The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-11

TOPEKA, Kan, Dec. 1G-Kansas has
another county seat war. 1t is not a new
one, but continuation of the war that
has been waged intermttently for the past
seven years. The scene OF the disturbance
is Seward county. and the combatants are
the rival towns of Springfield and Liberal.
each of which wants the countv-seat, and
wants it bad-bad enough, indeed, to fight
! for it, The trouble dates from the time
! Seward county was organized and Liberal
was made the temporary county-seat seven
! years ago. A year later the question of To-
eating the headquarters for the county's
! government was left to vote. The cleo
| tion resulted in a victory for Springfield,
| but Liberal prevented the removal of the
records by injunction proceedings. The
! Sprcy yfield men attempted to remove the
records by force, but a strong guard at
! Liberal prevented the carrying out OF the
design. The Springfield people retired.
determined to fight the question in the
courts. The supreme court finally decided
that Springfield had been legally chosen
| the county-seat. The Liberal peo-
| pie then sued to reverse the
result of the first election, and succeeded
! in securing the right to hold new cleo
i ton. The election was held simultaneous
! ly with the general election in November.
| In the meantime conference between
! the leaders of the rival towns compromls-
! ed the question of the temporary location
! of the county records by entruSting them
! to neutral parties at Arkalou. Today was
set as the time for canvassing the vote at
! Springfield
The Liberal people did not have entire
| confidence in the honesty and impartialIty
OF the Springfield crowd, and therefore
| organized band of armed men to proceed
| there and see that no Irregularities take
| place The band, numbering seventy-five
determined men, started for Liberal early
! this morning, armed TO the teeth with
| shotguns, revolvers and Winchesters
| Messages were received this afternoon
! from Liberal~ stating thst the armed
| party had not returned. It is fearad here
| that the presence of so large number
of armed men in the town may have pre-
| cpitated trouble, and that bloodShed may
| have resulted.
At the same time that the armed party
| left for Springfield another party similarly
armed went to Arkaion from Liberal.
| ostensibly TO protect the records here
| against seizure by the Springfield faction.
/ A feature of this expedition WAS the fact
| that Mrs. Martin, Observation-Disclosures OF
! the county schools, was one OF the party.
| Her presence lent a moral effect to the
! purpose of the expedition and had a soften
ing influence upon the crowd. When the
party arrived at ArkalOn they found that
the Springfield people bad made no move
toward securing or protecting the records.
| They held a consultation and decided that
their rivals would make an attempt to
secure the records. They could not stand
! guard over them forever, and If they had
| to fight for them, they would prefer to do
the fighting at home, and SO they would
| take possession of the records and remove
| them to Liberal. The custodian had no
! means of protecting the records, and so he
quietly surrendered them.
| The Liberal party then quietly left the
| town, returning to Liberal at o'clock. A
| guard was at once placed over the records
! TO resist any possible attack by the Spring
! field people. The news of the removal of
the records has probably not yet reached
! Springfield. When it does it IS believed
! that the anger of the people there will
know no bounds, and that an attempt Will
! be made to secure them. Should that
occur the guard at Liberal will doubtless
! defend the records TO the best of their abll-
| ity, aud then there will be more trouble.
The participants in the present war are
! the same men who took part in the Bot
! kin-Wood feud. A serious conflict be-
| tween tbs opposing forces during tins pres
/ ent trouble is confidently expected.