The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-05
Well known Prohibition Agita-
tor Passes Away.
Inaugursted War on Infamous
KIOndike.
SENSATIONAL LETTERS
Those Written for State Jour
nal Created a Stir.
Lived in Topeka and Name Was
N. n. Butler.

Tim Burke" is dead The man who
named Leavenworth THE Kansas In
ferno;' he who forced Governor Stan
ley to take action against the disrep-
utable KIondike joints in Leavenworth.
county; he who caused a wave of tenn
perance to carry the day at Clay Cen
ter and drive out the joints and he
who criticised the management of the
Kansas penitentiary at Lansing and
the Leavenworth Soldiers home, is no
more.
His real name was NJ. N. Butler and
he died this morning in his rooms in
the second story of the building at
1901 Kansas avenue of cancer of the
stomach.
He died alone. so far as the presence
of relatives was concerned, and the
few friends who cared for him to the
last can find no trace of his family.
Little is known of his past before COM
ing to Kansas some five or six years
ago but of what he did since he came
to the state is well known and well re-
membered.
Butler was a tall, thin, emaciated
man; quiet and kindly, but one who
carried on alone and unaided several
crusades against crime in Kansas that
brought forth the result that he de-
sired.
1t was in 1897 that some startling
were printed in the State Journal.
These letters were signed Tim Burke
and they told of how the liquor dealers
of Leavenworth were riding rough shod
over the prohibitionists and how the
saloons were triumphant over the law.
The readers took it for granted that
Tim Burke" was a, saloon keeper.
Leavenworth was stirred to its very
foundations, if it had any, by the 'et
ters. The police investigated. They
reported that there was no saloon
keeper by the name of Burke"
These letters kept coming from Leav-
enworth The temperance people nj
over the state were agitated by the
revelations made by Tim Burke
The prohibitionists made a few weak
demands that Governor Stanley take
action against the joints and dives in
the diSreputabIe "KlOndike'' near the
Soldiers home The old soldiers were
robbed and killed in these dives but
the Leavenworth authorities paid 20
heed.
Then John Boyer began writing
letters about the Klondike. AS in the
case of Tim Burke" it was M. n.
Butler who wrote the letters. He
took a strange way of bringing atten-
ton to the KIondike joints. John
keeper in that disreputabfe region.
John Boyer" said: I'VE have a brand
of liquor the old vets will go anywhere
to get" In another letter Tim
hlEkDdIGlCk
harmless State Temperance union was
here not long since and the good
church people gave him the cold
shoulder He made nice little
speech, and we felt sorry for him. We
could have drummed up a better au-
dience in any joint in the city"and
some of our boys need caution about
going too fast
Tim Burke accomplished his desire.
Governor Stanley was forced to pay
n at
worth and as a result The Klondike
was abandoned and passed into his
tory and the old veterans were safe
once more.
Mr. Butler was a man of good edu-
cation. Just what he was and where
he came from is not known but it is
that at one time he was
a Methodist minister in Missouri Ever
since he came to Topeka he was an
anti-church man but a thorough Chris
tian.
Butler published a book called 1.-The
Kansas Klondike and LeavenwOrth
Inferno" When he sold those books
on the streets of Leavenworth the pO-
lice arrested him.
Mr.. Butler was commonly called "a
crank He was peculiar in his habits and
many directions. He was a warm friend
of General Hugh Cameron. the Kansas
Hermit, and few days before his death
he requested that he be buried at Camp
Ben Harrison, Glen Burn. Douglas. coun-
ty the home of the Hermit lie also re-
quested that his body be wrapped in
flag and placed in a home made coffin of
pine boards and that the boards be paint
ed red, white and blue. He wanted a BIZ
BILE buried with him.
was engaged in writing book about Mrs.
Carrie Nation. When Blanche Boies was
released from Jail a few days ago she at
once began caring for Butler. The fu-
neral arrangements have not been made,
as an effort is being made to find some
of his relatives.