The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-01-21
LIE COMpTON'S FALL.
A Kansas Town That Recalls Goldsmith
Story of Sweet Auburn.

| IA han5HS IOWn lhaL RECALLS GOlOSnitn
| Story of Sweet Auburn.
ABOUT midway between Lawrence
and Topeka is located the old town of
| Lecompton. which was the Territorial
capital of Kansas from 1856 to 1861.
The Sante Fe railroad skirts the base
of the hills upon which the village is
| built, and rs the train nears the place
the attention of the traveller is arrested
by large structure of yellow sand
stone. which occupies II commanding
position on the rising ground south of
the Kaw river This edifce is Lane
University, an institution of learning
established under the auspices of the
United Brethren church, and which
was erected some years ago upon the
| foundation of what was to have been
the State house of Kansas.
The glory of the once ambitious city
has departed. Not a vestige of its early
pride remains to tell of the strange
mutations of its history Indeed, so
quiet is the spot, so far removed, it
seems, from all the din and strife of
busy life, that the stranger from the
outside world might almost fancy that
the beautiful and touching story of
Sweet Auburn, Loveliest Village of
the Plain" had been repeated amid the
rural scenes of this somnolent hamlet.
THE plans for the capitol contemplated
an imposing structure" said Judge FL
lott, of Lawrence. The original APP
preparation by Congress for the con-
struction of the bull ling was $4,000,
and an addition of $4,000 was subse-
quently made to this amount. The
money was all used in the purchase of
material and the employment of labor.
The building was completed as far as
to the top of the first story. and then
the enterprise was abandoned. An en-
tire boatload of iron plasters, window
caps, corniceS. etc, was brought to the
mouth of the Kansas river and hauled
to Lecompton by teams. l remember
that for years after the removal of the
capitol to Topeka acres of this material
lay scattered over the ground, exposed
to the weather and covered with rust.
The first State Legislature authorized
the sale of this stuff by auction. The
iron was broken up and sold to the
foundries at Lawrence and Lcaven-
worth. Part of the foundation of the
building was afterward used in the con-
struction of the Lane University, and
the remainder still marks the grave of
Lecompton' departed hopes.
The triumph of the free-state ele-
ment at the election in 1857 was the
doom of Lecompton. AS the seat of
tho convention which formulated the
notorious constitution which bears the
name of the town and the provisions
of which gave Kansas to slavery, the
place was intensely unpopular with the
tree-state people, and from 1857 until
the time of the establishment of the
capital at Topeka in 1851, it was the
custom of the Territorial Legislature to
convene at Lecompton, in accordance
with the law. and then to forthwith adj
journ to Lawrence, where all of the
business of the sessions was transacted.
Lecompton was named for Judge Le-
compile, who now resides in Leaven-
worth. He was Chief Justice of the
first court appointed under the Terri
torial organization in 1854. The town
in its palmiest days had population
of 1000 people.
Lecompton has population to-day
of 800 souls, and no town in the State
has a more slightly location. Of the
old historical landmarks there still
remain the land Office, the Rowena
hotel building, and the residence of
Governor Shannon. The walls of
stone church built by the Southern
Methodists are still standing, though
the editice has long since been given
over to ruin ana decay. There is not
place of public worship in the town,
outside Of the chapel of Lame Univer-
sty. The misanthropc, searching for
paradise, might find it here, and he
who would be in the world, but not of
it, may realize all of the conditions of
such an estate in Lecompton, which, to
the world at large, exists only in the
annals of tho mast - E1DS12 CJy3i Stny