The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-24
JONES OF BUTLER.
Originally a Real EStat

Originally a Real Bstater in Wichita.
From the Kansas City Journal.
| Concerning Jones of Butler-on dit:
When Jones of Butler came to Kansas,
eight years or so ago, he was school
teacher, he said, and as it was rushing
year for farm hands down on the Muddy
and as the farmers had sent most of the
big girls up to the Town to high school,
they gave Jones the school. He organ
lied singing school and the directors
gave him the use of the school house for
nothing, almost Mrs. Jones did not go
to the singing school, and Jones was the
| jolIiest man you ever saw. 1t appeared
as though he could sing his way into the
| hearts of everybody. For the young
girls he had a song about lover that
was going to return in ship. when the
robins should nest again; and, although
there was not one in the room who had
ever seen a ship, and most of the lovers
of the girls of the township had
never been out of the county
since they moved in, the song
touched them greatly. For the older
ladies he sang "Where is My Wander
ing Boy Tonight most of them were in
the back part of the house, as a matter
of fact, putting the little boys "up' to
things, but the mothers always wept
copiously at the last verse and the Choir
uses. The old men, who viewed him
with certain degree of alarm, he pla-
Gated by singing the ''Sword of Bunker
Hilf' and ditty about a man who at
the end of every verso "wished he was
single again." Thus Jones became a
great man in a small town. He was
prayarful man, too, and after he moved off
the 'crick' she took to preaching" In
this his vocal powers came into excellent
play, and when he led off with Il Shall be
Satisfied" or just As Am, the mourn.
ers' bench was always crowded for the
latter meeting" SO brother Jones lived
well and visited around good deal.
He preached down III Tennessee
bend" out in Fairview, at the Leidy
school house and the plain Quaker people
of Pleasant township. He had the
agency of the organ ne played and turned
many an honest penny selling the instru-
ment. He also took orders for sewing
machines and traded horses in jolly,
condescending way that made the
farmers believe that he was the most
accommodating man imaginable. When
the boom came he traded the eighty, for
which he had snapped two colts and
sewing machine, to town man for a
house in the town. He mortgaged the
land for twice its value and put up
house, and was called" to the town
church. His patrons were very poor
people and he knew it; so he preached
many sermons about the ''eye of the
needle" and told of the rich man who
would not give his goods to the poor,
and left the congregation IN little doubt
and much satisfaction regarding the
present abiding place of the rich
man. His prominence in the first ALI
anCe organized in the county was iu-
evitable. He was president of the
county organization from the start. lie
knew better than any one how strong it
was, and how much was back of it;
although the politicians who had polled
the county every year since the Click |
campaign laughed at him, Jones didn't /
care. He had taken a number of old (
revival tunes, such as "What Shall the /
Harvest Be- and Hold the Fort and /
Knocking, Knocking, Who IS There" /
and fitted some Alliance words TO item (
about the great trials of the poor far /
mers. He never opened meeting with !
out praying for grace to see how to lead /
his people toward the right, and ALWAYS
made the same set speech abusing the /
town people, who were rObbing the tiller 1
of the soil. He knew of the hardships /
of farm llfe-the good Lord knows there /
are plenty-and he told them in song !
and story till he had his audience fren- /
Zled. Or course he WAS elected, and I
the honest old farmer who ran against
HIM thought he had lived
in the county a quarter of century and
was heavy taxpayer, hardly knew he
was IN the race. lie had promised every
one; whisky men, prohibitionists, county
seat removal men and the ants. the
divlsionlst and the citizens who wanted
a united county, all came IN for share
Of his magnificent promises. But when
the house met he did little less than
sing. His constituents who hoped to
see him succeed ingalls, never heard Of
him: and even the Alliance paper could
find little to saw Of him. He was absent
from his seat when the vote on resub-
mission came up, and when he wrote 70
the home paper saving that
he was very sick that day the
people believed him: and the fact
As shown by the Republican paper, that
he voted both before and after thai
ballot did not convince them that he
was sneak. But after the legislature
and when he came home.
,omewsy the novelty Of the thing had
Torn of. The people did not treat him
night, lie thought. and the attendance at
he Alliance fell off. lie was restless
md when he made his old time speech
q the school houses last fail the Repnhii-
ans would come aud laugh al hiTa. and
as own people would smile. This woF-
ned hlm, and after the election be went
Away. Some sad he had gone hack -
southern Iainoi>: Others hei4 j.. bad
cone south lectuyaHg. and others cisIued
re had gene 20 Oklahoma No enc knew
o. certainty. ard ii1ose whom he owed
iicnt care he wen; as le cAn1e--iR a
loud he s a type u his kind. a bard