Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-25
An UnIucky succeSsion

| lam \. Harris as the successor of PETER
/ in the senate OF the United States The
| reurns show Ingalls, and PETER among the
missing.
| Mr.. Ingalls, is now IS years old, and it
| Will be six years before he can be expected
| 10 come prominently berore the state for
! his old place-if he ever does. There is
another election of senator in four years
but he has been quoted as saying that he
would never seek an election TO that fat
/ ed succession as he terms the line of SEN
ators from Kansas which comes down
from Jim Lane. Its history is certainly re-
| markable and in strong contrast to the
line in which Mr.. Ingalls, was so prominent
for eighteen years.
Kansas elected its first senators in the
winter of 1861, few weeks after the state
was admitted into the Union. IL was one of
the first acts that marked the work of the
young state. James H. Lane and S. Z.
Pomeroy were chosen and drew lots to see
who should have the short term and who
the long. Right then the ill fortune of the
| 'fated succession" began, for Lane was
the loser in the chance. Lane had been
one OF the foremost partisans of the ter
ritorial days of the state, and he made fast
friends and strong enemies. He was opin-
donated, and when he went to Washington
he did not heal over the opposition to him.
The legislature almost year before his
term expired elected the then governor.
Thomas Carney, to his seat. Carney did
not accept. but served notice on the state
that he resigned all claims to the Office.
Lane was reelected. but a year later he
startled the state by shooting himself
through the head at Fort Leavenworth,
dying July H. 1866. 1t was the cruel end of
a busy life and his career was one of the
most striking in the history of the building
of the West. He was foremost in the tight
of the SOS over the question of making
Kansas free or slave, and his voice was
one of the strongest in the cause of free
dom.
Edmund G. Ross was appointed by the
governor to fill the term and he went to
Washington, where he was afterward to
become So conspicuous. almost unknown
to the politicians of the day. The following
year Ross was reelected and served
through the impeachment proceedings
against President johnson, in which 1t was
his vote that turned the scale in opposi-
tion to the conviction. In 1871 Ross was L
candidate for reelection, but there was no
chance for him. Pomeroy and Alexander
Caldwell were the leading candidates, and
the latter won after Il bitter fight. But 1t
did Caldwell little good. No sooner had he
taken his seat than the papers of the
state began to TEEN with strong articles
setting forth that he had been elected by
bribery and fraud. This was kept up to
such degree that at the next session Of
the legislature an investigating committee
was appointed and it found great deal
of crookedness. In the United States SEN
ate Senator Morton, of Indiana, offered II
resolution saying that caldwell had not
been elected legally. The committee on
elections added that while he had done
things that were not legal, 1t thought he
had been sinned against as well as sin
ming. He is a novice in politics, 1t said,
land evidently in the hands of men who
encouraged him in the belief that senator
ial elections in Kansas are carried by the
use of money" which would seem to indi-
cate that Kansas had something of a rep
utation, even in those days. Caldwell re-
signed March "a 1873. and dropped out of
sight his name tarnished and his charac-
ter gone
In 1878 Robert Crozier was appointed to
fill out the uneXpired term until the leg
isature met. and he was turned down In
the following year by the legislature which
chose j. NJ. Harvey. Harvey had only
three years of it, and in 1871 Preston B.
Plumb was elected. He was the most
popular senator of the line. He stood
close to the people. He was a fighter and
a hard worker. The old farmers could al
paign he went out on the stump and made
the most sensible, plain talks OF any of
the orators. He swung that big right arm
of his with telling effect and took on his
coat If the day was warm. He was com
nor people" and never wearied in his
work for the state. Twice when he was
at the end of his term he was reelected
by an overwhelming majority and was
more popular than ever But Plumb
Had In Tha
harness. One day in December, 1891, the
state was startled by the news that he
had passed away while at his post In
washington. B. w. Perkins was appointed
as the next in the succession, but when
the time came for election the fusion
forces had the control of the state lcg-
islature on a joint session, and John
Martin a Democrat. was chosen 10 sue
ceed to the line. 1t was the first break
from II Republican in the history of the
state In the "fated succession" In 1895
the Republicans were again in power and
they elected Lucien Baker, after hard
contest in the caucus. He Is the present
senator.
Such is the record. In the time allowed
to the six terms since the organization OF
the state nine men have held the office.
Two have died, one by his own hand; one
resigned in disgrace; three held by ap-
pointment. and one man was elected TO
the line, but refused to take the place Is
II much wonder that Mr.. Ingalls, has
suspicion of the fate that has attended ii?
The other line of senators which began
with the drawing of the long term in 1851
by Pomeroy has been filled by but three
nell Pomeroy was reelected in ls6I and
served until the end of his second term.
an investigation was In progress
at the time he went out concerning his
right TO the place. Mr.. ingalls, was his
successor and he served eighteen years, be-
ing defeated in 1891 by the Farmers Al
lance and its apostle, PETER. His defeat
was Overwhelming, notwithstanding ms
radical speech in the senate, Just before
the election of senator, which has been
used as a campaign document by the Popu-
lists in every campaign since His first
victory was accompanied by one of the
most dramatic incidents in the history OF
tho state. Ponleroy had fifty votes out Of
the 127 In the legislature when the body
adjourned at the end OF the first days
voting. The next morning before the vote
was taken Alexander York arose and
stated that Pomeroy had the preceding
night offered him 5000 for his vote. He
had been paid 5000 that night and 5000
in the morning: 81 900 was to be paid when
the vote was cast. He walked to the
clerks desk and laid down two packages. OF
bills containing 5000 which was, he said,
70 be used as a fund to prosecute Senator
Pcmeroy. When, after the excitement had
subsidized, the vote was taken. Pomeroy did
not get a supporter. ingalls, was elected.
getting lI5 votes. The s. 900 was afterward
n,