[Page 1 qc9a]
Quindaro Chindowan.
A Free-State Paper.
Vol. I. Quindaro, Kanzas, Saturday, July 11, 1857. No. 9
Printed and published by
J. M. WALDEN & CO
J. M. Walden. Edmund Babb.
SUBCRIPTIONS may be sent either to EDMUND
BABB, Gazette Office, Cincinnati, Ohio, or to J.
M. WALDEN & Co., Quindaro, Kanzas, and re-
ceipts will be returned in the first number of the
paper sent to the order.
TERMS:
ALL subscriptions payable invariably in ad-
vance.
SINGLE COPY, Two Dollars per annum. TEN
Copies to one Post Office address, $15. TWENTY
copies, and one to the person forming the Club,
$30.
CLERGYMEN who will interest themselves
in our favor, will upon notifying us, be furnished
with our paper, as an acknowledgement of our
obligation to them.
--Specimen copies sent to persons requesting
it.
BUSINESS CARDS.
J. B. WELLBORN,
Physician and Surgeon,
Tenders his professional services to the citi-
zens of Quindaro and vicinity. The Doctor has
spent several years in practice in the West, and
flatters himself that he is thoroughly posted in
the modifications of disease in this climate.
Also, special attention paid to diseases of the
Eye.
Office, No. 38 Kanzas Avenue.
Quindaro, May 20, 1857. 2tf
DR. R. M. AINSWORTH,
Office
No. 10 Kanzas Avenue.
1tf.
DR. GEO. E. BUDDINGTON,
Offers his
professional services to the citizens of Quindaro
and vicinity.
Boards at the Quindaro Hotel.
Office, No. 1 Kanzas Avenue. 1tf
M. B. Newman.
R. M. Ainsworth.
Newman & Ainsworth,
REAL ESTATE AGENTS,
Quindaro, K. T.,
Will attend Promptly to all Business in their line.
Office, No. 10, Kanzas Avenue.
References:
Hon. M. H. Nichols, M. C.- - - - - - - Lima, O.
Hon. Wm. Lawrence, C. P. Judge, Belfontaine, O.
Hon. Wm. White, C. P. Judge, Belfontaine, O.
Dunlevy, Drake & Co., Bankers, Cincinnati, O.
Henry Kip, Supt. U. S. Express, Buffalo, N. Y.
J. F. Ritcherdson, Mo. Express, St. Louis, Mo.
May 4, 1857. 1tf.
Chas. Chadwick.
H. J. Bliss.
Chadwick & Bliss,
GENERAL LAND AGENTS,
Quindaro, Kanzas.
City and Town Lots, and all kinds of Real
Estate bought and sold.
Office – On Kanzas Avenue, near the Quin-
daro House. 1tf
R. P. Gray.
J. M. Walden.
R. P. GRAY & CO.,
Real Estate & Land Agents,
No. 76, Levee, Quindaro, Kanzas,
Will promptly attend to all business entrusted to
their care.
1tf.
Kanzas Land Agency.
BLOOD, BASSETT & BRACKETT,
General Land Agents,
Surveyors and Civil Engineers,
Quindaro & Lawrence, Kanzas.
Prompt attention given to all business en-
trusted to our care.
Information given concerning every im-
portant locality in the Territory.
Refer to
Henn, Williams & Co., Bankers, Fairfield, Iowa.
A. J. Stevens & Co., Bankers, Ft. DesMoines, Iowa.
Coolbaugh & Brooks, Bankers, Burlington, Iowa.
White, Cook & Co., Bankers, Burlington, Iowa.
Col. T. A. Walker, Ft. DesMoines, Iowa.
Col. C. Bassett, Kewanee, Ill.
Hon. G. S. Boutwell, Groton, Mass.
C. Gerrish, Groton, Mass.
L. F. Potter, Cincinnati, Ohio.
May 4th, 1857. 1tf
CHAS. B. ELLIS,
Civil Engineer & Surveyor,
Attends promptly to all descriptions of Engi-
Neering and Land Surveying, on reasonable
terms. Also, attends to all kinds of land busi-
ness.
May be found at the Office of the Quindaro
Company. Also, at the Office of the Parkville,
Grand River, and Burlington Railroad Company,
Parkville, Mo.
May 4, 1857. 1tf
WYANDOTT HOUSE,
No. 2, Kanzas Avenue, Quidnaro,
E. O. Zane, - - Proprietor.
The above House is now open for the accom-
modation of the traveling public.
May 4. 1tf.
QUINDARO HOUSE,
Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5, Kanzas Avenue,
Quindaro, Kanzas.
Colby & Parker, - - Proprietors.
A line of Hacks starts every morning for Law-
rence, connecting there with routes to every part
of the Territory.
May 4, 1857.
H. M. Simpson.
O. H. Macauly.
Simpson & Macauly,
FORWARDING & COMMISSION
Merchants,
Quindaro, Kanzas.
References:
Amos A. Lawrence, - - - - - - Boston, Mass.
Prof. E. Daniels, - - - - - - Ripon, Wis.
Jno. W. Ellis, - - - - - - Cincinnati, O.
May 4, 1857. 1tf
Hall, English & Henderson,
Commission Merchants,
STORAGE AND FORWARDING,
Quindaro, Kanzas.
References: - Cushing, King & Degraw, 10
Warren St., New York. Simmons & Leadbeater,
Forwarders, St. Louis.
ROBINSON, WALKER & CO.’S
Daily
Passenger & Express Line,
From
Quindaro to Lawrence.
Fare, - - - $3,00.
The nearest and cheapest route from the Missouri
To the Interior of Kanzas.
Quindaro, May 20, 1857. 2tf.
Quindaro Chin-do-wan.
Printed and Published by
J. M. WALDEN & CO.
J. M. WALDEN,............EDITOR.
MRS. C. I. H. NICHOLS,...ASSOCIATE.
Mrs. Nichols’ articles marked N.
Saturday, July 11, 1857.
From the Chicago Tribune.
The Free State Programme.
The Free State men of Kanzas, have chalked out a bold, straight forward programme, and are inflexibly resolved to follow it out to the letter. In the first place they will pay no taxes to the usurpers, nor recognize the validity of any of their acts.
In the next place, a census will be immediately taken, of all the inhabitants and voters in the Territory.
Thirdly – An election will be held on the first Monday of August under this census, for Governor, State officers and legislature, as provided for by the Topeka Constitution.
Fourthly – Free State men will attend the polls this fall, at the Territorial election, and secure both the legislature and the delegate to Congress; which legislature, when it assembles, will immediately repeal, repudiate, wipe out, and obliterate every vestige of the acts and appointments of the bogus legislature from the day of the first invasion down to that time, and commence anew.
Fifthly – Said Legislature will submit to a vote of the people, the Topeka Constitution, which of course will be ratified by an overwhelming majority. This document will then be forwarded to Congress, and admission asked into the Union.
Sixthly – If the Constitution about being framed by the Border Ruffians, be submitted to the people, it will be quietly voted down; but if none be allowed to vote upon it but those who have been registered, the Free State men will refuse to vote, just as they have done at the recent election. Then the two Constitutions will come before Congress – one of them the work of Pro-Slavery filibusters; the other embodying the will of the vast majority of the bona fide settlers of Kanzas. And, furthermore, the latter will have the stamp of “regularity” upon it, because of its having been submitted to the people for ratification, by a Legislature created by virtue of the organic act, Douglas’ own bill; there can be no rejecting it on the ground of irregularity.
How will the Pro-Slavery part in Congress decide between the two Constitutions? People will ask these questions. But let it decide as it may, in the end the Republicans will gain the victory. If the Topeka Constitution be adopted, Kanzas will come into the Union with flying colors, as a full-blooded Republican State. If the Lecompton Constitution is chosen, as soon as she is in the Union, the Free State men will forthwith take possession of the State Government, and proceed to kick the Pro-Slavery Constitution into a thousand fragments, and adopt the Topeka one. Once in the Union as a sovereign State, they can do as they please, none daring to molest them. All the “Democracy” will gain by rejecting the Free State Constitution, and selecting the Border Ruffian one, wil be the execration, hatred and scorn of the free labor masses of the North, and heavier defeats at each subsequent election in a free State.”
All right but the Fourthly, Mr. Tribune. The people will have a Legislature of their own, before the “Full Territorial Election,” that will be amply able to carry out all their wishes.
AN ALLIGATOR CAUGHT IN CONNECTICUT. – We learn by the Willimantie Journal, that an Irishman, while fighting in a small stream in Hebron, a few days since, caught a strange customer. He saw a large body moving toward him in the water, the like of which he had never seen. At first, the Hibernian though it was the “old un” himself, and was about to take to his heels, but summoning up fresh courage, and arming himself with a big stone, he awaited the enemy, which soon made its appearance on the bank, in hostile attitude. After pelting it with stones, the man drew a large knife, which he fortunately held in his possession, and thus completed the victory. The “devil” proved to be an alligator six feet long, the skin of which is in the possession of Mr. Alanson Woodworth, of Columbia. It is a mystery how the animal got in that region. The Journal thinks he escaped from a menagerie that visited that place a short time since.
THE END OF ALL AGREEMENT – “You’re another.”
Poking Fun at the Comet.
The Philad’a papers managed to get up considerable fun about the expected visit of the comet, that did not arrive on the day of its announcement. The Journal and Bulletin filled their various editions with “special dispatches” on the comet’s progress some of the best of which we quote:
Squankum, N. J., June 13th, A. M. – Work has ceased. The people have just completed a hole in the sand two and a quarter miles in depth. The tail of the comet will be run into this, and immediately secured by a chain of circumstances. The luminous head will then be used during the coming summer to illuminate the country.
Still later, 12 o’clock M. – Great sensation everywhere – crowds rushing to Vine street – comet plainly visible in the northwest – large fiery round body – tail not perceptible – six of our debtors pay up, and ask forgiveness. **** Pshaw – the comet turns out to be a red headed girl, hanging out clothes on top of a house; great disappointment; the six debtors aforesaid come back and want to borrow. Thermometer 88 deg.
Washington Observatory, Noon. – The air smells of sulphur; attributed either to William Walker and his associates or the approaching comet. More anon.
Leo 10 1/2 A. M. – The comet has just passed and announced that he is bound to strike some one of the smaller planets of the solar system; but whether Mercury, Venus, Mar, the Earth or Uranus, it is impossible to say; most probably the latter.
Wall street New York, 11 A. M. – Jacob Little has just received a private dispatch from the Great Bear, who says the comet is sure to strike. The consequence is a great decline in Erie and New York Central. Nothing heard yet from Taurus, and the bulls are waiting anxiously.
Luna, 12 M. – The comet is coming near, and presents a very striking appearance.
Later. – The man in the moon has just been struck. It is feared that the moon cannot shine alongside of the comet.
Still later. – The man has recovered and struck back. Results still doubtful.
Arctic Circle, 1. P. M. – The North Pole has been knocked down by the comet, and the line is out of order. Send on a pole of some kind, exiled, hoop, or fishing, to repair damage.
Washington, 2 P. M. – President Buchanan has issued a proclamation warning the comet off, and threatening to send an expedition against him. Gen. William Walker has been closeted all the morning with the President, and will probably command the expedition. Of course the comet will not dare to touch the earth, and no more fears need be entertained.
A CHURCH DEAD-HEAD. – In churches sleepy heads have always been numerous, but until recently, we never heard of any one claiming “dead-head” exemption when the plate when around. Last Sunday, in a western village, when the ‘plate’ was being passed in --- Church, a gentleman said to the “collector” – “Go on’ I’m a dead-head – I’ve got a pass!”
ONE EXTREME FOLLOWS ANOTHER. – Hoops are not destined to immortality; popular as they are with the dear creatures who invented them, with a most exquisite grace – so much so, that we gaze upon the hoops of a pork barrel with a sentiment of gallantry. Their expansive proportions and engrossing dimensions are destined to collapse in 1858, if we may credit the Paris correspondent of the New York Courier, who writes – “Lank as the Recamier of 1800, the substitute for the full blown rose we now behold, the bell of 1858 will come upon us in appalling, unmitigated deformity - sans crinoline, sans basque, sans bustle, sans evad, sans everything.
THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE. – The New York Evening Post, in an account of the first locomotive on the Ohio, which was thought by some of the good people to be the comet fallen into the river, gives the following anecdote: As a counterpart of this steamboat comet story, we remember one that was told about the people of a certain village, who assembled to see the first locomotive pass by on the rails. Not one of them had the slightest idea what sort of an animal it was, and they were busy with all kinds of conjectures. A smoking and roaring monster was seen in the distance, with an unaccountably long tail behind it. Nobody supposed this to be a traveling invention, and as it approached, the good people were confounded and desperately puzzled. Fortunately, there was a “John Pedgers” in the village, and he was called on to explain it. John wiped his glasses, and looked over his nose with a profound, all-knowing gaze. After due observation, “Oh!” said he, “yes. That’s it at last!
, gentlemen; that is the thing that has kept the Congress of these United States in such a h-ll of a squabble for the last three months. That is the tariff!”
A FITTING MOMUMENT TO FRANKLIN. – The tomb of Franklin – of a plain flagstone even with the earth can be so called – is concealed from public view by a venerable brick wall at the corner of Fifth and Mulberry streets, Philadelphia. The remains of the lightning philosopher are deposited there, in the old burial ground belonging to Christ Church. An appropriate monument has been accidentally reared above them, in the shape of a telegraph post, and the lightning is at constant play over, if not under, eye of the man who first chained it to the earth.
A Good Illustration.
I head an anecdote the other day; let me close with it, to show how profound her sense of dependence on the thrift and industry of the North for the very comforts of life. That most eloquent of all Southerners, as I think, Mr. Prentiss, of Mississippi, was addressing a crowd of some 4,000 people, defending the tariff, and, in the course of an eloquent period which rose gradually to some beautiful climax, he painted the thrift, the energy, the comfort, the wealth, the civilization of the North, in glowing colors, when there rose up on the vision of the assembly, in the open air, a horseman of magnificent proportions; and, just at the moment of hushed attention, when the voice of Prentiss had ceased, and the applause was about to break forth, the horseman exclaimed, “D-n the North!” The curse was so much in unison with the habitual feeling of a Mississippi audience, that it quenched their enthusiasm, and nothing but respect for the speaker kept the crowd from applauding the ho!
rseman. Prentiss turned his lame foot around, and said, “Major Moody, will you rein in that steed a moment?” He assented. Said he, “Major, the horse on which you sit came from Upper Missouri; the saddle that surmounts him came from Trenton, N. J.; the hat on your head was made in Danbury, Conn.; the boots you wear came from Lynn, Mass.; the linen of your shirt is Irish, and Boston made it up; your broadcloth coat is of Lowell manufacture, and was cut in New York; and if today you surrender what you owe to the ‘d-d North,’ you would sit stark naked.” [Laughter and long applause.]
[Wendell Phillips.
THE CHICAGO LADIES. – A correspondent of the Boston Bee, thus crayonizes the Chicago ladies:
“Owing to the peculiarity of the water, the ladies generally wear a tallow-candle complexion, which does not admit of rouge. They have their extensive dry goods and jewelry stores, and wear out costly silks and muslins by trailing them in the streets, as do the gentle creatures of New York. Crinoline is worn at all times, though difficult to manage on the heavy grades of the side walks. Like mules, they are sure-footed, and get thro’ the doughy mud of the streets with an agility at once surprising and amusing. They do not wear veils; the parasol handle sucking is carried on as at other places, with the exception that they bite the ivory off in minute pieces, and chew it as if a slate pencil. The hours of recreation are twelve, viz: three for sitting on the stoop in the morning; three for looking out of the windows after mid-day; three for promenade in the afternoon; and three for entertainments in the evening. Regular habits are conducive to health.
MRS. JUDGE LYNCH IN MICHIGAN. – The women of Marshall, Mich., recently undertook to rid their village of the presence of a man named Lehiel Robbins, who had established a house of prostitution there. A meeting was held, the man tried, and sentenced to undergo a coating of tar and feathers and tied upon a rail. He was first requested to leave the town, but did not obey. A committee of the ladies then went to his house and knocked at the door, and when he appeard they threw a bucket of tar over his head, completely blinding him, and then proceeded to strip and cover his body with tar and an outer coat of feathers!
WHAT IS TO BE DONE IN UTAH. – General Scott is in Washington perfecting arrangements for the dispatch of troops to Utah. It is the design of the Administration, it is said, to send out the new Territorial officers with the military force, thus ensuring their safety from attack while on the journey. The final orders for the guidance of the commander of the troops are in preparation. No attempt will be made to interfere with the religious or social institutions of the Mormons, but the United States laws will be rigidly enforced. Already the troops detached for Utah are in motion. Three companies on this service passed over the New York and Erie Railroad on Monday.
THE DIFFERENCE. – The loco focos of this part of the country, headed by Isaac Toucey, insisted that, however illegal, unconstitutional, and monstrous the Bogus Laws of Kanzas were, they must be obeyed until the Courts declare them to be unconstitutional, Toucey hinged all his arguments on this position. But in the case of Mayor Wood in New York, the same set of people protest that Wood is right in resisting laws which he thinks are unconstitutional, before the Courts have decided them to be so. They condemn themselves, for if Wood is right in opposing the laws of the State, no matter how bad these laws are, then by their own confession, the people of Kanzas were right in resisting the Bogus Legislature, and the Administration is wrong in trying to subdue the people. This is their dilemma, and they cannot escape from it. - New Haven Morning Courier.
Political Items.
SMITH OF WARREN, has been nominated by the Democrats for Governor of Maine.
THE PEOPLE OF IOWA are to vote in August on the question of allowing colored men to vote on the same terms as other men.
THE QUITMAN (Texas) Free Press openly advocated the substitution of free for slave labor in that state. The Galveston News denounces it severely for its “Abolitionism.”
THE PHRASE “log-rolling” comes from the practice of the men of three or four different camps of lumber men in Maine, uniting to help each other roll their logs to the river, this being the most difficult part of their work.
POOR KANZAS! The Savannah Republican states that the attendance at a Kanzas meeting in that city was so thin that the speaker declined to make an address, although he made a few remarks on the interests of the South.
THE EDITOR of the Indianapolis Journal says he is personally acquainted with the men arrested by the U. S. Deputy Marshals in Ohio, for refusing to aid in catching niggers, and he has “never known any bad acts to have been committed by any of the persons concerned, except that two of the men voted for Frankling Pierce for President. Of this they have repented.”
SINCE THE decision of the Dred Scott case was announced, four Old Line papers in Michigan have died the death of the sinner, and two others have repented and joined the Republican party. In Indiana the same is true; the Indianapolis Journal in a single issue gives the names of the six that have recently gone under.
MAIL COACH UPSET DOWN A PRECIPICE. – On Thursday morning at seven o’clock, the Butler mail stage started from Alleghany City with an unusually large number of passengers – sixteen inside and four or five outside. Nothing worthy of note occurred until they were nine miles out, within three-quarters of a mile off Colt’s tavern, when one of the lead horses was attacked with the “blind staggers” and rolled over the side of the road, pulling along the other leader, together with the shaft horses and the coach, down a precipice some thirty feet deep, with rocks at the bottom. Several passengers were very badly hurt, although wonderful to relate, none were killed.
A STONE-EATER. – We saw this morning, says the Rochester Union, a singular specimen of humanity, who was gathering contributions of money from the spectators, and repaid them by swallowing pebbles. We saw six stones, weighing from one to two ounces each, swallowed successively by this man, and were assured by others, that he had within an hour swallowed nearly fifty of the same sort. There was no deception in the matter. The man crossed his hands upon his back and allowed any one of the spectators to drop the stones in his mouth; and each was plainly swallowed. He was content to swallow stones at the rate two cents apiece as long as the spectators would furnish the money.
NEW ROUTE FOR EMMIGRATION. – A recent western paper tells us that large numbers of European emigrants are reaching our Western States and Territories through Canada. An instance is mentioned in which six hundred persons were sent to Milwaukee by the Canada line. This current will, it is said, continue throughout the season. Already, thousands have gone by it to Minnesota, Iowa and Kanzas. By way of explanation, it is said that robberies, frauds, and outrages perpetrated on emigrants landing at New York, and at almost every city on the northern route to the West, for a series of years, especially at Albany and Buffalo, have caused a desire in Europe among the emigrating classes, that the New York route should be avoided.
WHAT IS SAID OF THEM. – Hon. B. Gratz Brown, the editor of the St. Louis (Mo.) Democrat, whose noble championship in the emancipation movement in Missouri, the whole East has admired, has been stopping for a short time at the Tontine, visiting his old friends in this city and in Yale College. He says the greatest enemies of Freedom in the Southwest are Northern doughfaces, who think they make themselves popular by being intensely pro-slavery, whereas they are held in contempt by the better part of the Southern people. - New Haven (Ct.) Paper.
THE WILDERNESS IN NEW YORK. – The town of Wilmot, Herkimer county, runs far back into the wilderness. Its voting population number six. Mr. Lane, an intelligent lumberman, is the Supervisor. To take his place in the board on Monday, he had to travel over eighty miles - thirty of which he had to perform on foot. Such an incident would not perhaps be worth narrating in Kanzas or Minnesota; but it is a noteworthy fact happening in the State of New York. - Albany evening Journal.
Religious Items.
THE Richmond, Va., Enquirer states that at a meeting holden on Monday last, the Baptist Association of Virginia, by an almost unanimous vote, resolved to “withdraw their countenance and support from the American Tract Society.”
THE CHURCH of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, which dismissed Rev. Dudley A. Tyng from its rectorship, because he would not silently acquiesce in public sins, has found it impossible to secure a rector of the right stamp at the North, and has called Rev. William Otis Prentiss, of Walterboro, S. C. The fact is creditable to the Episcopal clergymen of the free States.
THE annual meeting of the Quakers was held at Newport, R. I., on Sunday, June 14th. Then large, plain-looking church was filled all day by the Friends, dressed in their simple costumes. Report says that the preaching, when the spirit moved a brother or sister to speak was to the point, practical and honest.
A WRITER in the New York Observer says that the state of religion is low in Texas; “not more than one-sixth of the inhabitants of Austin and vicinity ever go to a place of worship; but we have no political preaching.” This last negative excellence he evidently considers an equivalent for the lack of religious interest.
AT Coldwater, Michigan, on Sunday night, June 14, some scoundrel placed two or three kegs of powder under the Catholic meeting-house, and fired it, blowing the church into a mass of ruins, and terribly alarming the citizens by the terrific explosion.
THE Boston Trumpet says there is not a Universalist preacher in Connecticut who has sustained his present pastoral relation for five years.
A MOVEMENT is now in progress among the Baptists in and near Boston whereby, a Mariner’s Bethel Mission Ship Company has been formed, the object being the moral and religious culture and welfare of seamen. The Company propose to build a first class ship, to be called the Adoniram Judson, raising the funds by issuing certificates of stock, as in the case of the Morning Star. It is intended to place the ship in a profitable business, and devote one half the incomes to missionary objects. The other half is to become a dividend among those who take stock to the amount of $50, or more. She will be officered and sailed by those of known ability and piety, and will become, in the fullest sense, a Floating Bethel, wherever she may chance to be, whether in port, or on her voyage to the distant isles of the sea.
FATHER SAWYER, the venerable centenarian preacher of Maine, has now passed his 102d year, though his health remains good.
THE NEXT ANNUAL MEETING of the American Board will be held at Providence, R. I., commencing on Tuesday, September 8th.
REV. MR. SPURGEON concludes not to visit this country at present. His American publishers have forwarded $1,000 as the result of three months’ sale of his sermons here.
Pearls of Thought.
GOD MADE Washington childless, that a nation might call him father.
LET VIRTUE and truth be your guides, and not pleasure and interest.
A COAT out at the elbow may be buttoned over a generous breast.
A FALSE FRIEND is like a shadow on a dial; it appears in clear weather, but vanishes as soon as a cloud appears.
ETERNITY. – Eternity has not gray hairs. The flowers fade, the heart withers, man grows old and dies; the world lies down in the sepulchre of ages, but time writes no wrinkles on the brow of eternity. – Eternity! Stupendous thought! The ever present, unborn, undecaying and undying – the endless chain, compassing the life of God – the golden thread entwining the destinies of the universe. Earth has it beauties, but time shrouds them for the grave; its honors, they are but the sunshine of an hour; its palaces, they are but as gilded sepulchres; its possessions, they are toys of changing fortune; its pleasures, they are but bursting bubbles. Not so in the untried bourne. In the dwelling of the Almighty can come no footsteps of decay. Its day will know no darkening – eternal splendors forbid the approach of night. Its fountains will never fall – they are fresh from the eternal throne. Its glory will never wane, for there is the ever present God. Its harmonies will never cease’ e!
xhaustless love supplies the song.
THE MOTHER’S INFLUENCE. – The solid rock, which turns the edge of the chisel, bears forever the impression of the leaf and the acorn received long since, ere it had become hardened by time and the elements. If we trace back to its fountain, the mighty torrent which fertilizes the land with its copious streams, or sweeps over it with devastating flood, we shall find it dripped in crystal drops from some mossy crevice among the distant hills; so too, the gentle feelings and affections that enrich and adorn the heart, and the mighty passions that sweep away all the barriers of the soul and desolate society, may have sprung up in the infant bosom in the sheltered retirements of home. “I should have been an atheist,” said John Randolph, “if it had not been for one recollection; and that was the memory of the time, when my departed mother used to take my little hands in hers, and cause me on my knees to say, ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’” - R. I. Schoolmaster.
TOO BAD. – There are at the present over one hundred convicts in the Ohio Penitentiary under twenty-one years of age. Two boys were sent from Cleveland last week under fifteen. The whole number of prisoners is 632.
THE NEW Parliament House in Canada (the site of which has not yet been determined upon) is to cost $1,300,000. This sum has been appropriated, and is to be borrowed in Europe by the Governor, now on his way out.
THE ALTA Californian received by the last steamer says: It is estimated by those fully competent to judge of such matters that more than fifteen millions of gold now lie buried in the ground in various parts of the State, secreted solely for safe keeping.
IT IS SAID that a gentleman of Salem has an umbrella, still in good order, which he has used on all proper occasions for forty-seven years. He imported it from Liverpool in the year 1810, and it has been serviceable during all the intervening period.
Edwin Eldridge, a school teacher of Louisville, New York, has been committed for trial on the charge of poisoning Sarah Jane Gould, a widow, whom he stated that he intended to marry. Arsenic was found in his valise, and he attempted also to poison himself.
THE DAY weather in Kanzas in not extending through the country. Letters from New England and New York, state that the farmers there are greatly incommoded by the incessant and heavy rains. In Minnesota, there is now a heavy flood, which is doing great damamge.
DR. JOHNSON says of female preaching: “People flock to hear a woman preach, not because she preaches well, but because she preaches any how; just as they go to see a dog walk on his hind legs, though he does not walk on them near so well as a man.”
A bad compliment to the audience!
THE PRICE of calling a man a corn thief in Texas is high. The Woodville Messenger says that at the late term of the District court in that county the most important civil case tried was a slander suit, in which a Frenchman was sued for calling another a corn thief. The jury assessed the damages at $5000.
THEY ARE tearing down the old tavern at Trenton, N. J., in which Rhal, the Hessian commander, died. It was built a long time before the Revolution. The rooms are ransacked by enthusiastic curiosity-hunters, picking up choice bits of the ancient carving and the old-fashioned Dutch tile under the mantle piece.
AFTER ALL that has been said of Mormonism, that nefarious society receives constant accessions. One hundred and twenty persons have lately gone from Alton, 800 have passed through Pennsylvania, 300 have gone through Rock Island, and the Cleveland Plaindealer says that 2500 will leave that city, all for Utah.
THE SUGAR crop of Vermont this year is estimated by the Montpelier Watchman at over 8,300 tons, which is nearly half of the maple crop of the nation, as returned in 1850, and one-eighteenth of the sugar crop of the United States. At 10 cents per pound, this year’s crop amounts to $2,660,165. A good deal of sweetening, that.
THE SOUTHERN Journal of Medical and Physical Science states that a boy in the vicinity, eight years of age, has his lower extremities turned completely ‘round. – There are no knee pans; the joints bend backwards, so that when he kneels the lower parts of the legs are in front of the body. The heels are in front and the toes behind.
THE LONDON Times newspaper is printed in an antique, dingy looking building in Printing House Square, and the rooms are all low, dark and uninviting. Eighty-eight compositors are always at work in advertisements, and forty-three more work on parliamentary debates and other matter. Four presses are required to work off the morning edition, and to take advantage of these four presses, part of the paper is regularly electrotyped. The daily edition of the Times is 53,000.
THE BOSTON Post says that the first telegraphic dispatch to be transmitted across the ocean will be the compliments of Mr. Buchanan, President of the United States, to Queen Victoria; and the return dispatch will convey Her Majesty’s reply. The third dispatch will be from England, and will be it is said, a complimentary tribute to Horace B. Tobbetts, Esq., the original projector of this great enterprise. Mr. Tobetts was for many years a resident of Boston, and is now of New York. He has devoted the last six years of his time almost exclusively to the enterprise now so near completion. Hurrah for Tobetts!
Things Wise and Otherwise.
SAD BEREAVEMENT. – A young man named Knox, a printer, has met with a sad bereavement. An uncle, whom he had never seen, died the other day, and left him $75,000. Mr. Knox has the sympathy of the entire craft.
THE WAY OF THE WORLD. - First Boy: “Say, Bill, then you’re getting a dollar a week now?”
Second Boy: “Well, you might a known that, by seein’ all the fellers come soapin’ around me, that wouldn’t a noticed me when I was poor.”
AN ADVERTISEMENT in the Toledo Blade announces that the “Steamboat Niagara is in the field.” It was always suggested the place of a steamboat was in the water, but the water, but things have apparently changed. – Wonder if she runs on the plank road, and if gatekeepers can legally charge toll on her.
Transcribed by Shannon McElroy
[Page 2 qc9b]
QUINDARO CHIN-DO-WAN.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
J. M. WALDEN & CO.
J.M. WALDEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . EDITOR.
MRS. C.I.H. NICHOLS. . . . .
. . . . ASSOCIATE.
Mrs. Nichols’ articles marked. . . . N.
Saturday, July 11, 1857
-The latest numbers of the Chindowan may laways be obtained in
Leavenworth, of Messrs. Claypole & Newby, periodical Agents, on Delaware
Street.
-A.C. CARTER Esq. The Messenger of Ritcherdson’s Express, on the Lightning
Line Steamer Tropic has placed us under obligations by law St. Louis
papers.
-To M. HUTCHINS, the courteous Clerk of the Cataract, our
acknowledgements are due for late Eastern papers, and other river favors. -
Thank you Sir!
-Mr. Ives, the Messenger of Ritcherdson’s Mo. Express on the Steamer New
Lucy, please accept our thanks for files of St. Louis papers.
-We are indebted to Messrs. J.S. LENIVE of this town, and W.G. M’DOWELL of
Evansville, Ind., for a handsome club from the last named city. Such approvals
of our positions, fortified by a cash remittance, are substantial.
-For an excellent file of papers, embracing the latest dates from New York,
St. Louis, Jefferson City, and several other points in Missouri, we are indebted
to D. N. GREENLEAF. Esq, the Clerk of the fast steamer Polar Star. On the
evening of the 6th inst., he laid on our table New York papers of the 1st. About
as quick time we apprehend, as anybody can reasonably expect.
The Issue Now Before Us.
The Convention which meets at Topeka on
Wednesday next, will determine to a great extent the future policy of the Free
State men of Kanzas. It is of vital importance therefore, that the subject
should be weighed well in all its bearings, that the Convention may act with
wisdom, deliberation, and fidelity to the best interests of the people.
It is now conceded by all that if the Bogus Lecompton Convention should ever
meet, any Constitution which it may adopt will be voted down, regardless of its
character. The only remaining question is: Shall the Topeka Constitution and
State Government be sustained? Those who say it should not, urge in support of
that view: That a majority of the present citizens of Kanzas never voted for the
Topeka Constitution, and do not desire it: That our early admission to the Union
is vastly important, to enable us to obtain land grants from the General
Government, for Railroads, Schools, and other purposes: and That the Democratic
Congress and Administration, having once said that Kanzas shall not come into
the Union under the Topeka Constitution, will never abandon that position.
“Therefore,” they urge, “let us drop the old movement, - commence anew, - frame
a Constitution not particularly obnoxious to anybody, and so walk right into the
Union.” In reply we submit:
I. That the Topeka Constitution and Government were inaugurated after mature
reflection, by the largest delegate Convention ever held in Kanzas. The Free
State residents then endorsed it by a heavy majority - almost unanimously. They
adhered to it through a long and weary struggle, against fearful odds. - Many of
the immigrants of the present season, came here expressly because they
sympathized with this movement. To say that a majority of them now oppose it is
at best but a loose assertion. To act upon that assertion before hearing an
expression of their opinion through the memorial now in circulation, would be a
manifest injustice.
II. An overwhelming majority of the people of Kanzas came here from the free
North - from Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio - from New York and New England.
They are the men who have built the railroads and school houses for half the
Continent: and are they now so utterly incapable of providing for
themselves in this respect that they must abandon a principle for a few
land grants? Such an argument might have appealed to Judas Iscariot; but we
think it will hardly influence those to whom it is offered here.
III. The question involved is not, “Shall we immediately succeed - will
Congress admit us at once?” but “Is our position right?” If it is, and we are
actuated by principle, we shall adhere to it. What great and good movement in
the world’s history would ever have triumphed had its friends abandoned it
because time and effort were necessary to the achievement of success? Was that
the spirit of Luther, and the fathers of our Republic? But in this case we
must triumph. Within the last year the sham Democracy has abandoned its
attempts to force Slavery upon Kanzas by violence. Within the last month, its
representative here has eaten his own words about collecting the taxes; and all
because the people showed a united front. If they can divide and distract us
among ourselves - as they are straining every nerve to do, by fair promises,
through open foes and professed friends - they certainly will not succumb. But
if we stand up, shoulder to shoulder, refusing to be either bullied or bought,
and knock at the door of the Union with any Constitution we (???) to adopt, is
there a man in his struggle to believe they dare keep us (???)? The “National
Democracy” (???) too well, to commit suicide by (???) upon such a rock - a rock
that would shatter it into a thousand pieces, and sink it below any plummet’s
depth.
All admit that the Topeka Constitution is fundamentally a good one; but its
merits or demerits are not the leading issue in this emergency. Because it is
the Topeka Constitution the rotten Democracy opposes it so bitterly, and
wince so violently at the prospect of its being crammed down their throats. But
Popular Sovereignty is their own bantling: for three years they have boasted of
it as their offspring, their latest and best beloved, and most promising child
at that. Let us make them father it now. Surely a little of their own medicine –
their universal panacea - will have a wholesome effect upon their political
bowels! Let us say to Messrs. Douglass and Buchanan, as Meg Merriles said to
Domine Sampson: Gape, Sinner, and swallow!”
The Lecompton Convention may yet attempt to force a Constitution upon us,
without submitting it to a vote of the people. In that case, if we still adhere
to the Topeka movement, we have already a Constitution and State Government with
which to meet them; we are first in the field, and are sure to conquer. When
they present their Constitution - with its seventeen hundred votes for
Convention framing it - to Congress next winter, ours may go up, side by side
with it, accompanied by a memorial from more than ten thousand of the voters of
Kanzas. With possession of the next General Assembly, which we are sure to have,
we may wipe out every vestige of the Bogus Legislation leaving the Topeka laws
our only government.
The N. Y. Day Book-an accredited organ of the Administration - says
editorially:
“All the South wants is Kanzas is sound opinion - the ascendancy of Democracy
- a population that will always vote as Virginia and Mississippi vote!”
All that seems to be desired now, is to make Kanzas a “National Democratic
Free State.” The men who oppose the Topeka Constitution, and who have always
opposed it, are practically working for the same end. Their statement that the
movement has “answered the purpose for which it was instituted,” Is a mere
catch-word - it means nothing. Let us join them if we would give plausibility to
the falsehood of our enemies, that they have made Kanzas a Free State -
if we would “always vote as Virginia and Mississippi vote” - if we would relieve
from its present embarrassment the Border Ruffian Democracy, which inaugurated
all this violence and fraud, which is responsible for the blood shed in Kanzas,
and which still continues to insult our people, by turning Courts of Justice
into a wretched farce, and by rewarding, with its most lucrative and responsible
offices, the murderers and house-burners of last year.
But if we would encourage all those, everywhere, who are laboring for Freedom
and the Rights of Man - if we would be true to ourselves, to the pioneers of
Kanzas, to that party in the North which went up to the ballot box last Fall
with the solid tramp of a million and a half of men, every one of whom gave his
vote for the measure we are now considering - if we would vindicate the
principles on which our Government is founded - if we would establish a
precedent that shall influence all future struggles between Fraud in Power, and
the Integrity and Manliness of the people - let us plant ourselves on the Topeka
Constitution and the State Government, and adhere to them unitedly and
inflexibly. R.
The Leavenworth Convention.
We report elsewhere, the proceedings of
a meeting of the Free State men of Quindaro, at which they elected their own
delegates to the Topeka Convention - repudiating the County Convention called at
Leavenworth. We also give the action of the self-styled County Convention held
afterwards at Leavenworth, which, regardless of the action of our people,
appointed another set of delegates to represent us at Topeka.
In the last issue of the CHINDOWAN, we published the call for the County
Convention, desirous that such action might be taken as would give Quindaro a
fair representation in the Topeka Convention. Mature reflection on the matter,
convinces us, as we think it must every unbiased mind, that the action of the
Quindaro meeting was right that the Leavenworth Convention assured powers
altogether unwarrantable. The facts seem to be these:
I. The Leavenworth gathering was a mass, instead of a delegate
Convention, and therefore gave to the other precincts, no fair weight, even had
they participated in it. II. It was called without authority - without any
previous organization of the party - by a few citizens of Leavenworth. III. The
call for the Topeka Convention provides for sending delegates direct from “the
voting precincts,” not from counties; this has been the usual course n the past;
and to act as a county here, involves considerable inconvenience and expense, to
say nothing of it’s recognizing the sets pf the bogus. Legislature. IV. No
official or general notice of Leavenworth Convention was given thro’ the county:
in may localities it was not heard of at all; in short it was practically a
Convention of Leavenworth City, and not of Leavenworth county.
The corner stone of the Clay Monument was laid at Lexington, Ky., on th
Fourth, before an immense assembly of people of people. Rev.R. J. Breckinridge
was the orator.
The Tax Question-“A Little Salutary Restraint.”
Gov. Walker has
very properly decided that taxes shall be assessed, and shall be collected for
the support of the territorial government; and it seems probable that the
ultimate issue between the Government and the Abolition traitors of Lawrence
will be made upon this question.
Now, be it observed that we do not claim, and never have claimed, that the
Kanzas Legislature was properly chosen. Still, no lawyer whose opinion is worth
anything, will pretend that it did not become by Reader’s action a legal
body. We do not claim that all its acts were just and proper; still they never
were practically oppressive, for they were never enforced, and are now so
modified that there can be no real cause of complaint. Yet, a portion of the
Free State men refuse to recognize their binding force, and declare that they
will not pay the taxes assessed under them.
This throws the (?) into a practical shape, and Gov. Walker has distinctly
avowed his purpose to meet it boldly. We hope he will, for impunity in treason
has made men audacious, and they need now a little salutary restraint.
They have been indulged so long, because sometimes, under circumstances which
have existed, the moral sentiment of our people would revolt at a strict legal
accountability. These circumstances exist no longer. There is no reason why Gov.
Robinson should not pay his taxes; we hope he will be compelled to do it, at
the tail of a writ, or if necessary, a rope. If he desires to get up anther
“Whiskey Insurrection,” he should understand at once that he does it at his
peril.
We take the above exquisite extract, from an editorial in the Union
Democrat, published at Manchester, N.H. If the old Pythagorean theory of the
transmigration of souls be true, it is reasonable to expect that the spirit of
Border Ruffianism - which has about departed from the flesh here, - should turn
up somewhere; and we certainly can’t conceive of any more appropriate dwelling
place for it, than the form of a man who advocates the sham of Democracy and the
“crushing out” of Freedom, under the very shadow of the Granite hills.
The Democrat’s idea about “salutary restraint,” is refreshing. Like
Hamlet’s “mobbled queen,” “salutary restraint” is “good!” Gov. Walker it is
true, when he first came here, announced that the taxes imposed upon the people
of Kanzas, to defray the expenses incurred in tearing down their houses,
throwing their printing presses into the river, and stealing their personal
property, must be paid. But now, Gov. Walker has stated repeatedly both
publicly and privately, within the last three weeks, that he shall not attempt
to collect them. Why bless your soul, Mr.Democrat, it would take a “rope”
longer than from here to the comet, to “compel” any Free State man in Kanzas, to
pay those taxes! And it is more than probable, that any official, high or low,
who should endeavor in earnest to collect them, would find himself very suddenly
brought under your own excellent mode of treatment - “a little salutary
restraint.”
Down at Paoli, the other day, as we have stated elsewhere, a Free State man
was called out to make a speech; and because be told them a few ugly truths,
some of your political brethren attempted, by the “compelling” process to put
him down. But they didn’t do it! They found themselves under “a little salutary
restraint.”
At Leavenworth, on the occasion of the recent election, a prominent Border
Ruffian became involved in an affray with a Free State man, and was killed. The
author of the homicide was immediately arrested; yet your friends again
(forgetting that the old regime had passed away) threatened with all
sorts of imprecations, not to wait for a fair and legal investigation, but to
take him out, and wreak summary vengeance upon him, in the very way you suggest
– “at the end of a rope.” But they suddenly abandoned the project, on finding
themselves under a “restraint,” which, if not essentially “little,” was
unquestionably very “salutary.”
And you will see by the report in another column, that a few days since, Gov.
Robinson - our Free State Governor - the same gentleman who hasn’t paid his
taxes - addressed a public meeting of the citizens of Missouri, thirty miles
back from the river, at their own request - on the Fourth of July too - and was
not only courteously treated but was loudly applauded by them!
Now don’t you think, Mr. Democrat, that you are carrying the thing a
little too far - doing rather more work than your Washington and South Carolina
overseers expect - and consequently more than you will ever get paid for?
Federal officers and Land Speculations.
The rumors to which we
recently alluded, of the Territorial Governor being engaged in a gigantic Land
Speculation, are beginning to assume a more tangible shape; and it is now
reported that Gov. Walker, in company with Ex-Governor Bigler, of Pa. and some
other parties, has purchased of the Indians (subject, of course, to the approval
of the authorities at Washington) upwards of twenty thousand acres of valuable
timbered lands in or near “the Wea country.”
Personally, we know of no reason why Gov. Walker should not engage in any
honorable business operation, which promise to be remunerative, and does not
conflict with his not-very-arduous official duties. But we are profoundly
solicitous for the reputation of the “Democratic” party. We are intensely
anxious that that rare jewel, consistency, shall be found a part of their stock
in trade. Don’t we all know that Gov. Reeder was removed for the heinous
offenses of engaging in land speculation? And when he fell, did’nt Judges
Johnston and Elmore, like Jack and Gill in the nursery rhyme, “come tumbling
after” for the same cause? The grand question now is, whether what was sauce for
the goose shall be sauce for gander? Brutus-like, we “pause for a reply.”
The Leavenworth Affray.
The (???) of the ample report of the
testimony in this case, which we print on another page. But that evidence is
sufficient to show every candid reader that the whole case where quite another
aspect from that presented by the portion of the testimony given in our last
issue.
That Haller may have acted hastily and perhaps culpably, we shall not deny.
But that he committed - as was alleged - a wanton and cold-blooded murder, it
clearly disproved. The action of the magistrates in refusing to discharge
Mitchell at the close of the evidence for Prosecution, and thus keeping out
altogether his important testimony, was palpably unfair. Their suqsoquent
conduct, in disregarding Haller’s right to be admitted to bail, and Judge
Lecompte’s confirmation of it, were beyond all question, arbitrary, unjust, and
unprecedented.
Under the bogus Statues by which both these Courts are sworn to be governed,
magistrates may take bail for appearance and final trial, in all cases except
those of murder in the first degree. Even that offense is bailable by a District
Judge, at his discretion. In this examination, six material witnesses - so far
as we can learn, all men of reliability - were introduced by the Defense. The
first saw Lyle start towards Haller, with his dagger or dirk-knife raised; the
second saw him waiting near by, with the knife half concealed, and then rushing
up to Haller, cursing him, and appearing “as if he intended to fight;” a third
saw him run a Haller, and strike at him with the knife before any weapon had
been drawn upon him; another saw him in wait, with the knife in his hand just
previous to the affray; and the two remaining witnesses also saw the knife, and
saw the deceased start with it for the crowd, directly towards Haller.
In the face of all this, Judge Lecompte decides that Haller was not in a
state of excitement, was not in a sudden affray, and was not in danger of bodily
harm! He palpably misrepresents the testimony. He calls the dirk or dagger,
which one of the witnesses swears was from eight to twelve inches long, a “small
knife:” and concludes that if Lyle had such a knife at all he did not intend to
use it offensively!
Would it not have been more manly in Judge Lecompte to have spared the people
and the prisoner the insult of hearing all this talk about the “peace of
society,” and the consistency of his past course? He might have confirmed the
judgment of the Court below, without giving any reasons. Or he might have left a
better impression than he did, by saying frankly: “Mr. Haller, it is true that I
bailed Hays after he murdered Buffum in cold blood; it is true that no
pro-slavery man has ever been convicted and punished in this Court for
any outrage; it is true that the strictest construction of your case
would leave it far short of murder, and therefore bailable. But you are a Free
State man: you have facts in your possession, which, whenever some prominent
ruffians are brought to trial for outrages they have committed, will tell
fearfully against them; you have been unsparing in denunciation of their
character and acts, and therefore you are a marked man. We are not satisfied
with your having been insulted, deprived of your property, and driven from the
Territory, but you must be sacrificed, now. Therefore you cannot be admitted to
bail. Therefore you will be taken form this Court-room by a company of United
States soldiers, and imprisoned, not in the ordinary place provided by law,
but at the Fort - to await the mockery of a final trial.”
We would not speak with unjust severity; but what other rational construction
can be put upon the language and conduct of Judge Lecompte? That Haller should
tried - fairly tried - for killing James Lyle, would unquestionably be right.
But when he is to be tried for being a Free State man, it becomes quite another
matter. With the Sheriff (whose duty it is to select the jury) an old member of
the Kickapoo Ranger, with Lecompte to determine all questions as to bias or
competence of those jurors - with the same Court and officers that permitted
Fugit to escape, through means notorious in this community - what earthly
chances is there for him to receive that just and impartial hearing which is the
right of every American citizen? R.
-Gov. Walker and suite are stopping at Leavenworth, to aid in enforcing the
decisions of Judge Lecompte’s Court, by the aid of United States Troops.
-We learn from O. A. Basset, Esq., of a rumor that a fatal shooting affray -
originating in a contested claim - occurred at Osawkee two or three days since.
Particulars not received.
-The St. Louis Republican says that the fitting out of the troops for
Utah, has caused the disbursement, in the State of Missouri alone, of from
twelve to fifteen hundred thousand dollars.
-Senator Trumbull addressed the citizens of Springfield, Ill., on the 29th
ult., in a most able, logical and convincing speech showing completely the
hyprocricy, inconsistency and rottenness of the “National Democracy,” and its
unscrupulous advocate, Douglas. Judge Trumbull is one of the ablest men of the
day, and the “little giant” may well to fear to meet him before the people.
(Reported for the Quindaro Chindowan.)
Convention at
Leavenworth
Speeches by Messrs. Parrott, Davis, Parry, Moore, Green
and Holman.
Resolutions - Delegates Elected for Topeka - County
Committee appointed - Who Participated in the Convention.
In pursuance of a call, published in the Leavenworth Times, a
Convention assuming to act for the Free State men of this County, was held at
Leavenworth City on Wednesday, July 8th.
It was organized by appointing C. F. Currier, President, and R. W. Hamer,
Secretary.
After the appointment of Committees on Permanent Organization, Apportionment
of the County, and Resolutions, the Convention took a noon recess.
When it re-assembled, the Committee on Apportionment made a report, giving
each of the voting precincts in the County the following number of Delegates to
the Topeka Convention, which meets on the 15th inst:
Leavenworth, . . 8 Kickapoo . . . . 1
Quindaro, . . . 2 Pennocks . . . .
1
Wyandott, . . . 2 Alexandria . . . 1
Delaware, . . . 1 Mt. Pleasant,. .
1
Easton, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
This Apportionment being accepted, the Committee on Resolutions, through R.
Crozier, Esq., of the Times, submitted the following report:
WHEREAS, Political circumstances now surround us which did not exist, and
were not anticipated at the time of the Free State Convention, in March last;
and
WHEAREAS, These circumstances demand original, immediate, enlightened, and
energetic action on the part of the Free State citizens of this Territory,
Resolved, That the movement for a State Government inaugurated at
Topeka has already served the purpose for which it was instituted, that it is
impractical and impolitic to carry it further, and that pure patriotism, common
sense, and a just regard for the material interests of the Territory, demand
another line of policy to be pursured.
Resolved. That the people of this County nowhere, in Convention
assembled, are of opinion that the Fee State men of the Territory should go into
an election for officers of the Territory, and for a Delegate to Congress at the
ensuing election, and that the Free State party of the Territory, when in
Convention assembled, at Topeka, on the 15th inst. be urged to coincide with us
in the course above indicated, as the best way out of the difficulties now
surrounding us.
MARCUS J. PARROTT, Esq., being called for, addressed the Convention, taking
strong ground against the Topeka movement, urging that it would be insanity for
the Free State party longer to adhere to it, and that the position assumed by
the resolutions is the correct one, and should be adopted at Topeka on the 15th
inst.
Dr. DAVIS followed him, taking substantially the same position.
Mr. PARRY, the next speaker, dissented from the views which had been
expressed, and urged adherence to the Topeka Constitution as the only right,
effective, and consistent policy, in the present emergency.
JOHN I. MOORE, Esq., replied to Mr. Parry, opposing in (?), the Topeka
movement; urging that not one twentieth of the Free State men of the interior of
the Territory, (where he had been travelling for a month,) were in favor of it;
that the only hope of the Free State party was to unite - abandon the State
Government - go into the Territorial election in the Fall, obtain the
Legislature, and wipe out altogether the infamous bogus laws.
J. C. GREEN, Esq., (Senator from Leavenworth in the Free State Legislature,)
next took the floor, and made a few remarks. He did not wonder at the hostility
exhibited by the previous speakers towards the Topeka movement - they were the
very men who had always opposed it. But he could tell the gentlemen who
were so earnestly in favor of union, that it would be utterly impossible for the
Free State party of Kanzas to unite on the basis they had proposed. In many
localities - through a large portion of the Territory - the people were almost
unanimous for the Topeka Constitution and State Government. They would adhere to
it against all the opposition, - under all circumstances - and to expect them to
join in abandoning it, was simply to expect an impossibility. But if the Free
State men of Leavenworth would go into the election of a Legislature, on the
first Monday in August, they might unite with them in the October election -
choose the same men members of the Territorial Legislature, and thus find
themselves together at last.
O. B. HOLMAN, Esq., then made a brief speech, admitting that the Topeka
movement was proper and necessary at the time of its inauguration, but urging
that to continue it now was but a mere farce.
The questions now came up, off the resolutions as reported, and they were
carried.
The Committee on Organization, through V. B. Holman, Esq., Chairman,
submitted the following
REPORT:
That they recommend at this Convention the appointment of a
Committee of five persons, whose duty it shall be to call County Conventions and
County Meetings of the Free State party.
That said Committee be also empowered to appoint’ Township Committees
throughout County.
That the said Committee do, as soon as they can get from the Marshal the
number of voters in the Towns of this County, establish a basis of
representation for the Towns of the County - Axing the number of delegates each
Town will be entitled to in Delegate County Conventions.
That this Committee held office one year.
Report accepted and adopted.
On motion, Messrs. Moore Parrot, and Crozier were appointed a Committee to
suggest names of Delegates to Topeka Convention.
The Committee reported, and chose the following named gentleman:
Henry Foote Stephen Sparks,
F. Miles Moore, C. F. Carrier,
Robert
Crozier, Wm. Pennock,
Judge S. N. Latta, W. Y. Roberts,
Dr. James Davis,
I. M. Funk,
O. B. Holman, M. D. Newman
Dr. J. W. Morris, Monroe
Henderson,
W. Kempp, Capt. A. Cutler, and
Patrick Orr, G. W. Gardner,
The County Committee is as follows
O. B Hollman, Stephen Sparks,
W. Y. Roberts, R. Crozier, and
Henry J.
Adams.
The following Resolution was then passed unanimously:
Resolved, That the Free State citizens of Leavenworth County, in Mass
Convention assembled, pledge themselves to endorse and sustain the policy which
the forthcoming Topeka Convention adopts.
Adjourned.
The Convention was attended by about one hundred people - nearly all citizens
of Leavenworth. But one gentleman from Quindaro participated in the proceedings,
and so far as we could learn, there were not a dozen persons present from all
the other precincts of the County outside of Leavenworth - the most of them had
not representatives at all in the Convention. - REP.
*Of Quindaro.
Difficulty at the Land Sales - Free Speech Vindicated.
During the
sale of the Wea Lands at Paoli, on the 2d inst, Gov. Walker, Secretary Stanton,
and several other gentlemen of the same political faith, were called out to
address the people. We are not advised whether our rhetorical friend Perrin was
present; but if he was, and made a speech, we are prepared to assert that
he was inflexible and incorruptible in his advocacy of the “bird of liberty.”
For we have abiding confidence in Mr. Perrin’s unshaken fidelity to that
immortal fowl - a fidelity, beside which Mrs. Micawber’s devotion to her husband
pales into utter insignificance. He will never forsake the Eagle - never, never,
never!
But all this is not to the point. Those gentlemen delivered themselves of
speeches, lauding to the skies the principles (!) and action of the “National
Democracy.” There were many bitter Pro-Slavery men present; but there were also
many Free State men, who were determined that both sides should be heard. So
after the “National” speeches were over, they called out CHARLES FOSTER Esq., of
Osawatomie - a member of the Free State Legislature - a good speaker, and a
gentleman who doesn’t hesitate to call things by their right names.
Mr. Foster told the people some excellent home truths, in reply to the
earlier speakers. He exposed thoroughly the character of the modern “Democracy”
- that in its name their homes had been invaded - their friends murdered - their
property destroyed - and the very soil about them, made rich by the innocent
blood shed upon it. His remarks were of course unpalatable to some of his
hearers. They attempted first to hiss and cry him down, but that was
unsuccessful. At last they made signs of proceeding to violence. At least 20
revolvers were instantly drawn and cocked; and Mr. Foster was allowed to go
on. He only concluded at last, at the earnest request of the Commissioner,
who feared further trouble, and threatened to adjourn the sale if the political
discussion was continued.
The day for putting men down in Kanzas, for expressing their honest political
convictions, has passed - we trust forever.
The Town of Robinson
This place, called after the Governor of
Kanzas, has been lately located on Wolf River, thirty miles west of St. Joseph.
It was located with especial reference to the line of the St. Joseph and
Marysville R.R., which has since been run through it. The site covers 320 acres,
and is bordered on one side by Wolf River and on the other by the middle fork of
the same stream, taking in 40 or 60 acres of timber on both streams.
The land rises very gently from each stream towards the middle of the site,
and will require no grading. This place has been proved to one of the very best
coal regions in Kanzas yet discovered, being but fifteen miles by road from the
Iowa Point Landing, where coal can be delivered for 87 per ton. No coal beds of
any extent have yet been discovered so near the river.
This fact, together with that of the surpassing fertility of the adjacent
country, will soon attract an energetic population, to occupy the vacant prairie
claims in the neighborhood.
The new road from St. Joseph to California passes through this place, being
some 10 or 15 miles shorter than the old route. The roads from Iowa Point and
Nebraska City, to Grasshopper Falls pass near by.
Timber is very plenty, and of a first rate quality, adjoining the town, and
the South Fork of Wolf which empties within half a mile of the site, is the
heaviest timbered for its length (10 miles) of any stream in that part of the
Territory.
A mill has been bought by some of the proprietors of the town, and will
shortly be erected.
Emigrants wishing to find claims of unsurpassed fertility will do well to
locate in that vicinity.
A specimen of the coal may be seen at the Quindaro House.
-Just as we are going to press our town is visited by a refreshing shower.
(Reported for the Quindaro Chindowan.)
Railroad Meeting in
Plattsburgh, Mo. - Full Attendance. - Speeches by Dr Lykins, Gov. Robinson of
Kanzas, Elder Paine, and others.
ORGANIZATION
An adjourned
meeting of the citizens of Clinton Co. Mo., was held in the Court House at
Plattsburgh, and the County Seat, on Saturday July 4th, to take into
consideration the claims of the various railways seeking a connection with the
Hannibal and St. Joseph R.R., and passing through Clinton Co. There was a very
full attendance in the Court House. - Judge Johnson was called to the chair, and
Judge Culver appointed Secretary.
REMARKS OF DR. LYKINS.
Dr. Lykins, President of the Lake Superior,
Kanzas City, and Galveston R.R. being the only representative from Kanzas City,
was called upon to state the claims of that road to an appropriation from
Clinton County.
He stated that $300,000 had been subscribed to the road, that if Clay and
Clinton Counties would each take $300,000, he would guarantee sufficient to
complete the line from Kanzas City to the Hannibal and St. Joseph R.R. And that
if one section of land per mile could be had, that he believed the whole road
could be built.
REMARKS OF GOV. ROBINSON.
Gov. Robinson of Kanzas was next called
upon and made one of his characteristic speeches, completely demolishing the
prospects of the Lake Superior and Galveston R.R. He showed that as the whole
line some 1200 miles in length, would cost at least $36,000,000: the sum of
$300,000 was but a drop in the bucket, and would amount to nothing spread over
so long a line. That as this line would run through Missouri, Iowa and
Minnesota, there could be no prospect of a land grant; and he also stated that
Kanzas City had no present intention of building the road or a portion of it;
that he had been on terms of intimacy with the principal men of Kanzas City,
during last winter and had never heard of a movement to build a railroad in that
direction, until after Parkville had started her project; and that he then
supposed it was only to distract attention from the Parkville road.
He said he had been in Kanzas City a few days previous, and that he had been
informed that an agent had been sent to New York to canvass the claims of the
Kanzas and Keokuk R.R., but that nothing had been said to him about any other
line. What he wished, and what he supposed the people of Clinton Co. wished, was
some early definite prospect of a railroad. Enough money had already been
subscribed to grade the road from Parkville to the Clinton Co. line, and if
Clinton Co. would subscribe enough to grade the line through the county, that he
had received assurances from responsible eastern capitalists and railroad men,
that they would furnish the iron and rolling stock, and if Clinton county would
come up with her subscription, the road might be put under contract within three
months.
REMARKS OF ELDER PAINE.
An effective speech was made by Elder Paine
of Clinton county, in which he stated that although Kanzas City was a
respectable town for its age, yet it was not able to build all the railroads in
the West, and that he and the people of Clinton county knew very well that
Kanzas City could not build even two roads; that if Dr. Lykins on the part of
Kanzas City would abandon the Kanzas and Keokuk R.R., then possibly some
arrangements might be made, but until then the people of Clinton county would
have nothing to do with Kanzas City. On announcing that he was for the Parkville
road, he was loudly applauded.
OTHER SPEECHES. – THE QUESTION SUBMITTED TO THE PEOPLE
Judge B.
Culver and Buck, Col. George S. Park and Col. Burns of Parkville, Monroe
Henderson, Esq., of Quindaro, and several gentlemen from Clinton county were
afterwards called out, and made speeches, in which a decided inclination of the
people of the county towards the Parkville road, seemed manifest.
A resolution offered by Judge Burch, with an amendment by John S. Hughes,
State Representative to the effect that the Honorable County Court of Clinton
County be requested to open polls on the first Monday in August, to ascertain
whether the people of Clinton county would subscribe 50, 75, or $100,000 to the
Weston, Parkville, or Kanzas City railroads, making Plattsburgh a point, was
passed. Several of the friends of the Parkville road wished to get the vote of
the meeting as to which of the above mentioned roads it should be favorable to,
but Gov. Robinson said he hoped they would do nothing of the sort, as the people
of the county might resent any action taken, by a public meeting to forestall
the decision of the people to be rendered at the polls in August.
“No Representatives were present from Weston or Leavenworth.
-Moses O’Corner – residing west of Topeka - was passing through the woods on
the 20th ult., with his gun, when the hammer caught in the limb of the tree and
discharged it, he received the bullet in the temple, causing instant death He
leaves a wife and two children.
Transcribed by Sandee Page Fall 2005.