Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-09-12

it Is with the utmost difficulty that the,
are restrained from going out in whal
are called mourning parties to as
snage their grief in the blood of whit,
Capt. Lew Hanback, was sent dowr
here on the part of the state to investi
gate. Hanback, started in with the ey.
ldent Intention of making out a case
for the militia and succeeded in securing
quite quantity of justifying testimony
from different members of the militia
company, who were engaged in the fight
My Judgment of this case from con-
Slderatlon of such testimony as / have
been able to find, is that this band of
Osages were not really on the war path:
but three citizens of this vicinity had
been murdered, scalped and mutilated.
The people were alarmed and exasper-
ated and had no friendly feeling toward
Indians of any description. In fact. it
takes no stretch of the imagination to
suppose that the average citizen of Bar
Der county at that particular time, firm
ly believed that dead Indian was a
sight well pleasing in the sight of heav-
en-. Probably no man felt this more
strongly than John Moseley, whose fa-
ther had been slain less than two years
before by Indians, supposed members
OF the Usage tribe, and toward that
tribe John bore deadly and implaca-
| BILE hatred.
Nothing ever seems to have come of
| this investigation. The Usage orphans
| and widows seem to have ceased at last
their morning and evening wailings.
Ii they ever satisfied their desire for
vengeance with the blood of whites it
has never been reported. The military
company of Barber county was finally
dlsbanded after accused OF becoming a
political institution. The stockade was
suffered to fall into ''inocuous desue-
tude." Peace reigned supreme and the
war-worn veterans of the militia ex-
pended their fierce valor in the deStruc-
tion of gray backs which infested their
persons.
With the return of peace the question
of how to get rid of their load of fraud
ulent debt began to agitate the people.
1t was suggested that Barber county
should be disorganiZed and that sugges-
ton met with favor as an easy and ex-
peditious way of lifting all their bur-
dens.
1 might say here that Barber county
was not alone in her misfortunes. If
she had her Bemises, her HutchinSons
and her Bowluses. other counties of
Kansas had their vultures of
equal baseness, fraud and monumental
gall as these. In fact, it was strongly
suspected that the cloud of Internal in
lqulty which hung over the cradle of
Barber county even reached up to and
enveloped the chair of the chief magis-
trate, or at least that some of his close
attendants were wet with its damning
fog.
In the winter of 1875, House bill No.
20 was introduced in the lower house of
the legislature, being an act to dissolve
the county organizations of the counties
of Harper, Ness, Kingman, Pratt, Co
manche and Rush; to provide for GER
tain proceedings in the supreme court
in order to complete the disorganization
of said counties; to provide for the ex-
penSes OF said proceeding aud to attach
said counties to certain other counties
for judicial, municipal and other pur-
pOSeS."
The bill was introduced by Hon. p.
L. Elder, of Ottaway county, after
ward the greenback candidate for gov
ernor. During the session a petition
signed by Gus Hegwer and thirteen
other citizens of Barber county was
sent to the representative, Robert
Cochran, praying for the disorganiza-
tion of Barber county. On the oath
udy VI lofO, Ulll NO.
70 coming up for consideration, Sam
Wood moved to amend by striking out
Rush county and inserting Barber coun-
ty. The bill was further amended by
inserting Wallace county and as thus
amended passed both houses, and OH
the 4th day of March, 1875, was, by the
veto of Governor Osborne, laid to rest.
The principal reason given by the Coy
ernOr for his veto was that important
criminal and civil cases we're pending
in the court of Barber county, and that
no provision was made for taking such
cases to Summer county, to which it
was proposed to attach Barber county
for Judicial purposes. This was the last
effort to disorganiZe the county.
The next effort to get rid of the fraud
ulent obligations was by litigation, and
for that purpose Stilling q Fenlon of
Leavenworth were employed. The re-
suit is too well known to need exhaust
i've comment. In the lower or circuit
we won, but the supreme court sat
down on us with all its ponderous
weight of learning and years. Barber
county slowly passed out through the
portals of the chief temple of justice,
covered with sack cloth and ashes and
with the name Dennis" imprinted upon
her forehead.
Much that is interesting remains to
be told of Barber county, but am re-
minded that time flies-thls is a pc
culiarity, l might say, that time has
and | must hasten, leaving the fuller
details of Barber county's rise and later
progress to some future historian. l
cannot dwell on the stories of the an
cient settlers of the time when billions
of buffalo graZed on Barber county, and
herds of thousand antelope bounded
DER the lea at the crack of the hunters
Winchester.
came here too late for the buffalo.
but the cowboy was in the hey-day of
his glory. There was no talk of crops,
or breaking ground, or blowing corn;
but the conversation turned on brands
and counter-brandS, OH ear-crOps, un-
der-bits, over-bits and dew-laps, ranges,
range lines and roundups, screw-worms.
heel-fiies and bogs. Times were almost
universally prosperous. Cattle were
rising in value and the cattle ranch was
looked upon as the sure avenue to
wealth and influence. But suddenly
there came change. You will all re-
member the awful winter-kill of 1888
1884, when it was estimated that 2O.vuU
head of cattle in Barber county alone
died of exposure and starvation. Rare
ly has there ever been a more disheart-
ming prospect. The gulches were full
of dead bodies and the streams were
likewise lined with carcasses.
while the survivors of the depleted
herds moved about like wavering shad-
ows in search of sustenance The price
of beef took tumble. Panic seized
upon the business and many men who
were counted cattle kings one season
were as poverty stricken as grasshop-
pers the next. Then it was that the
granger and land agent reached the
acme of their power and glory. The
latter individual expatiated in a learned
and scientific manner on the climatic
effect OF cultivation of the soil in in
creased moisture, more even tempera-
ture, etc. The rain belt had extended