The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-12-20
AN INTERESTING LAWSUIT.
"Reminiscences of Early Western Days
Louis LaVenture and the Widow Trapp.


Louis Laventure and the Widow Trapp.
From the Topeka Commonwealth
1t is not often that the proceedings of
a court of justice are any thing but dry
and uninteresting to the laity. But it
sometimes happens that the facts, adj
duced in evidence, so far transcend the
commonplace as TO attain the interest
| of romance. And in no class of litiga-
! ton is this exceptional interest so fire.
/ quently aroused as in actions involving
I title to lands. Questions of pedigree
1 and rights of inheritance when relevant
I to an issue in court and controverted,
/ bring to the surface the private and per-
sonal history of individuals whose acts
and words would seem to have been ut
sterly obscured by time and forgetful-
ness. However Insignificant and hum
bic these persons may be, it is nearly
always demonstrated that every life has
in it dramatic elements, arising often
almost to the dignity and pathOs of
tragedy. The case of LaVenture VS..
Smith will be shown to have fairly de-
monstrated its right to place among
such causes ceEe5reS in the brief and cur
sorry notice which our space permits us
to give it. 1t brings into bold relief
what might be called the prehistoric
period of Kansas, when the territory
now comprising our State was the In
dian country, and its only white inhab-
itants were agents, missionaries, Indian
traders and the nomadic U0yageurS from
Canada and the Upper lakes. The Gu
rioas feature of this case is that the
branch of it relating to pedigree and
heirship which takes us back to the
time when the sons of old Pierre Chos-
teau first established the trading posts
Of the American Fur Company among
the Kansas Indians, depends wholly
upon the testimony of living witnesses.
We can not undertake to give even
resume of this testimony, but confine
ourselves to brief narrative of facts
so adduced in the order presented. 4
Something before or during that
epoch of our history known as the War
of 1912, two of those hardy Adventures,
called French voyageurs, journeyed
from Canada toward the Lower Missis-
sippi. Their names were Francis and
Joseph LaVenture. They came to st.
Louis, which was then a small French set
Element, deriving its chief support from
trade with the various tribes of Indians
which inhabited this part of the CONT
nent. Shortly after their arrival in St.
Louis, Francis travelled westward to the
mouth of the Kansas River, and there
falling in with the Kansas tribe of lndi-
ans, followed the custom of his class
and became a member, by such aborigi-
nal rites of matrimony as obtained
among the Kaws. He set up his wig
wan where Kansas City now stands.
the fruit of his marriage was Louis / 4
Venture, who afterward grew up $50
the testimony shows) to be 4 very well
favored young man, with brown hair,
blue eyes, and very unlike his maternal
ancestor in appearance or disposition.
Before the year 1885 the father and
mother both died, and Louis was reared
by one of the brothers Chouteau, who
had located in the neighborhood some
ten or twelve years previously, and were |
trading with the Indians for peltry.
About the year 1915, when young La
Venture was about the age when the
young mans fancy gently turns to
thoughts of love, fascinating widow
descended upon and began to infest |
this Arcadan settlement. Her name, she |
gave ont, was Mrs. Trapp, q very sug-
gestive name for young widow. All |
the inherited stolidity Of the native Kaw |
did not serve the young Louis as an |
armor against her Establishments, and |
without inquiry as to her antecedents,
and against the wishes of his self-con- |
stituted guardians and friends, he led |
her, or was led by her, to the nearest |
missionary and bowed his neck TO the |
woke. In the fall of the same year
Louis began life as a freighter across
the plains to the ancient settlement of
New Mexico, and in the year 1917 on
one of these Journeys he died and was
buried. Previously, however, he had
enlisted in Col. Doniphan's regiment, F,
and had served for a short time in the
Mexican war. SO much for the simple |
annals of Francis LaVenture and his !
son.
By the treaty of June 3, 1926, with |
the Kansas tribe of indians, there was
granted or reserved to certain half
breeds bv name, mile square each of
lands along the banks of the Kansas
River. Among these reserves was the |
son of Francis LaNenture, the Louis |
whose history we have briefly recount |
ed. The land reserved to him was
kHown as Kaw half-breed reserve, /
Nos, and is situated in Jefferson Coun-
ty, about opposite Tecumseh, and four
miles down the river from Topeka. This |
is the land in controversy in this action,
which is one of ejectment against those
now in possession, by the heirs of one |
Drayton LaVenture, the only surviving
descendants of Joseph LaVenture, the |
brother of Francis To be coherent in
our statement it would be proper to re-
late here the facts of Joseph's career. |
After parting with his brother Francis
at st. Louis, Joseph went eastward from |
St. Louis, and in 1918 was working as a
carpenter at Chillicothe, o., where he |
married one Anna Frew. After various |
wanderings, during which time several
children were born to him, he returned
in 1872 to st. Louis, where he died in
1S43 His wife followed him in 1849,
and one by one the children died with /
out issue, until the sole representative
of these hardy pioneers was Drayton La
Venture. Death, which seems to have
had grudge against the LaVentures,
removed him, also, May L, 1876, after
the commencement of this action, (which
has been revived in the name of his
wife and four children, all having ar
rived at the age of maturity. Drayton
followed the river and filled the posi-
tons of mate and pilot. In 1912 he
came up the Missouri on the steamer
John Aul, and his father charged him
before leaving with the duty of making
some inquiries as 90 his brother Francis,
of whom his last tidings were that he
had wed forest maiden, and was ia
Their of a dusky race. On his arrival at
the mouth of the Kaw, Drayton found
that his uncle Francis was dead, but the
young Louis was pointed out to him by
one of the Chouteaus and an interchange
of greetings in which the relationship
was recognized followed between them.
In 1S47, shortly before Louis's last
journey across the plains, Drayton
made another voyage up the Missouri
on the steamer Amelia, and on his re-