Anderson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter XV 1877
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Book Title: THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876.

CHAPTER XV.

  Accidents and Misfortunes—Shooting of Tipsword—Drowning of Lester
Dart—Christian Feuerborn Killed by Indians—Josiah Kellerman, his Wife and two
Children Burned to Death in a Prairie Fire—James A. Town and Son Drowned in
Pottowatomie Creek—Levi L. Hayden Frozen to Death, etc.

  A SAD affair occurred on the North Pottowatomie, north of Garnett, on the 10th
day of May, 1858. Two neighbors, William Lambert and W. A. Tipsword, were
hunting turkeys in the timber on the creek in the early morning, neither knowing
that the other was near him, each calling turkeys and crawling through the
brush, expecting to see his game, when in an instant Lambert, through the
underbrush, discovered a dark object near the creek bank, and. supposing it to
be a turkey, at once drew up his gun and fired. He heard the noise of the
object, and supposed it to be the fall of the turkey. He reloaded his rifle and
proceeded to the spot for his game, but the lifeless form of Tipsword, lying on
his face, met his bewildered view. The ball had penetrated his body in a vital
part, causing instant death. They were both quiet, hard-working men, near
neighbors and good friends. The affair cast a gloom of melancholy upon Lambert,
from which he never recovered. He left Anderson county in a few years
thereafter, for Colorado, but has since returned to Kansas, and now resides in
Atchison county. He originally settled on the farm now owned by Henry Gardner.

  In August, 1858, a man by the name of-Lester Dart, living on the north side of
Pottowatomie, while going to Greeley to attend the election on the Lecompton
constitution, as submitted under the English bill, attempted to cross the
Pottowatomie, and was drowned. Dart left a wife and one child to mourn his sad
and premature demise.

  In 1860 a man by the name of George Enoch, living on the north branch of Sugar
creek, came to Garnett in company with his wife and child. They came in a wagon,
drawn by a pair of oxen. In the evening, when he was on his way home, near the
Simons crossing of the Pottowatomie, the oxen became ungovernable, run over a
bank, and threw him out of the wagon, breaking his neck, producing instant
death. His wife and child escaped with but little injury.

Christian Feuerborn, one of the early settlers of the North Pottowatomie, as
hereinbefore mentioned, left the Territory in 1858. He took his wife and
children back to Illinois and left them, while he went to Nevada Territory in
search of a golden fortune, expecting, when he had accumulated the expected
fortune, to return with his family to Kansas and make his future home on the
valuable tract of land that he left on the Pottowatomie, there to enjoy the
accumulations of his labors, and enjoy the society and pleasures of his
interesting family; but in the spring of 1862, after he had secured a large
amount of property and money in his Eldorado abode, a party of Indians made a
raid on his house and he was massacred by them in a most cruel and barbarous
manner. His family was never able to recover any of his Nevada property. His
widow afterwards married Julius Fisher, an industrious German, and returned with
her husband and children to Kansas, and now resides on the same tract of land
selected by her former husband in 1856.

  In 1857 a man by the name of Josiah Kellerman settled on Pottowatomie creek,
in the western portion of the county. He was a farmer by occupation, and an
industrious man. He resided there until the fall of 1862, and had in the
meantime improved a good farm. His family at that time consisted of himself, a
wife and five children. In October he started to move with his family and
effects to Douglas county, Kansas. He loaded his household goods into a
two-horse wagon, in which his wife and two youngest children were to ride, while
Kellerman and the three older children were to drive the loose stock. The
weather was dry, and the wind was blowing a furious gale. They started about 8
o'clock in the morning, and traveled about six miles, when they discovered a
prairie fire coming from the southwest. When first discovered it was some
distance away, and several streams intervened between them and the fire. The
wind blew with such violence that it drove the fire across the streams that were
in its course, without checking its progress the least. When Kellerman
discovered that the fire was going to overtake them, he and the children at once
drove the stock on to a strip of plowed ground near by, and called to his wife
to drive the wagon on. She turned off the road to drive on the plowed
ground, but had not gone but a few rods before the wagon wheels got fast in some
old ruts, and the team stopped. Kellerman, observing the condition
of the wagon and team, and the rapid approach of the fire "at once started to
the relief of his wife and children, but before he could reach them the fire
had overtaken them and the wagon and contents were enveloped in flames. He made
every effort possible to save his wife and children, but he could not relieve
them from the devouring element. His wife, two children and himself all perished
in the flames. The bodies of the children were entirely burnt up. The body of
Mrs. Kellerman was so burned that but a small portion of the charred and
blackened remains was ever found. Kellerman was so badly burned that he died
about two hours afterwards. The horses were also burned to death. The three
older children had got on the plowed ground just as the fire overtook the wagon.
     They were compelled to stand there and see father, mother and brothers
perish, without being able to render them any assistance. This was one of the
saddest and most heart-rending affairs that has ever occurred in the county.

  A very sad accident occurred in April, 1871. R. T. Stokes was constructing a
wind mill in Garnett, and in the rear of the building a large derrick had been
set up, for the purpose of hoisting heavy timbers on the top of the building.
One evening after the workmen had gone home, and it had become quite dark, a
number of the boys of the town were climbing up the ropes on the derrick. When
some four or five of the boys were on the ropes, the fastening at the top of the
derrick gave way, and let it fall. The main timber of the derrick fell on a boy
by the name of Peter Tefft, a lad about fifteen years of age. The fall of timber
crushed his skull, from which he died in a few hours. He was the youngest child
of John Tefft, an old and respected citizen.

  On the 27th day of March, 1871, a family by the name of Town, living east of
Garnett, consisting of James A. Town, his wife and an adopted son, about ten
years of age, left their home about noon to go to Middle creek, in Franklin
county. They were traveling in a two-horse wagon. When they came to the
Pottowatomie, the stream had taken a rise, and being unacquainted with it they
did not suppose that it was unsafe to attempt to cross. They drove in, but
before they got far into the water the wagon began to float, and the wagon body
became detached and floated down stream. Mr. Town and son were thrown into the
water, and soon disappeared from view. The wife remained in the wagon body, and
was rescued, while Mr. Town and her adopted son were drowned.

  The next day after Mr. Town and his son were drowned a man, whose name is
unknown, who had been working on the railroad, while in a state of intoxication
went down along the railroad, and fell into Lake Joy and was drowned. He had
been drowned several days before his body was discovered.

  In the summer of 1872 a boy by the name of Hiram Dart, about eighteen years of
age, was with other boys in the Pottowatomie, above the Farrah mill dam,
bathing. He became strangled, and drowned before help could reach him.

  John Hall, an old and respected citizen, living on the Osage, in the southeast
portion of the county, in 1874 was digging a well on his farm; was down in the
well, and while a tub was being hoisted from the well a pick fell from the tub,
striking him on the head, killing him instantly.

  Coleman Payne, living near the head of the South Pottowatomie, in Rich
township, in 1874 was in a coal bank, digging coal, when the bank slid in,
burying him beneath the earth, killing him.

  Henry Feuerborn, an old citizen of Putnam township, and one of the early
settlers of the county, while hauling hay, in the fall of 1875, and driving over
a piece of stony ground, the wagon struck a stone, upsetting it, precipitating
him among the stones with such violence that he was seriously injured, from the
effects of which he died in a few days.

  Levi L. Hayden, one of the early settlers of Reeder township, living on the
western border of the county, in the autumn of 1860, with several other persons,
left his home to go west on a buffalo and wolf hunt. They went to the Arkansas
river, near where the town of Wichita is now situated, and there arranged their
camp for the winter. In the latter part of November he went out from camp to set
bait for wolves. It was a snowy, stormy day, and he soon became bewildered and
wandered around over the prairies for a long time. Not returning to the camp,
his party became alarmed as to his safety, and went in search of him. He was
found on the third day afterwards, sitting on a log, with his feet frozen to the
ice. His comrades took him to camp, but he was so badly frozen that his feet and
hands sloughed off, and, after suffering the most terrible pain, he died.

  In November, 1871, A. J. Walker, living on the head of Deer creek, in Rich
township, bought an Indian cow and calf. He took them home in the morning. After
dark that evening he went to the stable to feed and take care of his stock. He
remained absent for some time, until his wife became alarmed, when she went in
search of him. She found him lying in the yard, dead. He had been hooked by the
cow on the inside of the thigh, severing the femoral artery, producing instant
death.

  In the spring of 1876 a boy 12 or 13 years of age, by the name of Follice,
living on the Osage, in the southeast corner of the county, fell from a wagon
load of corn. The force of the fall crushed his skull, causing death in a few
moments.

  Several families by the name of Lankard settled on Pottowatomie creek, in the
west part of the county, in the spring of 1857. Daniel Lankard with his family
still resides there. In September, 1864, Mrs. Lankard, with a span of young
horses, drove to a well some distance from the house for a barrel of water,
taking three of the children with her. The neck yoke became detached, the pole
dropped to the ground, and the horses became frightened. Mrs. Lankard was thrown
forward, and kicked by the horses, and otherwise bruised, from the effects of
which she died.



Additional Comments:
THE HISTORY OF ANDERSON COUNTY,
FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1876.
BY
W. A. JOHNSON,
CHAIRMAN OF HISTORICAL COMMITTEE.

PUBLISHED BY KAUFFMAN & ILER, GARNETT PLAINDEALER,
1877.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by
KAUFFMAN & ILER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress,Washington, D. C.


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