Dakota Territory History - 1887

	This information appears in Chapter LIX of "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904), pages 329-331 and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Joy Fisher, http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031

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CHAPTER LIX

THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR. 

	Dakota territory was twenty-six years old and for the first time a 
Democratic governor sat in the capitol.  On February 5, 1887, Louis K. Church 
relieved Gilbert A. Pierce in the executive office.  Governor Church was a 
native of New York and as a member of the legislature during his incumbency of 
the gubernatorial chair Mr. Church had attracted the notice of President 
Cleveland and they had become fast friends. Church was an enthusiastic reformer 
in his New York legislative days, and was a colleague of Theodore Roosevelt in 
their first legislative experiences and they had worked hand in glove for a 
common purpose.  When Cleveland became President he sought an early opportunity 
to reward his young friend and sent him to Dakota as a district judge.  In this 
capacity Judge Church made a good name and won the approbation of his fair-
minded political opponents.  His district was extremely large, rendering it 
impossible to perform all of its duties, but he exerted himself to the utmost 
and the public was as well satisfied as they could have been with the work of 
any one.  He was a fair lawyer and his decisions were considered fair and wise 
by the bar.  The bench provided the atmosphere to which he was best adapted.  He 
was somewhat dictatorial in temperament and also very nervous, but these traits 
were not often exhibited in the performance of judicia1 functions.  But as 
governor he was frequently provoked into violent outbursts, which detracted from 
his dignity and usefulness.  His honesty was not seriously questioned.  It must 
in fairness be admitted that there was little effort upon the part of his 
constituents to make his pathway easy or pleasant.  In the first instance, the 
Republican politicians flattered him with a view to using him, but finding that 
policy was not likely to bear fruit, they turned against him with virulence.  
The legislature as well as the public were overwhelmingly opposed to his 
political views, and to add to the difficulties of his administration a large 
element of his party turned against him, with even greater hostility than was 
shown by the Republicans.  Probably the worst that can be said of him was that 
he was impolitic.  Through it all President Cleveland steadfastly supported him, 
and he drew to himself a cabinet of the strongest Democrats in Dakota who 
sustained him loyally.

	President Cleveland appointed to succeed Judge Church upon the third 
district bench James Spencer, also a young New Yorker and a reformer of the 
Church school.  Spencer arrived and took up the work in May.  Up to this time it 
had been the general policy of President Cleveland to fill Dakota offices with 
Dakotans, but at this date he changed his methods.  Delegate Gifford, a 
Republican. called upon the President to urge him to appoint Dakota Democrats to 
the home offices, but the President replied "Mr. Gifford, every Democrat in your 
territory, who amounts to anything, is arrayed on one side or the other of your 
territorial fight, or is charged with being in some corrupt transaction.  They 
are mixed up in your quarrels and are not fit to hold office." Judge Spencer 
created a great sensation almost immediately.  There was of course an intense 
feeling among the Dakotans against the importation of office seekers. Judge 
Spencer, though considered a fair lawyer possessed an irascible temper and was 
rather arbitrary upon the bench. On the 17th of June he was holding court in 
Watertown when a man named James Harkness was upon trial for the forgery of a 
real estate mortgage. He had confessed his fault to the sheriff and other 
witnesses, but upon the trial his counsel, at the close of the testimony for the 
prosecution, moved a dismissal upon the ground that the body of the crime was 
not proven. Judge Spencer advised the jury that a prima facia case had not been 
made and that they might find for the defendant.  The jury, however, asked to 
retire and remained out for a long time when the Judge ordered them brought into 
court, where the foreman reported that they had not agreed, whereupon they were 
dismissed.  Hon. Frank Crane, then a resident of Watertown, telegraphed the fact 
to the Huronite newspaper. The next day, after judge Spencer had dismissed the 
Watertown term and his court was not in session, the Huronite published the news 
item under the head "God Bless the Jury.  A Watertown Jury Defies the 
Carpetbagger." A few days later, upon the affidavit of George Cooper, a young 
Democratic lawyer of Huron, the publishers of the Huronite, Augustine Davis, 
Herbert Crouch and John Longstaff, and the editorial writer, Julius W. Shannon, 
were arrested for contempt of court in the matter of said publication.

	The case was tried before Judge Spencer himself on July 12th, the 
prosecution being conducted by A. B. Melville and A. W. Burtt, and the defense 
by Hugh J. Campbell and Robert B. Tripp, of Yankton, and Josiah Mellette, of 
Watertown.  The testimony was taken from a large number of witnesses and the 
court was manifestly convinced that the state had a good case. While the case 
was pending the Fourth of July celebration took place and this case was made the 
subject of comment in very many public addresses as an attempt to throttle free 
speech and popular liberty in Dakota.  There was genuine indignation everywhere, 
and, groundless as it appears from this distance of time, there was some 
unfeigned alarm.  At the conclusion of the testimony Judge Spencer summed up the 
matter by reciting the facts in the case, dwelling upon the point that the jury 
had not defied the court, and then gave the Huronite an opportunity to correct 
the false impression occasioned by its headlines.  This the Huronite did and the 
matter ended there.  The entire matter was rather puerile and unworthy, at 
another time, of the attention which it attracted, but in the tense situation 
which already existed in Dakota affairs it was magnified into an incident of the 
first importance and furnished matter for oratory and editorial fulminations for 
weeks.

	The legislature convened at Bismarck on the 11th of January, and elected 
George A. Mathews, of Brookings, president of the council and T. A. Kingsbury, 
of Watertown, clerk. George G. Crose, of Highmore, was elected speaker and W. G. 
Eakins, of Gary, chief clerk. John Cain, Melvin Grigsby, Charles H. Sheldon, A. 
W. Campbell, Frank Washabaugh, E. G. Smith, John D. Lawler, Jacob Schnaidt, 
Frank R. Aikin, E. C. Ericson, Frank A. Morris were some of the strong and well 
known South Dakotans who were in that body.

	After the nomination of Governor Church there was some delay pending his 
confirmation and the first of February having arrived. Governor Pierce desiring 
to enter into a business engagement, turned the office over to Secretary M. L. 
MeCormack, who acted as governor until the confirmation of Mr. Church, on the 
5th. During this time a bill which had passed both houses extending the time of 
residence before divorce proceedings could be commenced to one entire year was 
presented to him and he vetoed it. Much of the divorce scandal which has stained 
the good name of Dakota is attributable to that veto.  The important features of 
the session were the passage of laws submitting the question of division of the 
territory to a vote, at the election in November, and a county option bill, to 
also be voted upon at the November election.  Governor Church vetoed all bills 
for additional state institutions except the reform school at Plankinton. The 
most important of the additions contemplated by the legislature was the Central 
Dakota University at Aberdeen. During the previous winter the Madison Normal 
School burned and was rebuilt by the citizens; Governor Church permitted the 
citizens to be reimbursed, but would not allow twenty-five thousand dollars for 
additions.

	The total appropriations reached eleven hundred thousand dollars.

	Governor Church appointed the following South Dakotans to leading 
territorial positions Auditor, James A. Ward, of Sioux Falls; treasurer, John D. 
Lawler, of Mitchell; superintendent of schools, Eugene A. Dye, of Mellette; 
public examiner, Charles N. Harris, of Aberdeen; railway commissioners, Abraham 
Boynton, of Lennox, and N. T. Smith, of Huron; emigration commissioner, P. F. 
McClure, of Pierre. He reposed great confidence in these appointees and advised 
with them constantly.  No other governor has called to his assistance such a 
cabinet of advisors.

	During this season a line now owned by the Sault Railway, then known as 
the Aberdeen, Bismarck & Northwestern, graded a road from Aberdeen to Bismarck, 
and the Great Northern was located and graded from Watertown to Huron.  The 
Illinois Central built into Sioux Falls.

	On July 1st the first free delivery of mail in Dakota was established by 
the postoffice department at Sioux Falls. 

	The cornerstone of Redfield College was laid on July 4th.

	On July 12th, at a special election, the county seat of Brown county was 
removed from Columbia to Aberdeen.

	In July natural gas was struck on the Rathman farm, five miles from 
Pierre, but its value was not apprehended.

	A lively campaign was made for division and for local option.  The former 
prevailed at the election in November by twenty thousand majority and a majority 
of the counties voted liquor selling out.

	On the 15th of December a "one state" convention was held at Aberdeen by 
the anti-divisionists. There was a fair attendance and strong one-state 
resolutions passed, but it was not the purpose of congress to make either one or 
two Dakotas at that time.

	Hon. Frank I. Fisher, of Frankfort, a strong man and a member of the 
constitutional convention of 1885, died this autumn.