valley Bank, of Leavenworth, with an authorized capital stock of $800,000.00, with five branches, at Atchison, LeCompton, Doniphan, Ft. Scott and Shawnee. The authorized capital stock of each one of the branches was $300,000.00, and under the terms of the act, each branch was independent of the Leavenworth institution. The great Government Overland Transportation Company of Majors Smoot-Russell & Company was the big financial power behind this organization. The Leavenworth bank was never formed, and the Atchison branch was the first to start out under this act of the legislature, being authorized to begin business February 19, 1857, with securities amounting to $100,000. Dr. John H. Stringfellow, Joseph Plean and Samuel Dickson were authorized to open subscription books. The board of directors included Samuel C. Pomeroy, who was president: W. H. Russell, L. R. Smoot, W. B. Waddell, Franklin G. Adams, Samuel Dickson and W. E. Gaylord. Shortly after the bank began business there were rumors emanating from the rival towns of Sumner and Doniphan that the Atchison institution was about to suspend, and for the purpose of allaying any suspicion on the part of the public, created by these rumors, the directors published a statement of its condition, showing that the assets were $36,638.00, with liabilities of $20,118.00. In July or August, 1857, L. S. Boling, of LeCompton, was appointed to examine and report on the financial condition of the Atchison branch of the Kansas Valley Bank, and this is the first record in Kansas of a proceeding of this kind.

Samuel C. Pomeroy resigned as president of the bank in 1858, and was succeeded by William H. Russell, of the contracting firm of Majors- Smoot-Russell & Company. G. H. Fairchild was made vice-president, and R. L. Pease, cashier.

In 1861, this bank, then called the Kansas Valley Bank, had its name changed by act of the legislature, to the Bank of the State of Kansas, and it was conducted under that name until 1866, when the stockholders wound up its affairs.

The legitimate successor of the Bank of the State of Kansas was Hetherington’s Exchange Bank, which was founded in 1859 by William Hetherington.

The Exchange National Bank, of Atchison, Kan., is the oldest banking institution in the city of Atchison, having been established in 1859, while Kansas was a Territory. The bank was then named the Hetherington Exchange Bank. That bank became the successor of the Bank of the State of Kansas, which was organized in 1857. The founder of the Hetherington Exchange Bank was William Hetherington, and, except for one year during the Civil war, it has been in successful operation since it was established. It passed through the period of its existence during Territorial days, and the depressing financial conditions as a result of the war, and business reversals incident to the reconstruction period, and its management was at all times conducted upon the theory of its motto adopted by William Hetherington in an early day that “Safety First” in all of its business transactions was the secret of success.

The bank’s first business home was in the Otis & Glick building, opposite the Byram Hotel. In 1869 it was moved to the Hetherington building, at the northwest corner of Fourth and Commercial streets. Later on, and in 1885, the bank was moved to the southwest corner of Sixth and Commercial streets, into the building erected by its president, William Hetherington, where it has since been located.

In 1876, William Hetherington admitted into the firm, as a partner, Webster W. Hetherington, his eldest son, and in 1881, Clifford S. Hetherington, his youngest son, became associated with him. In the year 1882 the Hetherington Exchange Bank was incorporated under the laws of Congress, as a National bank, under the name of The Exchange National Bank of Atchison, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, and surplus of $20,000, and at once took high rank as one of the strongest and most conservative banks in northeastern Kansas, and has ever since maintained that reputation.

The Exchange National Bank was organized with William Hetherington as president, August Byram, vice-president, Webster W. Hetherington, cashier, and C. S. Hetherington, assistant cashier. In 1890, upon the death of its president, William Hetherington, Webster W. Hetherington was elected president, B. P. Waggener, vice-president, and C. S. Hetherington, cashier. In 1892, upon the death of its then president, Webster W. Hetherington, B. P. Waggener was elected president, A. J. Harwi, vice-president, W. P. Waggener, vice-president, C. S. Hetherington, cashier, C. W. Ferguson, assistant cashier, and Webster Wirt Hetherington, teller. In October, 1906, C. S. Hetherington, the cashier, died, and C. W. Ferguson was elected cashier, and Webster Wirt Hetherington, assistant cashier, and Edgar Mattocks, teller. In April 1907, the capital stock of the bank was increased to $200,000.00 with a surplus of $50,000, and ex-Governor W. J. Bailey was elected vice- president and managing officer of the bank, which position he has since held. Upon the death of A. J. Harwi, his son, Frank E. Harwi, was elected director, and succeeded his father, A. J. Harwi, as vice- president, which position he now holds.

In 1892 the bank adopted a by-law, which prohibited any officer or director of the bank from borrowing any money from it, or becoming an endorser or surety on any obligation or note to the bank, since which time no officer or director of the bank has been permitted to borrow any of its funds on deposit. The wisdom of this by-law adopted in 1892 has repeatedly been approved by the comptroller of the currency. The management of the Exchange National Bank has adopted and adhered to this policy, because it believes that a bank officer or director should not be permitted, under any circumstances or in any emergency, to use any of its deposits in any of his own personal speculations or ventures.

In February, 1914, Webster Wirt Hetherington was appointed cashier, and Edgar Mattocks was elected assistant cashier, and George L. Wolfe, teller.

While the bank is known far and wide throughout the State of Kansas for its conservatism, yet it makes an effort to accommodate all business institutions in the city of Atchison entitled to assistance and credit. It aims to be a distinctive Atchison institution.

Luther C. Challiss appeared as a banker in the city directory of 1859 and 1861, operating his bank at the corner of Second and Commercial streets, but not much is known of this institution.

First National Bank was organized on the first day of October, 1866, by David Auld, with the following as the first board of directors: David Auld, Henry Kuhn, H. H. Moulton, George Scarborough, C. G. Foster, D. C. Newcomb, and J. M. Linley. David Auld was elected president, George Scarborough, vice-president, and W. R. Stebbins as cashier. For thirty- eight years this bank was under the careful and conservative management of David Auld, who died in October, 1904, and was succeeded by his son, David Auld, Jr. The bank began business in July, 1867, and since that time has been one of the strongest financial institutions in the West. It has always had the benefit of the services of experienced men in the banking business, and has followed a conservative policy during the whole of its existence. In 1910 the controlling interest in the First National Bank was purchased by the Commercial State Bank, which was organized in Atchison in 1906 by Sheffield Ingalls and O. A. Simmons. In the merger that took place the Commercial State Bank was absorbed by the First National Bank, and has continued under the latter name to maintain its high standard of conservatism, and with the introduction of new blood and new methods, it embarked upon a policy of service which has redounded to the lasting benefit of the community. The present officials of this institution are as follows: Edward Perdue, president; J. H. Barry, chairman of the board; O. A. Simmons, first vice-president and manager; J. M. Schott, second vice-president; Charles Linley, cashier; George H. Edwards, assistant cashier; F. J. Ledoux, assistant cashier.

The directors represent varied business interests of this city and county, and are as follows: Edward Perdue, J. H. Barry, O. A. Simmons, Charles Linley, J. M. Schott, C. C. McCarthy, August Manglesdorf, Leo Nusbaum, Sheffield Ingalls, A. E. Mize, M. Noll and W. T. Hutson.

The Atchison Savings Bank claims the distinction of being “The Oldest State Bank in Kansas,” having enjoyed a continuous corporate existence of over forty-six years.

R. A. Park was its organizer and first cashier, and in June, 1869, it opened its doors for business in a brick one-story building at the northwest corner of Fifth and Commercial streets. At that time most of the business was centered close to the river, and this was considered quite an “up town” location, but time has vindicated the judgment of its early director in anticipating the westward growth of the town. With the expectation of building thereon the bank early acquired title to the lot at the southwest corner of Fifth and Commercial streets, but subsequently disposed of it to the late Ex-Governor John A. Martin, who built the Champion building thereon, and the bank moved to its present quarters, which it had acquired, and still owns, at the southeast corner of Fifth and Commercial.

William C. Smith (father of Henry T. Smith) was the first president but the late Judge A. G. Otis soon thereafter succeeded him and remained president until 1891.

Thomas Murphy (father of John Murphy and one of the builders of the present Cain Mill Company mill), W. W. Guthrie, Julius Kuhn, C. J. Drury, Col. Wm. Osborn, J. W. Parker, and other men prominent in the business and social life of that period were among its early stockholders and directors, while for seventeen years the late T. C. Platt served as teller, and by his affability and faculty of remembering people, made many friends for the institution. A baseball bat, kept under the counter, was his weapon for defending the funds in his care. Courtney Challiss, George H. Lawton, “Vode” Kathrens, Lowenholt, O. Orlopp and Will H. Bryning and others also served varying terms as early employees and will be remembered for their distinctive personalities. An apothecary’s scale for weighing gold dust was part of the early equipment, but one trial was sufficient to prove the presence of too much dust and too little gold in the commodity offered. For almost twenty years the bank ran with but few restrictions from the State, the law simply requiring it to file an annual statement of its capital, surplus, etc., with list of stockholders and officers, and publish a statement of its financial condition as of some one day in the year. Needless to say the day selected was usually one on which the deposits, loans and resources would make a satisfactory showing, but about 1890 the legislature enacted a banking law, which has since been several times perfected by amendments, which brought this and all other State banks under its provisions, and the supervision of a State bank commissioner, with cast iron restrictions as to the relative amounts of loans, cash reserves, etc., and although some of the requirements seemed unduly severe to those accustomed to the former unrestrained exercise of their own individual judgment, few would now deny that it was wise and much needed legislation.

Following the retirement from the bank in 1891 of Judge Otis, Col. William Osborn became president, serving until his death, when R. A. Park succeeded to the office and served until his death in 1902. C. J. Drury being elected his successor and giving the institution his services for about a year, seconded by J. T. Hersey as vice-president, but both these gentlemen then retired upon the acquisition of a majority of the stock by Messrs. T. M. Walker, J. C. Fox and F. M. Baker. Of later years the growth of the bank has been marked, the capital and surplus having repeatedly been enlarged, and deposits and loans having shown a corresponding increase. The late Theodore Bartholow added his ripe experience as a successful banker to the board of directors, while F. G. Crowell, Joseph W. Allen, William Carlisle, with Messrs. Walker, Baker and Fox and others as stockholders and directors gave the institution a State-wide prominence.

R. A. Park, the second, who resigned as vice-president in 1911 to engage in business elsewhere, entered the bank in 1881; became cashier in 1892; elected vice-president in 1910, being succeeded as cashier by F. M. Woodford, who entered the bank’s employ in 1900 as bookkeeper.

C. W. Ferguson, formerly cashier of the Exchange National Bank, has recently been elected a vice-president of the Savings Bank, and the present officers and directors are as follows: T. M. Walker, president; Joseph W. Allen, vice-president; C. W. Ferguson, vice-president; F. M. Woodford, cashier; W. T. Fox, assistant cashier.

The German-American State Bank of Atchison was chartered May 15, 1912, and began doing business June 21, 1912. Its original board of directors was composed of Louis W. Voigt, Henry Klostermeier, William Klostermeier, F. A. Manglesdorf, L. A. Libel, G. T. Bolman, and F. A. Manglesdorf. Three months later the charter was amended and Charles Haase and W. A. Dilgert were added to the board of directors. This bank was organized with a capital stock of $50,000, and a surplus account of $10,000. At the first meeting of the board of directors, the following officers were elected: Louis W. Voigt, president; Henry Klostermeier, vice-president; William Klostermeier, vice-president; F. A. Manglesdorf, cashier.

At the time the membership of the board was increased, Guy Elwell was elected assistant cashier. This bank occupies handsome quarters at the southeast corner of Eighth and Commercial streets, and has shown a remarkable growth since its organization. The only change in the board of directors that has been made since its organization was the substitution of E. F. Manglesdorf for his brother, A. F. Manglesdorf. At the close of the first business day of the bank it had deposits aggregating $25,000, and at the end of one year the deposits had increased to $248,000, and at the end of the second year it was $323,000, and at the end of the third year it was $425,000, and in 1915 it boasted of total deposits amounting to $525,000, with a surplus and undivided account of $21,000. This bank has had an able set of officers, and its directors are among the most influential and substantial citizens of the community. It started in by making an aggressive campaign for business, and it accomplished what it went after. The institution is conducted along broad and conservative lines, and renders not only good service to its many patrons, but to the community as well.

German Savings Bank.—This institution was organized in 1873, with the following officers: George Storch, president; Robert Forbriger, vice- president; John Belz, cashier.

The capital stock of the bank was $10,000 and its deposits were about $100,000. It conducted a general banking business, together with a regular savings department in connection therewith. This bank was located at 406 Commercial street, and wound up its affairs in 1886, when it was merged with the United States National Bank and the Dime Savings Bank, both of which failed.

The Atchison National Bank.—This bank was organized April 1, 1873, by John M. Price as president; M. Barratt as cashier. G. D. Harrison succeeded Mr. Price as president, in which capacity he served until 1878, at which time he was succeeded by C. J. Drury, with R. H. Ballentine as vice-president. When this bank commenced business it had a capital of $100,000, but in 1877 it was reduced to $50,000. It was located for many years at 503 Commercial street, afterwards moving to what is now the Simpson building, in the corner occupied by the Barth Clothing Company, where it failed in 19—.

The Atchison State Bank.—This bank was organized prior to 1891, and went into voluntary liquidation March 24, 1898, at which time John M. Cain was president and cashier, and John H. Murray was secretary. It was located on West Main street, near the corner of Thirteenth street.

The Commercial State bank was chartered September 8, 1906, and began business October 31 of the same year, and subsequently merged with the First National Bank March 24, 1910.

The Union Trust Company was chartered February 28, 1907, and was organized by B. P. Waggener, with a paid-up capital stock of $100,000. March 24, 1909, his charter was amended and it became the Exchange State Bank of Atchison, the officers of which are: F. E. Harwi, president, and Edward Iverson, cashier. This bank has a paid-up capital of $50,000, with surplus and undivided profits of $34,776.91, with average deposits of $350,000. It is one of the strong State banking institutions of Kansas, and is doing a prosperous business.

Atchison county has a number of strong, flourishing banks, located at Effingham, Muscotah, Potter, Huron, Lancaster and Cummings.

The Farmers and Merchants State Bank, at Effingham, was organized in 1905, with a capital of $12,000 by A. J. Smith, U. B. Sharpless, Fred Sutter, R. M. Thomas and J. W. Davis. Since its organization there have been a few changes among the officers and the board of directors, and in 1915 the officers were: Fred Sutter, president; L. T. Hawk, vice- president; E. J. Kelley, cashier; D. R. Gerety, assistant cashier. The present board of directors is as follows: Fred Sutter, L. T. Hawk, Alex. McKay, U. B. Sharpless, E. J. Kelley.

The capital stock and surplus in 1915 exceeds $15,000, and the bank’s average deposits are about $120,000. In 1910 a handsome and commodious brick building was erected at the corner of Main and Howard streets for its new home, and it was fitted with attractive new fixtures and a burglar-proof vault of modern structures, at a cost of $4,000. This institution is purely a local concern, financed by local capital; all of the stockholders reside in Effingham and vicinity, and comprise leading merchants and farmers of the Effingham district.

The State Bank of Effingham was organized in 1889, and occupies its own quarters in a substantial and commodious brick building on the Main street of Effingham, which was erected in 1897. In 1912 handsome new fixtures and a burglar-proof vault were purchased at large cost. The first president of this bank was Wesley Cummings, and the first cashier was Gilbert Campbell, with Harvey Sharp as assistant cashier and bookkeeper. Mr. Cummings continued as president until his death in 1899, and was succeeded by L. A. Murphy, who in turn was succeeded by T. J. Bohannon, who served until his death, August 29, 1915. A. M. Ellsworth became cashier in 1892, and was succeeded by W. M. Walker, who served in that capacity until 1905, when he is turn was succeeded by Clarence L. Cummings, the present cashier of this substantial and growing institution. The president officers of the bank are as follows: R. G. Bohannon, president; A. E. Mayhew, vice-president; C. L. Cummings, cashier; Carl B. Searls, bookkeeper. The directors are: H. A. McLenon, A. E. Mayhew, R. G. Bohannon and C. L. Cummings. The capital stock is $20,000, with surplus of $13,500 and deposits average $100,000. This institution is one of the most flourishing banks in the county, and its officers and directors are substantial business men and farmers, who are not only highly regarded in Effingham and vicinity, but throughout all of northeastern Kansas.

The State Bank of Lancaster was organized March, 1896, by W. W. Stepp, Mark S. Cloyes, C. L. Cummings, T. J. Bohannon, and Dr. A. L. Charles. T. J. Bohannon was elected its first president, and C. L. Cummings its first cashier. It had a capital stock of $5,000, which subsequently was increased to $10,000, and in 1915 it had a surplus of $5,000, with deposits aggregating $80,000. The present directors of this bank are as follows (1915): M. J. Hines, C. E. Smith, A. J. Smith, J. F. Shell and M. E. Smith, and its present officers are: M. J. Hines, president; C. E. Smith, vice-president; A. J. Smith, cashier, and C. G. Stickler, assistant cashier.

The State Bank of Cummings was organized by H. J. Barber and E. W. Kaufman in 1908, with a capital stock of $10,000. E. W. Kaufman was elected president; B. F. Cline, vice-president, and H. J. Barber, cashier. The capital stock in 1915 was $10,000, with a surplus of $5,000 and deposits aggregating $60,000. A neat and substantial brick building was erected for banking quarters and equipped with handsome fixtures and burglar-proof vault, at a cost of $3,500. The officers of the bank in 1916 were as follows: President, John Ferris; cashier, H. J. Barber, and the directors were John Ferris, H. J. Barber, C. A. Lewis, William Hegarty and F. W. Kaufman. The bank is in a thrifty condition, and has shown a steady increase in growth from the date of its organization.

The Farmers’ State Bank of Potter, Kan., was organized in 1905 by B. C. Daum, C. K. Hawley, P. C. Grenier, Arthur Davis, James Grapengieszer, Fred Potter, John Niemann, C. L. Cline, J. H. Glancy, who subsequently became directors of this enterprising institution. The capital stock was fixed at $12,000 and the first president of the bank was B. C. Daum, and the first cashier was C. K. Hawley. There are thirty-two stockholders in this institution, who are practically all farmers, residing in the immediate neighborhood of Potter. In 1916 the officers were as follows: President, P. C. Grenier; cashier, A. H. Manglesdorf; vice-president, C. E. Hudson, and the capital stock was $12,000, with a surplus of $5,500 and deposits aggregating $80,000.

It is unusual to find two substantial banking institutions in a town the size of Potter, as it is supposed that one bank in such a community would meet all the requirements of its citizens.

The Potter State Bank preceded the organization of the Farmers’ State Bank five years. It was organized in 1900 by O. A. Simmons, L. M. Jewell and Fred Ode, with a capital stock of $5,000. O. A. Simmons remained the active cashier and manager of the bank for two years, being succeeded by L. M. Jewell in 1902, who served until 1906. Mr. Jewell was succeeded by H. A. Ode. A new brick building was erected for this very enterprising financial institution in 1909, and equipped with new modern fixtures and a fine burglar-proof vault. The capital stock of this bank in 1916 was $10,000, with a surplus of $10,000 and deposits aggregating $125,000. The officers for that year were as follows: President, L. M. Jewell; vice-president, Fred Ode; cashier, H. A. Ode, and in addition to the officers, the following prominent farmers of Walnut and Mount Pleasant townships are directors: C. N. Faulcomer, C. W. Carson, E. H. Blodgett and Adam Ehart. There are over seventeen stockholders, all of whom are prosperous and well to do farmers, living in the vicinity of Potter. This bank has grown rapidly, both in prestige and strength since its organization, and its average net annual profits since its organization have been about $2,000.

The Muscotah State Bank was organized by George Storch in 1870, as a private bank, who remained in charge until about 1890, when Mr. Storch sold his interest to Harvey and Calvert. This firm conducted the bank as a private institution until about January 1, 1902, when it was organized into a State bank, with A. B. Harvey, president, and J. H. Calvert, cashier. Mr. Harvey remained president until about 1910, and in that year C. C. Hart became its cashier. The officers of this institution in 1916 were as follows: A. D. Wilcox, president; C. C. Hart, vice- president; R. A. Allison, cashier. The directors are: A. D. Wilcox, C. C. Hart, A. H. Calvert, M. E. Bevens, R. A. Allison and Thomas Ryan. The capital stock is $10,000.00, with a surplus of $10,000.00, and deposits aggregating $100,000.00. This institution is the oldest bank outside of the city of Atchison, and remains today one of the most substantial financial institutions in this part of the State.

The Huron State Bank was organized in 1891, with a capital stock of $10,000. The first directors were Edward Perdue, John Swartz, John Drohan, John English, David Rouse, David Rouse, Jr., and T. B. Marshall. Its first officers were Edward Perdue, president; John Swartz, vice- president, and W. C. McLain, cashier. This is one of the substantial banks of the county, and showed by one of its last statements a capital stock of $10,000, with surplus fund of $5,000.00 and deposits aggregating $80,000.00. Its officers in 1916 are as follows: Edward Perdue, president; David Rouse, Jr., vice-president, C. E. Smith, cashier, and Cloyd Smith, assistant cashier. In addition to the officers, T. B. Smith, Jr., is the fifth director.

Mr. Perdue, who is the president of this bank, is one of the leading citizens of Atchison county, and in addition to being president of the Huron bank, is also president of the First National Bank of Atchison.

C. E. Smith, the cashier, is also one of the well known and most conservative bankers of the State, and the officers and directors of this institution have reason to be proud of the splendid growth and standing of their institution.

The Farmers State Bank of Muscotah was organized and opened for business February 21, 1910, with a capital stock of $10,000. It now has a surplus and undivided account of approximately $5,000, and its deposits average $70,000. The first directors were L. Cortelyou, A. T. Cortelyou, L. Cortelyou, Jr., and H. M. Turner, who came from Moberly, Mo. W. M. Walker, of Atchison, was one of the organizers of this institution, but he sold his interest a few weeks after organization and was succeeded by William Buckles on the board of directors. L. Cortelyou was elected president, and H. M. Turner, cashier, and they have continued as the active officers of the bank. The present board of directors consists of L. Cortelyou, William Buckles, M. C. Vansell, John Sullivan, J. W. A. Miller and H. M. Turner. As this history is written it is said that there has been a consolidation of the two Muscotah banks, under the name of the Farmers State Bank. A charter has been granted and the new institution will have a capital of $15,000. L. Cortelyou is to be the president, H. M. Turner, cashier, and Ralph Allison, assistant cashier. The bank will continue to occupy the present quarters of the Farmers State Bank, and the merger, when effected, will give Muscotah one of the best banks in the county.

The Commerce Trust Company of Atchison, with a paid-up capital stock of $100,000, received its charter from the State February 11, 1916. The first meeting of the board of directors was held in the office of the Commerce Investment Company on the evening of February 19, 1916, at which time the following officers were elected: President, Sheffield Ingalls; vice-presidents, Henry Diegel, A. J. Schoenecker, M. J. Horan; treasurer, Ellsworth Ingalls; secretary, Frank H. Manglesdorf; trust officer, H. A. Schoenecker; general counsel, J. M. Challiss. The following named citizens were the first directors of the company: H. A. Schoenecker, Henry Diegel, J. C. Killarney, O. A. Simmons, A. J. Schoenecker, Ellsworth Ingalls, T. E. Snowden, Clive Hastings, M. J. Horan, F. H. Manglesdorf, H. E. Muchnic and Sheffield Ingalls. The company is a development of the Commerce Investment Company, established in 1910, and does a general trust business, as provided by the laws of Kansas. It began business March 2, 1916.

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XVI. CHURCHES

METHODIST—CHRISTIAN—PRESBYTERIAN—BAPTIST—SALEM CHURCH—GERMAN EVANGELICAL ZION CHURCH—FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST—ST. PATRICK’S, MT. PLEASANT—TRINITY CHURCH, EPISCOPAL—ST. MARK’S, ENGLISH LUTHERAN—ST. BENEDICT’S ABBEY—FIRST GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.

Methodism was introduced into Atchison by the Rev. James Shaw, who had been a prominent member of the Detroit conference, both as pastor and missionary among the Indians along the Lake Superior district, and also as presiding elder. Being in poor health and desiring a new location, he came to Leavenworth in March, 1856, and finding that Leavenworth was already provided with a pastor, he proceeded to Atchison. He did not find Atchison very friendly toward preachers when he arrived, and the Pardee Butler incident was fresh in the minds of the people at that time. So the Rev. Mr. Shaw went farther north, to Doniphan and Geary City, which were Free State towns. He soon thereafter went to Detroit for his family, and soon after his return to Geary City, he was appointed as pastor at Atchison and Monrovia. He preached his first sermon in May, 1857, in the office of S. C. Pomeroy, which was located on the corner of Third and Commercial streets, and this was the first sermon from the lips of a preacher of any denomination that was delivered in Atchison. He organized the Methodist Episcopal church in January, 1858, with members from various denominations. The first services were held in a room in the building on the southeast corner of Second and Commercial streets. He later raised $2,000 for a new church building, S. C. Pomeroy, O. F. Short and Robert McBratney each pledging $500, on condition that the new building should be located on the north side of Parallel street, near Fifth street.

Rev. I. F. Collins succeeded Mr. Shaw, and Rev. C. H. Lovejoy, who had been preaching at Lawrence for two years, was sent to Sumner. Upon the arrival of Mr. Collins, he at once began the erection of the new church building on Parallel street, the two lots on which the building was subsequently erected being donated by the Atchison Town Company. The trustees of the church at that time were: John T. Dougherty, Edwin O. Collins, Archie C. Master, David F. Beagle, William A. Butler, Joseph H. Gilbert, Robert Hancock, Cyrus A. Comstock and Calvin W. Phelps. The church building was completed in April, 1859, and was fifty-eight feet long and thirty-two feet wide. It had a seating capacity of 350 people, and cost $3,075. The structure was dedicated May 8, 1859, and Rev. Hugh D. Fisher, the famous Free State Methodist preacher, came up from Leavenworth and assisted in the dedication. During the first year in the new church, two young men came to Atchison, who afterwards became successful and honored citizens of the town, Samuel Gard and D. C. Newcomb. They subsequently formed a partnership and conducted a drygoods store under the name of Gard & Newcomb, which for many years remained one of the leading firms of the city. Mr. Gard died many years ago, and in 1915 Mr. Newcomb still lives. The Methodist church, perhaps, owes more to D. C. Newcomb than any other man who was ever identified with it. His money, business sagacity and consecration have made possible the success of Methodism in Atchison. His motto has always been, “It is safe to do right, and unsafe to do wrong.”

Butcher, Auld & Dean, famous contractors of an early day, who built the first railroad between Atchison and St. Joseph, with their families, united with the Methodist church and became stanch supporters of it. J. C. Reisner, who came to Atchison in 1858, and his wife, Rebecca, were also prominent early members of the church. They built the Tremont House, which for a great many years was the leading hotel, located where the Burlington freight house now stands. Rev. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, pastor of Grace Church, New York City, was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Reisner. The fourth session of the Kansas-Nebraska conference, which met in Omaha in May, 1859, returned Rev. Collins to Atchison, and during that year Mr. and Mrs. John M. Crowell and the McCulley brothers united with the church. In December, 1859, Abraham Lincoln, on his visit to Kansas, spoke in the little church edifice on Parallel street, reference to which has already been made in this history. In the fifth session of the Kansas-Nebraska conference, Rev. Milton Mahen was appointed to Atchison. It was a critical period in the history of the town, and the Rev. Mahen was admonished to be very cautious on the question of slavery, but he had courage and patriotism enough to order the Stars and Stripes hoisted on his church. That year T. B. Davis and his wife, Kathryn, came to Atchison and became useful members. “Grandma” Davis is living in 1916, and on February 21, 1915, celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Owing to the great drought that visited Atchison in 1860, the church did not prosper greatly during the period of Mr. Mahen’s pastorate, but in the succeeding session of the Kansas conference, which met March 21, 1861, Mr. Mahen was returned to Atchison, and it was during this year that a severe storm, which destroyed Sumner, wrecked the church building so that extensive repairs were necessary. In the seventh session of the Kansas conference, March, 1862, the Rev. Mr. James Shaw was returned to Atchison.

W. M. Davies was the superintendent of the Sunday school, having been elected in 1859. In 1863 Rev. W. Marlatt was appointed for Atchison, and March 10, 1864, Mr. Marlatt was succeeded by Dr. W. R. Davis, who had been president of Baker University. Rev. Mr. Davis was retained in March, 1865, by the tenth session of the conference, and was succeeded by Rev. W. K. Marshall. Mr. Marshall was returned to Atchison in 1867, and in March, 1868, Rev. Hugh D. Fisher, who was known during the war as the “fighting chaplain,” was made pastor at Atchison. He found conditions rather discouraging, but went to work to pay off the debts on the church property and repair the building. He created a great deal of interest in the town in religious matters, and the little church building on Parallel street having become too small, two lots on the corner of Fifth and Kansas avenue were purchased in 1870, and the basement of the present building was erected and dedicated by Dr. Fisher, who remained pastor of the church for three years. Dr. Fisher was one of the strong preachers of Kansas in that day, and a strong anti-slavery sympathizer. He built the church at Leavenworth in 1859, which was one of the famous churches of the State, and popularly known as the cradle of prohibition. He was in Lawrence when Quantrell sacked the town, and after an eventful life as pastor, chaplain and missionary, Dr. Fisher died at Baldwin, Kan., October 23, 1905.

Rev. T. J. Leak succeeded Mr. Fisher, and it was during Mr. Leak’s pastorate that the new church was dedicated, October 26, 1873. Three years later the Rev. Mr. Leak was succeeded by Dr. George S. Dearborn. Rev. William Friend succeeded Dr. Dearborn in March, 1876, who was succeeded by E. W. Van Deventer. Dr. Philipp Krohn became pastor in 1882. He was succeeded by Rev. A. H. Tevis. Dr. J. W. Alderman came to Atchison in 1887 and remained until March, 1893, and was succeeded by Dr. E. H. Brumbaugh, who became pastor in March, 1893. Rev. S. V. Leach followed Dr. Brumbaugh in 1897, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. G. W. Grines, and since that time Dr. H. E. Wolf, Rev. W. T. Stott, Dr. I. B. Pulliam and Dr. John W. Scott filled the pulpit of the church down to the year 1914, when Rev. Thomas E. Chandler, who for five years previous had been superintendent of the Ottawa district, became pastor of the church. Dr. Chandler is one of the best informed, most eloquent and beloved pastors the church has ever had. He is not only popular among his own church people, but has made numerous friends outside his fold. In September, 1915, through the efforts of Dr. Chandler, assisted by Dr. C. F. Reisner, pastor of Grace Church, New York City, together with C. D. Walker and others, $42,000 was raised for the erection of a new church. When it is completed it will be one of the finest church edifices in Kansas.

CHRISTIAN.

The Christian church was organized in Pioneer Hall, corner of Kansas avenue and Fourth street, May 20, 1882, with twenty-four charter members. At the end of the first year there were fifty-five members, and in April, 1884, the church was incorporated under the laws of Kansas. The first church edifice was located at the corner of Tenth street and Kansas avenue, and was dedicated May 24, 1885, at a cost of $2,604. The building was much enlarged during the ministry of W. H. White. In 1912, the congregation having outgrown its old building, agitation for a new building was started, and a new site was selected at Seventh and Santa Fe streets, and on August 19, 1914, a beautiful new church was dedicated, which cost $47,000. The church also owns a lot adjoining the church, upon which a parsonage will be erected. The present membership is 1,400, and the Bible school is next to the largest in the State. The Sunday school is thoroughly graded, with eight departments, sixty-five officers and teachers, with H. P. Armstrong, superintendent. The church has thirty deacons and elders.

The records show that as early as 1869 the Christian church had followers in this community, and among the pastors who served in the early days were William C. Rodgers, James E. Gaston and C. C. Band. The early congregation went so far as to purchase a lot at the corner of Seventh and Santa Fe streets, opposite the present new edifice, and a foundation was laid for a building, but the plan had to be abandoned because of lack of funds.

Miss Etta Beason, of Atchison, and T. D. McCleery, of Effingham, are the two surviving charter members.

The names of the pastors who have served the church since 1882 are as follows: M. P. Hayden, W. S. Priest, J. S. Myers, Rev. Cox, W. H. White, Lowell McPherson, Rev. Ingram, M. E. Harlan, E. L. Ely, W. T. Hilton, Z. E. Bates. The present pastor of the church is Rev. Jesse M Bader, one of the most popular, aggressive and conscientious ministers in Atchison.

PRESBYTERIAN.

The First Presbyterian Church was organized October 21, 1858, by a committee from the Presbytery of Highland, Rev. Alexander W. Pitzer, of Leavenworth, chairman. The number of persons entering into the organization on that day was eight. Their names were as follows: William M. Davies, Mary Davies, George B. Irwin, Rebecca Irwin, Annie Love, Andrew Hamilton, Maximilla Ireland and Edward Hair. The following persons have served the church as ministers: Rev. Julius Spencer, from April, 1858, for about eighteen months; Rev. H. H. Dobbins, for seven months, from September, 1863; Rev. T. P. Lemis commenced his labors in April, 1865, and continued with the church until February, 1868; Rev. Edward Cooper had charge of the church from December, 1868, until December, 1875; Rev. J. H. Clark officiated as pastor from March, 1876, until June, 1878; Rev. M. L. Howie began his labors in November, 1878, and continued with the church until November, 1882: he died in Chicago in August, 1913; Rev. D. C. Milner began his work in December, 1882, and continued with the church until September 23, 1887: Rev. M. L. Howie (second term), November 11, 1887, to 1897: Rev. J. D. Countermine, from 1897 to 1899; Rev. B. F. Boyle came February 25, 1900, and continued as pastor until in the fall of 1911. Rev. W. I. Alexander came in November, 1911, and continued his labors until September, 1914. Rev. W. C. Isett was called in September, 1915.

For some months after its organization the church had no regular minister and services were held in a store room, hall and private residences. For a time the church held meetings in Bang’s Hall on Commercial street, and in Price’s Hall, on the corner of Fourth and Main streets. During the pastorate of Rev. Lewis, the building on Fourth street, between Commercial and Main streets, known as “the Presbyterian hall,” was erected, and the congregation commenced using it as a place of worship in 1865. The congregation began the erection of the present church building in 1880. The corner stone was laid on September 15 of that year. About the time of beginning the building, Mrs. S. Donald, Mrs. Judge Berry, Mrs. C. A. Stuart and Mrs. A. J. North canvassed the city and secured large subscriptions to the building fund. The building committee consisted of A. W. Simpson, A. F. Martin and J. M. Covert. The elders in 1880 were as follows: A. B. McQueen, A. J. North, J. M. Covert, J. W. Allen, J. S. Trimble, and Harry Harkness. The deacons in the same year were as follows: B. F. Hudson, J. Edward Lewis, S. D. D. Smith and D. M. Wynkoop. The trustees were as follows: B. F. Hudson, president; A. F. Martin, secretary; David Lukens, treasurer; E. K. Blair, R. B. Drury, A. W. Simpson, S. D. D. Smith. Officers of the Sunday school were as follows: A. F. Martin, superintendent; J. M. Covert, assistant superintendent, and J. E. Lewis, secretary and treasurer. Officers of the Ladies’ Aid Society were as follows: Mrs. A. J. North, president; Mrs. W. C. North, secretary; Mrs. E. K. Blair, treasurer. Young Ladies’ Society: Miss May Seaton, president; Miss Tola Thomas, secretary; Miss Nellie George, treasurer. In the year 1858 the persons active in the church at that time were: Mrs. Thomas Seip, Mr. and Mrs. William Davis, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. McQueen. The first deaconesses were: Mrs. C. J. Parmenter and Miss Anna J. North, ordained in 1888.

BAPTIST.

The First Baptist Church of Atchison was organized in 1858, in Allen’s Hall, on the northwest corner of Second and Commercial streets. At the time of the organization there were but nine members, of whom three are still living and members of the church, though non-resident: Mrs. L. A. Alderson, Mrs. Aaron Stephenson and Mrs. Mary A. Challiss. Dr. W. L. Challiss was soon added to the membership. The lots on the corner of Ninth street and Kansas avenue were donated by Luther C. Challiss, and a house of worship was erected upon it, and this location has been the home of the church ever since.

Rev. L. A. Alderson was the first pastor of the church, and he served faithfully three years without salary. Then followed Rev. Dr. Perkins from New Jersey, and Rev. Frank Remington.

Just at this time the troubles of the war came on and very little could be accomplished. Rev. J. W. Warder became pastor in 1866 and the church grew strong under his ministry. Rev. H. A. Guild successfully served the church for a time in 1868. Rev. J. Sawyer accepted the pastorate, and then Rev. E. Gunn.

Rev. J. W. Luke was pastor directly before Rev. Mulford. He baptized some of our best workers and did excellent and permanent work for the church.

The twenty-fifth anniversary was fittingly celebrated at the home of Mrs. John M. Price, and a silver offering was received toward a new building which came soon after, under the pastorate of Rev. J. B. Mulford, who was called to his reward from here.

Rev. D. D. Proper followed and Rev. E. P. Brand and Rev. G. W. Rogers, all of whom served the church under great difficulties. There was a heavy debt left upon the new building, which was drawing a high rate of interest, and the constant calls for money which was paid with apparently no returns, discouraged the membership. Still, the pastors resolutely worked at the great task. Rev. G. W. Rogers undertook to raise $5,000 of the mortgage, and B. P. Waggener, who had always been a generous contributor, gave $2,000, and made a liberal loan besides. Not long after Rev. Rogers was called to another field, and again the church had a pastorless period, but greatly enjoyed the ministrations of the late Dr. Murphy. Rev. J. R. Comer was called to the pastorate June 1, 1895, and faithfully served the church twelve years. Much of the money pledged during Dr. Rogers’ pastorate was paid in or collected while Rev. J. R. Comer was pastor. Then the remaining $1,500 mortgage and all other debts were bravely taken up and paid, and the church celebrated its victory in burning the mortgage and a general rejoicing, and also a firm determination never to go deeply in debt again.

During the present pastorate of more than eight years the church has strictly followed this rule, but this has not prevented some large purchases. In 1909 the church purchased and placed a new pipe organ at a cost of $4,500, and two years later purchased the property adjoining the church on the west for the accommodation of the growing Sunday school. This was done at a cost of $5,500 for property and furniture, and the money was raised at a Sunday morning service. It is in the minds of many of the members of the church that in the near future there must be a new church building, and to that end over $6,000 has been accumulated and is being held for the time when the membership of the church shall be ready to erect a structure that shall be worthy of the city and an honor to God.

The work of the church has grown and developed and every department has accepted a larger share in work, local and world-wide. Last year the church contributed over $1,200 for missionary and benevolent work, besides some gifts which did not pass through the church treasury.

The church stands for a strong and helpful and constructive religious work, and a faithful adherence to the teachings of the Bible, and a loyalty to the Lordship of Christ. The present pastor is Rev. A. J. Haggett, who has served his congregation long and well.

SALEM CHURCH.

The Evangelical Association located a mission in Atchison in 1882, with Rev. C. Brandt as the first missionary. A number of German families were gathered and signified their willingness to effect a church organization. Accordingly, a hall was rented at 614 Commercial street and services held. In 1884 the organization numbered forty-seven members, and the Kansas conference of the Evangelical Association at its annual session in 1884 decided to build a church at this time. Rev. Daniel R. Zellner was appointed pastor, and Rev. John Wuerth, presiding elder of the Holton district. During the pastorate of Rev. D. R. Zellner in 1884 the church was built at 522 Atchison street, and dedicated by Rev. John Wuerth, presiding elder, as the Salem church of the Evangelical Association, and service has continued uninterruptedly ever since. Following are the ministers who served consecutively as pastors: Rev. C. Brandt, D. R. Zellner, C. Brant, second pastorate; C. F. Erffmeyer, Samuel Mueller, Jacob Schmidle, John Wuerth, C. F. Iwig, Peter Scheumann, D. R. Zellner, third pastorate; Charles Linge, F. F. Erffmeyer, D. R. Zellner, fourth pastorate. L. M. Nanninga, J. M. Fricker, Samuel Breithaupt, present pastor (1916).

The following served as presiding elders during the past thirty-four years: John Wuerth, Henry Mattill, J. F. Schreiber, Albert Brunner, C. F. Erffmeyer, W. F. Wothensen and C. F. Iwig. The Evangelical Association was organized as a denomination in 1800, with Jacob Allbright as its founder.

Originally, the language used was German, but in the past half century the German language was rapidly superseded by the English language. At this time there are very few congregations in the denomination that worship in the German language exclusively. The services in the Evangelical church in this city for the past few years are conducted in English.

This society maintains a well organized Sunday school, with weekly sessions every Sunday at 10 o’clock a. m. G. W. Bradley is superintendent; a Young People’s Alliance, E. B. Breithaupt, president, and a Woman’s Missionary Society, Mrs. Samuel Breithaupt, president. This organization maintains free pews and extends an invitation to strangers when in the city to worship with them.

GERMAN EVANGELICAL ZION CHURCH.

In the summer of 1893 a number of men, among them Rev. Nestel, of St. Joseph, Mo., who had received a special invitation, met at the home of August Manglesdorf, Sr., and organized a German Evangelical congregation. It was decided to have services in Odd Fellows hall. Rev. Nestel came over from St. Joe from time to time and conducted the services. In January, 1894, Rev. C. Stork, of Concordia, Mo., took charge of the congregation as their first own pastor. In 1894 two lots of land, at the northwest corner of Ninth and Santa Fe streets, were bought, upon which the church was built. In 1895 the congregation became a member of the German Evangelical Synod of North America. In the same year the parsonage was erected, and in 1908 a school building was added to the church. Besides Rev. Stork, the following ministers served the congregation: H. Limper, 1897 to 1901; C. Bechtold, 1901 to 1905; P. Stoerker, from 1905 to 1909, and Emil Vogt, the present pastor. Besides the annual donations for their own church, the members have spent $2,000 for home and foreign missions. The church has a Sunday school, a teachers’ training course, a choir, a Young People’s Society, and a Ladies’ Aid Society.

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST.

Mrs. Henrietta E. Graybill, of Milwaukee, might properly be called the founder of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Atchison. She was the original first reader when she came to Atchison from Kansas City in 1894. In March, 1895, she began a class in instruction at the Byram Hotel. This was the beginning of the local church. On September 7, 1895, the followers met in temporary quarters in the Ingalls’ building, at Seventh and Commercial streets, seven being present. The church was organized April 9, 1895, with seven charter members. The first testimonial meeting was held January 3, 1896, and January 15, 1896, the first Sunday school was organized, with seven children in attendance. Before the end of 1896 the church was moved to more commodious quarters, at the southeast corner of Fourth and Commercial streets. These quarters were soon outgrown, and in March, 1897, the German Methodist church at Ninth and Santa Fe streets was purchased and the first services held there were on July 4, 1897. This church was dedicated in April, 1900, by Mrs. G. W. Pennell, who had become first reader, and from the start had been a constant and enthusiastic worker. Ten years later, March 28, 1910, lots at the northwest corner of Fourth and Santa Fe streets were purchased, as a site for the permanent church. Land was secured and the foundation started September 11, 1911; corner stone was laid July 7, 1912, and first services held in the Sunday school room May 25, 1913. First services were held in the auditorium September 7, 1913, and the church dedicated October 19, 1913. Among the permanent members of the church are Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Pennell, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Orr, L. H. Munson, Miss N. S. Donald and Miss Emma Maage, the first reader, and D. W. Rowe.

The present church edifice was erected largely through the liberality of Mr. Pennell, at a cost of $50,000, and is pronounced an architectural gem.

ST. PATRICK’S, MT. PLEASANT.

St. Patrick’s congregation, near Mt. Pleasant, was founded in the early fall of 1857, by the Rev. Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B. He came from Doniphan, Kan., over the prairies and through dense timber on foot, not having the means to buy a horse or secure any kind of a conveyance, in the summer of 1857. The Benedictine Fathers had been sent west by an American founder, Rt. Rev. Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., to establish a priory in the eastern part of Kansas. They settled in the hills of Doniphan, and from this county they founded and attended missions in Atchison, Brown, Nemaha and Jefferson counties. Among the first parishes established by these priests was one near Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant at that time was quite a commercial center, owing largely to the overland freighting outfits that passed through there on their way to Denver and the Pacific coast. Patrick Durkin, who is a resident of Walnut township in 1916, and the late John Delaney were teamsters on this route, and had many interesting experiences and struggles with Indians and Jayhawkers. Following the first visit of Father Augustine, after he had told the few Catholic settlers how he had traveled on foot from Doniphan, a small congregation collected enough money to pay for a horse, saddle and bridle, and presented it to him.

Father Augustine attended to the spiritual demands of the early Catholic settlers in the Mt. Pleasant district about once a month during the period of his services there. There was no church edifice during that period, and divine services were held in the humble log cabins of the Catholic settlers, usually at the homes of John Knowles, Owen Grady, Ned Cotter, Bernard Fee and James McArdle. Mary Honorah Clare was the first child baptized at St. Patrick’s parish, September 28, 1857. The first marriage was that of James Barry to Catherine Hennesy, May 9, 1857, at the home of Edward Cotter. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. Augustine Wirth. In the fall of 1857 the first church was built, which was a small affair, constructed out of native timber. It was poorly constructed and was of short duration, as it was blown down by a strong wind one cold winter day, and wrecked beyond repair. Following the destruction of the first church, the members concluded to build a more substantial edifice of stone, and in the spring of 1866 the walls were built. The stone work was done by the late Nicholas Greiner, a German stone mason, who came to Sumner in the late fifties, and subsequently died, one of the wealthiest farmers of Walnut township. The church was dedicated December 8, 1866.

In addition to the church proper, the Catholic settlers of Walnut township, near Mt. Pleasant, have also erected a commodious parish house for their priest, and a hall for public meetings.

The following is a list of the priests in charge of St. Patrick’s Church since it was established:

Irregular pastors.—Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., September, 1857, to November, 1859; died, December 20, 1901. Rev. Edmund Langenfelder, O. S. B., November, 1857, to December, 1860; died, April 18, 1885. Rev. Philip Vogt, O. S. B., February, 1860, to January, 1861; date of death not known. Rev. Emanuel Hartig, O. S. B., December, 1860, to June, 1861; died, September 1, 1910. Rev. Thomas Bartel, O. S. B., April, 1862, to August, 1867; died, November 30, 1885.

Regular pastors.—Rev. Timothy Luber, O. S. B., January, 1864, to March, 1871. Rev. Placidus McKeever, O. S. B., March, 1871, to August, 1873; died, September 22, 1896. Rev. Maurice Lynch, O. S. B., August, 1873, to August, 1875; died, December 13, 1887. Rev. Eugene Bode, O. S. B., August, 1875, to April, 1880. Rev. Raymond Danial, O. S. B., April, 1880, to September, 1880; died, September 25, 1910. Rev. Peter Kassens, O. S. B., September, 1880, to April, 1881. Rev. Adolph Wesseling, O. S. B., April, 1881, to April, 1883; died, September 24, 1891. Rev. Urban Tracy, O. S. B., April, 1883, to April, 1885; died, May 13, 1915. Rev. Timothy Luber, O. S. B., April, 1885, to April, 1890; died, March 29, 1901. Rev. Augustine Baker, O. S. B., April, 1890, to December, 1893; died, June 23, 1909. Rev. Thomas Burk. O. S. B., December, 1893, to December, 1897. Rev. Columban Meaney, O. S. B., December, 1897, to December, 1910; died, January 8, 1911. Rev. Ignatius Stein, O. S. B., January, 1911, to September, 1912. Rev. Lawrence Theis. O. S. B., September, 1912, to September, 1913. Rev. Robert Salmon, O. S. B., September, 1913, to September, 1914. Rev Lawrence Theis, O. S. B., September, 1914; still in charge (1916).

TRINITY CHURCH, EPISCOPAL.

This church was organized November 3, 1857, as St. Mary Magdalene’s Church, by Rev. Lewis R. Staudenmayer, John H. Stringfellow, Joseph P. Carr, G. W. Bowman, William O. Gould, John M. Maury, James W. Stringfellow and Daniel Adams. The Rev. L. R. Staudenmayer, a German, of middle age, was the first pastor, and the first property owned by the parish was at the northeast corner of Kansas avenue and Ninth street, where a small rectory was built in 1859. The first vestry was as follows: Richard C. Mackall, A. Hanson Weightman, James L. McClure, Philipp Link, John M. Maury and Joseph P. Carr, and in October, 1859, a committee from the vestry was authorized to procure estimates for building a church on its property upon Kansas avenue at a cost of $1,500. The foundation for this edifice was laid and some money expended, but the resignation of Mr. Staudenmayer in January, 1860, and his removal from the city, brought to a standstill the construction of the edifice. The court house and Price’s Hall were used as places of worship for ten years. The Rev. Faber Byllsby succeeded Mr. Staudenmayer, and in 1863 the Rev. John E. Ryan succeeded Mr. Byllsby. After Mr. Ryan’s resignation, in September, 1864, Bishop Thomas H. Vail was made rector of the church, and notwithstanding the manifold duties which pressed upon him as bishop of the diocese, he gave much of his time to his work here, with the assistance of his son-in-law, Rev. John Bakewell, who proved to be a very successful rector. It was during his rectorship that agitation for a new church building was started, and due to the efforts of Mr. Bakewell, Col. William Osborne, Richard A. Park, Judge Otis and E. S. Wills, the present church edifice at the corner of Utah avenue and Fifth street was erected, at a cost of $20,000. It is built of stone, in the early English style of Gothic architecture, slate roof and interior finished in black walnut and pine, and stands today one of the ornaments of Atchison. In 1871 Mr. Bakewell resigned and was succeeded by Rev. F. Nelson Meade in January, 1872, and continued in charge until April, 1874, when he was succeeded by the Rev Thomas G. Garver, who resigned in September, 1875. Rev. Frank O. Osborne became rector in February, 1876, and was succeeded by Rev. Abiel Leonard. Rev. M. Leonard found a congregation of 150 communicants, who in May, 1882, erected a two-story brick rectory on T street for him. It was during the Rev. Mr. Leonard’s rectorship that St. Andrew’s Mission, on west Commercial street, was built. Mr. Leonard was succeeded by the Rev. Francis K. Brooke, who in turn was succeeded by the Rev. John Henry Hopkins, who built a parish house adjoining the church, which was opened for use in 1905. Upon the resignation of Mr. Hopkins, Rev. John E. Sulger became rector, but he remained only a short time, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Henry Molineux. Rev. William R. Cross succeeded Mr. Molineux, and then came the Rev. Francis S. White, who remained in the parish until 1911, and was succeeded by the Rev. Otis E. Gray.

The present vestry of the church is composed as follows: E. A. Mize, senior warden; Dr. W. G. Beitzel, junior warden and clerk, and W. W. Hetherington, T. L. Lawrence, Clyde Hastings, J. W. Barlow, W. J. Brownson, Henry Diegel and Sheffield Ingalls.

ST. MARK’S ENGLISH LUTHERAN.

The history of English Lutheranism in Atchison is interesting. The work of establishing St. Mark’s was fraught with hardship and discouragement. Several of the early efforts failed. But the battle was renewed and success at last achieved. Early in 1867 J. H. Talbott, through the Lutheran Observer, called attention to Atchison as a point for a Lutheran mission. By correspondence he secured the interest of Rev. Morris Officer, then secretary of the general synod’s home mission board. At the convention of the general synod at Harrisburg, Pa., in 1868, the Rev. Officer persuaded the Rev. M. G. Boyer, then pastor at Marklesburg, Pa., to become a missionary to Atchison. Rev. Boyer and his young wife arrived here June 30, that year. Price’s Hall, South Fourth street, between Main and Commercial, was rented and fitted up as a meeting place. Services were begun and a Sunday school organized. On September 20, 1868, the congregation was organized with twenty-five members. The first church council consisted of C. Weber and H. Gehrett, elders; J. H. Talbott, J. Beamer, H. Snyder and F. Brendt, deacons.

In the spring of 1869 the board of church extension granted the congregation a loan of $500, which amount was invested in the purchase of an excellent lot on Kansas avenue. There were bright hopes of having a chapel soon, but these hopes were scattered when an aged minister advised delay on account of the financial stringency of the times, and the numerical weakness of the church. Among the members at this time was the Rev. A. W. Wagnalls, afterward one of the founders of the publishing house of Funk & Wagnalls, New York City. While here he was in the real estate business. At his suggestion the congregation purchased a fifteen acre tract adjoining the city of Atchison on the northwest, which section was platted and offered for sale with the hope of making enough profit to erect a church building. “In this the Lutherans were disappointed,” says the historian, “for they sold only enough lots to pay for the land.”

After that venture the congregation used the Congregational church building. About that time many English Lutherans left the city. Rev. Boyer resigned at the end of the year 1869, and for ten years the church was without a pastor. The Rev. Wagnalls supplied the pulpit now and then until his removal in 1876, but finally the congregation disbanded. The lots belonging to the church were sold for taxes, but were redeemed at the eleventh hour through Mr. Talbott’s efforts, and deeded to the board of church extension.

In 1880 the Rev. W. I. Cutter, a returned missionary to India, with the assistance of Rev. David Earhart and his daughter, Mrs. H. E. Monroe, gathered the English Lutherans together again. Mrs. Monroe was then conducting a private school known as the “Atchison Institute,” and she offered her school room as a place of worship. On the eighth of August the congregation was reorganized and the following officers elected: Elders, J. H. Berlin, W. H. Kuhns and N. D. Kistler; deacons, J. L. Heisey, E. D. Kistler, and John Fusselman; trustees, J. H. Talbott, W. H. Smith and S. J. Clark. Rev. Cutter served as pastor two years. During part of this time aid was received from the Home Mission Board. In 1882 this aid was withdrawn and Rev. Cutter resigned.

Not until 1884 did the second organization flourish. In November of that year the Rev. George S. Diven was commissioned to come to Atchison and revive the mission. New interest was taken and the rejuvenated congregation held its first service in the home of Henry Snell at 921 South Seventh street. The Odd Fellows’ hall was then secured as a place of worship and a Sunday school was organized. Under the leadership of Pastor Diven this school is said to have quickly become the largest in the city. That year the pastor reported sixty members.

Atchison’s boom season occurred during Rev. Diven’s pastorate, and everything was rushed along at a tremendous pace. The movement for a Lutheran college for Atchison started at this time. The location of Midland College here was largely due to the efforts of Rev. Diven and his congregation, supported by the public spirited citizens of the city. In February, 1885, the church was incorporated as St. Mark’s English Lutheran Church. Rev. Diven resigned in 1887 and was succeeded by the Rev. W. F. Rentz, in April, 1888. Rev. Rentz set to work at once to secure a lot and erect a church building. The present location, corner of Sixth and Park streets, was purchased for $5,000. The southern end of the lot with the dwelling on it (now the Keith home), was sold to the pastor for $1,750. The chapel (now the Sunday school room) was erected in 1888, the cornerstone being laid August 19, and the church dedicated December 16. The building and equipment cost $4,010. Pastor Rentz served nine years, resigning in May, 1897.

The Rev. L. S. Keyser, now professor of dogmatics in Hamma Divinity School, Wittenberg College, became pastor November 7, 1897, and served most acceptably until April 7, 1903. During his pastorate the church became self-supporting, after receiving aid for fifteen years from the Home Mission Board. The Rev. R. W. Hufford, D. D., served as pastor from January 9, 1904, to November 27, 1904. After a vacancy of nine months the Rev. A. E. Renn became pastor August 18, 1905.

The outstanding achievement of Rev. Renn’s pastorate was the erection of the present church building. The movement began October 21, 1907. Plans were adopted March 17, 1908, and the building committee ordered to proceed. The cornerstone was laid during the summer following. The building was erected under the supervision of A. B. Zimmerman, contractor, and cost, including organ and furnishings, about $14,000, a marvel of church financing. The opening service was held May 23, 1909, and marked an epoch in Kansas Lutheranism. During this pastorate the congregation adopted the historic Lutheran vestments for pastor and choir, and advanced in churchly worship. Rev. Renn resigned September 1, 1911.

The Rev. Howard C. Garvic was installed pastor the first Sunday in March, 1912. No pastor of St. Marks surpassed him in zeal and energy for the upbuilding of the Lord’s kingdom. Day and night he labored in personal appeal and in teaching classes of adults and children. In a little more than two years 175 names were added to the church roll, constituting the largest growth of any pastorate. The death of the pastor in the prime of manhood in March, 1915, produced a profound impression upon St. Mark’s and the city of Atchison. The Rev. Robert L. Patterson. D. D., became pastor October 17, 1915.

ST. BENEDICT’S ABBEY.

St. Benedict’s Abbey, church and college, are conducted by the Benedictine Fathers. The first Benedictine father that came to Kansas was Henry Lemke, O. S. B., who arrived in Doniphan in 1855, where he laid the foundation of a monastery. He was shortly followed to Kansas by a number of brother workers, who were sent here by Father Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., who founded the monastery of St. Vincent’s, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They immediately opened a Latin school with a few pupils, but Very Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., soon discovered that Atchison would surpass Doniphan, and on this account the Catholic brothers transferred their home to Atchison in about 1859. The Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., came to Atchison from Doniphan once a month to hold religious services, which were conducted in the home of Charles Burnes, located on the southwest corner of Second and L streets. The following year Father Augustine built a frame parish church in which services were held for the first time on Christmas day. In this rude structure the faithful worshipped until about 1865, when the parish, having increased to such number, it became necessary to build a larger church. Under the aggressive leadership of Father Augustine, the parishioners concluded to invest in this structure $25,000. Francis George Himpler, now living in New York, and for many years a partner of the late J. P. Brown, was employed as architect. The work was pushed forward and instead of the proposed church, a magnificent Basilica was conceived, and the construction of it was carried forward with great earnestness. The foundation was completed in 1866, and the cornerstone was laid in October. The Rev. John Hennessy, O. S. B., who later was archbishop of Dubuque, and one of the most eloquent orators of the church, delivered the dedication sermon. To obtain brick for the church walls, Father Augustine bought expensive machinery, and, under the supervision of the late Peter Bless, started a brickyard in East Atchison, but the undertaking proved a failure, as the bricks were not serviceable for the church. Instead of using them in the construction of the church they were used to build several cottages and store buildings in the immediate neighborhood and, later on, when suitable bricks were obtained, the work on the church was continued, and by the summer of 1868 the walls were finished to the window sills.

Father Augustine resigned June 18, 1868, and went to Minnesota, and subsequently died while pastor at Melrose in that State, December 19, 1901, at the age of seventy-three years. He was succeeded by the Very Rev. Louis Mary Fink, O. S. B., July, 1868, and it was during his pastorate that the church was solemnly dedicated Trinity Sunday, 1869, but it was not completed at that time, and, in fact was not completed for many years thereafter. The church is built in Roman style and is 152 feet long and fifty-six feet wide. Father Louis was succeeded by the Very Rev. Giles Christoph, O. S. B., who was appointed prior in July, 1871. In January, 1875, Very Rev. Ouswald Moosemueller, O. S. B., became prior. Under his direction the church flourished and he is particularly remembered for his exertions in founding and building up a good library for the church and school. The members of the church had grown sufficiently large, so that the priory was promoted to an abbey April 7, 1877, and on September 29 of that year Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., was elected abbot, and still retains his place (1916), loved by all. Rev. Innocent Wolf’s election as abbot was celebrated with appropriate ceremonies, and the Very Rev. Boniface Verheyen, O. S. B., was appointed pastor, and at that time the status of the house was as follows: Rt. Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., abbot; Very Rev. Boniface Verheyen, O. S. B., prior; Very Rev. Pirmin Kaumly, O. S. B., prior of St. Benedict’s; Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., Emanuel Horlig, O. S. B., Rev. Timothy Luber, O. S. B., Rev. Peter Kassens, O. S. B., Rev. Eugene Bode, O. S. B., Rev. Adolph Wesseling, O. S. B., Rev. Ferdinand Wolf, O S. B., Rev. Winfried Schmidt, O. S. B., Rev. John Steoder, O. S. B.; and Rev. Matthew Bradley, O. S. B. Besides these there were four priests from St. Vincent’s, Pa., who acted as assistants, whose names were Rev. Ambrose Huebner, O. S. B., Rev. Casimir Elsesser, O. S. B., Rev. Theodore Schmitt, O. S. B., and Rev. Anslem Soehuler, O. S. B. There were seven clerics, ten lay brothers, five candidates and ten scholastics. Rev. Charles Stoekle, O. S. B., succeeded Father Adolph as pastor of St. Benedict’s Church in 1890, and remained pastor until 1898, when he was succeeded by Rev. Longinus New, O. S. B., who was one of the most beloved and active pastors of the church. He was a priest burning with zeal and he delighted in preaching. He was a powerful speaker, and his sermons were always well prepared and written out. He had a strong voice; used plain and simple language, and spoke with such zeal and sincerity that he left a lasting impression on all of his hearers. His health failed him, however, and he was compelled to seek a southern climate, and died in a hospital at Birmingham, Ala., March 2, 1899, aged fifty-three years, and in the twenty-eighth year of his priesthood. He was succeeded by Rev. Girard Heinz, O. S. B., who was appointed to take his place January 1, 1899, and Father Girard remains the pastor of the church in 1916.

FIRST GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.

This church was organized in 1866 by Rev. C. F. Liebe, home missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran synod of Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, and other states. The first regular minister was Rev. Mr. Menge, who was installed in 1867. Rev. G. Landgraf succeeded Mr. Menge in December and was installed the first day of that month. The church building at the corner of Tenth and Commercial streets was dedicated at the same time. In 1869 a parsonage, adjoining the church, was erected, and the following year C. Janzow, of Weston, Mo., succeeded Mr. Landgraf, who in turn was followed by Rev. C. Hartman, who died in the fall of 1872, and after which the call was extended to Rev. W. Zschoche, of Miami county, Kansas. Under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Zschoche the congregation increased to a membership of 130, and a day school was conducted in connection with the church by Mr. Zschoche until 1881.

Rev. C. Vedder succeeded Rev. Zschoche, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. Theodore Bundenthal, whose untimely death in the latter part of 1915 deprived the church and its congregation of one of the best ministers it ever had. Mr. Bundenthal was succeeded by Rev. Frederic Niedner, who is in charge of the church in 1916. The present church building at the corner of Eighth and Laramie streets was built in 1889. There are 500 communicants and the church is affiliated with the Missouri synod.

In addition to the churches already enumerated, there are several negro churches, of which the Ebenezer Baptist Church, organized in 1867, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in the summer of 1868, are the most prominent. There are also several other denominations represented in Atchison, including the Latter Day Saints, and the Holy Rollers.

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