Johnson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter XII 1915
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Book Title: History Of Johnson County Kansas

CHAPTER XII.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SHAWNEE INDIANS.

  J. L. Morgan, of De Soto, was born in Hardin county, Ky., in 1833, and located
on the Kar river, three miles west of DeSoto, in 1858. The town of De Soto is
located on land then owned by John Possum, a Shawnee Indian. Mr. Possum's cabin
is still standing in the barnyard of Mr. Anderson, who owns the farm now. Once,
after the Shawnees had drawn their Government money, some of them decided to
celebrate with a little firewater, and these met at Possum's cabin, and the
usual drunk followed. When Mr. Morgan stopped at the place, the little cabin was
full of drunken Indians, lying on the floor, much like hogs in their pen. One of
them, Aaron Blackfish, was not so full, however, and he darted out at another
door. There were three doors in the cabin. After Mr. Morgan left, Blackfish came
back and in the drunken row that followed, killed Tom Big Knife, crippled
another Indian by striking him with a gun, and then shot himself with the same gun.

OTHER TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

Shawnee-Quantrill Visits Shawnee-Lenexa-Aubry-Stilwell-Stanley-Merriam -
Bonita-Morse-Ocheltree - Monticello-Wilder Kenneth -
Choteau-Switzer-Lackman-Craig - Zarah-Holliday -Oxford.

SHAWNEE.

  The lovers of Kansas history will always find in the pretty little town of
Shawnee, situated one mile west of Merriam, Kan., something of interest. It is a
beautiful place, and a few business houses are built around the square in which
are growing shade trees that invite you to a welcome rest. The history of
Johnson county could not be written without Shawnee being prominently mentioned.
It was at one time the county seat of Johnson county, and at two different
times, 1862 and 1864, the town was sacked by guerillas under Quantrill. James
Campbell, of Merriam, lived there at the time and witnessed the destruction of
the town. Thirteen houses were burned each time beside the loss by pillage, and
destruction of lives. A street car line from Merriam, Kan., running through a
beautiful grove, takes you to this quiet retreat so full of romance and history
and as one wanders about the town, house after house built back in the '50's and
'60's can be discovered. Many of the modern houses in the vicinity contain a
part at least of some of the stone or brick residences of the earlier days.

Shawnee contained a larger population before the war than at the present time.
It is not now an incorporated city, and has no police force The residents of the
town being so law-abiding and peaceful none is needed. What a contrast to the
time when eight saloons sold liquor here to Indians and whites alike. And this
little town without an organization, too, has one of the strongest and best
directed banks in the county, the Shawnee Savings Bank, incorporated in 1908
with a capital stock of $10,000 and a $5,000 surplus and deposits of $90,000,
president, R. O. Larsen; vice-president, L. L. McShane; C. Nieman, cashier; C.
M. Watson, assistant. The town has three general merchandise stores and one
exclusive dry goods store and one hardware store. It has a nice school building
with three rooms and an enrollment of 115. The Methodists have a strong
organization under the supervision of Rev. F. E. Modden and a membership of 105.
Two years ago the Methodist Sunday school celebrated the fiftieth anniversary.
Father T. P. Schwam is the head of the Catholic church here. He has a fine
church with strong membership. Up to two years ago a parochial school was
maintained here, the school being the oldest one in the State.

  The first settlement was made here August 10, 1857, by J. D. Allen. Other
early settlers were Richard Williams, William Holmes, J. T. Rowland, W. B.
Maupin and A. W. Wear.

  Shawnee derived its name from the Shawnee Indians, who lived here on the
reservation at the time of the white settlements. The district court met here in
1857. All the county officers resided here at that time and the town was' known
as Gum Springs. J. D. Allen was appointed justice of the peace by the
commissioners in 1857 and held the position for many years.

  Timothy Keeser and Martha Patton were married September 9, 1857, the first
marriage in the town. The first death, that of Mrs. W. B. Maupin, was in July,
1858. The same year the first school was organized here and was held in an old
Indian meeting house. A school building was erected in 1866 near the southwest
corner of the public square. In September, 1857, Rev. William Holmes preached
the first sermon in the town. A church was built many years prior to the
location of the town, called the Shawnee Indian Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

  A postoffice was established here in 1858, and M. P. Randall was appointed
postmaster. The present postmaster is Benjamin F. Hollenback, who was
first-appointed to the place in 1867 by President Andrew Johnson, and with the
exception of two terms when Grover Cleveland was President, has held the office
ever since. In Mr. Hollenback's own words, "I was removed then for being an
offensive partisan." The postoffice is now located in the northeast corner of
the square and Mr. Hollenback and wife have nicely furnished living quarters in
the back part of the same building. Mr. Hollenback was born in Kendall county,
Illinois, in 1836, was married to Catherine Brown in 1854 and has seven
children. He first located in Olathe township about four miles east of town and
was there when Quantrill raided Olathe in 1864. He heard the gunshot that killed
Frank Cook, a young- man who enlisted a short time before in the Twelfth Kansas.
It was about midnight when Quantrill's men passed by his place and Air.
Hollenback heard them coining. His house was almost one-fourth mile from the
road and one of Quantrill's men began to tear the boards off the fence to go
througti when one of the men called, "Come on, G- d- it, there aint no one lives
there; it's an old abandoned house." Mr. Hollenback's corn field was close by
his house and he kept secreted until they had passed. Mrs. Hollenback and their
children were there at the time.

  Mr. Hollenback engaged in business with Thomas Archer, in 1865, at Shawnee. A
year later they dissolved partnership and Mr. Hollenback continued in business
alone. He knew the Indians well and recalls Chief Bluejacket, Graham Rogers,
Lazarus Flint and others. He sold the Indians a great deal of merchandise and
they were good pay. He says they came, picked out what they wished and paid for
it without dickering. Many of them were like their white brothers in spending
their money as fast as they received it, and oftentimes, before. He says Chief
Bluejacket and quite a number of other Indians belonged to Shawnee Lodge, No.
54, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he remembers when Chief Bluejacket was
initiated. At a certain part of the ceremony, he made a very long and fervent
prayer, and tears rolled down his cheeks. These Indians wore their hair trimmed
in the same style as the white men. In August, 1862, Mr. Hollenback enlisted in
Company H. Twelfth Kansas infantry, and served until July, 1865. He was on the
board of county commissioners for two years, being elected in 1867. He is well
fixed in a financial way, and at the age of four score, he and his estimable
wife are enjoying the well-earned competence which is theirs.

  Patrick McAnany lives three-fourths of a mile north of Shawnee on one of the
fine improved farms for which this township is famous. Mr. McAnany was born in
Ireland in 1839, and came to this country in 1848, and to Shawnee, Kan., in
1858. He was married to Helen Mansfield in 1869, in Kansas City, Mo. Air.
McAnany lived with a Shawnee Indian, David Daugherty, many years, and has a fund
of most interesting history of the early days to relate. He says, as do all the
others who were intimately acquainted with the Shawnees, that they were a fine
people, intelligent and honest. The only objection he had to them, said he, was
the way they cooked. He just couldn't like their cooking. "How did they cook
their meat?" was asked of him, and he replied: "Well, I don't know as you would
call it cooked. They would roast it before the fire until it was partly done,
then eat the part cooked and roast it again, continuing this until the piece was
finished." The greatest season of rejoicing among these people though was when
the corn of the little field had reached the roasting stage. Then these people
would gather the corn, tie the ears together by the husks, put some forks in the
ground, lay poles across them and hang the corn on the poles, under which they
would build fires. When the corn was roasted properly they would take "the corn
and cut it from the cobs and spread it out on buffalo robes, deerskin or other
hides, to dry. The Indian went barefoot and the fact that their bare feet came
in contact with the corn made no difference as to its toothsomeness. After the
corn was dried it was put away in bags made of hides and kept dry until such
time as it was needed for food. Their fields were small, from one to four acres
in extent. The corn that was not dried was kept for meal, and until a mill was
built each family desiring this luxury made its own meal by burning out a hollow
in a stump. In this hollow they would put some corn, and with a wooden maul,
almost four feet long, would pound or churn it until it was the proper fineness
for bread.

  When they got their pay from the Government, which was once a year, in the
fall, the payment was made at the council house, and those to whom the Indians
were indebted were there at desks, ready to receive their money as soon as the
Indians got theirs. The Indians carried their money in big handkerchiefs, tied
around their neck, and the pay of each one as his name was called was put in his
handkerchief. Then he passed down the line to his creditors, and each took out
the amount due him, which usually was plenty, no doubt, and often there was
nothing left for "Poor Lo," when he had visited the last one. Mr. McAnany
received $16.00 per month while working for the Indians and Mrs. Daugherty each
month, would hand him the exact amount tied up in a sack. This he gave back to
her to keep for him, and when she died he had about $200 of his money put away
in the sacks that he had saved. After she died he worked for a Mr. Wilkerson &
Knapp, who kept a general store, groceries, dry goods, boots, shoes, etc. He
worked for them until Mr. Wilkerson was killed by the Indians. There were eight
to ten saloons there at this time and Wilkerson with others had been drinking
and one of the Indians who was also drunk killed him. Wilkerson did not sell
whiskey. Mr. McAnany could speak the Shawnee language and was an interpreter at
one time. Asked in regard to their songs, if any, he said there was no sense or
words, really, to them. The only musical instrument, if it should be called
musical, was a sort of drum. made by stretching a hide over a hoop, which was
struck with the hands or sticks. The Shawnees were educated too highly to
indulge in the dances that many of the other tribes were accustomed to give, yet
there was some sort of chants, given at times, which he could not interpret. Mr.
McAnany was on several hunting trips out West, near Junction City, with the
Indians, and he said meat of most any kind was welcome, even to prairie dogs and
skunks, the latter tasting excellent to a half-famished man. Sail he: "When you
get hungry you can eat anything." He says he has seen buffalo wallows so deep
that if filled with water, would drown a man. They were made by the buffaloes
using their horns and pawing the dust until they made a nice bed in which to
wallow, which desire was no doubt caused by an itching of the skin. The buffalo
meat was smoked and dried, no salt being used. It made little difference, said
Mr. McAnany, if a few bugs or crawlers did get into it, and "Eggs," said he, "I
never could like eggs the way the Indians ate them. The fact that the chick had
begun to form did not keep the Indian from using the balance of this great
delicacy. They simply threw the chick away and used the balance of the egg, and
seemed to prefer their eggs in that condition."

  Mr. McAnany saw the real thing in war service and carries the proof with him.
He doesn't have to go to the records to convince one that he "fit some." "Just
feel here" he said, as he put his finger on the upper part of his left cheek
bone. "That is a bullet and its been there since the battle of Wilson Creek. The
doctors said they did not dare remove it for fear it would never heal and here
in my left ear I received another one, shot from a hot musket and the head of
the bullet buried itself, leaving a part sticking out as the bullet seemed to be
partly melted. And the buckle on my cartridge box saved me from being bored
through. A bullet struck with force enough to have killed, but that buckle saved
my life." It was a warm fight and some of the Union soldiers had to lay on their
backs and load, then roll over to shoot, while they used rocks for protection.
Mr. McAnany was taken prisoner and afterwards exchanged and ordered sent to
Leavenworth hospital. On the way there he, and three others, stayed all night
about half way between Ft. Scott and Kansas City, and intended to leave by the
stage next morning. The hotel keeper was a Union man and knew of a plot to kill
them the next day as they left on the stage, so told them to slip quietly out at
a signal he would give them during the night, and he would have a conveyance
near and take them to Westport. They were ready when the signal came and thus
their lives were saved. From Westport they went to Leavenworth by boat. Mr. and
Mrs. McAnany live on their 148-acre farm in a stone house, one part of which was
built by Fred Choteau before the war. The road to Olathe in the early days was
not hard to find. "Just go south one-half mile and twelve miles straight across
the prairie" was the direction given. A fine spring was on the road, near
Lenexa, Kan., where early-day campers found plenty of good water for their
teams. A house stood near this spring in 1862, and the next and the only other
house on the road was Mahaffie's big stone house.

QUANTRILL VISITS SHAWNEE.

  Of course Shawnee being so close to the Missouri line, could not escape the
terrors of the border warfare, and on October 17, 1862, Quantrill, with about
140 men, surrounded the town and corraled the residents in the square. A Mr.
Styles and Bicker were murdered in the streets, and all the stores in town
looted and the buildings set on fire. The Higgins Hotel, the largest house in
town, was burned, and thirteen other buildings.

  No one but those who saw the terrible destruction can have the faintest idea
of the terror to the residents of the town in the short hour that Quantrill's
men were there. Momentarily expecting to be murdered, seeing house after house
looted, then set on fire, and seeing defenseless citizens shot down, the terrors
of the hour can never fade from the memory of those early pioneers. Yet, strange
to say, this happened but six weeks after the Olathe outrage of the same
character, and practically no preparations had been made to protect the town and
the invaders came without a moment's warning. A few citizens made their escape
into the woods surrounding the town. J. A. Walker had a large dry goods stock
and after picking out all they could use, the raiders set fire to the store, a
plan followed out with all the other business houses in town. Quantrill's men
found two Miami county, Kansas, men camped at Brown's Spring, five miles east of
Shawnee. They shot both men, also a boy of twelve or fourteen, and took their
teams and set their wagons on fire. The bodies of the two men and the boy were
taken to Olathe the next day. The boy was living when discovered, but died on
the way to Olathe.

  One of the men from Miami county was a Mr. Butram and two of his wife's
brothers were with Quantrill. Mr. Butram had had a quarrel with them previous to
this time. James Warfield, who lived on the Brown farm, was also murdered by
this same gang and his body left lying in the road a few hundred yards the other
side of the place of the killing of Butram and his companions. Warfield had been
accused by some of the party of being favorable to the Jayhawkers. An Indian
named Washington was met at the crossing of the Big Blue by Quantrill's men. The
Indian supposed that they were Jayhawkers and when asked where he had been,
said: "Been over to Missouri to kill Secesh." Quantrill told him he certainly
did not mean that and the Indian said again: "Yes, kill Secesh." They explained
the mistake he had made but told him they would give him a chance for his life,
however, and to run for the brush. He did so but got entangled in a grapevine
and one of the men shot him through the head. A year or more after this, Dr.
Dell took the skull home as a curiosity, the Indian not having been buried.
Hundreds of cracks radiated from the hole in the skull as in a pane of glass
when shot through.

  The following is a list of business firms in Shawnee:

  Shawnee State Savings Bank; J. H. Hurd, general store, William Garrett & Son,
general store; Patti Brothers, dry goods and notions; G. Geysels, harness and
hardware; W. H. Heaton, druggist; H. Caswell, barber; Mrs. E. L. Sautter,
groceries; W. F. Blanton, machinery; B. Young, cafe and cold drinks; B. F.
Hollenback, postmaster; Dr. W. O. Quiring, physician.

LENEXA.

  Lenexa is a pretty little town, located on the Frisco and Strang Line
railroads seven miles northeast of Olathe, in a fine farming country, and is
destined soon to be a city of nice residences owing to its close proximity to
Kansas City. It has service every hour to Kansas City over the Strang Line at
the present time.

  Its population is about 450, and each year shows a steady growth.

  The railroad bought the townsite in 1869 of C. A. Bradshaw and laid out the
town, and sold a number of lots to different parties, among them D. Brickly and
C. M. Bower. The first store in town was opened by Lee Freeman in 1869; the
second by Dr. Bower in 1870; the third by Rush and Gintner.

  H. D. Gillette moved to Lenexa in 1870, and started the first blacksmith shop.
Mr. Gillette is still living in Lenexa. He sold his property in 1875 and went to
California but returned to Lenexa and engaged in business again, and concluded
to stay. He has never regretted it and has a nice home now in which to spend his
declining years. When Mr. Gillette built his first shop in 1870, he used green
cottonwood lumber, and when the summer's sun poured out its rays of heat on that
shop the boards cupped till they looked like big troughs. Mr. Gillette does not
recommend green cottonwood lumber for building purposes.

  Among the early settlers were Joseph Rush and Edwin Bradshaw.

  David Huff moved here in 1871. The postoffice was established in 1870. The
first birth in town was that of Willis Bower January 19, 1869. The first
marriage was that of John Bower to Miss Mary Bradshaw in 1873, and the first
death that of George Bower, the same year. The Methodist church was built in
1878, at a cost of $1,200. They have fine parsonage also, and a strong Sunday
school. The finest church in the city is the Catholic church, which has a very
large membership. The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1878, at a cost of
$1,200. The Lutherans stand second, having a strong membership and a beautiful
church. The Methodists organized in 1870, but prior to that held meetings with
others in Sunday school work.

  The Farmers State Bank of Lenexa, organized April 20, 1904, has a capital
stock of $10,000, and a surplus fund of $5,000, deposits, $105,000. President,
S. B. Haskins; vice-president, A. E. Wedd; cashier, E. H. Haskins. Directors, S.
B. Haskins, A. E. Wedd, W. P. Haskins, Herman Musch, C. E. Pincomb.

  The city is well represented in all lines of business as follows:

  Farmers State Bank, E. H. Haskins, cashier; Lenexa Lumber Company, W. D.
McClure, manager; Louis O. Krumm, general merchandise; Ellis & Schwald, general
merchandise; Mrs. Fanny Lisk, general merchandise; E. A. Legler, variety store;
D. S. Swartz, blacksmith; R. E. Mills, blacksmith; F. J. Spena, garage; J. A.
Burnett, drugs; J. Callaghan, blacksmith; J. H. Dent, harness; W. E. Dickerson,
barber; Lenexa Grain Company, grain and implements; M. R. Elrod, cafe and cold
drinks ; L. E. Newcomer, hotel; R. C. Creeker, hotel; Dr. P. L. Jones,
physician; Bradshaw Bros. Realty Company, real estate and loans; Miss Maude
Williams, postmistress.

AUBRY.

  The village of Aubry was surveyed and the town company organized in March,
1858. The members of the town company were A. G. Gabbart, president; Greenbury
Trekle, treasurer; W. H. Brady, F. G. Franklin, P. J. Ford, and L. M. Smith. Mr.
Gabbart named the town Aubry after the famous traveler (Mexican we believe) of
that name. Mr. George Cass, a batchelor, who was afterwards a member of the town
company, traded his interest in the burgh for a slave negro woman.

  The first township election was held May 22, 1858, when Mr. Brady was elected
chairman of the board of supervisors. Burton Olny. treasurer, and W. W. Rice,
clerk. Also Gabbart, Snyder, Gamble and Trekle were elected justices of the peace.

  At that time the chairman of the board of supervisors was also a member of the
board of county commissioners, Mr. P.rady acting in that capacity to represent
Aubry township. Also the township treasurer collected the taxes, and the clerk
assessed the township. The first school district, now No. 8, embracing the town
of Aubry, was organized in the summer of 1858. A frame building 20x24 was built
and Sylvester Mann taught the first school.

  The first sermon was preached at the house of A. J. Gabbart in February, 1858,
by Rev. Duval, a minister of the Methodist church, North. The first church was
organized in May, 1859, by Rev. A. Clark of the Christian denomination. Samuel
Medell and Miss Nancy Middleton were the first couple married, Justice Gabbart
tying the knot in September, 1858. The first birth was their daughter, being
born the next year.

  A son of A. Purdy died in the spring of 1859, the first death in the township.

  The township was gradually settled and improved, generally, by an excellent
class of people, and peace and harmony prevailed.

  With the commencement of the national difficulties, rural quiet and peace came
to an abrupt end. Located on the border of Missouri-the worst part of Missouri
too where the adherents of rebellion were most numerous and rampant-the township
was most unfortunately situated. With the outbreak of the war, most of the
citizens left and joined the armies. A number of the best citizens decided to
remain, hoping to escape molestation by adopting a peaceful policy. Some few
were in sympathy with the Union cause and the rest, who were principally former
residents of Missouri, inclined to pray for the success of the rebellion. It was
equally unsafe to express an opinion on either side.

  One of the most outspoken Union sympathizers was Dr. S. B. Bell. The first
raid by the rebels in the town was made some time in 1862. A gang of men who
were supposed to belong to the Cassidy band came in the night and surrounded Dr.
Bell's house. The latter, by this time had learned of the feeling against him
across the line, and hearing some noise in the yard, sprang out of bed and found
his house surrounded by armed men. He dashed out of the door and by dodging
among their horses managed to reach a cornfield near by. The bushwhackers fired
at him a number of times, but as soon as he reached the shelter of the standing
corn they gave up the chase.

  From Dr. Bell's place they went to Jackson Gabbart, another Union man. Mr.
Gabbart was away from home and again the raiders were balked. A gun was
accidentally discharged by one of the band which shot off the hand of a young
man named Sublette, a member of their own party. This mishap caused them to
immediately return to Missouri without doing any damage. It was afterwards
ascertained that the expedition was undertaken for the purpose of murdering Bell
and Gabbart.

  The second inroad was by Quantrill, who passed through with his men on their
way to Missouri, after they had plundered Olathe. They found a deserted town,
however, as Black Bob, the chief of his band of Shawnees, came in ahead of them,
and notified the citizens of their approach. The bushwhackers finding no
Unionists to capture, contented themselves with robbing Dr. Bell's store of all
goods of value and soon departed.

  This threatening aspect of affairs caused the commander of the district to
station Company D, Eleventh regiment, Kansas infantry, there. With this company
was Dick Rooks, commissioned as a lieutenant, who afterwards gained some
notoriety as a "Red-Leg."

  A few miles northeast of Aubry lived old "Uncle Billy" Bryant, who was one of
the most uncomprising secessionists of the locality. He was too old to go into
the Southern army himself, but had two or three boys who were among the first to
join the Confederate cause. He had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and the
sounds of the approaching contest aroused all the martial ardor of his youthful
days.

  One day Rooks scouted around the country with fifteen or twenty soldiers on
foot. They arrived in the vicinity of Bryant's farm, and happened to meet the
old gentleman in the road, carrying a gun, and in company with a neighbor named
Wilson. Rooks ordered Bryant to surrender. In reply Bryant took deliberate aim
and fired at the soldiers, and immediately commenced reloading. They later
returned the fire and shot the old man dead. Taking Wilson, who was unarmed,
they started to Aubry. When near the town, Wilson grumbled at having to walk, at
which a wild Irishman named "Nick," well known in Olathe in those days, stepped
up behind him and shot him dead.

  The ill feeling on the border between the two factions had been increasing day
by day, and the acts just spoken of brought matters to the culminating point.
From that time on Aubry was a battle ground.

  After the death of Bryant his family went away and left the farm unoccupied.
Among the property they left in their hasty removal were several fine hives of
bees. Early in the spring five men started to get the honey one night, stating
to their families that they would be back early. From that time to this they
have never been seen or heard of, and even the place where their bones lie is
unknown. Early in the evening the citizens heard some shots fired in the
direction the men had gone. About sunrise the next morning Quantrill came into
town intending to take the place by surprise and capture the people.

  Dr. Bell, one of the first to discover their approach, ran across the fields,
hoping to reach a ravine and hide before they could overtake him. A burly
ruffian saw him and started in pursuit. After firing several futile shots, he
attempted to beat the unfortunate prisoner's brains out with his revolver. Bell
managed to ward off the blows enough to keep his skull from being crushed but
his face and arms were badly cut and mangled. Soon a comrade rode up and
interfered saying: "Wait and see whether he needs killing or not." As the
bushwhackers had several friends residing in the place and Bell was completely
disguised by the blood that streamed from his numerous wounds, this advice
appeared timely, and Bell was taken back and put under guard with other captives.

  Two or three months previous to this time it had been a fact, pretty well
known, that several of the Union men residing in the place had formed some
connection with the "Redlegs," who were making it lively for the rebel citizens.
The main purpose of this expedition was to capture these parties. They proceeded
to Trekle's house and in addition to Trekle, Cody, Tullis, and Whitaker, who
lived there, and four strangers were there who had stopped to stay over night.

  The Union men saw the bushwhackers approaching, and fired a volley at them,
from the window. Then with a want of wisdom that can scarcely be accounted for,
they abandoned the house and attempted to seek safety in flight. Trekle and
Whitaker after running a short distance turned and attempted to fight. Some
twenty men were after them, and in an instant Trekle and Whitaker were riddled
with bullets. Tullis, who ran in another direction, was shot in the eye and
killed. John Cody, while running, fell behind a clump of weeds, and his pursuers
ran past without seeing him; he remained there until they were gone, and escaped
unharmed. A man named Ellis was shot while in the house, but afterwards
recovered, and several others were wounded. After the fight was over, Quantrill
had Dr. Bell attend to the wounded which he did though suffering badly from his
own wounds. While they were in town the wives of the five men who had gone out
the night before went to Quantrill, and besought him to tell where their
husbands were. He would give them no satisfaction, saying they had attended to
them, properly. All search for them was fruitless.

  Trekle had a large house and considerable property. His widow remained there
for some time, when in another raid, she was stripped of the balance of her
personal property, when she went to Iowa with her four children and remained
there till the close of the war, when she returned to Aubry where she became
insane, and was sent back to Iowa. Whitaker left a large family, who went to
Ohio to relatives.

  Cody had received warning enough to have caused him to seek some more
favorable locality, but with the fearlessness that characterized the man he
remained. In about a year after his narrow escape while enrolled in the militia
he was ordered to report for guard duty. It was never supposed that he ever
intended to evade the order, but instead of going immediately he took his horses
to be shod. The major on learning this sent two soldiers to bring him to
headquarters. These soldiers were Bill Nichols and Van Osdell, former
busliAvhackers who had been captured a short time and in preference to the
chances of hanging or prison had enlisted in the United States service. It was
while the "lenient policy" was in vogue, when it was thought that all that was
necessary to reform a bushwhacker was to administer the oath of allegiance, give
him a good horse, uniform, and arm him. It worked well, with the slight drawback
that in a course of a week or two the repentent sinners, almost invariably,
disappeared with horse, arms and equipment.

  These two fellows were among the worst of their class. They found Cody at the
shop. Two shots were fired and on going to the shop, citizens found Cody with
his brains blown out. The fellows reported that Cody resisted them and would not
obey orders. The same night they took their horses and arms and deserted, going
back to the brush. Cody's death only added another to the long list of foul
murders that marked the border troubles.

  The next raid of note was on the last day of January, 1864, by Dan Vaughn, a
leader second only to Quantrill among the bushwhackers. On that day a traveler
named Norman Sampson stopped at Dr. Bell's to get his dinner and horses fed. He
lived in Linn county, and was from Wisconsin, originally, serving, we believe,
during a part of the war as a soldier in one of the regiments of that State.
After staying about an hour, he started to Kansas City. Two miles north of
Aubry, he fell in with Vaughn, who had ten men with him. They pretended to be
Union soldiers. Sampson rode some distance with them, and to their inquiries,
stated that he had served in the Union army, at the same time mentioning in
rather a boasting manner, some of the bloody work he had participated in while
fighting the rebels. That was enough and sealed his fate. He was found dead the
next day with two or three bullet holes in his body.

  After murdering Sampson, they came to Aubry, and stopped at Bell's store,
still pretending to be Union soldiers. After making a few inquiries, they threw
off the masks, arrested Bell and setting a guard over him, proceeded to rob the
store. As soon as the goods they desired were taken out, the building, store and
dwelling, were fired and burned to the ground.

  While a part of the band engaged in this work, they informed the Doctor that
if he would give them $1,000 they would release him-otherwise he would be
hanged. He told them he had no money, and they then, cooly, procured a rope, and
making him mount the horse they had taken from the unfortunate Sampson, started
towards Missouri, promising to attend to the hanging at the first convenient
place on the road.

  For the first time, the Doctor gave up all hope, for he knew the merciless
nature of his captors. As he rode along he realized all the horrors of a violent
death. In the full flush of manhood, he looked at the familiar prairies, calm
and peaceful in the bright sunlight, and thought they had never appeared so fair
and lovely. He thought of his family, and his soul was wrung with agony as their
helpless future loomed up before him. Life never appeared so desirable nor so
hard to relinquish as then. In fact, only those who have been similarly situated
can fully realize his feelings. He was not reassured in the least by the act of
a burly ruffian who rode up and grasping the front locks of his hair remarked to
a comrade that he intended to have that for an ornament for the head stall of
his bridle. As they were riding along, one of the gang, behind the Doctor, rode
up to the fence and broke off a large splinter. The latter heard the sharp snap
and concluded that they had attempted to shoot him, and it was the cracking of a
cap. He did not dare to look back, but presently saw the shadow of one
approaching with something in his hand that looked much like a bayonet or long
knife. He then decided that the pistol had failed to go off and their intention
was to stab him, and he waited each, minute to feel the sharp thrust of the
blade in his body. The fellow with the splinter, however, rode up and struck the
horse the Doctor was riding, causing it to perform a lively circus movement.
They all laughed heartily and the Doctor's gloom vanished. He reasoned that
while they were in this sportive mood they could hardly be contemplating a deed
of blood. His reasoning was correct for on reaching the end of the lane they
gruffly told him to go home and attend to his business- and he did. He certainly
had escaped "out of the jaws of hell." In addition to the house and goods, the
Doctor lost $225 in money, which was burned in the building.

  Previous to Trekle's death, and while the Jayhawkers were making his house
their headquarters, the Doctor, one night anticipating a raid by the
bushwhackers, went to the home of his brother-in-law, John Beeson, who lived a
mile or two out in the country, to stay over night for safety.

It happened that on the same night a squad of jayhawkers had gone down on the
Missouri line, and pretending to be bushwhackers, robbed several persons who
were obnoxious to them. On the way back they concluded to stop at Beeson's to
look for a certain Jake Mast, a rebel, who was supposed to be there. They
surrounded the house. Bell in bed upstairs was awakened by the noise, and as he
awoke he heard some one say: "There is a man in there I'm going to have, by
God." Supposing it was bushwhackers who had discovered his retreat, he sprang
out of bed, seized his gun and attempted to get out at the back door. As he
raised the latch some one called out: "Don't open that door or I'll blow you to
h-l." Immediately after that a man stepped in and said: "Give me that gun." The
Doctor, without any ceremony, gave him the contents, killing him instantly. The
sentinels outside, supposing it was Mast, fired three shots at Bell, one bullet
passing between his hand and hip, and the blaze from the gun setting fire to his
shirt. The Doctor ran out of the door knocking a man down who was standing in
his way and proceeding to Aubry, gave the alarm that the bushwhackers were
coming. The next morning he found he had killed a Union man, Isham Helm, the
leader of the party. Helm was a Missourian, who had been compelled to leave that
State because of his loyal tendencies, and seeking shelter in Kansas, had taken
up the precarious profession of jay-hawker to get even with his enemies. Had the
Doctor known they were Union men he would not have fought them; had they known
he was the Doctor they would not have made the attack. It was a mistake on both
sides, but it cost a human life.

  Greenbury Trekle's father, an old man of eighty years, lived in Missouri six
miles east of Aubry. At the time of the Quantrill raid on Lawrence, the
bushwhackers assembled on the creek not far from the old man's residence
preparatory to starting, and the latter knew that the demonstration meant a raid
in Kansas, but did not know where they intended to strike. Becoming satisfied of
their intentions, he walked to Aubry and informed the citizens and commandant of
the post, of their movements. The information was timely enough to have given
the alarm and saved the city of Lawrence, but the officer in charge treated it
as an idle story of an old man who wished to create a sensation. Two hundred
lives paid the penalty for his stupidity or carelessness. The object of the old
man's visit to Aubry became known and a few weeks after Vaughn's men murdered
him in cold blood in his home.

STILWELL.

  The little town of Stilwell on the Missouri Pacific railroad in Aubry township
is about one-half mile east of "Old Aubry," but the two towns are practically
one and have a population of about 300. The plat for Mt. Auburn, now Stilwell,
was filed November 30, 1886, by Michael O'Keefe, J. Larkin, W. A. Kelly and A.
J. Norman. The town is located on the southeast quarter of section 5, township
15 south, range 25 east. Grain and stockraising in this fertile country are
profitable occupations of the thrifty people living there.

  The town will probably be incorporated as a city this coming year. The
business men carry excellent lines of merchandise and receive a good patronage
from the surrounding country.

  The following business concerns are engaged in business at Stilwell: M.
Wilson, general merchandise; E. K. Gibson, general merchandise; W. M. Moon,
hardware, implements and drugs; State Bank of Stilwell; Jones Bros., successors
to Conboy Bros., who are retiring after twenty years of successful business,
elevator, grain, coal and implements; J. T. Kissenger, blacksmith and carriage
worker; D. N. Wright, confectionery,. restaurant and groceries; Miss Sloan,
postmistress; Dr. M. F. Sloan, physician and drugs; A. P. Conboy & Son, general
merchandise; Stilwell Lumber Company, Mr. Berg, manager; A. B. Hiatt, livery,
feed and sales barn; A. B. Witherspoon, barber; Ira Baker, garage and jitney;
Fred Smith, carpenter and builder; Dr. M. W. Rogers, physician and surgeon; Fred
Collins, blacksmith and wagon maker; L. Whitsett, gas and plumbing.

  The State Bank of Stilwell has a capital stock of $12,500, surplus, $6,250.
Michael Kelly is its president and P. K. Hendrix is cashier.

  Its directors are: W. M. Moore, L. N. O'Keefe, E. K. Gibson, J. W. Adams,
Thomas Hudson, Gust A. Zimmerman.

STANLEY.

  Stanley is situated on the Clinton Branch railroad two miles south and eight
miles east of Olathe, Kan., in a fertile prairie country and the farms around
speak well for the thrift of its people, and it has a population of 300. It has
been built since the building of the railroad through Oxford township and is a
growing little town as proven by its new buildings now in the course of
erection. The Methodists, Christians,. and Presbyterians all have fine churches
here and are well supported. An excellent school is maintained and the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen, Royal Neighbors and Grange, all have
strong organizations. Another thing that speaks well for the place is that a
summer Chautauqua has been kept up for several years.

  The town has several good stores, among them Allison & Son's general store, a
drug store, and Allen's cash store. Hodges Brothers Lumber Company has an
excellent yard here under the supervision of Ralph Parsley. Stanley's Bank is
the pride of the city and was organized April 3, 1905. It has a capital stock of
$10,000, a surplus of $5,000, and owns its own building. J. H. Schroder is
president, W. W. Frye, vice-president, T. L. Kellog, cashier. The directors are,
J. H. Schroder, W. W. Frye, Robert Baker, J. T. Kincaid, R. M. Donham, J. T.
Hudson, George D. Warr.

  Stanley, Kan., is located in the Black Bob district, and the settlers, after
years of suspense in getting titles to their land, at last were permitted to buy
their homes at an average price of $10 per acre. If Black Bob, a real Indian in
name and nature, could come back to the place of his wanderings here and see the
beautiful fields of waving grain under the soft rays of the June sun he might be
convinced that agriculture is better than loafing, but he was not an
agriculturist and he didn't like any one very much that was. Fishing and hunting
suited Black Bob and his followers, and they were also great visitors,
oftentimes going down to the Indian Territory or visiting with the more
civilized around Shawnee.

  J. H. Hancock located here in 1866 and bought the claim of David Hunt. A man
by the name of Hudson was a former owner of the claim. Mr. Hancock has taken
active interest in the Grange work of Johnson county, and held the office of
overseer in the State Grange at one time. Stanley had a newspaper at one time
which was published for about six months. Mr. Kellog, cashier of the State Bank,
was interested in it, and was its editor. The Stanley "Review" was the name of
the paper, and it was printed in Kansas City, Mo., by a firm that got out
patents for several country weeklies. The cashier of the concern at Kansas City
vamoosed one day leaving them stranded, and Mr. Kellog made arrangements with
another concern to fill out the unexpired subscriptions. The paper sent out,
however, turned out to be an anti-prohibition sheet and Mr. Kellog notified them
to cease sending them out to his subscribers. The "Review" had about 300
subscribers at the time it suspended.

  Sherman Kellogg, one of the interesting and historical characters of Stanley,
was born in Sherman, Vt., April 5, 1833. He says he is related to all the
Kelloggs in this country. He came to Atchinson in 1864 and to Johnson county in
1867, locating about one-fourth mile north of Stanley. Mr. Kellogg has been a
notary public and justice of the peace almost the entire time since he came
here, and often took depositions of the Indians that lived here when he came.
There was considerable of this work to do in the early days. Mr. Kellogg knew
old man Gill, a wealthy Southerner, who lived on a farm adjoining the townsite
of Oxford, just across the State line from Little Santa Fe., Mo. Mr. Gill was a
slave holder. Oliver Gregg in his Oxford township sketch says: "One of the most
prominent of the wealthy planters was a man named Gill, who owned a fine large
farm adjoining Santa Fe, highly improved with first class buildings, and well
stocked with cattle, horses and slaves. The war found him in most prosperous
circumstances and surrounded with all the appliances for ease and comfort that
an ordinary man could desire. But Mr. Gill was not at all satisfied with his
blessings and longed to increase them by crushing the North and establishing
slavery on a basis that would insure its stability for years to come. Hence he
was most active of all fiery partisans and soon acquired such prominence as to
render the locality unsafe for him personally. As these patriots were noted for
desires, tending to extreme longevity, it was not long till Gill, his family,
slaves and personal effects were loaded in wagons, and in a long procession,
with the Confederate flag flying gaily in front, a negro boy riding a jackass
and trailing the Union flag in the dust in the rear, the caravan departed for
Texas. It was in this triumphant manner the majority of the citizens in that
locality went. No more striking contrast could be conceived than their return.
At the end of four years' war, they straggled back haggled with hardships and
cares, impoverished in purse with broken health, and utterly dispirited to find
their fine dwellings burned or torn down, the magnificent orchard dead from
neglect or destroyed by vandals, the fences gone and fields a wilderness of
weeds, only ruin and desolation where once was thrift and prosperity.

  List of present business firms in Stanley:

  William Allison & Son, general merchandise and postoffice; S. L. Runner, drug
store; Stanley Lumber Company, lumber and hardware; Allen's cash grocery,
general merchandise; P. C. Brown & Son, restaurant ; State Bank of Stanley,
Percy Kellogg, cashier; John Meyers, blacksmith; John May, blacksmith; C. W.
May, barber; J. R. Sloan, practicing physician; J. H. Shrader, banker and
farmer; E. O. Callahan, auctioneer; Kenneth Allison, agent "Kansas City "Star"
and Olathe "Mirror."

MERRIAM.
  Merriam, Kan., at first called Campbellton, is a station on the Frisco
railroad, thirteen miles northeast of Olathe. Merriam Park, a short distance
south, was in the eighties one of the prettiest spots near Kansas City, the
delight of those who desired a day's outing. In later years the Frisco road
neglected it, and it is now a pasture.

  Merriam has a new $20,000 school building, modern throughout, and an excellent
corps of teachers. The southwest boulevard rock road runs through the town and
the old Quaker mission, one of the historic buildings of Kansas, is still
standing, one-half mile east and one-fourth south of the depot. A wireless
station stands near the mission. Hooker's Grove adjoins Merriam on the west, and
is one of the pretty spots for which this part of Shawnee township is famous.
Pretty bungalows line the electric railway that runs from Merriam through this
grove to Shawnee. T. M. Campbell runs a general store at Merriam, and is one of
the oldest residents, having located here with his father in 1862. His father
planted the first orchard of any magnitude, forty acres, near Shawnee in an
early day. Mr. Campbell was there when Quantrill sacked and destroyed so much
property in 1862 and 1864. Mr. Campbell tells of the fun the Indians had with
him once when they found him alone on the road. Seeing him coming one of them
dropped a handkerchief in the road, where he was sure to see it. Then they hid
and after Campbell had picked it up they surrounded him and accused him of
stealing it. However, a chance for his life was given him by giving him twenty
feet the start. He did some tall running with that bunch after him, and they
failed to catch him. A few years ago Mr. Campbell soared to fame, by his expert
horseshoe pitching. He and some more of the crack pitchers challenged the
Stanley pitchers to a game and the Kansas City Star wrote it up. Mr. Campbell
has two pairs of malleable iron shoes molded according to the regulation size
and weight and he knows how to use them.

  In 1888 Billie Randall, an Indian, owned forty acres, now a part of Hoeker's
Grove at Merriam. One day Milt Parish, of Kansas City, a real estate man,
offered him $8,000 for the forty. Randall said he would take it. Then Mr. Parish
said he could pay only $4,000 down, and would like to have him take a mortgage
for the other half. Mr. Randall drew a long breath, and in all seriousness
replied: "Well, I will take it but it is d-n poor security." Forty acres
cornering with this on the southwest is the old homestead of Mrs. Randall, a
Shawnee woman, and the title is still in the Government of the United States. As
Mrs. Randall has never sold the land she is a ward of Uncle Sam.

BONITA.

  Bonita, Kan., i sa small town, five miles south of Olathe, on the Frisco
railroad. It was at first named Alta, on account of its being the highest point
along the road. There being another postoffice in the State with the same name,
it was changed to Bonita, the Spanish word meaning, "beautiful." The name is
very appropriate, as the surrounding country is one of the prettiest scenes to
be found on the prairies of eastern Kansas. Each year the farms grow fine yields
of corn and wheat. J. J. Kuhlman has a general store and elevator there and does
a large business in shipping grain. This country is one of the best grain
growing districts along the Frisco.

MORSE.

  Population, 61. The little town of Morse, Kan., situated on the Clinton Branch
railroad, six miles southeast of Olathe, is in the most fertile part of Johnson
county's rich prairies. It has a population of 61. Smith Brothers have a general
store here and the Morse Grain Company operates an elevator, and handles a large
amount of grain, mostly wheat and corn. The Modern Woodmen of America have a
strong organization here, and meet in the hall over Smith Brothers' store.
Georg-e McCaughey is the oldest settler, having located here in 1866. It was
then a vast prairie, and some of the Black Bob Indians were living along the
creeks. The State Bank of Morse was organized June 22, 1910, with a capital
stock of $10,000. It has a surplus fund of $1,500 and owns its own building.

  Its officers are: J. W. Toynbee, president, J. F. Mitchell, vice-president,
James Murdock, cashier. Directors: J. W. Tonybee, B. F. Hargis, J. L. Pettyjohn,
G. H. Smith, J. F. Mitchell, H. B. Klopmeyer, H. M. Beckett, James Murdock, T.
B. Sharp.

OCHELTREE.

  Named after W. A, Ocheltree, one of the town company. Ocheltree is situated on
the Frisco railroad, one and one-half miles north of Spring Hill, Kan. The
territory surrounding this town is as fine for agriculture as any part in
Johnson county. C. H. Mossman and nephew, Harry E. Mossman, conduct a general
store here and do a good business. Besides the store they handle coal and buy
grain, handling over 65,000 bushels the past season. Mr. Mossman came to this
county with his father in 1868, who settled four miles east of Ocheltree on a
farm. When the town of Ocheltree was first established it grew rapidly, having
three stores, and quite a number of residences, but Spring Hill at first refused
a depot, because they would not subscribe $1,500 bonus to get the line,
afterwards got a depot and Ocheltree being so close failed to hold up in the
trade. The early business concerns were Scott and McElhenny, Miller & Thorne
Lumber Company, Miller Hotel and the inevitable saloon. O. H. and William
Tibbetts were also in business here, running a general store.

MONTICELLO.

  The town of Monticello was laid out in June, 1857, by the town company of
which Col. A. Payne was president and W. J. McCarthy secretary. Among those who
moved into Monticello that year were C. Brassfield, A. J. Cordray, M. and F. P.
Shannon and J. M. Reed. Mr. Reed to show his faith in the town, built a large
hotel which was burned in 1862. The first store was opened in 1857, by Rich &
Rively. A school was opened in 1865, a school house was built and school held
there that year. In 1880 a Methodist church 40x50 was built, one and one-half
miles southwest of town, at a cost of $2,000.

  A tornado visited the town in 1858 and destroyed many of the buildings, but
the people soon rebuilt, and at one time the town had the ambition to be the
county seat, but its location being too far from the center of the county it
failed to be selected. At the presen time there are several residences and a
good store. It is nine miles north of Olathe.

  Back in 1866, after the war had closed, the pro-slavery and Free State men of
Monticello township had a little party all their own. During the war and before
many horses were stolen. The owners were killed, if necessary, for being, "Free
State" or "pro-slavery" men, it didn't matter which, to the fellows who followed
this business.

  Isaac Parish, who had married a Shawnee woman, had lost three or four horses;
Uncle Joe Kenton had lost two; Lorenzo Greening two, and a good many other men
living near had lost from one to two at a time by this roving band of thieves in
1865.

  John Wilson, now living at Craig in Monticello township, remembers the
circumstances well. His father came to Olathe in 1862, and bought a place in
Monticello, m 1864, and in 1865 moved there. John was fourteen years of age at
that time. Benton Ingraham, Preston Deen, and Newton Wicher, went to Douglas
county and arrested Peter Bassinger, and returned with him to Monticello. While
he was in charge of W. S. Ingraham and Preston Deen, constables, a number of men
who had suffered loss at the hands of Bassinger and his gang, took him from the
officers, and making a scaffold of rails, using three as a tripod tied together
at the top, and a fourth as a lever, swung him from the ground. The hanging took
place about a mile south of Monticello. Mr. Wilson saw Bassinger the morning
after the hanging, before he was cut down. One foot touched the earth at this
time and the other was drawn up. The men who did the hanging are now all dead.
Among them were Ike Parish, John Kenton, Barney Evans, Newton Wicher, Benton
Ingraham, Tom Self, Lorenzo Green and Sam Garre. A number of these men were
arrested, and the county attorney refused to let them out on bond, but Judge A.
S. Deviney went to Topeka, brought their case before the governor and they were
permitted to give bond which they did, but none of them were ever tried.

  The first wedding- in Monticello township occurred prior to the war. Major
Hadley had been elected justice of the peace for Monticello township. One day
George Walker called on him and told him the neighbors were coming in that
evening for a social time, and for Mr. Hadley to be sure to be there. Mr. Hadley
was there, not knowing exactly what part he might have to play in the evening's
entertainment. On arrival there a Mr. J. W. McDaniel entered with Miss Mattie
Walker, his sweetheart, and McDaniel handed him a marriage license and requested
him to perform the ceremony immediately. Mr. Hadley was an unmarried man and had
never seen a marriage ceremony performed, and had no idea of what a real
marriage ceremony consisted. In speaking of the incident afterward Mr. Hadley
said: "I don't know what I said. I never will know what I said but I said
something, and I sometimes doubt the legality of that union." Uncle Thomas
Stephenson, who lived in Monticello for forty years or more, says that Major
Hadley wound up the ceremony by saying, "And may the Lord have mercy on your
soul." But as Mr. Stephenson is somewhat of a practical joker this latter
statement must be taken with a grain of allowance.

WILDER.

  Wlider is in the northern part of Monticello township, on the Santa Fe
railroad, about one mile from the Kansas river. This town and Frisbie station,
two and one-half miles south, are in the potato belt and many carloads of
potatoes are shipped from here every year. Wilder takes its names from E.
Wilder, who was formerly with the Santa Fe railroad. The first settler was Simon
Walters, who located there in 1877. A postoffice was established there the same
year with L. S. Hayes postmaster.

KENNETH.

  The little town of Kenneth is situated at the crossing of the Clinton Branch
and Missouri Pacific railways almost on the Missouri line, a little over three
miles east of Stanley. Clyde Clark has a general store here.

  Choteau is a little station on the Santa Fe twelve miles west of Kansas City,
between Holliday and Wilder, and takes its name from the Choteau brothers, who
were early pioneers of Johnson county, establishing a trading port here in 1827.

  Switzer is a station on the Frisco twelve miles north of Olathe. Large
quantities of milk are shipped from this place to Kansas City, Mo.

  Lackman, three miles north of Olathe, is a station on the Frisco. 

  Craig is a station on the Santa Fe, seven miles north of Olathe.

  Zarah is located ten miles north of Olathe, on the Santa Fe railroad and Harry
King has a general store there and does an extensive business.

  Holliday is located in the north part of Monticello township, at the Junction
of the two lines of the Santa Fe railroad. It has a population of 175, and
several stores.

OXFORD.

This little old town,
    Won its way to renown; 
And from "stay at home crime," absolution,
    Thirty votes to each man, 
Won the day for the clan,
    And for law and the new constitution.

  Yes, the voters of the town of Oxford, who, by the way, lived, mostly, in
Little Santa Fe, Mo., just over the line, believed in turning out to elections.
It wasn't necessary to haul 'em in either; thev voted to a man. According to the
report there were about forty-two or forty-three voters who cast their votes
according to law, but Henry Clay Pate, who was intrusted with the records, took
the list over to Little Santa Fe that night, then to Westport the next day, and
when the vote for October 5, 1857, showed up at the office of the secretary of
State, Oxford had cast 1,628 votes. At a later date, December 21, 1857, an
election was held on the Lecompton constitution, and the Oxford vote was about
1,250. Shawnee precinct also had worked up the "stay at home vote," and had cast
over 700 more votes than they had voters. On January 4, 1858, an election was
held for the election of officers under the Lecompton constitution. Oxford
precinct showed up with only 696 illegal votes, a big slump. On the twenty-ninth
day of the same month a census was taken ford township, and the precinct showed
forty-two legal voters. It had been generally supposed that the officials in
charge of the ballot boxes of Oxford township, and the precinct showed forty-two
legal voters. It had been generally supposed that the officials in charge of the
ballot boxes at Oxford were dead, but recent events in Terre Haute, Ind., and
Kansas City, Mo., prove this to be an error.

  W. T. Quarles, who lives on one of the fine farms of Oxford township and whose
farm adjoins the townsite of Stanley, on the north, is one of the most
interesting characters of the county. The experiences of early-day life
connected with a life of activity in political and business affairs give him a
prominent place in Johnson county history. Mr. Quarles came to Johnson county in
1857. The county then extended north to the Kaw river. His father stuck the
first stake in Lexington township on the Kansas City-Lawrence stage road. While
living there the first summer an Indian murder occurred. Mr. Quarles happened
along the road a short time after the killing and saw two dead Indians and
another crippled one by the road side. "Who did this?" asked Mr. Ouarles of the
crippled Indian. "Black Fish velly bady man," was the answer. "He kill Tom
Bigyknife, he breaky my back then kill himself." Black Fish was a bad Indian,
and had shot Big Knife. The other Indian interfering in some way was struck with
the gun, and then putting the butt end of the double barrel shot gun against a
tree, with his foot he discharged the other barrel, killing himself instantly.
This saved the other Indians from hanging Black Fish as they followed the divine
injunction, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

  Mr. Quarles came to Oxford township, where he now lives, in 1868, and settled
on the Black Bob lands. In the early days of '60 Mr. Quarles hauled hay to
Kansas City stacked loose on the hay rack, and, said Mr. Quarles: "I don't know
what we would have done if it had not been for the prairie grass. The Kansas
City market being only a day's drive gave us an opportunity to sell what we had
at a living profit, and prairie hay was always in good demand there. We got 40
cts to $1.25 per hundred." Mr. Quarles bought his housekeeping outfit from
Hadley & Phillips, of Olathe, and with a twinkle in his eye and a smile said: "I
bought them on credit too."

  Mr. Quarles knew the Turpin family quite well, that ran the Olathe House in
1861, when C. R. Jennison called at daybreak to rid the town of Southern
sympathizers. Colonel Jennison, famous as a Jayhawker in the troubles of 1856,
raised a company of men at Leavenworth, and took them to Wyandotte to have them
enlisted, with himself as captain. For some reason they were not taken in and
Mr. Jennison was very much disappointed. He had something he wanted to do at
Olathe by authority of law, if possible, but if not legally, he intended to do
it otherwise, and with his men he came to Olathe and arrested L. S. Cornwell,
and his partner, Drake, his son-in-law, Judge Campbell and the Turpin family,
all from the Southern states and with Southern sympathies. As Jennison was
acting without authority of law, Air. Cornwell protested against the arrest as
an outrage, at which Jennison struck him in the face with a pistol. The
prisoners were searched and their weapons taken away from them and confiscated.
After being held under arrest for three or four hours they were sworn not to
take up arms against the Government and released. An ex-stage driver by the name
of Cleveland, who had the reputation of being a "horse-operator and
confiscationist," and the afterwards famous James G. Blunt were acting as
lieutenants under Jennison. Over in Oxford township a German doctor lived, by
the name of Schaerff, and on the way to Olathe Jennison called on him to
straighten out his political views and made him take an oath of loyalty to the
Government. The doctor claimed that Jennison robbed him of a gold watch and
other valuables, but as his reputation for veracity was not of the best the
neighbors generally doubted his word. This act of Jennison's at Olathe, no doubt
had something to do with Quantrill's coming to Olathe, for the Turpins were
strong Southerners, and were not afraid to say what they though in regard to the
political questions of the day. Turpins ran the Olathe House, on the west side
of the square, and occasionally the Red Legs visited them and stole stuff from
them, at one time a pair of wool blankets that Mrs. Turpin thought a great deal
of, as she had spun the wool and done the weaving.

(Gregg's History gives the following concerning the Turpin family.)

  "The Turpin family consisted of the old gentleman, his wife, three sons and a
daughter. The daughter married Alack Smith, and Smith made a living by selling
whisky, in 1857, and belonged to the middle class of the South. They were proud
of their Southern origin and hated the Yankees with a genuine honest hatred and
their espousal of the Southern cause was most decided and emphatic. Turpin, the
nominal head of the family, was an easy going, mild old fellow, who looked upon
the national conflict as a rather trivial affair when compared with the domestic
conflicts of frequent occurrence in his own house. His spouse, the real head,
was a character. A large muscular woman with a snapping black eye and tongue of
a thousand horsepower, fond of a glass of whisky (and they sold it at the hotel
too), a horse race, a game of 'draw' and occasionally a knock down, she was a
woman that very few of the Yankee persuasion cared to contradict when national
complications were discussed. Few people went away from that hotel without a
pretty comprehensive knowledge of the political views entertained there. The
boys were young men, and better than might have been expected, taking the
maternal training into consideration."

  Soon after Jennison's visit the oldest son of the Turpins joined the
Confederate army, in southwest Missouri. He never came back and it is supposed
he died, or was killed, about the close of the war.

  Cliff, the younger of the boys, was the "son of his mother," found the
companionship of the Quantrill gang suited to his taste, and joined them. He was
with Quantrill at the Olathe raid, and although the balance of the town was
looted, the Olathe Hotel ran by the Turpins was undisturbed. Quantrill and a
part of his men dined at the hotel while the men of the town were corralled in
the square. Mrs. Turpin, the day before the raid, went to Missouri on horseback,
and returned the evening of the raid, and it was supposed she had been
instrumental in giving Quantrill the necessary tips that made the surprise and
plundering of the town so easy. How Cliff Turpin got his arms, necessary to join
Quantrill, is told by Mr. Quarles. A drunken soldier was asleep in Westport one
night, and Cliff quietly stole his gun from him, cocked it, and backed off ready
to shoot if the soldier made a move. Fortunately for the soldier, however, he
was too drunk to be awakened by a little thing like that and he only lost his gun.

  Mr. Quarles was instrumental in organizing a company of thirty men to drill
for gas at Stanley. Four wells were drilled and gas found in each one, and in
one of these considerable oil was found. Gas was struck at a depth of 600 feet,
and the residents of Stanley use gas now for both cooking and heating.

  Mr. Quarles has always taken an active interest in politics and is a man of
strong character, and rare executive ability. He is fearless in fighting for a
principle that he believes is right, and is fair with those who may oppose him.
He was chief of police in Kansas City, Kan., during- both the Leedy and
Lewelling administrations in Kansas, and proved himself thoroughly capable and
worthy.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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